112 
the Himalayas. Colonel Marshall has further observed the species in the Chamba State (Ibis, | 
1884, p. 414). | p 
| 
The Hume Collection contains specimens from Masuri, Naini Tal, and Almora, and Hodgson met ; 
with the species in Хера!. From Native Sikhim, Mandelli obtained several specimens, and it is also | Г 
found in Sikhim proper. Here Dr. Jerdon (В. Ind. i. p. 526) says it is not very common, and found 
in winter only, frequenting open forest. Mr. Stuart Baker (J. Bomb. N. H. Soc. ix. p. 286, 
|| 1897) states that it is “а not uncommon visitor to North Cachar during the winter, descending to к. 
2" the level of the plains.” Colonel Godwin-Austen met with it in the Jura Range of the Garo Hills | 
| (7. А. S. Beng. xxxix. pt. 2, p. 268, 1870), and а specimen in the British Museum, obtained by 
| Dr. Griffith and recorded as from Afghanistan (!) іп the old ‘ Catalogue of the Е. Т. Co.’s Museum’ 
ІШІ (i. p. 197), was probably obtained by that excellent collector somewhere in Assam or in the Khasia 
Hills. Mr. Hume did not meet with the species in Manipur (Str. F. xi. p. 129, 1888). 
Captain Rattray (7. в. с.) says that the nest was found by him near Murree on the 23rd of May, 
1896, on the bank at the foot of a high rock. It contained two eggs, very hard set. The nest 
и was 61 inches in diameter and 4 inches in height; it was composed of thin twigs and a good deal of 
moss lined with fine grass-stems. The eggs were like those of Merula boulboul, but lighter in colour. 
Dimensions 1:0 x 0:8. 
The following notes on the nesting of the species are taken from Mr. Oates's edition of Hume's 
|| “Кевів and Eggs of Indian Birds” (ii. р. 92, 1890):— 
| * Very little is known of the breeding of the Grey-headed Ouzel. A nest containing five eggs 
was taken on the 20th April near Kotegurh, and Colonel С. Н. Т. Marshall took a nest at Murree. | 
'The Kotegurh nest was placed in a bank, was 6 inches in diameter and 4 in height, composed of | 
moss, with a good deal of dead fern in the base of the nest, and only а little earth, and lined with | 
| fine grass. The cavity was about 3:5 inches in diameter, and 2:75 inches in depth. | 
ІП “From Murree Colonel C. H. T. Marshall writes :— Two nests in banks, in the beginning of | 
June; eggs very similar to those of M. boulboul, but somewhat larger, being 1:25 by 0:8 inch. 
| y Captain Cock got two nests in the Sindh Valley, Kashmir. It is peculiar that this species always 
|| breeds in banks. АП the Meruline birds breed from about 5000 to 7000 feet up. 
“< I believe some people say that Merula albocincta and M. castanea are identical. Т therefore 
send a pair of birds of the latter, shot off the nest іп full breeding-plumage, which may elucidate the 
matter. They must have two hatches in the year, as on the 20th April I got a nest with four eggs 
just ready to hatch, which must have been laid at the end of March. Тһе nest, too, was at an 1 
elevation of nearly 7000 feet.’ Е 
“Тһе eggs of this species appear to vary very much. What I take to be Ше typical egg is a 
||| | somewhat lengthened, at times more or less pyriform, oval. А раје green ground, with very little || 
||| | gloss, thickly and boldly mottled and freckled all over with brownish-red and pinkish purple. In | 
| another type nowhere is more than a pin's point of the ground-colour visible, the whole surface being 
| excessively minutely freckled and speckled with brownish red, underlaid by faint reddish-purple clouds 
and stains. a | 
“Tn length they vary from 1-1 to 1:35 inch, and in breadth from 0°75 to 0:88 inch. Only eight | 
| eggs аге measured, five from Kotegurh and three from Sonamurgh taken by Captain Cock.” 
| | Adult male. General colour above vinous-chestnut, а little deeper on the mantle; scapulars 
| | chestnut; wings and tail black; head and neck ashy-grey, becoming paler and more whitish-grey on 
the hind-neck ; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts ashy-grey, the latter with narrow whitish shaft-lines ; 
throat and fore-neck, as well as the sides of the neck, whitish-grey; remainder of the under surface 
of body rich vinous-chestnut, the thighs dark ashy, with blackish bases; lower abdomen blackish, || 
the feathers broadly tipped and centred with white, especially near the vent; under tail-coverts | 
= 
