CINCLUS ASIATICUS , Swains.
Asiatic Water-Ouzel.
Cinclus Asiaticus, Swains. Faun. Bor. Araer., vol. ii. p. 174.
Pallasii, Temm. Man. d’Orn./tom. i. p. 177.—Gould, Cent, of Birds, pi. xxiv.—Gray, Cat. of Spec, and
Draw, of Mamm. and Birds pres, to Brit. Mus. by B'. H . Hodgson, Esq., p. 78.
tenuirostris, Gould, MSS.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 252, Cinclus, sp. 5.
asiaticus, Adams in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvii. p. 180.
maculatus, Hodgs. in Gray’s Zool. Misc. 1844, p. 83, young.
Hydrobata Asiatica, Gray and Mitch., Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 215, Hydrobata, sp. 4.—Blyth, Cat. of Birds in
Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 158.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i.
p. 185.
M o r e than a quarter of a century has now elapsed since the subject of the present memoir occupied my
attention while engaged upon my first work, ‘ A Century of Birds from the Himalayan M ountains.’ Therein
I published a figure of the bird under the specific appellation of Pallasii, a term I was induced to adopt in
consequence of the specimen from which my figure was taken accurately agreeing with the description given
by M. Temminck in the first volume of his ‘Manuel d’Ornithologie,’ published in 1820, where he says:—
“ Cinclus Pallasii : formes de notre cincle ; tout le plumage, sans exception, d’une seule nuance brune,
couleur de chocolat,”— a description answering so precisely to that of the present bird that no more
appropriate terms could have been selected. Subsequently, in the third volume of the ‘ Manuel,’ published
fifteen years later (1835), he modified this description as follows :—
“ C in c l u s P a l las ii (Mihi).—Un peu plus grand que le Cincle plongeur, mais les formes totales exactement
mêmes. Toutes les parties, tant inférieures que supérieures, toute la tête et le cou d’une seule
nuance brune enfumée, ou couleur de suie ; les seules plumes du dos lisérées de noir ; les ailes et la queue
d’un noir grisâtre, mais les couvertures des ailes lisérées de couleur de suie; douze pennes à la queue; iris
bleu, bec noir, pieds gris. Longueur, huit pouces. Les deux sexes.”
Now the question is, did M. Temminck take his description from a specimen said to have been brought
by Pallas from the Crimea, or from an Indian example ? I f from an Indian bird, then the term Pallasi
should be retained for the present species, and not applied to the bird inhabiting Japan ; ornithologists,
however, generally incline to consider the Japanese bird to be the one to which the term Pallasi should be
applied, and I yield to their opinion, to prevent any further confusion.
The Cinclus Asiaticus enjoys a wide range of habitat, extending over the southern slopes of the great
Himalayan range of mountains from Bhotan on the east to AfFghanistan on the west. Specimens from the
latter country were sent to the Hon. East India Company’s Museum by Mr. Griffiths, and others were
forwarded by Mr. Pemberton from Bhotan. I have never seen examples from any part o f the Peninsula of
India. It is said to frequent rocky glens and mountain streams, and to offer in its habits and economy a
great resemblance to those of our well-known Cinclus aquaticus. Its food consists of aquatic insects and
their larvæ, the fry aud ova o f fishes, &c., which it takes beneath the water.
The colouring of the young birds for the first two or three months after their leaving the nest offers a
considerable contrast to that of the adults, in which a uniform style of colouring pervades the entire body
of both sexes. As I have figured this youthful state, a glance at the accompanying plate will at once convey
a correct idea of the appearance the bird presents a t this age. In this speckled style of plumage it very
closely resembles many members of the Saxicolinæ, to which it also offers an alliance in the number
and colouring of its eggs ; I do not, however, assert that it is with this group of birds that it ought to be
associated ; a t the same time I cannot fail to perceive that it is perhaps more nearly allied to that group
than to any other.
The adults of both sexes have the upper and under surface uniform light chocolate-brown ; or if there be
any exception to the uniformity, it occurs in some of the feathers of the back appearing in certain lights to
be faintly margined with dark brown ; the wings and tail also are of a rather darker o r purer brown ; above
and below the eye a small crescent-shaped mark o f white ; bill olive black ; legs and feet olive brown, except
in front, where they incline to white.
The young are clothed in greyish brown, with an irregular spot of white near the tip of each feather ; the
two colours so much intermingled on the under surface as to give that p art a mottled appearance, while
that o f the upper surface has a more spotted character ; down the chin a stripe of white ; wing-feathers
narrowly margined with white, showing most conspicuously at the tips ; tail brown.
The plate represents a male* a female, and a young bird, about the natural size.