MERULA. 12d 



<l\ Under wing - coverts 

 and axillaries uniformly 



chestnut-brown M. unicolor ? , p. 1*M. 



b 6 Sides of breast and abdomen 



orange-ferruginous M. protomomelcena, 



b\ Under wing-coverts and axil- LP- l66 ' 



laries slaty grey. 

 c G . Breast and sides of abdomen 

 chestnut-brown. 

 c\ Wing 4-8 ; second primary 



longer than fifth M. obscura, p. lo4. 



d 7 . Wing 5-4; second primary 



shorter than fifth M. subobscura, p. 135. 



d e . Breast and sides of abdomen 



slaty grey* ilf./^p. 135. 



666. Merula maxima. The Central-Asian Blackbird. 



Merula vulgaris ?, /e/'dow, I&w, 1872, p. 137. 

 Merula vulgaris, i?«y, Scully, S. F. iv, p. ,16». 

 Mprula vulsariB, Xece^, JBime, Oa«. no. day bis. 

 Merula maxima, feftota, CW.'*. Jf. v, p. 405 (1881) ; St. John, Ibis, 

 1889, p. 161. 



Coloration. Male. Entirely black throughout 



Amob. Upper plumage dark slaty brown with an olive tinge , 

 tail black; w mgs dark brown, all the feathers edged with oliva- 

 ceous ; lores dark brown, with a whitish line over them; sides of 

 the head ashy brown, the lower portion of the ear-coverts with w bite 



arts! lower plumage slaty grey, the chin, throat, and breast 

 streaked with blackish ; axillaries and under wmg-coverts uniform 



8k l y yo T r g n bird procured by Jerdon in Kashmir is black ; but the 

 abdomen, vent, thighs, under tail-coverts and under wmg-coverts 

 are barred with buff, and the feathers of the rump and upper tad- 

 coverts are tipped with the same. 



The male has the bill yellow, tip of upper mandible blackish ; 

 leo-s and feet dark brown ; claws black {Scully). 



The female has the bill brownish black ; legs and feet blackish 

 brown; claws black (Scully). 



Length about 11; tail 4-8 to 545 ; rag 6-4 to 5-9; tarsus 1-45 ; 

 bill hom .ape 1-2. Scully gives the length of the tail of a female 

 bird of"hi B P s P ecies as 5'6 ; but this is probably a misprint, as the 

 tail of a male, as given by the same author, is only 5-15. 



TMS species differs from its European ally in being much larger 

 the wing in Merula vulgaris being seldom more than 5 inches and 

 the tail 4-5 inches. 



* M kcssleri Prjev., was obtained by Mandelli in Tibet (S.F v, p. 484) not 

 far from e Sikhim frontier. In the male the abdomen and flanks arc deep 

 chesnu Tin the female dull chestnut-brown; in both sexes the rump .s dull 

 rufous the Swings and tail nearly black ; the head and breast in the male are 

 black or dark brown, in the female paler and streaked on the throat. Wing 

 57 ; tail 4-7. 



