52 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The conspicuous naked membranous border round the eye of some Thrushes, with the 

 bare space behind it, not appreciable. 



There is little difference in form 

 between the single species of Galeo- 

 scoptes and Mimus iJolyglottas, beyond 

 the less degree of definition of the 

 tarsal plates ; and but for the dif- 

 ference in coloration (uniform plum- 

 beous instead of gray above and 

 white beneath), we would hardly be 

 inclined to distinguish the two ge- 



nerically. GaUoscoptes carolmensis. 



The single species known is lead-colored, with black cap, and chestnut- 

 red under tail-coverts. 



Galeoscoptes carolinensis, Caban. 



THE CATBIRD. 



Muscicapa carolinensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 328. Turdns carolimnsis. Light. 

 Verz. 1823, 38. — D'Orbigny, La Sagra's Cuba, Ois. 1840, 51. Orpheus carolinensis, 

 Jones, Nat. Bermuda, 1859, 27 (breeds). Mimus carolinensis. Gray, Baird, Birds 

 N. Am. 1859, 346. — Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 69 (Inagua). —Lord, Pr. R. Art. 

 Inst. (Woohvich), iv, 1864, 117 (east of Cascade Mts.). Galeoscoptes carolinensis, Cab. 

 Mus. Hein. I, 1850, 82 (type of genus). —Ib. Jour. Orn. 1855, 470 (Cuba). — Gund- 

 lach, Repert. 1865, 230 (Cuba, very common). — Sclater, Catal. Birds, 1861, 6, no. 

 39. — ScL. k Salv. Pr. 1867, 278 (Mosquito Coast). — Baird, Rev. 1864, 54.— 

 Samuels, 172. — Cooper, Birds Cal. i. 23. 



Figures : AuD. B. A. II, pi. 140. — Ib. Orn. Biog. II, pi. 28. — Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. 

 II, pi. l.xvii. — Wilson, Am. Orn. II, pi. xiv, f. 3. 



Sp. Char. Third quiU longest; first shorter than sixth. Prevailing color dark plumbe- 

 ous, more ashy beneath. Crovvrn and nape dark sooty-brown. Wings dark brown, edged 

 with plumbeous. Tail greenish-black ; the lateral feathers obscurely tipped with plumbe- 

 ous. The under tail-coverts dark brownish-chestnut. Female smaller. Length, 8.85 ; 



wing, 3.6.5; tail, 4.00; tarsus, 1.05. 



Hab. United States, north to Lake Winnipeg, 

 west to head of Columbia, and Cascade Moun- 

 tains (Lord) ; south to Panama R. R. ; Cuba ; 

 Bahamas ; Bermuda (breeds). Accidental in 

 Heligoland Island, Europe. Oaxaca, Cordova, 

 and Guatemala, Sclater ; Mosquito Coast, Scl. 

 & Salv. ; Orizaba (winter), Sumichrast ; Yuca- 

 tan, Lawr. 



Western specimens have not apprecia- 

 bly longer tails than Eastern. Central 

 American examples, as a rule, have the 



plumbeous of a more bluish cast than is usually seen in North American 



.skins. 



Galeoscoptes carolinensis. 



