MERULA NIGROPILEUS (Zafr.). 
BLACK-CAPPED OUZEL. 
Turdus (Merula) nigropileus, Lafr. in Deless. Voy. Inde, pt. ii. p. 27 (1843). 
Merula nigropileus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 162 (1849); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 
v. p. 250 (1881); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 126 (1890). 
Turdus nigropileus, Jerd. В. Ind. i, p. 523 (1862). 
M. suprà schistacea; subtüs quoque schistacea : rostro et pedibus flavis: pileo nigro: collo postico et interscapulio 
lilacino-brunneis. 
Tnx Black-capped Ouzel is an inhabitant of the western and central portions of the Indian Peninsula, 
ranging north to Mount Abu. Jerdon writes (B. Ind. i. p. 524):— This Blackbird is found, 
occasionally, throughout the greater part of the south of India, in the plains during the cold weather 
only; but it is a permanent resident on the hilly regions of the south, at a moderate elevation. 
It is found in Coorg, the Wynaad, and other parts of the Western Ghats, and in some of the 
higher table-lands in Central India, as іп Bustar and Jalna. I have killed it in my own garden, 
at Nellore іп the Carnatic, at Tellicherry, and other places at low elevation. І never saw it on the 
Nilghiris." 
The Rev. S. В. Fairbank has sent a number of specimens to Mr. Hume from Mahabaleshwur, 
procured from February to May (spec. in Mus. Brit.) Не says that it has become abundant in the 
neighbourhood, and it is found all along the top of the Sahyadri Hills (Str. F. iv. p. 257, 1876). 
Colonel A. E. Butler writes :—“ It is a permanent resident and common all along the Sahyadri 
Range and in the adjacent forests as far north as Khandala, being most abundant in the rains. 
It belongs almost exclusively to the Ghat Region, but I have shot stragglers in Belgaum on two 
occasions" (Str. F. ix. p. 399, 1881). In South Konkan, Mr. G. Vidal says that this Ouzel is 
common everywhere in groves and gardens, both on the coast and inland (Str. F. ix. p. 63, 1880). 
In his paper on the Birds of North Kanara, Mr. J. Davidson says that the present species is * found 
sparingly in the cold weather along the coast, and is noticed occasionally here and there above 
the Ghats at that season. About Halyal and Mundgode it is fairly common in March and April." 
He never found the nest is Kanara, but is pretty certain that it must occasionally breed in the 
northern portion of the district (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xi. p. 670, 1898). Mr. C. J. W. 
Taylor says that it is a common species in the Manzeerabad district of Mysore, and he has 
found eggs on the 25th of May (Str. F. x. p. 459). 
Specimens from Matheran, obtained in January and February by Colonel Hayes Lloyd, are in 
the British Museum. Тһе Tweeddale Collection contains others from Khandeish. 
Mr. Hume states that in the Central Provinces the species has been found at Raipur and 
Sambulpur (Str. F. vii. p. 213, 1878). Specimens from Raipur procured in January, from Sambulpur 
(December), and from Panchmari (June) are in the Hume Collection in the British Museum. 
The Hume Collection likewise contains a series of birds from Mount Abu in Rajputana, obtained 
in May, June, July, and September, by Dr. б. King and Colonel E. A. Butler. Тһе latter writes :— 
ж 
A oros 
Sunt aad) TYREE 
Pi 
a NTE - 
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