MERULA FLAVIPES (Pieill.). 
BRAZILIAN GREY OUZEL. 
Turdus flavipes, Vieill. N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. xx. p. 277 (1818). 
Turdus carbonarius, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 37 (1833). 
Merula flavipes, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 253 (1881). 
M. schistacea: rostro et pedibus flavis : pileo nigro, minimé dorso concolore: gutture et pectore summo nigris : 
hypochondriis et axillaribus subalaribusque schistaceis. 9 suprà rufescenti-olivacea, abdomine quoque 
pallidé griseo : subcaudalibus ochrascenti-brunneis, albido marginatis et medialiter notatis. 
THE present species is a representative of the section of the genus Merula in which the general 
colour is a beautiful slate-grey, with the head, throat, and upper breast black, in strong contrast to 
the otherwise grey plumage. There seem to be three or four closely allied forms in this section, 
depending chiefly on the differences shown in the plumage of the hen birds, for the males vary but 
little. It is impossible to speak with any certainty as to these different races, as the series of skins in 
the British Museum has been mostly purchased from dealers, and very few specimens bear any particulars 
of their capture. A further difficulty in arriving at a correct conclusion is caused by the fact that no 
collectors have absolutely identified any one pair of birds as having been obtained together. I is 
therefore almost impossible to assign the females of some of these Grey Ouzels with absolute certainty. 
M. flavipes was first described by Vieillot from specimens obtained by Delalande near Bahia, and 
from the same place came also the type of Lichtenstein's Zurdus carbonarius, which is therefore a 
synonym of M. flavipes. The British Museum contains a large series of specimens from Bahia, some 
of them collected by Dr. Wucherer. Mr. Alexander Fry has presented to the same Institution five 
specimens obtained by him at Rio de Janeiro, and in the Salvin-Godman Collection are examples 
obtained by Joyner in Sáo Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Mr. H. Rogers also procured a specimen 
in Santa Catarina. Count von Berlepsch records the species as having been obtained by Lund in 
Minas Geraes and at Mugydas Cruzes in Sáo Paulo (J. f. O. 1873, p. 230). Burmeister notes it 
from Novo Freibourgo (Th. Bras. iii. p. 125), Prince Max from Rio de Janeiro and Cabo Frio (Beitr. 
Naturg. Bras. iii. p. 643). Von Pelzeln gives the following localities where the species was obtained 
by Natterer, viz.:—Rio de Janeiro, May to August; Curytiba, November ; Ytarare, April (Orn. 
Bras. р. 94). Dr. von Ihering states that it is found from Rio Grande do Sul to Bahia, but chiefly 
on the coast, as it is absent in the greater part of the interior (Rev. Mus. Paul. iii. p. 128). 
M. flavipes is therefore apparently confined to Eastern and South-eastern Brazil. The male is 
distinguished by its grey breast and abdomen, and pure grey back, contrasting with the black head, 
throat, and upper breast. The female of the Brazilian bird seems to have a more ruddy-olive shade 
on the upper surface than is shown by the females from Venezuela and Guiana. The abdomen 
is very light grey, and the under tail-coverts are ochraceous-brown, with whitish tips and centres 
to the feathers. 
Adult male. General colour above dark bluish slate-colour, with indistinct margins of dusky 
blackish to the feathers of the back; scapulars also bluish slate-colour, but with broader black 
M2 
