248 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS —PASSEEES— OSCINES. 



Ing the yellowish or huffy suffusion seen in srcainsoni, being thus like the hack, or merely 

 grayer ; no huff ring around eye ; breast slightly if at all tiugcd -svith yellowish. Eather larger 

 than sioainsoni, about equalling mustelinus : leugth 7-50-8.00; extent 12.50-13.50; wing 

 4.00-i.35 ; tail 3.00-3.25 ; bUl over 0.50; average dimensions about the maxima of swainsoni. 

 Distribution and nesting the same, but breeding range mipre ncjrtherlyC?). A well-marked 

 variety, perhaps a distinct species. (A local race has been described as smaller, with the bill 

 usually slenderer; C'atskill and White Mts.; T. alicitf. hickneUl Eidgw.) 

 13. T. u. swain'soni. (To Wm. Swainson, an English naturalist.) Olive-backed Thecsh. 

 -'' " $ 9 : Above, clear olivaceous, of exactly the same shade over all the upper parts ; below, 

 , '''' white, strongly shaded with ohve-gray on the sides and flanks, the throat, breast, and sides 

 of the neck and head strongly tinged with yellomsh, the fore parts, excepting the throat, 

 marked with numerous large, broad, dusky spots, which extend backward on the breast and 

 belly, there rather paler, and more like the olivaceous of the upper parts. Edges of eyehds 

 yellowish, forming a strong buff orbital ring ; lores the same. Mouth yellow ; biU blackish, 

 the basal half of lower mandible pale ; iris dark brown ; feet pale ashy-brown. Length of 

 <J, 7.00-7.50; extent 12.00-12.50; wing 3.75-4.00; taU 2.75-3.00; bill 0,50 ; tarsus 1.10. 

 9 averaging BuiaUcr ; length 6.75; extent 11.50-12.00, etc. North America, N. to high 

 latitudes, W. to the Rocky Mts., common; migratory ; breeds from New England northward. 

 Nest in bushes and low trees, thus iu situation like that of the wood thrush, but no mud 

 in its composition ; eggs unlike those of mnstelinus, fuscescens, and the varieties of imalascm, 

 in being freely speckled with diflcreut shades of brown on a greenish-blue ground; size 0.90 X 

 0.66; number 4— 5. 



2. Subfamily MIMIN/E: Mocking Thrushes. 



Aben-ant Turdidce, departing 

 from the prime characteristic of 

 the family in having the tarsi seu- 

 teUate in front (the scutella some- 

 times fusing, however, as in the 

 catbird), and the 1st primary, 

 though short, hardly to be calhil 

 spurious. Wings short and n land- 

 ed (for this family), about equal 

 to the tail only in Oroscoptes ; 2d 

 primary shorter than the 6th. 

 Tail large and rounded or much 

 graduated, usually decidedly longer 

 than the wings. Tarsus about 

 equal to the middle toe and claw ; 

 feet stout, in adaptation to some- 

 what terrestrial life. BO! various 

 ' in form, usually longer or at least 

 more curved than iu the true 

 thrushes ; in Harporhynclms at- 

 taining extraordinary length and curvature. Birds nruch like overgrown wrens (with which 

 they have been associated by some) ; distinguished chiefly by greater size, different nostrils 

 and rictal bristles, and more deeply-cleft toes. As a group they are rather southern, hardly 

 passing beyond the United States ; few species reaching even the Middle States, and the max- 

 imum development being in Central and South America. They are peculiar to America, 

 where they are represented by Oroscoptes, Mimus, Harporhynclms, and five or six related 



Fig. 119. — Mocking-bird, about I nat. size. (After Wilson.) 



