| OCR Text |
Show 1874.] THE GENUS SAXICOLA. 223 brown and dirty white edges ; rest of the underparts white ; under wing-coverts black; legs and bill black ; iris brown. Young female. Similar to the adult female, except that the upper parts are paler in colour, and that the throat is not blackish. Hab. Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, and Persia. 7. SAXICOLA MCESTA. Saxicola mozsta, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 33 (1823) (type examined) . Saxicola philothamna, Tristr. Ibis, 1859, p. 58 (type examined). Adult male (summer). Crown and nape white, washed on the former with dirty grey ; back black; rump and upper tail-coverts rufescent white; outer rectrices bright rufous at the base, terminal half blackish brown ; quills dull brown, with paler margins; lores, throat, sides of the head, and neck jet-black ; breast and abdomen white; under tail-coverts pale rufous. Culmen 0*8, wing 3*8, tail 2-9, tarsus 1*2. Adult female (November). Upper parts sandy isabelline, darker on the back ; quills dark brown, with isabelline margins ; tail blackish brown, basal half of outer rectrices bright rufous; tail-coverts, both upper and under, pale rufous ; underparts buffy white. In winter the general colour of the plumage is duller and greyer, the head and nape of the male being dull brownish grey. Hab. Algeria, Egypt. 8. SAXICOLA XANTHOPRYMNA. Saxicola xanthoprymna, Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. dd. (1829). Saxicola erythropygia, Taylor, Ibis, 1867, p. 61. Saxicola mozsta, Sharpe & Dresser, B.of Eur. part 16, Feb. 1873, nee Licht. Adult male. Crown, nape, back, and wing-coverts dark brownish grey; forehead and a broad superciliary line extending to the nape white; wings greyish brown, narrowly tipped with dirty white; lower part of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bright rufous ; tail white at the base and to one third of its length on the central, increasing to about two thirds on the outer rectrices, remainder blackish, tipped with white; throat, sides of the face, and neck black; underparts dull white, washed with rufous on the flanks; under wing-coverts black ; under tail-coverts rufous. Total length 6-2 inches, culmen 0"6, wing 3 7 , tail 2 7 , tarsus 0'95. Female or young male. M u c h duller and paler in colour than the male, the eye-streak duller ; throat with whitish edges to the feathers, the black basal portions showing through here and there ; underparts smoky white; rump, upper and under tail-coverts dull orange-red. Hab. N.E. Africa ; Arabia Petraea. Scarcely any Chat is so little known as the present species; and we only know of three specimens existing in Europe, two of which |
