F ig . I . ME R U L A POLIO-NOTA.
H B I MELAN OPLEURAI
ME R U L A POL IONOTA.
RORAIMA GREY OUZEL.
Tardus flamees (nec Vieill.), Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 198.
$ similis M. flavipedi. $ tamen diversa: suprá, sordidé einerascenti-olivacea, uropygio et supracaudalibus
clarius cinerascentibus: subalaribus et axillaribus sordidé aurantiaco-fulvis : alis subtus isabellinis, vix fulvo
adumbrato.
A lthough the males of the itoraima bird scarcely differ at all from Brazilian examples of M. flavipes^
the females seem to me to be very different. They are much darker and of a dull ashy-olive above,
with the rump and upper tail-coverts clearer ashy-grey. The chief difference, however, lies in the
colour of the under wing-coverts and axillaries, which are very dull orange-buff, not nearly so clear
orange as in the females of the allied forms, and the quill-lining is ashy-isabelline, not tinged with
orange as with the hen birds of M. flavipes and M. venezuelensis.
There is still some doubt as to the precise identification of the females of this group of Ouzels,
but if the hens have been properly referred to this Itoraima form of M. fiavipes, I do not see how it
can be considered identical with the Brazilian bird. The whole question is still very obscure, and it
is doubtful if M. polionota will be found to be restricted to Itoraima, as a female specimen sent by
Mocquerys to the Tring Museum seems to me to be the same as the Venezuelan bird.
Adult male. Similar to M. flavipes, but having a very different coloured female. Total length
8'8 inches, culmen 0*7, wing 4'5, tail 3-4, tarsus 1*0.
Adult female. Differs from the female of M. flavipes in being dark olive-brown, shading off into
slaty-grey on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back; the bastard-
wing, primary-coverts, and quills brown, shaded externally with olive, a little more fulvescent on the
outer web of the primaries; tail-feathers dusky brown, with a slight olive shading on the edges ;
sides of face and ear-coverts dark olive-brown like the crown, with faint whitish streaks along the
shafts of the ear-coverts; cheeks, throat, and under surface dusky ochraceous-olive j centre of the
breast and abdomen dingy ashy-grey, inclining to white on the v en t; under tail-coverts dingy grey,
centfed with white shaft-lines and whitish bars and margins ; chin and upper throat ashy, streaked
with spots of dusky brown; under wing-coverts and axillaries dingy ochraceous-brown, slightly
shaded with orange-buff; quills ashy-brown below, somewhat lighter ashy along the edge of the inner
web. Total length 7-5 inches, culmen O'8, wing 4-3, tail 3T, tarsus 0’95.
The descriptions have been taken from a typical pair of birds from Itoraima in the British
Museum. [R. B. S.]