371.    Oreocincla dauma, Latham.

Turdus apud Latham  - Blyth, Cat. 932 - Horsf., Cat. 266 -  Oreocincla parvirostris, Gould, Birds of Europe, pl. 81 – Turdus varius, .Jerdon, Cat. 85.

The Small-billed Mountain Thrush.

Descr. - Above rich pale olive brown, each feather tipped black, and with a light spot in the centre bordering the black; lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts, whitish, the latter tipped dusky, and fulvous posteriorly ; quills dusky at the end, with a narrow and partial margin of light brown, and a pale streak near their base, where they are  white beneath; primary coverts black-tipped; the other coverts tipped fulvous ; beneath white, tinged with fulvous on the throat and breast, and each feather with a narrow band of deep brown or black, most numerous on the breast, few on the middle of the abdomen, and obsolete on the vent and under tail-coverts.

Bill brownish-dusky ; legs and feet brownish-yellow ; irides dark hazel-brown; the 3rd quill is the longest, and the 5th slightly longer than 2nd. Length about 10 1/2; inches ; wing 5 1/2; tail 3 3/4; bill at front 8/10 ; tarsus 1 2/10.

This very elegant and beautifully-marked Thrush is tolerably common throughout the Himalayas, and, during the cold season, descends to the plains. It is not uncommon in Lower Bengal. I first procured it in the jungles south of Cuttack, on the Chilka lake, and afterwards in the Wynaad jungle, and also near Saugor in Central India. It probably extends its summer migrations far North and West, for it has been killed in England and it is known to inhabit Northern Asia and Japan. It is very partial to bamboo jungles, feeding on the ground, and flying up into the bamboos or other trees.

Its food does not differ from that of other Thrushes. I found fruit and seed in those which I examined.   Its flight is rapid and elegant.