128 TURDlDvE. 



nest has not been described, but the eggs are said to be greyish 

 white marked with reddish brown, and to measure about 1*2 

 by - 85. 



673. Merula castanea. The Grey-headed Ouzel. 



Merula castanea, Goidd, P. Z. S. 1835, p. 185; Blyth, Cat. p. 102; 

 Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 197 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 526 ; Code & Marshall, 

 S. F. \, p. 354 ; Godw.~A.ust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. ii, p. 268 ; 

 Hume, N. fy E. p. 235 ; id. Cat. no. 363 ; Seebuhm, Cat. B. M. v, 

 p. 259 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 93. 



Lai kastura, Hind. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, and sides of the bead 

 dark grey ; chin, throat, and neck all round pale greyish white ; 

 upper back dark chestnut ; lower back, scapulars, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts bright chestnut ; wings and tail black; lower plumage 

 chestnut, the middle of the abdomen whitish ; under tail-coverts 

 black, with mesial white streaks and fulvous margins near the tip 

 of the feathers ; auxiliaries and under wing-coverts chestnut-brown. 



Female. Resembles the male in general pattern of colour, but 

 the head and neck are a darker grey, the chestnut of the upper and 

 lower parts is paler, and the wings and tail are brown ; the under 

 tail-coverts are brown instead of black, but marked in the same 

 manner as in the male. 



Bill, orbits, and legs yellow; iris brown (Jerdon); legs dull 

 yellow, iris dark brown (Godw.-Aust.). 



Length about 11; tail 4-3; wing 5 - 3 ; tarsus 1-3; bill from 

 gape 1*2. 



This species and M. alhicincta were at one time thought to be 

 the same, but no one now doubts their distinctness from each 

 other. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Murree to Sikhim. Godwin- 

 Austen procured this species in the Tura range, Garo hills. 

 Griffith appears to have obtained it in Assam. This Ouzel, accord- 

 ing to Stoliczka (J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 35), comes to Kotgarh 

 in the winter, and probably lives during the summer months in 

 Central Asia and Eastern Tibet. This distribution has not, how- 

 ever, been confirmed, and the nest of tbis species has been found 

 at Kotgarh and Murree, showing that some birds at least remain 

 in the Himalayas during the summer and at comparatively low 

 levels. 



Habits, Sfc. Associates in flocks (during the winter?) according 

 to Hutton. This species appears to construct its nest in banks, 

 making it of moss and fern-leaves with a little earth, and lining it 

 with grass. The eggs are pale green marked with brownish red 

 and pinkish purple, and measure about 1*2 by "85. 



