66 



TURDINiE. 



THRUSHES AND ALLIED SPECIES. 



In the family of TurdinjB I would include not only Turdus, 

 with its various subdivisions, but most of the numerous genera 

 forming the sections designated by Mr Swainson and his fol- 

 lowers by the names of Brachypodinw^ Merulinw^ Cratero- 

 podince and Oriolinw, which agree in their more important 

 characters, but which it is unnecessary to describe in a work 

 like the present, confined to the birds of a small tract of country. 

 Only two genera of this family have representatives in Britain, 

 namely Oriolus and Turdus, which, with the others alluded to 

 above, present the following general characters. 



They are birds of small size, our Blackbird and Missel 

 Thrush being among the largest, while the smallest does not 

 exceed the Robin. In form they are rather slender, having the 

 body ovate, and deeper than broad, the neck rather short, the 

 head oblong, compressed, and of moderate size ; the bill short 

 or of moderate length, rather strong, compressed towards the 

 end ; the upper mandible with its dorsal outline a little convex 

 and declinate, the tip small, rather acute, the notch small ; 

 the lower mandible with the angle rather short, of moderate 

 width, anteriorly rounded, the dorsal outline straight, the sides 

 convex, the edges a little inflected, the tip acute. Both man- 

 dibles are internally concave, with a median prominent line. 

 The tongue is sagittate and papillate at the base, slender, 

 tapering, its edges thin and bristly, the tip slit. The bristles on 

 the tongue are sometimes greatly developed, as in Sericulus 

 chrysocepkalus of New Holland. The oesophagus, PI. XIV, 

 Figs. 2, 3, is rather narrow, without crop ; the proventriculus 

 oblong, with short cylindrical glandules ; the stomach a gizzard 

 of moderate strength, its lateral and lower muscles distinct ; the 

 intestine of moderate length, the coeca very small and cylindrical. 



