MERULA UNICOLOR (Tickell). 
GREY OUZEL. 
Turdus unicolor, Tickell, J. A. S. Beng. ii. p. 577 (1833). 
Turdus modestus, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xi. p. 460 (1842, nec Eyton). 
Petrocincla homochroa, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Brit. Mus., Passeres, pl. 139, no. 586; id. in 
Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 83 (1844). 
Turdus dissimilis, pt., Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 144 (1847). 
Geocichla dissimilis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 163 (1849); Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 284 
(1879). 
Geocichla unicolor, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 163 (1849); Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 519 (1862). 
Merula unicolor, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 271 (1881); Oates, in Hume’s Nests & 
Eggs Ind. B. ii. p. 96 (1890); id. Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, ii. p. 132 (1890). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis vel flavicanti-brunneis: grisea: abdomine albo, gutture, pectore et hypochondriis 
griseis. 9 pectore saturaté cinerascente, nigro maculato : axillaribus aurantiaco-fulvis. 
Тнів plain-coloured Ouzel is confined to the Indian Peninsula, nesting in the Himalayas and visiting 
the lower valleys and the plains in winter. 
Mr. J. Davidson says that it is “a very common bird in the Valley of Kashmir, but apparently 
not ranging more than a few miles up the Sind Valley. In the Kashmir Valley itself there were 
pairs in every village and grove of trees” (Ibis, 1898, p. 25). Colonel Unwin, in the Appendix to 
Mr. Lawrences work on Kashmir (р. 151, 1895), observes :—“ It is very common all over the 
Valley, frequenting Chenar groves, gardens, &c.” 
The species also nests near Masuri and Simla, and Mr. George Reid records it from Rambagh, 
Almora, and Pithoragarh in Kumaon, and from Kaladunga in the Kumaon Terai (Cat. B. Lucknow 
Mus. p. 112, 1890). Specimens from the Oude Terai, procured in December and January, are in the 
Hume Collection. Пт. Scully states that һе found the Grey Ouzel in small numbers іп the Valley of 
Nepal in summer, and nesting there. He says that it was always noticed about the skirts of the 
central woods, often alighting on the ground and running along pretty quickly, and feeding in damp 
places (Str. F. viii. p. 283). A bird obtained by Dr. Scully in the Sheopuri Forest (7500 feet) in 
May was considered by him to be a different species and identified by him as Geocichla dissimilis, but, 
after examining his specimen, І regard 1% as merely the female of M. unicolor. 
In the Hume Collection is an example of this Ouzel from Darjiling, procured in June, so that 
the species doubtless breeds in Sikhim, but it is evidently rarer in the Eastern Himalayas than in 
Kashmir and the north-western hills. 
Not many specimens from the plains of India, where the bird is supposed to winter, have been 
chronicled. The species was described by Tickell from Bansighar іп Borabhüm, and it has been 
recorded from Orissa, Raipur, and Khandala. А specimen obtained by Jerdon іп the Eastern Ghats 
is in the British Museum. 
Colonel Unwin says that in Kashmir the song of this Thrush may be heard from April till July; 
it sings at all hours of the day, and particularly in the morning and evening, and on cloudy days 
