MERULA NIGRORUM (Ogilvie Grant). 
NEGROS-ISLAND OUZEL. 
Turdus nigrorum, Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 544; id. & Whitehead, Ibis, 1898, p. 238, 
pl. v. figs. 8, 9. 
М. brunnea : rostro et pedibus flavis: раса crissali albá: tibiis et subcaudalibus nigricanti-brunneis, his anguste 
albido fasciatim terminatis. 
Тнів species has no very close ally. It is a brown-coloured Ouzel and appertains more to the 
American group of the genus Merula, such as М. nigrescens and М. fuscatra, the species which 
it most resembles in the Old World being apparently M. samoensis. 
It is confined to the high mountains of the Island of Negros in the Philippines. Here it was 
discovered by Mr. John Whitehead on the volcano of Canloón, at a height of 6000 feet, and both 
eggs and young birds were obtained by the explorer. At an altitude of 6600 feet on the 
above-mentioned mountain Mr. Whitehead found a nest on the 12th of April, 1896, which contained 
two eggs, much incubated. On the 21st of April he found a second nest with two young birds, 
from which it may be concluded that no more than two eggs are laid by this species. ‘The nest was 
built about twelve feet from the ground in a prickly creeping plant, called ** Pandan " by the Malays 
(cf. Grant & Whitehead, l. c.). Mr. Whitehead (Ibis, 1899, р. 213) says that the species was not 
uncommon on Mt. Canloón at the above elevation. 
The two eggs obtained by Mr. Whitehead have a pale green-coloured ground, over which is 
distributed a close mottling of light cinnamon-rufous, which forms more distinct blotches on one 
egg than on the other. The underlying spots are pale reddish-brown, but are so thickly intermingled 
with the rufous ones that no pronounced difference can be detected. Axis 1:2 inch, diam. 0:8-0:9. 
Adult male. General colour above dark chocolate-brown, the head scarcely darker than the 
back; lesser wing-coverts like the back; median and greater coverts black, as also the quills and 
tail-feathers; sides of face dark brown; throat and under surface of body light chocolate-brown, 
becoming a little more ashy on the breast and abdomen, which have indistinct dusky shaft-lines on 
the feathers; vent white; under tail-coverts blackish-brown, narrowly edged with ashy-white at 
the ends; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark ashy-brown; lower primary-coverts and quills 
below blackish: * bill bright yellow; feet yellow; iris dark brown; orbital skin bright sulphur- 
yellow” (J. Whitehead). Total length 9 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:9, tail 3:5, tarsus 1:35. 
Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 9 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4°75, tail 3:5, 
tarsus 1:4. 
Young. Similar to the adults on the upper surface, but rather browner; under surface of body 
rufous, dusky on the throat, the rufous feathers of the breast and abdomen having blackish bars at 
the ends, producing a spotted appearance; vent white, as in the adults; under tail-coverts with 
mesial streaks and tips of white or buff; thighs and lower flanks dark brown. 
The descriptions and the figures in the Plate are taken from the typical specimens in the 
British Museum. [В. В. 8.) 
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