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specimen in question- was presented to the Leyden Museum by Dr. Vorderman, who procured it at
an elevation of over 5000 feet. I should agree with Dr. Finsch that this bird is the true
M. jamnica (Horsf.), hut that he describes it as having a considerable patch of chestnut on the belly,
and the drawing which he has sent me shows a larger extent of chestnut than can he seen on the
two Horsfieldian examples. I t may, however, be possible that the latter, being very ill-preserved,
have faded to such an extent that the chestnut colour, after nearly ninety years, has become buff.
Only the receipt of a carefully collected series of Thrushes from the different mountains of Java
can settle this question; and at present I am inclined to believe that the young bird, the type of
Turdus jmanicus of Horsfield, may possibly be the young of Merula fumida (S. Mull.), and that the
two old birds represent a distinpt and plain-coloured species of the same group as M. vitiensis.
The bird described by Dr. Finsch from Cheribon may probably turn out to be a distinct species of
the M. fumida group. ■
It is strange that no specimens actually agreeing with the adult birds procured by Horsfield in
the early part of the la st century have since been discovered. I t may be added that the name
of Turdus concolor of Temminck, published by Blyth, does not appear in any of the records of the
Leyden Museum (of. Finsch, I. c.).
Adult. Above smoky brown, the wings and tail slightly darker, the head and neck all round
scarcely paler than the rest of the body; under surface of body somewhat paler brown, the under
tail-coverts blackish, with a narrow white shaft-line; lower abdomen slightly tinged with ochre, but
not chestnut. Total length 8*5 inches, culmen 0'S, wing 4*9, tail 3'6, tarsus 1'35.
Another specimen is similar in colour, but is slightly more ochreous on the lower breast and
abdomen, and is followed by a white spot; under tail-coverts as before. I t should be noted th a t.
there is no trace of a white spot on the adult bird described above, which has also scarcely any
ochreous tinge on the abdomen, but the absence of these characters may be due to the loss of
feathers.
The supposed young bird, the type of M. javanica (Horsf.), has a broad streak of ochreous buff
down the centre of the throat, and a moustachial streak of the same colour on each side ; the breast
and abdomen are more rufescent, but scarcely to be called chestnut.
The figures in the Plate are taken from Horsfield’s examples in the British Museum, and the
descriptions are from the same birds.