372. Oreocincla nilgiriensis, Blyth.

J. A. S., XL, 7, 181. - Blyth, Cat. 030 - Jerdon, 2nd Suppl. Cat. 85 bis - T. varius apud Jekdon, Suppl. Cat. 95 bis.

The Neilgherry Thrush.

Descr. - Above deep olive-brown, each feather edged black ; lores pale, white and fulvous ; ear-coverts dark, the feathers centred pale ; quills rufescent olive-brown, dusky within ; primary coverts banded with black, and some of the median and greater coverts tipped fulvous ; beneath white, faintly tinged with fulvous, and with numerous close and wide bands of rich deep brown on the throat and breast, fewer and more distant on the abdomen, larger on the flanks, and nearly wanting on the vent and under tail-coverts.

Length 10 3/4 inches ; wing 5 1/2 ; tail 3 3/4 ; tarsus 1 2/10; bill at front 1 1/10 (at gape 1 1/2).

This fine, strong-billed, Thrush has, as yet, been only found in the dense woods on the summits of the Neilgherries, where, however, it is not very common. It has a most rich and charming song. It is chiefly found on the higher woods, and never comes out to the open, like the Neilgherry Blackbird.

This Thrush, by its large and strong bill, approximates a good deal to Zoothera.

Other species of Oreocincla, from the East, are - O. inframarginata, Blyth, from the  Andamans, of moderate size, and with the bill small; O. spiloptera, Bl., from Ceylon, small, with the bill large and strong, and, like mollissima, with the upper plumage plain ; O. Horsfieldii, Bonap. (Varius apud Horsfield), from Java; and
Bonaparte also (Compt. Rend.) gives 0. varia from Siberia, and O. Heinii, Cabanis, from Japan.

One species is found in Australia, and another in Tasmania, if these be really different. Mimus (the American Mocking-bird genus), usually placed among the Thrushes, has been located by Bonaparte among the Timalinae; and, I think, rightly so.