248 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PA8SEBE8— OSCINES. 



lug tHe yellowish or "buflfy suffusion seen in swainsoni, being thus like the back, or merely 

 grayer ; no buff ring around eye ; breast slightly if at all tinged with yellowish. Rather larger 

 than swamsoni, about equalling musteUnus : length 7.50-8.00; extent 12.50-13.50; wing 

 4.00-4.35 ; tail 3.00-3.35; bUl over 0.50; average dimensions about the maxima of sioainsoni. 

 Distribution and nesting the same, but breeding range more northerlyC?). A weU-marked 

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

 usually slenderer ; Catskill and White Mts.; T. aKcits hickneUi Ridgw.) 

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

 ^ 9- Above, clear olivaceous, of exactly the same shade over all the upper parts; below, 

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

 of the neck and head strongly tinged with yellovnsh, 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 eyelids 

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

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

 ^,7.00-7.50; extent 13.00-13.50; wing 3.75-4.00; tail 3.75-3.00; bill 0.50 ; tarsus 1.10. 

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

 latitudes, W. to the Eocky Mts., common; migratory; breeds from Xew England northward. 

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

 in its composition ; eggs unlike those of musteUnus, fuscescens, and the varieties of unalasccB, 

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

 0.66 ; number 4-5. 



2. Subfamily MIMING: Mocking Thrushes. 



Aberrant TwdMcB, departing 

 from the prime characteristic of 

 the family in having the tarsi scu- 

 teUate in front (the scuteUa some- 

 times fusing, however, as in the 

 catbird), and the 1st primary, 

 though, short, hardly to be called 

 spurious. Wings short and round- 

 ed (for this family), about equal 

 to the tail only in Oroseoptes; 2d 

 primary shorter than the 6th. 

 TaU large and rounded or much 

 graduated, usually decidedly longer 

 than the wings. Tarsus aboul 

 equal to the middle toe and ciaw ; 

 feet stout, in adaptation to some- 

 what terrestrial life. Bill various 

 I in form, usually longer or at least 

 more curved than in the true 

 Fio. 119. - Mocking-bird, about S nat. size. (After Wilson.) thrushes ; in Harporhynchus at- 

 taining extraordinary length and curvature. Birds much like overgrown wrens (vidth 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- 

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

 where they are represented by Oroseoptes, Mimus, Harporhynchus, and five or six related 



