﻿358 MEARNS. 



Characters. — Largest of the Philippine species of Merula. Breast and under 

 side of neck, light drab-gray, a darker shade of this color extending to the throat 

 and chin, and forming an indistinct collar around the hind neck: middle of 

 abdomen and crissum. nearly white, mantle, back, rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 light sooty-brown; wings and tail dark, sooty-brown. 



Adult male. — Upper side of head, mantle, back, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 light sooty-brown; flanks slightly paler and browner; wings and tail dark sooty- 

 brown, more fuliginous on under surface; chest and under side of neck, light 

 drab-gray, a darker shade of this color encircling the neck and extending to the 

 chin and throat, where the feathers have dark shaft-streaks; sides of head pale 

 sooty-brown; feathers of the median area, from chest to crissum, with broad, white 

 edges and a dark central area inclosing a sagitiate white spot, giving a spotted 

 appearance to the middle of the under surface of the body ; crissum with this 

 light area expanded and practically all white; under tail-coverts sooty-brown, 

 longitudinally striped with white or pale buff. 



Adult female. — Similar to the male, but slightly smaller, and dingier in color, 

 with a slight rufescence on sides of lower breast and flanks. 



Immature male (No. 14625, Mearns collection). — Sides of lower chest and 

 flanks more strongly washed with raw umber than in adult females ; chest and 

 throat darker. 



First plumage (male, No. 14266, Mearns collection). — Upper surface, dusky, 

 washed with raw umber, especially on the head, neck, upper back, and wing- 

 coverts ; scapulars with pale rusty shaft-streaks, and some of the lesser wing- 

 coverts edged with the same ; under surface, sepia-brown strongly mixed with 

 reddish-brown, and spotted with brownish-black, the rufescence covering the 

 middle of the throat and much of the chest, the blackish cordate spots being 

 confined to the tips and the rusty bands crossing the middle of the feathers; 

 whitish median stripe distinct, but with pale rufescent edging to the feathers 

 except on lower abdomen ; under tail-coverts, sepia-brown with rusty edging and 

 broad, white, median stripes. 



In other specimens, taken at the same season, the molt was nearly finished, 

 leaving a few feathers with rusty bands and black spots, and with a stronger 

 rusty washing to the flanks than in adults. 



Material. — Fourteen skins from the type locality. 



Merula mayonensis, sp. nov. 



Mount Mayon blackbird. 



Type. — No. 15272, collection of Edgar A. Mearns. Adult male from Mount 

 Mayon at 4,000 feet, Albay Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, June 5, 1907. 



Characters. — Pattern of coloration similar to that of Merula thomassoni Grant, 

 but darker, with less contrast between the coloration of the head and that of 

 the body. Smaller, with relatively stouter bill ; prsenal feathers not tipped with 

 white. 



Description of type (adult male). — Upper surfaces, except head and neck, all 

 black; under surface of body black, perceptibly washed with brown on feather 

 edges ; head and neck, very dark brown, almost black on crown ; entire under 

 surface of wings and tail, dull black; under tail-coverts, black, with narrow 

 median white stripes, involving the shafts. Iris, very dark brown ; eyelids, bill, 

 feet, and claws, all yellow. Female exactly like the male. A yunger male than 

 the type differs only in having the feathers of the under side of the body edged 

 with yellowish brown. 



Measurements. — Type ( skin of adult male) : Length, 215; wing, 120; tail, 101; 

 culmen (chord, measured from true base), 22; bill from anterior margin of 

 nostril, 13 j tarsus, 34; middle toe with its claw, 32.5. 



