The present species appears to have little or no song. Mr. Thomas Ayres says that it “ seldom
utters a note, and might well be called the Silent Thrush ” ; and Mr. Layard writes :—“ It utters no
song, but only a short hurried cry when alarmed, and flies upward to the topmost branches of the
thickest trees, amidst which it endeavours to conceal itself. I f unsuccessful in this, it launches
itself off, and makes for the nearest thicket—its voice and manner reminding the observer of the
European Blackbird.”
In the Lydenburg district, writes Mr. T. Ayres, “ these Thrushes inhabit the dense forest, and
are most easily obtained in the dusk of the evening, when they appear to be more on the move than
at other times, chasing each other about and often uttering their short clucking note. They feed on
the ground amongst the dead leaves, insects forming their principal food.”
Andersson observes in his ‘Birds of Damara Land’ (p. 116) :—“ This is one of the commonest
species in the Cape Colony, where it is partially migratory, being found most abundantly at the
grape and fruit season. It is fond of almost all kinds -of fruit, but when these faü, it subsists on
beetles and other insects. Its flesh is well-tasted.”
According to Mr. E. L. Layard, the nest is like that of the English Blackbird, and is lined with
fibres and roots. “ The eggs, large for the size of the bird, are generally four in number, of a light
verditer-blue, mottled with irregular patches of brown, thickest at the obtuse end. Axis ITS inch,
diam. 0*85.”
Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, with a slight olive tinge on the head and back ;
the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts clearer slaty-grey ; wing-coverts like the back, the
bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills sepia-brown, externally slaty-grey ; tail black, the feathers
slightly washed with slaty-grey on the edges ; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts dusky slaty-grey ;
cheeks orange-buff, streaked with black spots along the malar line ; chin and upper throat white,
tinged with buff, and streaked with rows of longitudinal black spots ; lower throat and fore-neck dull
ashy-grey, over which a slight tint of orange prevails, though the ashy shade scarcely reaches to the
chest; rest of under surface from the chest downwards bright orange, a little paler towards the vent;
lower flanks slightly washed with ashy ; thighs pale orange ; under tail-coverts white, with broad
margins of olive-brown, the longer tail-coverts brown with a wedge-shaped spot of white at the end ;
under wing-coverts and axillaries deep orange ; quills dusky below, a little more ashy along the
inner web : “ bill yellow, brown towards the base and on the culmen ; feet yellow ; iris brown ”
(21 L. Ayres). Total length 9'5 inches, culmen TO, wing 5*25, tail 3*8,-tarsus T35.
There seems to be very little difference between the summer and winter plumages, but, as a rule,
the stripes on the throat are broader during the breeding-season, and the grey on the fore-neck and
chest is more distinctly seen, owing to the disappearance of the buff shade which overspreads it in
the winter plumage.
Young birds after the first moult are more olive-brown than the adults, and have a few rufous
tips to the greater wing-coverts ; the throat is very sparsely streaked with blackish, and the grey on
the chest is scarcely defined at all.
Adult female. Does not differ from the male in plumage. Total length 8*5 inches, culmen 0*9,
wing 4*7, tail 3*35, tarsus 1*7.
Nestlings. Much browner than the adults and having the upper surface streaked with shaft-lines
of orange-buff, the wing-coverts being tipped with spots of the same colour. The underparts are
paler than in the adults, the throat being white with only a few dusky spots, and the rest of the
•under surface pale orange with'blackish bars to the feathers of the breast and flanks.
The specimens .described are in the British Museum, and the one figured by Mr. Seebohm is a
male from Durban in the Shelley Collection. [H- B. S.]
TURDUS ABYSSINICUS, Gm.
ABYSSINIAN THRUSH.
Le Merle brun d’Abyssinie, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 406 (1760).
Abyssinian Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 78 (1783).
Turdus abyssinicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 824 (1788); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. y. p. 228
(1881).
Merula olivácea (nee Linn.), Riipp. Nene Wirb., Vog. p. 83 (1835).
Turdus olivacinus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 273 (1850) ; Heugl. Om. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 382 (1869). '
Turdus olivaceus (nec Linn.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 29 (1856).
. Turdus olivaceus habessinicus, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 382 (1869).
Turdus erythrorhynchus, Heugl. J. f. O. 1871, p. 207.
Turdus (Cichloides) olivacinus, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. iv. App. p. ev (1871).
Pelioeichla olivacina, Cab. J. f. O. 1882, p. 319.
T. similis T. oliváceo, sed gutture fuscescente, minime praepectore concolore : notseo olivascenti-brunneo.
Th i Abyssinian Thrash is well-named, for it appears to be entirely confined to Abyssinia and Shoa,
and it has not yet been recorded from Bogos Land. Von Heuglin states that the species is found
over the whole of Abyssinia from 7000 to 10,000 feet, and he met with it in Wolo Land up to
12,000 feet (Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 382), Mr. IV. T. Blanford obtained a specimen at Senafé in Tigré,
and also on Lake Ashangi at 8000 feet (Geol. & Zool. Abyss, p. 357), and says that it was not
seen away from the highlands.
In Shoa it would appear to be abundant. It was obtained by Sir IV. C. Harris many years ago
at Ankober in December, and at Angollalá in January (Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. y. p. 228).
The Italian travellers Antinori and Itagazzi have procured specimens in nearly every month of the
year, and the former observes that it was “ not rare at any of the Italian stations in Arramba and
Ankober, breeding in the forests of the Kolia in February.” The localities given are, Sciotalit,
Denz, Mahal-Uonz, Fechierié-Ghem, Janfridi, Curé, Fallé (Mulo-Galla country) (cf. Salvad. Ann.
Mus. .Genov. (2) i. p. 159, vi. p. 258). Dr. Ragazzi says that it was very common in the parts of
Sboa visited by him.
Seebobm gives the habitat of this species as the “ highlands of Abyssinia and the Uganda
country” (Ibis, 1883, p. 166). His authority for the latter statement is apparently the presence of
two specimens in his own collection from “ Lake Tsanné in M’tesa’s country.” These were
purchased from M. Bouvier out of the same collection that contained the type of Geocichla piaggiæ.
I have never been able to fix this “ Lake Tsanné,” and it is to be noted that neither G.piaggioe nor
T. abyssinicus have been met with in Uganda, but both have been procured by the Italian naturalists
in Shoa. The locality actually intended is probably Lake Tsana in Abyssinia
Yon Heuglin states that he found the species in pairs inhabiting the dense shrub and high
trees, with plenty of undergrowth and decaying leaves, on the banks of small streams and in ruins
throughout Abyssinia, but only at a height of from 7000 to 10,000 feet. He says that this Thrush