H a a h a rt imp.
MERULA N IGROP IL EU S \L a fr).
BLACK-CAPPED OUZEL.
Turdus (Merula) nigropileus, L afr.in Deless. Voy. Inde, pt. i i .p . 27 (1843).
Merula nigropileus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 162 (1849); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.
v. p. 250 (1881); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 126 (1890).
Turdus nigropileus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 523 (1862).
M. supr& schistacea; subtiis quoque schistacea: rostro et pedibus flavis : pileo nigro : collo postico et interscapulio
lilacino-brunneis.
T h e Black-capped Ouzel is an inhabitant of the western and central portions of the Indian Peninsula,
ranging north to Mount Abu. Jerdon writes (B. Ind. i. p. 5 2 4 ) “ This Blackbird is found,
occasionally, throughout the greater part of the south of India, in the plains during the cold weather
only; but it is a permanent resident on the hilly regions of the south, at a moderate elevation.
I t is found in Coorg, the Wynaad, and other parts of the Western Ghats, and in some of the
higher tahle-lands in Central India, as in Bustar and Jalna. I have killed it in my own garden,
at Nellore in the Carnatic, at Tellicherry, and other places at low elevation. I never saw it on the
Nilghiris.” -
The Bev. S. B. Fairbank has sent a number of specimens to Mr. Hume from Mahabaleshwur,
procured from February to May (spec, in Mus. Brit.). He says that it has become abundant in the
neighbourhood, and it is found all along the top of the Sahyadri Hills (Str. F. iv. p. 257,1876).
Colonel A. E. Butler wn te s:—“ I t is a permanent resident and common all along the Sahyadri
Bange and in the adjacent forests as fax north as Khandala, being most abundant in the rains.
I t belongs almost exclusively to the Ghat Begion, but I have shot stragglers iu Belgaum on two
occasions (Str. F. ix. p. 399, 1881). In South Konkan, Mr. G. Vidal says that this Ouzel is
common everywhere in groves and gardens, both on the coast and inland (Str. F. ix. p. 63, 1880).
In his paper on the Birds of North Kanara, Mr. J. Davidson says that the present species is “ found
sparingly in the cold weather along the coast, and is noticed occasionally here and there above
the Ghats at that season. About Halyal and Mundgode it is fairly common in March and April.”
He never found the nest is Kanara, but is pretty certain that it must occasionally. breed in the
northern portion of the district (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xi. p. 670, 1898). Mr. C. J . W.
Taylor says that it is a common species in the Manzeerabad district of Mysore, and he has
found eggs on the 25th of May (Str. F. x. p. 459).
Specimens from Matheran, obtained in January and February by Colonel Hayes Lloyd, are in
the British Museum. The Tweeddale Collection contains others from Khandeish.
Mr. Hume states, that in the Central Provinces the species has been found at Raipur and
Sambulpur (Str. F. vii. p. 213, 1878). Specimens from Raipur procured in January, from Sambulpur
(December), and from Panchmari (June) are in the Hume Collection in the British Museum.
The Hume Collection likewise contains a series of birds from Mount Abu in Rajputana, obtained
in May, June, July, and September, by Dr. G. King and Colonel E. A. Butler. The latter writes:—