MERULA THOMASSONI, Seebohm. 
. THOMASSON'S OUZEL. 
Merula thomassoni, Seebohm, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iii. p. li (1894); Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 
1894, p. 509. 
M. major: nigra: rostro et pedibus flavis: capite colloque saturaté chocolatino-brunneis : pileo quam noteum 
brunnescentiore. 
Like the New-Guinea Ouzel (JM. papuensis) this species undoubtedly belongs to the section of 
pale-headed Oceanic Thrushes, of which JM. poliocephala and M. pritzbueri are the best-known 
representatives. Like M. papuensis, however, it is larger than the Oceanic Ouzels, and more 
approaches in size our Common Blackbird of Europe. 
The present species was discovered in the highlands of the island of Luzon by Mr. John Whitehead, 
and it is a remarkable fact that a species of Merula from the mountains of this Philippine island 
should be so like M. papuensis from the mountains of South-eastern New Guinea as to be scarcely 
distinguishable. 
Mr. Ogilvie Grant compared the series of JM. thomassoni with the type of М. papuensis, 
which Mr. De Vis had kindly sent to England to be figured in the present work, and which 
was in the British Museum for some weeks. Mr. Grant's comparison of the plumages of the 
two species shows that they differ but little, and the principal points in his diagnosis of M. papuensis 
were the white vent and the lighter colour of the under surface. М. papuensis is also а slightly 
larger bird than 27. thomassoni, but is scarcely 44 inches longer (14-0), as Mr. Grant, from an apparent 
lapsus calami, would make out. 
The characters of the white vent and the blackish under surface do not hold good in a large series, 
and since Mr. Grant wrote about the two species, the British Museum has acquired some specimens 
of Merula papuensis from Mt. Victoria. I find that the differences between it and M. thomassoni 
are very slight. The chocolate-brown colour of the throat is more plainly contrasted in the Luzon 
species, and extends further over the fore-neck, while in M. papuensis it does not seem to go below 
the lower throat. Тһе head, too, is rather browner, and forms more of an indistinct cap than is seen 
in M. papuensis. 
Adult male. General colour above glossy coal-black, including the wings and tail; crown of 
head and hind-neck, sides of face, throat, and chest dark brown, contrasting, however, with the rest 
of the body; under surface, from the chest downwards, glossy black, including the thighs; under 
tail-coverts black, with distinct white shaft-streaks; under wing-coverts and axillaries black ; quills 
blackish below. Total length 10 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 4:85, tail 9:8, tarsus 1:8. 
Adult female. Like the male, excepting that the brown head and throat are not so distinctly 
indicated from the back and breast; the throat is scarcely lighter than the rest of the under surface, 
which shows traces of rufous margins to the feathers. Тоба! length 9 inches, culmen 0:95, wing 4:4, 
tail 3:2, tarsus 1:25. 
The female of JM. papuensis is uniform below, with dull rufous edges to the feathers as in 
VOL. II. Q 
