CHARACTERS OF HARPORHYNCHUS RUFUS 6 



Cab. MH. i. 1830, 81. Bd. BNA. 1858, 352; ed. of 1860, 352, pi. 52. Bd. U. S. Hex. B. Surv. 

 ii. pt. ii. 1859, Birds, 13, pi. 14. Set PZS. 1859, 339 (critical) ; 1859, 362 (Xalapa) ; 1864, 172 

 (City of Mexico) ; Cat. AB. 1861, 8. Bd. RAB. 1864, 44. Butch. Pr. Phila. Acad. 1868, 149 

 (Laredo, Te-s..).Harporhytichus rufus var. longirostris, Coucs, Key, 1872, 75. B. B. <$ R. 

 NAB. i. 1874, 39, pi. 3, f. 2. HAB. Valley of the Rio Grande and southward.] 



HAB. United States, and adjoining belt of British America; north to 

 Canada, Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan ; west into the mountains 

 of Colorado and Wyoming. 'Breeds throughout its range. Winters in the 

 Southern States. No extralimital American quotations. Accidental in 

 Europe (Heligoland, Gatke] see above). 



CH. SP. a. RUFUS. $ $ Supra ferruginous, alls albo-bifas- 

 ciatis; infra ex rufo albidus; pectore lateribusque macuUs brunneis 

 guttato-lineatis; gonyde recto; mandibuld ad basin flavescente. 



$ 9 : Upper parts uniform rich rust-red, with a bronzy lustre. Concealed 

 portions of quills fuscous. Greater and median wing-coverts blackish near 

 the end, then conspicuously tipped with white. Bastard quills like the 

 coverts. Tail like the back, the lateral feathers with paler ends. Under parts 

 white, more or less strongly tinged, especially on the breast, flanks, and cris- 

 sum, with tawny or pale cinnamon-brown, the breast and sides marked with 

 a profusion of well-defined spots of dark brown, oval in front, becoming 

 more linear posteriorly. Throat is immaculate, bordered with a necklace 

 of spots; the middle of the belly and under tail-coverts likewise unspotted. 

 Bill black, with yellow base of the lower mandible ; feet pale ; iris yellow. 

 Length, about 11 inches; extent, 12^ to 14 ; wing, 3f-4; tail, 5 or more; 

 bill, 1 ; tarsus, 1.25. 



b. LONGIROSTRIS. PrcBcedenti similis; supra rufo-brunneus, 

 alis albo-bifasciatis; infra albus, pectore lateribusque maculis ni- 

 gricantibus guttato-lineatis; gonyde incur vato. 



Similar in general to H. rufus ; upper parts reddish-brown, instead of rich 

 foxy-red ; under parts white, with little if any tawny tinge, the spots large r 

 very numerous, and blackish instead of brown. The wing shows dusky and 

 white bars across the ends of the median and greater coverts, as in rufus, 

 but the ends of the rectrices are scarcely or not lighter than the rest of these 

 feathers. The bill is almost entirely dark-colored. 



Besides these points of coloration, which are readily appreciable, there is 

 a decided difference in the shape of the bill. In H. nifus, the bill is quite 

 straight, and only just about an inch long; the gonys is straight, and 

 makes an angle with the slightly concave lower outline of the maiidibular 

 rarni. In H. longirostris, the bill is rather over an inch long, and some- 

 what curved ; the outline of the gonys is a little concave, making with the 

 ram us one continuous curve from base to tip of the bill. 



AS in the case of the Mockingbird, I shall have but a word 

 to say respecting the Brown Thrash or Thrasher, whose 

 biography has already been several. times written, before tak- 



