HARVARD UNIVERSITY. LIBRARY OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOÖLOGY. А MONOGRAPH OF THE TURDIDA, OR FAMILY OF THRUSHES. BY THE LATE HENRY SEEBOH M, AUTHOR OF ‘SIBERIA IN EUROPE; ‘SIBERIA IN ASIA, ‘CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM’ (Vor. V), ‘A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS,’ “THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE CHARADRIIDA, ‘BIRDS OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE, ‘THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS,’ ‘COLOURED FIGURES OF THE EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS, нтс. EDITED AND COMPLETED (AFTER THE AUTHOR’S DEATH) BY В. BOWDEER SHARPE, ПО EIS arc ASSISTANT-KEEPER, SUB-DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATA, BRITISH MUSEUM, VOLUME 11. М HENRY. SOTHERAN & DO. 87 PIQCADILLY, W. ax» 140 STRAND, Ү.С. 1902. ДУРА —(— FLAMMAM. PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, + %- a LIST OF CONTENTS VOLUME II. lidepage la пут аорта 1 UE ES RA QE E i List of Contents < са CO UNUM M CENE ы DL E ME List of Plates арма DUAE ARM NM I UR UM E ЧИИ MERULA мА 1 - и ES ВМТ 13 E МАХТМА Са с е аа I UE 15 о. 17 25 ВОО 19 BA зада i m GNU ET I ла Аа TEM ME 23 B TORQUATA а уа Оро do n азатты ud ia a M ms iO 27 " ORIENTALIS: О S ааа SIN LIN i ааа n M E AL PIE 33 а ее 55 s RUEMRORQUES , хата dui Т We LM MEME M Un D E 89 à SERRANA и ин 41 » ATBOREBIGMA уа па 000 ui а vider d а PR UE M S et ИИ 45 »- XANTHOSOELES. аа оро o do. ro c p ET E 45 т 47 e INFÜBCATA a O ОИ ОИ У ОО 49 » BAMOENNS ае dou cd Ир Б 51 » с 58 » IJUBCKTRA о Те 55 » AMENA ОД Шлак d ur MEE NM » IA one ua i o вам 2 qu Е 97. p». PALLIDIVENTRIS ki с ».. GIGANTODRA . ИУ ла асары IR LM RE ОИ vtl та nci ГОВОРУ УОЧИ iv MERULA CACOZELA . » NIGRESCENS ES NIGRORUM . . s; NIGROPILEUS . le SIMILLIMA . » BOURDILLONI » KINNISI. i LUDOVICLE. » FLAVIPES e VENEZUELENSIS » POLIONOTA . = MELANOPLEURA я PRITZBUERI . 2 POLIOCEPHALA . » TEMPESTI Е: ALBIFRONS . = CANESCENS . a PAPUENSIS . RN MELANARIA h THOMASSONI s» BICOLOR ‘i OLIVATRA x RORAIMJE no 122720 5 CASTANEA % KESSLERI a GOULDI . | SEEBOIIMI » ALBICEPS s FUMIDA . » X WHITEHEADI s SCHLEGELI . = CELEBENSIS АТАҒЫНА са Sr VITIENSIS aes A AN)! Е: VINITINCTA . » XANTHOPUS LIST OF CONTENTS. ГА е . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^ LI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ° . . . . . . . . — — — = - с" Page La Ў LIST OF CONTENTS. v MERULA MINDORENBIB Е 2 сыя... ео 5 REVELA = UNICOLOR а И тт N: AURANTIA и = NIGBIOEPS а аа ОСОРЕ ИИСИ ИВИ Т 5 SUBADABIS се так WORD D Nm LM GS 5 HORTULORUM и р РЕОТОМОМ ЖЕНА , 1 7. ве » CELENOPB а .- e.) 5. СК СЕС АПК c xx ee x OHRYSOLAUS = МА Ы УАР АТ қ а i JOU. НО СОТУН и 171 = REYPHROPEMURA N a CE иу и ы MEN T EE » - OBSCURA у. 3$ 245 02 га ОИСИ Са ОКТ ЕВ » BUBOBSOURAÁ ^. rl ДЕЕР У IM ООВ EE " PALLIDA ^. 74 Y ОЛЖАЛЫ ҰНЫ Cu Itu dA TRIN о ME ” ATRIGULARIS; t0 а O И TN: 44 МАИ МУ МИЛЕТ Тат атта О RUNOMUS M 5 li. Do CTUM C cU MW s D I IM X 99 MIMOCICHLA RUBRIPES: ыл атака oS CORTI лер аи PW T ақсы тет A O E pa PLUMBEA 4 0 ТАҒ o SS на a N 2 BOHISTAORAÀ САС» Ogi VOS uic оз sy ge) er A mI NN ы а О " BAVIDA и ARDESIAQA. о 23 А ALBIVENTRIS as ee d c C Pp o 25 APPENDIX 5. ne VP Qo e ОМАР UNE d a СО ADDENDA. т INDEX . Ортан lv Е Lisl OF РЕКЕ У VOLUME ПІ. D Plate LXXIX. MERULA MERULA . . . . . es oui coc PUO али 1 E LXXX. A MANDARINA. . . . 2 ОД eq cp NM E 17 I. LXXXI. 35 ВОВ 5 19 > LXXXI. 5s QU ÄUBIGINOTAT ИСОИ Е 2: 52 23 3 LXXXIII. 5 TOBQUATA A TAE UD tier, hire ы oa ыс: 4 27 з LXXXIV. ек io Eon v Uu HEN E MESE RE = 32 Е ORE г: AE уы а T ве = 35 p LXXXVI. Е aL a га а sss > 39 LXXXVII. HELE SERRANA ааа sss М 41 ~ LXXXVIIL га LBUCOPS Cor ғазы ант iue d oti y eos 47 ДО EXXXIX. Ма INPUSCA DA Е uv s а ee ae E 49 a XC. E SAMORNSIS се t ax Mu IL P a 51 » XCI. A ос м 53 m XCII. 3 GIGAS voy ус E ET FIC = 57 А ХОП. ai N 4.00.0 ЈЕ 59 E. XCIV. д DADDZBLA N ee а; ^ 61 E ХОУ. = О a 63 d XCVI. А NIGRORUM Е c dE cU уе » 65 С XCVII. ^ NIGROPILEES р. Mi 67 = XCVIII. н ШЫНЫНА СОБ sns 2 71 3 XCIX. зі BOURDIELONT E: 2022 сат а nn ЫЗЫ 4 15 = "CE га KINNISE е У eu ы 77 = СЕ а DUBIE ан ae Be | қ 2 79 је | СП, ncc ББ ое Ет EID sss = 81 Plate 99 35 35 39 23 35 33 ” 23 35 ээ 9 29 > ” 23 25 3» 23 35 25 » 23 39 „э ” وو 23 35 „э ” 29 СХХХУП. CIII. | CIV. CV. CVI. CVII. CVIII. CIX. CX. CXI. CXII. CXIII. CXIV. CXV. СХҮІ. CXVII. CXVIII. CXIX. CXX. CXXI. CXXII. CXXIII. | CXXIV. | СХХУ. CXXVI. СХХУП. CXXVIII. CXXIX. CXXX. CXXXI. CXXXII. CXXXIII. CXXXIV. CXXXV. CXXXVI. MERULA POLIONOTA ” 35 33 2» ” 35 23 35 3» ” 35 35 35 3 35 99 35 35 55 23 99 ” 39 99 9 » 35 ” 39 22 23 33 23 22 LIST ОЕ PLATES. (fig. 1) MELANOPLEURA (fig. 2) PRITZBUERI POLIOCEPHALA TEMPESTI CANESCENS . PAPUENSIS . THOMASSONI BICOLOR OLIVATRA . RORAIME EURYZONA . CASTANEA KESSLERI GOULDI . SEEBOHMI . ALBICEPS FUMIDA . WHITEHEADI CELEBENSIS JAVANICA VITIENSIS, 9 (fig. 1) LAYARDI, 9 (fig. 2) VITIENSIS, 8 (fig. 1) LAYARDI, d (fig. 2) VINITINCTA . XANTHOPUS MINDORENSIS . CARDIS . REEVEI . UNICOLOR . AURANTIA . NIGRICEPS . SUBALARIS . HORTULORUM . PROTOMOMELENA . CELENOPS . CHRYSOLAUS | | to face раде > 99 99 دو 35 23 دو ” 39 2, 39 22 33 35 221 2% 2, 2? 35 ” 55 x 33 » 35 33 э? 3 25 ” 23 23 33 LIST OF PLATES. 1x Plate CXXXVII.: MERULA ERYTHROPLEURMA GG и а № face рада 118 в СХХХТХ, à OBSCURA 5 175 >? CXL. " PALLIDA FE Qo у жо MC E E T. 185 x CXLI. n FEX . ИИ DUC M МИ C E ^ 189 5 CXLII. n ATRIGULARIS c (e ра ee 25 191 а CXLIII. "m МАМАМ ooa E i _ 197 т CXLIV. 5 RUFICOLLIS С НА ов А ре а T Н. 201 Е СХІУ. | ; Ом. n 205 3 CHILE | d CXLVII. MiuoCIOHLA RUBRIPES Із а ш а е 213 = CXLVIII. 4 PLOMBRA 4 03 0 таса аа aU EE 2 217 B CXLIX. » ARUESIACA LN E e мр а + 223 \ VOL b MERULA MERULA (Linn). BLACKBIRD. Le Merle, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 227 (1760). Le Merle de France, D'Aubent. Pl. Enl. pls. 2, 555 (1775). Turdus merula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 295 (1766). Blackbird, Lath. Gen. Syn. и. p. 43 (1783). Merula nigra, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. & В. Brit. Mus. p. 20 (1816). Merula merula, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 235 (1881). Sylvia merula, Savi, Orn. Тове. i. p. 205 (1827). Merula pinetorum, Brehm, Уба. Deutschl. p. 372 (1881). Merula truncorum, Brehm, t. c. p. 373 (1831). Merula alticeps, Brehm, t. c. p. 373 (1881). Merula carniolica, Brehm, t. c. p. 874 (1831). Turdus merula, var. syriacus, Hempr. & Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. bb (1833). Merula vulgaris, Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 167 (1833). Merula major, Brehm, Naumannia, 1855, p. 281. Turdus menegazzianus, Perini, Ucc. Veron. p. 56 (1858). Turdus dactylopterus, Bp. ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255, no. 3714 (1869). Turdus merula, var. montana, Savi ; Salvad. in Dresser's B. Eur. ii. p. 99 (1872). M. nigra (4) vel brunnea ( 9), hujus gutture nigro striato : pedibus saturaté brunneis : rostro flavo. Tar Common Blackbird is one of the species peculiar to the Western Palearctic Region, where it is generally distributed. It is an occasional visitor to the Faeroes, as recorded by Müller, and it is believed to have occurred in Iceland on two occasions—once in 1823, as stated by Preyer, and again in March 1860, according to Mr. Metcalfe. Professor Newton, in noticing these instances, remarks that, even if there has been no mistake in identification, in either case the species can only be regarded as a very exceptional visitor. Тһе Blackbird is a resident in nearly every part of the British Isles, but a large accession to its numbers takes place in autumn, and in some of the Outer Hebrides and in the Shetlands it is only known to occur on migration. I have also seen on the south coast of England small parties of Blackbirds frequenting the reed-lined dykes of Romney Marsh in the autumn, apparently on migration, which would seem to indicate that many of our home-bred Blackbirds cross the sea, as is the case with the Pied Wagtail and other species. Selby has spoken of the large numbers of Blackbirds which migrate to the coast of Northumberland, and Stevenson says the same with regard to the arrival of the species in Norfolk. In St. Kilda it does not nest, according to Mr. Dixon (Ibis, 1885, p. 80), and is only found in spring and autumn. Тһе late Mr. Robert Gray published the following interesting note on the present species in his work on the ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland ':—* The Blackbird is common only at times in the outer group of the Hebrides. On Lewis, although a well-known resident, it is VOL. 11. B 2 not so numerous as the Thrush; but the great improvements near Stornoway will no doubt attract the species more in future, and it may therefore be expected to increase. On Harris it is likewise resident, and also on North Uist, but in very limited numbers; while on Benbecula it is wholly absent in summer, being only a winter visitant. On Iona and Mull it is a winter bird only; but on some of the other inner islands it is resident. I have found several pairs of Blackbirds on Ailsa Craig; one of these had their nest in a turret-hole of the old castle ruins, nearly halfway towards the summit of the island. I remember, one very hot day in July, hearing a Blackbird sing in a cave there; it had penetrated to the inmost recesses of this dark abode, which must have been a familiar haunt, as on going in to ascertain its extent, I found the bird was able to steer directly out of it, without flitting with side jerks, until it regained the entrance. In some districts of Scotland Blackbirds have of late years multiplied to a great extent; the island of Arran, for example, since the destruction of birds of prey there, has been completely overrun with them. After the breeding- season is over, these birds, in Ayrshire, repair in great numbers to the sca-coast between Girvan and Ballantrae, seeking shelter in hot days under blocks of stone and large flat rocks lying on the beach. On one occasion 1 turned out eighteen Blackbirds from under a flat rock, resting on broken stones, by poking them with a walking-stick. I have seen Sparrow-Hawks and Merlins (apparently aware of this habit) hunting these rocks at midday, where the Blackbirds were all concealed, but pertinaciously beating about in the neighbourhood, knowing their quarry to be there, though unable in the meantime to dislodge it." In Ireland Mr. R. J. Ussher says that it breeds commonly in every county, but more sparingly in the extreme west, as at Valencia, Achill, the Mullet, and Western Donegal, where is is chiefly known as a winter visitor (Proc. R. Irish Acad. (3) iii. p. 409). In Norway, according to the note given by Professor Collett in Dresser's * Birds of Europe,’ the species is distributed “ over the whole of Norway up to the Polar Circle; and the Messrs. Godman found it nesting at Bodö above 67°. In the province of Trondhjem it breeds tolerably numerously, both on the larger islands, such as Hitteren, and in the interior. ЈЕ is particularly abundant in the coast-districts of Christiansund and Bergen, but is scarcer in the eastern dales, as, for instance, Gudbrandsdal, Valders, and (Esterdal. On the fell-sides it is no longer found in the subalpine region. Individuals passing the winter with us may be seen annually on the coast up to Trondhjemsfiord." In Sweden, according to Nilsson, it is a rare species in the north, but is found in the south at all seasons of the year, and in Skane it is even more plentiful in the winter than in the summer. The same author states that the Blackbird was found by Lóvenhjelm in Lyksele in Lapland, at the foot of the Issjak Fjeld; but neither Wheelwright nor Sommerfeldt met with it in that country, nor is it mentioned by Dr. Pleske in his work on the Birds of the Kola Peninsula. Von Wright states that it breeds very sparingly in Southern Finland, and he found families of these birds at Drumsó near Helsingfors, and on an island near Borgá, but Mr. Dresser never saw a Blackbird in that country. In Denmark it is said by Mr. Benyon to be the commonest of the Thrushes that breed in that country ; it is in some districts more plentiful than T'urdus musicus, but is not so generally distributed, most of the old birds migrating in winter. 'The young birds first arrive in Heligoland in the autumn migration in October, and the species visits the island till the middle of November, though some of the old ones, driven by want of food from the north, are found up to the end of December. In the spring they return in March, the old males being the first to arrive, followed a week or two later by the females and the young birds of last season, and the migration lasts up to the middle of April (Gátke, * Heligoland, Engl. ed. p. 253). 7 К In Germany the Blackbird is a resident, but in Fastern Prussia it is not at all common, according to Mr. Hartert (Ibis, 1892, p. 358). In Poland, Taczanowski records it as a common bird ; but in Russia it does not extend far north, and is unknown in the vicinity of St. Petersburg (Sclater, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vii. p. xviii). The Blackbird is found all over France, and in Spain it is, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, an abundant resident. Colonel Irby (Orn. Gibr. p. 35) says that it is very common in Andalucia, and nests near Gibraltar, its numbers being largely increased in winter by the arrival of migrants. In Portugal it is also abundant (Tait, Ibis, 1887, p. 85). In the Pyrenees it is resident, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, but its numbers are greatly augmented during the migration season (Ibis, 1884, p. 969) Colonel Irby found it plentiful near Santander (Ibis, 1883, p. 180), and Mr. H. M. Wallis states that in the Central Pyrenees he noticed it at Eaux-Bonnes, and as far up the Gave-de-Pau as St. Sauveur; at Argelés it was nesting (Ibis, 1895, p. 64). Mr. Eagle Clarke says that he did not observe it within the Delta of the Rhone, where it was apparently an uncommon bird, but he noticed a single pair near the east bank of the Grand Rhóne (Ibis, 1895, p. 187). Throughout Switzerland the Blackbird is common, and it is resident in Italy, where its numbers are increased by the influx of migrants. Неге a form occurs with a remarkable rufous female, the Merula montana of Savi, which, according to Count Salvadori, is not uncommon in the Maremma of Tuscany. Mr. John Whitehead (Ibis, 1885, p. 97) says that it is very common in Corsica during the winter, a few remaining to breed. He found nests with the full complement of eggs after the middle of May. In Austria and Hungary it is a resident species (Frivaldsky, Av. Hung. p. 50), as also in Bosnia (Reiser, Vogels. Mus. Sarajevo, p. 65) and Croatia (Brusina, Мой. р. 48). Mr. Reiser (Orn. Bale. ii. p. 49) says that it is found all over Bulgaria and nests, but it is more plentiful in some districts than others, and numbers are occasionally noticed during the autumn migration. In Montenegro it is also universally distributed, but in summer it affects the more alpine districts, along with Merula alpestris (Reiser and Führer, Orn. Bale. iv. p. 54). The Blackbird is resident in Greece, according to Lindermayer. Lord Lilford found a few breeding in Epirus, but it was not very plentiful there, In Southern Russia Von Nordmann states that it is sedentary and breeds, and Pallas records it as common in the Crimea. It is a summer visitor to the Government of Kharkow, according to Prof. Somow (Faun. Orn. Kharkow, p. 157), being a migrant in spring and autumn, and occasionally remaining in the winter. Specimens from Voronesch are in the Seebohm Collection, received from Prof. Menzbier. These examples show a certain similarity to M. intermedia of Central Asia. According to Sabanaeff the common Blackbird does not extend its range to the east of the Ural Mountains, and in Astrakhan Mr. Henke says that it is principally seen on migration and is found very rarely in the winter season (Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, p. 215). In the Caucasus the species is resident, and ranges as high as 7000 feet, as stated by Dr. Radde (Orn. Cauc. pp. 35, 272), who has specimens from Tiflis, Lenkoran, and Borohom. In Persia Dr. W. T. Blanford states that he found the species common in Mazandarán and Ghilán, and it was breeding in the better wooded valleys round Shiraz (East. Persia, ii. p. 157). Mr. W. D. Cumming has also met with it near Fao in January (Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, p. 109). At Trebizond Messrs. Dickson and Ross record this species as common in winter, and Mr. C. G. Danford procured a specimen at Zebil Taurus, in Asia Minor, on the 2nd of February, 1876. То Cyprus the Blackbird is a winter visitant (Lilford, Ibis, 1889, p. 314). In Palestine it breeds, according to Canon Tristram ; and a female bird procured by him, and now in the British Museum, is of grey plumage and resembles the hen of M. intermedia. Another B 2 4 specimen, however, in the Museum collection, obtained by Mr. Barody on Mount Lebanon, is more rufous. If the Palestine bird should ultimately prove to belong to a district, it will have to bear the name of Merula syriaca (H. & Е.). Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor has recorded a specimen of the Blackbird from Alexandria (Ibis, 1891, p. 474). A female specimen obtained by Fraser in Tunis is of the same grey type as the Palestine bird, as is also another female in Mr. Whitaker's collection: the latter specimen is remarkable for its bright yellow bill Mr. Whitaker (Ibis, 1894, p. 86) says that he found the Blackbird common in the wooded districts north of Feriana, but south of this town he does not remember to have met with it. In Algeria it is also plentiful, and in the province of Constantine it it far more abundant than the Song-Thrush, according to Mr. Dixon, who noticed it from the coast southwards, even to the oases of El Kantara and Biskra (Ibis, 1882, p. 568). Іп Marocco it was found everywhere common by Capt. Savile Reid (Ibis, 1885, p. 242). Favier says that it is resident near Tangier and very plentiful, nesting three times in the year (Irby, Orn. Gibr. p. 85). In the Canary Islands, writes Mr. Meade- Waldo, it is an abundant resident and breeds, while a good number of migrants also arrive (Ibis, 1889, p. 2, 1893, p. 187). Тһе Hon. Cecil Baring and Mr. Ogilvie Grant also brought a good series of specimens from Madeira, where they procured the species up to 5000 feet. I can perceive no differences between the Blackbirds of Madeira and the Canaries and those from other parts of Western Europe, and specimens from the Azores seem to me to be true M. merula. In the latter group Mr. F. D. Godman met with the species оп Fayal in February, on St. Michael's in March, and on Flores in May. | The following account of the habits of the Blackbird is extracted from Seebohm's * History of British Birds” :— “Тһе Blackbird is shy and wary ; and his haunts are chosen in situations well adapted to afford him concealment and seclusion. Не inhabits the woodlands, plantations, dense hedgerows, gardens, and orchards ; but perhaps the places he favours most are the shrubberies and thickets of evergreens. Here, where Ше laurels, the yews, and the hollies spread their glossy branches, and the ivy festoons almost every forest-tree, the Blackbird is found in greatest abundance, more especially во should lawns or pasture-fields adjoin them. Тһе Blackbird also loves the fences in the fields in summer, where the vegetation is thick and close, and more particularly so if small streams of water wander beside them. Тһе briars and the brambles growing most luxuriantly over the hazel-bushes, with here and there а guelder rose or blackthorn bush, afford a friendly shelter; and the banks clothed densely with herbage, wild hyacinths, primroses, anemones, and fern-tufts afford a fitting site for his nest. But in winter, when these situations lose their verdure, the Blackbird quits them for the seclusion and warmth of the evergreens in the shrubberies and gardens. In spare numbers the Blackbird also frequents the upland districts on those broken tracts of country which occur between the cultivated ground and the moors. Неге he frequents the dense thickets of thorn and bramble by the side of the little streams, or, further in the open, the tall holly bushes and gorse clumps occasionally inter- mingled with a birch or mountain-ash. Wherever the upland farmhouses nestle amongst clumps of trees and are surrounded with a partially neglected garden or orchard, the Blackbird will also be found. In fact he follows man to the wilds as long as sufficient vegetation exists to afford him the seclusion which he loves. “Тһе Blackbird is especially fond of swampy places and the neighbourhood of water. Wherever streams with well-wooded banks occur, there just as surely Blackbirds will be found ; and in the little swampy corners of woods and shrubberies they congregate, sometimes half a dozen birds taking wing together at your approach. Yet the Blackbird is not gregarious; and its presence here in company with its kindred is explained by a common purpose, the search for the food the swamps contain ; and each bird flits off solitary as it came. 1; 5 « Most birds become more or less vociferous at the approach of night, and the Blackbird particularly so. Ав you wander through the shrubberies in the evening you will often hear a rustling noise amongst the withered leaves under the shrubs and plants. A rustle and then a pause, another more hasty movement, and at last a Blackbird dashes rapidly out, and, uttering his loud harsh сту of alarm, flits off in unsteady flight and hastily disappears again in the nearest cover. Ав the darkness deepens you have good opportunity of watching their actions when retiring to rest. Conceal yourself under the spreading branches of a dark gloomy yew tree and wait patiently ; you will hear their loud cries in all directions, and catch occasional glimpses of their dark forms flitting hither and thither in the gloom: pink-pink-pink, tac-tac-tac, is heard on every side. Now a bird comes fluttering into the bush under which you are concealed, and his notes startle you by their nearness. A short distance away another answers: another and another in different directions also swells the noisy clamour; and you hear on every side their fluttering wings amongst the evergreens around you. As night comes on and all objects lose outline and distinctness, the cries cease and the birds settle down to rest. А solitary bird will, perhaps, dash past just fresh from the pasture-lands outside; or a frightened bird will utter his alarm-note as he shifts his quarters; yet all else is now silent, save indeed the few last evening notes of the Robin, or, perhaps, the purr of the Goatsucker. *'The Blackbird is with difficulty flushed. It is a skulking bird, and prefers to hop quickly under the hedgerows and brushwood rather than take wing, its motions partaking more of those of a mouse or a rat than of a bird. When compelled to take wing, its flight for a short distance is remarkably unsteady. Turning and twisting from side to side, it dashes quickly away, and, as a rule, just as suddenly and unexpectedly alights in the nearest cover. Across an open place, however, the Blackbird flies quite steadily, and his motion through the air is rapid. Rarely, indeed, does the bird fly at any great height; and should he be compelled to fly far, he seems to prefer skulking along the hedgerows or close to the ground from bush to bush rather than expose himself to view. Іп the pine-forests at Arcachon, where both the Blackbird and the Song-Thrush winter in some numbers, it was especially noticeable that, whilst the latter were generally seen in the loftiest pines, the former were exclusively found in the underwood, which there consists of furze, broom, and heath, the latter frequently attaining a height of from six to ten feet. As a rule, Blackbirds are extremely sedentary birds, rarely make excursions to any distance, and for weeks, nay, whole seasons, regularly frequent one locality. Тһе Blackbird's flights are almost entirely restricted to those taken from or to its feeding-grounds, should they not be immediately adjoining its haunts. From the shrubberies to the gardens it regularly passes, especially in the early morning and in the dusk of the evening; yet the bird is apparently always in а hurry, and anxious to reach the shelter and seclusion of its haunt as soon as possible. * There is no reason to think that the Blackbird is migratory in the British Islands. Many birds shift their quarters, either from the colder districts and those parts of the uplands which they haunt in summer, or they quit the open fields when the hedgerows are rendered bare by the wintry blasts ; but the bird is not a migrant in the accepted meaning of the word. In severe winters, however, the numbers of our resident birds are perceptibly increased by birds from the continent driven south by stress of weather. On Heligoland, that interesting little island, of all other places the best for observing the annual movements of the bird world, the Blackbird is regularly obtained on spring and autumn migration, clearly demonstrating the fact that the species is, at all events, a migratory one in the northern portions of its range. * Morning and evening are the times when the Blackbird usually seeks his food ; and then you can study its graceful attitudes and sprightly bearing to perfection. In spring and summer it is, for the most part, obtained from the grass-lands—the lawns and pastures near its haunts. At the morning's dawn, or when the sun is well down in the west, you can observe them with ease. One by one you can see them fly rapidly out of the dense shrubbery or wood and alight amongst the grass. 