Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 31. 
Family TV RBI DAI. 
TURDUS XANTHOPUS. 
(VINITINCTUS.) 
YINOUS-TINTED BLACKBIRD. 
(Plate 26.) 
Turdus Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th edn., Vol. I., p. 168, Jan. 1st, 1758. Type (by subsequent 
designation, Selby, Illustr. Brit. Birds, p. xxix., 1825) : Turdus merula Linne ( cf . Austral. 
Av. Rec., Vol. V., p. 77, Feb. 1923). 
Turdus xanthopus Forster, Descr. Anim. ed. Licht., p. 266, 1844 (pref. Jan.) : New Caledonia. 
Fig. Seebohm, Monogr. Thrushes, Vol. II., pi. 126. 
Merula vinilincta Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1855, p. 165, Dec. 18th : Lord How'e Island ; 
id., Suppl. Birds Austr., pt. ii., pi. 31, Sept. 1st. 1855 ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., 
p. 529, Dec. 1865 ; Seebohm, Monogr. Thrushes, Vol. II., pi. 125, 1902 ; Mathews, Handl. 
Birds Austr., p. 72, Jan. 1908. 
Turdus xanthopus vinitinctus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 450, Jan. 1912. 
Planesticus xanthopus vinitinctus Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 324, Dec. 1913. 
Planesticus xanthopus Mathews and Iredale, Austral. Av. Rec., Vol. IV., p. 109, Dec. 16tli, 1920. 
Distribution. Lord Howe Island. 
Adult male. Fore-head and crown of the head dark grey, suffused with olive ; occiput, nape, 
hind-neck, scapulars, lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts and wing-coverts chestnut- 
brown ; quills ash-brown, bordered on the outer w r eb with olive-brown ; tail-feathers 
uniform ash-brown ; sides of the face, ear-coverts and cheeks like the crown ; chin and 
throat brow T nish-olive ; sides of the neck, fore-neck, chest, breast, abdomen, sides of the 
body, flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts, uniform vinous-chestnut, darkest on the under 
tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts and axillaries brownish-olive ; quills below ash-coloured. 
Bill yellow, eyes brown, feet light yellow. Total length 215 mm. : culmen 18, wing 108, 
tail 81, tarsus 32. Figured. Collected on Lord Howe Island. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. Total length 215 mm. : culmen 18, wing 104, tail 80, 
tarsus 31. Collected at Cat Park, Lord Howe Island, on the 6th of October, 1913. 
Immature. Head fulvous-brown with distinct buff shaft-streaks ; back of the neck and mantle 
olive-brown, witb buff shaft-stripes ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts rich olive- 
brown ; wing-coverts light brownish-olive, slightly margined with lighter olive ; primary 
quills and secondaries brownish-ash, margined on the outer w T eb with olive-brown ; tail- 
feathers dark olive-brow T n ; chin and throat rufous-olive ; remainder of the under-surface 
of the body chestnut-buff, each feather with an indistinct blackish spot at the extremity ; 
under wing-coverts and axillaries olive-brown; under aspect of wing brownish-ash. 
Bill greyish-yellow, eyes brown, feet greyish-yellow. Collected at the Pines, Lord Howe 
Island, on the 28th of February, 1914. 
Younger birds are darker and have the shafts more noticeable. 
Nest and eggs. No nests were sent, but clutches of 2 eggs (single eggs are probably incomplete 
clutches) and one of 3 were found on the 28th of September, and from the 5th and 7th of 
November to the 28th and 29th of December, 1913. The eggs resemble those of Turdus 
fuliginosus, but the majority are of the large-spotted type, and they average slightly larger, 
measuring: 28 X 22, 295 X 22 ; 29 X 195, 29 r 5 X 21 ; 30 X 20, 30'7 X 20‘6 ; 
31 X 20 3, 30-5 X 20-5, 29 x 20 ; 315 X 215 : 33 X 21 ; 31 X 21 ; 29‘5 X 2P3, 
30-8 X 21-5, 29x 20; 29 6 X 2P3, 30 7 X 2P3 ; 28'3 X 2P3, 29 X 2P5 ; 29‘7 X 20 mm. 
The majority of specimens are indistinguishable from eggs of T. fuliginosus from Norfolk 
Island. 
Breeding-season. November and December. 
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