474 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



longer than two and a half times the moderate goujs; chin-angle not 

 reaching before the line of the nostrils. Bristles along gape moderate 

 in strength and nnmber. Tarsus stout and moderate in length, never 

 longer than t\Aice the exposed culmen. Tail sipiare or only slightly 

 rounded; the tail-feathers more than two aud a half times the length of 

 the tarsus, but shorter than three and a half times the same length and 

 considerably shorter than the wing. 



liEiviARKS. — At the first sight this genus will appear somewhat hete- 

 rogeneous, including such diflt'erent looking birds, as Merula nigra, 

 migratoria andjamaicensis. These differences are, however, only super- 

 ficial and due to the color, but it will not be difficult to arrange the 

 numerous species of this genus, which has representatives all the world 

 over, but the chief range of which seems to be the tropical regions, iu 

 one series, showing nicely the transitions from the deepest black to the 

 lightest rusty, and from the quite uniform to the most varied colored 

 bird. As to the Jl/. aiirantia (Gmel.), from Jamaica, I have expressed 

 my doubts under Semimentla, to which remarks I here refer. 



Semimerula Sclat. 



Semimerula gigas. 



<1859. — Semimerula Sclater. Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond. 1859, p. 332. 

 <^l6iil.—MeniU8sima Seebohm, Cat. Birds Br. Mus. V, p. 232. 



Size large; color uniform blackish or dull brownish. Wing very 

 rounded, the fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries being longest, the third 

 never longer than the fifth ; second primary never longer than two and 

 a half times the first, never longer than the eighth ; secondaries as in 

 Merula. Bill very large and stout, being otherwise much like that of 



