TURBINE. 173 



GENUS, Merula, Leach. 



Bill slightly lengthened, compressed at the tip, and notched ; 

 nostrils feathered at the base ; rictal bristles short and strong ; 

 tarsus of moderate length ; feet strong ; wings long, second quill 

 shorter than the fifth, which is nearly as long as the third and 

 fourth ; tail square or nearly so. 



Merula nigropilea, Lafr. 



359. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 523; Butler , Guzerat ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 470 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Yol, 



IX, p. 399. 



THE BLACK-CAPPED BLACKBIRD. 



Length, 9*5 ; wing, 4'9 ; tail, 3'5 ; tarsus, T2 ; bill at front, 0*8. 



Bill orange-yellow, as also are the gape and eyelids ; legs 

 brownish-yellow. 



Male. Head, with the lores, cheeks and nape, deep black ; back, 

 rump, wings and tail, dark-blackish, tinged with brown on the 

 interscapulars ; chin blackish ; neck, all round to the nape (con- 

 trasting there strongly with the black of the crown) and the 

 lower parts brownish-ashy, paler on the belly, and passing to 

 white on the vent ; under tail-coverts mingled white and ashy. 



The Black-capped Blackbird is a permanent resident and 

 occurs on the Sahyadri Range as far north as Khandalla, and 

 is also common at Mount Aboo, where it is particularly abundant 

 during the rains at which season it breeds, but its nest does not 

 appear to have been taken. 



Merula atrogularis, Tern. 



365. Planesticus atrogularis, Gm. Jerdon's Birds of India, 

 Vol. I. p. 529 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 131. 



THE BLACK-THROATED THRUSH. 



Length, 10'5 ; expanse, 17 ; wing, 575 ; tail, 4'4 ; bill at front, 

 0-6. 



Bill yellow, dusky at tip; orbits yellow; irides dark-brown; 

 legs horny-yellowish-brown. 



Male. Above pale cinereous-brown ; wings and tail darker ; 

 tail occasionally tinged with rufous ; beneath the throat albescent- 

 brownish with some undefined dark markings, the centre of each 

 feather being dark, and lower down these coalesce and form a 

 broad dark-brown, or blackish pectoral gorget ; the rest, beneath, 

 pale cinereous-white, a few of the feathers next the breast centred 

 or barred with dusky ; under wing-coverts rusty ; lower tail- 

 coverts indistinctly barred with brown and rusty. 



The female wants the pectoral gorget, but has the breast 

 buff, mixed with dusky, and some brown striae on the sides of 

 the throat and breast ; the abdomen, too, is whiter than in the 

 male, and the lower tail-coverts are bufty-white. 



