366.    Planesticus fuscatus, Pall.

Turdus, apud Pallas - T. Naumanni, Schlegel - T. eunomus, Temm., Pl. Col., 514 - Blyth, Cat. 938 - T. Playfairi, Blyth.

The Dusky Thrush.

Descr. - Male, with the head dusky dark brown, and a white supercilium; ear-coverts dark brown; the rest of the plumage above rufescent-brown, with the wings and tail dusky; beneath, and the sides of the neck, white, with a brown streak on the sides of the neck, and numerous wide brown spots on the breast and the sides of the abdomen.

The female is ruddy-brown above ; the crown and ear-coverts dusky ; a whitish eye-streak ; throat, and the middle of the belly, white, the sides of the throat with dusky lines; breast and flanks brown, with pale margins to the feathers ; axillaries ferruginous.

Length 8 1/2 inches; wing 5; tail 2 1/3 ; bill at front 11/16; tarsus 1 1/8.

The Dusky Thrush appears to inhabit Northern and Central Asia, extending into China and Japan; and is a very rare winter visitant to the N. W. Himalayas. It is considered by some to be the same as T. dubius, Naumann, (figd. in Gould, Birds of Europe, pl. 79), but Prince Bonaparte denies this.