MERULIDjE. 



189 



The first (or spurious quill feather) is very short (three-quarters of an inch) ; the fourth is 

 the longest ; the third and fifth nearly equal it ; the second is about five lines shorter than 

 the fourth; and the sixth about as much shorter than the second; the fifth and sixth are wide 

 apart (three-quarters of an inch) ; the following ones diminish in succession about a quarter 

 of an inch each ; the outer webs of the third, fourth, and fifth are pretty strongly notched. 

 The tail appears to be slightly rounded, the outer feathers being a line or two shorter than the 

 others ; the two central ones are a quarter of an inch shorter, but they appear to be not yet 

 fully grown. Tarsus considerably longer than the middle claw ; hind toe shortest and most 

 robust; inner toe a little shorter than the outer one; the base of the latter is very shortly 

 connected with the middle one. 





Dimensions. 



Inches. 



Lines. 



jngth from the tip of the bill to the end of 



Length of the tarsus 



the tail 9 



9 „ of the middle toe 



„ of the tail . . .3 



6 ,, of its claw 



„ of the folded wing ... 4 



11 „ of the hind toe . 



,, of the bill measured along its ridge 



10 ,, of its claw 



,, of the bill from the angle of the mouth 1 



H 



:hes. 



Lines. 



1 



3 







10i 







4 







6 







4J 



[42.] 2. Orpheus rufus. (Swainson.) Fox-coloured Mock-bird. 



Genus, Orpheus. Swainson. Zool. Journ., iii., p. 167. 



Fox-coloured Thrush. Catesby. Carol., i., p. 28. 



Ferruginous Thrush. Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., p. 335. 



Turdus rufus. Lath. Ind., i., p. 338, sp. 44. 



Ferruginous Thrush {Turdus rufus.) Wilson, ii., p. 83, and pi. 14, f. 1, (Brown Thrush.) 



Turdus rufus. Vieil., Ois. de I' Am., ii., pi. 59, p. 54. Bonap. Syn., p. 75, No. 93. 



This well-known songster has obtained a variety of local names, such as 

 the "Ground Mocking-bird," "French Mocking-bird," "Brown Thrush," and 

 ' Thrasher," in the United States. It was seen by the Expedition only at Carlton 

 House ; and as it does not enter into Mr. Hutchins' pretty full list of the birds of 

 Hudson's Bay, it is probable that it does not extend its range beyond the fifty- 

 fourth parallel of latitude. It winters in the southern parts of the United States, 

 arrives in Pennsylvania about the middle of April, and breeds throughout the 



