5i0 
Birds of Celebes: Turdidae. 
Fischer also sent four examples of this Thrush from some parts of the 
Minahassa, but up to the present specimens are rare in collections. Meyer, 
who met with it at three places near Manado, including the churchyard of the 
Europeans there, remarked that it lived on the ground, -was very shy and only 
to be shot from far. Platen met with it in a journey from Eurukan to Mount 
Klabat on the banks of a marsh in the virgin forest, and the Sarasins got it 
at Rurukan and Tomohon. Beetles were found in the stomach by Meyer. 
G. erythronota is most like G. dohertyi Hart, of Lombok, which has a black 
head. G. interpres Temm. of Java, Sumatra and Lombok, with which species 
Mr. Oates (Faun. Br. Ind. B. II 1890, 138) believes G. avensis of Malacca to be 
identical, may, as Seebohm points out, be distinguished by its having the back, 
rump, wings and tail brown or slate- grey, the former colour being apparently 
that of the females, or a seasonal or immature dress. Mr. H. O. Forbes (6) 
describes his G. machiki of Timorlaut as intermediate between G. erythronota and 
G. rubiginosa S. Mull. ( = G. peroni V.) of Timor, but it is at once distinguished 
by its chin, throat and breast, which are huffish white, not black. 
GENUS MERULA Leacli. 
The genus Merula is separable from Tiirdus only as a “colour-genus”, the 
adult males of the former having lost all appearance of spots, and the sexes 
are usually dissimilar. 
Culmen about as long as the cranium; tomia slightly notched; rictal bristles 
moderate; wing pointed, moderately long, the tip formed by the 3'^ — 5**“ pri- 
maries, the 2“^ rather shorter, the P‘ very small; tarsi and feet moderately large; 
tail shorter than wing, square. 
Range: Europe, Asia to Australia, South America. Many, if not all, of 
the tropical species are inhabitants of the mountains. 
* 210. MERULA OELEBENSIS Biitt. 
Celebes Blackbird. 
Plate XXXV. 
Merula celebensis ( 1 ) Bixttik., Notes Leyden Mus. 1893, XV, 109; ( 2 ) Seeb., Ibis 1893, 
222; ( 3 ) Hart., Nov. Zool. 1896, 150, 165; ( 4 ) id., ib. 1897, 155. 
Adult male. Upper surface sepia (greener in a second example), darkest on the upper 
tad-coverts and px’imaries, tail itself blackish, palest and more olivaceous towards the 
forehead; face, throat and chest, under wing-coverts and thighs similar grey- 
brown, but paler; flanks and under tail-coverts more olivaceous, the latter with 
whitish mesial streaks and tips, and the longest flank-feathers mostly white; lower 
breast, abdomen, and sides dark orange-rufous; remiges below shining dusky, 
with pale shafts; tail below blacker ((^, Lompo Batang, S. Cel., c. 2000 m, 16. X. 
95: P.&F. Sarasin). 
) 
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