and on the head with an indistinct paler eyebrow line, chestnut-buff rather than orange below, and less white on the wings. Both sexes' plumage is somewhat duller and streakier outside the breeding season. Distribution and habitat It has a scattered distribution across much of sub-Saharan Africa, occurring locally as far north as Senegal and Ethiopia. Outlying populations are found the mountains of southwest Arabia and on Madagascar and Grande Comore. It is non-migratory, moving only locally if at all. As a result, it has developed much regional variation, being divided into 13 subspecies. References Sources Boulton, Rudyerd & Rand, A.L. (1952). A collection of birds from Mount Cameroon. Fieldiana Zool. 34(5):35-64. Fulltext at the Internet Archive Urquhart, Ewan & Bowley, Adam (2002). Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola. Christopher Helm, London. Wittmann, U.; Heidrich, P.; Wink, M. & Gwinner, E. (1995). Speciation in the Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) inferred from nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b-gene. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 33(2):116-122. HTML abstract External links African stonechat - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Saxicola Chats (birds) Birds of Africa Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus