MERULA LAYARDI, Seebohn. 
VITI LEVU OUZEL. 
Merula vitiensis (nec Layard), Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 278 (1881). 
Merula layardi, Seebohm, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 667; Wiglesw. Abhandl. k. zool. Mus, Dresden, 
1890—91, no. 6, p. 39 (1891). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: similis М. vitiensi, sed pallidior, olivaceo-brunnea : gutture et pectore cinerascenti- 
oribus, pectore et abdomine lætè castaneis, hypochondriis concoloribus distinguenda. 
Reviewine the Fijian species of Merula in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1890 
(1. с.), Mr. Seebohm drew attention to the differences between the species inhabiting Viti Levu and 
the one found in Vanua Levu. Не proposed the name of Merula layardi for the former bird, which 
differs from M. vitiensis in being more olive-brown and not so dark, in having a lighter ashy-grey 
throat and chest, and in having the whole breast and abdomen, as well as the flanks, bright chestnut. 
Besides these important characters, there is the further fact that the under tail-coverts are distinctly 
centred with reddish white. 
All the specimens known up to the present time appear to have been obtained by Kleinschmidt 
in the mountains of the interior of Viti Levu, where he says that the natives call the bird “ Na ТоПа.” 
Specimens are in the Seebohm and Tweeddale Collections, and the British Museum has received a 
pair from the Godeffroy Museum in Hamburg; these are the types of Seebohm's M. layardi. 
Adult male. General colour above olive-brown, the wing-coverts like the back; quills and 
tail-feathers sepia-brown, edged with the same olive-brown as the back ; crown of head smoky brown, 
forming a scarcely distinguishable cap; lores and sides of face lighter and more ashy brown, as also 
the throat, where it shades off into the darker ash-colour of the fore-neck and chest, the sides of 
which are decidedly more dusky brown; the chest-feathers with a faint rufous tinge; breast, 
abdomen, and sides of body bright vinous-chestnut, with a few of the median abdominal feathers edged 
with slaty-grey; vent white; thighs ashy-grey; under tail-coverts with rufous centres and dusky 
brown edges, more distinct on the longer ones, where the longitudinal centres are darker; under 
wing-coverts dark ashy-grey, washed with chestnut, the axillaries chestnut, with ashy-grey inner 
webs and pale ashy tips; quills dusky below, more ashy on the inner webs. "Total length 8 inches, 
culmen 0:95, wing 4:6, tail 3:1, tarsus 1:45. 
Adult female. Scarcely differs from the male at all, except on the sides of the face and under 
surface of the body, the former being darker ashy-grey, as also the throat, and the lower throat and 
chest being shaded with a strong tint of orange-chestnut like the breast and sides of the body, the 
chestnut of the under surface being duller than in the male. Total length 7-5 inches, culmen 0-9, 
wing 4:5, tail 2:85, tarsus 1:3. 
The male and female described are in the Seebohm Collection; these specimens are also figured 
in the Plates, along with the male and female of M. vitiensis respectively. [R B. S.] 
VOL. 11. X 
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