MERULA CAN ESCENS , Be Vis.
GOODENOTJGH-ISLAND OUZEL. .
Merula canescens, De Vis, Rep. Brit. New Guinea, 1894, p. 7.
M. rostro et pedibus flavis : nigra : subcaudalibus nigris, minimè albo striatis : capite, gutture et prsepectore
grisescenti-cinereis : cervice postica et colli lateralibus albidioribus.
T h is species, which, constitutes another race of the group of T. pritzbueri and T. tempesti, differs from
both of the latter in thè tint of the head and throat, which is of a light ashy grey, deepening on the
fore-neck, and becoming whiter on the sides of the neck and round the hind-neck.
I t was discovered on Goodenough Island, in the Louisiades, by Sir William McGregor, and the
two specimens then obtained are the only ones at present known.
Adult. General colour above black, including the wings and tail ; crown of head and hind-neck,
sides of face, throat, and. chest hoary grey, somewhat shaded with dusky grey on the crown and
throat | under surface of body from the fore-neck downwards black, including the under tail-coverts,
under wing-coverts, and axillaries ; quills dusky blackish below. Total length 8 inches, culmen O'9,
wing 4-65, tail 3*4, tarsus 1*3.
Another specimen has the crown more clouded with dusky grey, and the grey confined to the
throat. On the feathers of the under surface are remains of rufous margins. This individual is
probably the adult female or a somewhat younger bird than the type. Total length 7-5 inches,
culmen 0’9, wing 4*25, tail 2-9, tarsus 1*25.
The descriptions and the figures in the Plate are taken from the typical examples, which
Mr. De Vis very kindly sent to England for the purposes of the present work. [R. B. S.] .