TURDIDJE — MIMING: MOCKING THRUSHES. 
251 
ions which now obtain in ornithology to i)lace all the species in one genus ; but the gradaticni 
of form is so gentle that it seems impossible to dismember the group without violence. The 
arcuation of the bill proceeds xoari passu with its elongation ; the shortest bills being the 
straightest, and conversely. There is also a curious correlation of color with shape of bill 
tlie short-billed species being the most richly colored and heavily spotted, while the bow- 
billed ones are very plain, sometimes with no spots whatever on the under parts. Our nine 
forms of the genus are with one exception South-western, focusing in Arizona, where occur 
four species, two of them not known elsewhere ; two others are confined to California ; two 
to the Mexican border, leaving only one generally distributed. They furnish the following 
Analysis of Species and Varieties. 
Bill not longer than head (^0.87-1.12), little or not curved. Breast spotted. 
Bill 1.00, quite straight. Above rich rusty-red ; below whitish, heavily spotted and streaked with 
dark brown. Eastern rufus 17 
Bill 1.12, slightly curved. Above dark reddish-brown, below whitish, heavily spotted and streaked 
with blackish. Texas longirostris 18 
Bill 1.12, curved. Above ashy-gray, below whitish, breast with round spots of the color of the back. 
Mexican border and Arizona curvirostris or palmeri 19,20 
Bill 0.87, scarcely curved. Above grayish-brown, below brownish- white, breast alone with arrow- 
heads of the color of the back. Arizona bendirii 
Bill 1.12, curved. Above ashy-gray, below whitish, with profuse distinct blackish-brown spots. 
Lower California cinereus 
Bill longer than head (1.50), arcuate. Breast not spotted. 
Dark oily olive-brown, below paler, belly and crissum rufescent. Coast of California . . redivivus 
Pale ash, paler still below, lower belly and crissum brownish-yellow. Arizona lecontii 
Brownish-ash, paler below, crissum chestnut in marked contrast. Arizona, New Mexico, and 
California crissalis 
12 
25 
H. ru'fus. (Lat. rufus, rufous, reddish. Fig. 121.) Thrasher. Brown Thrush. $ 9 : Upper 
Concealed portions of quiUs fuscous, 
then conspicuously tipped with white. 
parts uniform rich rust-red, with a bronzy lustre. 
Greater and median wing-coverts blackish near the end 
Bastard quills like the coverts. Tail 
like the back, the lateral feathers with 
paler ends. Under parts white, more 
or less strongly tinged, especially on 
the breast, flanks, and crissum, with 
tawny or pale cinnamon-brown, the 
breast and sides marked with a profu- 
sion of well-defined spots of dark 
brown, oval in front, becoming more 
linear posteriorly. Throat immaculate, 
bordered with a necklace of spots; 
middle of the belly and under tail- 
coverts likewise unspotted. Bill quite 
straight, black, with yellow base of the 
lower mandible ; feet pale ; iris yellow Fig. I2i. — Thrasher, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) 
or orange. Length about 11 inches; extent 12.50-14.00; wing 3.75-4.25 ; tail 5.00 or more; 
bilU.OO; tarsus 1.25. Eastern U. S. chiefly, but N. to adjoining British Provinces and W. 
to the Rocky Mts. ; migratory, but breeds throughout its range, and winters in the Southern 
States. A delightful songster, abundant in thickets and shrubbery. Nest in bushes (some- 
times on ground), bulky and rude, of sticks, leaves, bark, roots, etc. ; eggs 4-5, sometimes 6, 
1.05 X 0.80, whitish or greenish, profusely speckled with brown. 
H. r. longiros'tris. (Lat. longus, long, and rostris, from rostrum, beak ; i. e., long-billed.) 
Texas Thrasher. Similar to H. rufus ; upper parts dark reddish-brown, instead of rich 
foxy-red ; under parts white, with little if any tawny tinge, the spots large, very numerous. 
