160 BULLETIN 50^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus MYADESTES Swainson. 



Myadestes Swainson, Naturalists' Libr., xiii, 1S3S, 132. (Type, M. genibarbis 



Swainson.) 

 Myidestes (emendation) Swainson, Naturalists' Libr., xiii, 1838, 134. 

 Myiadestes ("einendatiofT) Agassiz, Nomencl. Zool., Aves, 1842, 49. 

 Myiesthes (emendation) Agassiz, Index Univers., 1846, 241. 

 Myiadectes (emendation) Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., xxxviii, 1854, 3; Notes 



Orn. Coll. Delattre, 1854, 27. 

 Myiedestes (emendation) Sharpe, Hand-list Birds, iv, 1903, 112. 



Rather small short-legged, short- and broad-billed Turdidje with 

 bill decidedly broader than high at frontal antise, gonys decidedly 

 shorter than mandibular rami, and inner webs of remiges crossed by 

 a broad basal or subbasal band of white or buff. ^ 



Bill short, broad and depressed at base, triangular in vertical 

 profile, its width at frontal anti» greatly exceeding its height at 

 same point and equal to or exceeding length of gonys; exposed 

 culmen little if any longer than outer toe (without claw), straight 

 basally (sometimes for most of its length) decurved terminally; gonys 

 decidedly shorter than mandibular rami, much less than width of 

 space between latter at base, faintly convex, strongly ascending 

 terminally; maxillary tomium nearly straight, very distinctly notched 

 subterminally. Nostril longitudinally ovoid or fusiform (usually 

 narrower at anterior end), more or less covered posteriorly by antrorse 

 bristly feathers of the frontal antije, overhung by .membrane. Rictal 

 and decumbent post-nasal bristles strongly developed, especially the 

 former; feathers of chin with slender, recurved bristle-like points. 

 Wing moderate to long, rounded, the longest primaries exceeding 

 longest secondaries by less than length of tarsus to combined length 

 of tarsus and middle toe (without claw) ; outermost (tenth) primary 

 longer than primary coverts, one-third {M. townsendi) %^ nearly one- 

 half ( M. melanops) as long as ninth, rather narrow, wit'h roimded tip, 

 except in M. solitarius and allies (not M. sihilans, however) , in which 

 it is subfalcate; ninth primary shorter than third {M. melanops) to 

 longer than fourth {M. toionsendi) ; eighth, seventh and sixth, seventh 

 and sixth, or sixth and fifth primaries longest ; four primaries (eighth, 

 seventh, sixth, and fifth) with outer web sinuated, but sinuation rather 

 indistinct, especially on eighth or fifth, where sometimes hardly aj^pre- 

 ciable. Tail nearly equal to or slightly longer than wing, double- 

 rounded, the lateral rectrices usually shorter than middle pair ])ut 

 sometimes longer; rectrices rather soft, tapering more or less distinctly, 

 the tip narrowly rounded or sometimes subacvnninate. Tarsus short 

 and slender, one-sixth to decidedly more than one-fourth as long as wing, 

 the acrotarsium booted ; middle toe (without claw) two-thirds to three- 



fl As in the genera Hylocichla, Ixoreus, Cichloselys, Ridgwayia, Oreocichla, and Geo- 

 dchla. 



