BIRDS — TDEDIDAE — TURDUS NANUS. 



213 



Specimens vary somewhat in the intensity of the colors ahove, but the upper coverts and tail 

 are always conspicuously more rufous than the back, especially at the base of the tail. There 

 is sometimes a faint indication of two lighter bars on the tips of the wing coverts. Sometimes 

 the under coverts are tinged with buff. A specimen from Washington (7591) has the back 

 nearly as bright as in T. ivilsonii, and the bands on the wing unusually distinct, but the tail is 

 conspicuously brighter, as usual. 



A Mexican specimen (No. 7950) received from Mr. Gould, compared with Pennsylvania ones, 

 is a little more olivaceous on the back, although but little more so than is exhibited by skins 

 from Carlisle. The wing is longer, however, measuring a little over four inches ; the tail, 

 3.40; the tarsus, 1.18. The lateral toes are shorter and more unequal. The third quill is 

 longer than the fifth ; the second .10 of an inch longer than the sixth. I am not prepared to 

 say whether this is more than an extreme case of T. pallasii. Should this at any time prove a 

 distinct species from solitarius, as it certainly is from nanus, it might bear Swainson's name of 

 T. silens^ as best agreeing with it, in spite of some discrepancies. 



List of specimens. 



Turiui nanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 201 ; pi. 419.— Ib. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 32 ; pi. 147, (Columbia river.)— 



Gambel, Pr. A. N. Sc. I, 1843, 262. 

 ? Turdus aonalaschka, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 808. 

 7 ? Muscicapa guttata, Pallas, ZooI. Rosso. As. II, 1811, 465. 

 1 Aonalaschka Thrush, Latham, Synopsis II, i, 1783, 23.— Penk. Arc. ZooI. II, 1785, 338. 



Sp. Ch. — Similar to T. pallasii, but smaller. The while of the under parts purer ; the sides glossed with bluish ash instead 

 of yellowish olive brown. The tail with a purple tinge. Length, 6.50 ; wing, 3.30 ; tail, 2.90 ; tarsus, 1.10. 

 Hab. — Pacific coast of North America, and along valley of Gila to El Paso. 



This species, if really distinct, is so closely allied to T. piallasii as to render a separation of 

 the two exceedingly difficult. There is the same shade of olive on the back, passing into reddish 

 on the upper coverts and tail, and to a less extent on the wings ; the pale buff tinge of the fore 

 part of breast and sometimes of throat ; the distinctly defined triangular dusky spots on the 

 sides of the throat and across the breast ; the less distinct and more rounded spots on the sides 

 of the breast behind. Comparing typical specimens of the eastern series {T. pallasii) and 

 the western {T. nanus) the differences appear to be as follows : 



'■Merula silens, Swainson, Syn. Birds Mex. in Philosophical Magazine I, 1827, 369.— Ib. F. Bor. Amer. II, 1831. 

 Length, 7 inches ; bill, .75; wings, 3.75; tail, 3 ; tarsi, 1. 



