4046 The Zoologist— July, 1874. 



fourth edition of Yarrell, under the name of Turdus varius of Pallas, 

 with which it is now supposed to be identical. It was described by 

 the last-named illustrious naturalist, in 1811, at p. 449 of the first 

 volume of his ' Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica.' To these I have now 

 added an original figure from a photograph of the latest obtained 

 specimen, kindly given me by Mr. Rodd, of Penzance. 



Turdus varius is described and figured, in his * Zoological 

 Researches in Java,' by Dr. Horsfield, who says, " It inhabits the 

 thick forests which cover the mountain Prahu, and, as far as my 

 observations extend, it never leaves a region between six and seven 

 thousand feet above thelevel of the ocean. On this circumscribed 

 region it is extremely abundant. Its food consists of insects and 

 worms. It is easily surprised by the natives. During ray last visit 

 to the mountain 1 obtained, in the course of a few days, a great 

 number of individuals. 1 never found it in any other part of 

 Java." 



Mr. Swinhoe says that at Amoy, in China, where it is an extremely 

 rare visitant, it only appears in spring, when the banyan berries are 

 ripe ; but he also found it in Formosa ; and Mr. Gould has received 

 an example from Manilla. 



It is again described by Macgillivray, at p. 146 of the second 

 volume of his 'History of British Birds,' published in 1839. He 

 gives it the new and not inappropriate name of " variegated thrush." 

 Mr. Macgillivray adds the following note from Mr. Yarrell, which 

 I have read with much interest: — "That gentleman [Mr. Yarrell] 

 has been so kind as to inform me, in answer to my inquiry, that 

 'from the differences found on a comparison of Lord Malmesbury's 

 specimen with those from Java in the collection of the East India 

 Company (he is) induced to consider Turdus varius of Dr. Horsfield 

 as distinct from White's thrush. Two or three specimens,' he adds, 

 have turned up lately which are also considered distinct.'" 



It is described by Mr. Gould in the second volume of his 'Birds 

 of Europe,' with a figure on plate 81, which Temminck pronounces, 

 at p. 602 of the fourth volume of his ' Manuel d'Ornithologie,' 

 " figure parfaite," calling the bird "Merle varie ou de Withe" and 

 " Turdus varius sen Withei." Again, in his last work, the ' Birds of 

 Britain,' Mr. Gould describes it as Oreocincla aurea of Holandre. 



Supposing, however, for the sake of convenience, all the speci- 

 mens to belong to a single and singularly vagrant species, whose 

 migrations, if any, are unknown, whose habits are obscure, and 