6 They remain motionless for а few seconds after alighting, with legs at a graceful angle, neck arched, head turned slightly aside, as if they were listening intently, and tail almost at right angles to mi body; for these birds, like Ring-Ouzels and Magpies, always elevate their tails upon alighting. They crouch low amongst the herbage, thus presenting an appearance the very model of easy though wary gracefulness and beauty. Few birds are more shy while feeding than the Blackbird; and the instant he is alarmed, he either crouches lower to the ground or retires into the fastnesses whence he came. Тһе Blackbird most frequents the pastures in the morning and evening—when the small white snails occur in largest numbers, and the earthworms come nearer to the surface of the ground or crawl out completely. Ап animating and interesting sight, indeed, it is to watch him seek his meal. As soon as he alights he pauses a moment, then hops quickly forward and begins to dig for a worm, or snatches a snail from the grass-stem. Then another pause with his head erect, then a few more rapid hops forward, and again he renews the digging motions, drawing the worms from their hiding-places, and, if they be too large to swallow whole, breaking them in pieces. Now he is tugging away at some tenacious worm, now exploring the heaps of manure in search of insects, every now and then pausing in his labours to look warily around. Іп this manner the birds will advance a hundred yards or more from their cover; but should any one of them utter its alarm-notes, the whole party seek shelter, leaving the pasture in a straggling train, the boldest birds sometimes tarrying until you approach them within gunshot. But all the Blackbird's food is not obtained from the pastures. Lurking amongst the hedgerows are numerous snails inhabiting prettily-marked shells ; these the Blackbird breaks by dashing them against a stone or even the hard ground. Insects and grubs are also eaten, and in autumn the berries of the mountain-ash, wild rose, and elder, and also wild fruits, as raspberry, blackberry, and sloe. Тһе Blackbird is also, to some extent, a graminivorous bird, and will feed on grain and various seeds. The bird’s love for fruit also makes him but a poor favourite with the gardener, who is ever on the alert to kill him for the cherries, currants, gooseberries, and peas that he pilfers in the season. But the bird’s thefts in fruit-time are amply repaid by the amount of undoubted good he does at other times of the year in ridding the garden and the orchard of many of their unwelcome pests. A little watching in the fruit- season is all that is necessary. His good deeds amply repay his little pilferings; and his sprightly form and tuneful song should be far more highly valued than a handful of fruit. “In autumn the Blackbird is often found in the turnip-fields, seeking the snails and worms which abound so plentifully in the damp loose soil under the broad leaves. In such numbers do the birds congregate that it is no uncommon thing to flush a dozen of them on an acre of turnips. Here they are flushed with difficulty, as they always prefer to run under the leaves rather than to take wing, unless absolutely compelled to do so. In winter the Blackbird's table is the hawthorn, whose berries form its favourite food. At this season of the year it also eats the berries of the misseltoe and the ivy; yet always, when the frost is absent, it frequents the grass-lands, manure-heaps, and little water-courses in search of the various insects on or near them. “The song of the Blackbird is first heard in the latter part of February, and continues with undiminished power until the end of May, but his notes are on the wane throughout June; and in July his mellow pipe is hushed during the autumnal moult until the advent of the following spring. Though rich and full in tone it possesses little variety; but still the Blackbird’s melody is one of the finest of all known birds’; for what it lacks in variation it makes up in compass and richness of tone. Early morning, about sunrise, and after five o’clock in the evening, in the latter part of April, are perhaps the times when the Blackbird’s powers of song are heard to best advantage. On the topmost twig of some lofty oak tree, or hid away amongst the foliage of the lower branches, he will sit in the dusk of early morning and warble his wild flute-like song, which floats gently on the still cool air, as he greets the now glowing eastern sky, and later the rising sun. Then again in ~ í the evening he sings as loud and full as in the morning; and you may note that his melody is particularly charming during a passing shower or thunder-storm, even in the middle of the day. Although the Blackbird warbles his delightful strains at all hours of the day, still it is in the morning and evening that the lover of nature can pause and listen to the bird's wild strains in fullest enjoyment; for he seems to strive his best to herald the approaching day and sing its requiem in his choicest tones. The Blackbird's alarm-notes have been previously noticed, and resemble most closely those of the Ring-Ouzel. Тһе call-note of the male bird in the breeding- season resembles the call-note of the Robin—a kind of wild piping cry, indescribably plaintive and beautiful. The female bird is not nearly so noisy as her mate. She is perhaps still more skulking in her habits, and in the breeding-season especially is rarely heard to utter a sound. “ Blackbirds are extremely pugnacious creatures during the mating-season. A little before the period of the vernal equinox it is no uncommon thing to see the male Blackbirds fighting with perfect fury, and chasing each other rapidly through the branches until one comes off victorious and the other slinks silently away. Most birds in the mating-season are more or less pugnacious, although peaceable enough at other times; but the Blackbird may be often seen displaying animosity towards its own species at all seasons of the year. The Blackbird pairs early іп the season ; but its nest is not found so early as that of the Song-Thrush or the Storm-cock. "Its chief breeding-haunts are the woods, the shrubberies, pleasure-grounds, gardens, and hedgerows of the highly cultivated districts. Тһе site for the nest is a varied one, embracing at times very singular situations. Preference, however, is given to evergreens. Its nest is placed far up the ivy-covered branches of the tallest trees, or amongst the ground-ivy, in the gloomy yew-trees, snugly buried under the broad-leaved laurels, hid from view in the holly's impenetrable and glossy foliage, and, more rarely, in the dark and frowning branches of the cedars and the pines. А favourite situation for a Blackbird's nest is amongst the ivy growing on walls, especially where a few stray brambles hang over to support it, the materials of the nest being artfully interwoven with them. It is also found pretty frequently on the ground in the banks of wooded ravines, amongst fern and hyacinths, and also in hedges. In all these varied situations, however, the materials of the nest are the same; and often little or no attempt is made to conceal it. Curious sites, indeed, are sometimes chosen. Тһе Blackbird has been known to make its nest on a stone projecting from a wall, with no other support whatever; in another instance under the eaves of a shed ; whilst a third was placed amongst the roots of a large tree, far under a bank, in just such a situation as a Wren would select for a nesting-site. The nest passes through three stages before it is completed. It is composed, first, of coarse grasses, amongst which a few twigs are sometimes woven, a little moss, and dry leaves. This somewhat loosely built structure is lined with mud or clay, when it is a difficult matter to distinguish it from an unfinished nest of the Song-Thrush. This mud-formed cavity is finally lined. very thickly with finer grasses, admirably arranged, and forming a smooth bed for the eggs. When completed and dry, the nest of the Blackbird is very firm and compact —a proof of which may be seen in the number of their nests which remain intact through the storms of winter, forming refuges and larders for the field-mice. In form the Blackbird's nest is somewhat shallow, and is usually a large, bulky structure. The eggs of the Blackbird are from four to six in number, although this is in some few cases exceeded, for nests have been known to contain eight eggs. They differ considerably in size, form, and colour: some specimens are exceptionally large, others small; some are quite pear-shaped, others almost round. Тһе usual colour is a bright bluish green, spotted, streaked, clouded, and blotched with rich reddish brown and various tints of purple. Some specimens have most of the spots and streaks round the large end of the egg ina zone or band; others are finely blotched; whilst some specimens are so highly marked as to hide all trace of the ground-colour. Varieties of the Blackbird's eggs are occasionally met with very 8 Apropos of these light-coloured eggs, f Blackbirds built their nest in their eggs were remarkable similar to the eggs of the Starling, pure and spotless. Dixon writes that *in Derbyshire, for three successive years, а pair 0 a spreading laurel, in exactly the same situation yearly; and each season for being pale blue and spotless. This pair of birds produced during this period some thirty eggs, all similar in colour, thus affording considerable proof that the colour of birds' eggs is to a great extent hereditary. I have known similar instances with the Starling, the Titmouse, and the Robin, where for several seasons the eggs have possessed certain peculiar characters. The eggs vary from. 1:35 to l inch in length, and in breadth from -9 to 79 inch. The Blackbird usually rears two, and sometimes even three broods in a year, nests containing newly laid eggs not unfrequently being found in July and early in August. The young birds are fed on worms, snails, grubs, and insects ; and the parent bird tends them but a short time after they quit the nest. When visiting the nest with food, both male and female birds are extremely cautious; and should they obtain a glimpse of any intruder, they will sometimes fly restlessly about for hours with the food in their beaks rather than betray the site of the nest. Both the male and female bird assist in hatching the eggs and rearing the young; but the female is by far the most frequently found upon the nest; and she conveys the greater part of the food to the young as well. In the rearing-season the male Blackbird sometimes warbles as he flies through the air to and from the nest." Nestling. General colour above rufous-brown, the head and back streaked with rufescent centres to the feathers, which have blackish margins; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dusky blackish-brown, the latter mesially streaked and broadly edged with rufous; wing-coverts blackish- brown, with distinct triangular spots of rufous, smaller and nearly obsolete on the greater series ; primary-coverts, quills, and tail blackish-brown; sides of face and sides of neck brown streaked f body dull rufescent, the feathers edged with dusky brown, especially with rufous; under surface o haft-lines are evident, as they are also on the flank-feathers distinct on the breast, where whitish s and under tail-coverts, being very distinct on the latter. Adult male. General colour above and below black, yellow ; feet and claws dark brown or black; iris hazel; culmen 1:0, wing 5:05, tail 9:7, tarsus 155, Young males after their first moult can generally be recognized by their black bill, but not invariably, for І have examined specimens killed in the first winter in which the bill is yellow, with the culmen and tomia more or less black. A surer way of distinguishing a young male Black- bird from an old one in the winter plumage is by the brown wings, the primary-coverts and primaries being always dark brown in the immature birds. The black on the under surface of the body is also never so pure, and even in the succeeding spring remains of brown edgings to the breast- feathers may be traced. In the first winter the young males display great diversity of plumage, and scarcely two individuals are alike, the feathers of the under surface being edged with rufous-brown, which fades to buff, or even to dull white. The throat is often white, streaked with black, and the breast- The bill is sometimes yellow, sometimes black, and feathers sometimes show whitish shaft-lines. often parti-coloured. Тһе black plumage of the first spring is intensified by the abrasion of the pale edgings to the feathers of the under surface, of which, however, some traces can always d often a little patch of light-edged feathers remains, general on the including the wings and tail : bill orange- eyelid orange. Total length 10 inches, be distinguished, an fore-neck. The greater or less amount of pale edging on the breast-feathers seems to me to depend on the vigour of the bird, and a very curious specimen is in the British Museum: it was shot by myself at Avington in Hampshire in November, and is apparently a perfectly old male. It had evidently been seized by a cat or а hawk, and could not fly, as the whole of the flight-feathers of 9 the right wing had been torn out, and a wound inflicted on the chest. This damage was being repaired by a moult, and it is curious to note that the new feathers were those of the young plumage of the first autumn. Adult female. Differs from the male. Above dark olive-brown ; the wing-coverts like the back; the quills sepia-brown, externally washed with dark olive; tail blackish-brown ; lores dusky, surmounted with a slight shade of ashy; ear-coverts dusky brown, with narrow whitish shaft-lines ; cheeks and throat pale ashy, thickly streaked with broad black centres to the feathers; fore-neck and chest more reddish-brown, shading off into dusky grey on the breast and abdomen and into olive оп the flanks, the lower flanks and under tail-coverts being dark ashy brown; the fore-neck and chest spotted with black triangular tips to the feathers, which have obsolete whitish shaft-lines ; thighs brown; under wing-coverts and axillaries dull ashy brown ; quillining paler ashy. Total length 10 inches, culmen 0:95, wing 5:0, tail 9:6, tarsus 1°35. Among the female Blackbirds there seems to be a greater variation than among the males, and the younger birds in their first winter appear to be more rufous, the black spotting on the throat and breast being very distinct. At the same time it is evident that the female Blackbirds incline generally to а rufous phase, in which the greyish colour of the throat and chest is replaced by rufous. The older birds become blackish above instead of olive-brown, and a cindery shade pervades the whole of the under surface, the throat alone being greyish-white with black spots and streaks, which become more or less obsolete on the breast, where they are either represented by blackish triangular spots or by black centres to the feathers. Тһе grey of the breast and abdomen is obscured by ashy-white margins after the autumn moult; but these edgings gradually become abraded, leaving the under surface of the body much darker. Тһе bill is at first dark brown, but in old birds it becomes nearly as yellow as in the males. The species undoubtedly varies considerably in size, the specimens from Western Europe being smaller than those from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (M. intermedia). This will be seen from the following measurements of the wings of the specimens in the British Museum :— M. merula. Males. Females. Great Виа e en 4:8-5:95 4:7-5:05 France i АА ИДЕ oa] 475-495 Holland а st E TT 4:95 a Helgoland! wg, GG COR 505-52 4:9-5:2 Hunsary о s 5:0 49 о 49 Роса 48 пр Azores Желе На an ss 4:9-5:0 45 Madeira К 4:9-5:1 47-49 Canaries ет теат nen 48-51 кер tumis io e Ол 225 49 Marocco а реа tas Duc STE 5:0 fe: Parestine We s а а 4:85-4:9 48 Asia Minot ee e 49 ее > 49 Vioronesch as о. 5:3 51 Persia r a та 5:05-5:2 VOL. II. 4 10 M. intermedia. Males. Females. Marketan e а e 5:45 BOD EI ee 5:25-5:5 5:35-5:55 Аа a qu са Ж 5:5 52 DAI ss о Das је 5:15-5:8 4:95-5:0 It will thus be seen that the measurements of the European and Central-Asian Blackbirds overlap, and the grey-plumaged female of the latter is matched by specimens from Tunis and Palestine (M. syriaca). A curious specimen with a claw on the wing is figured іп Dresser's * Birds of Europe. It is the type of the species called Merula dactyloptera, which was supposed to have come from Syria. Count Salvadori has, however (Ibis, 1884, p. 214), discovered a MS. note of the late. Marquis Antinori to the effect that the specimen in question was obtained by himself, not in Syria, but near Smyrna in Asia Minor! Не sent it home with the name of Merula unguiculata attached to it, but he did not consider it to be anything but an abnormal variety of the Common Blackbird. Count Arrigoni degli Oddi has written some interesting papers on peculiar varieties of the Blackbird found in Italy, wherein white bands are developed on the wings and tails of the birds. He has very kindly sent me the following synopsis of his facts recorded on the subject :— * I have observed that, independently of locality, there is found in Italy a variety of Merula merula, which, especially in the young ones, has the tail and sometimes the wings banded symmetrically with whitish. This anomaly usually disappears in the first year of the bird's life, but it lasts longer when it is observed in the adult ones. I have called it urofasciatura and uropterofasciatura (i. e. tail-banded and tail-wing-banded). “The uropterofasciatura presents itself on the wings and tail, and in some cases it is probably a form of albinism and also a modification of the latter, if we admit that the feathers remain unchanged. It is sometimes quite regular and complete; but sometimes we observe instead only the urofasciatura, which is the banding of the tail alone. It is partial or imperfect uroptero- Jasciatura, because I think that the urofasciati specimens at some time of life would be uropterofasciati, viz. with the complete development of the anomaly. The difference between the greater or less extension of white or black on certain feathers should be ascribed to variations such as one remarks in every case of abnormality. The amount of space in the tail occupied by the band varies from a third to a half or more. Regarding its situation, the band crosses the base, the middle, or the tip, or it may occupy the centre of the tail and be divided in two by a narrow zone of a darker colour. ‘The colouring may be white, dirty-white, pearly-grey, dark grey, &c.; but this, in my opinion, is of secondary importance, for I think that the zone appears from the fading of the colour and disappears by darkening, so that being white in its fully complete state it assumes other shades during the periods of formation and disappearance. Тһе discoloration of the band may not take place in the same way on all the feathers, but in patches—that is, first on one part, then in the following feather, and so on to the outer ones. In some it occupies the whole tail, in others a very small part only of the latter. Тһе banding on the wings would be marked in species which had wings like those of Lanius excubitor and L. auriculatus, according as it was more or less developed: it is more visible when the wing is folded, because it only or more particularly occupies the outer webs of the feathers. We have special cases in which we notice how the anomalous colouring of the wings disappears with less rapidity on the secondaries, which assume the band more easily, and we notice how different it is in the primaries. 11 “Тһе abnormality appears at the age of two months or a little more, disappearing at the еросһ of the first moult by the blackening of the light portion of the feathers. The white marking is less seldom seen in adult specimens and then it lasts a long time, and 1 have observed it for several consecutive years. * Under microscopical examination the shaft of some of the tail-feathers of birds affected by this abnormality seemed as if the birds were out of health. "Taking this fact into account, and that such birds are weaker than ordinary individuals, we must conclude that the abnormal plumage is really the effect of a retarded and irregular moult. Their system being weakened, they would fall into an unhealthy condition, and it is certainly very difficult to keep them alive. Albinism is associated with atavic characters in the disposition of the young birds. "The position occupied by the whitish band on a regular portion of the plumage seems to me to be explained by atavic phenomena, and one can thus understand the reason of an interesting process. Regarding the appearance of the zones, it seems that the one on the tail comes first, if not at the same time as that on the wing. Тһе band seems to disappear without any influence of moulting, and even sometimes without any partial abrasion of the feathers. For the various positions of the band on the tail what reason can we give? The zone which from its atavic character resembles that of other species may be formed in that part which by the weakness of the bird, or from some other cause, is more liable to change: sometimes the zone is patterned in the centre of the feathers, being margined above and below by a darker colour, as in the Peewit and Golden Eagle. Sometimes, however, the zone occupies a different area by its extension and situation, and it is very probable that in the progression of the darkening of the tail the differences which we have noted with regard to the extension and the position of the zone should be attributed to the difference in the age of the birds, as I have observed with regard to the colours of the latter” У. The descriptions are taken from the series of birds in the British Museum, and the specimens figured are a pair of adult birds from Heligoland in the Seebohm Collection, the young bird being from Sheffield in the same Collection. [Е. B. S.] * Of. Arrigoni degli Oddi (E.), “ Sulla Colorazione a fascie in alcuni individui giovani della Merula nigra,” Atti R. Ассай. Scienze di Padova, vol. iii. disp. iv. (1887), and **Studi sugli Uccelli uropterofasciati,” Atti Soc. Ven.