CATHARUS. 11 



not agree exactly with Mr. Gould's description, but is probably the 

 same species. 



Catkarus me^icanus. 



Malacocichla mexicana, Box. Coinptes Rendus, XLIII, Nov. 1856, 998 

 (Xalapa). — Catharus mexicanus, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 324. — Ib. 

 Catal. 18(51, 1, uo. 4. 

 Hah. S. Mexico ; Guatemala. 



Above yellowish olive, with a tinge of rufous in the rump and 

 base of tail. Top and sides of head black, this color not extending 

 to sides of lower jaw, which are dark ash. Beneath ashy ; the chin 

 and throat whitish ; middle of belly and crissum white ; breast and 

 sides tinged with olive. Bill yellow ; dusky along culmen ; tip 

 brownish yellow or very pale corneous. 



Length, 6.00 ; wing, 3.55 ; 1st primary, .90; tail, 2.80 ; bill, from 

 nostril, .40, from gape, .90 ; tarsus, 1.30 ; middle toe and claw, .88. 



Specimen examined, Xo. 32 of Mr. Salvin's collection, Rio Poto- 

 chic, Tileman, Guatemala, Jan. 1861 (lent by Mr. Salvin). 



This species is easily distinguished by the combination of the yel- 

 lowish olive back, black head, and absence of spots beneath. The 

 olive has a more gamboge tinge than in dryas, and the black of the 

 head does not extend over the lower 'jaw. There is nothing of the 

 ochry yellow of the under parts, nor the spots of dryas. 



* 

 TURDUS, Lisx. 

 Tardus, Libn. Syst. Nat. ed. 10th, 1758, 168. (Type T. viscivorus of Europe.) 



The genus Tiirdus is an exceedingly cosmopolitan one, embracing 

 species from nearly all parts of the world excepting Australia. 

 There are many minor variations in external anatomy and style of 

 coloration ; but the transition is so gradual from one form to another 

 as to render it exceedingly difficult to separate them generically to any 

 considerable extent. They agree in the conical subulate bill, shorter 

 than the head ; the tip gently decurved and notched (except in 

 Eesperocichla) ; the rictus with moderate bristles ; the wings rather 

 long and pointed, with small 1st primary (less than one-fourth the 

 second) ; considerably longer than the tail, which is firm, nearly even, 

 with broad feathers. Tarsi variable, seldom as long as the skull, 

 the scutellse fused into a continuous plate ; only in rare individual 

 instances showing indications of the lines of separation. 



The following arrangement of the genus is proposed as expressing, 

 with some accuracy, the characters of the American species : — 



