92 SHOFELDT. (VoL. III. 
in the skeleton of any of them, so far as that part of their anat- 
omy goes, which entitles them to be ranked as the highest 
forms of the class. 
Myadestes townsendii, of the remaining sub-family of the 
Turdid@, is a species that has been made to occupy a number 
of different positions in the system by various taxonomists ; 
but so far as its skeleton indicates, there can be no doubt but 
that it is now classified correctly by us. By a glance at figures 
I and 24 of the Plates, one can be at once satisfied that the 
cranial characters of this bird show it to be nothing more nor 
less than a true Thrush, though the fore-part of the skull is nota- 
bly wider than the skulls of the Zzrdin@,; but I would add that 
the skull of an adult AZyadestes bears a curious resemblance to 
the skull of a young Szalza, taken at a time when the bird is 
about ready to quit the nest. For the rest, the skeleton of this 
Solitaire is pre-eminently turdine, with a few peculiarities which 
it may claim as its own. The keel of the sterzum is compara- 
tively shallow, pointing to the fact that J/yadestes is not a bird 
of strong flight, which in reality we know to be the case. 
Already I have shown that in its vertebral column and ribs it 
agrees with the Zurdine,; we may add that it has also szr free 
caudal vertebrze and the pygostyle in the skeleton of its tail, 
and this latter piece is large, and with broad posterior face. 
The elvis is peculiar, or at least departs from the more typi- 
cal thrushlike pattern, in that it has its obturator space and 
foramen, on either side, not usually separated from each other 
by an osseous division, and the hinder ends of the post-pubis 
and ischium fuse with each other. In JZeru/a it must be re- 
membered that in its pelvis the ischium always develops a con- 
siderable bony span that completely shuts off the obturator 
space from the adjacent foramen of the same name, and the 
foot-like posterior end of an ischium never fuses with the post- 
pubis, though they are closely fitted upon each other. The sixth, 
seventh, and eighth vertebrz of the cervical division of the 
spinal column in Myadestes are distinguished for the unusual 
length which their pre- and post-zygapophyses attain, more espe- 
cially the latter, a fact we cannot fail but notice upon the most 
casual inspection of this part of the skeleton in the Solitaire. 
In a recent report of mine to the American Ornithologists’ 
Union, entitled “On the Position of Cham@a in the System,” 