-Tr. Sc. Nat. vol. xi. fasc. ii. (1890) con tav. са MERULA INTERMEDIA, Richmond. CENTRAL-ASIAN BLACKBIRD. Turdus merula (nec L.), Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 64 (1873). Merula vulgaris (nec Selby), Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 189 (1876). Merula merula (nec L.), Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. part 8, p. 72 (1889). Merula maxima (nec Seebohm), C. Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 105; Pleske, Wiss. Result. Przew. Reis. ii. p. 17 (1889) ; Sharpe, Sci. Results 2nd Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 91 (1891). Merula merula maxima (nec Seebohm), Stolzm. Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscou, 1892, p. 402, 1897, p. 74. Merula merula intermedia, Richmond, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xviii. p. 585 (1895). M. similis M. merule, sed рал ПӘ major, et feeminá magis grisescente distinguenda. Tug Blackbird of Central Asia has been admitted of late years to be somewhat different from the common M. merula of Europe, but most writers, myself included, have naturally supposed that it was identical with the Kashmir Blackbird. Mr. C. W. Richmond has, however, recently thrown a new light on the subject, owing to the rediscovery, by that excellent naturalist Dr. W. L. Abbott, of the adult М. maxima in the mountains of Central Kashmir. The two specimens of M. maxima obtained by Dr. Abbott so much exceed in their dimensions the Blackbirds of Central Asia, that Mr. Richmond has separated the latter under the name of Merula merula intermedia. Beyond its larger size, the male of the Central-Asian Blackbird presents no difference from the male of the Common Blackbird of Europe, but the female is usually a greyer bird, and on that account I should at once have been willing to recognize M. intermedia, but for the fact that Blackbirds having larger dimensions and grey females are found in other parts of the Western Palearctic Region, and in the same localities with these grey-plumaged females occur specimens which cannot be separated from the hen Blackbirds of other parts of Europe. In the British Museum the examples of M. intermedia tend to confirm Mr. Richmond's characters for the Eastern race of M. merula, and he is probably quite correct in his surmise that M. maxima of Kashmir will be found to be a distinct resident form peculiar to the higher regions of the last-named country. The definition of the exact habitat of M. intermedia, however, is not so easy, for, as 1 have pointed out in my article on M. merula, grey females are found in North-eastern Africa and Palestine, and the Blackbirds of Eastern Europe are larger, as a rule, than those of the Western part of the Continent. Itis therefore quite clear that the question of the races of M. merula is not yet settled. Meanwhile I must recognize Mr. Richmond's name of M. interm Blackbird. Its only known breeding-place is apparently in Turkestan (vide infra). Dr. Scully found the species in Western Turkestan in winter and states that it migrated to the northward in Dr. Abbott's specimens were obtained in the Thian-Shan Mountains in November, and nd November in the edia for the Central-Asian spring. the Seebohm Collection contains examples procured by Przewalski in October a 'Thian-Shan range and at Aksu, the locality whence came Dr. Abbott's type. According to Dr. Pleske (Wiss. Result. Przew. Reis. ii. p. 17), Przewalski obtained the species first on his journey to Lob-nor during the first half of September 1876, in the upper reaches of the 14 Kung and оп the River Zanma: in the last-named district he also met with it in May 1877. Оп the southern slope of the Thian Shan he saw an example in the wooded ravines of the Balgantai-Gol, and he twice procured the species in the valleys of the Lower Tarim in winter. Again he met with it wintering in Gass in November and in the Oasis of Aksu in 1885. In October of the latter year he noticed it in the brush-wood of the Uital ravines, on the southern slope of the Thian-Shan Mountains, so that it appears to spend the summer in the woods of the northern slopes of the latter range and to winter in the lower portions. During the Second Yarkand Mission, Dr. Stoliczka found the species common near Bora and Yangihissar in November. It was also obtained near Yarkand in November, and both Dr. Stoliczka and Colonel Biddulph met with this Blackbird at Káshgar in January. At Bora the native name was “ Ката Shachshák,” but near Yarkand Dr. Scully says that it is known as the * Maina." The latter observer says that the Blackbird is common in winter near Káshgar and Yarkand. “It seemed to keep principally among Elewagnus trees and thorn-bushes in the vicinity of unfrozen bits ofwater. It migrated northwards in spring, repairing to the hills and the country about Marálbáshi, and it seemed to feed principally on berries &c." Iu the Seebohm Collection are female birds procured by the late Dr. Severtzoff at Tashkend in September, November, and December; and Severtzoff states (Turkest. Jevotn. p. 64) that it breeds in the north-eastern, north-western, and south-eastern districts of Turkestan, and is also found in winter in these localities, but it is only met with in the south-western part of the country in winter (cf. Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 332). It breeds in the districts of the larch-woods, apple- and ash- groves of the Karatau and the lower Thian-Shan Mountains to an altitude of 4500 feet, or in some places to 7000 or 8000 feet, as well as in the fir- and birch-woods of the Thian Shan to an altitude of 8500—10,500 feet, or the juniper district. In the lower Thian-Shan Mountains it is found in winter, as also in the cultivated districts, the grassy steppes, and the gardens to 3000 or 4000 feet. Throughout the latter districts it also occurs on migration (cf. Dresser, 1. c.). Professor Menzbier has recorded the species from the Upper Tarim River (Ibis, 1885, p. 356). Specimens from Ferghana, procured by Severtzoff in January and February, are in the Seebohm Collection, and Stolzmann mentions that several specimens were obtained at Khokand in January, February, and March, and at Marguelane in October, by Mr. Barey (Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscou, 1897, р. 74). The same naturalist met with the Eastern Blackbird (which Dr. Stolzmann calls Merula merula maxima) at Merv in December and at Soultan-Bent in November (Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 1892, p. 402). The late Dr. Aitchison, during the Afghan Boundary Delimitation Commission, obtained specimens at Khusan, on the Hari-Rud, on November 22nd, and again at Bala-Murghab on the 14th of December, 1894 (Sharpe, Tr. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. pt. 3, p. 72). Colonel Swinhoe (Ibis, 1882, p. 106) procured many specimens near Kandahar, and says that the species is common in the district in winter. The male of M. intermedia does not offer any characters for separation from M. merula beyond its slightly larger size, the wing measuring from 6:2 to 5:5 inches. According to Dr. Stoliczka a male bird from Káshgar had the bill yellow, streaked with black about the base, the feet black, the iris dark brown, and the eyelid yellow: total length 11:4 inches, culmen 1:15, tail 4-5, tarsus 1:4, The female of M. intermedia is a much greyer bird than that of M. merula: the wing measures from 4:9 to 5:5 inches. Dr. Stolzmann (Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscou, 1892, p. 402) has already directed attention to the increased size of the Blackbirds of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, and their gradual approach to the dimensions of the Central-Asian bird, and points out that the specimens from the Caucasus are intermediate. He also draws attention to the fact that the claws are larger in the more eastern birds, [R. B. 8.] MERULA MAXIMA, Seebohm. KASHMIR BLACKBIRD. Merula vulgaris (nec Linn.), Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 137. Merula maxima, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 405 (1881); Oates, Faun, Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 123 (1890, pt.). Merula merula maxima, Richmond, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xviii. p. 486 (1895). M. similis M. merule, sed major: аја 5:85 poll. Tur type of this species is a young bird procured by Jerdon in Kashmir and now in the Tweeddale Collection in the British Museum. The wing in this specimen is 5:85 inches in length. Seebohm considered the Kashmir Blackbird to be identical with the Blackbird of Yarkand, and in this conclusion he is followed by Mr. Oates (Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 123), where the range of the species is given as extending to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Mr. Richmond (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xviii. p. 486) records a couple of specimens, procured by Dr. Abbott in Central Kashmir at a height of 11,000 and 12,000 feet, as having a wing of over 5:8 inches, which is larger than that of any specimen from Yarkand or Central Asia. It would appear, therefore, that a large Blackbird exists in Kashmir, breeding in the high mountains, but I have not enough specimens before me to say more upon the subject. Тһе young bird procured by Dr. Jerdon is certainly unlike the young of any European Blackbird I have seen. Тһе two specimens procured by Dr. Abbott in July 1891 are described by Mr. Richmond as in very abraded summer plumage. Не writes :—“ They were doubtless resident and breeding in Central Kashmir. They bear out Mr. Seebohm's original measurements and point to the higher altitudes as the summer home of this form. It is quite probable that this bird does not range very far north of Kashmir, as the birds of Eastern Turkestan are referable to a form intermediate between this one and the common Blackbird of Europe. Тһе Abbott specimens, though much abraded, give the following measurements :— Exposed Wing. Tail. Tarsus. culmen. in. in. in. in. Sad 5:82 5:07 1:40 0:96 OSA ва 5:89 478 40 0:96” MERULA MANDARINA, Bp. CHINESE OUZEL. Turdus sinensis, Cuv. MSS. ; Less. Traité, p. 408 (1831). | Turdus mandarinus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 275 (1850). Merula. mandarina, Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. ЕЛ. Co. i. p. 196 (1854); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 238 (1881). Merula. sinensis, Swinh. P. 7. S. 1871, p. 867; Ridgw. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 322 (1882). M. pedibus fuscescenti-brunneis vel nigricantibus, minime flavis: foeminá vix a mari distinguendá : побео ` gastrieoque ferê concoloribus, fuliginoso-nigris. Тне Chinese Ouzel is said by Swinhoe to range from Hainan to Shanghai and westwards to Szechuen (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 367), and the series of specimens in the British Museum ranges from Hongkong to Ningpo. There is also an example in the Seebohm Collection said to be from Tientsin, but without any authoritative indication of the collector; and as this locality is far to the north of the range assigned to the species by Swinhoe and Messrs. David and Oustalet, the specimen has been probably incorrectly labelled. Swinhoe expressly says that he did not meet with the species at Pekin (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 281). In Hainan Swinhoe found the species extremely shy and difficult to approach, and he did not procure a specimen. It was seen, but rarely, near Kiungchow city and about the villages of North-west Hainan, and he also met with it occasionally in the centre of the island (Ibis, 1870, p. 248). Sir John Murray procured a specimen аб Hongkong during the voyage of H.M.S. * Challenger, and Swinhoe says that it is a common resident species throughout Southern China from Canton to Shanghai (P. Z. S. 1865, p. 281). Mr. De La Touche records it as an abundant resident about Swatow and throughout the Foochow district (Ibis, 1887, p. 216 ; 1892, p. 412). Mr. F. W. Styan also says that it is resident throughout the Lower Yangtze Basin (Ibis, 1891, p. 319). Several specimens obtained by Swinhoe at Ningpo are in the Seebohm Collection. Mr. De La Touche says that this Ouzel is a favourite cage-bird with the Chinese, and Swinhoe speaks of its sweet song as enlivening the gardens. According to the latter observer, it builds chiefly on the boughs of the banyan (Ficus nitida), and makes a nest scarcely distinguishable in aspect from that of the European Blackbird. Тһе Cantonese name for the species is “ Woo-yay " (Ibis, 1861, p. 38). Abbé David says that this Blackbird is sedentary in the southern provinces of China, but he never met with it in the basin of the Hoangho. It frequents by preference the middle of the bamboos cultivated in the neighbourhood of habitations, in the bushes scattered about over the centre of the plain, as well as on the hills, but it never occurs on the high mountains. It has a more beautiful and more varied song than the Blackbird of Europe, but has the same habits as the latter bird (David € Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 148). Adult male. General colour above and below sooty-black, the wings and tail even deeper black; VOL. II. D 18 sides of face like the crown; under surface of body a little lighter than the upper surface, the under wing-coverts and axillaries being also black ; the throat slightly paler and of a reddish-brown colour, broadly, though obscurely, streaked with black: “ bill lemon-yellow ” (R. Swinhoe). Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 1'0, wing 6:5, tail 4-4, tarsus 1:5. Adult female. Rather browner than the male, especially below: “bill lemon-yellow, with the tip black” (R. Swinhoe). "Total length 11 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 6:1, tail 4:5, tarsus 1:4. Young male. Resembles the adult male, but the underparts are somewhat washed with chestnut, the throat being also distinctly rufous, broadly streaked with black. Nestling. Much browner than the adults, and having obsolete light ashy centres to the feathers of the crown and back; wings and tail blacker ; lores, eyebrow, and sides of face dull white, spotted with black ; the cheeks, throat, and breast dull white, with blackish spots or bars at the end of the feathers; the abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts reddish brown, darker brown on the latter. The adult male described is a bird in the Seebohm Collection from Amoy, obtained in November 1866 by Swinhoe. Тһе female described is one from Ningpo, in the Seebohm Collection, obtained by Swinhoe on the 27th of January, 1873. These specimens have also been figured in the Plate of the species. [R. B. S.] MERULA BOULBOUL (Га). GREY-WINGED OUZEL. Boulboul Shrike, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 57 (1787). Lanius boulboul, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 80 (1790). Turdus pecilopterus, Vig. P. 7. S. 1831, p. 54. Merula boulboul, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 147 (1847); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 248 (1881); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 130 (1890). Turdus boulboul, Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255. no. 3700 (1869). M. nigricans, rostro et pedibus flavis: tectricibus alarum medianis versüs apicem, tectricum majorum secundari- orumque pogonio externo, grisescentibus, plagam conspicuam exhibentibus. Tuis very distinct species of Ouzel inhabits the Himalayas, from the neighbourhood of Murree to Assam and Manipur. It appears to breed throughout its range, and to descend to lower elevations in the cold weather, when it is found sparingly in the North-west Provinces and the Punjab. ` Capt. Cock and Colonel C. H. T. Marshall (Str. F. 1. p. 353, 1873) state that it breeds all over the Murree Hills from the middle of April till July; and on the Second Yarkand Expedition Dr. Stoliezka obtained several specimens in this district in June and July (Sharpe, Rep. Sci. Res. 2nd Yark. Mission, p. 92, 1891). Colonel C. H. T. Marshall (Ibis, 1884, p. 413) records it from Chamba, and the late Dr. Aitchison presented a specimen to the British Museum which he procured on the Salt Range in January 1893. Near Simla it is common, as the Hume Collection contains examples shot in June, J uly, September, October, and November. Mr. W. E. Brooks (Str. F. iii. p. 237, 1875) observed the species near Masuri, and in the oak-woods beyond Landour, many being seen at Kauriagalia. General G. F. L. Marshall states that he found several nests at altitudes from 7000 feet above the sea at Naini Tal to 4000 feet at Bheem Tal (cf. Oates’s ed. Hume's Nests and Eggs Ind. B. ii. p. 95). The Hume Collection also has specimens from the Dehra Doon in January. The Lucknow Museum contains a large series obtained at various places in Kumaun by Mr. George Reid and his native collector, as well as in the Kumaun Tarái (Reid, Cat. B. Lucknow Mus. p. 114). The same museum also has an example from Sháhjahánpur, in the North-west Provinces (Reid, /. с.). In the Seebohm Collection is a male bird obtained by the late Mr. Andrew Anderson at Ramghur in Oudh, on the 6th of May, 1875, and said by him to have been * breeding." Dr. Scully (Str. F. viii. p. 285, 1879) writes :—“ The grey-winged Blackbird is common in the valley of Nepal throughout the year, always adhering closely to the forests on the surrounding hills. In winter it descends to the foot of the hills, and is then social, frequenting thick bush-jungle. Іп summer it is found in tree-forests at elevations of from 7000 to 8000 feet. In May and June it was very common in the Sheopuri Forest, keeping in pairs, and its fine song was constantly heard." | Mr. Mandellis collectors have obtained specimens in Native Sikhim and in Sikhim proper during nearly every month of the year. One example was also procured by them in the Lower Hills of the Bhutan Dooars in February. D 2 20 In N.E. Cachar Mr. 7. Inglis found this Ouzel rather rare and only met with during the cold weather (cf. Hume, Str. Е. v. р. 50, 1877). Mr. Stuart Baker says that in Northern Cachar it is not only very common during the cold weather, but a good many stay and nest, though the majority migrate to the higher ranges in the Naga Hills and some to Manipur (J. Bomb. Soc. Nat. Hist. ix. p. 137, 1894). Colonel Godwin-Austen has met with it in the North Cachar Hills at Hungrum and on Hernes Peak, again at Asalu, and in the Naga and Khasia Hills. In Manipur Mr. Hume noticed the species on the wooded slopes of the Barak Valley in the western hills, but this was the only place that he found it (Str. F. xi. p. 128, 1888). Colonel Godwin-Austen has also procured it at Aimul and Tankung in the Manipur Hills. Тһе Grey-winged Ouzel is universally admitted to be a fine songster, but Jerdon thinks that it is hardly so good as the Nilghiri Ouzel. ЈЕ is tolerably common, he says, in the Himalayas, but is rather shy, and does not show itself in the open or in gardens, like its Nilghiri congener (B. Ind. i. p. 525). The following account of the species is given in Mr. Oates's edition of Mr. Hume's * Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,’ ii. p. 93, 1890) :—“ The Grey-winged Ouzel breeds throughout the outer ranges of the Himalayas, at any rate from Darjeeling to Murree, in and about the skirts of forests, from an elevation of say 4000 to 7000 feet. 1t lays from the end of April to the early part of August, but the great majority lay in May and June. “Тһе situation of the nest varies: it is sometimes placed on the ground, in some hollow of a massive root, or in a fallen trunk ; sometimes on à ledge of rock, and sometimes in a fork of some thick tree of moderate size, at no great elevation from the ground. “Тһе nests of this species closely resemble those of the Nilghiri Blackbird. There is the same internal wattle-and-dab framework, the same massive external coating of moss and delicate ferns, and the same soft internal lining, in the case of this species most commonly of fine dry grass. The specimens before me are fully 74 inches in external diameter—beautiful masses of moss, lichen, and dry feathery fern, standing something like 5 inches high, with deep egg-cavities, 3$ inches across by 21 in depth. Ав far as I can judge, M. boulboul employs less mud in the construction of its nest than the southern allied species; but their general appearance is very similar, though the Himalayan nests seem to be generally rather the lightest, although the largest. « Four is the normal number of the eggs, but I have taken five. “From Nepal Mr. Hodgson notes that he “found a nest on the 6th of June at Jaha-powah containing three fresh eggs; a dull verditer green, much obscured by reddish-brown freckles. The nest measured externally 6 inches in diameter, and 2:6 inches in height; the cavity was 1:5 inch in diameter and 1'6 inch in depth. Тһе nest was in a wood, on а thick stump of a cut tree about two feet high, and completely hidden by the new shoots springing up from the stump. The nest was entirely composed of moss, firm and compact, and lined with hair-like fibres.’ « Mr. Gammie says :— I took a nest of this species out of a large tree within reach of the ground at an elevation of about 4000 feet on the Government Cinchona plantations, Sikhim. This was on the 20th May, and the nest contained three fresh eggs. The nest was a very beautiful, finely woven cup, composed entirely of fine roots, but with a little green moss and a few dead leaves intermingled externally. No mud at all had been used in the construction of the nest. The cavity measured 3-5 inches in diameter and over 2 inches in depth, and was nowhere above an inch in thickness. The eggs were of the usual type: a delicate sea-green ground richly blotched and streaked with red and brownish red, and with a little pale purple intermingled at the larger end, where also the markings are more dense, in fact almost confluent.’ “Tater on, he again wrote :—* This Ouzel breeds in the Darjeeling district from May to August, most commonly about the elevation of 5000 feet, near the edges of large forests. 1% sometimes builds 21 in forks of trees at по great distance from the ground, but its favourite position is, at the height of 20 or 30 feet, right on the summit of a stump of a Ficus-tree, from which the Bhutias have cut the top, and pollarded for the sake of the leaves for their milch-cows. The nest is kept in its place, and concealed, by the upright shoots springing away from below the stump end, and, usually, the bottom of the nest fits the end of the stem. For better concealment a little loose moss is allowed to hang a short way down the stem. A rather isolated tree is generally chosen, the bird, I suspect, objecting to the drip off lofty trees. Іп building, a neat compact shell is first made of twigs and moss, then a good coating of mud, and finally a thick lining of fibry roots. Externally it measures about 6 inches across by 3-2 in height; internally the cavity is 3:5 inches in diameter by 2 in depth. The number of eggs is four.' « Mr. Brooks writes to me on 29th August, 1868 :—* Before I left, Mr. Horne sent me two eggs of Merula boulboul. They measure 1:33 by 79 inch and 1:22 by ‘91 inch; ground-colour pale greenish, very thickly speckled and mottled all over (almost hiding the ground-colour) with brownish red; the markings quite confluent and darker on the large end. ‘These two eggs are the richest coloured Thrushes’ eggs I have ever seen. These eggs were taken at Binsar, 12 miles from Almorah, on the 8th of August. I never found the nest, but Horne found several, the earliest in April. Indeed I myself shot a full-sized young one in June. Horne told me that the nest was sometimes placed on a rock-side, Ring-Ouzel-fashion, and sometimes in low trees, and was composed principally of moss and lined with grasses.’ “From Mahasoo, near Simla, it is recorded by Sir E. C. Buck: ‘June 30th. Nest on a branch of a pollard holly, 12 feet from the ground, in fork between branch and trunk, constructed externally of moss and lichen, internally lined with strong dry grass and with a layer of mud below, between external and internal layers.’ " Adult male. General colour above black, including the tail; wings also black, excepting the ends of the median coverts and the outer edges of the greater coverts and inner secondaries, which are lavender-grey, more or less inclining to white externally; entire under surface of body black, the under tail-coverts with ashy-whitish margins and indistinct shaft-streaks ; under wing-coverts and lower surface of quills black: “bill orange-red; feet brownish-orange; iris brown; edges of eyelids orange-yellow " (4. 0. Hume). Total length 10 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 5:65, tail 4'2, tarsus 1:35. Adult female. Dark olivaceous-brown both above and below; the tips of the median wing-coverts and the greater coverts lighter brown than the back and with paler ends, inclining to whitish near the tips; quills and tail brownish-black, the inner secondaries lighter brown on their outer webs; throat and fore-neck with indications of dusky black streaks; under tail-coverts with pale ashy margins: “ bill dark brown, yellow on the edges and gape; feet yellowish-brown; iris brown ; edges of eyelids pale yellow” (4. O. Hume). Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 5:5, tail 4:2, tarsus 1:2. Young male. Black above, with pale buff or whitish shaft-streaks to the feathers of the upper surface; wings and tail as in the adult; under surface of body rich ochraceous-buff, mottled with black edges to the feathers and having pale shaft-streaks; lower breast, abdomen, and under tail- coverts black with white shaft-lines, the feathers of the abdomen mottled with sub-terminal bars of ashy: “bill horny-brown, reddish on the edges; feet dusky reddish-brown ” (W. Davison). The male and female birds described are from Sikhim, in the Hume Collection, and the pair figured in the Plate are from Sikhim, in the Seebohm Collection. ГЕ. В. 8.1 MERULA ALBICINCTA (Royle). WHITE-COLLARED OUZEL. Turdus albocinctus, Royle, Ill. Himal. Bot. p. 1ххуй (1839). Turdus albicollis (nec Vieill.), Royle, t. c. р. Ixxvii, pl. viii. fig. 3 (1839). Turdus collaris, Soret, Rev. Zool. 1840, BZ Merula mivicollis, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Brit. Mus., Passeres, pl. clv. nos. 182, 183; id. in Gray's Zool. Misc. р. 83 (1844). Merula albocincta, Blyth, 7. A. 8. Beng. xvi. p. 148 (1847); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 245 (1881). Turdus albicinctus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 274 (1850). Merula albicincta, Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 127 (1890). M. rostro et pedibus flavis: noteeo nigro, torque collari et interscapulio summo albis : gutture et colli lateribus albis: gastrzo reliquo nigro. Тніѕ very distinct species of Ouzel is found throughout the Himalayas from Kashmir to Cachar and Manipur. | It is not mentioned іп Colonel Unwin's list of the Birds of Kashmir, but there is an adult male specimen from that country in the Hume Collection. Colonel Biddulph and Captain Stackhouse Pinwill have procured specimens near Simla, and the Hume Collection contains examples from the interior of the N.W. Himalayas, from Kotegurh in March, Kotekhaie in February, and Bussahir in November. In the Hume Collection is a specimen from the hills north of Masuri, and in the Lucknow Museum is also one from the same district, as also from Kota in Kumaon (cf. Reid, Cat. Birds Lucknow Mus. р. 114, 1890). General G. Е. L. Marshall has found this Ouzel nesting near Naini Tal, on the top of Mt. Cheena, 8000 feet above the sea (Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. ii. p. 92). А series of adult and young birds are in the Hodgson Collection from Nepal, showing that it breeds within the province; but Dr. Scully only found the species about the Nepal Valley in winter, and even then at high elevations on the hills, never lower than 7000 feet (Str. F. viii. p. 285, 1879). The late Mr. L. Mandelli obtained specimens in Sikhim, in February and April, and in the Seebohm Collection is one from Darjiling, obtained in June. In Native Sikhim Mr. Mandelli's collectors met with the species in February, March, and April, and young birds were procured in August. Mr. Blanford got specimens on the Chola Range in Sikhim at heights from 11,000 to 13,000 feet, and also at Lachung in Upper Sikhim (J. A. S. Beng. xli. pt. 2, p. 49, 1872). It has not as yet been obtained in Bhutan or in Assam, but Mr. Stuart Baker says that he noticed one of these Ouzels in N. Cachar. Не writes: —* I have only once seen this bird, on a tiny stream running below the village of Ningle, about 3800 feet altitude. I did not shoot it, but it was very distinctly visible as it sat on a small sapling, and I do not think I could have made a mistake in my identification ” (J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. іх. p. 136, 1894). Mr. Hume did not meet with it in Manipur, but a couple of specimens, now in the British Museum, were obtained by Colonel Godwin-Austen at Remba in that State (J. A. S. Beng. xlv. p. 196, 1876). 24 In а paper on birds' nesting in the Tons Valley, Mr. В. В. Osmaston (J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xi. p. 66, 1897) observes :—'* No account of the nidification of this Ouzel seems on record, and all that we know of the eggs is from Hume's description of two specimens brought from Native Sikhim in June. This fine Ouzel is fairly common in the Karshu oak-zone from 8000 to 10,000 feet, where its fine mellow-noted song may be heard daily in the spring. І found two nests near Deoban at about 9000 feet elevation оп May 23rd and 24th. Тһе first, containing four fresh eggs, was placed іп a dense bushy * Karshu’ oak-tree about 10 feet from the ground, and the second, with three slightly set eggs, was on the ground at the root of an old stump in oak-forest. The nests were massive structures, made of moss and lined with fine grass, not unlike those of the Mistle-Thrush. The eggs were very pale blue, mottled all over with reddish-brown, and with some inconspicuous pale grey markings as well. They measured as follows :— mo m. ee OOE TONER 1:20 x 0:85 Smallestierg N 1:14 x 0:84 Average of five eggs .................. 1:16 x 0:85 > Тһе Tons River where Mr, Osmaston collected is said by him to ђе “a large branch of the river Jumna, rising in the snowy ranges of the Himalaya, and winding its way southward through Tehri-Garhwal and Jannsar, traversing a forest-clad country from the zone of the juniper and the birch at 13,000 feet to that of the long-leafed pine at 3000 feet.” | Dr. Scully writes from Nepal:—* I found this Ouzel common in the Sheopuri Forest in February. It was not social like М. boulboul, being always found singly or in pairs. It frequented the moss-covered branches of the trees, or flew up from a bush to the nearest tree on being alarmed. It is rather a noisy bird, and its note in winter is harsh, something like that of М. atrigularis when alarmed, but lower and more full" (Str. F. viii. p. 285). In Upper Sikhim Dr. W. T. Blanford says that it appears to haunt the banks of streams, and he found it common in the Rhododendron scrub on the skirts of forest in the Chola Range from 11,000 to 13,000 feet (J. A. S. Beng. xli. pt. 2, p. 49, 1872). ' | 'The following notes on the breeding of the species appear in Mr. Oates's edition of Hume's * Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds; ii. p. 92 (1890) :— « Colonel G. F. L. Marshall informs us that “near Naini ТАЈ this Ouzel is only found on the top of Cheena 8000 feet above the sea, and is rather an early breeder. I found the young just fledged in the beginning of June, but was too late for eggs. Neither of the parent birds that were with the young ones were in the castanea-plumage, both had the neck distinctly ringed.’ “Two eggs of this species which, together with one of the parent birds, were brought from Native Sikhim about the end of June, are regular ovals, a little compressed towards the small end, and slightly glossy; the ground-colour is greyish-white, and the eggs are spotted and speckled all over, more densely towards the broad end, with reddish-brown and brownish-red, and a number of underlying markings of purplish-grey ; they measure 1:23 by 0:87 and 1:22 by 0:85." Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour above glossy black, including the wings and tail; crown of head and sides of face black, separated from the back by a broad white collar, which extends round the hind-neck and over the upper mantle; chin blackish; throat and sides of neck white, joining the white collar of the hind-neck; remainder of under surface of body black from the fore-neck downwards, and including the under wing-coverts and quill-lining ; under tail-coverts black, with a white shaft-stripe. Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 5:7, tail 4:0, tarsus 1:35. Adult female in breeding-plumage. General colour above reddish-brown; the cap also brown, hoary on the forehead; wings and tail brown; sides of face ashy-brown ; throat, sides of neck, and hind-neck ashy-white, so that the collar round the latter is not so distinct as in the male; remainder €—————— НИ" ный 25 - of under surface of body rufous-brown, the fore-neck and chest being more decidedly rufous ; axillaries and under wing-coverts rufous-brown ; under tail-coverts brown, with a broad mesial streak of white. Total length 9 inches, culmen 1:05, wing 5:2, tail 3° 85, tarsus 1:8. Young male. Black, with black wings and tail; the whole of the plumage obscured by rufous edges to the feathers, which have also раје shaft-lines ; lores rufous and cheeks rufous-buff, as also the throat and fore-neck, with a broad malar line of black on each side of the throat; under surface of body brownish-black, the centre of the body reddish-buff with blackish bases and sub-terminal bars to the feathers. There is no sign of a white collar on the hind-neck, but a light patch of ochreous- buff appears on the fore-neck. Тһе male described is from Bussahir, in the Hume Collection ; that figured in the Plate is from <“ Dhakerry,” in the Seebohm Collection. This specimen was obtained by the late Andrew Anderson; but where this locality is, I have not been able to discover. The female described and figured is one from Darjiling, in the Seebohm Collection. (В. B. 5.1 VOL. П. MERULA TORQUATA (Linn). RING-OUZEL. Le Merle à collier, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 285 (1760); D'Aubent. Pl. Enl. pl. 516. Turdus torquatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 296 (1766); Stejn. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 365 (1886). Le Merle à plastron blanc, Montb. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. p. 340 (1775). Ring Ouzel, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 46 (1783). Merula torquata, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 246 (1881). Sylvia torquata, Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 206 (1827). Copsychus torquatus, Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 157 (1829). Merula montana, Brehm, Vóg. Deutschl. p. 875 (1831). Merula collaris, Brehm, Vóg. Deutschl. p. 376 (1831). Thoracocincla torquata, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. pl. liii. fig. 12 (1850); Ridgw. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 322 (1882). М. torque prepectorali albo: subtus nigricans, plumis singulis albido marginatis, sed minimé medialiter albo striatis : rostro nigricante, vel brunneo, haud flavicante. THE Ring-Ouzel nests in Northern Europe, but is replaced in the Caucasus by M. orientalis and in Central Europe by Merula alpestris. On migration М. torquata visits Southern Europe, as does also M. alpestris, and they are then found in the same localities, but their breeding-ranges are quite distinct. In Great Britain the Ring-Ouzel nests in the high moorlands, and breeds regularly in Dorsetshire and the western counties, while another favourite haunt is the Peak in Derbyshire. It is said to have “ nested in Hampshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Warwickshire, and similar counties, but as a rule its breeding-places are in the wild and hilly districts of Cornwall, Devon, Somersetshire, the Pennine backbone of England and its spurs; in Wales; and in the greater part of Scotland, including the Orkneys, and most of the islands which present suitable features; to the Shetlands it is comparatively a rare visitor" (Howard Saunders, Man. 2nd ed. p. 15). In Ireland it nests in suitable localities. In the south of England it is a regular migrant, and was noticed in Hampshire by Gilbert White a hundred years ago. І have myself seen it frequenting the gardens near Brighton on its way south in the autumn, and this portion of the Sussex coast seems to be a favourite resting-place for the species on its southern journey. . The Ring-Ouzel breeds on the mountains of Scandinavia up to the North Cape; and Professor Collett contributes the following note to Mr. Dresser's ‘Birds of Europe':—* During the season of migration, it is more or less numerous in the lowlands, but is certainly the least common of our Thrushes. I have observed it in small flocks of about a dozen individuals, but more generally singly. It is found on Ше fells only, during the summer season, in all southern and eastern portions of the country down to Christiania Stift, and breeds numerously in the birch regions; but it seldom visits the subalpine regions, as at Ringerike, in Krogkleven. Along the west coast and E2 5. RN л x ioe rs ci 28 further to the northwards it breeds at all altitudes above the level of the sea, and is found especially on the islands inside the polar circle. It occurs in Fast Finmark ; but it is uncertain whether it breeds there or not. In spring and autumn it visits the lowlands and remains here and there (as, for instance, at Christiania) through the winter .. .. In the western part of the country it appears generally to build on the ground, and in the eastern fells in low trees or bushes.” My own experience in Súndalen is that it only occasionally nests оп the lower grounds, in severe seasons such as that of 1899, when the snow remained very late on the mountains, and many of the fjeld-nesting birds, such as Mealy Redpolls, Bramblings, and Ring-Ouzels, reared their young in the valleys. The upper birch-woods, where the two former species love to nest, were comparatively deserted by them, and as a consequence they appeared in numbers at lower elevations. The Ring- Ouzel, however, though breeding at lesser heights than in previous years, was not to be driven from his beloved fjelds by a little extra snow, and so its nest was found not only in the valley but also on the snow-line, and it is probable that only after severe winters is the Ring-Ouzel driven to breed away from the alpine zone. Messrs. F. and P. Godman found it nesting in the mountains near Bödo. Mr. Henry Pearson and Mr. E. Bidwell noticed the species in the Porsanger Fjord (Ibis, 1894, p. 228), and in Russian Lapland Mr. Pearson says it was observed in the birch-scrub near his camp, but none were seen inland (Ibis, 1896, p. 207). Dr. Pleske, in his work on the birds of the Kola Peninsula, observes :—“ The Ring-Ouzel has been found plentifully in Russian Lapland by Liljeborg at Schuetzkaja, and Mela appears, on the strength of this record, to have regarded the species as an inhabitant of the Murman coast. Lagus has observed it in Kunsama, and Von Wright between Aavasaksa and the river Tengelió. In East Finland it has been frequently met with, having been already recorded by Leem and Hammer, and more recently by Schrader, who observed it about harvest-time in the vicinity of the Varanger Fjord. According to Sommerfeldt it occurred only in the summer. Тһе nest was first taken in 1875 by Nordvis on the Varanger Fjord, and Westerlund further records the nesting of the species оп the island of Fuglö. Тһе vertical range of the Ring-Ouzel extends to the line of perpetual snow, where it prefers the upper part of the sub-alpine region, where Betula nana flourishes, or is found in stony districts sparsely covered with moss." j Seebohm writes as follows:—“ As the species is not recorded from Archangel, and Harvie- Brown and 1 did not meet with it in the valley of the Petchora, we may almost assume that rocks are indispensable to the Ring-Ouzel.” Тһе breeding-area of the species appears therefore to be limited almost to the British Islands and Scandinavia, for although, according to Schlegel, a few may breed in Holland, the nesting of the true M. torquata in Central Europe is not confirmed, and Mr. Hartert gives me the following note :—* In Germany, according to the observations of the most reliable observers, the Ring-Ouzel is known to occur principally during the autumn migration, especially in September and October. It is more frequently met with in the western districts than in the eastern, and is not so often noticed in spring, û. e. March and April. It does not nest anywhere in Germany." То Heligoland and Borkum the species comes as a spring and autumn migrant, and it also passes through Denmark. In other parts of Europe the Ring-Ouzel is known chiefly as a migrant, and the British Museum has specimens from the Vosges Mountains, Mentone, and Italy. Of its occurrence in the last-named country, Count Arrigoni degli Oddi writes to me :—“ It is mostly of rare and irregular appearance in Italy during the cold season; it is more numerous when the winter is severe, and is more generally observed in the northern portions of Italy. It is, however, certainly a resident species in the Piedmontese Alps, as I possess four specimens from Lanzo—three adult birds shot in April and May of 1897,and a very young bird procured on the 1st of August in the same year.” In the Sierra Nevada in Spain Mr. Howard Saunders has procured both species of Ring-Ouzel, but M. torquata is doubtless only a migratory visitor, and М. alpestris is the resident species which breeds there. M. torquata is known as a migrant near Gibraltar, according to Colonel Irby (Orn. Gibr. 2nd ed. p. 36), and it also visits Northern Africa in winter, having been found in Marocco, Tunis, and Algeria. In Seebohm's * History of British Birds” is an excellent account of the habits of the Ring-Ouzel, a bird with which he was personally acquainted in England as well as in Scandinavia :— “When the Redwing and Ше Егеја аге are on the point of departure from our shores for their northern breeding-haunts, the Ring-Ouzel's bold and defiant cries are first heard, and his song, carried hither and thither over the moorlands by the breeze, sounds wild and sweet as, tempered by distance, it greets our ear as the bird sits wary and watchful on the highest pinnacle of some projecting rock. Impelled by resistless impulse, this handsome Ouzel has again sought the solitudes of the moors for the purpose of rearing its young, arriving towards the end of March or early in April. “Тһе Ring-Ouzel is a somewhat remarkable bird ; for although not the only migratory British Thrush, still it is the only Thrush that visits our country for the purpose of rearing its young ; and, in addition to this, it is the only Thrush that principally confines itself to the upland wilds. A true bird of the wilderness, it prefers the deepest solitudes that our land affords. "Truly, indeed, the Ring-Ouzel's home is a wild and romantic one. You will first make his acquaintance where the heath begins, where the silver birch trees are scattered amongst the rock-fragments, and the gorse bushes and stunted thorns and bracken are the last signs of more lowland vegetation. The scenery gets wilder, but still the bird is your companion; he flits from rock to rock before you, or, by making long detours, returns to the place whence you flushed him, uttering his loud, harsh, and discordant call-notes. The hills of Derbyshire are one of his favourite haunts: almost on the very summit of Kinder Scout, the highest peak of the High Peak, nearly two thousand feet above the sea-level, the Ring-Ouzels rear their young. Тһе plateau on the summit of this wild mountain, the view from which is one of the finest in the north of England, is intersected by deep watercourses, the principal ones worn down to the solid rock, but the greater part of them mere trenches in the peat alone, too wide to jump across, and destitute of the least trace of vegetation. Тһе innumerable islands which lie in this network of *'groughs, as they are locally called, are covered with heath, bilberry, crowberry, clusterberry, and, in some places, with cranberry, bearberry, and cloudberry. Тһе latter plant is the great feature of the wild Siberian tundras, the * maroshka' of the Russians, and the * molteberre? of the Norwegians. But the botanist is not the only one who finds an interest here, Bird-life is on every side; and the handsome “ lorr-Ouzel, as the peasant lads and herdsmen call him, lives in company with the Red Grouse, the Curlew, the Peewit, aud the Golden Plover, which also breed in this wild upland solitude. « Тће Ring-Ouzel is a shy and wary bird, rarely allowing the observer to approach it within gunshot, except when its nest is іп danger. Тһе bird flits before you, ever at a respectable distance, and, if repeatedly disturbed, will take itself off with strong rapid flight to some place of safety. There is much in the Ring-Ouzel's habits and movements in common with those of the Blackbird,— its garrulousness at nightfall, its method of searching for food, its peculiar elevation of the tail upon alighting, and its shy, restless, and vigilant disposition, all being characteristic of that coal-black chorister. Directly after its arrival on our shores the Ring-Ouzel is sometimes observed in large flocks, not unfrequently consisting of several hundred individuals. They remain gregarious for a few days, frequenting the marshes and swamps before they pair and distribute themselves over the moors. At this season the birds are more vigilant than ever, and, if disturbed, rise like Fieldfares and take themselves off to safer and more secluded quarters. “The food of the Ring-Ouzel is varied, and is both animal and vegetable. At dawn, or just as the evening's mist is stealing up the mountains, you will not unfrequently see him on the wild pasture-lands of the upland farms, or on the stretches of marshy grass-land, studded with rush-tufts, 30 on the moor. Here, in a precisely similar manner to the Blackbird, the Ring-Ouzel seeks his food, which consists of the worms and small slugs abounding in the earth and on the blades of grass. Every few moments he hops forward, looks warily around, and then commences digging for his prey, occasionally pausing in his labours with head erect, as if fearful of discovery so far from the friendly cover of the heath. On the moor itself he obtains much of his sustenance. The droppings from the cattle and the sheep that pasture there abound with small beetles and insects, which the bird searches for and captures, just as the Blackbird does on the lowland pastures. ‘Then, too, amongst the wild luxuriant growth of vegetation on the moor, numerous shells are found ; and the snails that tenant them are eaten, the bird breaking the shells, just like the Thrush or Blackbird, on some convenient stone or rock. Тһе Ring-Ouzel is also passionately fond of fruits and berries; indeed, from July to the time of his departure for the south, these form his favourite fare. The wild berries of the moorland, the billberry, cranberry, clusterberry, and other fruits, are eaten, as are also the berries of the mountain-ash. The gardens near the Ring-Onzel’s haunts are also visited and plundered, all the smaller fruits being eaten, and also the plums and cherries. Ivy-berries, elder-berries, and the luscious fruit of the bramble are also part of the bird’s autumn food; and the vineyards of France and Spain are visited on the bird’s passage south for the sake of the dainty fare they afford. * Soon after their arrival at their breeding-grounds the male Ring-Ouzels are heard singing in all directions, and, by exercising a little caution, you may get within a few yards of the bird and thus observe him closely. Sometimes he is perched on the rocky walls that there do duty for hedges ; sometimes he is sitting on a tuft of heather, or on a gorse bush, or on the branches of some silver birch or mountain-ash, yet, perhaps, most frequently of all on the summit of a grey boulder. Monotonous as is the song of the Ring-Ouzel, still its loud tones and the bold bearing of the bird itself fully harmonize with the wild surroundings. You may often see him perched on some storm-riven tree growing out of the grey rocks, where, with his white breast glistening in the sun, he sits motionless and pours forth his wild notes. His song resembles in part that of the Starling, the Blackbird, and the Song-Thrush. Тһе bird, after several piping notes, utters a few harsh tones, as if in mockery of his own performance, probably a minute passing between each snatch of song. If you alarm him, his wild notes cease at once, and, with his wild cries echoing in the rocks around, he either drops down into the heath or flies away to a more secluded resting-place. Тһе claims of the Ring-Ouzel to the rank of a first-rate songster may be disputed, and his musical powers be unfavourably compared with those of the Song-Thrush or the Blackbird ; still there is a wild freedom in them which gives them a peculiar charm, and the wild nature of the surrounding landscape is also much enhanced in beauty by a song as clear and melodious in tone as the scenery around is grand and impressive. If it be the surroundings alone that gain the Ring-Ouzel his musical reputation, then most surely it is the shaded dells and wooded copses that bring the Song-Thrush's music and the Blackbird's trills into such high repute. “The call-notes of the Ring-Ouzel are somewhat varied. Sometimes they are as low and musical as a Wheatear's (call-notes to each other, in fact); sometimes the note is a piping cry, apparently confined to the male bird alone, with which he speaks to his mate. But the alarm-note is a sharp tac-tac-tac, tac-tac-tac, repeated more frequently and loudly should you happen to be in the neighbourhood of the nest. “Тһе Ring-Ouzel very probably pairs annually, soon after its arrival at its breeding-grounds; and a week or so later the birds are engaged in the duties of the season—towards the end of April; yet eggs can be obtained throughout the whole of May and even till July, although these may be the eggs of birds whose first clutch was destroyed. Тһе nest of the Ring-Ouzel is generally placed on the ground, in a hollow in the midst of the ling, which effectually conceals it. Occasionally it will 81 be found in a bush ог stunted tree, but never at any great elevation. Іп the heather on an embankment, where the soil has given way and left an abrupt edge, is a favourite place. Wherever there is a steep bank covered with high heath, whether it be sloping down to a stream or an old road, you may almost safely calculate on finding a nest every few hundred yards or so, always placed in the shelter of the highest heather (a foot high or more). Sometimes holes in the rock itself are chosen, where a few plants of heath have gained a footing and almost completely shelter the nest from view. Like the nests of all the Thrushes, that of the Ring-Ouzel undergoes three distinct stages before completion, and is always well and compactly constructed. 