TURDID^. 3 



B. Nostrils linear, in lower edge of nasal membrane. Loral and frontal 

 feathers soft and downy, and no bristles or bristly points whatever 

 about the mouth. 



Cinclidae. Body very short and broad. Wings short, rounded, and 

 concave. 



The American Sylviadse are in some respects very closely related 

 to the Saxicolidae, but may be distinguished by their much smaller 

 size, more slender and depressed bill, more strongly bristled rictus, 

 etc. ; on which account they are more strictly " fly-catchers," taking 

 their prey in great part on the wing. 



Of the three families, the Turdidse contain a great variety of forms, 

 and exhibit widely different characters, rendering it e-tceedingly diffi- 

 cult to arrange them in any systematic or regular sequence, or to 

 accurately define their boundaries. In my work on the Birds of North 

 America, I placed the Mocking Thrushes among the Wrens, on ac- 

 count of the distinct tarsal scutellas, and other characters. I am 

 now, however, inclined to believe, with Dr. Sclater,_ that their place 

 is with the recognized Turdidse ; and among other reasons, on the 

 ground of their more deeply cleft toes, and greater extension forward 

 of frontal feathers. On the other hand, I have included Donacobhis 

 among the Thrushes, on account of the deeply cleft toes ; although, 

 as in the Wrens, the open nostrils are considerably in advance of 

 the frontal feathers. 



The following .synopsis of such American forms of Turdidse as I 

 have had the opportunity of examining, may serve to determine the 

 genera artificially, even though their natural affinities be somewhat 

 violated. Nowhere is it more difficult than here to furnish in linear 

 series, trenchant and positive characters which shall at the same 

 time express and illustrate their true relationships. CichJerminia 

 and Ginclocerthia, which I have not seen, are placed by Dr. Sclater 

 the one between Turdus and Margarops, the other between Rham- 

 phocinclus and Harporhynchus. The primary division is into 

 Turdinse, or species with the tai-si " booted," that is, having all the 

 scutellaa fused into a continuous plate covering the front of the tarsus 

 and extending half way round on the two sides ; and Mirtmiae, or 

 those with this same anterior half of the tarsus covered by a suc- 

 cession of imbricated overlapping scales, usually seven in number. 

 In one species of Mimocichla, placed in the first section, the division 

 of the scutellae are appreciable, although they are all fused into one 

 plate ; while in the Cat-bird the scutellae, in some specimens (as No. 

 20,396), are quite indistinguishable — the leg here being as much 

 "booted" as In the true Thrushes ; in others, however, they are per- 



