Turdus interpres "Kuhl MS," Temminck, Pl. Col. (1828), 2, no. 458.
Geocichla interpres Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5,
166; Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 132; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 84.
Basilan (Steere Exp.); Sulu (Platen); Tawi Tawi (Bourns &
Worcester). Malay Peninsula, northwestern Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Lombok, Sumbawa.
"In the adult male in spring plumage the head is brownish chestnut,
shading into orange-chestnut on the nape; the rest of the upper
parts slate-gray; lores grayish white; no trace of eye-stripe;
ear-coverts and cheeks black, the feathers of the former with white
bases; innermost secondaries and quills dark brown; wing-coverts
nearly black; median wing-coverts white; greater wing-coverts tipped
with white; unemarginated portion of outside web of primaries pale
slate-gray; tail brown, the outside feather on each side broadly tipped
with white, and the next narrowly so; chin, throat, and upper breast
black; rest of the under parts white, suffused with ochraceous on the
flanks; the feathers of the lower breast with conspicuous fan-shaped
black terminal spots, which become obscure on the flanks; axillars,
basal portion white, terminal portion dark slate-gray; lower under
wing-coverts, basal portion black, terminal portion white; basal
portion of inner web of the secondaries and many of the primaries
white. Bill dark brown above and below. Wing with the fourth and fifth
primaries nearly equal and longest, second primary between the seventh
and eighth, bastard primary, 24 to 21.5 mm. Legs, feet, and claws
flesh-color. Wing, 108 to 102; tail, 61 to 53; culmen, 19.5 to 18;
tarsus, 29 to 28. The adult plumage of the sexes appears to be alike,
nor is it known that any important change takes place by abrasion.
"Young in first plumage appear to have the whole of the upper parts
dull chestnut, each feather having a pale shaft and obscure pale
center; the white bars on the wings are suffused with chestnut, and
the black on the under parts is confined to two moustachial lines on
the cheeks, the rest being dull chestnut. This plumage is immediately
molted to the adult plumage in the first autumn, except that certain
birds, which I take to be females, have the slate-gray of the upper
parts replaced by dark olive-brown." (Seebohm.)