On Merula javanica and its nearest allies

When occasionally looking over the Malayan specimens of the genus Merula in the Leyden Museum, my attention was drawn by a probably new bird from Celebes, which shows a very strong relationship to M. javanica (Horsf.) and M. schlegeli (Sclat.). Mr. Seebohm, in his Catalogue of the Turdidae in the British Museum, united M. schlegeli with M. javanica, though the distinguishing characters, pointed to by Dr. Sclater, are striking enough to have it recognized as an undoubtedly valid species. As Dr. Sharpe described another species from Borneo, we will have to deal, at present, with the following four species of this group: Turdus javanicus Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, p. 148 (1822); Sclat. Ibis 1861, p. 280; id. 1875, p. 344, pl. 8; Seebohm, Cat.