MERULA XANTHOPUS (Forster). 
NEW-CALEDONIAN OUZEL. 
Turdus xanthopus, Forster, Icon. ined. pl. 151; id. Descr. Anim. ed. Licht. p. 266 (1844); 
Verr. et Des Murs, Rev. Zool. 1860, p. 391; Marie, Actes Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, xxvii. 
p. 327 (1869); Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255. no. 3709 (1869); Layard, Ibis, 1878, p. 253; 
Tristr. Ibis, 1879, pp. 182, 188; Layard, Ibis, 1880, p. 225. 
Turdus (Merula) xanthopus, Gray, List B. Trop. Isl. Pacific Ocean, p. 16 (1859). 
Merula xanthopus, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. iii. p. 337 (1879) ; Seebohm, Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus. v. p. 276 (1881) ; Wiglesw. Abhandl. k. zool. Mus. Dresd. 1890-91, p. 38 (1891). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: noteeo brunneo : corpore subtüs vinaceo-rufo, gutture vix fuscescente. 
Tais Ouzel was discovered in New Caledonia by Forster during Capt. Cook's voyage, and a drawing 
was made by him, which is still extant in the British Museum. His name of xanthopus was not 
published till 1844, when Lichtenstein published his ‹ Descriptiones Animalium. 
Very little has been recorded concerning the species, which Layard records as not uncommon in 
the neighbourhood of Noumea; and the British Museum possesses a good series of specimens. 
Forster gives the native name as “ Degbe," and according to Jules Verreaux it is also called 
“ Tiu-tiu" at the present day. Layard found the contents of the stomachs of several specimens to 
consist of worms, insects, or berries. 
more broadly, the inner ones entirely like the back; head a trifle greyer than the back, and 
contrasting slightly with the latter; sides of face and throat decidedly lighter grey, shading off 
gradually into the dark vinous-chestnut of the breast and underparts; thighs and under tail-coverts 
duller brown, as also the under wing-coverts and axillaries: “ bill yellowish brown; feet straw- 
colour; iris dark brown " (6. L. Layard). Total length 85 inches, culmen 0:8, wing 4:7, tail 3-1, 
tarsus 1:2, 
Adult female. Scarcely different from the male, and with the head only a little darker than the 
back; the vinous-chestnut colour of the underparts duller: * bill and feet raw sienna; iris dark 
drab” (Е. L. Layard). Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 4-4, tail 3:0, tarsus 1:2. 
The description of the male is taken from a specimen procured by the late John Macgillivray at 
Nu in New Caledonia, and that of the female from one of Mr. E. L. Layard's Noumea skins. This 
specimen is also figured on the Plate, and Mr. Seebohm has marked a male from Waileu in New 
Caledonia as having been figured for this * Monograph.’ This specimen has evidently been in spirits 
and has lost its natural colour, being dingy brown above, dusky underneath, with almost all traces of 
vinous colour obliterated. It does not represent the natural colour of the species. [R. B. S.] 
