REVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS. [PART I. 



CATHARUS, BoNAP. 



Catharus, Bonap. Consp. I, 1S50, 278. (Type Catharus immactdatus, Bonap.) 

 Malacocichla, Gould, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1854, 285. (Type M. dnjas, Gould.) 



The genus Cathar-us has been made by Dr. Sclater to include two 

 groups: Catharus proper, iu which the species have a close re- 

 semblance in coloration to the small American Thrushes, as T. fua- 

 cescens, etc., but without any spotting on the breast, and without 

 crest ; and Malacocichla of Gould, in which the upper parts, or at 

 least the head, are black, and with the feathers of the head above and 

 nape, moderately elongated, so as to form a bushy, rounded crest. 



The species of Catharus proper, as just stated, closely resemble 

 such small Thrushes as Turdus fuscescens, nanus, etc. in coloration 

 and external appearance. The bill is very similar, l)oth in shape 

 and character of bristles, which are perhaps not quite so long in 

 some, longer in others. The plumage is, however, softer and 

 fuller ; the tarsi appreciably longer, the tail shorter, the feathers nar- 

 rower. The principal difference is in the wings, which are short, 

 rounded, and concave. The 1st quill in C. meljjomene is nearly or 

 quite half the 2d, which about equals the 8th quill. In C. occiden- 

 tnlis the wings are more pointed, the 1st quill about one-third the 

 2d, which is between the *rth and 8th in size. Here the bristles are 

 shorter ; while in C. frantzii they are unusually long. C. occidentalis 

 forms the transition to the smaller spotted Turdi. In C. {Malaco- 

 cichla) maculatus the 1st primary is shoi'ter. 



In all the skins I have seen the outstretched legs reach either 

 very nearly to the tip of the tail or beyond it. 



In one specimen of C. melpomene, from Mr. Lawrence's collec- 

 tion, the divisions of the tarsal scutellse are distinctly definable on 

 the anterior face, while they are confluent on the sides. It is possible 

 that at one stage of development the tarsi, which are covered with 

 a " boot," or a continuous plate, are distinctly seutellate — the scutella? 

 melting subsequently into a single plate. The occasional persistence 

 of this immature feature in an adult bird may thus be explained 

 without invalidating the importance of the character as Kaup has 

 endeavored to do in the case of Turdus migratorius. 



As Dr. Sclater has furnished an excellent synopsis of the species 

 of American Turdidse (Pr. Zool. Soc. 1859), it will not be necessary 

 here to do tlie same. 



