at an altitude of 6000 or 7000 feet. Its only note of alarm that he heard was “ kok.” I t appeared
to be entirely a bird of the forests and was never seen in the brushwood (Tacz. Orn. Pérou, I.
p. 496).
Adult male. Entirely black above and below, with black wings and tail : “ bill and feet yellow ;
iris hazel ; eyelid yellow ” (Siolzmann) : “ bill, rim round the eye, legs, and feet orange ” {Fraser).
Total length 9*8 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 4-9, tail 3*6, tarsus 1*3.
A dult female. General colour above dark olivaceous brown, gradually inclining to deep
chocolate-brown on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; the tail-feathers sepia, externally washed
with chocolate-brown ; wing-coverts like the back, the quills dark sepia, the primaries externally
reddish-brown, and the secondaries more like the back ; crown of head and sides of face dark
olivaceous-brown, like the back ; throat and under surface of body dingy rufous-brown, slightly
clearer on the breast, abdomen, and flanks, the under tail-coverts chestnut ; under wing-coverts and
axillaries rufous-brown ; quills light sepia below, washed with ashy : “ bill brown ; feet pale
brown; iris dark hazel” {Stolzmann). Total length 9*5 inches, culmen 0*95, wing 4*7, tail 4*5,
tarsus 1*4.
According to Taczanowski, young birds have the upper parts olive-brown, as in the old female,
with the lower throat, breast, and abdomen of a dull greyish-rufous, waved with brown.
The male described and figured in the Plate is one from Antioquia in the Seebohm.
Collection. The female.is figured from a specimen obtained by Fraser at Puellaro and now in the
Sclater Collection in the British Museum. Dr. Sclater has compared this skin with the type of
Tschudi’s Turdus serranus, so there can be no doubt that the figure of this specimen in the Plate
represents the typical M. serrana. The description of the female has been taken from the same
specimen. , - j , ; ^ B. Si]
MER U LA A T ROSER IC EA [Laß-.).
VENEZUELAN BLACK OUZEL.
Merula atrosericea, Lafr. Rev, ZooL 1848, p. 3 ; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus v p 239
(1881).
Turdus atrosericeus, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 136.
Turdus xanthosceles (nec Jard.), Leot. Ois. Trinidad, p. 201 (1866).
Turdus serranus (nee Tschudi), Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 780.
Semimerula atrosericea, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 475 (1883).
M. similis prsecedenti : maris ptilosi ommno nigr&, foeminm tamen brmmea : pectore et abdomme clarb cineraceis:
primario primo fere octavum sequante.
I cam® perceive any tangible difference between the male of this species and that of M. serrana,
but the female is easily distinguished by its grey breast and abdomen and the different colour of the
under tail-coverts.
species was described by Lafresnaye from specimens sent to him from Caracas in Venezuela,
and Mr. Goering hasalso met wilh the species at Merida in the same country (Scl. & Salv. P. Z. s!
; ©70s P- 780). It is also doubtless this Ouzel which has been mentioned by Leotaud under the name
of Turdus xanthosceles, Jard., from Trinidad. In the latter island Leotaud believed the species to be
a migrant from Tobago, whence it visited Trinidad at different times and in small numbers. I t is
found in company with Merula flampes, which it resembles in habits.
Adult male. Black all over and apparently not to be distinguished from the male of M. serrana.
Total length 9'5 inches, culmen 1-05, wing 4-8, tail 3-7, tarsus 1-4.
Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above light olive-brown; wings and
tail russet-brown, the outer aspect of the primaries paler; sides of face dusky brown, th^ lores ashy,
and the cheeks slightly mottled with dusky lines; chin ashy; lower throat, fore-neck, and chest
light olive-brown, with a few slightly indicated dusky spots on the throat; breast and abdomen
ashy-grey^, sides of body light ochreous-brown; under tail-coverts brown, washed with grey, with
narrow whitish shaft-lines; axillaries olive-brown like the chest; under wing-coverts lighter and
more golden brown; quill-lining grey. Total length 9-5 inches, culmen 1-05, wing 455, tail 3-6,
tarsus 1*3.
A young male from Merida, in the Salvin-Godman Collection differs from the female described
in being darker and in having pale buff longitudinal centres to the wing-coverts and the feathers of
the throat and chest; the ear-coverts have also buff shaft-lines.
The descriptions have been taken from a pair of Venezuelan birds in the Sclater Collection.
[R. B. S.]