CATHARUS. 5 
Sumichrast, who obtained specimens in the Sierra Madre near Zapotitlan®. During 
his previous residence near Orizaba the same gentleman also met with it, and sent 
several specimens to the Smithsonian Institution ®; he says that it has nearly the same 
range as C. melpomene*. These and others obtained by Mr. le Strange in the neigh- 
bourhood of Mexico itself show that the species is not one peculiar to Western Mexico, 
as Mr. Sclater at first supposed!?. Its range, however, seems to be very limited, as it 
has not as yet been noticed out of the highlands of Southern Mexico. 
The faint spots on the throat and chest render C. occidentalis easily distinguishable 
from C. melpomene, and, indeed, from all its congeners. 
5. Catharus fuscater. 
Myioturdus fuscater, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 341°. 
Catharus fuscater, Scl. P. Z.S. 1859, p. 824°; Salv. P. Z.S. 1867, p. 132°, 1870, p. 180°; Lawr. 
Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 90’. 
Supra schistaceo-niger, pileo fere nigro ; subtus griseo-fuscus, abdomine medio albo; rostro et pedibus auran- 
tiacis. Long. tota 6-5, ale 3-5, caude 3, rostri a rictu 0-9, tarsi 1*3. (Descr. maris ex Cordillera de Tolé 
in Statu Panamensi. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Costa Rica, Cervantes (v. Frantzius®); Panama, Cordillera de Tolé (Arcé?), Calo- 
vevora and Cordillera del Chucu (Arcé+).—CotomBra!; Ecuapor 2. 
This, the oldest known member of the genus, was not referred to its proper position 
until Mr. Sclater removed it from the Formicariide (where it had been placed by its 
describer Lafresnaye 1), and classed it among the Turdide in the genus Catharus?. 
Its range, though wide, is not so extensive as that of its congener C. dryas; still it is 
found from Ecuador to Costa Rica, specimens from which places, as well as from the 
State of Panama, show no differences that we can trace. 
Though not so rare as most other Cathari, it cannot be said to be a common species. 
More specimens have been sent us from the mountainous parts of Panama than from 
elsewhere. 
A Costa-Rican example was compared by Mr. Lawrence with Lafresnaye’s type at 
Boston, and certain differences described *, notably the colour of the maxilla and the 
yellowish tinge of the abdomen in the Costa-Rica bird. The variation in the colour of 
the bill, we believe, is due entirely to age, and the tint of the abdomen to the fresh- 
ness of the specimen, the ochre tint of this part in C. dryas being very evanescent. 
The blackness of the back is a sexual difference in species of this section of the genus. 
The nearly uniform blackness of the whole of the upper plumage distinguishes 
C. fuscater from all other Central-American Cathart. 
