THE BLACKBIRDS. 
249 
the blackbirds, genus merula. 
Merula, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. and Birds, Brit. Mus., P- 2° 
(l8l6). ; /T • \ 
v Type, M. merula (Linn ). 
The senaration of the genus Merula from the genus Tardus 
, SiffiniH to iustifv as in structure the two genera aie 
b l ^tolhe^ Bh.'iibird ” t;roup of Turdida. As far as Ure 
European s^ci^are concerned, ^. ow T r ’ 
well marked, and the difference in e resemble 
seDara tes the Blackbirds from the 1 brushes. They resemble 
sepaiatcs iue , nattern on the inner face of 
the latter in not having the white putt Orencichla and 
the wins and are thus easily distinguished from Vreoctc/iia ana 
GeocicMa. The members of the genus Merula are distnbu ed 
over the Palmarctic, Indian, and Australian regions be 
confined in the latter to various Paciric lsfands ln be 
Neotropical Region nearly twenty species occur, but the e e . 
is unrepresented in the Nearctic Region. 
the blackbird, merula merula. 
(Plate XXII , Fig. 2.) 
Turdus merula , Linn., Syst. Nat., 1., P- 2 95 () 7 *-^) , A^ a , C T’, . 
B., ii, p. 81 (1839) J Newt. ed. Yarr 1., P- 280 (1872.^ 
Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 9 L pi- T 3 j 1 7 2 ) j ' ' ^ 
Br. B. p. 4 (1883); Lilford, Col. lug. Br. B., pt. vn- 
(1888)’; Saunders, Man., p. 13 (1889); Wyatt, Br. p • 
i., figs. 3-4 (1894). , 00 \ . 
Merula merula, Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 235 (1881), 
id. Br. B., i., p. 235 (1883). 
Adult Male. — EnLirely black above and below, and includin 
the wings and tail ; bill orange-yellow ; feet and claws clar 
brown or black ; iris hazel ; eyelid orange. Total length, 10-5 
inches; Oilmen, 0-9; wing, 5'o; tail, 3'8 ; tarsus, i‘3- 
Adult Pemale. — Differs considerably from the male, being 
browner; and mottled underneath. The general colour is 
TT'JO. 
