margins ; wing-coverts and qnills black ; tail black ; crown of head black, extending over the hind-
neck to the top of the mantle ; sides of face, sides of neck, entire throat and chest black, extending
down the middle of the breast • abdomen and sides of body dark slaty-grey, as also the under tail-
coverts ; thighs black ; axillaries and under wing-coverts dark slaty-grey, blacker along the edge of
the wing : “ bill, feet, and eyelid, as well as the palate, clear yellow ; iris greyish brown ” '(Neuwied).
Total length 8‘5 inches, culmen 0*8, wing 4'5, tail 3'2, tarsus 0 95.
Adult female. General colour above dark ruddy olivaceous-brown, slightly paler and more
greyish towards the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back ; bastard-wing, primary-
coverts, and quills brown, rather more reddish externally than the back, the secondaries like the
latter ; tail brown, slightly shaded with olive ; sides of face brown like the head, with faint whitish
shaft-lines on the ear-coverts | cheeks somewhat more olivaceous-brown, like the under surfacé of the
body, the throat greyer and showing some streaks of dusky-brown triangular spots ; centre of
abdomen light grey, becoming whiter near the vent ; sides of body and thighs more olive-brown ;
under tail-coverts ashy-brown, with whitish edges and a darker sub-terminal shade ; under wing-
coverts and axillaries pale orange-buff ; quills below dusky brown, shaded with buff along the inner
web. Total length 8-8 inches, culmen 0-8, wing 4-35, tail 3’2, tarsus 0-95.
Another female bird in the British Museum is apparently younger, having remains of spots on
the greater wing-coverts. I t is much more ochraceous-brown below than the one described,
especially on the under tail-coverts.
The descriptions- of the adult male and female are taken from a pair of birds from Bio de
Janeiro, presented to the British Museum by Mr. Alexander Fry. The figure of the male is drawn
from a Bahia skin in the Seebohm Collection, and that of the female from a specimen obtained
by Younds at Rio de Janeiro and now in thè Salvin-Godman Collection.
N.B.—The female is probably the bird called Platycichla brevities by Baird ( c f Sharpe, Cat. B.
vi. p. 379). Dr. Stejneger has drawn attention to this fact (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 479); but
whether it is the female of M. flavipes or of one of the allied races can only be determined by a
comparison with the type. ' [R. B. S.]
MERULA YEN EZUELENSIS.
VENEZUELAN GREY OUZEL.
Merula flavijpes, auct., pt., ex Venezuela.
s similis M. flavipedi $ , sed notæi plumis interdum nigro adumbratis. ? tamen diversa : abdomme pallidiore
griseo : subcaudalibus griseis, albido medialiter notatis et marginatis, et præcipuè.subalaribus et axillaribus
clarius aurantiacis distinguenda.
The male of the Venezuela bird is very like that of M. flavipes, though occasionally examples show
more black overspreading the mantle and abdomen than in that species. This is. not often the. case,
however, and many of the males from the two countries are quite indistinguishable. The females,
however, differ considerably from those of M. flavipes and M. polionota, having a much paler grey
abdomen than the latter, and lighter orange under wing-coverts and axillaries. I have seen
specimens in Mr. Rothschild’s Museum from Merida (Mocquerys) and from San Antonio, Cumanâ
(Caracdolo). Some Venezuelan females are, however, not to be distinguished from Roraima birds,
and the specific value of thèse races cannot be said to be established as yet.
Adult male. Similar to the male of M. flavipes, but with the black of the head extending over
the hind-neck and overspreading the whole of the centre of the abdomen, the feathers of which have,
black margins ; the grey flanks and the under tail-coverts are entirely of a sooty-grey colour. Total
length S'5 inches, culmen 0’75, wing 4'-5, tail 3'3, tarsus TO.
Adult female. Is very much darker and more olive than the female of M.flavvpes, and underneath
is of a dull ochraceous-brown with buff longitudinal centres to the under tail-coverts ; the chin and
throat are slightly paler and more ashy than the fore-neck, which is of a dull fulvous-brown ; under
wing-coverts and axillaries dull orange-buff; centre of abdomen scarcely perceptibly dull ashy.
Total length 8'0 inches, culmen 0'75, wing 4'35, tail 3T, tarsus 0'9.
The descriptions are taken from a pair of Venezuelan birds in the Seebohm Collection.
[R. B. S.]