GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH. 447 



distant from the extremity ; cloaca ovate, 4 twelfths wide. Trachea 1 

 inch 8 twelfths long, 1 twelfth broad ; rings 78, moderately firm ; bron- 

 chial rings about 15. Muscles as in the other species. 



All the Thrushes examined, as well as the Shrikes, Warblers, Fly- 

 catchers, Swallows, in short all the land birds, have a pair of very 

 slender muscles proceeding from the sides of the thyroid cartilage, to 

 be inserted into some part of the furcula. In all the Thrushes, the 

 right lobe of the liver is larger than the left, under which it passes in 

 the form of a thin expanded lobe ; and there is no gall-bladder. 



GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH. 



Turd us aurocapillus. Lath. 



PLATE CXLIII. Vol. II. p. 253. 



This bird is found in almost every district, from the Atlantic coasts 

 to the shores of the Pacific ocean. Dr Townsend brought specimens 

 of it from the Columbia River, but he did not find it on the Rocky 

 Mountains, although it inhabits the plains of the Missouri. Dr Rich- 

 ardson informs us that it breeds on the banks of the Saskatchewan 

 River, and perhaps still farther northward. I found it abundant in the 

 Texas, about the middle of May, and have reason to think that it breeds 

 there. The eggs measure seven-eighths in length, and five-eighths in 

 breadth. The nest somewhat resembles in form that of the European 

 Dipper, although it is far from being so substantially built, or so large. 



The structure of the mouth is the same as in the Thrushes above 

 described ; as is that of the tongue, which is 4^ twelfths long, emargi- 

 nate and papillate at the base, and terminates in a slit point. The oeso- 

 phagus is 2 inches long, its greatest width 2| twelfths. The stomach is 

 6 twelfths long, 5 twelfths broad, its structure in all respects as in the 

 Thrushes. The intestine is 5| inches long, about 1^ twelfth wide ; 

 the coeca very small. The trachea is 1 inch 1^ twelfth long, nearly 1 

 twelfth broad, its rings 75, the bronchial half rings about 12 ; the mus- 

 cles as in the Thrushes^ and .Warblers. There are slender salivary 

 glands, as in all the birds of this family. 



