MERULTN^. 533 



370. Oreocincla mollissima, Blyth. 



Turdus apud Blyth, J. A. S., XL, 185— Blyth, Cat. 931 — 

 HoESF,, Cat. 267 — T. rostratus and T. oreocincloides, Hodgson — 

 T. Hodgsonii, Homeyer — Phanaioh-hiok-pho, Lepch. — Telia- 

 kan/im, Bhot. 



The Plain-backed Mountain Thrush 



Descr. — Uniform rich olive-brown above, with a slight tlno'e of 

 orange ; wing-coverts and tertiaries margined paler ; the greater 

 coverts tipped with black ; the inner webs of the primaries dusky, 

 the outer emarginate ; imdcr surface of wing marked black and 

 white; the four central feathers of the tail brown ; the outermost 

 pair albescent-brown with whitish tips, the two next having succes- 

 sively less white at the tip, and the remainder of the tail being- 

 blackish ; under parts clear fulvous-white, deeper on the breast 

 and whitish along the centre of the belly ; very richly spotted with 

 deep black, more densely so than O. dauma ; the spots are triano-u- 

 lar on the throat, neck and breast ; broad, transverse, and crescen- 

 tic, below the breast; the orbits and eye-streak pale fulvous. 



Bill dusky, yellowish at the base of the lower mandible ; legs 

 light brown ; irides hazel-brown. Length 9^ inches ; wing 5| ; tail 

 4; bill at front | ; tarsus If ; 3rd and 4th primaries equal and longest. 



This Thrush, by its plain-coloured back, evidently links the true 

 Thrushes to the Mountain Thrushes. Mr. Blyth named it mollissi- 

 mus, when he considered it as simply a Turdns; for it is not more 

 soft in its plumage than the other OreocmdcB, perhaps indeed less so. 



It is not uncommon about Darjeeling. I have generally found 

 it feeding on the ground, in small parties, on a rather bare spot on 

 the very summit of some hill, and flying into the brushwood when 

 disturbed. I have found it chiefly at from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. It 

 feeds on insects and berries. It extends throughout the Himalayas ; 

 for it has been procured both in Nepal and Kumaon, as well as in 

 Sikhim. 



o71. Oreocincla dauma, Latham. 



Turdus apud Latham— Blyth, Cat. 932 — Horsf,, Cat. 2(i(?— 

 Oreocincla parvirostris, GoULD, Birds of Europe, pi. 81— Turdus 

 varius, Jerdon, Cat. So. 



