236 
1885). An example procured at Pelotas is also in the Salvin-Godman Collection, as well as one 
from the province of Santa Catharina obtained by Mr. H. Rogers. From Rio de Janeiro the British 
Museum has specimens presented by Mr. Alexander Fry, and Natterer procured several in the 
province of San Paulo, at Sapitiba in May, November, and December, at Goyaba in January, 
Ypanema from April to November, and at Curytiba in October (Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 93). Burmeister 
says that it also occurs not rarely near Lagoa Santa (Th. Bras. iii. p. 123). 
Natterer also met with the species near the city of Goiaz in August (Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 93), and 
it is evidently common near Bahia, as the British Museum has many specimens from this locality. 
The birds procured by Natterer at Forte do Rio Branco in November (Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 93), 
as shown by one of them kindly lent to me by Dr. Lorenz of the Vienna Museum, turn out to be 
T. gymnophthalmus. Тһе examples recorded from the Ucayali River and Upper Amazonia appear 
to me to be referable to 7. maculirostris. 
A specimen said to have come from Cayenne is in the Sclater Collection. 
Whether this is the Z'urdus olivaceus of Lafresnaye and d'Orbigny, from the province of Yungas 
in Bolivia, І am unable to say, but Bolivian specimens are in the British Museum, and here the ranges 
of T. leucomelas and. T. maculirostris appear to coalesce. 
Mr. W. H. Hudson (Argent. Orn. i. p. 1) gives the following notes on the species:—“ The 
Dusky Thrush is widely distributed in South America, and ranges as far south as Buenos Ayres, 
where it is quite common in the woods along the Plata River. It is а shy forest-bird ; a fruit- and 
insect-eater; abrupt in its motions ; runs rapidly on the ground with back elevated, and at intervals 
pauses and shakes its tail ; pugnacious in temper ; strong on the wing, its flight not being over the 
trees, but masked by their shadows. It can always be easily distinguished, even at a distance, from 
other species by its peculiar short, metallic chirp—a melodious sound indicating alarm or curiosity, 
and uttered before flight—in contrast to the harsh screams and chuckling notes of other Thrushes in 
this district. 
« Whether itis a fine singer or not within the tropics I am unable to say, its vocal powers 
having received no attention from the naturalists who have observed it. With us in the temperate 
climate of Buenos Ayres, where it commences to sing in September, it has the finest song of any 
bird I know, excepting only Mimus triurus. Like the English Song-Thrush, but unlike its near 
neighbours the Red-bellied Thrush and the Magellanic Thrush, it perches on the summit of a tree 
to sing. Its song is, however, utterly unlike that of the English bird, which is so fragmentary, 
and, as Mr. Barrows describes it, made up of ‘ vocal attitudes and poses. Тһе two birds differ 
also in voice as much as in manner. Тһе strains of the Dusky Thrush are poured forth in а 
continuous stream, with all the hurry and freedom of the Sky-Lark's song; but though so rapidly 
uttered, every note is distinct and clear, and the voice singularly sweet and far-reaching. At 
intervals in the song there recurs a two-syllabled note twice repeated, unlike in sound any othe 
bird-music I have heard, for it is purely metallic, and its joyous bell-like “te-ling te-ling’ always 
comes like a delightful surprise to the listener, being in strange contrast with the prevailing tone. 
The song is altogether a very fine one, its peculiar charm being that it seems to combine two 
opposite qualities of bird-music, plaintiveness and joyousness, in some indefinable manner. I have 
never heard this species sing in a cage or anywhere near a human habitation ; and it is probably 
owing to its recluse habits that its excellent song has not been hitherto noticed. Алага perhaps 
mistook the song of this species for that of Turdus rufiventris, a very inferior vocalist. 
« The nest is made in the centre of a thick bush or tree six or eight feet from the ground, and 
is a deep elaborate structure, plastered inside with mud, and lined with soft dry grass. The 
eggs are four in number, oblong: the ground-colour light blue, abundantly marked with reddish- 
brown spots. 
