400 



2 



country where the present species has heen met with, will use their best endeavours to obtain 

 further information respecting it ; and I trust that before the present work is completed I may 

 be able to publish some additional notes on this most interesting species ; it is with a view 

 to obtain such that I issue the Plate with what little information I have. In describing the 

 above specimens Canon Tristram says that the " throat and breast are black instead of white ;" 

 but he omits to name the very distinct greyish white edgings to the feathers, which, indeed, 

 almost obscure the black colour ; but doubtless this is only the winter plumage, and I think it 

 very probable that, in the summer dress, these white edgings entirely disappear, and the throat 

 and breast become quite black. 



Although tolerably closely allied to Sylvia melanocephala, still the present species is very 

 clearly distinct from that bird ; for not only are the upper parts somewhat darker and the 

 abdomen much greyer, but the black coloration of the throat and breast is a very distinctive 

 character in both sexes. Canon Tristram lays some stress on the fact that the iris is yellow ; but 

 this I do not consider a characteristic difference between it and S. melanocephala, as this latter 

 species sometimes has a yellow and sometimes a reddish or orange-red iris. 



As yet nothing whatever is known respecting the nidification or habits of the present 

 species; nor, as above stated, has it been yet obtained in full summer plumage. 



The two examples figured and described are the types of the species, and have been kindly 

 lent to me by Canon Tristram, to whom they belong. They were both shot by himself at 

 Engedi on the 2nd February, 1872. 



