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grey to deep chestnut, and in Merula cardis from slate-grey to orange-chestnut. I have five examples 
of Merula obscura in which the axillaries are suffused with buff; and there is an example of 
M. chrysolaus itself in the Paris Museum, collected by l'Abbé Fauire near Hakodadi, in which the 
axillaries and under wing-coverts are considerably suffused with buff." 
Without having seen the typical specimens, it is somewhat difficult to estimate the value of the 
specific characters assigned to Merula jouyi. Much that Seebohm says is undoubtedly true 
respecting the species, and the fact that both male and female of M. jouyi had white throats and 
were breeding in that plumage is confirmation of the fact, already mentioned, that it is probably 
only in the third year that the full plumage of the male is assumed. With regard to the 
tinge of rufous on the axillaries, I entirely agree with Seebohm that it is not a character of specific 
importance, and many specimens in the British Museum show a more or less rufous tint on these 
feathers, The smaller bill, however, is decidedly puzzling to explain, and it is often accompanied 
by a more or less distinctly marked eyebrow. 
It is possible that a certain amount of interbreeding takes place between Merula chrysolaus 
and M. obscura when the two species return to their northern nesting-haunts, as they appear 
to do generally in company, but a closer observation of a carefully collected series will be necessary 
y 
before the distinctness of M. jouyi as a species can be fully determined. ГЕ. В. 8. 
ШІ 
