250 



6^ YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



bough, composed largely of mud; eggs ^^-6, about i.l8 X 0.80, uuit'onn greenish -blue, nor- 

 mally unspotted. 



M. m. propin'qua. (La.t. propinqua, ueigliboring ; as related to the last.) Western Robin. 

 Quite like 31. migrator ia ; averaging .slightly larger; wing up to 5.60; tail up to 4.70, not so 

 blackish as that of 31. migratoria, the outer feather without white, or merely a narrow edging. 

 A scarcely distinguished race, of the Rocky Mt. region aiid westward in the U. S. to Luwer 

 California and Mexico. 



M. conli'nis. (Lat. coufinis, allied or related ; as to 31. migratoria.) St. Lucas Robin. 

 Adult $ 9 • Upper parts, including sides of head and neck, uniform grayish-ash, with slight 

 olive shade, scarcely darker on head; chin and throat white, streaked with ashy-brown; breast, 

 sides, and lining of wings pale yellowish-buft', belly white, flanks ashy. A distinct white super- 

 ciliary stripe ; lower eyelid white. Feathers of jugulum and sides with ashy tips; greater wing- 

 coverts tipped with whitish ; bill yellowish, upper mandible and tip of lower tinged with dusky; 

 feet pale brown. Wing 5.10, tail 4.10; tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw 1.07. Lower Cali- 

 fornia; has occurred at Hay ward, Cal., exceptionally. General appearance of a young dull- 

 colored common Robin, but quite distinct. 



Fio. It7.— Varied Thrush. 



HESPEROCICH'LA. (Gr. fo-nepos, hesperos, Lat. vctperus, of the evening or time of sun- 

 set, hence western ; /ci;fXa, kichla, a kind of thrush : Baird, Rev. Am. B., i, 1864, p. 12.) Ves- 

 per Thrushes. In general, similar to 3Ierula and Turdus proper. Tarsus no longer than 

 middle toe and claw. Bill unnotched ; nostrils partly overhung by feathers which fill the nasal 

 fossae. Sexes subsimilar; $ with a black pectoral collar. One strongly marked species, by 

 one author referred to the extensive Old World genus Geocichla. (Given as a subgenus of 

 Turdnx in former eds. of the Key.) 



i 



