ME RULA S E R'RANA
ME R Ü L A SER R A N A (Tsc/mdi).
PERUVIAN BLACK OUZEL.
Turdus serra/nus, Tschudi, Arch. f. Naturg. x. p. 280 (1844) ; Sel. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1879,
p. 491.
Turdus atrosericeus (nec Lafr.), Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 186 ; id. Cat. Amer. B. p. 5 (1862).
Merula serrana, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 289 (1881).
M. pedibus flavis : foeminâ minime mari eoncolore : maris ptilosi nigerrimâ, foeminæ tamenbrunneâ : subcaudalibus
saturate çastaneo-brunneis : primario secundo ferè octavum æquante.
In this group of Thrushes the difference between the species has to be sought for in the coloration
of the females, for the males are all black, with yellow bills and feet. Mr. Seebohm appears to
me to have been perfectly justified in separating them, as he did in the * Catalogue of Birds,’ on
the plumage of the female birds alone, and I likewise recognize the propriety of dividing these
Blackbirds into two groups dependent upon the shape of the wing and the length of the bastard-
quill. In M. serrana and M. atrosericea the bill is much longer ; the wing is rounded and the
bastard-primary very large (1*2—1*4 inch); the second primary equals the eighth in length or is a
little shorter than the latter.
The female of M. serrana is distinguished by its reddish-brown under surface, the throat
showing but faint indications of dusky spots, while the under tail-coverts are of a darker reddish-
chocolate colour; there is, moreover, none of the ashy-grey colour on the breast and abdomen
seen in the female of M. atrosericea. The specimen described and figured in the present work
has been compared by Dr. Sclater with the type of T. serranus of Tschudi.
The range of the present species extends from Bolivia to Upper Amazonia and Peru, thence to
Ecuador and Colombia.
Specimens from Bolivia are in the Salvin-Godman and Sclater Collections, and Buckley procured
one at Tilotilo (Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 591). Henry Whitely met with the species at
Huasampilla in March (Scl. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 780), and the Salvin-Godman Collection contains
specimens obtained by Mr. O. T. Baron at Leimebamba (9000 feet) in December 1894, and again at
Chachapoyas (7300 feet) in October of the same year. Taczanowski gives the following localities
for the species in Peru :—Chilpes ( JelsJci), Tambillo, Tamiopampa (Stolzmann), Mocuegua, Huancayo,
Huanta (Raimondi Coll.) (cf. Tacz. Orn. Pérou, i. p. 496). A specimen from Quito in Ecuador is
in the British Museum, and others were obtained by Fraser at Puellaro (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 83)
and at Pallatanga (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 136, s. n. Turdus atrosericeus). The Salvin-Godman
Collection has a specimen procured by Buckley at Monji in Ecuador.
In the Seebohm and Salvin-Godman Collections are examples of this Ouzel from Bogotá, and
the late T. K. Salmon met with it at Jerico, Medellin, and Frontino in Antioquia (Scl. & Salv.
P.Z.S. IS79, p. 491).
Mr. Stolzmann says that in Peru it was somewhat rare at Tambillo, where he met with it
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