MERULA XANTHOSCELES (Jard.). 
TOBAGO BLACK OUZEL. 
· Turdus xanthosceles, Jardine, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xx. p. 329 (1847); id. Contr. Orn. i. 
p. 14, pl. i. (1848). 
Turdus serranus, pt. (nec Tschudi), Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 2 (1878). 
Merula xanthosceles, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 240 (1881). 
Turdus leucops (nec Tacz.), Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 199. 
М. rostro et pedibus flavis: remige secundo fer’ octavum «equante: maris ptilosi coraciná, fæminæ brunnescente : 
subcaudalibus brunneis, fulvo marginatis, rhachidibus quoque fulvis. 
Tug male of the present species closely resembles that of M. infuscata, and has the same small 
bill and rounded wing, with the second primary intermediate between the fifth and seventh. Тһе 
female, however, is decidedly more olive in colour than the hen of M. infuscata, especially on the 
rump and upper tail-coverts. 
This Ouzel was described originally by Jardine from the island of Tobago, whence it was sent 
by Mr. Kirk in 1847. According to the latter gentleman, this Ouzel is а“ remarkably shy bird, and 
has a rich mellow note from April to July ” (Jardine, 2. c.). 
I can find no reliable difference between the Tobago birds and those from British Guiana, 
which Mr. Salvin identified as 7. leucops of Taczanowski (Ibis, 1885, p. 199). Не did not, however, 
fail to detect certain variations in the Guiana birds, for he writes :—“ I notice that the bill of the 
males is rather smaller, and that the under tail-coverts of the female have much less white." Whitely 
met with the species in British Guiana on Roraima and on the Merumé Mountains, and young 
males assuming the adult dress were procured on the 11th of June, 1881. 
Adult male. Entirely black above and below, with a blue-black gloss; bill and feet yellow. 
Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 4-6, tail 3-1, tarsus 0:95. 
Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above olive-brown, becoming clearer 
olive towards the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back, the bastard-wing, primary- 
coverts, and quills sepia-brown, externally olive-brown, a little more ruddy on the outer edge of the 
primaries ; tail olive-brown with a slight ruddy tinge ; crown of head and sides of face like the back, 
but slightly duller; under surface of body fulvescent brown, the abdomen ashy grey; throat dingy 
brown, with a few spots of blackish-brown ; under tail-feathers light brown, with a shaft-streak of 
buffy-white and a distinct terminal edging of sandy-buff, before which is a slight sub-terminal shade 
of dusky; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale tawny-buff; quills dusky below, ashy fulvous on the 
inner webs of the primaries. Тоба! length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:45, tail 2:9, tarsus 1:0. 
The female birds from British Guiana have the same pale-edged under tail-coverts, but they are 
somewhat darker in tint than those from Tobago, and in one individual from Roraima the throat is 
very distinctly streaked with rows of triangular blackish spots. 
The descriptions of the male and female are taken from the typical specimens now in the 
Seebohm Collection. The male bears the following label іп Jardine's handwriting—* Туре for 
figure and description in Contrib. for 1848," and was purchased by Seebohm at the Jardine sale. 
[R. B. S.] 
