56 



KEVIEW OP AMERICAN BIRDS. 



[part I. 



1st quill rather more than half the 2d. Tail rather broad, graduated; the 

 lateral feather .60 shorter than the central; the feathers rather soft and 

 broader than usual on the outer webs. 



Color glossy black ; wings and tail with a greenish lustre ; rest of body 

 glossed with steel blue. Bill and legs black. 



Length, 7.60; wing, 3.55; tail, 3.90; gape, .87; tarsus, 1.05 ; middle toe 

 and claw, .92. 



MELANOTIS, Bouap. 

 Melanotis, Bonap. Conspectus, 1, 1850, 276. (Type Orpheus cxrulescens, Sw.) 



Bill elongated, rather slender, compressed, as long as the head. Commissure 

 nearly straight to the decurved, notched tip. Kictal feathers moderate, 

 reaching to the nostrils. 



Wings decidedly shorter than the tail ; 4th and 5th quills longest ; 6th and 

 7th a little shorter than the 3d ; 2d shorter than the secondaries ; nearly as 

 much shorter than the 4th as it is longer than the 1st ; 1st quill two-thirds 

 the 2d, half as long as the longest. Tail long, broad, and graduated ; the 

 feathers soft, with outer webs unusually broad, as in Melanoptila; lateral 

 feathers 1.25 less than the central. 



Legs rather weak, but the tarsus longer than middle toe ; distinctly scutel- 

 late on anterior half, with seven broad scutellae. Claws strong, and well 

 curved. 



The type of the genus is the Orpheus cxrulescens of Swainson: 

 The second assigned species, M. hypoleucus, differs somewhat in 

 form. The bill is shorter and less attenuated ; the wing apparently 

 shorter and more concave ; the legs and the claws are stouter, 

 and the tarsus is but little longer than the middle toe and claw. 

 Both species are slaty blue, with the side of the head black. In 

 cxrulescens the blue extends over the inferior surface, which in 

 hypoleucus is white with the exception of the blue crissum. 



Blelanotis caerulescens. 



Orpheus cserulescens, Swainsok, Phil. Mag. 1827, 369 (Mexico).— Mmus 

 cserulescens, Sclatek, P. Z. S. 1856, i^i.— Melanotis cserulescens, 

 Bonap. Consp. 1850, 276.— Sci,ater, P. Z. S. 1859, 337 (Cordova, 

 370; Oaxaoa).— 1b. Catal. 1861, 7, no. 42. 



?Turdus erythrophthalmus, Light. Preis-Verzeioh. 1830, no. 83. 



Turdus melanotis, Temm. PI, Col. 498. 



Hab. Mexico generally. 



