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 distinctiye 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, 
T urdus minor , Gmelin.” 
Turd us nanus, Dwarf Thrush , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 201. 
Bill dark brown, yellowish towards the base of the lower mandible. Feet 
flesh-colour. The general colour of the upp er 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 yellowisli-red, 
which on some of the inner runs a little way along the shaft. Lower parts 
greyish-white, the neck and breast tinged with yellowish-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 
A,, along the edge of lower mandible ; wing from flexure 3i ; tail 2]-f ; 
tarsus 1 T tj ; hind toe y^, its claw ; second toe y|, its claw yf ; third toe yf, 
its claw yf ; fourth toe yf, its claw |f. 
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.” 
