the series collected by the authors themselves in Guatemala. To all appearances, therefore, the dark
brown specimens would have seemed to any one to be intermediate between the olive birds (T. tristis)
and the slaty-grey birds (21 leucauchen), and hence the conclusions of Messrs. Salvin and Godman and
Mr. Seebohm.
The fine series of skins of both forms now in the Salvin-Godman Collection, accompanied by
every detail of sex, locality, altitude, and date, have, I trust, enabled me to solve this knotty question,
so that I am now able to affirm that T. tristis and T. leucauchen are in reality two distinct species,
liable only to be confounded in their winter-plumages, for, in the breeding-plumage, T. leucauchen
is easily recognizable.
T. tristis is confined to Mexico, and is distinguished by its olive-brown head and back; the
rump is a little clearer olive than the hack, and the tail is also olive; the bill is never yellow, hut
blackish or horn-brown; the quill-lining is pale huff. T. leucauchen, on the other hand, is slaty-grey
above in summer and has a yellow bill. In winter the bill is blackish or horn-brown, but at this
season the birds can always be recognized from T. tristis by their black tails ; the quill-lining is ashy-
whitish, not buff. It replaces the last-named bird in Central America from Chiapas to Panama.
By the addition of the localities of the specimens now in the Salvin-Godman Collection to
those already given in the ‘ Biología’ and in recent publications, the range of Turdus tristis
appears to he as follows, so far as is at present known;—Culebra, Sinaloa, Sonora, June 5, 1888
(W. Lloyd: mus. S.-G.); Tepic, May 23-31, 1889 (W. B. Hie hard son: mus.S.-G,); Sierra Madre
de Tepic (6000 ft.), June 23 (W. B. Bichardson: mus.S.-G.)-, Beltran, Jalisco, April 30, 1889
(W .L lo y d : mus.S.-G.)-, Hacienda San Marcos, Zapotlan, May 9, 1889 (W. Lloyd: mus. S.-G. ) ;
Tonila, Zapotlan, June 14, 1889 (W. Lloyd: mus.S.-G.); Sierra Nevada de Colima, Dec. 11,1889
(W. B. Sichardson: mus. S.-G.); Volcan de Colima, Dec. 29, 1889 (W. B, B . : mus, S.-G.);
Omilteme, Guerrero (8000 feet), July 1888 [Mrs. D. W: Smith: mus. S.-G.); Amula, Guerrero
(6000 feet), August {TJ. W. Smith: mus. S.-G.); Guadalajara (Jouy, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xvi.
p. 774); Valley of Mexico, near the city of Mexico (G. E . White : Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 172)1;
Tetelco (Xochimilco), Jan. 18, 1888 (F. Ferrari-Berez: mus. S.-G.); Puente nacional (Pease: S. & G.
Biol. p. 18); S. Bartolo, Puebla, May 15 (F. Ferrari-Perez: mus. S .,S .); Temascaltepec (Bullock;;
Swainson, I. c.); Jalapa (Be Oca; S a llé : Sel. P. Z. S. 185,7, p. 202; Ferrari-Perez, Proc. U.S.
Nat. Mus. ix. p. 131); Jalapa, May, July, 1888 (F. B. Godman: mus. S.-G.); Coatepec, Jalapa,
Nov. 1889 (M. Trujillo: mus. S.-G.); El Patio, Jalapa, June 1888 (M. Trujillo: mus. S.-G.);
Vigia (Sallé: Sel. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 202); Juquila and Totalcingo (Boucard:, Scl. P. Z. S. 1859,
p. 370); Orizaba (Botteri: mtpi. P . L. Sclater) ; Orizaba, April 1888 (F. B. Godman) ;forests of
Muero, Potrero, Cordova, 'a¿d Orizaba (F. Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 543) ; Juchatengo,
Oaxaca, April 1889 (M. Trujillo: mus. S.-G.).
Not many notes have been published on the habits of the present species. Jouy states that he
found it common on the Barranca Ibarra, near Guadalajara, Central Mexico. The only note heard
was a single sharp chirp or alarm-note (Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 774).
