TURDUS. 17 
In Guatemala T. tristis is seldom absent from the neighbourhood of Duefias in the 
plains between the Volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, where Jpomea murocoides abounds. 
It is there a rather shy bird. We never found its nest, but obtained young birds which 
“had not thrown off their first spotted plumage. In Vera Paz T. tristis is by no means 
common in the vicinity of Coban; but at a lower elevation in the forests that stretch 
away to the confines of Peten it is very abundant. The bird-collectors of Coban obtain 
many skins from this district ; and we ourselves observed it wherever we went in these 
forests. Owing, perhaps, to the different character of the vegetation of this part of 
Vera Paz to what prevails at Duefas, 7’ ¢ristis is here a strictly forest-loving species. 
To this cause, too, is probably due the darker colouring of the birds of Vera Paz. 
9. Turdus plebeius. 
Turdus plebejus, Cab. J. f. Orn. 1860, p. 823*; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 91°; v. Frantz. J. f. 
Orn. 1869, p. 290’. 
Sordide fuscus, supra parum olivascenti tinctus, subtus nisi hypochrondriis dilutior ; subalaribus vix cervinis ; 
rostro nigro, pedibus corylinis. Long. tota 10-5, alee 5°5, caude 4:3, rostri a rictu 1-2, tarsi 1°3. (Deser. 
maris ex La Palma, Costa Rica. Smiths. Inst. no. 42804. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Costa Ricat, Dota, San José, La Palma (v. Frantzius?), Grecia, Cervantes 
(Carmiol *), Volcan de Cartago (Rogers). 
This plain-coloured Thrush was first described by Dr. Cabanis from Costa-Rica spe- 
cimens sent by Drs. v. Frantzius, Hoffmann, and Ellendorf to the Berlin Museum. 
Dr. v. Frantzius has since forwarded skins of it to the Smithsonian Institution ; and other 
collectors in Costa Rica have also met with it, though it would appear to be not so com- 
mon as some of its congeners. Dr. v. Frantzius tells us it is found in the forests of the 
mountainous parts of the country at an elevation of from 3000 to 6000 feet above the sea. 
Turdus plebeius, though devoid of any striking characters in the markings of its 
plumage, is nevertheless a well-defined species, its nearest ally being Z. ignobilis of 
Ecuador and Colombia. It has the bill black as in that species; and the throat is 
without the conspicuous patch of white which distinguishes 7. ¢ristis and its allies. 
It differs from 7. ignobilis in its larger size, and in having the whole of the under 
plumage of the same dull grey-brown colour as the chest, these parts in 7. ignodilis 
being nearly white. In his original description of the species, Dr. Cabanis compares 
T. plebeius with T. amaurochalinus (i. e. T. lewcomelas), a bird of the same group as 
T. ignobilis; and this seems to us to be its proper position. The first primary is quite 
short, as in birds of that group; and the under wing-coverts have a rufous tinge. 
T. nigrescens and T. chiqguaco, between which T. plebeius is placed in the ‘ Nomenclater 
Avium Neotropicalium,’ have each of them a long first primary, and thus belong to a 
different section of the genus; and from their immediate vicinity we now think that 
ZT. plebeius ought to be removed. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Zool., Aves, Vol. 1, Sept. 1879. 3 
