!82 



in winter from the plumage they wear in the summer season ; for I have specimens obtained in May 

 and in December which are absolutely identical and closely resemble the adult male I have figured. 

 The grey tinge on the crown appears to be rather a sign of immaturity as regards the males, and all 

 those which are marked as being females by dissection have this grey tinge on the crown ; but the 

 males shot in Persia have it also very apparent, and all these were shot in the summer. The two 

 specimens in Canon Tristram's collection from Algeria have both the crissum and under tail-coverts as 

 nearly as possible pure white, but do not otherwise differ from the other examples. All the specimens, 

 however, constituting the entire series, agree inter se in having the inner webs of the primaries white, 

 and can thus be clearly distinguished from Saxicola morio. 



The present species and Saxicola morio have been so frequently mistaken for each other that it 

 is by no means easy to trace their respective geographical ranges ; but judging chiefly from 

 specimens I have examined, I infer that the present species alone occurs in Southern Europe 

 and North-western Africa; whereas it extends throughout South-eastern Europe and North- 

 Eastern Africa, and is there found with S. morio, which, however, is far less numerous than 

 S. leucomela. 



The present species lias been met with in Italy, where, according to Count Salvadori, a 

 single specimen was captured in Liguria in 1860, and is now in the Genoa Museum. Doderlein 

 says that it has never been met with in Sicily. Von der Miihle records it from Greece, and 

 states that he shot one in Maina. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley write (Ibis, 1870, p. 197) that 

 Dr. Cullen informed them it is not uncommon in summer near Kustendji, in Turkey, and 

 I needs there; and Professor von Nordmann speaks of it as very common in New Russia, 

 arriving in the month of February, and being, therefore, one of the earliest of the spring 

 migrants. Jacovleff states that it is one of the commonest species in the steppes of the province 

 of Astrachan, but he never observed it in the vicinity of the town itself or the Delta of the 

 Volga. Professor Bogdanoff says that it ranges as far as the Samarska Luka ; and Severtzoff 

 met with it in the Government of Voronege. Falk records it as not rare on the Central Volga, 

 the Kama, and the Oka. Captain Clark-Kennedy informs me that he observed it in pairs near 

 Smyrna in the month of May, and a friend of his observed it amongst the ruins of Ephesus. I 

 also find it recorded by Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1867, p. 95) as very common in Palestine 

 '• throughout the year in the rocky regions overhanging the Jordan valley, in the Judaean 

 wilderness;" and Mr. C. W. Wyatt (Ibis, 1870, p. 13) says that it is "the only Chat that is 

 universally distributed throughout the Sinaitic peninsula, occurring everywhere from the highest 

 mountain regions to the sea-shore." In Egypt, Nubia, Arabia, and Abyssinia the present species 

 decidedly predominates, though both it and Saxicola morio appear to occur. It is, however, 

 almost impossible to judge which notes refer to this species and which to S. morio, as scarcely 

 any of the travellers give descriptions which enable me to state with certainty to which species 

 they refer, though all seem to agree that two species occur. Von Heuglin (sub nom. S. lugens) 

 states that a Chat which I take to be the present species, is a resident in Egypt and Arabia, and 

 lives in pairs in the deserts and along the rocky shores, rarer in Nubia and the coast regions 

 of Sanakin. I may mention that all the specimens from Egypt I have examined belong to the 

 present species, and not to S. morio. Captain Clark-Kennedy informs me that he met with 

 two species in Egypt, one being very abundant in February and March, whereas the other was 



