MERULA NIGRICEPS, Cab. 
JELSKTS OUZEL. 
Turdus nigriceps, Cab. J. f. O. 1874, p. 97 (ex Jelski MSS.). 
Merula nigriceps, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 254 (1881). 
M. rostro et pedibus flavis: suprà saturate schistacea : pileo nigro: gutture albo, nigro striolato: pectore et 
hypochondriis claré schistaceis, abdomine et subcaudalibus albis: subalaribus schistaccis. 
Tue present species is distinguished by having the upper and under surface of the body slaty-grey, 
while the very distinct black stripes upon the throat are also a well-marked character, the black head, 
from which the species takes its name, being less pronounced than might have been expected from 
its selection as the chief specific character. 
The species was first described by Professor Cabanis from Peru, where Jelski met with it at 
Soriano. It was afterwards obtained by Mr. Stolzmann at Chirimoto (Tacz. Orn. Pérou, i. p. 489). 
Specimens have been procured at Monji in Ecuador by the late Clarence Buckley and are in the 
Salvin-Godman Collection in the British Museum. 
The Seebohm Collection contains specimens from the Sierra of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, collected 
by Mr..Garlepp. Тһе species has also been procured on the Sierra of Cordova by Dr. A. Dóring 
and Mr. Schulz (Cab. J. f. O. 1878, p. 195). 
Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, a little clearer grey towards the lower back, 
rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, quills, and 
tail-feathers blackish, externally edged with slaty-grey ; crown of head and sides of face black ; 
cheeks black, streaked with white ; throat white, broadly streaked with black; under surface of. 
body from the lower throat downwards entirely slaty-grey, with the middle of the abdomen white ; 
under tail-coverts white with slaty-grey bases; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark slate-colour ; 
quills dusky below, ashy along the inner webs. Total length 8:5 inches, culmen 0:9, wing 4:55, 
tail 3°4, tarsus 1-2. 
Adult female. Different from the male. Brown above, inclining to slaty-grey towards the rump 
and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts brown like the back, the quills and tail-feathers ashy-brown, 
margined with lighter brown; crown of head and sides of face brown, the ear-coverts with narrow 
pale shaft-lines ; cheeks whitish, with a distinct malar streak of blackish-brown ; throat white, 
streaked with brown; remainder of under surface of body ruddy brown, the centre of the breast, 
abdomen, and thighs ashy; under tail-coverts white, with broad ashy-brown edges to the feathers ; 
under wing-coverts and axillaries ruddy brown like the breast. Total length 7:5 inches, culmen 0:85, 
wing 41, tail 27, tarsus 1:15. 
The description of the adult male is taken from a specimen from Chirimoto in the Seebohm 
Collection, and that of the adult female from a Tambillo example in the same Collection. Тһе latter 
bird is figured in the Plate, and the figure of the male is apparently taken from the Chirimoto 
specimen above mentioned. [R. B. 5.1 
VOL. II. ЗА 
