South Andaman. In the Hume Collection there is a specimen from Native Sikhim, obtained
by Mandelli’s hunters, a young bird from Nepal is in Hodgson’s Collection, and another from
Belgaum was collected by Colonel Butler. .
Nor does the species appear to visit Central Asia in any numbers, as Severtzow says that
he observed it only near the tower of Vernoje (Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 334).
From the Burmese Provinces the winter range of M. obscura extends down the Malay
Peninsula. Numerous specimens from Malacca are in the British Museum, and Mr. Davison
met with the species at Klang, in Selangore. I t also occurs in Sumatra, where Carl Boek obtained
specimens at Lolo. Though included in the list of Java birds by Dr. Vorderman, there does not
■seem to be any exact record of its capture in that island.
In Borneo this Ouzel is also known as a winter visitor from northern countries. I t has been
met with in Labuan by Sir Hugh Low and Governor Ussher (Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 338), and
Mr. John Whitehead says that it passes through the island every year in considerable numbers
during the N.E. monsoon (Ibis, 1889, p. 268). On the Lawas River it was obtained by Mr. J. S.
Jameson and Governor Treacher (Sharpe, Ibis, 1879, p. 254), as well as on Muara Island by
Governor Ussher (Sharpe, t. c. p. 254). Dr. Guillemard met with it at Silam in Darvel Bay,
N.E. Borneo (P. Z. S. 1885, p. 415). Mr. Whitehead says that the species was plentiful round Kina
Balu up to 8000 feet, going in flocks like Redwings, and uttering a note like that of the latter (Ibis,
1889, p. 208). Dr. Charles Hose has found M. obscura on Mt. Dulit in November at 4000-
5000 feet.
In the Philippine Islands M. obscura seems not to be rare during its winter flight, and several
specimens have been received from the neighbourhood of Manila. Mr. Whitehead obtained a
couple of specimens in December and again in February in the Lepanto district of North Luzon
(Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1895, p. 445), and he met with it again in the highlands of Negros in April
(id. Ibis, 1896, p. 545). He-writes as follows (Ibis, 1899, p. 212):—“ A winter migrant to the
Philippines, occurring in large flocks in the high mountains of Luzon and Negros; in the latter
island it was plentiful as late as the 22nd of April. This Thrush will doubtless be found to extend
its migrations over the whole of the Philippines, as it is very common further south, in the island of
Borneo, during the northern winter.” Messrs. Worcester and Bourns also record the species7 from.
Guimaras (Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. xx. p. 561).
So far as is known, the present species has not been found in any of the other islands of the
Malay Archipelago, but has been recorded by Drs, Hartlaub and Finsch from the Pelew Islands
(P. Z. S. 1872, p. 89),
Many instances of the occurrence of Merula obscura in Europe are on record. Professor Giglioli
mentions three instances of its occurrence in Ita ly : one shot in the neighbourhood of Turin-
in November 1827, and now in the University Museum- of that town; a second shot near
Turin in November in 1828, and preserved, in the Pisa Museum—these two specimens being,
the types of Turdus wemeri of Gene. A third specimen, caught near Siena in the autumn of
1878, is in the collection of Prof. Magni-Griffi at Siena (Ibis, 1881, p. 182). Count Salvadori
and Professor Martorelli, in their account of the Siberian Thrushes which visit Europe on
occasion (Ornis, 1900, p. 251), mention three more occurrences, viz., in the markets of Rome
and Milan, and another bird killed at Palaja, in the province of Pisa (Ridolfi, ‘ Avicula,’ 1897,
fasc. in.).
The species has occurred several times in the south of France, and Mr. Eagle Clarke says that
he noticed specimens in the Marseilles Museum (Ibis, 1895, p. 185). Mr. Dresser, in his ‘Birds of
Europe’ (vol. ii. p. 72, pi. ix.), .mentions the accidental occurrence of this Ouzel on several occasions
in Germany, and it has also been obtained once in Holland, near Haarlem. Dr. Dubois (Bull. Mus.
