MIMOCICIILA. 



39 



(31,978.) Bill from base of skull about as long as tlie head, with a distinct 

 terminal notch. Rictal bristles short ; those at the angle of mouth reaching 

 scarcely more than half way to the nostril. A distinct membranous ring 

 round the eye. 



Tarsi lengthened. No traces of scutellse in most specimens ; the faintest 

 possible (perhaps fallacious) indications in others. 



Wings rather rounded, shorter than the tail ; 4th and 5th quills longest ; 

 2d between 7th and 8th ; 1st quill slightly falcate, rather obtuse at the end, 

 contained a little more than two and a half times in the 2d qiiill. Tail 

 moderately graduated; lateral feathers .70 shorter than central. 



General color slaty or plumbeous gray, darker on the back and head. Lores, 

 space beneath the eye and extending on the ears, and a large patch on the 

 throat, black ; chin, and a short patch from the side of lower jaw as far back 

 as its articulation, together with the concealed bases of the black throat 

 feathers, white. Posterior part of belly and flanks, with the tibia, light 

 cinnamon red. Crissum and terminal half of exposed surface of tail white. 

 Wing and tail feathers black, except as described, abruptly margined ex- 

 ternally with plumbeous (in the latter on the concealed bases of the feathers). 

 Legs appareutly red in life, fading into yellowish. Bill in the dried skin 

 dusky, possibly in life of a dark reddish color. 



Length, 10.20; wing, 5.00; tail, 5.20; longest quill, .60 longer than the 

 2d; 1st 1.25 long, .21 wide; tarsi, 1.50; middle toe and claw, 1.12; claw 

 alone, .28; bill from forehead, 1.08 ; nostrils, .65 ; gape, 1.25. 



lu a considerable number of specimens before me I find quite a 

 variation in size (No. 31,979 measuring 9.20, wing, 4.75), with but 

 little in form ; the 1st primary is sometimes rather smaller in pro- 

 portion than as described. The colors, too, are very constant. 



Miniociclila ardosiacea. 



Tardus plumbeus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. XII, I, 1766, 294 (not of 10th ed. 

 excl. reference to Catesby). — Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 2, 

 pi. Iviii. — Ib. Nouv. Diet. XX, 1818, 242. — ? Galeoscoptes plumbeus, 

 Salle, Pr. Z. S. 1857, 231. — Galeoscoptes (^Mimocichla) plumbeus, 

 ScLATEK, P. Z. S. 1859, 336. 



Tardus ardosiaceiis, Vieill. Encyclop. Meth. II, 1823, 648 (St. Domingo). 



Le Merle cendri d^Am^rique, Bkisson, Ornithol. II, 1760, 288 (St. Do- 

 mingo). 



Hab. St. Domingo. 



Bill from base of skull shorter than the head. Lower edges of upper jaw 

 straight to the middle, and then scarcely curved to the tip where there is a 



