682. Merula feae.
Fea's Ouzel.
Turdus chrysolaus, Temm., apud Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. ii, p. 102, xli, pt. ii, p. 143. Turdulus pallens (Pall.), apud Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. ii, p. 178. Turdus pallidus, Gmel., apud Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. ii, p. 196 ; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 253; Hume, Cat. no. 369 ter; id. S. F. xi, p. 130. Merula pallida, Gmel., apud Oates, B. B. i, p. 2. Merula feas, Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, p. 514 (1887), p. 610 (1888). Turdus subpallidus, Hume, S. F. xi, p. 132 (1888).
Coloration. Resembles M. obscura, but differs in the following respects :—the breast and sides of the body in both sexes are slaty grey, not chestnut-brown; the upper plumage in both sexes is russet-brown, not olive-brown; the crown in the adult male is never darker than the other upper parts; the sides of the head and the sides of the chin and throat are russet-brown, not slaty brown ; and in the adult male the throat itself is slaty grey, not slaty brown.
Iris deep chocolate ; bill black ; legs pale cloudy brown ( Wardlaw Ramsay) ; legs and feet brownish yellow; bill blackish brown, yellow at gape and on base of lower mandible ; iris brown (Hume).
Of the same dimensions as M. obscura.
This Ouzel resembles M. pallida, Gmelin, but may be instantly distinguished from that species by the presence of a supercilium, which is altogether absent in M. pallida. The latter inhabits Eastern Asia and may occasionally visit Burma.
Distribution. Shillong and Cherra Poonjee ; Japvo peak in the Naga hills at 10,000 feet; Manipur; Karennee at 5000 feet; Muleyit mountain in Tenasserim.
All the specimens of this species that I have examined from the above localities were procured in the winter months, but this Ouzel is not unlikely to prove a resident species in those parts.
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