p l f i i i § MER3CTI.OIJOE S.
BonJm.J'rvnlfilJbr John Murray. Books filer IxllwJtJmireilty, January 4 6 29 -
MBRULIDjE . 187
[41.] 1. O r p h e u s m e r ü l o i d e s . (Swainson.) Thrush-like Mock-bird.
Genus, Orpheus. Swains.
Spotted Thrush. Lath. Syn. lii., p. 27, sp. 13.
Varied Thrush. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii. p. 337, pi* 15.
Turdus ntevius. Lath. Ind., i., p. 331, sp. 13. ?
Ch. Sp. O r p h e u s m e r u l o i d e s , nigrescenti-plumbeus subtus ad rostrum usque helvolus, fascia pectoris nigra incom-
pleta, remigibus extus maculatis lectricibusque helvolo bi-faseiatis.
Sp. Ch. T h r u s h - l i k e M o c k -b i r d , blackish-grey, beneath almost entirely reddish-orange, with the exception of an
imperfect black belt across the breast; wings crossed with two reddish-orange bands, and the quill feathers
blotched exteriorly with the same.
P late xxxviii.
The structure of this bird appears intermediate between Merula and Orpheus.
To the first it assimilates by the comparative straightness of its bill, the length of
its wings, and the size, length, and scutellation of its tarsi. On the other hand,
it exhibits unequivocal indications of those characters by which Orpheus is so
decidedly separated from the true Thrushes; the notch of the upper mandible is
nearly obsolete; the wings, although long, are slightly rounded; and the tail is
not only rounded and more lengthened, but the lateral feathers are marked with
those conspicuous white tips, which so strongly characterize the Mocking-birds.
It is unfortunate that, in the only specimen procured, the tail feathers, upon an
accurate inspection, appear in a state of moulting; and thus neither their true
length, nor, perhaps, their true form, are developed. ,We remark, for instance,
that the two middle feathers, as in some of the typical Merulw, are shorter than the
rest; but these, we apprehend, are feathers not yet fully developed. This opinion
is, in a great measure, confirmed by the figure of Pennant, where the tail is represented
as rounded, and fully as long as the wings, a structure which precisely
agrees with the American Mocking-bird, the type of the genus Orpheus. We
have, nevertheless, preferred representing upon our plate a correct figure of the
specimen in question, rather than to supply its supposed deficiencies, from any
other source than nature. We have in vain looked for a second specimen, both in
the London and Parisian collections. In placing this bird with its true congeners,
we have ventured to bestow upon it a specific name, which will express what
appears to us its real affinities.—Sw. 2 b 2