3. MERULA. 263 



Planesticus fiiscatiis {Tall), Jerd. B. Lid. i. p. 530 (1802) ; Blyth, 

 Ibis, 18G0, p. 3GG. 



In the adult male in spring plumage the general colour of the 

 upper parls is brown, with dark centres to the feathers, frequently 

 intermixed, cspecitilly on the scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 with chestnut ; lores and car-coverts dark brown ; eye-stripe huffish 

 white, broad and well-defined, and reaching to the nape ; wings dark 

 brown, most of the secondaries and wing-coverts broadly edged on 

 the outer web with chestnut, in some specimens extending over the 

 whole outer web ; tail dark brown, frequently shading into chestnut 

 on the margin of the inner web. Chin, throat, and cheeks huffish 

 white, in old birds only showing traces of a moustachial row of spots, 

 more conspicuous and extending across the throat in younger birds ; 

 breast and flanks dark brown, each feather narrowly edged with 

 huffish white, except on the sides of the breast, which arc uni- 

 form black ; belly and under tail-coverts huffish white, with more 

 or less concealed dark centres to the feathers ; axUlaries and under 

 wing-coverts pale chestnut with obscure white margins, browner in 

 very old birds ; inner margin of quills pale chestnut. Bill dark 

 brown, paler at the base of the under mandible. Wings with the 

 third and fourth primaries nearly equal and longest, second pri- 

 mary intermediate in length between the fourth and fifth, bastard 

 primary U-7 to 0-5 inch. Length of wing 5-3 to 4-8 inches, tail 4-0 

 to 3*2.5, culmen 0*9 to 0*84, tarsus 1-32 to 1-2. Legs, feet, and claws 

 brown. 



1\\Q female differs from the male in having the feathers of the 

 lower throat and breast greyish buff, with dark-brown fan-shaped 

 terminal spots : the dark centres to the feathers of the upper parts 

 are almost obsolete.- After the autumn moult the white margins of 

 the feathers of the breast and flanks are much broader. Males 

 of the year have the plumage of the adult female. Young in first 

 plumage have ochraceous tips to the wing-coverts and innermost 

 secondaries ; the feathers of the back have nearly black margins and 

 pale chest init centres ; the iindcrparts resemble those of the female, 

 but the spots are much larger. 



The Dusky Ouzel breeds in Siberia, from the valley of the Yen- 

 esay eastwards, among the willow bushes in the sheltered gorges of 

 the tundra, above the limit of forest-growth, and in a similar climate 

 on the mountain regions near Lake Baikal. On migration it passes 

 through S.E. Mongolia and North China, and winters in Japan and 

 South China, occasionally straying westwards as far as Assam and 

 even North-west India. Individuals occasionally wander as far as 

 Europe, having occurred in Belgium and Italy. 



a. cJinim.sk. Bolschoi Ustram, Obb vallev, Dr. 0. Finsch [C.]. 



Sept. 11, 1876. 

 h. cJ ad. sk. Yeuesav, lat. 661°, Jmie H. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



11, 1877. 

 0. 9 ad. sk. Yenesav, lat. mi°, Juno H. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



10, 1877. 

 (/. Ad. sk. Nepal. B. H. Hodgson, Esq. [P.]. 



