8 TTJEDID^. 



When staying at Duefias in the autumn of 1873, Salvin's Indian hunters occasionally 

 brought specimens from the forests of the slopes of the Volcan de Agua, above the 

 village of San Diego, and from 2000 to 3000 feet above the sea. In this way more 

 than a dozen specimens were acquired, amongst which was only one female. The bill, 

 eyelids, tarsi, and toes of the fresh bird are orange, and the under plumage of a rich 

 tint not seen in older skins. 



In South America the range of C. dryas is extensive. It occurs, though rarely, in 

 Bogota collections. Eraser obtained it at Chillanes and Pallatanga, in Ecuador ^ ; and 

 the birds described by Mr. Sclater as C. maculatus came from the valley of the Eio 

 Napo ^. Mr. Buckley has also sent us a skin from Baisa in the same Eepublic. To 

 Mr. Buckley, also, we are indebted for a skin from Bolivia. 



TUEDUS. 



Turdus, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1766) (partim). 



Seventeen species oi Turdus are found within the limits of Central America ; of these, 

 eight are northern species, several of which visit the country only during the winter 

 months. The resident species are variously distributed, some having a range almost 

 coextensive with the limits of the subregion. Others are much more restricted in their 

 domicile ; and amongst these the species inhabiting the higher ranges of mountains and 

 the pine-clad summits of the volcanoes are specially to be noted. Nearly every large 

 section of the country has one or more Thrushes peculiar to it : thus in Mexico we find 

 on the shores of the Pacific, from Mazatlan to Tehuantepec, T. flavirostris, and in the 

 pine-forests of the interior T. pinicola. In the highlands of Guatemala T. rufitorques 

 is found ; Mexico and Guatemala have T. infuscatus in common, a true Blackbird, 

 very closely allied to the European species, of which a second representative is found in 

 the Andes, in Venezuela, and in the island of Tobago ; Costa Eica has two peculiar 

 species in T. plebeius and T. nigrescens ; and Costa Eica and the State of Panama share 

 T. obsoletus. The resident species of wide range are T. tristis and T. grayi. The 

 former of these extends from Southern Mexico almost to the line of the Panama 

 Eailway ; the latter, with a wider northern extension, also passes still further to the 

 southward. 



Concerning the seven species constituting Prof. Baird's subgenus Hylocichla, we are 

 in some doubt how far to admit the claims of all of them to rank as separate species, 

 especially as it has been strongly urged by American writers that links are not wanting 

 connecting some of them together. Without going into a discussion of these claims, 

 we may remark that our chief object in treating Turdus ustulatus and T. alicice as 

 distinct from T. swainsoni, and T. auduhoni as distinct from T. pallasi, is to give 

 prominence to the peculiarities of their geographical distribution in the winter season — 

 points which have considerable significance when the value of slight modifications of 

 colour or size is attempted to be estimated. 



