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Show 1881.] BIRDS FROM SOCOTRA. 107 after a more accurate study we have changed our opinion. The Socotran species is altogether a smaller bird ; and the relative dimensions are different, the tail being decidedly longer in D. hcpsitala. It is also differently coloured, the tips of the rectrices not showing a well-defined large white spot as in D. madagascariensis, but only a narrow pale brown apical margin : this is constant. The feet are conspicuously larger in the Madagascar bird. So much, however, is certain, that D. hcesitata comes nearer to the Madagascar species than to any other ! " Met with on the trees in the date-groves ; also on the shrubs on the hill-slopes."-/. B. B. 3. SAXICOLA ISABELLINA (Cretschm.). Saxicola isabellina, Heuglin, Orn. N.A. i. p. 344. One skin (female) of this Chat, a well-known species of Eastern Africa and S.E. Asia. " In the valley Feragih and on the plain of Nogad, south side of the island. Met with perched on the shrubs."-L. B. B. 4. SAXICOLA MONTANA, Gould. Saxicola montana, Gould, B. Asia, pt. xvi. (1876). Mr. Seebohm tells us that this Chat (of which five males and five females are in the collection) is S. montana of Central Asia, and not, as we should have been inclined to name it, S. deserti. The most salient point of difference of these two nearly allied species is that in S. montana the white on the basal portion of the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries comes up to the shaft of the feather, instead of being confined to the interior margin. S. montana breeds in Tibet and Eastern Turkestan, but was obtained by Blanford in Baluchistan in December and March. " Common on the sands of the plains. Has a curious note, between a croak and a hiss."-7 B. B. 5. ANTHUS SORDIDUS, Riipp. Anthus sordidus, Heuglin, Orn. N.A. i. p. 326. Six skins of an Anthus in the collection come nearer to this species of Africa and Western Asia than to any other described form. They are, however, rather large in dimensions, and have the bill large. Moreover the plumage of the back is more mottled (especially on the rump) than is usual in A. sordidus. "On all the plains. Very common, and wonderfully tame."- 7 B. B. 6. MOTACILLA ALBA, Linn. Motacilla alba, Heuglin, Orn. N.A. i. p. 316. Four examples, apparently of this species. " Common on all the perennial streams, where they reach the lower plains."-7. B. B, |