Description
Males of this 22 cm thrush are conspicuously black and white. Mostly black on the upper parts it has a long white supercilium, and white tips to the wing coverts, tertials, rump and tail. The underparts are white with black flank spots the bill and legs are yellow. Females and young birds have the same basic pattern, but the black is replaced by dark brown, and the white by light brown. The markings on the underside are scalier.
The bill is not as strongly curved as that of the Dark-sided Thrush or the Long-billed Thrush and the female lacks the prominent pale cheek spot of the similar looking female Siberian Thrush.
The binomial commemorates Samuel Neville Ward (1813–1897), a British colonial administrator in India from 1832 to 1863. Although most sources including Jerdon refer to him as Mr S N Ward of the Madras Civil Service (as did Charles Darwin) he was posted at Sirsi and known for his natural history studies and artistic talent.
Thomas C. Jerdon who first obtained a specimen of the species from Ward notes:
This Pied Blackbird is spread, but very sparingly, through the Himalayas, and during the winter in the plains of India. I first procured it, through Mr. Ward, from the foot of the Neilgherries, and afterwards obtained two specimens at Nellore in the Carnatic. —JerdonRead more about this topic: Pied Thrush
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