1615 made of coarse grass, with perhaps a few twigs of heather to bind the materials together; and a few withered leaves are sometimes added. This grass-formed nest is then lined with mud or clay from the neighbouring bogs or stream-banks. At this stage the nest is remarkably deep; but the thick lining of fine grass which is now added brings the nest to more even proportions. When examining the nest of this bird, its close resemblance to that of the Blackbird will be noticed. Indeed it would be almost impossible to discriminate between them, were we not aware that the Blackbird does not haunt the wild open moor. Іп the districts where the habitats of these two birds adjoin (the boundary of cultivation and the wild), nothing but a sight of the parent birds can make identification sure. “Тһе Ring-Ouzel lays four or five finely-marked eggs, bluish green in ground-colour, boldly and richly blotched with reddish brown, and sometimes streaked with dark brown. One variety is very elongated and very pale in ground-colour, the markings being represented by small specks, with a few splashes on the larger end. A second is almost round, intense bluish green in ground-colour, boldly yet sparingly blotched with surface-markings of purplish brown and pale dashes of purple. A third is brownish green in ground-colour, blotched, clouded, and spotted with pale reddish brown and light dashes of purple; while a fourth is similar in ground-colour, but has the brown markings chiefly on the larger end of the egg, where they form a broad zone, and is also streaked with dark wavy lines of brown. So closely do the eggs of this bird resemble those . of the Blackbird and the Fieldfare, that, were a series of the eggs of these three birds mixed promiscuously, it would be absolutely impossible to separate all of them correctly. Nevertheless, on an average, the Ring-Ouzels eggs have the ground-colour clearer, and are more boldly and richly marked, than those of the Blackbird. They vary in length from 1:35 to 1:08 inch, and іп breadth from 0:9 to 0-78 inch. * No birds defend their eggs or young with more matchless courage than the Ring-Ouzel. Approach their treasure, and, although you have no knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily know that you are on sacred ground, or, more plainly speaking, on the nesting-site of this bird of the moor. Something sweeps suddenly round your head, probably brushing your face. You look round; and there the Ring-Ouzel, perched close at hand, is eying you wrathfully, and ready to do battle, despite the odds, for the protection of her abode. Move, and the attack is renewed, this time with loud and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren moor around. Undauntedly the birds fly round you, pause for a moment on some mass of rock, or reel and tumble on the ground to decoy you away. Ав you approach still closer, the anxiety of the female, if possible, increases; her cries, with those of her mate, disturb the birds around: the Red Grouse, startled, skims over the shoulder of the hill to find solitude; the Moor-Pipit chirps anxiously by; and the gay little Stonechat flits uneasily from bush to bush. бо long as you tarry near their treasure the birds wil accompany you, and, by using every artifice, endeavour to allure or drive you away from its vicinity. Even when the nest is but half built, the birds display remarkable attachment to it, as is also the case with the Chaffinch ; and the same motions are gone through as though it contained eggs or voung birds. 82 “Upon leaving the nest the young birds are soon abandoned by their parents, and fly about singly or in little parties in search of food.” Adult male. General colour above brownish-black, the wing-coverts like the back, with a narrow hoary-white fringe to the median series, a trifle more distinct on the greater coverts and the primary-coverts; quills dark brown, with a narrow fringe of hoary-white on the primaries, a little more distinct on the secondaries, the innermost of which are uniform like the back; tail blackish- brown; sides of face, throat, and under surface of body brownish-black, with a broad white collar across the fore-neck; the breast-feathers showing remains of narrow white margins, a trifle more distinct on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, but with no indications of white centres to the feathers beyond an occasional pale shaft-stripe; under wing-coverts апа axillaries brown with white margins, some of the lower coverts mottled with white; quills sepia-brown below, shaded with ashy along the inner webs. Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 0-9, wing 5:75, tail 4:2, tarsus 1:35. Adult female. Much browner than the male, with the wings and tail also browner; the white edgings to the coverts and quills distinctly indicated; under surface of body browner than in the male and more mottled, with the feathers of the throat, breast, and abdomen edged with whitish, the feathers with greyish-white bases, and the under tail-coverts showing narrow white shaft-streaks ; the white band on the fore-neck feebly indicated, and almost obscured by the brown edges to the feathers; under wing-coverts for the most part white, freckled with brown mottlings; axillaries brown, edged and mottled with white. Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 5:65, tail 4*0, tarsus 1:3. Adult male in winter plumage. Differs very little from the summer plumage, and shows a distinct white collar on the fore-neck, and the same amount of white edging to the feathers of the wing. The entire upper surface, however, exhibits a narrow margin of pale brown to the feathers, and the white edgings to the feathers of the underparts are more distinct. The young male after its first autumn moult is not so black as the adult birds, and has the feathers of the upper surface distinctly edged with brown, and the feathers of the under surface are plainly margined with white, but show no white centres to the feathers. The white neck-collar is entirely obscured by a brown shade. The description of the adult male is taken from a specimen in the Seebohm Collection procured in Heligoland іп May. This specimen is also figured in the Plate. The adult female and young described are Norwegian specimens in the Salvin-Godman Collection. The female figured is from France, and the nestling is from Derbyshire, both being in the Seebohm Collection. ІК. B. S.] MERULA ORIENTALIS, Seebohm. CAUCASIAN RING-OUZEL. Turdus torquatus (nec Linn.), Radde, Orn. Cauc. p. 270 (1884). Merula torquata orientalis, Seebohm, Ibis, 1888, p. 311. М. similis M. torquato, et gastreei plumis minim’ medialiter albis, sed alâ conspicue albo notatá, marginibus tectricum albis latissimis: subcaudalibus nigris, anguste albido medialiter striolatis. THE Ring-Ouzel of the Caucasus was separated by the late Mr. Seebohm on account of the greater amount of white оп the wing, and the two typical specimens in his collection from Kislovodsk show this character to be extremely well marked. According to Professor Gustav Radde the species is found in the region of Rhododendron caucasicum up to 10,000 feet and in the pine-woods. It is a partial migrant, descending to the valleys in winter and returning to the uplands in March. It is usually seen in pairs and is not common. It is doubtless this Ring-Ouzel which also occurs on the mountains of Persia, where Dr. W. T. Blanford met with it at a considerable height on the Elburz Mountains, and where he thinks it must breed in considerable numbers (Zool. East. Persia, ii. p. 158). In habits the Caucasian Ring-Ouzel resembles the true M. torquata ; it does not nest in trees, but on the ground and under rhododendron bushes. Prof. Radde also states that he found a nest in the cleft of a rock. Adult male. Similar to М. torquata, and not having white centres to the feathers as in M. alpestris, but having much more white on the wing. Not only are the margins of the wing- coverts purer white and broader, but they extend up the whole margin of the greater coverts and constitute a broad border instead of a narrow fringe near the ends of the coverts. The feathers of the under surface are narrowly edged with white, and the under tail-coverts show a distinct white shaft-stripe. Total length 10°5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 5:5, tail 4:0, tarsus 1:3. The description is taken from the typical specimen in the British Museum. [R. В. 5. VOL. II. F MERULA ALPESTRIS, Brehm. ALPINE RING-OUZEL. Sylvia torquata, pt., Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 206 (1827). Merula alpestris, C. L. Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1281; id. Убе. Deutschl р. 377 (1831); Stejn. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. pp. 365-373 (1886) ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1889, p. 309 ; Salvad. Boll. Mus. 7 nol. Tr ت‎ 3 (С Су © \ The plate of Merula alpestris (Pl. LXXXV.) will appear in a succeeding Part. —— ng E" палалі that twenty-five years ago no ornithologist in this country treated the manifold species of the old Pastor with the consideration which some of them apparently deserve, and the following strictures of Dr. Stejneger are certainly in the present instance well merited :—“ It has been the unfortunate fashion to sneer at the species and subspecies of Brehm, and the simple fact that a name was established by him has been sufficient reason to ignore it altogether and to put it into the synonymy without investigation. "This is not only injustice to Brehm's honest labour and his extreme power of discrimination, but it has resulted in extreme injury to science. In the present case, for instance, I think I am in a position to prove that Brehm was correct, and that there exist two distinct species of Ring-Thrushes in Europe, notwithstanding the fact that hardly a single European ornithologist of the present generation even dreams of it." ва MERULA ALPESTRIS, Brehm. ALPINE RING-OUZEL. Sylvia torquata, pt., Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 206 (1827). Merula alpestris, C. L. Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1281; id. Vóg. Deutschl. p. 377 (1831); Stejn. Pr. U.S. Nat, Mus. ix. рр. 365-373 (1886); Seebohm, Ibis, 1889, p. 309; Salvad. Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino, viii. no. 152, May (1893). Turdus torquatus (nec Linn.), Naum. Уба. Deutschl. vi. p. 5 (1888), xiii. p. 363, Taf. 361. fig. 3 (1847-48). Merula vociferans, Brehm, Naum. 1855, р. 281; id. J. Ё О. 1856, p. 446. Merula maculata, Brehm, Naum. 1855, p. 281; id. J. f. O. 1856, p. 446. Merula insignis, Brehm, 7. f. O. 1856, p. 446. Merula torquata, pt. (nec Linn.), Bettoni, Stor. Осе. nidif. Lomb., Turdide, gen. 514 (1865). Turdus alpestris, Stejn. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 255 (1886). Merula torquata, var. alpestris, Tschusi, MT. orn. Ver. Wien, xii. p. 70 (1888). Merula torquata alpestris, Seebohm, Ibis, 1888, p. 311. Turdus torquatus alpestris, Prázak, MT. orn. Ver. Wien, xvii. p. 68 (1893). М. pedibus saturaté brunneis, nec flavicantibus: notzo gastreoque nigris, torque przpectorali albo conspicuo : plumis gastrei singulis medialiter albis: subcaudalibus conspicue albo medialiter striatis : rostro flavo. Тнк fact that three species of Ring-Ouzel are found in Europe has only recently been recognized, although in 1872, in writing the history of Turdus torquatus in the * Birds of Europe, I was unable to account for some of the phases of plumage in that species, and at least two of the birds figured are now said by Mr. Dresser to belong to M. alpestris. Тһе material at my disposal, however, was not sufficient at that period for me to confirm the presence even of a second species in Europe. То Dr. L. Stejneger belongs the credit of having re-established Merula alpestris of Brehm as а distinct species from the Common Ring-Ouzel, M. torquata (Linneus). In the 9th volume of the * Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum ’ (pp. 365-373) he comments on the description and figure (pl. 15) in the * Birds of Europe” and justly criticizes the fact that I had not seen that the bird which puzzled me was referable to Brehm's M. alpestris; but, as I have said before, the series at my disposal was insufficient for the correct identification of the Central-European species. It is also equally certain that twenty-five years ago no ornithologist in this country treated the manifold species of the old Pastor with the consideration which some of them apparently deserve, and the following strictures of Dr. Stejneger are certainly in the present instance well merited :—“ It has been the unfortunate fashion to sneer at the species and subspecies of Brehm, and the simple fact that a name was established by him has been sufficient reason to ignore it altogether and to put it into the synonymy without investigation. This is not only injustice to Brehm’s honest labour and his extreme power of discrimination, but it has resulted in extreme injury to science. In the present case, for instance, I think I am in a position to prove that Brehm was correct, and that there exist two distinct species of Ring-Thrushes in Europe, notwithstanding the fact that hardly a single European ornithologist of the present generation even dreams of it." F2 36 Dr. Stejneger gives a translation of the article in which Brehm sets forth the differences between his Merula alpestris and the true М. torquata, and with the series now before me in the British Museum there cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two species are quite distinct; while agreeing with the strictures which Dr. Stejneger passes upon European ornithologists for their neglect of Brehm's genius, I would add that, if he had as clearly defined the characters of all his supposed species as he has done those of the two Ring-Ouzels, there would have been less ignorance in ornithological circles as to the distinction of the races of birds to which he gave native names. Looking at the series of Merula torquata and M. alpestris in the Tring Museum, where, thanks to the forethought of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, the Brehm Collection has been rescued from decay and made available for scientific study, the differences are so apparent between the two forms that 1 could not possibly have overlooked them had I had such material before me in 1872. Merula alpestris is a bird of the alpine regions of Central and Southern Europe, in which districts it breeds and migrates southwards apparently within a limited area, but it is by no means such а migrant as the Northern Ring-Ouzel (М. torquata). Тһе latter bird passes through the countries where M. alpestris is resident, so that in many countries of Europe both species can be procured, but the breeding-range of the two birds is quite distinct and is well defined. My friend Mr. Ernst Hartert has examined with me the specimens of Ring-Ouzels in the Brehm Collection at Tring, and has given me the following notes on the distribution of the species in Germany. He writes :—“ Merula torquata alpestris of С. L. Brehm breeds throughout the Alps, Styria, Carinthia, and іп the mountains of Hungary, as also on the Riesengebirge. The Brehm Collection contains adult specimens shot from April to July on the Rechberg, Mount Obie, and Altenberg in Carinthia, and there are nestlings from Gartein and Mt. Obie. "There are no specimens from the Riesengebirge in the Brehm Collection and I have never examined skins from there, but there can be no doubt that the form which breeds there rather frequently (according to Kollibay and others) is M. t. alpestris and not M. t. torquata. It certainly does not breed in the Harz, nor do I think it breeds on the Feldberg in the Taunus near Frankfurt. I have twice been through the woods around the Feldberg with the special object of finding it, but failed on each occasion; nor do Ithink that it is at all likely that it breeds there, for the elevations that it occupies on the Riesengebirge are higher than the altitude of Feldberg. "There is only one record of its having been seen there, but the birds were most likely the true northern M. torquata torquata on passage. There is also по absolute proof of its breeding in the Thüringer Wald, for Brehm only received the true torquata on passage from there. Specimens having been, or said to have been, seen later in May are no proof of a bird's actual breeding in a locality." In Transylvania Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown found it common everywhere, and to some extent migratory. Herr Buda Ádám says that it nests among the pines, but he has never found them breeding in the low country. He saw them in the oak-woods at Sztána, near Klausenburg, on the 10th of June. Mr. Dresser publishes the following letter addressed to him by Mr. Danford from Hatszeg in Hungary :—“ I have just come down from the mountains, and the Ring-Ouzels are still (Oct. 16) there, feeding among the juniper-bushes above the pine-woods. They come to the low country in the early spring and soon go up the hills, where they take up their quarters among the pines at an elevation of from 3000 to 5000 feet. Where they go in winter I do not know, but 1 never see them at that season, either high up or low down. They are very numerous, being quite the characteristic bird of our woods.” It is doubtless M. alpestris which nests in Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Dr. Victor Fatio and Dr. Studer, in their list of the birds of the former country, state that the Ring-Ouzel nests throughout the whole chain of the Alps and in the mountains of the Jura, descending in winter to the valleys, but being very seldom seen іп the plains (Cat. distr. Ois. de la Suisse, p. 27, 1892). It 37 must also be M. alpestris which is the resident species іп the Pyrenees and in the Sierra Nevada of Southern Spain, whence Mr. Howard Saunders has received the nest and eggs, though M. torquata is also a migrant through France aud Spain. Seebohm believed that the latter species was the resident bird of the Vosges, whence the only specimen in the British Museum certainly belongs to М. torquata. Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1891, p. 162) observes :— It was fairly plentiful in the Jura, where some nests were still being built on the 23rd of May, when a few already contained young birds, and I saw a brood on the wing by June 2nd. Тһе nest is placed on the branch of a spruce— generally one which is thickly hung with moss and lichen—and near the stem; seldom as low down as 15 feet, while often 40 feet or more from the ground—very different from the lowly positions affected by the Ring-Ouzel in the British Islands. Тһе adult male attracts attention by sitting on the top of a tall fir and uttering vigorously his scolding Фей, tett, tett. The bill in this mountain race is decidedly yellower than in average British examples, but much paler than the orange. colour of the Blackbird. In autumn the Ring-Ouzel may be seen on the rowan-trees, and among the vineyards by the lakes, until the end of October." | Mr. H. M. Wallis says that he met with Ring-Ouzels at the edge of the timber-line above Gavarnie in the Central Pyrenees, and he saw young birds on the wing by June 16 (Ibis, 1895, p. 64). An excellent article on the range of M. alpestris was published by Count Salvadori in 1893 (Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino, viii. no. 152, May), from which we learn that it breeds in the mountains of Italy and migrates to some degree іп autumn, when М. torquata. is also found inhabiting the same areas. Count Salvadori's article, as translated by Mr. Dresser, states that this Ring-Ouzel “is found in Italy on the mountains during the breeding-season, and partly migrates in autumn, at which season it is found on the plains together with Merula torquata, which arrives then from the north. It is probable that to this species must be referred the specimens which during migration occur even in Sicily, and especially on the island of Ustica (Doderlein). It appears that Merula alpestris breeds throughout the chain of the Alps. In Piedmont it nests most certainly in the Orsera Valley above Viü, whence came some young birds which I saw in Viü in August 1877: also I met with young birds in August at Monbarone, above the Serra d'Ivrea. Early in September I have seen them in the Valley of Graine (Valle di Challand o d'Ayas) and in the Valle della Cinischia near Mont Cenis, and no doubt to this species must be referred the birds which Abre (fide Giglioli) says breed in the mountains of the province of Cuneo, and which Bazzetta, Guarinoni, Bernascone, and Galli Valerio say nest at Ossola, the Valsesia, and the Valtellina, as also those which, according to Bettoni, breed in various localities in the Alps of Lombardy, and which are resident and breed in the Alps of the Tyrol, Venetia, and Friuli (Bonomi, Ninni, Pellegrini, Molari, Fissi, Delaito, Vallon). Moreover, the Alpine Ring-Ouzel is resident and breeds also in the Apennines, at least in Tuscany. Savi says that some pairs remain to breed, and makes mention of one which he found in Mugello in August 1822, at which place Mr. Roster obtained a pair in June 1879 (Giglioli), and Fiorini states that it is resident on the mountains of Casentino (01712010). It appears that it also breeds on the mountains of Modena, as was stated to Doderlein, and it is not improbable that such is the case. In conclusion, we have the Alpine Ring-Ouzel in Italy breeding on the mountains and partially migratory, and we have the Northern M. torquata not breeding here, but wintering, arriving in the autumn and remaining till the end of March." Count Arrigoni degli Oddi writes to me:—* M. alpestris is à common and resident species in the mountains of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venetia, where it breeds regularly, descending to the lower districts in the winter, but it is always rare in the plains. It has also been observed breeding in the. Apennines, but not commonly, and towards the south it becomes less and less frequent." In the mountains of Bulgaria Prof. Otto Reiser has found the species nesting, and it is also 38 noticed on migration, having been observed on а few occasions іп the Dobrudscha (Orn. Вајс. ii. p. 50, 1894). It also nests in Montenegro, according to Reiser and Von Führer (Orn. Вајс. iv. p. 54, 1896). А specimen from Sweet Waters near Constantinople, collected by the late Mr. Pearce, is іп the U.S. National Museum, according to Dr. Stejneger, and must have been sent from England as a duplicate by someone who had looked upon it merely as an example of the Common Ring-Ouzel, Mr. Robson has also procured the species near Belgrade, and Mr. C. G. Danford met with the species on the Zebil Taurus Mts. in Asia Minor. He writes :—“ Flocks of Ring-Ouzels were found at Zebil during the hard weather of the early part of February. At the end of April a pair was met with on the Karanfil dagh, among the débris of loose rocks and gnarled old junipers. Тһе elevation was about 6500 feet. From their cries of alarm and general manner of conducting themselves it was evident that they had a nest close by, though it could not be found." Adult male. Similar to M. torquata, but a little browner above, and always much whiter below, the feathers being broadly edged with white, and having broad white centres, so that the black often forms only a sub-terminal horse-shoe mark ; under tail-coverts also distinctly centred and edged with white; bill yellow, dusky near the base; feet dark horny brown; iris dark brown. Total length 10 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 5:6, tail 4:0, tarsus 1:3. Adult female. Similar to the male, but of a browner shade, and having the white collar on the fore-neck overshaded with brown. Total length 10:5 inches, culmen 0:95, wing 5:45, tail 4*0, tarsus 1:25. The descriptions are taken from a pair in the British Museum from Hatszeg, Transylvania, and the specimen figured in the Plate is from Zebil Taurus, Asia Minor. [R. В. 5.) MERULA RUFITORQUES (Наг). CHESTNUT-COLLARED OUZEL. Turdus (Merula) rufitorques, Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 214. Turdus rufitorques, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 219 (1847); Du Bus, Esq. Orn. pls. 19, 20 (1848); Salvin & Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 22 (1879). Merula rufitorques, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 255 (1881). M. noteeo nigro, torque collari lzet& castaneo: за баз nigra, pectore leeté castaneo: rostro flavo: pedibus corylinis. Тила beautiful bird is apparently the Neotropical representative of the Ring-Ouzels and White- collared Ouzels of the Old World. It is easily distinguished from all the other species of the genus Merula by its chestnut breast and chestnut collar round the hind-neck, both of which contrast with its otherwise black plumage. Until recently the species has been supposed to be confined to Guatemala, where it was met with by Mr. Osbert Salvin and Mr. F. D. Godman in the following localities :—“ Dueñas, Calderas, Volcan de Fuego (10,000 to 12,000 feet), Godines, Quezaltenango, Cordillera above Totonicapam (10,500 feet), Chilasco, and Tactic" (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 22). Since the notes in the ‘Biologia’ were published, Mr. У. В. Richardson has met with the Chestnut-collared Ouzel in Guatemala at the following places:—Santa Maria and Chiupaché, Quezaltenango (10,000 feet), Sept. 1890; San Martin, Quezaltenango, and San José Sololá (8000 feet), in October 1890; El Rincon, San Marcos, October 1890; Toliman Sololá (5000 feet), Dec. 1890. Again, in June 1897, he procured a specimen at Chancol, Huehuetenango (10,000 feet). In the last-mentioned year Mr. Richardson likewise procured specimens in Chiapas, at the following places :—Volcan de Tacana (March), Niquiril, San Christobal (April, May). Messrs. Salvin and Godman give the following account of the species (l. e.) :—“ Turdus rufitorques is rather local in its distribution in Guatemala, though its range extends over a consider- able area in that country. It has, too, a great range in altitude, being found below 5000 feet, both near Duefias and at Tactic in Vera Paz, and also occurring in some numbers in the pine-forests of the summit of the Уојсап de Fuego, as high as 12,000 feet, and in the main cordillera above Totonicapam at a height of 10,500 feet. 16 does not seem to be found only in one class of forest ; for the plains near Dueñas, where Грота murocoides abounds, the oak-forests of the volcano, and the pine-forests of the upper parts, the pine-tracts of Quezaltenango and Totonicapam, and the forests it frequents in Vera Paz are each very different in character. It, however, is not so much an inhabitant of the belt of dense forest of mixed trees which surrounds the volcano between 7000 and 10,000 feet; and it is altogether absent from the forests of the hotter parts of Guatemala, which lie below 4000 feet. “We never found 7. rufitorques breeding; but, as birds were observed about Dueñas and Quezaltenango in the month of August, it is probable that they had built in the vicinity of these places. It is not, however, a migratory species, except, perhaps, in a very limited sense. “Тһе habits of 7. rufitorques recall those of T. merula. It is rather shy, generally keeping out VOL. II. G 40 of gun-shot. Its powers of song are not remarkable, and are certainly inferior to those of Turdus grayi?” Adult male. General colour above black, including the wings and tail; crown of head, паре, and sides of face black, separated from the back by a distinct collar of deep chestnut; sides of neck, lower throat, fore-neck, chest, and upper breast also deep chestnut ; chin white; throat black; under surface of body from the lower breast downwards also black, as well as the sides of the body, thighs, and under tail-coverts, the latter with mesial streaks of white ; axillaries and under wing- _ coverts sooty-black; quills blackish below, ashy along the inner webs: “ bill yellow; feet brown; iris brown” (0. Salvin). Total length 9 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 5:15, tail 37, tarsus 1:2. Adult female. Differs from the male in being ashy-brown instead of black; lesser and median wing-coverts like the back; greater coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers brown, externally edged with ashy-brown; crown of head a little darker brown than the back and not so ashy, with dusky centres to the feathers ; the sides of the neck and hind-neck light orange- rufous ; sides of face dusky ashy-brown like the crown ; cheeks and throat ashy-whitish, greyer on the latter, the cheeks tinged with orange and separated from the throat by a malar line of dusky blackish spots, the throat being also slightly streaked with blackish; fore-neck, chest, and upper breast light orange-rufous; the lower breast, abdomen, and flanks light ashy-grey, as also the thighs ; under tail-coverts ashy, with broad longitudinal white centres; under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy-brown, slightly washed with orange. Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:85, wing 4-85, tail 3:25, tarsus 1:2. Young male. Apparently at first sight resembles the old female, but is rather darker ashy- brown, and has blackish bases to the feathers ; hind-neck, lower throat, and breast orange-chestnut ; abdomen ashy-brown, mottled with blackish bases to the feathers; chin white; throat ashy, streaked with black. The male appears to take at least two seasons before it assumes the full plumage of the adult, with the black throat and abdomen. The rufous collar, never very pronounced in the adult female, becomes abraded during the nesting-season. There appears also to be a winter plumage, as many adult males have the black of the head, upper parts, and abdomen obscured by ashy-rufous margins to the feathers. The adult male and female described are from Dueñas, in the Salvin-Godman and Seebohm Collections. The young male described is a Guatemalan skin in the Seebohm Collection. The pair of adult birds figured are the same as those described. (Е. В. S.] ——————————— MERULA SERRANA (Tschudi). PERUVIAN BLACK OUZEL. Turdus serranus, Tschudi, Arch. f. Naturg. x. p. 280 (1844); Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 491. | Turdus atrosericeus (nec Lafr.), Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 136; id. Cat. Amer. В. p. 5 (1862). Merula serrana, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 239 (1881). M. pedibus flavis: foeminá minimé mari concolore: maris ptilosi nigerrimá, fæminæ tamen brunneá : subcaudalibus saturaté castaneo-brunneis: primario secundo feré octavum «equante. IN this group of Thrushes the difference between the species has to be sought for in the coloration of the females, for the males are all black, with yellow bills and feet. Mr. Seebohm appears to me to have been perfectly justified in separating them, as he did in the * Catalogue of Dirds,' on the plumage of the female birds alone, and I likewise recognize the propriety of dividing these Blackbirds into two groups dependent upon the shape of the wing and the length of the bastard- quill. In M. serrana and M. atrosericea the bill is much longer; the wing is rounded and the bastard-primary very large (1:2-1:4 inch); the second primary equals the eighth in length or is a little shorter than the latter. : The female of M. serrana is distinguished by its reddish-brown under surface, the throat showing but faint indications of dusky spots, while the under tail-coverts are of a darker reddish- chocolate colour; there is, moreover, none of the ashy-grey colour on the breast and abdomen seen іп the female of M. atrosericea. The specimen described and figured in the present work has been compared by Dr. Sclater with the type of 7. serranus of Tschudi. The range of the present species extends from Bolivia to Upper Amazonia and Peru, thence to Ecuador and Colombia. Specimens from Bolivia are in the Salvin-Godman and Sclater Collections, and Buckley procured one at Tilotilo (Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 591). Henry Whitely met with the species at Huasampilla in March (Scl. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 780), and the Salvin-Godman Collection contains specimens obtained by Mr. O. T. Baron at Leimebamba (9000 feet) in December 1894, and again at Chachapoyas (7300 feet) in October of the same year. Taczanowski gives the following localities for the species in Peru :—Chilpes (Jelski), Tambillo, Tamiopampa (Stolzmann), Mocuegua, Huancayo, Huanta (Raimondi Coll.) (cf. Таса. Orn. Pérou, i. p. 496). А specimen from Quito in Ecuador is in the British Museum, and others were obtained by Fraser at Puellaro (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 83) and at Pallatanga (Sclater, P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 186, s. n. Turdus atrosericeus). Тһе Salvin-Godman Collection has a specimen procured by Buckley at Monji in Ecuador. In the Seebohm and Salvin-Godman Collections are examples of this Ouzel from Bogotá, and the late T. K. Salmon met with it at Jerico, Medellin, and Frontino in Antioquia (Scl. & Salv. P. Z7. S. 1879, p. 491). Mr. Stolzmann says that in Peru it was somewhat rare at Tambillo, where he met with it в2 42 at an altitude of 6000 or 7000 feet. Its only note of alarm that he heard was “ kök.” It appeared to be entirely a bird of the forests and was never seen in the brushwood (Tacz. Orn. Pérou, i. р. 496). Adult male. Entirely black above and below, with black wings and tail: “bill and feet yellow; iris hazel ; eyelid yellow” (Stolzmann): “ bill, rim round the eye, legs, and feet orange” (Fraser). Total length 9:8 inches, culmen 0-9, wing 4:9, tail 3:6, tarsus 1:3. Adult female. General colour above dark olivaceous brown, gradually inclining to deep chocolate-brown on the rump and upper tail-coverts; the tail-feathers sepia, externally washed with chocolate-brown ; wing-coverts like the back, the quills dark sepia, the primaries externally reddish-brown, and the secondaries more like the back; crown of head and sides of face dark olivaceous-brown, like the back; throat and under surface of body dingy rufous-brown, slightly clearer on the breast, abdomen, and flanks, the under tail-coverts chestnut; under wing-coverts and axillaries rufous-brown; quills light sepia below, washed with ashy: “bill brown; feet pale brown; iris dark hazel" (Stolzmann). Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 0:95, wing 4:7, tail 4:5, tarsus 1:4, According to Taczanowski, young birds have the upper parts olive-brown, as in the old female, with the lower throat, breast, and abdomen of a dull greyish-rufous, waved with brown. The male described and figured in the Plate is one from Antioquia in the Seebohm Collection. The female is figured from a specimen obtained by Fraser at Puellaro and now in the Sclater Collection in the British Museum. Dr. Sclater has compared this skin with the type of Tschudi's Turdus serranus, so there can be no doubt that the figure of this specimen in the Plate represents the typical M, serrana. The description of the female has been taken from the same specimen. (Б. В. 86.1 MERULA ATROSERICEA (Гаў). VENEZUELAN BLACK OUZEL. Merula atrosericea, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 3; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 239 (1881). Turdus atrosericeus, Sclater, Р. 7. 8. 1859, p. 136. Turdus a«nthosceles (nec Jard.), Léot. Ois. Trinidad, p. 201 (1866). Turdus serranus (nec Tschudi), Scl. € Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 780. Semimerula atrosericea, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 475 (1883). M. similis precedenti : maris ptilosi omnino nigrá, fæminæ tamen brunneá : pectore et abdomine claré cineraceis : primario primo ferê octavum sequante. I CANNOT perceive any tangible difference between the male of this species and that of M. serrana, but the female is easily distinguished by its grey breast and abdomen and the different colour of the under tail-coverts. The species was described by Lafresnaye from specimens sent to him from Caracas in Venezuela, and Mr. Goering has also met with the species at Merida in the same country (Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 780). It is also doubtless this Ouzel which has been mentioned by Léotaud under the name of Turdus vanthosceles, Jard., from Trinidad. In the latter island Léotaud believed the species to be a migrant from Tobago, whence it visited Trinidad at different times and in small numbers. It is found in company with Merula flavipes, which it resembles in habits. Adult male. Black all over and apparently not to be distinguished from the male of M. serrana. Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 1:05, wing 4:8, tail 8:7, tarsus 1-4. Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above light olive-brown ; wings and tail russet-brown, the outer aspect of the primaries paler; sides of face dusky brown, the lores ashy, and the cheeks slightly mottled with dusky lines; chin ashy; lower throat, fore-neck, and chest light olive-brown, with a few slightly indicated dusky spots on the throat; breast and abdomen ashy-grey; sides of body light ochreous-brown ; under tail-coverts brown, washed with grey, with narrow whitish shaft-lines; axillaries olive-brown like the chest; under wing-coverts lighter and more golden brown; quill-lining grey. Total length 9-5 inches, culmen 1:05, wing 4:55, tail 3:6, tarsus 1:3. A young male from Merida in the Salvin-Godman Collection differs from the female described in being darker and in having pale buff longitudinal centres to the wing-coverts and the feathers of the throat and chest; the ear-coverts have also buff shaft-lines. The descriptions have been taken from a pair of Venezuelan birds in the Sclater Collection. [R. B. 81 MERULA XANTHOSCELES (Jard.). TOBAGO BLACK OUZEL. · Turdus xanthosceles, Jardine, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xx. p. 329 (1847); id. Contr. Orn. i. p. 14, pl. i. (1848). Turdus serranus, pt. (nec Tschudi), Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 2 (1878). Merula xanthosceles, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 240 (1881). Turdus leucops (nec Tacz.), Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 199. М. rostro et pedibus flavis: remige secundo fer’ octavum «equante: maris ptilosi coraciná, fæminæ brunnescente : subcaudalibus brunneis, fulvo marginatis, rhachidibus quoque fulvis. Tug male of the present species closely resembles that of M. infuscata, and has the same small bill and rounded wing, with the second primary intermediate between the fifth and seventh. Тһе female, however, is decidedly more olive in colour than the hen of M. infuscata, especially on the rump and upper tail-coverts. This Ouzel was described originally by Jardine from the island of Tobago, whence it was sent by Mr. Kirk in 1847. According to the latter gentleman, this Ouzel is а“ remarkably shy bird, and has a rich mellow note from April to July ” (Jardine, 2. c.). I can find no reliable difference between the Tobago birds and those from British Guiana, which Mr. Salvin identified as 7. leucops of Taczanowski (Ibis, 1885, p. 199). Не did not, however, fail to detect certain variations in the Guiana birds, for he writes :—“ I notice that the bill of the males is rather smaller, and that the under tail-coverts of the female have much less white." Whitely met with the species in British Guiana on Roraima and on the Merumé Mountains, and young males assuming the adult dress were procured on the 11th of June, 1881. Adult male. Entirely black above and below, with a blue-black gloss; bill and feet yellow. Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 4-6, tail 3-1, tarsus 0:95. Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above olive-brown, becoming clearer olive towards the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back, the bastard-wing, primary- coverts, and quills sepia-brown, externally olive-brown, a little more ruddy on the outer edge of the primaries ; tail olive-brown with a slight ruddy tinge ; crown of head and sides of face like the back, but slightly duller; under surface of body fulvescent brown, the abdomen ashy grey; throat dingy brown, with a few spots of blackish-brown ; under tail-feathers light brown, with a shaft-streak of buffy-white and a distinct terminal edging of sandy-buff, before which is a slight sub-terminal shade of dusky; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale tawny-buff; quills dusky below, ashy fulvous on the inner webs of the primaries. Тоба! length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:45, tail 2:9, tarsus 1:0. The female birds from British Guiana have the same pale-edged under tail-coverts, but they are somewhat darker in tint than those from Tobago, and in one individual from Roraima the throat is very distinctly streaked with rows of triangular blackish spots. The descriptions of the male and female are taken from the typical specimens now in the Seebohm Collection. The male bears the following label іп Jardine's handwriting—* Туре for figure and description in Contrib. for 1848," and was purchased by Seebohm at the Jardine sale. [R. B. S.] MERULA LEUCOPS, Tace. WHITE-EYED BLACK OUZEL. Turdus atrosericeus, pt. (nec Lafr.), Scl. Cat. Amer. B. p. 5 (1862). Turdus serranus, pt. (nec Tschudi), Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 2 (1873). Turdus leucops, Tacz. P. Z. S. 1877, p. 331; id. Р. 7. 8. 1879, p. 22; id. Orn. Pérou, 1. p. 496 (1884). Turdus brunneus, Lawrence, Ibis, 1878, p. 57, pl. i. (= 9 X Merula leucops, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 241 (1881). M. rostro et pedibus flavis: remige secundo septimum haud squante; maris ptilosi пета, foeminz tamen brunnea : subcaudalibus albis, basi et lateribus plumarum brunneis. THE male of this species is scarcely to be separated from that of M. xanthosceles, but it has a slight bottle-green reflection on the upper parts and on the wings, as opposed to the blue-black reflections of M. xanthosceles. In the female the under tail-coverts are white, with a dusky-brown base and lateral edges to the feathers of the same colour. The range of the species extends from Upper Amazonia to Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. А specimen obtained by Mr. Edward Bartlett at Chamicuros in the Peruvian Amazons is in the British Museum, and in Peru it has been obtained by Mr. Jelski at Ropaybamba, and by Mr. Stolzmann at Tambillo, Shanyn, and Cutervo (Tacz. Orn. Pérou, i. p. 497). Specimens from Quito and Sarayacu (C. Buckley), in Ecuador, are in the Salvin-Godman Collection, and an adult male procured by Fraser at Pallatanga is in the Sclater Collection. "The latter contains a young specimen from Bogotá, whence there is also an adult male in the Seebohm Collection. Mr. Stolzmann observes :—“ It would seem to be common at Tambillo, where it is an inhabitant of the forests. During the months of October and November its varied, though by no means charming, song sounds from the tops of the higher trees. In January I met with a nest from which the young had lately flown. It was constructed of moss, like that of our European Blackbird, and finished off with vegetable fibres, but it was placed on a thick tree, at a height of about eight feet. The young birds were hiding in the neighbourhood and piping. Тһе alarm-note of this species is Short and piercing. It is a very shy bird and conceals itself carefully. I saw it at Shanyn (7200 feet), and afterwards I met with it in the forest of Angurra, near Cutervo (9800 feet), but it seemed to be rare, and was perhaps only of accidental occurrence." (Tacz. Orn. Pérou, i. p. 497.) Adult male. Black above and below, with slight bottle-green reflections: “ bill orange-yellow ; feet and claws wax-yellow; iris dirty white; eyelids orange-yellow” (Stolzmann). Тоба! length 8 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:6, tail 3:0, tarsus 1:0. Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above dark olive-brown, becoming slightly paler olive towards the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back; bastard- wing, primary-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers deep sepia-brown, externally deep olive-brown like the back, the primaries very narrowly margined; crown of head and sides of face uniform dark brown; cheeks also brown, with a distinct malar line of white, followed by a blackish moustachial line, the YOL. IT, H 48 throat being buffy white, with distinct lines of triangular blackish spots ; fore-neck, breast, and sides of body light ochraceous-brown ; the centre of the abdomen ashy, verging into white on the vent and under tail-coverts, the latter having dusky bases and rather broad margins of dusky brown; axillaries and under wing-coverts orange-buff; quills dusky-brown below, washed with ashy-fulvous along the inner web: bill yellow. Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:9, tail 3:0, tarsus 1:05. It must be noticed that Taczanowski, in his description of the female of 7. leucops, gives the under tail-coverts as fulvous and the bill as black. One of the female birds from Sarayacu has a black bill, but in another from the same place the bill is yellow. In other respects they agree with the bird from Chamicuros described above. Taczanowski says that the young birds in their first plumage are entirely different from those of M. serrana. The male described is from Tambillo (Stolzmann), in the Sclater Collection ; and the female is from Chamicuros, in the British Museum. ГЕ. B. S.] MERULA INFUSCATA, Гај. CENTRAL-AMERICAN BLACK OUZEL. Merula infuscata, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 41. Turdus infuscatus, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 219 (1847); Salvin & Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 24 (1879). Merula infuscatra, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 240 (1881). M. rostro et pedibus flavis: culmine breviore, 0:8 poll.: primario secundo quintum vix excedente: maris ptilosi omninó nigra, foemine tamen brunneá. Tue shorter bill and the different proportion of the primary-quills distinguish M. infuscata and its allies from the longer-billed members of the section, M. serrana and M. atrosericea. The present species ranges from Mexico to Guatemala, but it seems to be by no means a common bird in collections. 1% was first described by Lafresnaye from a Mexican specimen. De Oca met with it at Jalapa (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 334), and Mr. Boucard at Oaxaca (Sclater, 1. с. p. 870). The latter traveller has also procured examples at Totontepec in January, and others are in the Salvin-Godman Collection, obtained by M. Trujillo at El Patio and Cofre de Perote in June and July. The late Professor Sumichrast states that it is found in the temperate and alpine regions of Vera Cruz. He writes:—“ The lower portions of the alpine, and the upper and wooded part of the temperate region are the favourite resorts of this Thrush. It is quite common in these localities at the foot of the mountains, at an elevation ranging from 1250 to 2500 metres (4200 to 8200 feet above the sea)” (cf. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 543). The Guatemalan specimens in the Salvin-Godman Collection are from the highlands of Vera Paz and from the Sierra de las Minas, where Mr. W. B. Richardson met with the species in July 1897. In the * Biologia Centrali-Americana” Messrs. Salvin and Godman give the following note:— “ In Guatemala it is by no means a common bird ; but we met with it more frequently at Coban, in Vera Paz, than elsewhere. Hereit was usually found in the patches of older forest which clothe the summits of the curious conical hills which so abound іп this district. А young specimen in our collection most probably came from near Coban, proving that it is a resident species, as we also observed it in November and January, a season at which the bird would not be breeding. Our specimens were all obtained near Coban; for, although we observed this Thrush in the forest of the mountain-ridge above San Gerónimo and at Quezaltenango, near enough to recognize it with certainty, no birds were obtained. Its note much resembles that of T. merula.” (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 24.) Adult male. Dull sooty black above and below, without any gloss of greenish or blue-black; wings and tail black, as well as the under wing-coverts and axillaries; quill-lining ashy, a little browner on the secondaries. Тоба! length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:9, tail 3:6, tarsus 1:15. Adult female. General colour above russet-brown, with a slight wash of olive; wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers sepia-brown, externally russet-brown; crown of head like the back; lores dusky, with a supra-loral streak of buff to above the fore part of the eye ; ear-coverts dark brown, with sandy-buff shaft-lines; under surface of body light ruddy brown, somewhat duller and more H2 50 ashy on the centre of the breast and abdomen; under tail-coverts sandy-brown, with whitish shaft- lines and pale edges to the ends of the feathers; chin and fore part of cheeks ashy whitish, with a tolerably distinct moustachial line of dusky brown, the throat also having a few triangular spots of the same colour; under wing-coverts and axillaries dull orange-rufous ; quill-lining ashy. Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:75, wing 4:95, tail 3:15, tarsus 1:1. Young. Much browner than the adults, with the wings and tail blackish; the upper surface mottled with black margins and mesial streaks of sandy buff on the feathers; under surface of body brown, the feathers broadly edged with black, before which is a sub-terminal mark of golden buff, more distinct on the fore-neck and chest; the throat golden-buff with a few black spots. Another nestling bird from the Sierra de las Minas is much more orange-rufous underneath, and has distinct triangular spots of golden-buff at the end of the wing-coverts, the inner secondaries being also narrowly tipped with the same colour. The description of the male bird has been taken from a skin from Totontepec in the Salvin- Godman Collection, and the young birds are also described from Guatemalan examples in the same collection. The female described is from Jalapa and is in the Sclater Collection. The figure of the hen bird has been drawn from the same specimen, while that of the male has been taken from a skin from Vera Paz in the Seebohm Collection. [R. B. S.] MERULA SAMOENSIS, Tristram. SAMOAN BLACK OUZEL. Turdus vanikorensis (nec Quoy & Gaimard), Peale, U.S. Expl. Exped., Birds, p. 95 (1848). Merula vanikorensis (nec Quoy & Gaimard), Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped., Orn. р. 158 (1858); Finsch & Hartl. Faun. Centralpolyn. p. 97 (1867). Turdus (Merula) vanicorensis (nec Quoy & Gaimard), Gray, B. Trop. Isl. Pacific Ocean, p. 16 (1859, pt.). Turdus vanicorensis (nec Quoy & Gaimard), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255. no. 3710 (1869, pt.). Turdus samoensis, Tristram, Ibis, 1879, p. 188. Merula samoensis, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 242 (1881); Wiglesw. Aves Polyn. (Abhandl. k. Mus. Dresden, 1890-91, по. 6), р. 89 (1892). M. minor: ala 875-421 poll.: rostro et pedibus flavis: nigricans, foeminá brunnescentiore: gutture haud fusco striato. Tuis small species appears to be confined to the Samoan or Navigators' Islands, where it was obtained by Peale at Alua, in the interior of the island of Upolu. He states that it inhabits the shady and retired parts of the forests of the Samoan Islands, and is said to sing with a powerful and sweet volce. | The Rev. S. J. Whitmee states that the native name in Upolu for this Ouzel is “ Tútúmalili.” He gives the following note on the species :—“ Common in the bush. "There is no living object in Samoa which gives me so much of home feeling as this bird. It flies low before one for short distances, with the peculiar Blackbird note, exactly as its congener does along the English hedgerows. Тһе only thing lacking is the English Blackbird's song. Its nest is very similar to that of the English Blackbird, except that it is rather smaller, to suit the smaller size of the bird; and, unless my memory fails me since my birds’-nesting days, the eggs of thé two might almost be interchanged without the etror being detected, except that the Samoan egg is perhaps the smaller of the two. Тһе figure of the egg in Finsch and Hartlaub's work is very incorrect." (Ibis, 1875, p. 439.) Canon Tristram very properly separated the Samoan Ouzel under a distinct name, for it had hitherto been identified with the Merula vanicorensis of Quoy and Gaimard from Vanikoro, and it is quite unlikely that the Ouzels from these two localitie$ would be identical. Eggs collected by Mr. Whitmee are of two types, and vary considerably in size. In one form the ground-colour is light bluish-green, thickly spotted and flecked with pale reddish-brown and with faint greyish-brown underlying spots. In the otber type the ground-colour is of a stone-colour or light bluish, against which the pale rufous spots and flecks are more in contrast, and show up rather more plainly than in the bluish-green type. Axis 1:1-1:3 inch, diam. 0:8-0:9. Adult male. Sooty-black above and below, a little duller on the under surface: * bill orange; feet brownish-orange; iris dark brown” (E. L. Layard). Total length 7:5 inches, culmen 0:8 wing 4:2, tail 2:8, tarsus 15. Adult female. Similar to the male. tarsus 1:25. The specimens described are a pair from Acra, 52 Total length 7:0 inches, culmen 0:75, wing 3:95, tail 2:65, Upolu, collected by Mr. E. L. Layard, in the o in the same collection. Seebohm Collection. The birds figured in the Plate are als [R. В. S.] nn: ja ЕСА nn mm m he MERULA MAREENSIS, Layard $ Tristr. NEW-HEBRIDEAN OUZEL. Turdus mareensis, Layard & Tristram, Ibis, 1879, p. 472; Layard, Ibis, 1880, pp. 221, 226. Merula mareensis, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 249 (1881); Sharpe, Тыз, 1900, p. 346. Merula vanikorensis, pt. (nec Q. & G.), Wiglesworth, Aves Polyn. p. 38 (1891). M. minor, nigricans : rostro et pedibus flavis: subcaudalibus albo laté striatis.' Tuis species was sent to Mr. E. L. Layard from the Island of Maré in the Loyalty group, where it is known by the name of * Wassassé." It is like M. samoensis in colour, but has the under tail-coverts broadly streaked with white. Messrs. E. L. € L. C. Layard state that itis a very shy and wary bird, and their correspondent in Maré found it difficult to procure. More recently Capt. A. M. Farquhar has found the species on Mallicolo and Espiritu Santo. He writes :—“ Very wild, but not uncommon near Hoy Head, Espiritu Santo. I obtained three clutches of eggs, two incubated, two fresh, one just laid; also a nest with two young birds. Тһе nest was of fine roots, lined with dead blades of grass and dead leaves. Dimensions 5x33x2 in. The eggs like those of Turdus iliacus: 2:5 x 156. This Thrush breeds in August and September.” | Mr. Wiglesworth, іп his most useful memoir on the Birds of Polynesia, considers that M. mareensis is identical with the Turdus vanikorensis of Quoy and Gaimard, a species procured during the voyage of the *Astrolabe' on Vanikoro Island in the Santa Cruz group. This may probably be the case, but it is impossible to say for certain until the type of 7. vanikorensis, in the Paris Museum, has been compared. Adult male. General colour above black, including the tail-feathers ; the wings slightly browner; under surface of body entirely sooty-black, with a little white on the vent ; under tail-coverts black, with shaft-streaks and terminal spots of white; under wing-coverts and axillaries sooty-black: “ bill and feet orange; iris drab-brown " (E. L. Layard). Total length 7:8 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:25, tail 2:8, tarsus 1:35. Adult female. Similar to the male, but browner, especially underneath, the breast being decidedly browner than the back, and inclining to grey on the abdomen ; under tail-coverts black, with the same white shaft-streaks and tips as in the male: “bill and feet bright orange; iris drab-brown ” (E. L. Layard) ; “ eyelid yellow” (4. M. Farquhar). Total length 7:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:1, tail 3:0, tarsus 1:25. The pair of adult birds described are in the Seebohm Collection and were obtained on the Island of Maré by Mr. E. L. Layard, the male in October 1879 and the female in June 1882. The specimen figured in the Plate is a breeding male obtained by Mr. Layard in November 1881, and also in the Seebohm Collection. [R. В. $.] е” тейін. че тена " А — Б --- EE E лаць... MERULA FUSCATRA, DOrb. & Гај. D'ORBIGNY'S OUZEL. Turdus fuscater, D'Orb. € Lafr. Mag. de Zool. 1837, Syn. Av. p. 16; D'Orb. Voy. Amér. Mérid. p. 200, pl. ix. fig. 1. Turdus anthracinus, Burm. J. f. O. 1858, p. 159. Merula fuscatra, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 243 (1881). Merulissima fuscatra, Seebohm, t. c. p. 282 (1881). M. notzeo et gastreeo concoloribus, fere nigricantibus, aut brunneis | 4 | vel cinereis [ 2]: alâ 5'5; culm. 0-145 : rostro et pedibus flavis. THE adult male of this species has a very long bill, which sometimes shows traces of minute serrations, as in the Himalayan genus Zoothera ; such an example is figured by Mr. Seebohm in the fifth volume of the “Catalogue of Birds,’ p. 243. As will be seen below, I have found the specimens from Catamarca and Cordova to have decidedly shorter bills; but there seems to be a gradation between the long-billed and short-billed forms, and I have been unable to separate them specifically ; at the same time, it must be remarked that the series in the British Museum is not sufficient to determine all the changes of plumage undergone by this Ouzel, and it is possible that the grey form found in the interior of Argentina may be distinct from the blacker long-billed form which extends from Mendoza to the Andes of Bolivia. Although the black form appears to be peculiar to the latter countries, I have seen a female from Mendoza which could not be distinguished from others from Catamarca and Cordova. This species was described by D'Orbigny and Lafresnaye from the Andes of Bolivia, where it was found at an elevation of from 5000 to 11,000 feet. D’Orbigny remarks :—‘‘ We have met with it on successive occasions in the neighbourhood of the town of La Paz, and later on to the eastward of the eastern Cordillera at Enquisivi, in the valley of Cochabamba, at Mezque, Valle Grande, and at Chuquisaca. It is generally noticed in the bush-covered ravines, especially near to habitations, where it frequents the gardens. Sometimes in winter it becomes so tame as to even enter the houses. It is often seen singly and at other times in companies of two or three individuals of the same species, searching among the dead leaves under the bushes for its food ; it frequently raises its tail, especially when it alights, and occasionally hides itself in the bushes, only to come out later with a lively air and scour the neighbourhood. When pursued, its nature is so little timid that it flies but a short distance. * It is resident in the country, where it is very common, and does not mix with other birds, but otherwise it very closely resembles the Common Blackbird of Europe, and its song during the breeding-season has much of the melody of the last-named species. It feeds on small grain and insects. In August and September it constructs in the bushes a nest which is very like that of the European Blackbird, excepting that there is no layer of mud on the external portion. It is often kept as а cage-bird in the country, where the Aymaras give it the name of * Chiguanco, which is their generic title for all Thrushes.” Burmeister says that it is * very common at Mendoza, Cordova, and Tucuman, and met with VOL. II. I 56 among the shady trees of (һе promenades; has a better song than our Blackbird, which is heard at a distance, especially in the evening. Called “Crispin” in Tucuman " (La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 474, 1862). Mr. Е. W. White (P. Z. S. 1882, р. 598) remarks :— I have noticed this bird in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, Cordova, and Catamarca, where it is much esteemed as a cage-bird on account of its beautiful whistle. In Mendoza it goes by the name of *Sorsal, in Catamarca and Cordova by that of ‘ Merlo,’ and in Andalgala * Chocoyno'; in the last-mentioned place it is seen generally about the hedges round the town. In Catamarca, however, it is only observed during winter and spring. Тһе Italians settled in the town of Mendoza are very fond of its flesh, and are rapidly exterminating it in that neighbourhood." The species has also been sent from the Pampas Argentinas by Leybold (cf. Martins, J. f. O. 1875, p. 448). А specimen said to have been obtained by Mr. T. Bridges in Chile is in the British Museum, but in all probability this locality is erroneous, and the example really came from Dolivia, where Mr. Bridges also made large collections. Mr. E. C. Reed (Ibis, 1893, p. 595) says that although the species is found near Mendoza he has never seen any Chilian specimens. Adult male. General colour above blackish-chocolate, darker towards the crown and hind-neck ; wings and tail dark brown; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts blackish ; entire under surface of body blackish-chocolate, the under wing-coverts and axillaries like the breast: * bill and feet bright yellow; iris reddish-brown; eyelids bright yellow” (A. D’Orbigny). Total length 11 inches, culmen 1:45, wing 5:5, tail 4:65, tarsus 1:55. Adult female. Slaty-grey above and below, lighter on the under surface, especially on the throat, which has some blackish streaks; under wing-coverts and axillaries ochreous-brown. Total length 10 inches, culmen 1:2, wing 5:25, tail 4:4, tarsus 1:4. Young. Greyer than the adults below and lighter brown above; the underparts mottled with buff centres to the feathers, which have also blackish margins ; the under wing-coverts ochraceous-buff, with dusky edges. The birds from the Argentine Republic differ from those of Mendoza in having a shorter bill and in being lighter and greyer in colour, but some examples from Mendoza cannot be distinguished from those from Argentina. A male from Cosquin (E. W. White, July 17, 1882) has the culmen only 1:15 inch. Тһе plumage is not nearly so black as in the male bird from Mendoza, and there are hoary-grey margins to the primaries ; below it is decidedly more ashy than the Mendoza individual described, especially on the sides of the body. А female from Cosquin (E. W. White, Aug. 15, 1882) is much more ashy-brown than the male, but has the hoary fringes along the outer web of the primaries. Тһе chin is hoary-grey, and there are traces of dusky blackish stripes on the sides of the throat. Culmen 1-1 inch. obsolete signs of dark streaks оп the throat. Mr. Seebohm states that the fourth and fifth primaries are nearly equal and longest, and that the second primary is about equal to the eighth. I find, however being from San Rafael in the same province, obtained in Jul y 1897, and presented to the British Museum by Professor Moreno. ІК. В. 8.) — M DRE MERULA GIGAS, Fraser. GIANT OUZEL. Turdus gigas, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 59. Semimerula gigas, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 332. Merulissima gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 232 (1881). Merula gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 244 (1881). М. maxima: ай 5'9-6:5 poll. : rostro et pedibus flavis: suprà schistacea, corpore subtüs pallidiore schistaceo : caudá nigricante. Тнів large Ouzel appears to range from Venezuela to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Mr. Goering has sent two specimens from the neighbourhood of Merida (Sclater «с Salvin, P. 7. 5. 1875, p. 234); and although these specimens are not quite adult, 1 cannot find any tangible difference between them and others from Bogotá, and they are certainly not M. cacozela from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. The Giant Ouzel was first described by Fraser from a Bogotá specimen, and examples from this locality are not at all uncommon in collections. Mr. T. H. Wheeler has forwarded specimens from the environs of Bogotá, procured at a height of from 8500 to 9500 feet. Mr. Т. К. Salmon obtained several examples near Santa Elena in Antioquia, and also at Retiro іп the same State at an elevation of 7000 feet. Count von Berlepsch records the species from Bucaramanga, where it was obtained by Herr Minlos (Berl. J. f. O. 1884, p. 279). In Ecuador the species has been found in a number of places, at Cuenca by Fraser (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 451), and the same collector also obtained it at Titiacun and Matos on the Plateau of Riobamba (Sclater, £. c. p. 550). In the Salvin-Godman Collection are specimens from the vicinity of Pasto (Lehmann), Sical (C. Buckley), and Monji (C. Buckley) ; while Stolzmann met with the species at Вайов at 6200 feet (Tacz. & Berl. P. Z. S. 1885, p. 70). Mr. W. F. H. Rosenberg found it near Cayambe, in North-west Ecuador, between 9000 and 10,000 feet (Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 479, 1898). An example from Ninabamba, in Peru, obtained by Stolzmann, and now in the Sclater Collection, seems to me to be the true М. gigas and not M. gigantodes. 