TURDID.E — MYIADESTIN.E: FLY-CATCHING THRUSHES. 



259 



.'ill, 4th, and 5th quills ; 2cl about equal to 6th ; 1st spurious, about ^ as loug as the longest. 

 Tail of moderate length, slightly rounded; particolored with chestnut ; throat and breast with 

 azure-blue and chestnut. An Old World genus, one species of which occurs casually in 

 Alaska. 



C. sue'cica. (Lat. Suecica, Swedish.) Blue-tiiroated Redstart. Red-spotted Blue- 

 throat. ^ , adult : Entire upper parts dark brown with a shade of olive (about the color of 

 a Titlark, Anthus petisilvanicus) ; feathers of crown with darker centres ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts rather lighter, mixed with bright chestnut-red. Wings like back, with slightly paler 

 edgings of the feathers. Middle tail-feathers like back, or rather darker, the rest blackish, 

 with the basal half or more of their length bright chestnut-red or orange-brown. Lores dusky ; 

 a whitish superciliary line. Chin, throat, and forebreast rich ultramarine blue, enclosing a 

 bright chestnut throat-patch ; the blue bordered behind by black, this again by chestnut 

 mixed with white. ■ Rest of under parts white, w^ashed on sides, lining of wings and under tail- 

 coverts with pale fulvous. Bill and feet black. 9 ^^^ young similar, the throat-markings 

 imperfect. Length 5.75-6.00 ; wing 3.10 ; tail 2.25-2.50 ; bill 0.50 ; tarsus 1.00 ; middle toe 

 and claw 0.75. A beautiful and interesting bird, widely distributed in northerly parts of the 

 Old World, casually found at St. Michael's in Alaska. 



Subfamily MYIADESTIN/E: Fly-Catching Thrushes; Solitaires. 



Bill very short, much depressed and widened at base; rami of under mandible deeply 

 cleft, with short gonys (only i as long as culmen), tarsus hooted, and toes deeply cleft, as in 

 other Turdidce. Feet weak ; lat- 

 eral toes unequal ; tip of inner 

 claw falling short of base of the 

 middle one. W^iug of 10 prima- 

 ries; 1st spurious, 2d about = 

 6th ; tip formed by 3d-5th. Tail 

 long, about equalling wing, 

 double -rounded, being forked 

 centrally, graduated externally, 

 all the feathers tapering. Head 

 subcrested ; plumage sombre, 

 variegated on wings ; sexes alike ; 

 young spotted. Containing a 

 dozen or more species, chieHy 

 (if the genus Myindestes ; others 

 of CicMopsis and Platycichla; all 

 except one are birds of C. and S. 

 Am. and the W. Indies. Though 

 our species was formerly called 



bill and foot 



Fio. 123. — Generic details of ^fyi^destps (M. toin 

 nat. size, wing and tail J). (From Baird.) 



Ptilogouys," it has nothing to do with that genus ; and 

 though it has usually been placed near J'hainopepla, and referred with the latter to Ampelidce, 

 it is no member of tliat family. As stated in the Key, 2d ed., 1884, p. 325, " the MyiadestineB 

 are near the true Thrushes,'' to which they have been since referred by comun)n consent of 

 American writers, and with all the authority of the A. 0. U. I avail myself of the first oppor- 

 tunity to make the required transposition to the Turdida- of the matter on pp. 328 and 329 of 

 2d-4tli o.ls. of Key. 



MYIADKS'TKS. (Gr. iiv'ia, mnia, a fly, and tSeo-nyr, edextes, an eater.) Fly-catching 

 Thrushes. Solitaires. Characters those of the subfamily as above given. 

 M, town'sendi. (To J. K. Townsend.) Townsend's Fly-catchixg Thrush, or 



