ME R U L A L A Y A R D I , Seebohm.
VITI LEVU OUZEL.
Merula vitiensis (nec Layard), Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 278 (1881).
Merula layardi, Seebohm, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 667; Wiglesw. Abhandl. k. zool. Mus, Dresden,
1890-91, no. 6, p. 39 (1891).
M. rostro et pedibus flavis : similis M. vitiensi, sed pallidior, olivaceo-brunnea: gutture et psctore cinerascenti-
oribus, pectore et abdomine lsete castaneis, hypochondriis concoloribus distinguenda.
R eview ing the Fijian species of Merula in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1890
(I. c.), Mr. Seebohm drew attention to the differences between the species inhabiting Yiti Levu and
the one found in Yanua Levu. He proposed the name of Merula layardi for the former bird, which
differs from M. vitiensis in being more olive-brown and not so dark, in having a lighter ashy-grey
throat and chest, and in having the whole breast and abdomen, as well as the flanks, bright chestnut.
Besides these important characters, there is the further fact that the under tail-coverts are distinctly
centred with reddish white.
All the specimens known up to the present time appear to have been obtained by Kleinschmidt
in the mountains of the interior of Yiti Levu, where he says that the natives call the bird “ NaTolla.”
Specimens are in the Seebohm and Tweeddale Collections, and the British Museum has received a
pair from the Godeflroy Museum in Hamburg; these are the types of Seebohm’s M. layardi.
Adult male. General colour above olive-brown, the wing-coyerts like the back; quills and
tail-feathers sepia-brown, edged with the same olive-brown as the back ; crown of head smoky brown,
forming a scarcely distinguishable cap; lores and sides of face lighter and more ashy brown, as also
the throat, where it shades off into the darker ash-colour of the fore-neck and chest, the sides of
which are decidedly more dusky brown; the chest-feathers with a faint rufous tinge; breast,
abdomen, and sides of body bright vinous-chestnut, with a few of the median abdominal feathers edged
with slaty-grey; vent white; thighs ashy-grey; under tail-coverts with rufous centres and dusky
brown edges, more distinct on the longer ones, where the longitudinal centres are darker; under
wing-coverts dark ashy-grey, - washed with chestnut, the axillaries chestnut, with ashy-grey inner
webs and pale ashy tip s ; quills dusky below, more ashy on the inner webs. Total length 8 inches,
culmen 0*95, wing 4*6, tail 3T, tarsus 1*45.
Adult female. Scarcely differs from the male at all, except on the sides of the face and under
surface of the body, the former being darker ashy-grey, as also the throat, and the lower throat and
chest being shaded with a strong tint of orange-chestnut like the breast and sides of the body, the
chestnut of the under surface being duller than in the male. Total length 7*5 inches, culmen 0*9,
wing 4‘5, tail 2*85, tarsus 1‘3.
The male and female described are in the Seebohm Collection; these specimens are also figured
in the Plates, along with the male and female of M. vitiensis respectively. [R. B. S.J