FAMILY TURDIDAE 



137 



top of a slender sapling, or, more rarely, in a recess in the stem of some 

 great tree. On roadsides they may be built in a niche or on a projection 

 of a steep face, and here they are often higher off the road surface than 

 is the nest of T. albicollis. The eggs are usually three, less often two; 

 they are similar to, but rather larger than, the eggs of T. albicollis; the 

 deep blue type with pronounced markings does not, however, occur in 

 this species. Typical eggs may be described as regular ovals, smooth- 

 shelled, and slightly glossy. The ground is pale greenish-blue, and the 

 markings are profuse marblings and blotches of pale reddish-brown, 

 converging toward the larger end and there forming a cap. Average 

 measurements are 28.2x20.4 mm.: a large set of two measure 32.2 X 

 20.8 and 32x21.4 mm." 



TURDUS GRAYI CASIUS (Bonaparte): Clay-colored Robin, 

 Casca Pardo 



Planesticus casius Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., vol. 41, no. 17, 1855 (not 

 earlier than October 22), p. 657. (Panama.) 



Rather dull brown in color throughout; a typical "robin" (in the 

 American sense) in appearance and action. 



Description. — Length 205-235 mm. Adult (sexes alike), dull clay 

 brown to buffy brown on undersurface, with the throat paler and 

 streaked with dark brown; darker brown above. 



Juvenile, brighter buffy brown on undersurface, with broken bars of 

 dull grayish brown; back and sides of head streaked, and wing coverts 

 tipped with cinnamon-buff. 



Iris verona to orange-brown; anterior half of bill, and the cutting 

 edge of the mandible, dull honey yellow; basal half dull greenish gray; 

 tarsus, toes, and claws dull neutral gray, the claws sometimes buff at 

 tip. The bill color is brighter in breeding season. 



Measurements. — Males (14 from Panama), wing 114.1-129.3 

 (120.3), tail 89.1-106.8 (95.5) oilmen from base 22.3-24.4 (23.1), 

 tarsus 30.0-33.0 (31.2) mm. 



Females (12 from Panama), wing 110.2-119.2 (115.2), tail 85.9- 

 96.5 (92.2), culmen from base 21.1-25.0 (22.9), tarsus 27.9-32.2 

 (30.3) mm. 



Resident. Common, chiefly in the Tropical Zone. On the Pacific 

 slope from Costa Rica east, including the Azuero Peninsula through 

 the Province of Panama (where recorded east to the lower course of 

 the Rio Maje). On the Caribbean side, from Bocas del Toro through 

 northern Veraguas, Colon, and the Comarca de San Bias to Colombia 

 ( Acandi, Choco) . In Chiriqui it ascends to the Subtropical Zone above 



