TURDUS JAMAICENSIS, Gn. 
JAMAICA WHITE-THROATED THRUSH. 
Jamaica Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 20 (1783). 
Turdus jamaicensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 809 (1788); Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. 
p. 208 (1881). 
Merula jamaicensis, Gosse, B. Jamaica, p. 142, Illustr. pl. xxiv. (1847) ; Cory, B. West Indies, 
p. 16 (1889). 
Turdus capucinus, Hartl. MSS.; Bp. Consp. i. p. 271 (1850). 
Turdus leucophthalmus, Hill, MSS. ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 271 (1850). 
Turdus lereboulleti, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 8 (1854). 
T. plagá conspicuá gulari alba: dorso saturaté schistaceo : pileo chocolatino : axillaribus schistaceis, hypochondriis 
concoloribus. 
та ына йд декс E E o AA 
ТНЕ present species belongs to the section of striped-throated Thrushes which Seebohm called his 
* Sub-generie group Planestici,” with the spots on the under surface confined to the chin, cheeks, 
or upper throat (cf. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 186). It further belongs to the division of the genus 
Turdus which has a conspicuous white gular patch between the striped throat and the plain- 
coloured fore-neck and chest; and it is distinguished from all its allies by its slaty-grey axillaries, | 
combined with its chocolate-brown head, which contrasts with the slaty-grey back. | | 
Turdus jamaicensis is entirely confined to the island of Jamaica, and nothing appears to have | 
been published on its habits beyond the following notes of the late P. Н. Gosse:—“This is 
exclusively a mountain bird; inhabiting the very same localities, and subsisting on the same | 
food, as the Solitaire, the pulpy berries of а Scrophularious shrub, which the negroes thence | | 
call the Glass-eye berry. I have never found any animal substance in the stomach of this species, || 
numbers of which I have examined; one in December contained many of the little scarlet figs 
from the tree on which I shot it; in February the green pimento-berries are devoured by them ; 
and later in the spring, it appears, the shining fruit of the Sweetwood (Laurus) is attractive 
to them. Оп the 30th of March my lad shot a male Glass-eye by the roadside at Cave, 
scarcely a stone's throw from the sea, and level with it; the stomach contained the berries of this 
Laurus, which is abundant just there. This is the only instance in which I ever heard of the 
species away from a mountain valley. 
“Тһе common names of this bird are bestowed in allusion to the tint of the iris of the eye; 
this, as Mr. Hill observes, “is not absolutely white, but so transparently suffused with a hue of 
olive, that the eye has the look of very common glass.’ 
“Тһе figure, attitudes, and motions of the Glass-eye are those of its fellow, the Hopping Dick 
(Merula aurantia); it is, however, much more recluse, and jealous of being seen. The dashing 
manner of flight across the wood-paths are the same in both birds, but the loud and startling tones 
of the lowland bird are wanting in this. Тһе Glass-eye has but one note that I have heard; a single 
low 'quank, frequently repeated as he hops from bush to bush, or plunges into the thicket. 
Dr. Chamberlaine attributes to him *the same loud sonorous chirp as he stealthily scuds from one | 
VOL. I. 2G 
— АСА RR 
