. J.G.Kenlemans lifch.
HaiiTiarfc imp.
TURDUS MURINUS
TUKDUS MURINUS, Salvin.
RORAIMA DUSKY THRUSH.
Turdus murinus, Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 197.
T. similis T. ignobili, et plag& gulari alb& nullA, sed saturatior, prsepectore et hypochondriis prsecipue saturate
brunneis: rostro nigro.
T his is a very dark form of T. ignobilis, with which Seebohm considered it to be identical. A
comparison of a series, however, shows that the Guiana birds are very much darker than any of the
Colombian ones. Specimens obtained by Whitely at different times of the year show certain tints of
plumage caused by seasonal variation, but the bill is invariably blackish, and evidently never becomes
yellow at any time of the bird’s life.
The stripes on the throat are always most distinctly indicated, but the cheeks are uniform like
the sides of the face. It is always a much darker bird, both in its breeding and winter plumages,
than T. ignobilis. The axillari.es are also browner than in that species.
The British Museum contains a large series of this species from British Guiana, obtained by
Whitely on the Merume Mountains in June, and on Roraima, at an altitude of 3500 to 5000 feet, in
the months of June, August, September, October, November, December, and January. A specimen
obtained by Jelski on the River Oyapock in Cayenne is in the Salvin-Godman Collection.
The adult male measures as follows:—Total length 9*4 inches, culmen 0'8, wing 4’65, tail 8,65,
tarsus 1*25.
The adult female measures :—Total length 8*7 inches, culmen 0*8, wing 4*35, tail 3*55, tarsus 1*2.
Young. Distinguished from the adults in having fulvous spots at the ends of the wing-coverts;
the throat distinctly streaked with blackish, and the fore-neck, breast, and sides of body obscured
with dark brown bars across the ends of the feathers {spec, in mus. Salvin-Godman).
The specimen figured is in the Seebohm Collection and is from Roraima. The descriptions are
taken from Roraima examples in the British Museum. [R. B. S.]