1871K] MR. H. SEEBOHM ON SOME ASIATIC THRUSHES. 805 



was that of a somewhat darker bird than Swinhoe's type ; but finding 

 in the Museum at Philadelphia a second skin agreeing precisely with 

 the latter (obtained, I was informed, by the Perry Expedition to 

 Japan), I cut the Gordian knot by assuming Swinhoe's bird to be the 

 normal adult male and Hume's to be a partially melanistic form not 

 uncommon among Thrushes. Since then the return of Mr. Wardlaw 

 Ramsay from Afghanistan has placed the Tweeddale collection within 

 reach ; and I find in it the ski a of a Thrush from Assam (which I pro- 

 pose to be figured as an illustration to this paper) which apparently 

 agrees with Hume's description of G. tricolor ; and I also hear that 

 Captain Elwes possesses two skins from the same locality. These facts 

 have obliged me to alter my opinion as to the identity of the Indian 

 with the Chinese specimen. I am now inclined to identify Hume's bird 

 as the fully adult male of T. dissimilis (Blyth). Both Hume's type 

 and the skins in the Tweeddale collection were shot in Assam ; and 

 in 'The Ibis' for 1872 (p. 136, pi. vii.) is an excellent figure of the 

 immature male or female of T. dissimilis (Blyth), the original of 

 which was shot by Colonel Godwin-Austen in the same locality. 

 The two species will therefore stand as follows : 



TURDUS DISSIMILIS (Blyth). (Plate LXIV.) 



Geocichla dissimilis, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. 1847, p. 144. 



Turdulus cardis (Temm.), apud Jerdon, B. India, i. p. 521 (1862). 



Geocichla tricolor, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 411. 



Adult male with the entire head, neck, and throat dark slate-grey, 

 nearly black, shading into paler slate-grey on the rest of the upper 

 parts. Axillaries, under wing-coverts, sides of the breast, and upper 

 portion of the flanks brilliant orange-chestnut, shading into brown 

 on the lower portion of the flanks, and into white on the centre of 

 the breast, belly, and under tail-coverts. 



Female and immature male. Upper parts differing from the adult 

 male in being pale slate-grey suffused with russet-brown on the 

 forehead, and with olive-brown on the centre of the back. Throat 

 nearly white in the centre, the feathers on the sides of throat and 

 chest having dark-brown fan-shaped terminal spots. Rest of the 

 plumage similar to that of the adult male. 



Hab. Assam, occasionally straying westward as far as Calcutta. 



TURDUS HORTULORUM, Sclater. 



Turdus pelios, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 273 (1850, nee plur. 

 auct.)?. 



Turdus hortulorum, Sclater, Ibis, 1863, p. 196. 



Turdus campbelli, Swinhoe, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1873, xii. p. 374. 



Turdus chrysopleurus, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 444. 



Until a fully adult male has been obtained from Southern Siberia, 

 we can never be absolutely sure to which of the two species Bona- 

 parte's name properly belongs ; but the bird from the Amoor is 

 more likely to be identical with one from China than with one from 

 Assam. According to the new-fashioned system adopted by the 



