MERULA GIGAS, Fraser. 
GIANT OUZEL. 
Turdus gigas, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 59. 
Semimerula gigas, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 332. 
Merulissima gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 232 (1881). 
Merula gigas, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 244 (1881). 
М. maxima: ай 5'9-6:5 poll. : rostro et pedibus flavis: suprà schistacea, corpore subtüs pallidiore schistaceo : 
caudá nigricante. 
Тнів large Ouzel appears to range from Venezuela to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. 
Mr. Goering has sent two specimens from the neighbourhood of Merida (Sclater «с Salvin, P. 7. 5. 
1875, p. 234); and although these specimens are not quite adult, 1 cannot find any tangible difference 
between them and others from Bogotá, and they are certainly not M. cacozela from the Sierra Nevada 
of Santa Marta. 
The Giant Ouzel was first described by Fraser from a Bogotá specimen, and examples from this 
locality are not at all uncommon in collections. Mr. T. H. Wheeler has forwarded specimens from 
the environs of Bogotá, procured at a height of from 8500 to 9500 feet. Mr. Т. К. Salmon obtained 
several examples near Santa Elena in Antioquia, and also at Retiro іп the same State at an elevation 
of 7000 feet. Count von Berlepsch records the species from Bucaramanga, where it was obtained 
by Herr Minlos (Berl. J. f. O. 1884, p. 279). In Ecuador the species has been found in a number 
of places, at Cuenca by Fraser (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 451), and the same collector also obtained 
it at Titiacun and Matos on the Plateau of Riobamba (Sclater, £. c. p. 550). In the Salvin-Godman 
Collection are specimens from the vicinity of Pasto (Lehmann), Sical (C. Buckley), and Monji 
(C. Buckley) ; while Stolzmann met with the species at Вайов at 6200 feet (Tacz. & Berl. P. Z. S. 
1885, p. 70). Mr. W. F. H. Rosenberg found it near Cayambe, in North-west Ecuador, between 
9000 and 10,000 feet (Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 479, 1898). 
An example from Ninabamba, in Peru, obtained by Stolzmann, and now in the Sclater Collection, 
seems to me to be the true М. gigas and not M. gigantodes. 1618 slightly more ashy-grey below than 
Ecuadorian specimens, and the dusky streaks on the throat are obsolete. "Wing 6:25 inches, culmen 
11, tarsus 177. 
Two specimens are in the Salvin-Godman Collection from Bolivia, where they were obtained at 
Sorata by the late Clarence Buckley. These birds are a little darker than Colombian examples, 
and have the throat more dusky, but I do not see that they can be separated specifically from true 
М. gigas, and the darker coloration may be due to their being in winter plumage. Dr. Rusby 
obtained a specimen in the Province of Yungas (Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. ii. p. 78, 1892). 
Mr. Fraser procured the nest and eggs of this species at Riobamba in June, and Dr. Sclater 
describes them as follows :—“ The nest is made of stalks and grass, lined with fine hay. Тһе eggs 
appear rather small for the bird, measuring 1'3 by 1 inch. They are of the usual character of 
Turdus as regards colour, being of a bluish-green minutely freckled with pale red." 
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