MERULA BOURDILLONI, Seebohm. 
BOURDILLON’S OUZEL. 
Merula kinnisi (nec Blyth), Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 35 (1878). 
Merula bourdilloni, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. р. 251, pl. ху. (1881); Oates, Faun. 
Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 125 (1890). 
М. nigricanti-schistacea: pileo dorso concolore : rostro et pedibus flavis: similis M. kinnisi, sed major et omnino 
nigricantior. 
BoURDILLON’S OUZEL was found by the gentleman after whom the species is named in the mountains 
of Travancore. Тһе type specimen in the British Museum was procured by Mr. Bourdillon at 
Calathoorpolay Patnas, on the 17th of April, 1880; and in the Hume Collection is another from 
Mynall in Travancore, shot on the 29th of March, 1877. Mr. Harold Ferguson has also sent a 
series procured at 7000 feet on the high ridge of mountains in that province. Mr. Bourdillon 
states that it is “not uncommon in the dense scrub-jungle at the extreme summits of the hills, but 
it never, he thinks, descends below 3000 feet elevation" (Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 35, 1878). 
Major Horace Terry procured specimens of M. bourdilloni from Kodikanal and Kukal in the 
Palani Hills, and these examples are now in the Hume Collection, which also contains specimens of 
the true M. simillima sent from the Palanis by Major Terry (vide supra). Не writes:—* I shot a 
female at Kukal from the nest, on May 18th. Length 9 inches ; expanse 12 inches; tail 3:5 inches. 
The nest, which was placed in a fork of a tree about 15 feet from the ground, was just like that of 
M. simillima, the body of mud lined with fine grass and outside with some coarse grass and roots wound 
round it, covered all over with green moss, a strongly built, rather shallow cup, 3:5 inches across 
and 2 inches deep inside, 5 inches across and 4 inches deep outside. It contained one very slightly 
incubated egg, just like that of M. simillima. Оп the 3rd of June I obtained another nest with the 
male bird at Kodikanal with two fresh eggs.” 
Adult male. Similar to M. simillima, but much blacker; the head black, but scarcely 
distinguishable from the back; under surface darker than in M. simillima: “ЫШ, feet, and claws 
bright orange-red; iris dark brown” (F. Bourdillon). ‘Total length 10 inches, culmen 1:05, 
wing 5, tail 9:8, tarsus 1:8. Ў 
Adult female. Very dark brown above, with a slight olive-brown shade; the head decidedly 
browner than the back, as also the sides of the face; the ear-coverts streaked with paler brown 
shaft-lines; under surface of body umber-brown, becoming greyer on the flanks, thighs, and under 
tail-coverts ; the throat whiter, with a few obsolete streaks of dusky-brown and a broad dusky-brown 
malar stripe; axillaries and under wing-coverts dark slaty-brown. Total length 9 inches, culmen 1:0, 
wing 4:5, tail 5:3, tarsus 1:25. 
The male described was obtained in Travancore by Mr. F. Bourdillon and is in the Hume 
Collection in the British Museum, and the female, also in the same Collection, was collected by 
Major Horace Terry on the Palani Hills. Mr. Seebohm has figured the type, which is in the British 
Museum and was collected by Mr. F. Bourdillon in Travancore. (В. B. 5.] 
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