SAXICOLIN^E. 125 



pale rufous ; wing spot, rump, and upper tail-coverts, white ; 

 breast and lower parts, bright ferruginous, deep on the breast, 

 paler on the flanks and belly, and albescent on the vent and under 

 tail-coverts ; a demi-collar of white almost meets on the nape, 

 dividing the black of the head and neck. In winter plumage 

 the black is almost replaced by earthy brown ; the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts are ferruginous brown ; the lores, ear-coverts, 

 and chin, however, are always more or less black ; the white wing 

 spot is less prominent ; the whole lower parts are dull ferruginous, 

 albescent on the under tail-coverts ; and the demi-collar is defi- 

 cient or rusty. The female resembles the male in winter dress, 

 being brown above, margined with paler brown, and rufescent 

 towards the tail ; but the chin and throat are white, and there is a 

 white supercilium. The wing spot too is a little sullied. 



Length 5£ inches ; wing 2| ; tail If ; tarsus T 9 n ; bill at front f . 

 Bill and legs black ; irides deep brown. 



This species, which was first discriminated by Mr. Blyth, differs 

 from the English bird chiefly by the paler tint of the lower 

 plumage, the deeper hue being confined to the breast, by the 

 white demi-collar extending further backwards, in the black of 

 the throat not descending so low in the breast, and in the female 

 having the chin and throat white, instead of pale brown. The 

 wing, too, is somewhat longer than in the European bird. Strick- 

 land once considered the Indian bird identical with his P. pastor 

 from Africa, but Horsfield in his Catalogue places the two as 

 distinct. 



The Indian Whin-chat is only a winter visitant to India, coming 

 in about the end of September or beginning of October. It is 

 found throughout all India, extending to Assam, Burmah, and 

 Tenasserim, but has not yet been noticed in Ceylon. Buchanan 

 Hamilton in his MSS. Notes, says that in the Bhagulpore and 

 Gya districts it remains all the year, building in thickets of reeds, 

 but he has doubtless not discriminated it from the next species, 

 which I found a resident in those districts. It is probably Pallas' 

 Mot. ruhicola, of Central Asia, which breeds, he says, in deserted 

 rat-holes, laying its eggs on the bare ground, or under fallen trees. 

 It frequents bushes in the plains, hedges, and cultivated fields, but 



