MERULA RUFITORQUES
MERULA R U F ITO RQ U E S (Hartl.f,
CHESTNUT-COLLARED OUZEL.
Turdns (Merula) rufitorques, Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 214.
Turdus rufitorques, Gray, Gen. B. L p. 219 (1847); Du Bus, Esq. Orn. pis. 19, 20 (1848);
Salvin & Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i, p. 22 (1879).
Merula rufitorques,, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 255 (1881).
M. notæo nigro, torque collari lætè castaneo : subtùs nigra, pectore lætè castaneo : rostro flavo : pedibus corylinis.
T h is beautiful bird is apparently the Neotropical representative of the Ring-Ouzels and White-
collared Ouzels of the Old World. I t is easily distinguished from all the other species of the genus
Merula by its chestnut breast and chestnut collar round the hind-neck, both of which contrast
with its otherwise black plumage.
Until recently the species has been supposed to be confined to Guatemala, where it was met
with by Mr. Osbert Salvin and Mr. F. D. Godman in the following localities :■—“ Dueñas, Calderas,
Volcan de Fuego (10,000 to 12,000 feet), Godines, Quezaltenango, Cordillera above Totonicapam
(10,500 feet), Chilasco, and Tactic” (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 22).
Since the notes in the ‘Biología’ were published, Mr. W. B. Richardson has met with the
Chestnut-collared Ouzel in Guatemala at the following places :—Santa Maria and Chiupaché,
Quezaltenango (10,000 feet), Sept. 1890 ; San Martin, Quezaltenango, and San José Sololá
(8000 feet), in October 1890 ; El Rincon, San Marcos, October 1890 • Toliman Sololá (5000 feet),
Dec. 1890. Again, in June 1897, he procured a specimen at Chancol, Huehuetenango (10,000 feet).
In the last-mentioned year Mr. Richardson likewise procured specimens in Chiapas, at the
following places :—Volcan de Tacana (March), Niquiril, San Christohal (April, May).'
Messrs. Salvin and Godman give the following account of the species (I. c.) :—“ Turdus
rufitorques is rather local in its distribution in Guatemala, though its range extends over a considerable
area in that country. I t has, too, a great range in altitude, being found below 5000 feet, both
near Dueñas and at Tactic in Vera Paz, and also occurring in some numbers in the pine-forests of
the summit of the Volcan de Fuego, as high as 12,000 feet, and in the main cordillera above
Totonicapam at a height of 10,500 feet. I t does not seem to be found only in one class of forest ;
for the plains near Dueñas, where Ijpomæa murocoides abounds, the oak-forests of the volcano, and
the pine-forests of the upper parts, the pine-tracts of Quezaltenango and Totonicapam, and the forests
it frequents in Vera Paz are each very different in character. It, however, is not so much an
inhabitant of the belt of dense forest of mixed trees which surrounds the volcano between 7000 and
10,000 feet ; and it is altogether absent from the forests of the hotter parts of Guatemala, which lie
below 4000 feet.
We never found T. rufitorques breeding ; but, as birds were observed about Dueñas and
Quezaltenango in the month of August, it is probable that they had built in the vicinity of these
p aces. I t is not, however, a migratory species, except, perhaps, in a very limited sense.
The habits of T. rufitorques recall those of T. merula. I t is rather shy, generally keeping out
S i ¡I m • g