- a1. Without a white superciliary stripe.
- a2. With a well-marked, white, superciliary stripe extending from above lores to above ear-coverts obscurus (p. [549])
530. TURDUS PALLIDUS Gmelin.
PALE THRUSH.
- Turdus pallidus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, 815; Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 128; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1905), 4, 118, pl. 6, fig. 11; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 84.
- Merula pallida Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5, 273.
Calayan (McGregor). Japan and eastern Siberia; Formosa and Southern China in winter.
“In the adult male the general color of the upper parts is rich russet-brown, tinged with gray on the head; lores very dark brown; ear-coverts brown; no trace of eye-stripe; wings brown, the primaries, primary-coverts, and alula wing-feathers with the outer webs slate-gray, the secondaries, greater, median, and lesser wing-coverts with the outer webs russet-brown; tail dark brown, the outer webs of each feather margined with olive-brown; inner web of outside tail-feathers white for half an inch [13 mm.] at the tip; inner web of second outside tail-feather on each side with rather less white at the tip; more or less white at the tip of the third outside tail-feather on each side; throat and cheeks, breast and flanks slate-gray, shading into white on the belly and the center of the breast, and more or less irregularly shaded with brown on the lower throat, sides of breast, and flanks; under tail-coverts white, with the basal half edged with brown; axillars and under wing-coverts pale slate-gray obscurely tipped with white; inner margin of quills pale slaty brown. Bill dark brown, yellow at the base of the under mandible. Wings with the third, fourth, and fifth primaries nearly equal and longest, second primary intermediate in length between the fifth and sixth, bastard primary 19 to 12.7 mm. Legs, feet, and claws pale brown. Wing, 129.5 to 119; tail, 99 to 84; culmen, 29 to 23; tarsus, 30 to 29.
“The female differs from the male in having the parts which are slate-gray replaced by russet-brown, and in having the center of the throat grayish white, and the cheeks and sides of the throat with brown fan-shaped terminal spots. Males of the year have the plumage of the female, and the greater wing-coverts with more or less conspicuous pale tips. Young in first plumage are unknown.” (Seebohm.)
A female from Calayan measures: Wing, 122; tail, 87; culmen from base, 23; bill from nostril, 14; tarsus, 30.