TUEDUS. 19 



found it in the State of Vera Cruz, says ^^ that it is perhaps the most abundant of all 

 the Mexican TurdidsB, that it is resident in the hot and temperate regions, but does not 

 pass above an elevation of 4300 feet. He afterwards found it on the isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec ; but there it was not so common ^^. In Guatemala Turdus grayi is 

 common in the neighbourhood of towns and villages up to an elevation of between 

 5000 and 6000 feet. It was found breeding in abundance in April and May near 

 Duefias, and also near San Geronimo in Vera Paz. It is usually to be seen in the 

 outskirts of plantations and in the orchards near houses, but not so much in the forest 

 away from habitations. Its song is rich and of considerable compass, being quite equal 

 to that of any of its congeners. Its powers of song make it a favourite cage-bird in 

 Spanish and native houses. Dr. v. Frantzius, who seems to have been less favourably 

 impressed with the song of Turdus grayi in Costa Eica than we were with it in 

 Guatemala, says ^^ that it is one of the commonest birds in Costa Rica, and that he 

 met with it from the shores of the Gulf of Nicoya to places as much as 6000 feet 

 above the sea, but that it is more rarely seen during the dry season than during the 

 wet, at the commencement of which it breeds, and when its monotonous song may be 

 heard everywhere from morning till night till it becomes wearisome. Its food in the 

 dry season consists of the small fruits of the various species of Ficus, which at this time 

 of year are found in great quantities. 



Turdus grayi is subject to but slight variation in different parts of its wide range. The 

 most noticeable divergence from the normal colour prevalent in Guatemala is to be seen 

 in some specimens from Costa Eica and Panama, which are of a greyer tint ; upon one 

 of these Bonaparte seems to have founded his T. casius ^^, a bird Mr. Lawrence was at 

 one time disposed to admit as a species distinct from T. grayi ^K But as these greyer 

 birds are found with others of the normal colour, we think their claims to separation 

 hardly established. In the neighbourhood of Santa Marta, in Colombia, a smaU race of 

 T. grayi is found which is rather less cinnamon in tint than the usual form ; it is also 

 paler beneath. This race has been described by Bonaparte as Turdus luridus ; but we 

 do not think it ought to be admitted as specifically different from T. grayi. 



In Guatemala Gray's Thrush builds in low bushes a nest of roots and fibres and small 

 twigs, lining it with dry grass and fine roots. The eggs, usually three in number, are 

 more or less covered with spots and blotches of red-brown on a ground of pale bluish 

 green. One of them is figured in ' The Ibis ' for 1859, t. v. f. 7. They measure 1-2 X '8. 



11. Turdus obsoletus. 



Turdus obsoletus, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 470', ix. pp. 91", 145 ^; Baird, Rev. Am. B. p. 28*; 

 Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 133 % 1870, p. 180 " ; Ibis, 1869, p. 312 ' ; v. Frantzius, J. f. Om. 1869, 

 p. 390 ^ 



Supra cinnamomeo-brunneus unicolor ; Bubtus paulo dilutior, gutture striolis fuscis vix appareatibus, ventre 



3* 



