TURDUS ELGONENSIS (Sharpe).
JACKSON’S THRUSH.
Turdus olivacinus (nec Bp.), Fischer, J. f. O. 1880, p. 144.
Merula elgonensis, Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, p. 445.
T. similis T. abyssinico et hypochondriis aurantiaco-rufis, abdomine concoloribus : gutture et praepectore clarè
cineraceis et notæo schistaceo distinguendus : rostro et pedibus flavis.
Mr. F . J. J ackson discovered this Thrush during his celebrated journey to Uganda in 1889. He first
met with it in Kikuyu, in British East Africa, in August 1889, and afterwards on Mount Elgon, at a
height of 8000 feet, in February 1890. His recent collections contain an example from the Eldoma
Ravine in the Mau district, where he met with it on the 17th of March, 1896. It is doubtless this
species which Fischer obtained near Lake Naiwascha, and called T. olivacinus (J. f. O. 1880, p. 144).
Mr. Oscar Neumann found this Thrush in the Loita Mountains in North-western Masailand,
west of Mossiro, near thé frontier between the German and British possessions. He also procured
specimens in the Mau country.
T. elgonensis is closely allied to T. abyssinicus, and is of about the same size. As in the
last-named species, the flanks are of a similar orange-rufous colour to the breast and abdomen, but
the upper surface is always much more slaty-grey, and the throat and chest are clear slaty-grey, not
olivaceous-brown as in T. abyssinicus.
The streaks on the throat in the present species are all but obsolete, whereas in T. abyssinicus
the black spots on the throat are very distinct. The slaty-grey colour does not seem to be extended
so far over the chest as does the ashy-brown colour of T. abyssinicus. The rufous of the abdomen
is also slightly deeper in colour and not of such a bright orange tint. Total length 8-4 inches,
culmen 0*95, wing 4-2, tail 3'4, tarsus 1-2.
A male procured by Mr. Jackson in the Kikuyu country in August had the “ bill orange-yellow,
the feet dirty orange-yellow, the iris brown, and the eyelids.orange-yellow.” Another male, obtained
on Mount Elgon in February, had the same colours of the soft parts, but the feet were “ pale dusky
yellow.”
The descriptions and figures are taken from the type specimen in the British Museum.
[R. B. S.]
VOL. I. 2 x