MERULA JAVANICA (Horsf). 
JAVAN GREY OUZEL. 
Turdus javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 148 (1822); Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 143 
(1847); Gray, Gen. B. iii., App. p. 10 (1849); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. 
p. 196 (1854); Scl. Ibis, 1861, p. 280; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255. no. 3705 (1869); Salvad. 
Ucc. Born. p. 257 (1874). 
Turdus concolor, Temm. М88.; Blyth, J. А. 5. Beng. xvi. p. 143 (1847). 
Turdus nigricrissus, Schiff, MSS.; Bp. С. R. xxxviii. p. 6 (1854). 
Merula javanica, pt., Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 279 (1881); id. Ibis, 1893, p. 219; 
Büttik. Notes Leyden Mus. xv. p. 107 (1898); Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus. xx. p. 227 (1898). 
M. rostro flavo: pedibus flavis: појео et gastreeo fumoso-brunneis, capite vix pallidiore: abdomine imo paullo 
ochrascente, minimé castaneo: subcaudalibus nigricantibus, rhachide alba medialiter notatis. 
Over the identity of this species has arisen an amount of controversy and a degree of confusion 
probably unequalled in the annals of ornithology. Nor is it yet possible entirely to trace the history 
of the species, though Dr. Otto Finsch’s article on Merula javanica іп the ‘ Notes from the Leyden 
Museum ' (vol. xx. p. 227) clears up many points of difficulty. 
In 1822 Horsfield described his Turdus javanicus as follows :—'* T. corpore fusco, striga gulari 
maculisque abdominalibus obscuris ferrugineis." The British Museum possesses Horsfield’s 
specimens at the present time, and Mr. Seebohm (Ibis, 1893, p. 219) writes concerning them :— 
“There are three types of Horsfield's Merula javanica in the British Museum, which are apparently 
male, female, and young. Тһе adults differ from all other Javan examples known in having the 
chestnut restricted to the belly, and not extending to the flanks. Тһе white on the under tail- 
coverts is also reduced to a shaft-line in the male. It is possible that they may have been procured 
on some other mountain, and that M. fumida may be specifically distinct from M. javanica.” 
Seebohm, as will be seen from the above passage, considered that Horsfield's specimens were 
male, female, and young of a single species. There is no identification of sex on any of the 
specimens, and the determination of the male and female is mere guess-work, though not improbably 
correct. Тһе young bird is the only one of the three which has any sign of rufous colour on the under 
surface, and is the actual type of Horsfield's Turdus javanicus. І should not call the abdomen 
chestnut, but it might be the young of the chestnut-breasted Turdus fumidus, and will, in all 
probability, supersede that name, but this is by no means proven. Seebohm speaks of the adults 
having “chestnut on the belly,’ but they have no chestnut, but only a little buff colour, which I 
cannot believe to have been chestnut or anything like rufous at any time. ІҒ this colour had ever 
been chestnut, and had faded to buff, then it is possible that the type of 7. javanicus of Horsfield is 
the actual young of the two adult birds, though these are not mentioned by him in print, when he 
described the species. 
Dr. Otto Finsch in his admirable essay оп Merula javanica and М. fumida (Notes Leyden Mus. 
xx. pp. 227-230) describes an adult bird from Mt. Tjerimai in Cheribon in Western Java. Тһе 
