Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/150

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136
TURDIDÆ


Coloration. Resembles M. olscura, but differs in the following respects : the breast and sides of the body in both sexes are slaty grey, not chestnut-brown ; the upper plumage in both sexes is russet-brown, not olive-brown ; the crown in the adult male is never darker than the other upper parts ; the sides of the head and the sides of the chin and throat are russet-brown, not slaty brown ; and in the adult male the throat itself is slaty grey, not slaty brown.

Iris deep chocolate ; bill black ; legs pale cloudy brown ( Wardlaw Ramsay) ; legs and feet brownish yellow ; bill blackish brown, yellow at gape and on base of lower mandible ; iris brown (Hume).

Of the same dimensions as M. obscura.

This Ouzel resembles M. pallida, Ginelin, but may be instantly distinguished from that species by the presence of a supercilium, which is altogether absent in M. pallida. The latter inhabits Eastern Asia and may occasionally visit Burma.

Distribution. Shillong and Cherra Poonjee ; Japvo peak in the Naga hills at 10,000 feet; Manipur; Karennee at 5000 feet; Muleyit mountain in Tenasserim.

All the specimens of this species that I have examined from the above localities were procured in the winter months, but this Ouzel is not unlikely to prove a resident species in those parts.

G-enus CKEOCICHLA, Kuhl (teste Gould), 1836.

In the Thrushes of this genus the sexes are different and the under wing-coverts and axillaries are each of two colours, the position of the two colours on the under wing-coverts being transposed on the axillaries.

From Merula this genus differs in having a somewhat blunter wing and shorter tail. The underside of the wing presents a pattern formed by the white bases of many of the quills.

Key to the Species.

a. No chestnut on lower plumage. a'. Upper tail-coverts margined with white . . G. wardi, p. 137. b'. No white on upper tail-coverts G. sibirica, p. 138. b. Lower plumage almost entirely chestnut. c'. Median wing-coverts broadly tipped with white. ". Chin and throat white G. cyanonotus, p. 139. b". Chin and throat chestnut like the breast. G. citrina, p. 140. d Median wing-coverts without white tips. c". Chin and throat chestnut G. innotata, p. 141. T. Chin and throat white G. albiyularis, p. 142. e" Chin white, throat chestnut G. anflamanensis, [p. 142.