Sumichrast (Mem. Bost. Soc. ,i. p. 543) writes :—“ Judging from the large number of localities
in which this species is found in,.the State of Vera Cruz, it must have a very extended area of
distribution,—restricted, however, in the hot and temperate regions to an altitude oMSOO m e tr e s,-J
for I have procured specimens on.the Gulf coast, in the forests of Muero, at Potrero, near Cordova
(590 metres), at Orizaba (1220 metres), &c. Although a sedentary bird, it is not always to be
lound in the same localities, hut changes its residence frequently, influenced by the ripening
berries upon which it feeds.”
Mr. F. M. Chapman says that this was the most abundant species observed at Jalapa and
Las Vigas. Its calls, he says, “ resemble those of the Bobin (M. migratoria), but are apparently
less varied ; its song is, however, to my mind, much richer and more musical than that of the Bobin.
Dozens of. these birds could be heard singing early each morning, and in the afternoon we were
again serenaded by this inspiring chorus of bird-song.”
Eggs of the present species procured by Mr. Boucard from Oaxaca are described by Dr. Sclater
as “ resembling pale.varieties of the European Blackbird, being of a pale greenish-white, spotted
and freckled with two shades of rufous. They measure 1 1 inch by 0'75.”
Adult male in winter plumage. General colour above dark olive-brown, the head scarcely deeper,
in tint than the back ; the rump clearer olive than the hack; the wing-coverts like the back; the
bastard-wing, primary-coverts, quills, and tail dark sepia-brown, externally washed with olive-brown,,
the primaries rather paler Oh the margins, and the innermost secondaries entirely olive-brown ;: lores
dusky ; ear-coverts and sides of face dark olive-brown, with scarcely perceptible pale'' fulvous shaft-
streaks ; chin and throat white, with broad mesial triangular spots of black, giving a streaked
appearance to the .throat, these spots collecting on the malar line and forming a moustachial streak,
above which is a broad line of white along the cheeks ; lower throat white, forming a large patch,
fore-neck, chest, and sides of body light ochreous-brown, tinged with ashy, and slightly darker on
the lower flanks ; thighs like, the flanks; centre of breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white,
with dusky edgings to the base of some of the feathers; under wing-coverts and axillaxies clear
orange-buff, the outer coverts ashy-brown ; quills light sepia-brown below, the quill-lining pale
orange-buff along the inner web. Total length 8’8 inches, culmen 0*9, wing 4 75, tail 3 6,
tarsus 1‘2.
M u lt female. Does not differ in colour from the male. Total length 9 inches, wing 4-5.
In the breeding-season the plumage becomes much worn and decidedly greyer, especially
bn the head, wings, and tail. The breast and sides of the body, are also more ashy-brown, and there
is less of the huff tinge seen in the winter-dress ; “ bill plumbeous ; feet dark plumbeous ; iris
brown” (W. Lloyd).
Young. Rather darker olive than the adults and having longitudinal centres o f orange-buff to
the feathers of the upper surface, the wing-coverts tipped with triangular spots of the same colour ;
under surface tinged with orange-buff, and mottled with blackish tips and bars at the end of the
feathers, more distinct on those of the chest and less marked on the abdomen ; throat minutely
spotted with dusky brown.
Young birds after their moult may be distinguished from old ones by the more or less distinct
remains of tawny spots at the ends of the greater wing-coverts, which are retained till the following
spring. One obtained by Mr. Richardson at Tepic on the 26th of May has likewise a few triangular
dusky spots on the ashy-brown fore-neck.
There is apparently some variation in the size of individuals of this Thrush ; for instance, a
female from Omilteme has the wing 5-25 inches, while one from Jalapa measures only 4*5. A male
from the same place has a wing of 5 inches.
Mr. F. M. Chapman (I. c.), on the authority of Mr. Nelson, proclaims that Western birds are
different from those of Eastern Mexico. He writes :—“ Comparison of two specimens of this Thrush,
collected by Dr. G. A. Buller, at Tonila, Jalisco, with eight specimens from Jalapa, shows such
marked differences in colour that I have submitted my Jalapa material to Mr. E. W. Nelson for
comparison with his large series of Merula tristis from the west coast region, including specimens
from Huitzilac, Morelos, which is the same district as Temascaltepec, the locality whence came
Swainson’s type. Mr, Nelson kindly writes me that the Jalapan birds differ from west coast
examples in their darker coloration, the wings and tail being blackish brown, not greyish olive-
brown, the brown on the flank being greyer and darker. West coast birds are somewhat the larger,
as the following average measurements of series of males from Morelos and Jalisco and from Jalapa
vol. i . | 1