MERULA, ' / ' ^ j . , i ^ J J , ^ , J -; / i -^ j i ^ 



Merula poliocephala ( Lath.). 

 (Plate V. fig. 19.) 



Merula poliocephala, Gould, Handb. Birds Austr. ii. p. 528J (1865) ; 

 Seebohm, Cat. Birds B. M. v. p. 258 (1881) ; North, Nests $ Eggs 

 Austr. Birds, p. 411 (1889) ; Nehrk. Kat. Eiersamml. p. 38 (1899) ; 

 Sharpe in Seebohm' s Mon. Turdidce, ii. p. 91 (1900) ; id. Hand-l. iv. 

 p. 119 (1903). 



There is not much variety among the eggs of the Norfolk-Island 

 Ouzel in the Collection. They are of a creamy white, in some 

 instances tinged with pink, somewhat sparingly mottled, blotched 

 and spotted over the whole surface with pale rufous and lavender. 

 In form they are regular, or slightly elongated, ovals. They measure 

 from 1-07 to 1-21 by from -80 to -85. 



1. Norfolk Island. Gould Coll. 



1. Norfolk Island, 9th Oct. Seebohm Coll. 



4. Norfolk Island, Oct. Dr. W . M. Crowfoot [P.]. 



1. Norfolk Island (E. L. Layard: Crowley Bequest. 

 Tristram Coll.}. 



1 . Norfolk Island. 9th Nov. ( Tristram Crowley Bequest. 



Coll.}. 



2. Norfolk Island. Nov. (Crowfoot Crowley Bequest. 



Coll.). 



Merula celsenops, Stejneger. 



Turdus celsenops, Stejn. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 484. 



Merula celaenops, Seebohm, Birds Japan. Emp. p. 50 (1890) ; Sharpe in 



Seebohm's Mon. Turdidce, ii. p. 165 (1902) ; id. Hand-l iv. p. 121 



(1903). 



Of the eight eggs of the Seven-Islands Ouzel in the Collection, one 

 pair are strikingly different in ground-tint from the rest. The 

 majority are cream-coloured, but these two are bright greenish blue, 

 having a few lilac under-markings towards the larger end, and being 

 somewhat sparingly but boldly and handsomely blotched with 

 brownish red, chiefly in the form of an irregular cap. 



The cream-coloured eggs are for the most part more thickly, 

 though quite as boldly, blotched with a brighter chestnut-red, the 

 markings being, if anything, a trifle larger and more numerous at 

 the broad end ; but one pair, from the Radcliffe-Saunders Collection, 

 have smaller markings and a more freckled appearance than the 

 others. The variations in size are from 1-15 to 1*21 in length, and 

 from -79 to '90 in breadth. 



4. Hachijo Island, Japan, 10th May Crowley Bequest. 



(Owstori). 

 2. Hachijo Island, 12th April. W. Radcliffe Saimders, Esq. 



2. Hachijo Island, 6th May. W. Radcliffe Saunders, Esq. 



[P.]. 



