TURDID.E—TURDIN.E: THRUSHES. 249 



Analysis of Genera. 

 Tail-feathers not particolored ; no blue anywhere. 



Neither spotted nor banded below, but throat streaked Mei-ula 



Banded crosswise below ; slate-colored above Hesperoeiehla 



Spotted or streaked below on a white or whitish ground. 



European Turdus 



Native American Hylocichla 



Tail-feathers black and white ; no blue anywhere Saxieoln 



Tail-feathers brown and chestnut ; throat blue and chestnut Cyanecula 



Tail-feathers blue, like back Sialia 



MEK'ULA. (Lat. merula, a kiud of Thrush, the European Blackbird, Turdus merula Linn., 

 type of the genus: Leach, Syst. Cat. Brit. Birds, 1816, p. 20.) European Blackbirds. 

 American Robins. Characters of Turdus proper, but tail relatively longer, being thrice as 

 long as tarsus. Tarsus a little longer than middle toe and claw. Bill notched near end, little 

 widened at base. Of large, stout form. Sexes similar; beneath mostly unicolor, with streaked 

 throat, but breast not spotted or collared. We have two good species, and a subspecies of 

 one of these. (Given as a subgenus of Turdus in former eds. of the Key, p. 243.) 



Analysis of Species and Subspecies. 



Upper parts slate-colored ; breast chestnut. 



Outer tail-feather with white tipping. (Eastern.) migratoria 



Outer tail-feather without decided white tipping. (Western.) M. propinqua 



Upper parts grayish-asli ; breast yellowish-buff. (Cape St. Lucas.) conjinis 



31. migrato'ria. (Lat. migratoria, migratory; migrator, a wanderer. Figs. 36, 58, 116.) 

 Robin. Adult $, in summer: Upper parts slate-color, with a shade of olive. Head black; 

 eyelids and spot before eye white; throat streaked with white. Quills of tlie wings dusky, 

 edged with hoary-ash, and wdth color of back. 

 Tail blackish; outer feather usually tipped with 

 white. Under parts to vent, including under 

 wing-coverts, chestnut. Under tail-coverts and 

 tibiae white, showing more or less plumbeous. 



.•^NV. 



Bill yellow, often with a dusky tip; mouth 



yellow ; eyes dark brown ; feet blackish ; soles ^^S*^"^ 



yellowish. Length about 10.00; extent 16.00; ^V^S^ ^ .v 



wing 5.00-5.50; tail 4.00-4.50; bill 0.80; tar- ^^4\1^'^" 



sus, or middle toe and claw, 1.25. Adult 9i ®^' 



in summer: Similar, but colors duller; upper Fio. llG. - Robin, nat. size. (Ad. uat. del. E. C.) 

 parts rather olivaceous-gray; chestnut of under parts paler, the feathers skirted witli gray or 

 white; head and tail less blackisli ; tliroat with more white. Bill much clouded with dusky. 

 (J 9, in winter, and young: Similar to adult 9) ^"t receding somewhat farther from $ in 

 summer by duller colors, paleness and restriction of the chestnut, its extensive skirting with 

 white, lack of distinction of color of head from that of back, tendency of white spot before eye 

 to run into a superciliary streak, and dark color of most of bill. Very young birds have the 

 back speckled, each feather being whitish centrally, with a dusky tip; cinnamon of under parts 

 spotted with blackish ; greater coverts tipped with white or rufous, frequently persistent, as are 

 also some similar markings on lesser coverts. N. Am. at large, W. to the Rocky Mts., to the 

 Pacific in Alaska, and to eastern Mexico; an abundant and familiar bird, migratory, breeding 

 from middle portions of the U. 8. northward to the Arctic Ocean, and wintering from Canada 

 and the northern States irregularly to the middle districts, abundantly in the Southern States; 

 casual in the Bermudas ; accidental in Europe. Nest in trees usually, saddled on a horizontal 



