235 



SAXICOLA MOEIO. 



(EASTERN PIED CHAT.) 



Saxicola morio, Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. aa (1829). 



Saxicola leucomela, Jerd. B. of India, ii. p. 131 (1863, nee Pall.). 



Saxicola leucomela, Gould, B. of Asia, part xviii. (1865, nee Pall.). 



Saxicola capistrata, Hume, Ibis, 1868, p. 233. 



Saxicola talas, Severtzoff, Izvest. Imp. Obsch. Estest. viii. pt. ii. p. 119 (1873). 



Figure notabiles. 

 Gould, B. of Asia, part xviii. ; Severtzoff, torn. cit. pi. viii. fig. 1. 



6 ad. S. leucomela persimilis, sed remigibus in pogonio interno nigris nee albo marginatis, et crisso albo 

 facile distinguendus. 



2 ad. haud a mare distinguenda. 



Adult Male (Chemkend, 5th March) . Differs from S. leucomela merely in having the inner webs of the 

 quills black, showing, when the wing is opened, a black surface, whereas the under surface of the wing 

 is white in S. leucomela. In the present species the under tail-coverts and crissum are usually pure 

 white. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. 



Obs. The chief character by which the present species may at once be distinguished from S. leucomela is 

 the colour of the under surface of the wing, which is invariably black, though rather less black in some 

 specimens than in others. One specimen from Lahore, in my own collection, has the under tail-coverts 

 slightly washed with rufous ; but all the rest have this part pure white. In measurements I find no 

 average difference between the present species and S. leucomela • for after measuring the entire series of 

 each species, and striking an average, I find the difference very trifling ; but specimens of each vary 

 inter se, and it would be easy to select one or two of either as being rather larger or smaller than the 

 other species, as the case may be. Specimens of S. morio vary as follows : — culmen 0*72-0*8, wing 

 3'62-375, tail 2 - 62-2"97, tarsus 1*0-1*07* and of S. leucomela as follows: — culmen 0*75-0*8, wing 

 3*5-3*8, tail 2*65-2*8, tarsus 1*0-1*09. A specimen of the present species, obtained in April in Mon- 

 golia by Pere David, and now in Canon Tristram's collection, has the feathers on the back edged with 

 dull brown, and the quills are dull dark brown. I may add that, as a rule, the present species has 

 more grey on the crown and nape than S. leucomela. 



This, the eastern form of our Pied Chat, occurs in Siberia, India, Persia, and likewise is met 

 with in South-eastern Europe, Syria, and North-eastern Africa, but is there much rarer than 

 S. leucomela. I have one single specimen from the Crimea, which is the only example of this 

 form amongst the numbers of Pied Chats I have examined from South-eastern Europe. So 



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