MERULA GrIGrAS, Fraser.
GIANT OUZEL.
Twrdus gigas, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 59.
Semimerula gigas, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 332.
Merulisäma gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 232 (1881).
Merula gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 244 (1881).
M. maxima: ata 6-9-6’B p oll.: rostro et pedibus flavis : suprä schistacea, corpore subtus pallidiore schistaceo •
cauaä mgncante.
T h is large Ouzel appears to range from Venezuela to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Mr. Goering has sent two specimens from the neighbourhood of Merida (Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S.
1875, p. 234) .; and although these specimens are not quite adult, I cannot find any tangible difference
between them and others from Bogotá, and they are certainly not M . cacozela from the Sierra Nevada
of Santa Marta.
The Giant Ouzel was first described by Fraser from a Bogotá specimen, and examples from this
locality are -not at aU uncommon in collections. Mr. T. H. Wheeler has forwarded specimens from
the environs of Bogotá, procured at a height of from 8500 to 9500 feet. Mr. T. K Salmon obtained
‘ several examples near Santa Elena in Antioquia, and also at Retiro in the same State at an elevation
of 700.0 feet. Count von Berlepsch records the species from Bucaxamanga, where it was obtained
by Herr Minios (Berl. J. f. O. 1884, p. 279). In Ecuador the species has been found in a number
of places, at Cuenca by Fraser (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 451), and the same collector also obtained
it at Titiaeun and Matos on the Plateau of Riobamba (Sclater, t. c. p. 550). In the Salvin-Godman
Collection axé specimens from the vicinity of Pasto (Lehmann), Sical (C, Buckley), and Monii
(C. Buckley); while Stolzmann met with the species at Baños at 6200 feet (Tacz. & Berl. P. Z. S
1885, p. 70). Mr. W. F. H. Rosenberg found it near Cayambe, in North-west Ecuador, between
9000 and 10,000 feet (Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 479, 1898).
An example from Ninabamba, in Peru, obtained by Stolzmann, and now in the Sclater Collection
seems to me to be the true M. gigas and not M. gigantodes. I t is slightly more ashy-grey below than
Ecuadorian specimens, and the dusky streaks on the throat axe obsolete. Wing 6*25 inches, culmen
1*1, tarsus 1‘7.
Two specimens are in the Salvin-Godman Collection from Bolivia, where they were obtained at
Sorata by the late Clarence Buckley. These birds are a little darker than Colombian examples
and have the throat more dusky, but I do not see that they can be separated specifically from true’
M. gigas, and the darker coloration may be due to their being in winter plumage Dr Rusbv
obtamed a specimen in the Province of Yungas (Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. ii. p. 78, 1892).
Mr. Fraser procured the nest and eggs of this species at Riobamba in June, and Dr Sclater
describes them as follows The nest is made of stalks and grass, lined with fine hay The eses
appear rather small for the bird, measuring 1-3'by 1 inch. They are of the usual character of
Turivs as regards colour, being of a bluish-green minutely freckled with pale red.”
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