50 



REVIEW OP AMERICAN BIRDS. 



[part I. 



I have not had an opportunity of examining the supposed M. 

 polyglottus of Cuba. If, however, the description of Orpheus poly- 

 glottus, in De la Sagra's Cuba (Oiseaux, 53), be correctly drawn 

 from a Cuban specimen, it may very readily be different, as the 

 North American bird can certainly not be said to have the tail 

 brown with a white spot towards the extremity of the lateral tail 

 feathers, nor is there any white on the secondary quills. The rump 

 cannot be called grayish-blue, in contrast with a pale grayish-brown 

 of the remaining upper parts. 



Mr. Richard Hill, in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Aca- 

 demy, has suggested the idea that the name of polyglottus should 

 be applied to the Jamaican rather than to the North American bird. 

 The first citation of Linnseus is to Sloane's Jamaica, the second to 

 Catesby, and the third to Kalm. As, however, the only locality 

 given by LinnEeus is " Virginia," and no mention is made of Jamaica ; 

 and as his next species is the Jamaican orpheus, it will perhaps be 

 no violation of the most rigid rules of nomenclature to pass over 

 the citation of Sloane as irrelevant, and confine the reference strictly 

 to the continental species. The Turdus orpheus, of Linnaeus, is 

 based on the species of Brown and Edwards, both unmistakably the 

 small Jamaican bird, and not the larger, M. hillii, as intimated by 

 Mr. Hill. 



In the " Birds of North America" I have adverted to the peculi- 

 arities of western specimens in having a longer tail than eastern. 

 The tail is more graduated also, the lateral feathers being 1.25 

 inches or more shorter than the central. The whole bird, in fact, is 

 larger ; the wings being also longer, but the disproportionate length 

 of the tail is quite decided. 



19,089. Unusual amount of white on wings and tail. 



mimus orpUeus. 



Turdus orpheus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1, 1758, 169.— Is. 12th ed. 

 1766 — ViEiLLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 12, pi. Ixviii.— Gosse, 



