DWARF THRUSH. 33 



of my friend Mr. Townsend, who has also sent me its measurements, 

 "length 6 inches, alar extent 9," or one inch less in length, and one and a 

 half less in breadth than the Hermit Thrush, with which it has probably 

 been hitherto confounded. 



I am of opinion that no distinctive character can be obtained from the 

 colouring of the inner webs of the quills as seen from beneath, those parts 

 being more or less yellowish or buffy in all the species. 



This is the smallest of our Thrushes; and was represented in Plate 

 CCCCXIX. of my large work, under the name of "Little Tawny Thrush, 

 Turdus minor, Gmelin." 



Turdus nanus, Dwarf Thrush, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 201. 



Bill dark brown, yellowish toward the base of the lower mandible. Feet 

 flesh-colour. The general colour of the upper parts is light yellowish-brown, 

 changing on the rump and tail into dull yellowish-red. Quills dusky, 

 margined externally with yellowish-brown; primary coverts yellowish- 

 brown, dusky at the end; secondary coverts tipped with yellowish-red, 

 which on some of the inner runs a little way along the shaft. Lower parts 

 greyish-white, the neck and breast tinged with j^ellowish-red, and marked 

 with broad triangular blackish-brown spots; the sides with faint spots of 

 olivaceous-brown, the inner feathers greyish-brown, as are the axillars and 

 lower wing-coverts. 



Length to end of tail 6 inches; extent of wings 9^; bill along the ridge 

 ff, along the edge of lower mandible -ff ; wing from flexure 3^; tail 2y§ ; 

 tarsus l-^; hind toe yf, its claw -ff ; second toe yf, its claw ff ; third toe y'f , 

 its claw ff ; fourth toe yf, its claw y|-. 



This species agrees in many respects with Mr. Swainson's Merula silens, 

 but is smaller. It has also the claws little curved, indeed much less so than 

 those of his figure of Merula solitaria, which he describes as having the 

 "claws slightly curved." But it seems impossible to judge in this case, for 

 in his Synopsis of the Birds of Mexico, Merula silens is announced as 

 Wilson's Hermit Thrush, and in the Fauna Boreali-Americana Merula 

 silens is said to be the same as that of the Synopsis, while at the same time 

 Wilson's Hermit Thrush is reproduced under the same English name as 

 that of Merula solitaria, while Merula silens is said to be or to seem 

 "intermediate between Merula solitaria and Merula Wilsonii." 



