Gray Bushchat

SCI Name:  Saxicola ferreus
Protonym:  Saxicola ferrea Cat.Mamm.BirdsNepalThibet[Gray,JE&Gray,GR] p.71,153
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Saxicola
Taxonomy Code:  grybus1
Type Locality:  Nepal.
Author:  Gray, JE & Gray, GR
Publish Year:  1847
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SAXICOLA
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Common Stonechat S. torquatus rubicola) L. saxum, saxi  stone; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit; "Gattung. Steinschmätzer. Saxicola.   ...  Sie machen den schicklichsten Uebergang zu den Fliegenfängern nach Gestalt und Lebensart; nisten auf der Erde oder in Löchern, und fressen blos Insekten, und zwar Käferarten und Fliegen.  *1. Großer Steinschmätzer (S. Oenanthe).   ...  *2. Braunkehliger Steinschmätzer (S. Rubetra).   ...  Ϯ3. Schwarzkehliger Steinschmätzer (S. Rubicola)" (Bechstein 1802); “Bechstein’s genus Saxicola  ...  contains three species only: œnanthe (Wheatear), rubetra (Whinchat), and rubicola (Stonechat). No type was originally designated, but Swainson (Zoologist Journ. iii. 1827, p. 172) subsequently fixed as the type Motacilla rubicola. Gray in 1841 and Seebohm (Cat. Bds. B. M. v. 1881, p. 362) made “œnanthe” the type; there can be no doubt, however, that Swainson’s designation must stand, and another name be found for the Wheatears” (BOU 1915); "Saxicola Bechstein, 1803, Orn. Taschenb., (1802), p. 216. Type, by subsequent designation (Swainson, 1827, Zool. Journ., 3, p. 172), Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 104). Some workers believe that this form could be split into as many as seven species (i.e. S. torquatus, S. rubicola, S. maurus, S. przewalskii, S. stejnegeri, S. albofasciatus, S. sibilla).  
Var. Laxicola.
Synon. Curruca, Fruticicola, Pratincola, Rhodophila, Rubetra.
● (syn. Oenanthe Ϯ Northern Wheatear O. oenanthe) Formerly this name was much used for the wheatears and similar chat-like species (see above).

saxicola
L. saxum, saxi  stone, rock; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit.

ferreus
L. ferreus  like iron, iron-colour  < ferrum  iron.

SUBSPECIES

Gray Bushchat (harringtoni)
SCI Name: Saxicola ferreus harringtoni
harringtoni
Prof. Mark Walrod Harrington (1848-1926) US botanist, zoologist, astronomer who ended his days in an asylum (subsp. Phaenicophaeus curvirostris, syn. Saxicola ferreus).

Gray Bushchat (ferreus)
SCI Name: Saxicola ferreus ferreus
ferreus
L. ferreus  like iron, iron-colour  < ferrum  iron.