PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 455 



inckidiug- with tbe latter group the genus Cafharus, which usually has 

 been placed among the Thrushes. 



At lirst sight it would seem that the Merulecv and Turdecv are too 

 closely related to constitute separate groups, the more so as there are 

 lew authors who distinguish the species of the two groups even gener- 

 ically. But the trouble of the prior attempts has been that the limit 

 between the two groups has been so traced that each division has con- 

 tained species really belonging to the other group. Thus, the Turdus 

 torquatus has almost unanimously* been regarded as a true Merula, 

 closely allied to the type of this genus, only because its color is black. 

 A careful examination shows, however, that the Eing-Ouzel, so far from 

 being au ally of Merida nigral is a near relative of Turdus viscivorus, the 

 type of the restricted genus Turdus. It is, then, a matter of course that 

 it has been imT)ossible to separate satisfactorily the two groups even 

 generically or subgenerically. But if all heterogeneous elements be 

 removed and put in their proper places, the differences between Turdece 

 and Meruhc become very striking. In fact, the Mernla nigra is at least 

 as remote from the true Thrushes as is Erithacus rnbecida, and the adop- 

 tion of the group Lusciniecv (by most ornithologists admitted as family 

 or subfamily on the same reasons as the Sa.vicoUdw) therefore necessi- 

 tates the establishment of a coordinate group embracing the genus most 

 nearly allied to Merida. 



As has already been remarked, the genus Catharus will usually be 

 found placed very near the true Thrushes, especially to the smaller 

 North American species of the genus Hylocichla, and Mr. Seebohm goes 

 even so far as to include Catharus dry as within the same subgeneric; 

 groups, embracing Hylocichla musica, mustelitia, Turdus riscivorus and 

 pilaris, chiefly, or rather only, on account of the dark spots on the under 

 surface. I have found it, however, quite impossible to remove them 

 from tbe Lusciniea] (genus Erithacus, Seebohm), with which they agree 

 in the very imjjortant character of the structure of bill, wing, and legs, 

 and also in tbe colors of the i)lumage. ^Notwithstanding the Cathari 

 point towards the true Turdew, while many of the old world Lusciniew 

 show a similar tendency towards the Merulea', so that the proper place 

 of the group Luseiniew will be between those two, thus fairl}- illustrat- 

 ing the gap between Turdcw and Merulew. 



In 186G Professor Baird (o/^. cit. p. 417) established the subfamily 

 Myiadestincv in the following words: "I am decidedly of opinion that, 

 notwithstanding a, close resemblance in general appearance, Mytadestes 



* The only iiotewortliy excevtiou isProf. J. Cabanis, who, in his " Jouru. fur Oniith." 

 1860, p. 161, foot-note, says: " Turdus torqtiatus should not be placed with Aleriila, but 

 must, with respect to the shape of bill and wing, remain with Turdus." 



I find no better place for correcting a very curious mistake in Gray's Handbook of 

 Birds, i, p. 253, in which the subgenus h of genus Turdus has received the name "Pso- 

 plwcichla, Heraug. 1860." The memoir of Cabanis, quoted above, has the heading, 

 "Eine neue Drossel-Gattuug, Psophociclda. Vom Herausgeber"=a new genus of 

 Thrushes, Psoplionchla. By the editor, and hence the error. 



