SAXICOLA VITTATA. 



(EHKENBERG'S CHAT.) 



Saxicola vittata, Plempr. & Ehr. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. cc (1828). 

 Saxicola leucolcema, Antin. & Salvad. Atti R. Ace. Sci. Tor. viii. p. 32 (1872). 

 Saxicola melanogenys, Severtzoff, Turk. Jevotn. p. 120 (1873). 

 Saxicola melanotis, id. op. cit. pi. viii. figs. 5, 6 (1873). 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Salvad. & Antin. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, iv. pi. ii.; Severtzoff, ut supra. 



Ad. dorso, alis, loris et vitta per oculum usque ad basin alae dueta nigris : pileo, nucha, mento, gula et corpore 

 subtus albis : bypochondriis nigris : remigibus secundariis vix albido terminatis : rectricibus duabus 

 mediis ad basin albis et in parte reliqua nigris, rectricibus reliquis albis nigro apicatis : rostro et 

 pedibus nigris : iride fusca. 



Adult Male (type). Crown, nape, and upper parts of the back greyish white ; back and wings black; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts white ; secondai'ies and larger wing-coverts slightly tipped with dirty white ; 

 median rectrices white on the basal third, otherwise black, remaining rectrices white, terminated with 

 black, on the outermost pair this colour extends on the outer web along the terminal half; lores and 

 a broad band passing through the eye and joining the base of the wing jet-black ; chin, throat, and 

 underparts generally pure white : bill and legs black ; iris brown. Total length about 6 inches, 

 culmen 0"7, wing 3'9, tail 2 - 55, tarsus - 7. 



Female. I have not had an opportunity of examining a female, but, according to Dr. Severtzoff, it resembles 

 the female of Saxicola morio, except that it has a white throat. 



Obs. Neither of the two specimens, both males, in my collection is so finely coloured as the type. The 

 specimen from Tashkend has the crown obscured by dirty grey, and the abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 are washed with buff; and the other, which I have figured, has the crown also obscured, and the black 

 portions of the plumage tinged with brown. 



Fikst discovered by Hemprich and Ehrenberg in Arabia, and described by them in 1833, this 

 Chat was only known by the single specimen in the Berlin Museum until, more than forty years 

 later, it was rediscovered by Antinori in Bogos, Northern Abyssinia, and redescribed by him and 

 Salvadori under the name of Saxicola leucolasma. So far as is at present known, it inhabits 

 Transcaspia, Turkestan, and Gilgit in the summer, migrating south to Arabia and Abyssinia for 

 the winter. 



Zarudny met with it twice during his journey in Transcaspia, on the 23rd June near Kizil- 

 Arvad, and on the same date near the village of Bendessen. He further remarks that he 

 frequently met with it in the middle of June on the rocks near Baku, but it is not included 



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