69 



in winter in Turkestan ; and Dr. Jerdon writes (B. of India, i. p. 528), " It has been found in 

 various parts of the Himalayas, Nepal, and Bootan; but I did not procure it at Darjeeling, 

 and it is probably found more in the interior of the hills." It appears that neither Dr. Radde 

 nor Von Middendorff met with the present species, but mistook adult Turdus naumanni for it ; 

 but it has been obtained in Dauria by Dr. Dybowski, who writes (J. f. O. 1872, p. 437) as 

 follows : — " In the vicinity of Kultuk this Thrush is only found on passage. In the spring it is 

 common, arriving about the middle of May in flocks consisting of from ten to twenty or more 

 individuals. They remain a short time searching after food on the ground, and then pass on. 

 The passage continues for six to ten days ; and as it consorts with other species, they keep up an 

 unusual noise in the birch-groves in the valleys. When disturbed they will fly up and sit for 

 some time in the trees, and then fly off in a northerly direction, uttering their alarm-note. In 

 the summer we observed stragglers in the Tunkinsk Mountains, at an altitude of 3000 feet above 

 the level of Lake Baikal ; and in the autumn we met with small flocks on the mountain-slopes near 

 the Changinsk post, 4000 feet above the lake, where they were feeding on grasshoppers. In the 

 Chamardaban Mountains the young birds were seen with their parents on the skirts of the woods 

 about the end of July. On the autumn passage they remained to about the end of September." 

 Colonel Prjevalsky, who met with it in Northern Mongolia, says(Orn. Misc. ii. p. 197): — "With 

 the exception of Halka and Northern Tibet, this bird was observed by us wherever we went 

 during its migration, and appears to be the most numerous migrant of all the Thrushes. At 

 Tsaidam we observed the first birds on the 14th of February ; but in Kan-su and Muni-ul the 

 principal migration took place in the middle of April. In autumn it was rather common in the 

 Ala-shan Mountains ; and at the same time we observed them in Kan-su, but not so numerous 

 as in spring ; and on the 5th of November we saw the last few specimens south of Koko-nor. I 

 have in my collection about ten specimens of T. ruficollis. They all differ from T. naumanni by 

 their grey flanks and the sharply marked red colour of the throat and breast, which (according 

 to age) varies from light brick-red to chocolate-colour. We did not notice this bird in the 

 Ussuri country." Mr. Swinhoe, who met with it near Pekin, in North China, says (Ibis, 1861, 

 p. 332) that it " resembles somewhat T. naumanni ; but a difference is at once seen in the 

 brownish-red side-feathers of the tail, which are conspicuously displayed when the bird flies. A 

 few arrived about Pekin in October, and frequented the leafless groves, where they would perch 

 on the topmost boughs of the twigs three or four at a time. The note was a kind of chuckling 

 chirp, and differed much from the ordinary sibilant ' sit ' uttered by all the other species found 

 in China. The affinities of this Thrush are certainly with the Fieldfare." 



I find no record of the breeding of this Thrush, nor indeed any details respecting its habits 

 beyond those given above ; and its nest and eggs are, as yet, unknown. 



The specimens figured are the two birds above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, (S ad. Moupin, Thibet, November 10th, 18G9 (Pere David), b, <$ juv. Kultuk, Lake Baikal, April 2nd, 

 1870 (Dr. Dybowski) . 



