182 BULLETIN r)0, UNTTED STATES NATT()NAT> MT'SEUM. 



The IMocking Thrushes are apparently most nearly related to 

 the true Thrushes (Turdida:^) , and evidently occupy an intermediate 

 position between the latter and the Wrens (Troglodytida^), thouuh 

 Mr. Lucas's investigation of their osteok)oical structure" shows that 

 thej^ are not so nearly allied with the latter as with the former. 

 According to Mr. Lucas the Mimidse are, as a group, "fairly well 

 marked," though (raleoscopte,<^ is aberrant, ''having a very charac- 

 teristic shape to the maxillo-palatine process. This maxillo-palatine 

 is so entirely different [in other MimidcT] from that of the Wrens 

 that from what little experience I have had I should hesitate to unite 

 two groups so dissimilar in this respect. On the other hand, (kileo- 

 scoptes has such decided leanings toward the Thrushes, not only in 

 its skull, but in other portions of the skeleton, that it would seem 

 to connect them with the Miminte. Be this as it nuw, (kdeoscoptes 

 is certainly nearer to the Tlirushes than any other member of its 

 group, while IlarporJiyrichus [i. e., Toxostoma] seems to be the far- 

 thest removed." Externally, the Mimida^ differ from the Turdidfe 

 in their scutellate tarsi (though the divisions are, as previously 

 stated, sometimes indistinct), and in their shorter, more rounded 

 wings; from the Troglodytida?, the most wren-like genera, difier in 

 their well-developed rictal bristles and (all the genera) in having the 

 inner toe entirely free at the base from the middle one. 



In their habits and general appearance the IMocking Thrushes 

 resemble both the true Thrushes and the Wrens. They are all 

 songsters of greater or less merit, many of them being preeminent as 

 vocalists, while some of the species of the genus M'mtus are at least 

 the most brilliant and remarkable vocalists of all birds. 



The ]\Iimi(he are an exclusively American group, most numerously 

 represented, both as to genera and species, in Mexico. Only two of 

 the fourteen genera occur in South America, which possesses but one 

 genus {DonacohiuH) not found elsewhere. Five geiK^ra (Margarops, 

 Allenia, Iliunpliocindus, Cinclocerthia, and CalyptoplillusY are 

 peculiar to the West Indies, one {Nesomimus) to the Galapagos 

 Archipelago and one (Mimodes) to the island of Socorro, off north- 

 western IMexico. Two genera {Galeoscn.ptes and Oroscoptes) are 

 peculiar to North America north of Afexico;'' two {Melanofis and 

 Melnnoptila) are peculiar to Mexico, one (Toxostoma) is common to 

 Mexico and the United States (best represented in the former and 

 southwestern portion of the latter) while only one ( Mimus) is found 

 throughout the whole extent of the Neotropical Region and warmer 

 portions of the Nearctic Region. 



o See "Notes on Ihe Osteology of the Thrushes, Mini insp. and Wrens." Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., xi, 1888, pp. 173-180, pi. xxxvii. 



b The last only provisionally placed here, l)ut i)r()l)al)ly belonging to some other 

 group or constituting a family by itself. 



c So far as their breeding range is concerned. 



