PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 471 



seventh, the third being the longest. Bill slender, with the culmen 

 straight and the commissure arched at the base, and with the subter- 

 minal notch obsolete; bristles few and weak. Tarsi long and slender, 

 two and two-third times the length of the exposed culmen, and one and 

 four-fifths times the length of the commissure, making about two-fifths 

 of the length of the tail. Toes long and very slender, the claws being 

 unusually straight, small, and slender. Tail nearly even, the outer web 

 of the outermost quill widening towards the tip. Plumage compact ; 

 head without crest. 



Remarks. — This genus is included here in account of the supposed 

 occurrence of Cyanecula suecica (Lin.) in Alaska. 



The characters, as given above, are sufficient to distinguish these 

 birds from both Urithacus,* Luscinia^f and Calliope. Notwithstanding 

 an external resemblance to Phcenicurus, it certainly belongs to this group 

 and not to the 8axicolece. 



Group MERULEiE. 



Synopsis of the American genera. 



ffl' Tail not graduated; the tail-feathers cousiderably shorter than the wing. 

 b ' Tail-ieathers more thau two and a half times the length of the tarsus. 



c ' Third, fourth, and fifth primaries largest, or else the tail square Merula. 



c^ Fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries largest, and the tail much rounded 



Semimerula. 



b 2 Tail-feathers only twice the length of the tarsus Cichlherminia. 



a'^ Tail graduated j the largi'st tail-feathers about of the length of the wing 



Mimocichla. 





Merula migratoria. 



* Erithacus Cuv., Leg. d'Anat. Comp, I (1799-1800), tabl. ii. A true synonym of 

 this is Helminthophaga Bechst. Orn. Taschb. (1803), p. 177 cf. pp. 507 and 548 (nee 

 Cab. quiB Helmintliophila Eidg.). It was an error when I informed Mr. Eidgway that 

 Bechstein included the Nightingale within this subgenus. Cf. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 

 1882, p. 53. 



t Lmcinia Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. Birds (1817), p. 14, is prior to Dandalus of Boie. 



