MER U LA THOMAS SONI , Seebohm.
THOMASSON’S OUZEL.
Merula thomassoni, Seebohm, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iii. p. li (1894); Ogilvie Grant, Ibis,
1894, p. 509.
M. major: nigra: rostra et pedibus flavis: capite colloque saturate chocolatino-brunneis: pileo quam notseum
bmnnescentiore.
L ik e the New-Guinea Ouzel (M. papuensis) this species undoubtedly belongs to the section of
pale-headed Oceanic Thrushes, of which M. poliocephala and M. pritzhueri are the best-known
representatives. Like M. papuensis, however, it is larger than the Oceanic Ouzels, and more
approaches in size our Common Blackbird of Europe.
The present species was discovered in the highlands of the island of Luzon by Mr. John "Whitehead,
and it is a remarkable fact that a species of Merula from the mountains of this Philippine island
should he so like M. papuensis from the mountains of South-eastern New Guinea as to be scarcely
distinguishable.
Mr. Ogilvie Grant compared the series of M. thomassoni with the type of M. papuensis,
which Mr. De Vis had kindly sent to England to be figured in the present work, and which
was in the British Museum for some weeks. Mr. Grant’s comparison of the plumages of the
two species shows that they differ hut little, and the principal points in his diagnosis of M. papuensis
were the white vent and the lighter colour of the under surface. M. papuensis is also a slightly
larger bird than M. thomassoni, but is scarcely 4) inches longer (14*0), as Mr. Grant, from an apparent
lapsus calami, would make out.
The characters of the white vent and the blackish under surface do not hold good in a large series,,
and since Mr. Grant wrote about the two species, the British Museum has acquired some specimens
of Merula papuensis from Mt. Victoria. I find that the differences between it and M. thnmassoni
are very slight. The chocolate-brown colour of the throat is more plainly contrasted in the Luzon
species, and extends further over the fore-neck, while in M. papuensis it does not seem to go below
the lower throat. The head, too, is rather browner, and forms more of an indistinct cap than is seen
in M. papuensis.
Adult male. General colour above glossy coal-black, including the wings and ta il; crovpi of
head and hind-neck, sides of face, throat, and chest dark brown, contrasting, however, with the rest
of the body; under surface, from the chest downwards, glossy black, including the thighs; under
tail-coverts black, with distinct white shaft-streaks; under wing-coverts and axillaries black; quills
blackish below. Total length 10 inches, culmen TO, wing 4'85, tail 3-8, tarsus 1-3.
Adult female. Like the male, excepting that the brown head and throat are not so distinctly
indicated from the hack and breast; the throat is scarcely lighter than the rest of the under surface,
which shows traces of rufous margins to the feathers. Total length 9 inches, culmen 0 95, wing 4-4,
tail 3‘2, tarsus 1*25.
The female of M. papuensis is uniform below, with dull rufous edges to the feathers as in
v o l. ii. Q