6 REVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS. [PART if 
CATHARUS, Bonap. 
Catharus, Bonar. Consp. I, 1850, 278. (Type Catharus immaculatus, BonaP.) 
Malacocichla, Goutp, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1854, 285. (Type M. dryas, Gouxp.) 
The genus Catharus has been made by Dr. Sclater to include two 
groups: Catharus proper, in which the species have a close re- 
semblance in coloration to the small American Thrushes, as 7. fus- 
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 Zurdus fuscescens, nanus, ete. in coloration 
and external appearance. The bill is very similar, both 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 Ist quill in C. melpomene is nearly or 
quite half the 2d, which about equals the 8th quill. In C. oeciden- 
falis the wings are more pointed, the Ist quill about one-third the 
2d, which is between the 7th and 8th in size. Here the bristles are 
shorter; while in C. frantzzi they are unusually long. C. oceidentalis 
forms the transition to the smaller spotted Turdz. In C. (Malaco- 
cichla) maculatus the Ist primary is shorter. 
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 scutelle 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 scutellate—the scutelle 
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 Amevican Turdide (Pr. Zool. Soc. 1859), it will not be necessary 
here to do the same. 
