FAMILY TURDID.& 



A winter visitant, well known in North 

 America. It frequents dense thickets. There 

 are several records for this species in the Canal 

 Zone. An individual was seen on Taboga in 

 March, 1926, in a brushy pasture. 



56. Family TURDID^E 

 The Thrushes 



This is a large and very widely distributed 

 family of song birds, upon whose limits and 

 exact definition ornithologists are by no 

 means agreed, though this does not affect the 

 Panama species, which are all typical ex- 

 amples of the group. 



These are above the average size of song 

 birds, with a rather weak bill adapted for a 

 varied diet of worms, fruit and insects, and 

 are of a somewhat slender build with rather 

 long legs whose horny covering is continuous 

 instead of being divided into plates or scales. 

 The thrushes are generally considered to 

 include the very finest of bird musicians, hav- 

 ing songs consisting of phrases of soft, often 

 beautifully modulated, musical notes. 



i. Turdus grayi casius (Bonaparte) 

 Bonaparte's Thrush 



Planesticus grayi casius RIDGWAY, Birds of N. and M. 

 Amer., IV, p. 120, 1907; STONE, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci., 1918, p. 272. 



Sexes alike. Length 221 mm. (8.70 in.); 

 tail 97 mm. (3.80 in.). Above brownish olive; 



366 ' 



