200 



Autumn plumage ( 6 , Shiraz, September). Upper and underparts darker, throwing out the black lores and 

 white chin and line above the lores in strong relief; breast, flanks, and, to a less extent, the rest of the 

 underparts washed with pale rufous. 



The Isabelline Chat is found throughout Southern (or rather South-eastern) Europe, Asia Minor, 

 North-eastern Africa, and Eastern Asia. It has not been recorded from Central or Northern 

 Europe, and has never occurred in Great Britain, or, so far as I can ascertain, in Western 

 Europe. Erhardt says that it is found on the islands of the Greek archipelago, but neither 

 Von der Miihle nor Lindermayer confirms this statement. It has also been said by C. L. Brehm 

 to occur in Dalmatia; but this statement likewise requires confirmation. It occurs in Southern 

 Russia — and is said by Jacovleff to be very common throughout the province of Astrachan, 

 arriving early, and nesting in the holes of the steppe-rodents as well as in rocky localities close 

 to the town of Astrachan. According to Menetries (Cat. Rais. pp. 30, 31) it is very common on 

 the arid plains of the Caspian, especially near Bakou, close to the everlasting fires ; it was usually 

 met with in pairs, and is continually running about. It perches on the tops of the rocks, and 

 when there rises perpendicularly, fluttering and uttering its call-note zri, zri, zri, which is very 

 loud and deep in tone. When wounded it hides immediately in the cleft of the rocks. In Asia 

 Minor it is common, and breeds near Smyrna, whence I have its eggs taken by Dr. Kriiper, who 

 writes (J. f. O. 1869, p. 35) that it arrives in the neighbourhood of Smyrna early in April and 

 leaves after the breeding-season. Though about seven or eight years ago (as Dr. Kriiper informs 

 me in a letter just received) it used to breed in numbers in the neighbourhood of Turbali, it 

 appears not to do so now, and this last season he did not find a single nest. He heard of one ; 

 but on visiting the locality, which was close to the village of Hadschilar, he found that it had 

 been taken, and the old bird destroyed. Herr von Gonzenbach, however, procured both young 

 birds and eggs. Canon Tristram records it from Southern Palestine; and Mr. W. J. Chambers- 

 Hodgetts obtained it on entering Palestine on the south, at El Arish. Canon Tristram says that 

 it is a resident in the southern part of the wilderness of Judaea, and he found nests early in June 

 containing hard-set eggs. In North-east Africa it is common, and, according to Captain Shelley, 

 resident throughout Egypt and Nubia; and the late Mr. Stafford Allen told me that he found it 

 numerous near Cairo. Antinori (J. f. O. 1806, p. 240) records it as once observed at Galabat 

 and once at Kordofan. Petherick also records it from Kordofan ; and Captain Speke (Ibis, 

 1860, p. 247) met with it on the plateaux in the Somali country. Von Heuglin (Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 341) says that he found it in the Danakil country, between the peninsula of Buri and the 

 Gulf of Tadjura, the Somali coast and Southern Arabia. Mr. Jesse obtained a specimen at 

 Zoulla, in Abyssinia, in March, but did not observe it elsewhere. It was, he says, rather 

 plentiful about Zoulla then, but was not seen in May or June, nor at Massuah in August. 

 Mr. Blanford also refers to it as being common on the highlands of Abyssinia and in the plains 

 on the coast until the middle of March ; and Von Heuglin (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 345) says that it 

 breeds in that country in February,, and he found a nest containing two eggs in the mountains of 

 Semien, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, on the 28th of that month. He also saw half-fledged 

 young at Gondar in February. 



To the eastward the Isabelline Chat is found in North-west India and Siberia to China. 

 Messrs. Blanford and St. John brought back a large series from Persia and Baluchistan ; and I 



