l i f i l l X A N TH O PU S
MERULA X A N T H O P U S {Fortier).
NEW-CALEDONIAN OUZEL.
Tu/rdus xanthopus, Forster, Icon. ined. pi. 151; id. Descr. Anim. ed. Licht. p. 266 (1844);
Verr. et Des Murs, Rev. Zool. 1860, p. 391; Marie, Actes Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, xxvii.
p. 327 (1869); Gray, Hand-1. B. i.~p. 255. no. 3709 (1869); Layard, Ibis, 1878, p. 253;
Tristr. Ibis, 1879, pp. 182, 188; Layard, Ibis, 1880, p. 225.
Turdus (Merula) xanthopus, Gray, List B. Trop. Isl. Pacific Ocean, p. 16 (1859).
Merula xanthopus, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W . iii. p. 337 (1879) ; Seebohm, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. v. p. 276 (1881); Wiglesw. Abhandl. k. zool. Mus. Dresd. 1890-91, p. 38 (1891).
M. rostro et pedibus flavis : notseo brunneo : corpore snbtus vinaceo-rufo, gutture vix fuscescente.
T h is Ouzel was discovered in New Caledonia by Forster during Capt. Cook’s voyage, and a drawing
was made by him, which is still extant in the British Museum. His name of xanthopus was not
published till 1844, when Lichtenstein published his ‘ Descriptiones Animalium.’
Very little has been recorded concerning the species, which Layard records as not uncommon in
the neighbourhood of Noumea; and the British Museum possesses a good series of specimens.
Forster gives the native name as “ Degbe,” and according to Jules Verreaux it is also called
“ Tiu-tiu ” at the present day. Layard found the contents of the stomachs of several specimens to
consist of worms, insects, or berries.
Adult male. General colour above. dark ruddy brown, the wing-coverts like the back; quills
and tail sepia-brown, the former edged with the same ruddy brown as the back, the secondaries
more broadly, the inner ones entirely like the back; head a trifle greyer than the back, and
contrasting slightly with the latter; sides of face and throat decidedly lighter grey, shading off
gradually into the dark vinous-chestnut of the breast and underparts ; thighs and under tail-coverts
duller brown, as also the under wing-coverts and axillaries: “ bill yellowish brown; feet straw-
colour; iris dark brown” (C. L. Layard). Total length 8-3 inches, culmen 0-8, wing 4*7, tail 3*1,
tarsus 1*2.
A d u lt female. Scarcely different from the male, and with the head only a little darker than the
back; the vinous-chestnut colour of the underparts duller: “ bill and feet raw sienna; iris dark
drab ” (JS. L. Layard). Total length 8-5 inches, culmen l'O, wing 4-4, tail 3-0, tarsus 1*2.
The description of the male is taken from a specimen procured by the late John Macgillivray at
Nu in New Caledonia, and that of the female from one of Mr. E. L. Layard’s Noumea skins. This
specimen is also figured on the Plate, and Mr. Seebohm has marked a male from Waileu in New
Caledonia as having been figured for this * Monograph.’ This specimen has evidently been in spirits
and has lost its natural colour, being dingy brown above, dusky underneath, with almost all traces of
vinous colour obliterated. I t does not represent the natural colour of the species. [R. B. S.]