MERULA AURANTIA (Gm... 
JAMAICA OUZEL. 
Le Merle de la Jamaique, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 277 (1760). 
Le Merle brun de la Jamaique, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. p. 391 (1775). 
White-chinned Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 45 (1783). 
Turdus aurantius, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 832 (1788). 
Turdus leucogenus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 341 (1790). 
Merula saltator, Hill, Comp. Jam. Alm. 1842, teste Gosse, B. Jamaica, p. 140 (1847). 
Merula leucogenys, Gosse, B. Jamaica, p. 136, Illustr. pl. xxiii. (1847). 
Catharus aurantius, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 3 (1854). 
Semimerula aurantia, Baird, Rev. Amer. B. p. 34 (1864). 
Mimocichla aurantia, Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 2 (1873). 
Merula aurantia, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 247 (1881); Stejn. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. 
p. 413 (1883). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: schistacea, pileo vix saturatiore: subtüs schistacea, pectore medio et abdomine albis : 
tectricibus duabus majoribus internis externe albis, plagam parvam formantibus. 
Tue Jamaica Ouzel is a very distinct and recognizable species, on account of the small white 
wing-patch which is formed by the white outer aspect of two of the inner greater coverts. 
Little has been written about the habits of this Ouzel since Gosse's standard work on the 
' Birds of Jamaica, and Mr. W. E. D. Scott, the most recent collector in this West Indian Island, 
says that it is one of the species which have suffered from the introduction of the Mongoose into 
Jamaica, as, though formerly very common, he was only able to obtain a few specimens during his 
expedition. . It is more frequently heard than seen, and is “found only at the lower levels, in fact 
down to the sea, in thick woody places " (Auk, x. p. 342). 
In Jamaica this Thrush is called the “ Hopping Dick" or “ Ттореппу Chick," and the late 
Mr, P. W. Gosse has given the following account of its habits :—“ The birds on which the peasantry 
in any country have conferred homely abbreviations of human names are, I think, only such as have 
something lively and entertaining in their manners. Examples of familiar birds will at once occur 
to an English reader, and the subject of the present note is by no means an exception to the rule. 
He is one of the liveliest of our Jamaican birds : in woody places his clear whistle perpetually strikes 
the ear of the passenger, as he sits among the close foliage, or darts across the glade. Not 
unfrequently we are startled by a shrill scream in some lonely place, and out rushes the Hopping 
Dick, jumping with rapidity across the road, almost close to our horse’s feet. He greatly reminds 
me of the English Blackbird, in his sable plumage, and bright yellow beak, but especially when 
hopping along the branches of some pimento-tree, or upon the sward beneath, in those beautiful 
park-like estates called pens. The keen glancing of his eye, his quick turns and odd gesticulations, 
the. elevation of his long tail almost erect, his nods and jerks have in them an uncommon vivacity, 
which is not belied by his loud voice, as he repeats a high mellow note four or five times in rapid 
Succession, just preparatory to or during his sudden flights from tree to tree. His notes are various : 
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