8 
MERULID.E. 
“At Java this species is found only in mountains from 
six to seven thousand feet in height. In Japan it inhabits 
also lofty mountains. Its food is said to consist of insects 
and Avorms. 
“ This species visits, occasionally, the west of Europe; it is 
abundant in Japan, and perhaps may abound equally in 
other parts of Asia, from whence, probably, the specimens 
have come that were obtained in Europe. 
“In the colouring of the tAvo subjects taken at Hamburg, 
and the specimens that came from Japan, I have not been 
able to detect any marked difference, and only a slight 
difference can be observed in the size of the beak betAveen 
these and the Javanese specimens. Subjects from Aus¬ 
tralia exceed those from Japan and Java a little in size, 
although they wear the same plumage.” 
The above is a free translation of the information on this 
subject, contained in the fourth volume of Temminck’s 
Manual d’Ornithologie ; and when Ave consider the favourable 
opportunity possessed by that author of studying Oriental 
specimens from Java and Japan, Ave cannot but consider 
his opinion as of the utmost weight. 
The specimens that have been noticed of this species as 
occurring in Europe, are tAVO, shot on the Elbe ; a third, sup¬ 
posed to have been shot in the New Forest, Hampshire, 
now in the possession of Mr. Bigge of Hampton Court; 
and a fourth, that was shot also in Hampshire by the Earl 
of Malmsbury. 
The bird figured in our plate is from a subject in the 
museum of the Zoological Society, from Avhich we took the 
folloAving measurements: — Length of the wing, from the 
carpus to the tip, six inches and three-eighths ; length of 
the beak from the forehead to the tip, eleven lines ; from 
the tip to the gape, one inch five lines; length of the 
tarsus, one inch one line ; of the middle toe, one inch 
