2. TUEDTJ3. 197 



Tardus raelodus {Bartr.), Wilson, Amer. Oni. i. p. 29, pi. ii. fig. 1 



(1808). 

 Tvu'dus melodiiis {Bartr.'), Bp. Journ. Phil. Acad. iv. p. 33 (1824). 

 Meriila musteliuus {Gmel.), Denm/, P. Z. S. 1847, p. 38. 

 Tiirdus densus, Bp. Compt. Rend, xxxviii. p. 2 (1854). 

 Tm-diis (Hvlocichla) mustelinus ((?we/.), Cones, Birds Colorado Vail. 



p. 28 (1878). 



In the adult male in spring plumage the general colour of the 

 upper parts is russet-brown, shading into orange-chestnut ou the head 

 and into olive on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores grey ; ear- 

 coverts brown, -with pale centres ; no trace of eye-stripe ; wings 

 and wing-coverts browu, the outside webs of the feathers russet- 

 brown ; tail olive-brown, the tips of the feathers narrowly mar- 

 gined with -white. Underparts white, with a slight shade of buflf on 

 the lower throat, each feather (except on the chin, centre of upper 

 throat, centre of belly, and under tail-coverts) having a conspicuous 

 very dark -brown fan-shaped terminal spot, paler and obscurely de- 

 fined on the lower flanks; asillaries white, with brown centres; 

 under wing-coverts white with brown bases ; injier margins of 

 quills pale brown. Bill reddish brown, paler at the base of the 

 under mandible. Wings with the third and fourth primaries nearly 

 equal and longest ; second primary sometimes shorter, sometimes 

 longer than the fifth ; bastard primary 0-9 to 0-45 inch. Legs, feet, 

 and claws pale brown. Length of wing 4-45 to 3-S5 inches, tail 2-9 

 to 2-5, culmen 0-8 to 0-7, tarsus 1-28 to 1-12. 



The femnle does not appear to differ from the male, nor are the 

 colours much brighter immediately after the autumn moult. Birds 

 of the year have traces of pale tips to the greater wing-coverts. 

 Young in Jir.st plumage are described as having pale yellowish 

 shaft-lines to the small feathers of the upper parts and pale ochra- 

 ccous tips to tlie wing-coverts. 



The Wood-Thrush breeds in the Northern and Central United 

 States east of the Missouri, and winters in Cuba, Eastern Mexico, 

 Guatemala, and Honduras. 



a. Ad. St. N. America. Major-Gen. Hardwicke [P.]. 



b. Ad. St. N. America. J. Gould, Esq. [P.]. 



c. Ad. sk. N. America. Purchased. 



d. Ad. sk. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Prof. J. R. Steere [P.]. 

 e,f. Ad. sk. Honduras. Mr. Dyson [C.]. 



g. Ad. sk. Pennsylvania (J. Kitder). II. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



Turdus auduboni, Turdus pallasi, and Turdus aonalaschksB. 



Some ornithologists make the above three forms specifically di- 

 stinct, others unite them together as one species ; whilst a third, and 

 apparently increasing number, look upon them as subspecies or 

 imperfectly segregated species, which probably occasionally inter- 

 breed. I propose to adopt the latter mctliod of treatment, and to 

 describe first the largest form, of which the sjiionymy is as fol- 

 lows : — 



