Plate LXX. 



TURDUS GIGAS. 



(GIGANTIC THEUSH). 



Turdus gigas 



Fraser, P.Z.S. 1840, p. 59. 



Bp. Consp. p. 275. 



Scl. P.Z.S. 1855, p. 144: 1858, pp. 451, 550, et 1859, pp. 136,332 : Cat, A. B. p. 5. 



Eusco-rdgricans ; subtus paulo dilutior, subalaribus concoloribus ; rostro et pedibus flavis ; primario externo 

 elongatiore quam solet : long, tota 13-0, also 6*2, rem. prim. ext. 3*0, caudse 6*0, tarsi 1'7. 

 Hab. in Nova Granada et rep. ^Equator., in regione elevata. 



This Thrush, which is at once distinguishable from every other known species of the 

 genus by its large size, is an inhabitant of the highlands of New Granada and Ecuador. It 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 good songster.' 7 Along with skins of it obtained in this district Mr. Fraser forwarded a nest 

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

 lined with fine hay. The eggs appear 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 Bica. 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 Republic. 

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

 differ from the true Blackbirds (Meruld), 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 Seminierula, 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. 



Decembee, 1868. 



* Cab. Jif. Orn.'1860, p. 325. 



[139] 