Belgique, v. p. 99, 1887) records a young bird as having been taken near Brussels in October 1886.
I t has also been supposed to have been seen in Heligoland, but no specimen was procured (Seebohm,
Ibis, 1892, p. 7).
Mr. Seebohm contributed the following note to Mr. Dresser’s 1 Birds of Europe ’ :—“ The Dark
Thrush arrived on the Arctic Circle on the 7th June, and frequented the oases of bare ground on
the sunny slopes of the banks of the Koo-ray'-i-ka, where it fed upon the previous years crowberries
and cranberries which had been preserved through the winter by the frost. As soon as the snow
in the forests was melted, these birds left our headqtfarters and retired inland to breed. I secured
several examples on their first \rriv a l, and afterwards frequently heard their song in the forests.
This Thrush is a very poor songster, but he has a splendid voice. He seldom gets beyond two
or three notes; but in clearness and richness of tone the few he utters are fully equal to those
of the Blackbird. On the 27th June, a day or two before we left the Koo-ray'-i-ka, as I was
strolling through the forest extremely annoyed at what I thought was the unreasonable delay
of Capt. Wiggins in starting for the tundra, I suddenly forgot all my troubles by seeing a
Dark Thrush fly from her nest in a slender spruce fir-tree. I shot the Bird, and was soon up
the tree. The nest was placed about fifteen feet from the ground, upon a horizontal branch
about six inches from the main stem. I t was exactly like that of a Fieldfare, but was carefully
lined with mud before the final lining of dry grass was placed in it. I t contained five eggs
resembling small but richly-marked Blackbird’s eggs.
“ After we left the Arctic Circle, I saw no more of this species until the 3rd of August, on my
return journey, when, in lat. 66°, near Sil-o-vah;noff, the village of the unfortunate Scopsi, I shot a
young Dark Thrush in first plumage. On the 6th of August, in lat. 63°, I got amongst a brood
of young Dark Thrushes, which were uttering loud cries like tick, tick. This, I presume, is the
Kestrel-like cry alluded to by Latham. I shot one bird from this brood.’
Mr. H. L. Popham, who also found the species breeding on the Yehesei River, observes
“ This Thrush has a fine clear voice: he begins his song with a few rich notes, which are not very
much varied, and goes off with the same style of ending as in a Blackbird’s song. Three nests
of this Thrush were found, resembling those of the Fieldfare in construction, at Inbatskaya
(lat. 64° N.): one about four feet from the ground on a stump, and another built close to the stem
of a fir-tree, on a branch about twenty feet high. The eggs are smaller than any of the other
Thrushes’ eggs found by us, and average 1*06 inch long by *75 inch broad” (Ibis, 1898, p. 493).
Mr. Dresser (Ibis, 1901, p. 445, pi. ix. figs. 5-8) has described and figured some of Mr. Popham’s
eggs from the Yenesei, and he observes:—“ The number of eggs is four or five, seldom six,
and they are smaller than any of the other Siberian Thrushes, averaging 1*06 by 0*75 inch. They
are also less subject to variation, and are somewhat darker and more blue in ground-colour. One
clutch is rather of the Blackbird type, but the rest are - more or less spotted and blotched with
rusty-red. The nest is like that of a Fieldfare, strongly built, and lined with fine grass and dry
larch-needles.”
Mr. Dresser’s work also contains the following translation of Dr. Dybowski’s notes on this
species :—“ This Thrush breeds here (in Dauria) and is tolerably common, appearing in the spring
about the 20th May. During the nesting-season it inhabits valleys overgrown with larch, fir, and
the Cembra pine. I t nests on young free-growing fir or larch trees, the nest being placed in
a fork or on the boughs near the main stem, at an altitude of about 3 to 5 metres. I t is constructed
of dried grasses and weeds, worked together with earthy and lined with fine grass and dry larch-
needles, and is neatly and firmly built. I t measures 120 millims. outside diameter, and 100 millims.