grey to deep chestnut, and in Merula cardis from slate-grey to orange-chestnut. 1 have five examples
of Merula obscura in which the axillaries are suffused with buff; and there is an example of
M. chrysolaus itself in the Paris Museum, collected bv l’Abbé Fauire near Hakodadi, in which the
axillaries and under wing-coverts are considerably suffused with buff.”
Without having seen the typical specimens, it is somewhat difficult to estimate the value of the
specific characters assigned to Merula jouyi. Much that Seebohm says is undoubtedly true
respecting the species, and the fact that both male and female of M. jouyi had white throats and
were breeding in that plumage is confirmation of the fact, already mentioned, that it is probably
only in the third year that the full plumage of the male is assumed* With regard to the
tinge of rufous on the axillaries, I entirely agree with Seebohm that it is not a character of specific
importance, and many specimens in the British Museum show a more or less rufous tint on these
feathers. The smaller bill, however, is decidedly puzzling to explain, and it is often accompanied
by a more or less distinctly marked eyebrow.
I t is possible that a certain amount of interbreeding takes place between Merula chrysolaus
and M. obscura when the two species return to their northern nesting-haunts, as they appear
to do generally in company, but a closer observation of a carefully collected series will be necessary
before the distinctness of M. jouyi as a species can be fully determined. . ' [R. B. S.]