MERULA LUDOVICIA, Гот Phillips. 
SOMALI OUZEL. 
Merula ludovicie, Lort Phillips, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xxxvi (1895); id. Ibis, 1896, 
p. 78, pl. ii. ; id. Ibis, 1898, p. 410. 
M. schistacea, pileo dorso concolore : subtüs schistacea, gutture nigro : rostro et pedibus flavis. 
Tuis interesting species was discovered by Mr. Lort Phillips on his second expedition to Somaliland, 
and has been named by him after his wife, who accompanied him on his travels in the Goolis 
Mountains. He writes:—“ I was delightfully reminded of our English Blackbird when I first saw 
an example of this new species. It was early morning, the bushes and grass were glistening with 
dew, and under a gigantic cedar I caught sight of a dark grey bird with yellow bill and feet, hunting 
for worms in the truly orthodox manner, whilst on the topmost bough another was pouring forth 
his morning song. I watched them for some time and then continued my way, as I only had my 
rifle with me. It was, however, some days before I was able to obtain a specimen, and then I was 
lucky enough to find a nest containing two eggs in a thick bush, much resembling a box-tree. 
I also shot both the male and female. 
“The nest is а coarsely made structure of small twigs and bark, peeled off in strips and 
intertwined with the sticks and a few straws. Тһе lining is of dried grass with a few leaves, and 
there is a little moss on the outside of the nest. Тһе eggs were two in number, of a very delicate 
type for a Blackbird. Тһе ground-colour is a very pale greenish blue, plentifully sprinkled with 
tiny spots of rufous, clouding together at the larger епа ; the underlying markings and spots are 
faint purplish grey. Axis 11 inch, diam. 0:75.” (Ibis, 1896, p. 78.) 
On his third expedition to Somaliland he obtained some more specimens, and in the * Ibis” for 
1898 (p. 410) he makes the following remarks:—“ This Blackbird is confined to the localities 
where the Giant Cypress (Juniperus procera) grows, the berries of which provide its chief food. Оп 
the north face of Wagga Mountain, which is covered with a forest of these grand trees, the 
song of M. ludovicie may be heard in all directions in the early morning. То the westward, 
at Darra Ass, some 40 miles distant, is another such forest, where I obtained the first recorded 
specimens." 
Adult male (type of species). General colour above dark slaty-grey with a slight olivaceous 
tint, the margins to the feathers being of a dull olive-grey ; crown of head a little darker than the 
back; wing-coverts like the back, the median and greater series externally slaty-grey ; bastard-wing, 
primary-coverts, and quills black, edged with slaty-grey, a little more hoary on the primaries; tail- 
feathers black, the outermost narrowly fringed with white at the tip; sides of face, ear-coverts, and 
entire throat black; sides of neck and under surface of body light slaty-grey, with narow white 
shaft-lines on the under tail-coverts; axillaries and under wing-coverts dusky slate-colour, washed 
with rufous-brown ; quills blackish below, ashy оп the inner webs: “bill and feet yellow; iris 
dark brown" (Ж. Lort Phillips). Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:65, tail 3:9, 
‘tarsus 1:15. 
VOL. II. M 
