MERULA INFUSCATA, Гај. 
CENTRAL-AMERICAN BLACK OUZEL. 
Merula infuscata, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 41. 
Turdus infuscatus, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 219 (1847); Salvin & Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, 
i. p. 24 (1879). 
Merula infuscatra, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 240 (1881). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: culmine breviore, 0:8 poll.: primario secundo quintum vix excedente: maris ptilosi 
omninó nigra, foemine tamen brunneá. 
Tue shorter bill and the different proportion of the primary-quills distinguish M. infuscata and its 
allies from the longer-billed members of the section, M. serrana and M. atrosericea. 
The present species ranges from Mexico to Guatemala, but it seems to be by no means a 
common bird in collections. 1% was first described by Lafresnaye from a Mexican specimen. 
De Oca met with it at Jalapa (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 334), and Mr. Boucard at Oaxaca (Sclater, 
1. с. p. 870). The latter traveller has also procured examples at Totontepec in January, and others 
are in the Salvin-Godman Collection, obtained by M. Trujillo at El Patio and Cofre de Perote in 
June and July. The late Professor Sumichrast states that it is found in the temperate and alpine 
regions of Vera Cruz. He writes:—“ The lower portions of the alpine, and the upper and wooded 
part of the temperate region are the favourite resorts of this Thrush. It is quite common in these 
localities at the foot of the mountains, at an elevation ranging from 1250 to 2500 metres (4200 to 
8200 feet above the sea)” (cf. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 543). 
The Guatemalan specimens in the Salvin-Godman Collection are from the highlands of Vera Paz 
and from the Sierra de las Minas, where Mr. W. B. Richardson met with the species in July 1897. 
In the * Biologia Centrali-Americana” Messrs. Salvin and Godman give the following note:— 
“ In Guatemala it is by no means a common bird ; but we met with it more frequently at Coban, in 
Vera Paz, than elsewhere. Hereit was usually found in the patches of older forest which clothe 
the summits of the curious conical hills which so abound іп this district. А young specimen in 
our collection most probably came from near Coban, proving that it is a resident species, as we also 
observed it in November and January, a season at which the bird would not be breeding. Our 
specimens were all obtained near Coban; for, although we observed this Thrush in the forest of 
the mountain-ridge above San Gerónimo and at Quezaltenango, near enough to recognize it with 
certainty, no birds were obtained. Its note much resembles that of T. merula.” (Biol. Centr.-Amer., 
Aves, i. p. 24.) 
Adult male. Dull sooty black above and below, without any gloss of greenish or blue-black; 
wings and tail black, as well as the under wing-coverts and axillaries; quill-lining ashy, a little 
browner on the secondaries. Тоба! length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:9, tail 3:6, tarsus 1:15. 
Adult female. General colour above russet-brown, with a slight wash of olive; wing-coverts, 
quills, and tail-feathers sepia-brown, externally russet-brown; crown of head like the back; lores 
dusky, with a supra-loral streak of buff to above the fore part of the eye ; ear-coverts dark brown, 
with sandy-buff shaft-lines; under surface of body light ruddy brown, somewhat duller and more 
H2 
