1H95. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 585 



65. CYANECULA SUECICA (Linnaeus). 



Male, immatuie, Thiau-Sliau Mouutaiiis, north of Kasligar, Septem- 

 ber 16, 189.3; 9,000 feet. " Bill, dark lioni brown, yellowish at gape- 

 length, G inches." 



Female, Sarikol, P]astern Turkestan, April 8, 1894. 



Male, immature, Killian, Eastern Turkestan, August 4,1891:; 6,000 

 feet. 



The specimen from Sarikol, marked female, although a sirring- bird, 

 is in the livery of an immature male. 



m. MERULA MERULA INTERMEDIA, new subspecies. 



Tijpv.—^o. 150443, U.S.X.M., female, adult; Aksu, Eastern Turkestan, 

 November 20, 1893, Entire upijer parts (forehead, crown, nape, back, 

 scapulars, rump, and u])per tail-coverts) slaty black, the feathers, espe- 

 cially on head and back, bordered with a i)aler, olive color, the general 

 effect on the head and back being thatof clove brown with an olive tinge : 

 tail, dull black ; wings, dark slaty brown, the feathers with an olive tinge 

 on the outer webs; lesser, middle, and greater wing-coverts slaty black 

 like up[)er parts, tinged with olive; primary coverts and outer greater 

 coverts with a more conspicuous olive edging; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts dull drab gray, some of the longer feathers of the under 

 wing-coverts with light russet shafts; lores and sides of head and neck 

 clove brown with an olive tinge, like the crown; feathers of ear-coverts 

 mostly with white shafts; malar stripe grayish white, broken by indis- 

 tinct dusky brown edges to the feathers; chin, grayish white; throat 

 similar but with many deltoid spots of clove brown, each spot indis- 

 tinctly bordered with lighter brown ; breast hair brown with an olive 

 tinge, each feather with a deltoid sjiot of clove brown bordered with 

 lighter brown, the spots larger than those on throat; lower breast, 

 abdomen, sides of body. Hanks, and under tail-coverts dull blackish 

 slate, the lower breast with indistinct dark spots; an olive tinge on 

 sides of body; feathers of center of abdomen and lower breast with 

 light grayish borders; thighs, brownish drab. "Bill and feet black; 

 Irides, reddish brown; length, 1 If inches.'' AVing,."). 28 inches; tail, 4.82; 

 tarsus, 1.33; culmen, 0.95. 



This bird resembles the common Blackbird, but is larger, being inter- 

 mediate in size between it and Merula m. maxima (Seebohm) of Kash- 

 mir. It is darker and grayer (I am comparing adult autumn females) 

 with less olive. 



The breeding grounds of this bird must be pretty well north; Dr. 

 Abbott's specimens were taken in the Thian-Shan Mountains late in 

 November, and Dr. Scully states that the bird " migrated northward in 

 si)ring" from Yarkand. The specimens recorded by Dr. Sharpe from 

 various parts of Eastern Turkestan' under the name of Merula maxima 



'Second Yarkand Mission, 1891, Aves, p. 91. 



