211 



SAXICOLA MELANOLEUCA. 



(BLACK-THROATED CHAT.) 



Muscicapa melanoleuca, Giild. Nov. Com. Petr. xix. p. 468, pi. 15. " Georgia " (1775). 



Saxicola xanthomelcena, Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. ace, "Egypt, Arabia" (1829). 



Saxicola eurymelcena, Ehr. torn. cit. fol. bb, '"Syria" (1829). 



Saxicola albicilla, V. Mull. Naumannia, 1851, iv. p. 28, "Abyssinia." 



Saxicola liendersoni, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 480. 



Saxicola liendersoni, Hume, 'Lahore to Yarkand,' p. 206, pi. xiii. (1873). 



Saxicola tolas, Severtzoff, Turkest. Jevotn. p. 119, pi. viii. figs. 1, 3, 4 (1873). 



Saxicola stapazina auctt. 



Figuras notabiles. 

 Giild. I. c. ; Hume, ' Lahore to Yarkand,' pi. xiii. ; Severtzoff, I. c. 



J ad. pileo, dorso, uropygio, supracaudalibus, pectore abdornineque albis immaculatis : facie laterali et collo 

 usque ad pectus nigris : alis et cauda. ut in Saxicola rufd picturatis. 



Adult Male in summer (Smyrna, 23rd May). Crown, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, breast, and rest of the 

 underparts, except the throat, pure white, the crown slightly marked with grey owing to the base of 

 the feathers showing through; throat down to the lower part, sides of the head extending slightly 

 above the eye, auriculars, wings, upper and under wing-coverts, and axillaries jet-black; the two 

 central tail-feathers black, except at the base, where they are pure white, the other tad-feathers white, 

 except at the tip, where they are broadly terminated with black, the outermost having the black 

 extending back to the centre of the feather; legs and beak black; iris brown. Total length 5| inches, 

 culmen - 7, wing 3 - 5, tad 2'5, tarsus 1-0. 



Adult Female in breeding-plumage (Smyrna, 13th May) . Head, nape, and back dull hair-brown ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts white ; tail as in the adult male ; wings blackish brown ; throat dull blackish, 

 obscured by dirty brownish grey ; underparts otherwise white, slightly washed with dull ochre. This 

 specimen appears to be an unusually old female. 



Adult Female in autumn (Smyrna, 11th September). Agrees precisely with the autumn female of S. rufa 

 described, except that the black on the throat extends much further down. 



Young Male of the year (Smyrna, 23rd July). Crown and back dull dust-brown intermixed with pale 

 rufous ; the white base of the feathers showing through here and there ; wings blackish brown, the 

 primaries narrowly edged, and the secondaries and wing-coverts broadly margined with rufescent ochre ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail white at the base, otherwise black ; throat and sides of the face 

 black, each feather tipped with pale rufous; breast and underparts generally dull rufous-buff, the 

 breast washed with pale rufous ; under wing-coverts and axillaries black, slightly tipped with dirty 

 white. 



Obs. In size I can find no appreciable difference between the present species and Saxicola rufa ; for the 



