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however, they say it is rare. I did not observe it ; nor is its occurrence recorded by Vernon 

 Harcourt in Madeira." 



To the eastward the Stone-Chat occurs throughout Siberia and India to China and Japan. 

 De Filippi records it from Turkmanschai in Persia. I have examined specimens from Cashmere ; 

 and Mr. Henderson (Lahore to Yarkand, p. 204) records it as " found throughout Cashmere, and 

 in Yarkand, on the banks of the Karakash river, and wherever there was grass and low jungle, 

 but not otherwise." Mr. A. O. Hume, referring to the specimens collected by Mr. Henderson, 

 says that those obtained in Yarkand in September and November are of the typical P. rubicola 

 race, whilst the males procured in June in Cashmere are smaller, and of the intensely black 

 P. indica type. As above stated, I am unable in a series to separate P. indica from P. rubicola, 

 and have been compelled to unite them. P. leucura (which is a resident in India, whereas the 

 present species is a migrant) is, as may be supposed, a perfectly distinct species. Speaking of 

 the present species in India, Dr. Jerdon writes (B. of I. ii. p. 125) that it is only a winter visitant 

 " to India, coming in about the end of September or beginning of October. It is found through- 

 out all India, extending to Assam, Burmah, and Tenasserim, but has not yet been noticed in 

 Ceylon. Buchanan- Hamilton, in his MS. notes, says that in the Bhagulpore and Gya districts it 

 remains all the year, building in thickets of reeds ; but he has doubtless not discriminated it from 

 Pratincola leucura, which I found a resident in those districts. I have seen it in every part of 

 the country, except the more wooded parts of the Malabar coast ; and it is never seen in thick 

 or lofty jungle." Dr. Jerdon surmises that the birds which winter in India may pass the summer 

 in Siberia, which is very possible, as the present species is found commonly there. Dr. G. Radde 

 (Reis. im S. von Ost-Sib. p. 247) writes that he met with both the typical European bird and 

 P. hem/prichii, the former on the shores of Lake Baikal, especially on the western side of the 

 lake, and the latter in the Bureja Mountains and Dauria. Some of the specimens, he states, 

 form a distinct link between the two forms ; and he thus considers P. hemprickii to be a mere 

 variety, more especially as some of his specimens have the base of the tail black and in others 

 this portion is white, though the white does not extend far up the rectrices. When at Berlin 

 in September last, I examined all the specimens of P. hem/prichii from Hemprich and Ehren- 

 berg's collection in the Berlin Museum, and found the amount of white on the tail most variable, 

 some having merely a small portion of white at the base of the tail, whereas others had only 

 the terminal third of the tail blackish brown. I cannot, however, look on P. hemprickii as the 

 same as the present species, but consider that it belongs to a fairly distinguishable subspecies or 

 race ; and I do not think that Dr. Radde could have obtained the true P. hemprickii in Siberia ; 

 specimens I have examined from Lake Baikal, where it is said by Dr. Dybowski to be common, 

 are certainly identical with our European bird. It is likewise found in Northern Japan, where, 

 according to Captain Blakiston (Ibis, 1862, p. 318), it is common amongst the low scrub in the 

 neighbourhood of the sea during summer ; and Mr. Whitely observed numbers in the swampy 

 ground near Hakodadi. Pere David met with it in small numbers in Mongolia during migration ; 

 and Mr. E. Swinhoe records it (Ibis, 1860, p. 54) as wintering in Amoy, (Ibis, 1861, p. 33) as 

 "common, seen in Hongkong as late as March," (Ibis, 1863, p. 298) as "occasionally met with 

 on the Formosan plains during winter," and (Ibis, 1870, p. 344) as " seen in Hainan about the 

 fields near Kungchow city early in February." Mr. W. T. Blanford (Ibis, 1870, p. 466) met with 



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