4 TURDUm 



of upper surface brownish olive ; under surface pale rufous, obscure on the 

 breast ; throat white, striped with black ; bill and feet dull yellow : total length 

 10'5 inches, wing 7*5, tail 4'0. Female similar. 



Hob. Patagonia and Chili. 



This Thrush, which I met with on the Rio Negro of Patagonia, so 

 closely approximates to T. rufiventris in colour, language, and habits, 

 that the casual observer finds it difficult to distinguish one from the 

 other. Its nest and eggs are also precisely like those of its northern 

 representative. The song is, however, much poorer, and reminds one 

 of the first attempts of a young bird. That a member of so melodious 

 a family should have so inferior a song I attribute to the fact that 

 Thrushes (unlike the songsters of other genera) sing only in the warm 

 season and when the air is calm. In the southern portion of the 

 South- American continent violent winds prevail in summer, so that this 

 southern Thrush sings perhaps less frequently than any other song-bird, 

 and appears to be losing the faculty of song altogether. 



4. TUEDUS FUSCATEE, d'Orb. et Lafr. 

 (ARGENTINE BLACKBIRD.) 



Turdus fuscater, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 2 ; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 593 (Cata- 

 marca) ; Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 474 (Mendoza, Cordova, and Tucuman). 

 Merula fuscatra, Seebohm, Cat. B. v. p. 243. 



Description. Uniform brownish black ; bill and feet yellow : total length 

 11'5 inches, wing 5-3, tail 4'5. Female similar. 



Hob. Bolivia and Northern La Plata. 



"I have noticed this bird in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, 

 San Luis, Cordova, and Catamarca, where it is much esteemed as a cage- 

 bird on account of its beautiful whistle. In Mendoza it goes by the 

 name of ' Zorsal/ in Catamarca and Cordova by that of ' Merlo/ and in 

 Andalgala (Catamarca province) ' Chocoyno/ " White, I. s. c. 



" Very common at Mendoza, Cordova, and Tucuman, and met with 

 among the shady trees of the promenades : has a better song than our 

 Blackbird, which is heard at a distance, especially in the evening. 

 Called ' Crispin' in Tucuman." Burm. 1. s. c. 



5. TUEDUS NIGEICEPS, Cab. 

 (BLACK-HEADED THRUSH.) 



Turdus nigriceps, Cab. J.f. O. 1878, p. 195. 

 Description. Above slaty grey, head black ; below paler, chin white, striped 



