MERULA ALBICINCTA (Royle). 
WHITE-COLLARED OUZEL. 
Turdus albocinctus, Royle, Ill. Himal. Bot. p. 1ххуй (1839). 
Turdus albicollis (nec Vieill.), Royle, t. c. р. Ixxvii, pl. viii. fig. 3 (1839). 
Turdus collaris, Soret, Rev. Zool. 1840, BZ 
Merula mivicollis, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Brit. Mus., Passeres, pl. clv. nos. 182, 183; id. in 
Gray's Zool. Misc. р. 83 (1844). 
Merula albocincta, Blyth, 7. A. 8. Beng. xvi. p. 148 (1847); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. 
p. 245 (1881). 
Turdus albicinctus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 274 (1850). 
Merula albicincta, Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 127 (1890). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: noteeo nigro, torque collari et interscapulio summo albis : gutture et colli lateribus 
albis: gastrzo reliquo nigro. 
Тніѕ very distinct species of Ouzel is found throughout the Himalayas from Kashmir to Cachar and 
Manipur. | 
It is not mentioned іп Colonel Unwin's list of the Birds of Kashmir, but there is an adult male 
specimen from that country in the Hume Collection. Colonel Biddulph and Captain Stackhouse 
Pinwill have procured specimens near Simla, and the Hume Collection contains examples from the 
interior of the N.W. Himalayas, from Kotegurh in March, Kotekhaie in February, and Bussahir in 
November. 
In the Hume Collection is a specimen from the hills north of Masuri, and in the Lucknow 
Museum is also one from the same district, as also from Kota in Kumaon (cf. Reid, Cat. Birds 
Lucknow Mus. р. 114, 1890). General G. Е. L. Marshall has found this Ouzel nesting near Naini 
Tal, on the top of Mt. Cheena, 8000 feet above the sea (Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. ii. p. 92). 
А series of adult and young birds are in the Hodgson Collection from Nepal, showing that it 
breeds within the province; but Dr. Scully only found the species about the Nepal Valley in winter, 
and even then at high elevations on the hills, never lower than 7000 feet (Str. F. viii. p. 285, 1879). 
The late Mr. L. Mandelli obtained specimens in Sikhim, in February and April, and in the Seebohm 
Collection is one from Darjiling, obtained in June. In Native Sikhim Mr. Mandelli's collectors met 
with the species in February, March, and April, and young birds were procured in August. 
Mr. Blanford got specimens on the Chola Range in Sikhim at heights from 11,000 to 13,000 feet, 
and also at Lachung in Upper Sikhim (J. A. S. Beng. xli. pt. 2, p. 49, 1872). 
It has not as yet been obtained in Bhutan or in Assam, but Mr. Stuart Baker says that 
he noticed one of these Ouzels in N. Cachar. Не writes: —* I have only once seen this bird, on a 
tiny stream running below the village of Ningle, about 3800 feet altitude. I did not shoot it, but 
it was very distinctly visible as it sat on a small sapling, and I do not think I could have made a 
mistake in my identification ” (J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. іх. p. 136, 1894). Mr. Hume did not meet 
with it in Manipur, but a couple of specimens, now in the British Museum, were obtained by 
Colonel Godwin-Austen at Remba in that State (J. A. S. Beng. xlv. p. 196, 1876). 
