MERULA ATROSERICEA (Гаў). 
VENEZUELAN BLACK OUZEL. 
Merula atrosericea, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 3; Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 239 
(1881). 
Turdus atrosericeus, Sclater, Р. 7. 8. 1859, p. 136. 
Turdus a«nthosceles (nec Jard.), Léot. Ois. Trinidad, p. 201 (1866). 
Turdus serranus (nec Tschudi), Scl. € Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 780. 
Semimerula atrosericea, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 475 (1883). 
M. similis precedenti : maris ptilosi omnino nigrá, fæminæ tamen brunneá : pectore et abdomine claré cineraceis : 
primario primo ferê octavum sequante. 
I CANNOT perceive any tangible difference between the male of this species and that of M. serrana, 
but the female is easily distinguished by its grey breast and abdomen and the different colour of the 
under tail-coverts. 
The species was described by Lafresnaye from specimens sent to him from Caracas in Venezuela, 
and Mr. Goering has also met with the species at Merida in the same country (Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 
1870, p. 780). It is also doubtless this Ouzel which has been mentioned by Léotaud under the name 
of Turdus vanthosceles, Jard., from Trinidad. In the latter island Léotaud believed the species to be 
a migrant from Tobago, whence it visited Trinidad at different times and in small numbers. It is 
found in company with Merula flavipes, which it resembles in habits. 
Adult male. Black all over and apparently not to be distinguished from the male of M. serrana. 
Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 1:05, wing 4:8, tail 8:7, tarsus 1-4. 
Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above light olive-brown ; wings and 
tail russet-brown, the outer aspect of the primaries paler; sides of face dusky brown, the lores ashy, 
and the cheeks slightly mottled with dusky lines; chin ashy; lower throat, fore-neck, and chest 
light olive-brown, with a few slightly indicated dusky spots on the throat; breast and abdomen 
ashy-grey; sides of body light ochreous-brown ; under tail-coverts brown, washed with grey, with 
narrow whitish shaft-lines; axillaries olive-brown like the chest; under wing-coverts lighter and 
more golden brown; quill-lining grey. Total length 9-5 inches, culmen 1:05, wing 4:55, tail 3:6, 
tarsus 1:3. 
A young male from Merida in the Salvin-Godman Collection differs from the female described 
in being darker and in having pale buff longitudinal centres to the wing-coverts and the feathers of 
the throat and chest; the ear-coverts have also buff shaft-lines. 
The descriptions have been taken from a pair of Venezuelan birds in the Sclater Collection. 
[R. B. 81 
