MERULA MINDORENSIS, Ogilvie Grant. 
MINDORO OUZEL. 
Turdus mindorensis, Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 465; Whitehead, Ibis, 1899, p. 213. 
M. rostro flavo: pedibus flavicanti-brunneis: pectore imo et abdomine albis: hypochondriis vinaceo-castaneis : 
tibiis fuscescenti-nigris : gutture et preepectore griseis. 
Tug Mindoro Ouzel is a very interesting species, exhibiting characters intermediate between the 
chestnut-sided species of Ouzels of the Malayan Archipelago, such as Merula javanica, M. seebohmi, 
_ &c., and the grey-throated section of Ouzels, such as M. canescens and M. pritzbueri. 
Mr. John Whitehead, who discovered the species, writes:—“ This Blackbird is common on 
Monte Dulungan in Mindoro, after an altitude of 4000 feet is passed, and is probably found as high 
as 8000 feet, which is about the approximate height of this mountain. The highest point reached 
by me was 6000 feet, where the species was still to be met with. It frequented the thick dark 
forest in this rainy region. Аб the time of our visit (November) many of the young were moulting 
to their adult plumage. I have now met with Blackbirds in several tropical islands, but though the 
species bear little resemblance to each other when adult, the habits of those species found in Java, 
Borneo, and the Philippines differ little from those of our well-known garden-friend." (Ibis, 1899, 
p. 218.) 
Adult male. General colour above sooty-black, the wings and tail like the back ; crown of head 
dull ashy, a little lighter on the hind-neck and sides of face and neck; feathers below the eye dusky 
grey; throat and chest rather lighter ashy-grey, the sides of the upper breast being sooty-blackish ; 
upper breast and sides of the body dark vinous-chestnut; centre of breast and abdomen pure white ; 
lower flanks blackish; thighs dark slaty-grey ; under tail-coverts white, mottled with black margins 
to the feathers, the lower feathers being black with broad white centres ; under wing-coverts and 
axillaries dark ashy: * bill king's yellow; legs in front yellowish brown, the back of the tarsus, 
soles of the feet, and joint-scales bright yellow; iris dark brown; orbital skin greenish-yellow ” 
(J. Whitehead). Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 42, tail 3:5, tarsus 1:2. 
Adult female. Similar to the male, but with the head less ashy and decidedly darker brown, 
the ashy-grey of the throat and chest rather duller in tint, as also is the chestnut colour of the 
underparts, the white of the under tail-coverts being slightly tinged with rufous. Total length 
8:5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:1, tail 3:5, tarsus 1:2. 
The descriptions and the figures in the Plate are taken from the typical specimens in the 
British Museum. [R. В. $.] 
