208 



Obs. An adult male from Algeria, evidently in early spring or winter plumage, Las the head, back, and 

 breast of a rich rufesccnt cream-colour, instead of white. 



Adult Female in autumn (Egypt) . Crown and back dull rufous, darker on the crown ; wings blackish 

 brown ; primaries imperceptibly tipped with sandy brown ; secondaries and upper wing-coverts broadly 

 margined and tipped with rufous; rump and upper tail-coverts white; tail as in the adult male; upper 

 part of the throat and sides of the head black, obscured by the feathers having rufous tips, lower part 

 of the throat and underparts generally pale rufesceut-buff, washed with rufous on the breast and flanks. 



Young. Closely resembles the young of S. melanoleuca. 



Obs. The changes of plumage which the present species undergoes are similar to those of S. melanoleuca ; 

 and I have therefore not described the female of this species in breeding-plumage, as it merely differs 

 from that of S. melanoleuca in having less black on the throat ; nor have I, for the same reason, 

 described the female in autumn plumage of <S. melanoleuca. The young of the two species are very 

 similar, and are most difficult to separate. 



Obs. The synonymy of the present species, of S. melanoleuca, and of &. stapazina is most difficult to 

 unravel, and requires some explanation. Edwards, I. c, figured under the name of the Russet-coloured 

 Wheatcar the present species as the male, and the Black-eared Chat as the female. Linnaeus (op. cit.) 

 in describing Saxlcola stapazina clearly refers to the figure described by Edwards as the female, his 

 description being as follows : — " M. fcrruginea, area oculorum alis caudaque fuscis," thus the Black- 

 eared Chat will stand as S. stapazina. Brisson (op. cit.) refers to Edwards's plate, and describes 

 (no. 37) the present species as the male, and S. stapazina as the female ; and in his plate and descrip- 

 tion of Ficedula vitiflora rufescens (no. 3G) he clearly refers to the Black-eared Wheatear in autumn 

 plumage. Vieillot first observed and pointed out (N. D. xxi. p. 424) that Edwards had figured two 

 distinct species under one name as different sexes of the same bird (but did not observe that Linnaeus 

 in his description of S. stapazina referred to the figure on the plate of Edwards representing the Black- 

 cared Chat); and he consequently retained the name of S. stapazina for the Russet Chat, and redescribed 

 the Black-eared Chat under the name of (Enanthe albicollis. Temminck also made the same discovery 

 as Vieillot, and with the same result, as he redescribed the Black-eared Chat (Man. d'Orn. i. p. 241) 

 under the name of Saxicola aurita, by which name it has since been most commonly known. 



The Russet Chat, or Russet Wheatear as this present species has been usually termed, is found 

 in Southern and South-western Europe and Northern Africa, being to the eastward replaced by 

 ;i clearly distinguishable but closely allied species, which differs in having the black on the 

 throat covering a much larger area, in some specimens very nearly joining the black on the 

 wings and scapulars. In Portugal the present species is found during the summer season ; and 

 Dr. E. Rey informs me that it arrives at Algarve, in Southern Portugal, in the first week of 

 April, and between the 6th and the 9th of that month numbers were observed on the coast, but 

 they soon scattered inland and commenced nidiheation without further delay. Lord Lilford met 

 with it commonly on the hills near Aranjuez, in Spain; and Mr. Howard Saunders writes to me 

 that " it arrives in Southern Spain about the middle of March, and is very generally distributed 

 throughout the country. It frequents rugged and partially cultivated ground, and ruins such 

 as those of Italica, near Seville, where the old Roman amphitheatre always contains a couple of 

 nests. I found one on a ledge in one of the vomitoria — a loose, untidy structure of bents and 



