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MERULA WHITEHEADI, Seebohm. 
WHITEHEAD'S CHESTNUT-BREASTED OUZEL. 
Merula whiteheadi, Seebohm, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, у. p. xxv (1893); id. Ibis, 1898, pp. 221, 
257; Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus. xx. p. 230 (1898). 
M. rostro flavo: pedibus flavis: similis M. fumide, sed pallidior et grisescentior, et pileo undique, gutture et 
preepectore cinerascenti-brunneis distinguenda. 
Тнів species very much resembles M. fumida, but is rather greyer, and is distinguished by its ashy- 
brown head and face. This ashy colour overspreads the throat and chest and upper breast. In the 
male the white shaft-lines to the under tail-coverts are very narrow, but they are broader in 
the female. The quills and tail are blacker in M. whiteheadi than in M. Sumida. 
It is as yet known only from Mount Tosari in Eastern Java, where it was discovered by the late 
Mr. John Whitehead, after whom it was named by Mr. Seebohm. The typical specimens are in the 
Seebohm Collection in the British Museum. 
Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, the wing-coverts like the back ; quills and 
tail-feathers blackish, contrasting with the back, and edged with dark slaty-grey; crown of head, 
sides of face, hind-neck and sides of neck, and throat dark ashy grey, becoming gradually dusky slaty- 
brown on the lower throat, fore-neck, and breast; abdomen chestnut; a small patch on the lower 
abdomen white; sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts dark slaty-brown, the latter with 
narrow whitish shaft-lines ; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark slate-colour like the chest; quills 
dusky brown below, more ashy on the inner webs: “bill, feet, and eyelids dull king’s yellow ; iris 
black” (J. Whitehead). Total length 9:5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:75, tail 3:6, tarsus 1:35. 
Adult female. Similar to the male, but slightly duller in colour, and with broader longitudinal 
centres to the under tail-coverts: “ bill, feet, and eyelids as in the male” (J. Whitehead). Total 
length 9 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:75, tail 3°6, tarsus 1:35. 
The descriptions have been taken from the typical examples in the Seebohm Collection, and 
the figures in the Plate represent an adult male and female, (В. В. S.] 
VOL, 11. 
——aa چ‎ 
