M K N ET R 1 E s’ ’vN' H E A T E A K . 
1.‘37 
found it in the' Danakil country, between the Peninsula 
of Buri and the Gulf of Tadjura, on the Somali coast, 
and in Southern Arabia. • 
There is nothing to add about the habits of this 
bird, which Mr. Tristram says are precisely similar to 
those of the Common Wheatear. 
Head, nape, and back down to the rump, and wing 
coverts, a mixture of buff with olivaceous green; rump 
and basal half of tail pure white. Wings brown, the 
primaries after the fourth lightly, and the secondaries 
more deeply bordered with the same colour as the back, 
but brighter, the same tint as the fringe being shewn 
where the colour of the back passes into the white 
of the rump. As usual in all the Wheatear s I have 
described, the two middle tail feathers are black after 
the first third from base. Throat, neck, and lower part 
of abdomen, dirty white; the chest and upper part of 
the abdomen, under wing and tail coverts, light buff. 
The colours above described of the feathers of the 
body, are produced by tints at the extremities of the 
feathers only. The real colour of all the feathers below 
the surface is black, like that of leueomela, a point well 
worthy of attention in looking at the affinities of these 
birds, and estimating how far the variations in colour 
may be owing to climatic causes and mode of living. 
The feathers covering the ears are a darker buff, 
with a light line extending over them from the angle 
of the eye. Feet black, the hinder claw more strongly 
curved than the anterior ones; beak horn-coloured. 
I am indebted for the bird from which my drawing is 
taken, as well as those of bird and egg of the last species, 
to the kindness of the Rev. H. B. Tristram. My figure 
of the bird is from a male specimen, killed in Egypt, 
February 5th., 1852. 
VOL. II. 
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