J.G. Keulemans libit. H an h a rb imp.
TURD U S B O H C E N s ■
TURDUS JAMAICENSIS, Gm.
JAMAICA WHITE-THROATED THRUSH.
Jamaica, Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pfc 1, p. 20 (1783).
Turdus jamaicensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 809 (1788); Seebohm, Cat. Bird» Brit. Mus. v.
p. 208 ,(1881).
Merula jamaicensis, Gosse, B. Jamaica; p. 142, Illustr. pi. xxiv. (1847); Cory, B. West Indies,
p. 16 (1S89).
Turdus capucinus, Hartl. MSS.; Bp. Consp. i. p. 271 (I860).
Turdus leucophthalmus, Hill, MSS.; Bp. Consp. i. p. 271 (1850).
'Turdus lereboulleti, Bp. C. It. xxxviii. p. 3 (1854).
§ j plaga conspieufi. gulari alba : dorso saturate schistaceo : pileo chocolatino : axillaribus schistaceis, hypochondriis
concoloribu«.
T h e present species belongs to the section of striped-throated Thrushes which Seebohm called his
“ Sub-generic group Planestici,” with the spots on the under surface confined to the chin, cheeks,
or upper throat (of. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 186). It further belongs to the division of the genus
Turdus which has a conspicuous white gular patch between the striped throat and the plain-
coloured fore-neck and chest; and it is distinguished from all its allies by its slaty-grey axillaries,
combined with its chocolate-brown head, which contrasts with the slaty-grey back.
Turdus jamaicensis is entirely confined to the island of Jamaica, and nothing appears to have
been published on its habits beyond the following notes of the late P. H. G o s s e T h i s is
exclusively a mountain bird; inhabiting the very same localities, and subsisting on the same
food, as the Solitaire, the pulpy berries of a Scrophularious shrub, which the negroes thence
call the Glass-eye terry. I have never found any animal substance in the stomach of this species,
numbers of which I have examined ; one in December contained many of the little scarlet figs
from the tree on which I'shot it; .in February the green pimento-berries are devoured by them ;
and later in the spring, it appears, the shiuing fruit of the Sweetwood (Laurus) is attractive
to them. On the 30th of March my lad shot a male Glass-eye by the roadside at Cave,
scarcely a stone’s throw from the sea, and level with i t ; the stomach contained the berries of this
Laurus, which is abundant just there. This is the only instance in which I ever heard of the
species away from a mountain valley.
“ The common names of this bird are bestowed in allusion to the tint of the iris of the eye ,
this, as Mr. Hill observes, ‘ is not absolutely white, but so 'transparently suffused with a hue of
olive, that the eye has the look of very common glass.’
“ The figure, attitudes, and motions of the Glass-eye are those of its fellow, the Hopping Dick
(.Merula aurantia); it is, however, much more recluse, and jealous of being seen. The dashing
manner of flight across the wood-paths are the same in both birds, but the loud and startling tones
of the lowland bird are wanting in this. The Glass-eye has but one note that I have heard', a single
low ‘ quank,’ frequently repeated as he hops from bush to bush, or plunges into the thicket.
Dr Chamberlaine attributes to him ‘ the same loud sonorous chirp as he stealthily scuds from one
von. I. 2 o