3. Back in the males cinerous.
227. S axjcola c in e r e a . White-rumped Grey Wheat-ear.
The next section of Chats, according to the arrangement of the
above-named authors, contains four species inhabiting South Africa.
The first three have the rump white, and of these Saxicola cinerea
and S. pollux have the second primary emarginate at the tip. Besides
this character, Messrs. Blanford and Dresser give the following as
distinguishing the present bird :—“ No black mark through the eye :
throat and breast, pale cinereous; rump and outer edges of all the
tail-feathers except the central pair, white.”
Le Yaillant found this Wheat-ear in the province of Outeniqua,
perching on bushes, always on the move from one to another, and
very wary. In flying they expanded the tail, exposing the white
mark ; they also had the habit of opening and closing the wing, so
peculiar to the Wheat-ears. A male is in the British Museum from
Great Namaqua Land.
They build at the foot of bushes on the ground. The female lays
four bluish-green eggs, minutely speckled with brown, the specks
sometimes forming a ring at the obtuse end: axis, 1 1"'; diam. 8 .
We found them abundantly at Nel’s Poort, nesting in November.
Mr. Atmore writes of them as follows:—“ Blanco, Sept. 10th,
1864. The Bock-Chat (8. cinerea) is abundant in the Karroo;—and,
by the way, how well this class of birds obeys the geology of the
country: wherever there is karroo soil you find them. The same
also with the ‘ Kalkoentje ’ (Macronyx capensis), which is found in
every patch of grass country, but never in karroo soil; for instance,
they are plentiful here, and proceeding northwards they do not occur
in the fifty miles of karroo you pass over on the way to Cango; but
in that narrow valley they are again plentiful.”
We transcribe the following description from the essay of Messrs.
Blanford and Dresser: —
Adult.—Upper parts to the rump brownish-cinereous; wings
brown, the coverts and secondaries with pale edges; lower rump
and upper tail-coverts white; tail-feathers dark brown, the outer
webs of all except the central pair, white, the quantity increasing on
the outermost feathers; lower parts pale isabelline grey; chin
whitish; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; ear-coverts pale
hair-brown. Culmen, 0'8 ; wing, 3'85 ; tail, 2'6 ; tarsus, 1T5.
Fig. Le Yailh. Ois. d’Afr. pi. 184, fig. 1.
228. S axícola d ilu ta . Pale-coloured Grey Wheat-ear.
Messrs. Blanford and Dresser were apparently justified in considering
this to be a distinct bird; at all events it is difficult to
assign it as the young of any of the South-African Chats. So much,
however, remains to be discovered concerning the plumages of these
variable birds that the number of species of these grey-backed species
may yet be diminished on careful observation. The describers give
the following diagnosis : “ upper parts to the rump pale cinereous;
rump and basal portion of all the tail-feathers, except the central
pair, white; shoulders white or whitish.” Unlike 8. cinerea, the
second primary is not emarginate.
This Wheat-ear is, as yet, only known from Damara Land, and the
typical specimens are from Hykomkap and Oosop on the Swakop
Biver. -Some mistake has occurred in the paper of Messrs. Blanford
and Dresser, where they state that they have “ seen three specimens
marked as males in Mr. Sharpe’s collection and' two in the British
Museum,” as there are only four specimens altogether in the
collections named and the only two which have the sexes marked
are determined by Mr. Andersson as females. We may add that by
the latter gentleman the species was considered to be the young of
“ Saxicola alpina” (his name for 8. leucomelcena). They may yet
turn out to be the immature birds of 8. anderssoni, but we believe
the young of 8. leucomelcena to be wholly brown.
The following is the original description of the above-named
authors.
Adult.—Upper parts to the rump, pale cinereous; shoulders,
rump, and upper tail-coverts, white; central pair of rectrices
blackish-brown; outer rectrices white with black tips, the black
usually running some distance up the external pair; sides of the
head and underparts very pale cinereous, becoming whitish on the
abdomen; under tail-coverts white and black mixed. In some
specimens the head and nape are paler grey than the back, and the
interscapulary feathers have dark shafts ; there are also dark shafts
on some of the lesser wing-coverts near the carpus. Total length,
about 5-5 inches: culmen, 0'8 ; wing, 4 '1 ; tail, 2'55 ; tarsus, 1‘22.
Fig. Blanf. and Dresser, P. Z. S. 1874, pi. xxxix. fig. 1.