1618 slightly more ashy-grey below than Ecuadorian specimens, and the dusky streaks on the throat are obsolete. "Wing 6:25 inches, culmen 11, tarsus 177. Two specimens are in the Salvin-Godman Collection from Bolivia, where they were obtained at Sorata by the late Clarence Buckley. These birds are a little darker than Colombian examples, and have the throat more dusky, but I do not see that they can be separated specifically from true М. gigas, and the darker coloration may be due to their being in winter plumage. Dr. Rusby obtained a specimen in the Province of Yungas (Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. ii. p. 78, 1892). Mr. Fraser procured the nest and eggs of this species at Riobamba in June, and Dr. Sclater describes them as follows :—“ The nest is made of stalks and grass, lined with fine hay. Тһе eggs appear rather small for the bird, measuring 1'3 by 1 inch. They are of the usual character of Turdus as regards colour, being of a bluish-green minutely freckled with pale red." 12 58 Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-brown, with the head scarcely more dusky than the Баск; wing-coverts like the back, Ше quills dark sepia-brown ; tail-feathers blackish ; lores blackish ; the ear-coverts and sides of face also blackish ; cheeks and under surface of body dull ashy-brown, slightly paler towards the abdomen and flanks; the throat a little more dingy brown with obsolete blackish streaks; under tail-coverts blackish; axillaries and under wing-coverts like the breast: “bill red or orange ; feet orange; iris reddish-hazel; rim round the eye yellow” (L. Fraser). Total length 12:5 inches, culmen 1, wing 6:5, tail 5:3, tarsus 1:7. I do not see how a male bird from Santa Elena in Antioquia can possibly be separated from the bird described, which is one of Fraser's specimens from Matos, Ecuador (Sclater Coll.). The dusky streaks on the throat are prominent, and the measurements аге :—wing 5:95, culmen 1, tarsus 127. A female from Ninabamba, Peru (Jelski: Sclater Coll.), also seems to me to be identical. Wing 6:25 inches, culmen 11, tarsus 1:7. It is slightly more ashy-grey below, and the dusky streaks on the throat are obsolete. Young. More dusky above than the adults and with a slight olive tinge; under surface of body pale ashy, mottled with black bars at the ends of the feathers, before which is a whitish or pale buff spot or bar; the sides of the body tinged with olive (Bogotá, 8500-9500 feet). Mr. Seebohm says that in this species the second primary is about equal to the tenth, but in the British Museum series the second primary would seem to fall between the seventh and eighth or to be equal to the seventh. The description of the male has been taken from a bird from Matos in the Sclater Collection, that of the young being from a specimen from the environs of Bogotá in the Salvin-Godman Collection. I cannot find any indication on Mr. Seebohm's part as to the specimen he figured, but I suspect that it was one of Salmon's Antioquia birds. (В. В. S.] MERULA GIGANTODES (Саб.). PERUVIAN GIANT OUZEL. Turdus gigantodes, Cab. J. f. O. 1873, p. 315 Merula gigantodes, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 244 (1881). Merulissima gigantodes, Seebohm, t. c. p. 232. M. maxima: alá 5:9 poll.: rostro et pedibus flavis: suprà fuliginoso-nigra; subtüs vix pallidior. Similis M. giganti, sed ubique saturatior. JELSKI discovered this species at Maraynioc, in Central Peru, and shortly afterwards it was found by the late Henry Whitely in the Andes of Cusco and at Ccachupata (Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1874, p.503). Mr. Stolzmann found it very common at Cutervo, at an altitude of from 8000 to 10,000 feet, in the non-wooded Sierra, where it kept to the low brushwood. Like Agriornis solitaria, it was one of the earliest of the birds in that part of the country, heralding the approach of dawn with its agreeable song. It loves also to sing in the evening, but it is seldom to be heard in the middle of the day. On going out at daybreak into the country the song of these Thrushes can be heard on all sides, but as soon as the sun appears they are all silent. Тһе natives recognize seven variations in the song of this bird, its call-note being a tschach-tschach. It feeds principally on the ground. Inthe stomach of one of these birds Mr. Jelski has found strawberries, other kinds of berries, the seeds of Agalium, besides larve and other insects (Orn. Pérou, i. p. 495). This species also occurs in Ecuador, as two specimens from the neighbourhood of Quito in the British Museum are not to be separated from Peruvian examples. Тһе egg, which is found in the early days of June, is, according to Taczanowski, greenish, varied over the whole surface with scattered irregular markings of pale violet-grey, with other spots of a somewhat dark reddish-brown, the large end being almost entirely covered with these markings. Adult female. General colour above dark chocolate-brown, the feathers with edges of lighter chocolate; wings and tail slightly blacker; crown of head and sides of face a little darker chocolate- brown than the back; under surface of body also dark chocolate-brown, with faintly indicated margins of olivaceous-brown ; under tail-coverts blackish-brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark chocolate-brown ; quills sepia-brown below, ashy along the inner webs: “bill and feet orange- yellow, the claws horn-colour; iris cherry-red ; eyelids yellow ” (J. Stolzmann). Total length 13 inches, culmen 1:25, wing 5:9, tail 5:3, tarsus 1:75. The light margins to the feathers which are plainly visible in the bird described, which is from Ccachupata, are also seen in another female from Cuzco. Ina bird from Quito, however, which is in worn plumage and has evidently finished breeding, the general colour is darker, and there is no sign of any light edgings, which I take to be, in all probability, a character of the winter plumage. The specimen described is from Ccachupata, collected by Whitely, іп the Sclater Collection ; and the bird figured is one in the Seebohm Collection, obtained by Whitely in the Andes of Cuzco. [R. B.S. MERULA CACOZELA, Оштат Вапдз. SANTA-MARTA GIANT OUZEL. Merula gigas (nec Fraser), Salvin & Godman, Ibis, 1879, p. 198. Merula gigas cacozela, Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, xii. p. 181 (1898). M. maxima : alá 6:25 poll. : olivascenti-brunnea, gastrzo vix pallidiore: caudá olivascente. Тнів species appears to be very distinct, and the three specimens in the British Museum from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are all much more olive in colour than true M. gigas. Mr. Seebohm had clearly distinguished it, and had had a separate Plate drawn, with a name engraved thereon. As I could not find where he had published this name, I brought it forward as new at a meeting of the British Ornithologists Club in the winter of 1898, but the description by Mr. Outram Bangs reached England about the same time, and I was thus enabled to suppress Seebohm's MSS. title. Mr. F. А. A. Simons procured a specimen in February 1878 at San Sebastian, in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, at a height of 6700 feet, as recorded by Messrs. Salvin and Godman (Ibis, 1879, p. 198). Mr. Simons afterwards obtained two more specimens at 9000 feet in Sept. 1879, which are also in their collection. Messrs. Salvin and Godman remarked on the paler colour of the Santa Marta specimens, but did not consider them worthy of specific separation. Three specimens procured in June 1898 by Mr. W. W. Brown at Macotama (8000 feet), in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, have been described by Mr. Outram Bangs as a subspecies of M. gigas. He duly remarks upon the more olive colour of the specimens, and also draws attention to the shorter tail of M. cacozela. In the specimens in the British Museum I do not find any difference in the length of the tail between M. cacozela and M. gigas, all the examples being of about the same dimensions. Adult. Similar to M. gigas, but much more olive and with a larger bill. General colour above olive-brown, the crown scarcely browner than the back; quills and tail sepia-brown, externally olive or edged with olive; lores black; ear-coverts dark brown, almost of the same tint as the crown ; cheeks, throat, and breast pale earthy-brown, fading into light olivaceous-brown on the abdomen; the throat with some broad blackish streaks; thighs ashy-brown ; under tail-coverts brown, darker than the abdomen, and with olivaceous margins; under wing-coverts and axillaries brown, a little darker than the breast; quills sepia-brown below, ashy on the inner webs: “ bill and feet orange- yellow ; eyes orange-yellow ” (F. A. A. Simons). Total length 12:5 inches, culmen 1:2, wing 6:25, tail 5:35, tarsus 1:75. The description and figure in the Plate are both taken from the San Sebastian specimens in the Salvin-Godman Collection. [В В. 8.] MERULA NIGRESCENS (Cab.). CABANIS'S OUZEL. Turdus nigrescens, Cab. J. f. O. 1860, р. 324; Salvin & Godman, Biol. Centr,-Amer., Aves, i. р. 25, tab. iv. (1879). Merula nigrescens, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 242 (1881). M. saturate chocolatino-brunnea, pileo vix nigricantiore: rostro et pedibus flavis: alis caudáque nigerrimis : subcaudalibus nigricantibus, minimé pallidé apicatis. This species is found in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. It was first discovered by Dr. Hoffmann on the Уојсап de Cartago in Costa Rica (Cab. J. f. О. 1860, p. 324), and here, Dr. von Frantzius tells us, it is met with at an elevation of from 9000 to 10,000 feet (J. f. O. 1869, p. 290). Messrs. Salvin and Godman remark :—“ This mountain seems to be the headquarters of the species in Costa Rica, as all collectors who have worked there have obtained specimens. It is, however, also found in the Dota Mountains, which lie at no great distance from Cartago " (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 25). А specimen from San Francisco (4500 feet), obtained by Mr. Henry Rogers, is in the Salvin- Godman Collection, and Mr. Boucard met with the species on the Volcan de Irazu in May 1877. It was also obtained by Cooper on the last-named mountain. Mr. Nutting also procured a specimen on the summit of Irazu in February (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 494). The species likewise occurs in Panama, whence Arcé sent specimens from the southern slope of the Volcan de Chiriqui (Salvin, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 180). Adult male. General colour above dark chocolate-brown, the scapulars like the back ; quills and tail black, contrasting with the browner colour of the back; the lesser wing-coverts, and the inner major coverts and innermost secondaries, slightly washed with brown; head dark chocolate-brown like the back; lores and ear-coverts blacker; cheeks and under surface of body deep chocolate-brown ; the under tail-coverts black, edged with brown ; axillaries chocolate-brown, the under wing-coverts blacker; quills blackish-brown below: bill and feet yellow. Тоба! length 9-7 inches, culmen 0:95, wing 5°7, tail 4*5, tarsus 1:4. Adult female. Similar to the male, but of a slightly paler brown. Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 5:45, tail 4:1, tarsus 1:3. The male described is in the Sclater Collection from the Volcan de Irazu (Zeledon), and the female is from the Volcan de Chiriqui in the Salvin-Godman Collection. 'The figures in the Plate are drawn from a male bird in the Salvin-Godman Collection from the Volcan de Irazu (Cooper). ГВ. B. 8.1 VOL. II. K MERULA NIGRORUM (Ogilvie Grant). NEGROS-ISLAND OUZEL. Turdus nigrorum, Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 544; id. & Whitehead, Ibis, 1898, p. 238, pl. v. figs. 8, 9. М. brunnea : rostro et pedibus flavis: раса crissali albá: tibiis et subcaudalibus nigricanti-brunneis, his anguste albido fasciatim terminatis. Тнів species has no very close ally. It is a brown-coloured Ouzel and appertains more to the American group of the genus Merula, such as М. nigrescens and М. fuscatra, the species which it most resembles in the Old World being apparently M. samoensis. It is confined to the high mountains of the Island of Negros in the Philippines. Here it was discovered by Mr. John Whitehead on the volcano of Canloón, at a height of 6000 feet, and both eggs and young birds were obtained by the explorer. At an altitude of 6600 feet on the above-mentioned mountain Mr. Whitehead found a nest on the 12th of April, 1896, which contained two eggs, much incubated. On the 21st of April he found a second nest with two young birds, from which it may be concluded that no more than two eggs are laid by this species. ‘The nest was built about twelve feet from the ground in a prickly creeping plant, called ** Pandan " by the Malays (cf. Grant & Whitehead, l. c.). Mr. Whitehead (Ibis, 1899, р. 213) says that the species was not uncommon on Mt. Canloón at the above elevation. The two eggs obtained by Mr. Whitehead have a pale green-coloured ground, over which is distributed a close mottling of light cinnamon-rufous, which forms more distinct blotches on one egg than on the other. The underlying spots are pale reddish-brown, but are so thickly intermingled with the rufous ones that no pronounced difference can be detected. Axis 1:2 inch, diam. 0:8-0:9. Adult male. General colour above dark chocolate-brown, the head scarcely darker than the back; lesser wing-coverts like the back; median and greater coverts black, as also the quills and tail-feathers; sides of face dark brown; throat and under surface of body light chocolate-brown, becoming a little more ashy on the breast and abdomen, which have indistinct dusky shaft-lines on the feathers; vent white; under tail-coverts blackish-brown, narrowly edged with ashy-white at the ends; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark ashy-brown; lower primary-coverts and quills below blackish: * bill bright yellow; feet yellow; iris dark brown; orbital skin bright sulphur- yellow” (J. Whitehead). Total length 9 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:9, tail 3:5, tarsus 1:35. Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 9 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4°75, tail 3:5, tarsus 1:4. Young. Similar to the adults on the upper surface, but rather browner; under surface of body rufous, dusky on the throat, the rufous feathers of the breast and abdomen having blackish bars at the ends, producing a spotted appearance; vent white, as in the adults; under tail-coverts with mesial streaks and tips of white or buff; thighs and lower flanks dark brown. The descriptions and the figures in the Plate are taken from the typical specimens in the British Museum. [В. В. 8.) к2 — — wy. —M TU === AAA A НИНЕ MERULA NIGROPILEUS (Zafr.). BLACK-CAPPED OUZEL. Turdus (Merula) nigropileus, Lafr. in Deless. Voy. Inde, pt. ii. p. 27 (1843). Merula nigropileus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 162 (1849); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 250 (1881); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 126 (1890). Turdus nigropileus, Jerd. В. Ind. i, p. 523 (1862). M. suprà schistacea; subtüs quoque schistacea : rostro et pedibus flavis: pileo nigro: collo postico et interscapulio lilacino-brunneis. Tnx Black-capped Ouzel is an inhabitant of the western and central portions of the Indian Peninsula, ranging north to Mount Abu. Jerdon writes (B. Ind. i. p. 524):— This Blackbird is found, occasionally, throughout the greater part of the south of India, in the plains during the cold weather only; but it is a permanent resident on the hilly regions of the south, at a moderate elevation. It is found in Coorg, the Wynaad, and other parts of the Western Ghats, and in some of the higher table-lands in Central India, as іп Bustar and Jalna. I have killed it in my own garden, at Nellore іп the Carnatic, at Tellicherry, and other places at low elevation. І never saw it on the Nilghiris." The Rev. S. В. Fairbank has sent a number of specimens to Mr. Hume from Mahabaleshwur, procured from February to May (spec. in Mus. Brit.) Не says that it has become abundant in the neighbourhood, and it is found all along the top of the Sahyadri Hills (Str. F. iv. p. 257, 1876). Colonel A. E. Butler writes :—“ It is a permanent resident and common all along the Sahyadri Range and in the adjacent forests as far north as Khandala, being most abundant in the rains. It belongs almost exclusively to the Ghat Region, but I have shot stragglers in Belgaum on two occasions" (Str. F. ix. p. 399, 1881). In South Konkan, Mr. G. Vidal says that this Ouzel is common everywhere in groves and gardens, both on the coast and inland (Str. F. ix. p. 63, 1880). In his paper on the Birds of North Kanara, Mr. J. Davidson says that the present species is * found sparingly in the cold weather along the coast, and is noticed occasionally here and there above the Ghats at that season. About Halyal and Mundgode it is fairly common in March and April." He never found the nest is Kanara, but is pretty certain that it must occasionally breed in the northern portion of the district (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xi. p. 670, 1898). Mr. C. J. W. Taylor says that it is a common species in the Manzeerabad district of Mysore, and he has found eggs on the 25th of May (Str. F. x. p. 459). Specimens from Matheran, obtained in January and February by Colonel Hayes Lloyd, are in the British Museum. Тһе Tweeddale Collection contains others from Khandeish. Mr. Hume states that in the Central Provinces the species has been found at Raipur and Sambulpur (Str. F. vii. p. 213, 1878). Specimens from Raipur procured in January, from Sambulpur (December), and from Panchmari (June) are in the Hume Collection in the British Museum. The Hume Collection likewise contains a series of birds from Mount Abu in Rajputana, obtained in May, June, July, and September, by Dr. б. King and Colonel E. A. Butler. Тһе latter writes :— ж A oros Sunt aad) TYREE Pi a NTE - ——— 68 “Tt breeds at Abu in the rains, commencing nidification towards the end of the hot weather, but I was never fortunate enough to find a nest. It is common, but I have never met with it on the plains ; and 1 am inclined to think that it is migratory, as I lost sight of it during the cold weather, and did not see it again till May, when it reappeared in considerable numbers " (Str. F. iii. p. 470, 1875). Very little has been written about the habits of the Black-capped Ouzel. Colonel Butler says that it has a loud rich note, resembling the whistle of Turdus musicus. Dr. Jerdon observes:— “Like other Blackbirds, it feeds much on the ground on snails, soft insects, and occasionally on fruit. At Nellore I found that it lived almost entirely on the pretty Helix bistrialis, so common in hedgerows in the Carnatic. I heard its song at Tellicherry towards the end of the cold weather, but only very early in the morning long before sunrise. I also heard it in Bustar in April, where it was breeding. It is not nearly so powerful, or so fine, as that of its Nilghiri or Ceylon congener." The following observations on the nesting of the species have appeared in Mr. Oates's edition of Mr. Hume's ‘ Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds’ (vol. ii. р. 91):-“ Mr. H. Wenden has found many nests of this Blackbird on the Gháts near Khandala. Не says:— **6th July, 1879. Lonauli. Found nest with three young birds in a small euphorbia bush, 41 feet above ground. **27th July. Davidson and I found two nests, each with three eggs. One situated in the fork of a horizontal bough about 5 feet from ground, and the other on the point of a pollarded branch 8 feet from ground. **2nd August. I found another nest with three eggs, 12 feet up in a euphorbia bush. I have found several other nests, some old and others building. This species seems to be breeding very freely about here (Lonauli, from 1800 to 2400 feet above the sea). “< Оп 27th July I shot both male and female from a nest, and Davidson and I identified them. The nests are composed of stout twigs and grass, covered externally with much earth and moss, Internally they measure from 33 to 32 inches diameter by 2 deep, neatly lined with fine grass-stems, root, &c.; the lining of one nest consisted entirely of the spines of casuarina.” “The eggs of this species are, typically, moderately broad, very regular ovals, but short broad, more or less pyriform varieties, and, again, considerably elongated oval ones, occur. The eggs are always fairly glossy, and some have a fine gloss. ‘The ground-colour varies from greenish-white to a delicate pale sea-green, the markings, usually most dense about one or other end, where they often form a more or less regular cap or zone, are a rich brownish-red and pale purple, and consist of specks, spots, blotches, and streaks, becoming sometimes quite confluent at one end of the egg, to which in some eggs they are almost entirely confined, while in others, with the exception of a slight tendency to conglomerate round the large end, they are pretty evenly distributed over the entire surface. “Тһе eggs vary from 1:02 to 1:17 in length, and from 0:78 to 0:88 in breadth; but the average of 15 eggs is 1:08 by 0:82.” Adult male. General colour above light slaty-grey, decidedly browner on the mantle, hind-neck, and sides of neck and nape, leaving the crown of the head black, forming a сар; wing-coverts clear slate-colour; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, externally bluish slate-colour; the primaries inclining to hoary-grey on their outer margins; tail black, slightly washed with slate- colour externally; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts black, like the crown ; cheeks and entire throat brown, fading off on the breast and under-parts into a paler and more slaty-brown and into white on the lower abdomen and vent; thighs pale ashy-brown; under tail-coverts pale ashy, with broad white central streaks down the feathers; axillaries and under wing-coverts light ashy-grey ; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner web: “ bill reddish-orange; feet yellow; iris dark brown" (W. Davison). Total length 10 inches, culmen 1:1, wing 5:3, tail 3:8, tarsus 1:3. = rt 69 Adult female. Similar to the male but browner, and not of such а bluish slate-colour, the under surface being of a pale brown, with a few dusky blackish streaks on the throat: “bill orange-yellow ; feet yellow; iris dark brown ; eyelids orange” (E. A. Butler). Total length 9:75 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 4:85, tail 3:3, tarsus 1:3. Young. More dusky brown than the adults, and with narrow whitish shaft-streaks or triangular spots of buff on the wing-coverts; under surface of body light reddish-buff, mottled with dusky blackish edges to the feathers, which have also triangular mesial spots of buff or shaft-lines of pale buff. The adult specimens above described are in the Tweeddale and Seebohm Collections, from Khandeish, and the young, from Sambalpur, are in the Hume Collection. Тһе figures in the Plate are drawn from examples in the Seebohm Collection. ГЕ. B. 8.1 MERULA SIMILLIMA (Jerd.. NILGHIRI OUZEL. Turdus simillimus, Jerd. Madr. Journ. x. p. 253 (1839). Merula simillima, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 162 (1849) ; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 251 (1881); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 124 (1890). Merula erythrotis, Davison, Ibis, 1886, p. 205; Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 126 (1890). M. rostro et pedibus flavis : suprà schistacea, subtüs schistaceo-brunnescens : pileo dorso concolore, vix nigricante : interscapulio minimé brunnescente, sed dorso reliquo concolore. Тнів species differs from M. nigropileus in having the upper surface nearly uniform, with the head perhaps a trifle darker than the back, but with no pale area on the hind-neck and mantle. The late Dr. Jerdon, who described the species (2. c.) writes as follows :—* I have only observed it on the Neilgherries, in the dense woods of which it is very common, and may be daily heard pouring forth its charming song, especially towards evening and in cloudy weather. It is found alone or in small families. It lives chiefly on fruit of different kinds, especially of the pleasant Brazil cherry, now so abundant in the woods there ; also feeds on worms, caterpillars, and other soft insects. I possess a specimen, given me by Major Campbell, 33rd N.L, who shot it on the Pulney hills, which is identical with Neilgherry ones." The British Museum has a large series of specimens from the Nilghiris, viz. from Coonoor (January, February, August, September), Ootacamund (January to July, September), Khotagherry (June), collected by the late Mr. W. R. Davison, Miss Cockburn, and Major R. G. Wardlaw-Ramsay. Mr. Davison also met with the species on the Brahmaghiri Hills, and specimens obtained by Major Horace Terry in the Palani or Pulney Hills are in the British Museum. Mr. Davison's note on the species (Str. F. x. p. 374, 1883) is as follows :—“ Very common on the plateau of the Nilghiris, and extending some little way down the slopes, but in considerably decreased numbers. It also occurs on the Bramaghirris in Coorg, a female I obtained there being undistinguishable from numerous females obtained on the Nilghiris." On the Palanis Major Horace Terry says that the species is “very common everywhere in the sholas on the top. They commenced breeding in the middle of March, and were still nesting when I left in the middle of June" (Str. F. x. p. 474, 1887). Mr. C. J. W. Taylor (Str. F. x. p. 459, 1887) states that the species was occasionally seen on the hills of Mysore in the Manzeerabad district, but no specimens have been examined by me from any part of Mysore. Mr. Ogilvie Grant is certainly correct in referring the type of Davison's M. erythrotis (Ibis, 1886, p. 205) to the present species, the rufous colour on the face and abdomen being due to a stain. The locality of М. erythrotis is uncertain, but is supposed to be the Palghat Hils. | The following notes on the breeding of M. simillima are taken from Mr. Oates's edition of Hume's * Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 88 :— “Of the Nilghiri Blackbird, Mr. H. R. P. Carter says :— At Coonoor, on the Nilghiris, I have found nests of this bird from the 25th of March to the 18th of May, on which latter date a nest was VOL. II. L | | | | 12 being built. Тһе nest is always іп the fork of a tree or shrub, varying in height from 3 to 20 feet from the ground. І found several in coffee-bushes, one on a tree-fern, others on rhododendron-trees, and one on the Australian acacia. In shape it is hemispherical and open at the top. There is always a foundation of mud, and a superstructure of thin twigs or coarse fibres, and it is lined generally with fine fibres, but sometimes has scarcely any lining. «