TURDUS. 149 



Turdus hodgsoni, Homeyer, Rhca, ii, p. 150 (1849) ; Jerd. B. I. i, 

 p. 531 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 3G ; Hume, N. # E. 

 p. 236 ; Brooks, S. F. iii, p. 237, viii, p. 471. 



The Himalayan Missel-Thrush, Jerd. 



Fig. 38. Head of T. viscivorus 



Coloration. Upper plumage greyish brown, the edges of the 

 feathers paler, a tinge of oehraceous running through the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts ; tail ashy brown, the exterior webs nar- 

 rowly edged with white, and all the feathers tipped whitish, the 

 middle pair narrowly, the others more and more ; wings brown, 

 all the quills and coverts edged and tipped with fulvous white ; 

 lores pale fulvous ; a whitish ring round the eye ; ear-coverts 

 brown streaked with fulvous ; lower plumage pale buff, the chin 

 and middle of the throat nearly spotless, the sides of the throat 

 and the whole breast with triangular black spots, the abdomen and 

 sides of the body with roundish spots ; the under tail-coverts 

 broadly margined at the base with brown ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts pure white. Birds in the summer with worn plumage 

 are paler and greyer. 



Bill dark horny brown, paler on lower mandible, which is yel- 

 lowish along the margins ; iris deep brown ; legs and feet palo 

 yellowish brown; claws dark horny brown (Hume). 



Length nearly 12 ; tail 4'8 ; wing 6-4 to 6-8 ; tarsus 1'4 ; bill 

 from gape 1*2. 



Birds from Europe have the wing generally under 6 inches and 

 the bill slightly smaller, but do not otherwise differ from Hima- 

 layan examples. 



Distribution. Occurs in the Himalayas from Kashmir to Nepal. 

 All the dated specimens that I have seen from India were killed 

 in the summer months. Scully states that this species is met 

 with in the Grilgit district in summer at elevations of over 9000 feet, 

 where it breeds ; and Biddulph writes that it was tolerably common 

 in Gilgit during the severe winter of 1877-7^, but seldom comes 

 so low down, keeping generally to the higher valleys, whore he 

 found it in .Inly al 10,000 feet. The Missel-Thrush occurs in 

 Europe, North Africa, and a considerable part of Asia. 



