70 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Ptihgonys. Its true relationship, however, is decidedly with the 

 TurdidiB, to which its booted tarsi, its habits, the spotted plumage 

 of its young, and many other characters ally it closely. 

 The only North American genus is the following: 



Genus MYADESTES Swainson. 



Muadeste.i Swainson. Jard. Nat. Library, xiii., Flycatcher?, "1S38." ITO. Type. M. 

 grnibarhis Sw. 



"Gen. Chab. Occipital feathers full ami soft. Plumage rather loose. Bill weak, 

 much depressed. Commissure nearly straight. Hind toe longer thau inner latdral. Toes 

 deeply cli!f t. Closed wing externally with an exposed lieht band across the base of the 

 quills, and another nearer the end. separated by a darker one. Tail somewhat graduated 

 on the sides. 



"Of the ten or more described species of the genus, only one be- 

 longs to the limits of the United States, although several others oc- 

 cupy adjacent territory in Mexico. Several are pecitliar to islands 

 of the West Indies." {Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Myadestes townsendii (And.) 



TOV/NSEND'S SOLITAIRE. 



Popular synonyms. —Townsend's Flycatcher, or Flycatching Thrush: Townsend's. 

 Ptiloiionys. 

 Ftiliogonys townsendii AuD. Orn. Eiopr. v. 1S3>. 20il. pi. 41D. fig. 2; Synop. 1839, 4C; B. Am. I, 

 18J0, 213, pi. CS).— NUTT. Man. 2d ed. 1, 18)0, 31, l_ 



ifuadestes townsendi Caban. Wiegm. Arehiv. 1847, i., 208.— Baied, B.N.Am. 1858, 3J1; 

 Cat. N.Am. B. 1809, No. 235; Review, I8i;i;. 4J9.— CouES, Key, 1872, 117; Check List. 

 1873. No. 121; 2d ed. 1882, No. 109; B. N. W. 1874, 93; B. Col. Val. 1S78, 44.-B. B. & U 

 Hist. N. Am. B. 1. 1874. 408. pi. 13. ilgs. 3.4.— BiDOW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 25. 



Hab. Western Mountain districts of the United States, from the Mexican boundary to 

 British Columbia. (Accidental straggler to northern Illinois.) 



"Sp. Chak. Tail rather deeply forked. Exposed portion of spurious quill less than 

 one third that of the second; fourth quill longest; second a little longer than the sixth. 

 Head not crested. General color brownish ash, paler beneath; under wing-coverts white. 

 Quills with a brownish yellow bar at the base of both webs, mostly concealed, but show- 

 ing a little below the greater coverts and aluiffi; this succeeded by a bar of dusky, and 

 next to it another of brownish yellow across the outer webs of the central quills only. 

 Tertials tipped with white. Tail feathers dark brown; the middle ones more like the 

 back; the lateral with the outer web and tip, the second with the tip only, white. A white 

 ring round the eye. Length, 8 inches; wing, 4.50; tail, L'.85. (8,234.) 



"Young birds have a large triangular pale-ochraeeous light spot 

 on the end of each feather (rather paler below), bounded externally 

 by a narrow border of blackish; the quill and tail feathers as in 

 adult." (nist. N. Am. B.) 



