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Show 224 MESSRS. BLANFORD AND DRESSER ON [Apr. 21, are in England, the third being the type in the Berlin Museum. When part xvi. of the ' Birds of Europe' was published, it was believed that S. mcesta, Licht., was identical with this species; and only when we visited the Berlin Museum, taking with us Canon Tristram's and many other types, did we discover that this was not the case. W e then likewise ascertained that Hemprich and Ehren-berg's specimen of <S. xanthoprymna is merely a young bird of this species, which therefore will bear their name. 9. SAXICOLA DESERTI. Saxicola stapazina, Licht. in Eversm. Reise nach Buchara, p. 128. no 12 (1823), nee Linn. Saxicola deserti, Riipp. in Temm. PI. Col. pi. 359. fig. 2 (1825) (type examined). Saxicola isabellina, Temm. torn. cit. pi. 472. fig. I (1829). Saxicola pallida, Riipp. Neue Wirbelth. p. 80 (1835-40), nee Atlas, pi. 34. fig. a (type examined). Saxicola atrogularis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xvi. p. 130 (1847). Saxicola salina, Eversm. Bull. Soc. Mosc. xxiii. pt. ii. p. 567, pi. 8. fig. 2(1850). Saxicola atrigularis, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 304 (1850). Saxicola gutturalis, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 35 (1854) (type examined). Saxicola homochroa, Tristr. Ibis, 1859, p. 59 (type examined). Saxicola montana, Gould, B. of Asia, pt. xvii. (1865). Saxicola atrogularis, id. /. c. Saxicola albomarginata, Salvad. Att. Soc. Tor. 1870, p. 507 (type examined). Adult male in breeding-plumage (Algerian Sahara). Crown, nape, and back sandy isabelline, the crown tinged with grey ; rump, with the upper tail-coverts, pure white ; quills black, narrowly margined with whitish; inner secondaries brownish black, broadly margined with sandy isabelline ; scapulars and larger wing-coverts pale isabelline ; median and lesser coverts black, narrowly tipped with white; tail black, white at the base ; sides of the head and neck, and entire throat to the breast glossy black ; forehead and a superciliary line dull white; breast and abdomen white, on the breast and flanks washed with pale rufous isabelline; under wing-coverts white ; axillaries black, tipped with white. Total length 5*25 inches, culmen 075, wing 3*5, tail 2*6, tarsus l'l. Adult male in winter (Egypt). Differs from the specimen last described in being rather greyer on the back, the black on the throat being somewhat obscured by creamy white margins to all the feathers; and the light margins and tips on the wing-feathers are much more fully developed. Adult female (Etawah, N.W. India, 19th Jan.). The upper parts are duller and greyer than in the male; the white frontal line and supercilium are scarcely visible ; the rump and upper tail-coverts |
