MYIOTHERIN^. 509 



affinity for Anthocincla, Blyth, a remarkable new bird from Bur- 

 mall, has decided me to place it at the end of this family.* 



350. Zoothera monticola, Vigors. 



Gould, Cent. H. B., pi. 22— Blyth, Cat. 928— Horsf., Cat. 

 263 — Turdus rostratus, Hodgson. 



The Large Brown Thrush. 



Descr.—Ahove, dark olive-brown, tinged with dusky-cinerous> 

 browner on the wings, and the feathers faintly edged darker ; be- 

 neath, chin and throat white ; sides of the neck olive-brown, with 

 dark centres to the feathers, tending to become white, with dark 

 spots, on the centre of the breast ; middle of the abdomen, vent and 

 under tail-coverts, white, with olive-brown specks; flanks and thigh- 

 coverts tinged with pale-ashy. 



Bill horny-brown ; legs pale brown, irides dark brown. Length 

 varies from 10 to 12 inches ; wing from 5^ to 6 ; tail 3 to 3:|^ ; bill 

 at front 1:| to 1^ ; tarsus 1|^ to 1^. 



This remarkable bird is found all through the Himalayan range, 

 from Mussooree to Darjeeling, but nothing is known of its manners. 

 The bill occasionally becomes unusually long, as in a specimen in 

 the Asiatic Society's Museum. The coloring reminds the naturalist 

 of many of the true Ant-Thrushes of S. America. 



Blyth has described another species, Z. marginata, from the Khasia 

 hills and Arracan ; and Layard another from Ceylon, Z. imbricata. 

 Myiothera andromeda, Temm., from Java and Sumatra, appears, 

 from the figure, in PL Col. 392, to be rightly placed as a Zoothera 

 by Hartlaub and Bonaparte. 



The remainder of the family of short winged Thrushes consists 

 chiefly of the so-called Ant-Thrushes of S. America, Formicariiis, 

 Formicivora, Grallaria, Myiothera, &c., of authors. They are 

 mostly small birds of brown and spotted plumage, as are the Wrens 

 and allied birds, such as Merulaxis, Scytalopus, Thriothorus, &c., 

 which also enter this family. Gray includes among his Formicarin(E, 

 several Malayan genera, which are more generally assigned to 

 the Timaline group, such as Malacopteron, Alcippe, Trichastoma, 



* Since the above was in type, I have obtained the egg of Zoothera marginata, 

 like that of I'itta, white, with a few rusty brown spots. 



