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.