DUSKY THRUSH. 41 



{Tardus Nautnanni of the ^ Fauna Japonica.') Captain Blakiston's 

 specimens of the latter killed in Japan, and of the former obtained 

 at Shangai, with others in Mr. Gould's collection, aided by the excel- 

 lent figures and descriptions given of these two oft-confounded species 

 in the new continuation of Naumann's ^Vogel Deutschlands,' ('Ibis,' 

 1862, p. 40,) have converted our doubts as to the inaccuracy of 

 referring these two birds to one species into a certainty. 



"The adults of these two Thrushes are very different, and recog- 

 nizable at first glance; and if a little care be taken, there is no 

 difficulty in separating the younger birds. 



" In the adult Tardus Naumanni the throat is red, with a few 

 black streaks just apparent; in Tardus fuscatus (see the figure in 

 Gould's 'Birds of Asia,' part iv.) the throat is white. In the young 

 of both species the throat is thickly striated with triangular blackish 

 markings. But it is only necessary to refer to the figures and des- 

 criptions given in the new volume of 'Naumann,^ to convince oneself 

 of the diversity of these two birds." 



There can be no doubt about the propriety of introducing T. 

 piscatus into the avi-fauna of Europe, though it is only a straggler 

 therein. As will have been seen above, it is very common in Japan, 

 ranges through Formosa and China, and is common in the Amoor 

 Land. It is also not uncommon in Siberia, and we are told by 

 Professor Blasius, that in drawing up the account for the new edition 

 of Naumann, he had no less than fourteen examples of various ages 

 and plumages for comparison from various museums in Germany and 

 Hungary, and that the bird often occurs in the Carpathians, and is 

 not unfrequently brought into the market as "game" at Pesth and 

 Vienna, ('Ibis,' vol. iv., p. 320, note.) This looks like beiiig something 

 more than a straggler into Europe. 



Dr. Badde, in his "Reisen im Suden von Ost Siberien," gives a 

 full account of Turdus fuscatus, and as this author assigns his 

 reasons for doubting the existence of T. Naumanni as a separate 

 species, I will quote from him at some length. 



"The similarity of plumage in the young of Tardus fuscatus and 

 T. riificollis, Pallas, has made the distinction between them before they 

 are fully coloured somewhat difficult;- and in my opinion this has 

 been the cause of a third species, Turdus Naumanni, having been 

 founded, though many good ornithologists have decided opinions both 

 ways." 



Dr. Padde had five specimens of T. fuscatus, and eighteen of T. 

 ruficolUs, the result of his collecting, and after again repeating that 

 the youthful plumage of these birds was qtiite identical, he remarks, 



VOL. II. G 



