Although Seebohm did not find M. naumanni nesting in the Yenesei Valley, Mr. H. L. Popham
was more fortunate^.since, on his expedition of 1900 with Mr. Gerald R. Peek, the latter shot
a female bird as she flew off a nest with six eggs (Ibis, 1901, p. 451). Mr. Popham has lent
me this specimen for examination, and I find that it is an undoubted M. naumanni, but with
several triangular spots of black on the sides of the breast. Mr. Dresser had also identified
the skin as belonging to the present species.
In Corea, Kalinowski observed this Ouzel only on migration (Taczanowski, I. c.) ; and Mr. C. W.
Campbell writes:-jl l A winter visitor; very numerous. In the vicinity of the Yalu River, in
lat. 40° 30' N., I noticed that the passage southwards commenced during the first week of October ”
(Ibis, 1892, p. 232). Seebohm gives the following account of the species in his ‘Birds of
the Japanese Empire* (p. 47):—‘‘The Red-tailed Ouzel is a rare winter visitor to Japan.
Dr. Henderson procured it at Hakodadi in October 1857 (Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1858,
p. 194), and in the Pryer Collection there is one example obtained by Captain Blakiston at
Hakodadi in March, and two examples from Yokohama. I t has also occurred on the Loo-Choo
Islands (Stejneger, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p. 646).” Dr. Stejneger has since recorded the
species from Tokyo [op. cit. xvi. p. 631). Holst met with Naumann’s Ouzel on the 20th of January
in the Tsu-shima or Twin Islands, where the bird is a winter visitor only (Seebohm, Ibis, 1892,
p. 88).
To return to the mainland of Eastern Asia, we find that Przewalski states that M. naumanni,
which winters in considerable numbers in Northern China, was only seen on migration near the
town of Dolon-nor and in the valley of the Chuanche. Once also he saw the bird in the Kuku-nor
district in October (c f Pleske, Wiss. Result. Przew. Reis. ii. p. 6). In the British Museum are
some specimens obtained by Mr. H. M. James at Chang-tsin-ling, in Southern Manchuria.
In China, Abbé David says that it was the species of Thrush which he most commonly met with,
particularly in the north and west. Throughout this region, in the plains as well as on the
mountains, it occurred in considerable flocks. At Pekin it was observed in the gardens from the
autumn to the end of the spring among the pagodas and in the graveyards, feeding on berries as
well as on worms and insects. Przewalski met with it in the valley of the Hoangho, in Kokonoor,
and in the Ussuri country, but he has found, curiously enough, that it does not breed in Mongolia,
nor even in the wooded mountains of Alashan.
Swinhoe gives the Chinese range of this species as from Shanghai to Pekin, and westwards to
Szechuen (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 366). Specimens collected by him, and now in the British Museum, are
from Shanghai, Ningpo, Sli-he, and Hoopih. At Shanghai the species has also been obtained by
Capt. Ince, Mr. C. B. Rickett, and Mr. Robert Bergman (cf. Sharpe, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) vi.
p. 157,1870). The latter observer states that it was generally found in pairs in the villages. Swinhoe
also records a straggler shot at Tamsuy, in Formosa, on the 19th of February ; but the specimen is not
in the Seebohm Collection, with the rest of Swinboe’s Chinese series.
In the ‘ Ib is’ for 1884 (p. 262) Seebohm mentions some specimens of M. naummni procured in
winter by Mr. F. W. Styan in the Kiukiang district, about 450 miles up the Yangtse Kiang. On
the Lower Yangtze Mr. Styan records the species as common in winter, arriving early in November
and remaining till the middle of April. I t was seldom found at any elevation over a few hundred
feet, and was to a large extent gregarious, frequenting the larger copses and the outskirts of woods
(Ibis, 1891, pp. 319, 332). In the Foochow district Mr. La Touche has found Naumann’s Ouzel
plentiful in spring, but rare in winter. He states that he has never noticed the bird at the latter
season, but he believes that it may winter in the hills. I t seems to avoid the Swatow plain
altogether (Ibis, 1892, pp. 407, 412).
The species is not recorded from any part of the Burmese countries, nor from the Himalayas;
but the late W. R. Davison obtained a young male bird, undoubtedly referable to this species, on
Singapore Island on the 24th of June, a date which suggests that the individual in question had
been injured in some way and was therefore unable to take part in the northward migration of the
previous spring (Hume, Stray F. viii. p. 156).
Naumann’s Thrush has occurred in many parts of Eastern and Central Europe (cf. Martorelli,
Ornis, 1901, pp. 258-261).
Adult male. General colour above dark ashy-brown with a ruddy tinge, some of the feathers of
the back and scapulars having more or less concealed cinnamon bases to the feathers; wing-coverts
dark ashy-brown, the greater coverts narrowly fringed with ashy-fulvous, whitish at the ends;
bastard-wing and primary-coverts dark sepia-brown, fringed with ashy, the margins more fulvous in
tint on the inner secondaries, which arc whitish towards the ends; upper tail-coverts pale cinnamon
in the centre, broadly edged with ashy-brown ; centre tail-feathers sepia-brown, the others cinnamon
on the inner webs, this colour increasing in extent towards the outermost, so that the latter have only
a little brown near the tip s; all the feathers with a small white margin at the e n d ; lores dusky,
surmounted by a distinct eyebrow of pale cinnamon, like the sides of the face and cheeks, the
ear-coverts being dark ashy-grey; sides of neck light cinnamon; throat cinnamon, with whitish
edges to the feathers, separated from the cheeks by a line of triangular spots : fore-neck and breast,
as well as the sides of the body and the under tail-coverts, light cinnamon, the feathers edged with
hoary white, producing a mottled appearance; centre of breast and abdomen pure white; under
wing-coverts and axillaries orange-rufous; quills dusky below, ashy on the inner webs, which
have a slight orange tinge. Total length 9‘5 inches, culmen 0*75, wing 5T, tail 3*5, tarsus 13.
Adult female. Similar to the male, but a little darker brown above, and not showing the pale
cinnamon bases to the feathers; the eyebrow and sides of face very pale cinnamon-buff; ear-coverts
uniform dark brown; cheeks and throat whitish, tinged with cinnamon; a very broad malar stripe of
triangular black spots, the throat and fore-neck also marked with the same black spots; breast and
sides of body ashy-brown, with pale cinnamon bases to the feathers, which have blackish spots or
streaks, the latter being very pronounced on the flanks; centre of breast and abdomen white •
the under tail-coverts pale cinnamon, with white edges; under wing-coverts and axillaries orange.
Total length 8’5 inches, culmen 0 8 , wing 4’85, tail 3T, tarsus 1*2.
The specimens described are in winter plumage, and the summer dress appears to be attained
by the wearing off of the hoaiy-grey margins to the feathers. I can detect no evidence of a moult in
any of the specimens killed in spring.
I have no evidence from the series in the British Museum that the old female ever gets an
exactly similar plumage to the male, e., a rufous throat and chest or a rufous eyebrow. All
th e . specimens have a white or reddish-white throat, with a well-defined malar band of triangular
black spots, the throat having also some small spots of the same character. The number of black
spots on the chest and the sides of the breast and flanks varies considerably, and they seem to
be more prevalent in young birds. Hybrids appear to be rare, but one female bird from Ningpo,
and three birds from the mouth of the Amur, seem to me to be undoubted crosses between
M. naumanni and M. fuscata.
The pair of birds described and figured are from the Gulf of the Amur in the Seebohm
Collection ; they were obtained by the Brothers Domes. [R. B. S.]