675. Merula ruficollis. The Red-throated Ouzel.
Turdus ruficollis, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs. iii, p. 694 (1776) ; Blyth* Cat. p. 161 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 194 ; Hume, Cat. no. 364 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 53 ; Hume, 8. F. ix, p. 318, xi, p. 129. Planesticus ruficollis (Pall.}, Jerd. B. I. i, p. 528 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. ii, p. 102.
Merula ruficollis (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 269. Turdus hyemalis (Dyboivski), apud Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 271.
The Red-tailed Thrush, Jerd.
Coloration. Male. The whole upper plumage ashy brown, the shafts of the feathers of the crown dark ; wings dark brown, the outer webs suffused with ashy brown ; tail chestnut, the terminal half or third of the middle pair of feathers brown, the others successively with less black at the tip ; a narrow pale chestnut super- cilium ; lores and ear-coverts ashy brown ; cheeks, chin, throat, breast, and sides of the neck chestnut, the feathers of these parts immediately after the autumn moult very narrowly margined with white, and all but the very oldest birds with a row of black spots down each side of the throat ; remaining lower plumage white, the sides of the body mottled with brown ; under tail-coverts chestnut at base ; axillaries and under wing-coverts orange-brown.
Female. Resembles the male, but has the chestnut of the lower parts much paler, and the breast spotted with black. In very old females, however, these spots disappear, and the sexes are then very closely alike.
Tarsi greyish fleshy ; feet fleshy brown ; upper mandible and tip of lower brown, rest of lower mandible, gape, and margins of upper mandible, except at tip, dull yellow ; iris hazel (Hume}.
Length about 10 ; tail 4 ; wing 5'4 ; tarsus 1-3 ; bill from gape ri.
Distribution. A winter visitor to the Himalayas from Kashmir to Assam. This species has also been observed in winter at G-oalpara in Assam, Sylhet, Cachar, the Khasi hills, and Mauipur. In winter this Ouzel occurs on the west in Afghanistan, and on the east in China. It summers in Siberia and Central Asia.
676. Merula boulboul. The Grey-winged Ouzel.
Lanius boulboul, Lath. Ind. Orn. i, p. 80 (1790). Turdus pcecilopterus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 54 j Gould, Cent. pi. xiv.
Merula boulboul (Lath}, Blyth, Cat. p. 162 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 196 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 525 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 35 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 234 ; id. Cat. no. 361 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 285 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 248 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 128 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 93.
The Grey-winged Blackbird, Jerd. ; Kasturi, Hind. ; Patariya masaicha, Beng. ; Phoyiong pho, Lepch. ; Chomam, Bhut.
Coloration. Male. The whole upper plumage, wings and tail,
