TURDTJS. 



29 



In Rocky Mountain skins, the tail is either black except a very 

 narrow whitish edge, or the white tips of eastern specimens are re- 

 placed by a dull gray. The black of the head, too, is better defined, 

 the interscapular feathers more uniformly ash, and the upper parts 

 without tjie faint brownish wash so frequently seen in eastern speci- 

 mens. There are, however, some exceptions to these features, in the 

 series from each locality. The colors generally of western birds 

 appear to be paler. 



It may be proper to state that, while in spring adult specimens 

 the bill is yellow with the extreme tip dusky, in immature, and per- 

 haps winter dress, there is every gradation fi'om this to a uniformly 

 dusky bill. The entire culmen is frequently tinged with brown. 



In none of the specimens before me is the head entirely destitute 

 of its brown or blackish color, although the edges of the feathers 

 are frequently so much tinged with ash as greatly to obscure this 

 character. 



The bills vary considerably in length — the shortest measuring .50 

 from tip to nostrils, the average being barely .60. 



A specimen from Mirador, Mex. (No. 23,908), agrees generally 

 with skins from the United States, but the throat anteriorly is so 

 closely streaked with black as to exceed the white in amount, this 

 color being restricted principally to the chin. 



This species is found throughout the whole of North America, 

 north to the Arctic Ocean, wherever collections have been made, 

 and as far south as the latitude of Vera Cruz. No species are more 

 generally distributed in North America than this bird and Dendrceca 

 sestiva. I find no mention of its occurrence south of Mexico. 



I mention only the extra limital specimens of the many skins in 

 the Smithsonian collection. 



Turdiis confinls. 



Turdus confinis. Bated, n. s. 

 Hah. Todos Santos, Cape St. Lucas. 



No. 23, "7 89. Entire upper parts and sides of head and neck uni- 

 form grayish ash, with perhaps a faint tinge of olivaceous, less than 

 in eastern specimens of T. migratorius. The central portions of the 



