52 



KEVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS. 



[part I. 



Mimus baliamensis, Bbyakt. 



Mimus bahamensis, Betant, Pr. Boat. Soo. VII, Sept. 1859, 114. 



Bill shorter than head. Rictal bristles reaching rather beyond the nostrils. 

 Curvature of commissure gentle from base to near the notched tip, where it is 

 increased. First primary large, rather falcate, just half the 2d; 4th quill 

 longest ; 3d and then 5th but little shorter ; 2d intermediate between 7th and 

 8th, half an inch less than the longest. Tarsi distinctly scutellate ; plates 

 seven. Tail moderately graduated (.70). 



Color above brownish-gray, each feather showing a brown centre, and gray- 

 ish or ashy edges less distinct and more soiled on the lower part of the back. 

 Beneath soiled grayish-white, the breast more gray, the feathers being ashy 

 with lighter tips. The feathers of under parts with brown shaft-streaks, want- 

 ing on the throat and middle of the belly, partially concealed across the 

 breast, more evident on the sides of belly, and broad and conspicuous under 

 the wings, where the axillars are similarly streaked. Wing feathers brown, 

 all margined with pale ashy ; the greater and middle coverts with white, 

 forming two bauds. Tail feathers ashy above, suffused with brownish towards 

 the borders, and edged with whitish. All have a whitish patch at end, on 

 the inner web, and on the extreme tip of outer. This white is about half an 

 inch long on the outer feather, a little less on the rest. Bill and legs black. 



There is an obscure dusky line on each side of the throat ; the ear coverts 

 are dusky ; the space between bill and eye is grayish-white. The whitish 

 feathers of the cheeks are edged with dusky at the tips. 



Length, 11.00 ; wing, 4.80 ; tail, 5.70 ; graduation, .70 ; 1st quill, 1.70 ; 2d, 

 3.28; bill above, 1.10 ; from nostril, .72; tarsus, 1.50 ; middle toe and claw, 

 1.34: claw, .35 ; hind toe and claw, .85 ; claw alone, .50. 



13,505. Type. 



mimus hillii. 



Mimus hillii, March, Pr. A. N. Sc. Nov. 1863, 291 (Jamaica). 

 Mimus orpheus, Hill, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1863, 304. 



(No. 24,376.) Greneral form and characters as in M. bahamensis. Fifth 

 quill longest ; 4th and 6th a little shorter, then 3d ; 2d shorter than 8th, 

 about equal to the 9th, .65 shorter than the longest. Tail considerably 

 graduated. 



In some specimens the 3d quill is a little longer than the 8th ; in all it is 

 shorter than the 7th. 



The colors are as described In M. bahamensis. The only appreciable differ- 

 ence is in the purer white of the under parts, and especially across the breast, 

 where the feathers are of the same soiled white to their plumbeous bases, or 

 for half the length, instead of being ashy to the scarcely appreciable lighter 

 There are no faint dusky shaft streaks on the feathers in front of the 



