Plate LXX. 



TURDUS GIGAS. 



(GIGANTIC THEIJSH). 



Turdus gigas . ... Fraser, P.Z.S. 1S40, p. 59. 

 ,j ,, ... Bp. Consp. p. 275. 



... Scl. P.Z.S. 1S53, p. 14i : 1858, pp. 451, 550, et 1859, pp. 136, 332 : Cai A. B. p. 5. 



Fusco-uigricaus ; siibtus paulo dilutior, subalaribus coucoloribus ; rostro et pedibua flavis ; primario eiterno 

 elongatiore quam solet : long, tota 13'0, alae 6'2, rem. prim. est. 30, caudse 60, tarsi 1'7. 

 Ilab. in Xova Grauada et rep. ^Fquator., in regione elevata. 



This Tlirusli, -wlueli is at once disting-uisliable from every otlier known species of the 

 oenus bv its laro-e size, is an inhabitant of the hio-hlands of New Granada and Ecuador. It 

 was first described by Mr. Fraser in 1840 fi-om skins in the collection of the late Lord Derby 

 received from Bogota and probably collected in the immediate viciiiity of that capital, which is 

 situated at an elevation of nearly 9000 feet above the sea-level. To the same Natm-alist we are 

 also indebted for the little that is known concerning the habits and mode of life of this species. 

 Dm-ing his expedition to Ecuador in 1857 and the following years Mr. Fraser met with it in 

 several localities, namely, Cuenca, Titiacuri, Matos, and Pallatanga. At Titiacun and Matos 

 on the plateau of Eiobamba Mr. Fraser found this Thrush common, and noted it as " rather a 

 good songs tei\" Along with skins of it obtained in this district Mr. Fraser forwarded a nest 

 with two eo-gs, which are now in the British Museum. The nest is made of stalks and grass, 

 lined with fine hay. The eggs appeal" rather small for the bird measuring 1'3 by 1"0 inch. 

 They are of the usual character of Turdus as regards colour, being of a bluish green minutely 

 freckled with pale red. 



Turdus gigas belongs to a small group of Thrushes which are found in different parts of 

 the chain of the Andes. The most northern of these is Turdus nigrescens * of the highlands of 

 Costa Plica. Others are T. chiguanco of Western Peru and Ecuador, and Turdus fuscater of 

 the Andes of Bolivia, which also occurs in the vicinity of Mendoza in the Argentine Eepublic. 

 In all these species, Ave believe, the sexes are coloured exactly alike, in which respect they 

 differ from the true Blackbirds [Morula)^ which are also found in South America. In his 

 synopsis of the genus Turdus^ published in 1859, Sclater proposed as a subgeneric title for 

 this group the term Semimerula^ which Professor Baird subsequently advanced to the rank 

 of a genus, but, as it appears to us, on insufficient grounds. 



Our figure of this Thrush is taken from a "Bogota" skin in Sclater's collection. It is repre- 

 sented three quarters of the size of life. 



* Cab. J. f. Om. 1860, p. 325. 

 Decembee, 1868. 



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