TURDUS WAEDI. 



(WARD'S PIED BLACKBIRD. 



Twrdus wdrdii, Jerdon, J. A. S. B. 1842, xi. p. 882 ; id. 111. Ind. Ora. pi. 8 (1847) ; G. R. 



Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 219 (1845) ; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 237. 

 Merula wardii, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, p. 146 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 163 (1849); 



Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat, p. 122 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. 



p. 270 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 402 (1854). 

 Turdulus wardii, Jerdon, B. of lnd. i. p. 520 (1862) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 445. 

 Cichloselys wardii, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 231 (1873). 



Oreocincla pectoralis, Legge, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 244 (young male); Hume, ibid. 1877, p. 202. 

 Ward's Thrush, Kelaart ; Pied Blackbird in India. 



Adult male and female. Length 8-0 to 9 - inches ; wing 43 to 4-8 ; tail 2-9 to 3-3 ; tarsus 095 to LI ; mid toe and 

 claw L0 to 1*1 ; bill to gape LI to L15. 



Male. Iris brown ; bill yellow, dusky at base of culmen ; legs and feet amber-yellow ; claws yellow. 



Whole head, neck, chest, upper surface, wings, and tail black ; a broad supercilium from the bill to the nape, terminal 

 portion of wing-coverts (forming a patch on the lesser row), tips of all but the outer quills aud their inner edges 

 at the base, a portion of the outer margins of the longer primaries, tips of the rump, and upper tail-covert 

 feathers, together with the under parts from the chest downwards, white ; two outer pairs of rectrices wholly white, 

 except a portion of the outer webs : remaining rectrices successively less white towards the centre, the colour 

 chiefly confined to the inner webs ; flank- and thigh-coverts black, with deep white tips. 



Female. Iris as in the male ; bill brown, pale at the base ; legs aud feet brownish yellow. 



Head, upper surface, wings, and tail olive-brown ; lores dark brown, a fulvous streak from the nostril over the eye ; 

 wing-coverts with a large terminal fulvous spot ; primaries with a pale edge, most conspicuous on the three long 

 outer ones ; basal portion of both primaries and secondaries buff- white ; upper tail-coverts tipped with whitish ; 

 two outer tail-feathers with a terminal white patch running up the centre ; throat and fore neck buff- white, the 

 feathers with a dark brown terminal band, and the concealed portion with lateral indentations of the same ; centre 

 of the throat unmarked ; breast, lower parts, and flanks white, with terminal bars of blackish brown, except on 

 the centre of the breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts ; lower flanks well covered with brown, owing to the 

 depth of the dark tips ; under wing-coverts white, crossed with a brown bar. 



Young. The male of the year is coloured similarly to the female, but the upper surface is of a darker or richer brown, 

 the ear-coverts are darker, the secondaries and tertials are more or less tipped with buff-white, and the tippiugs 

 of the upper tail-coverts whiter than in the female ; tail tipped similarly to the female ; supercilium similar ; centre 

 of the throat and lower part of the face buff, the latter with the feathers tipped brown ; sides of the gorge 

 blackish brown, and the feathers of the chest olive at the tips and sides, within which is a blackish rim enclosing 

 an oblong patch of white ; the olive coloration imparts the appearance of a band across the chest ; breast and lower 

 parts purer white than in the female, with deep terminal blackish bands, except down the centre ; under tail- 

 coverts edged laterally with dark brown. This plumage is probably doffed at the second autumu moult, and the 

 pied dress forthwith assumed. 



Ohs. The above is a description of the plumage in wLich I described the young male of this species as Oreocincla 

 pectoralis. Not being acquainted with the young male at the time, and finding that the specimens I acquired from 

 Mr. Thwaites differed from the female (an example of which in my collection had been shot by Mr. Forbes Laurie) 

 in the olive pectoral band, I was erroneously led to consider it new. Mr. Hume remarks (Str. Feath. 1877) that 

 this Thrush is such a common and well-known species, that it could not well be described as new. This is, however, 

 not the case as regards collections in England, in which young males and females are very rare ; there is no specimen 

 of either in the British Museum ; and the late Lord Tweeddale was the only naturalist in whose collection I have 



