the Himalayas. Colonel Marshall has further observed the species in the Chamba State (Ibis,
1884, p. 414).
The Hume Collection contains specimens from Masuri, Naini Tal, and Almora, and Hodgson met
with the species in Nepal. From Native Sikhim, Mandelli obtained several specimens, and it is also
found in Sikhim proper. Here Dr. Jerdon (B. Ind. i. p. 526) says it is not very common, and found
in winter only, frequenting open forest. Mr. Stuart Baker (J. Bomb. N. H. Soc. ix. p. 286,
1897) states that it is “ a not uncommon visitor to North Cachar during the winter, descending to
the level of the plains.” Colonel Godwin-Austen met with it in the Jura Range of the Garo Hills
(J. A. S. Beng. xxxix. pt. 2, p. 268, 1870), and a specimen in the British Museum, obtained by
Dr. Griffith and recorded as from Afghanistan (!) in the old | Catalogue of the E. I. Co.’s Museum ’
(i. p. 197), was probably obtained by that excellent collector somewhere in Assam or in the Khasia
Hills. Mr. Hume did not meet with the species in Manipur (Str. F. -xi. p. 129, 1888)..
Captain Rattray (I. s. c.) says that the nest was found by him near Murree on the 23rd of May,
1896, on the bank at the foot of a high rock. I t contained two eggs, very hard set. The nest
was 6£ inches in diameter and 4 inches in h eight; it was composed of thin twigs and a good deal of
moss lined with fine grass-stems. The eggs were like those of Merula boulboul, but lighter in colour.
Dimensions 1*0 X 0-8.
The following notes on the nesting of the species are taken from Mr. Oates’s edition of Hume’s
1 Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds ’ (ii. p. 92, 1890):—
“ Very little is known of the breeding of the Grey-headed Ouzel. A nest containing five eggs
was taken on the 20th April near Kotegurh, and Colonel C. H. T. Marshall took a nest at Murree.
The Kotegurh nest was placed in a bank, was 6 inches in diameter and 4 in height, composed of
moss, with a good deal of dead fern in the base of the nest, and only a little earth, and lined with
fine grass. The cavity was about 3'5 inches in diameter, and 2*75 inches in depth.
“ From Murree Colonel C. H. T. Marshall writes ‘ Two nests in banks, in the beginning of
Ju n e ; eggs very similar to those of M. boulboul, but somewhat larger, being 1*25 by 0*8 inch.
Captain Cock got two nests in the Sindh Valley, Kashmir. I t is peculiar that this species always
breeds in banks. All the Meruline birds breed from about 5000 to 7000 feet up.
“ 41 believe some people say that Merula albocincta and M. castanea are identical. I therefore
send a pair of birds of the latter, shot off the nest in full breeding-plumage, which may elucidate the
matter. They must have two hatches in the year, as on the 20th April I got a nest with four eggs
ju st ready to hatch, which must have been laid at the end of March. The nest, too, was at an
elevation of nearly 7000 feet.’
“ The eggs of this species appear to vary very much. What I take to be the typical egg is a
somewhat lengthened, at times more or less pyriform, oval. A pale green ground, with very little
gloss, thickly and boldly mottled and freckled all over, with brownish-red and pinkish purple. In
another type nowhere is more than a pin’s point of the ground-colour visible, the whole surface being
excessively minutely freckled and speckled with brownish red, underlaid by faint reddish-purple clouds
and stains.
“ In length they vary from 1*1 to T35 inch, and in breadth from 0*75 to 0-88 inch. Only eight
eggs are measured, five from Kotegurh and three from Sonamurgh taken by Captain Cock.”
A d u lt male. General colour above vinous-chestnut, a little deeper on th e . mantle; scapulars
chestnut; wings and tail black; head and neck ashy-grey, becoming paler and more whitish-grey on
the hind-neck; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts ashy-grey, the latter with narrow whitish shaft-lines;
throat and fore-neck, as well as the sides of the neck, whitish-grey; remainder of the under surface
of body rich vinous-chestnut, the thighs dark ashy, with blackish bases; lower abdomen blackish,
the feathers broadly tipped and centred with white, especially near the vent; under tail-coverts
black, with longitudinal wedge-shaped centres of white; axillaries and under wing-coverts dusky
blackish, edged with chestnut; quills sepia-brown below, a little more_ashy on the inner webs:
“ bill and feet yellow; iris dark brown; eyelid yellow” (T. C. Jerdon). Total length 10*5 inches,
culmen 1*0, wing 5‘55, tail 3*75, tarsus 1*25.
Adult female. Similar to the male, but much duller chestnut, with the wings and tail browner;
crown of head and neck darker ashy-grey than in the male, the crown and sides of face being dusky
greyish-brown; throat dull ashy, with a few dusky brown spots; remainder of under surface of body
dull brownish-chestnut, the lower abdomen whitish; under tail-coverts rufous-brown, with longitudinal
white centres to the feathers; under wing-coverts and axillaries brownish-chestnut like the breast.
Total length 9'5 inches, culmen 1*0, wing 5-45, tail 3*6, tarsus T25.
You/ng. Dark brown, chestnut only on the lower back and rump, all the feathers of the upper
surface centred with ochraceous-buff streaks; under surface of body white, mottled with black
margins to the feathers, the sides of the body dark chestnut-brown.
The male described is from Murree and is in the Tweeddale Collection. . The specimen figured
is. from Assam in the Seebohm Collection. The female described and figured is in the Seebohm
Collection: and the young bird is from Murree, where it was obtained by General G. A. L. Marshall
in September; it is in the Hume Collection. [R. B. S.]