409 
by Mr. Claude Grant in South Africa. 
passing insect ; it also feeds largely upon ants. The call is 
somewhat Chat-like, and the flight is low and laboured, wdth 
rapid beats of the wings. 
The soft parts are :—Irid.es dark brown; bill, legs and 
toes black-brown.] 
305. Myrmecocichla bifasciata. 
Tv, Zuurbron, Apl., May (6). 
[This striking Chat was only observed at Zuurbron, in 
the South-Eastern Transvaal, between the middle of April 
and the first week of May. It frequented the larger 
boulders at the bases of the kopjes and hills, and in actions 
and habits resembled the true Wheatears. 
The soft parts are :—Irides dark brown; bill, legs and 
toes black.] 
306. Pratincola torquata. 
1. Western typical race (P. torquata typica ) :— 
CO. Port Nolloth, July, Aug. (10); Durban Bd., Mch., 
Sept. (4). 
2. Eastern race (P. torquata orientalis, subsp. n.) :— 
CG. Plettenberg Bay, Feb. (2) ; 2 j. Sibudeni, Oct., 
Nov. (7) ; Umfolosi Station, June, Juty, Aug. (15); 
Tv. Zuurbron, Apl., May (5); Wakkerstroom, Mch. (1); 
Woodbush, June, Nov. (5); Klein Letaba, Aug. (1). 
The fine series of this Stonechat collected by Grant 
enables me to distinguish two quite separable subspecies 
in South Africa. 
A Western race, from Namaqualand and the Cape Town 
neighbourhood, is distinguishable in the male by the re¬ 
striction of the rufous patch on the breast, which does not 
extend to the flanks or more than about half the length 
of the under parts. The female is even more distinct : it 
has a white patch on the abdomen distinctly marked out 
from the surrounding pale fulvous, and the under tail- 
coverts are pure white ; the chin and throat, too, are white 
with black bases to the feathers, and form a marked contrast 
to the rufous breast. 
In the Eastern race the rufous of the breast in the male 
