CHARACTERS OF. TURDINiE 5 



MiMiNJi!. — TarsL scutellate anteriorly (scales seven in num- 

 ber). Bill variable ; sometimes as in Turdince, sometimes as 

 long as the head and bent like a bow. Legs stout. Wings 

 usually shorter than the tail, which is more or less graduated, 

 with broad, rounded feathers. 



Other characters will be adduced under the heads of the 

 respective subfamilies. 



Subfamily TURDIN^: Typical Thrushes 



Chars. — With the tarsus, in the adult, "booted "or envel- 

 oped in a continuous plate, formed by fusion, of all the tarsal 

 scutella excepting two or three just above the base of the toes. 

 (This is a strong character; for the j 

 few other birds of this country which 

 shov^ the same feature are quite dif- 

 erent in other respects.) Wi^gs more 

 or less pointed, longer than the tail ; 

 first primary spurious, or very short ; 

 second longer than the sixth. Bill 

 moderate, shorter than the head, 

 straight, more or less subulate, little 

 depressed at base, with moderate 

 bristly rictus. Nostrils oval, nearly 

 or quite reached by the frontal feath- 

 ers. Tail-feathers widening somewhat ^ 

 toward their ends; the tail as a whole 



^ Fig. 2. — " Booted ' tarsus. (Foot 



somewhat fan-shaped, not decidedly of Eobm, natural size. n. B.-Ths 



lettering of the cut indicates propor- 



forked at the end, nor much gradu- uonai lengtiis of tarsus and middle 



' toe with claw, and the numeration of 



ated. the several digits of a bird's foot.) 



This group is nearly cosmopolitan, and reaches a high state 

 of development in the warmer parts of America, where it is 

 represented by various genera and numerous species. There 

 are in all upward of one hundred and fifty accredited species of 

 Turdince, most of which are referable to the genus Turdus and 

 its subdivisions. The United States species are few in number, 

 and all of them belong to the single genus Turdus ; though 

 species of Caiharus, an allied form, may possibly be yet found 

 on our southern border. 



The Thrushes are generally distributed over North America, 

 in wooded regions, but will not be found, except casually, in 

 those localities which are devoid of trees or bushes, even 



