228 ON MERULA JAVANICA 



And in this view the experienced Monographer on the 

 Turdidae was no doubt right, as well as in supposing 

 that there are three species of Ouzels in Java, all pecu- 

 liar and confined to the high mountains of this island. 

 Of the present species the Leyden Museum possesses only- 

 one specimen, an old bird collected on the Mountain 

 Tjerimai (» above 5000 feet"), Cheribon in Western Java, 

 and presented by Dr. A. G. Vorderman in 1896. 



This bird has the chestnut restricted to a considerable 

 large patch on the centre of the belly, but the sides are 

 brown, of the same colour as the remainder uudersurface , 

 including the lower tail-coverts, which show only the 

 shaft white , it agrees therefore exactly with the diagnostic 

 characters pointed out by Mr. Seebohm. Moreover he remarks 

 (Cat. Br. M. p. 279): »The type of T. javanicus and that 

 of T. Schlegeli agree in the colour of the under tail-coverts, 

 but the latter has the rich chestnut flanks of the adult 

 male", which however is not M. javanica but M. fumida 

 (Mull.) , as in the Catalogue Mr. Seebohm mixes three 

 species under the head-name M. javanica. Dr. Sclater, 

 who also examined two of Horsfield's types in the British 

 Museum , considers them to belong to the same species 

 as M. fumida, but his short notice mentions also the 

 ferrugineous colour on the belly to be very restricted 

 (Ibis 1875, p. 344). 



As Mr. Seebohm correctly remarks the nearest ally of 

 M. javanica (Horsf.) is M. Schlegeli Scl. from Timor '). 

 This latter species is however lighter on the chin , throat 

 and upper breast, has the sides of lower breast and vent 



1) Turdus (Merula) fumidus S. Mull. Verb. Land- en Volkenk. 1839—44, 

 p. 201, Note. (Descr. spec, ex Timor) — Turdus schlegeli, Scl. Ibis 1861, p. 280. 



The type in our Museum seems to be still unique. Dr. Salomon Miiller, 

 who did see more of Timor than any one since, procured this specimen in the 

 beginning of September (between 1st — 6th) 1829, in a valley called Penpaan, 

 near to the Mountain MieomafFo in the interior. This valley must be in con- 

 siderable altitude, as Dr. Miiller expressly mentions, that it was so cold as 

 never experienced by him before on Timor or Java. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XX. 



