THE STONE-CHAT. 
Saxicola rubicola , Bechstein. 
Head and half way down the throat, black ; lower throat and 
breast, rufous ; sides of the neck, stripe on the wings and 
tail-covers, white ; belly and flanks, pale rufous. 
Saxicola rubicola, Bechst. Natur. Dent. iii. 694 ; Selby , i. 203. 
— Motacilla rubicola, Linn., And La Traquet Patre, Le 
Vaill. Ois. d'Af. iv. pi. 180; Temm . Manuel . i. 246. — The 
Stone-cliat of British authors. 
The geographic range of this pretty species, so 
familiarly known that a detailed description is un- 
necessary, is perhaps more extensive than that of 
any insectivorous or dcntirostral bird yet discovered. 
It is abundant at the Cape of Good Hope, where it 
remains the whole year; specimens of both sexes 
have been sent from Senegal, which, upon being 
compared with those of Britain and of Southern 
Africa, show not the slightest specific difference. 
The African males, indeed, have the rufous upon 
the breast darker and brighter than is seen in ours, 
but this is obviously the effect only of climate. The 
most northern limits of the species have not been 
accurately ascertained, since M. Temminck omits to 
state from what part of Russia it has been sent by 
Pallas. 
