56 REVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS. [PART I. 
1st quill rather more than half the 2d. Tail rather broad, graduated; the 
lateral feather .60 shorter than the central; the feathers rather soft and 
broader than usual on the outer webs. 
Color glossy black; wings and tail with a greenish lustre; rest of body 
glossed with steel blue. Bill and legs black. 
Length, 7.60; wing, 3.55; tail, 3.90; gape, .87; tarsus, 1.05; middle toe 
and claw, .92. 
| 
Smith- Collec-| Sex | When 
is. | tor’s | and | Locality. Gollected Received from Collected by 
No. No. | Age. | ‘ 
30,652 33 | On | Half Moon Key, Br. | May 10, ’62. O. Salvin. iSalvin & Godman. 
(Honduras. 
MELANOTIS, Bonap. 
Melanotis, Bonar. Conspectus, I, 1850,276. (Type Orpheus cxrulescens, Sw.) 
Bill elongated, rather slender, compressed, as long as the head. Commissure 
nearly straight to the decurved, notched tip. Rictal feathers moderate, 
reaching to the nostrils. 
Wings decidedly shorter than the tail; 4th and 5th quills longest ; 6th and 
7th a little shorter than the 3d; 2d shorter than the secondaries; nearly as 
much shorter than the 4th as it is longer than the Ist; Ist quill two-thirds 
the 2d, half as long as the longest. Tail long, broad, and graduated ; the 
feathers soft, with outer webs unusually broad, as in Melanoptila; lateral 
feathers 1.25 less than the central. 
Legs rather weak, but the tarsus longer than middle toe; distinctly scutel- _ 
late on anterior half, with seven broad scutelle. Claws strong, and well 
curved. 
The type of the genus is the Orpheus cxrulescens of Swainson. 
The second assigned species, JZ hypoleucus, differs somewhat in 
form. The bill is shorter and less attenuated ; the wing apparently 
shorter and more concave; the legs and the claws are stouter, 
and the tarsus is but little longer than the middle toe and claw. 
Both species are slaty blue, with the side of the head black. In 
cerulescens the blue extends over the inferior surface, which in 
hypoleucus is white with the exception of the blue crissum. 
Melamotis caerulescens. 
Orpheus cxrulescens, Swatnson, Phil. Mag. 1827, 369 (Mexico).—Mimus 
evrulescens, Scuater, P. Z. S. 1856, 294.—Melanotis cxrulescens, 
Boxap. Consp. 1850, 276.—Scrarer, P. Z. 8. 1859, 337 (Cordova, 
370; Oaxaca).—Is. Catal. 1861, 7, no. 42. 
? Turdus erythrophthalmus, Licut. Preis-Verzeich. 1830, no. 83. 
Turdus melanotis, Temm. Pl. Col. 498. 
Hab, Mexico generally. 
