215 



SAXICOLA DESERT! 



(DESERT-CHAT.) 



Saxicola stapazina, Licht. in Eversm. Reise nach Buchara. p. 128, no. 12 (1823, nee Linn.). 



Saxicola deserti, Riipp. in Temm. PL Col. p. — , pi. 359. fig. 2 (1825). 



Saxicola isabellina, Temm. torn. cit. pi. 472. fig. 1 (1829). 



Saxicola pallida, Riipp. Neue Wirbelth. p. 80 (1835-40). 



Saxicola atrogularis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xvi. p. 130 (1847). 



Saxicola salina, Eversm. Bull. Soc. Mosc. xxiii. pt. ii. p. 567, pi. 8. fig. 2 (1850). 



Saxicola atrigularis, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 304 (1850). 



Saxicola gutturalis, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 35 (1854). 



Saxicola homochroa, Tristr. Ibis, 1859, p. 59. 



Saxicola montana, Gould, B. of Asia, pt. xvii. (1865). 



Saxicola albomarginata, Salvad. Att. Soc. Tor. 1870, p. 507. 



Figurx notabiles. 

 Riipp. I. c. ; Eversmann, I. c. ; Gould, B. of xlsia, part xvii. (ptil. wst. et autumn.). 



d ad. suprk ochrascenti-isabellinus, pileo vix cinereo lavato : margiue frontali et stria superciliari ad nucham 

 albidis : uropygio, supracaudalibus, abdomine et subcaudalibus albis : cauda, nigra, basi obtecta. pure 

 alba, : remigibus nigricantibus, primariis vix albido apicatis : secundariis intimis latius dilute fulvo 

 marginatis : tectricibus alarum minoribus nigris, albido apicatis, majoribus isabellinis, ad basin nigris : 

 loris, ciliis, gutture, collo laterali et regione parotica, nigerrimis, pectore et hypocbondriis vix isabellino 

 adumbratis : rostro et pedibus nigris : iride fuscii. 



2 ad. suprk cinerascenti-isabellina : subtus pallide ochrascenti-isabellina, gutture cinereo lavato, et abdomine 

 albido vix isabellino lavato : cauda et alis ut in mari, sed sordidioribus, his sordide brunnescentibus. 



Adult Male in breeding-plumage (Algerian Sahara). Crown, nape, and back sandy isabelline, on the crown 

 tinged with grey, and fading into white towards the rump, which, with the upper tail-coverts, is pure 

 white ; quills black, narrowly margined with whitish ; inner secondaries brownish black, broadly mar- 

 gined with sandy isabelline ; scapulars and larger wing-coverts pale isabelline, the former tinged with 

 grey, and the latter black at the base, and washed with pale rufoiis isabelline ; median and lesser 

 coverts black, narrowly tipped with white ; tail black, white at the base ; sides of the head and neck, 

 and entire throat to the breast glossy black ; forehead and a superciliary line dull white ; breast and 

 abdomen white, on the breast and flanks washed with pale rufous isabelline; under wing-coverts 

 white; axillaries black, tipped with white. Total length 5'25 inches, culmen 0"75, wing 3"5, tail 2-6, 

 tarsus 1*1. 



Adult Male in winter (Egypt) . Differs from the specimen last described in being rather greyer on the back, 

 the black on the throat being somewhat obscured by the creamy white margins which all the feathers 

 have ; and the light margins and tips on the wing-feathers are much more fully developed. 



E2 



