Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, slightly paler on the lower hack, rump, and
upper tail-coverts, the head slightly streaked with blackish centres to the feathers; lesser wing-
coverts like the hack; the median and greater coverts, as well as the primary-coverts and quills,
black, externally somewhat broadly edged with light slaty-grey, lending a grey aspect to the wing ;
tail-feathers black, slightly tipped with ashy, the four outer feathers with a broad white tip,
increasing in extent towards the outermost; lores and feathers below the eye black, extending on
to the fore part of the ear-coverts, which are otherwise slaty-grey like the sides of the neck; chin
and cheeks white; throat black, mottled and streaked with a few white edges or bases to the
feathers; fore-neck, breast, and sides of body slaty-grey, with a few black streaks on the fore-neck;
abdomen and thighs and sides of vent pale chestnut or cinnamon, the thighs with slate-coloured
bases; under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts dark slaty-grey: bill black; feet and eyelids
red» Total length 9‘7 inches, culmen 1*0, wing 4*8, tail 4T5, tarsus T5.
In the ten specimens procured by Mr. Townsend on Swan Island, Mr. Eidgway found
some differences in the colour of the bill, which he describes as follows:—“ There is a curious
variation in the colour of the bill, which in some is deep black, while in others it is deep orange or
orange-red, the upper mandible tinged with brownish-dusky. The extremes are found in two
males.”
Dr. Gundlach (J. f. 0 . 1872, p. 406) describes the young of M. rubripes as being of a duller
colour than the adults, with dusky tips to the feathers of, the crown, while the breast-feathers have
dusky margins with pale buff centres. The wing-coverts have an ochre-coloured tip, and the
tail-feathers are washed with rust-colour in the centre, with faintly indicated dusky cross-bars.
The specimen described is a male bird in the Salvin-Godman Collection, received from
Mr. Lawrence. The bird figured is from San Cristobal, collected by Dr. Gaumer, and now
in the Seebohm Collection. [R. JB. S.]
MIMOC ICHLA CORYI , Sharpe.
CORY’S GREY THRESH.
MimocicMa rubripes (nec Temm.), Cory, Auk, 1889, p. 31.
Similis M. rubripedi sed pallidior, rostro pallidiore flavi canti-brunneo nec nigro, et plaga abdominali saturate
castanea magis restricta distinguenda. Long. tot. 10'Opoll., culm. IT , alae 5T, caudse 4*65, tarsi 1*45.
T he Grey Thrush from the island of Cayman Brae seems to be distinct from M. rubripes of Cuba,
with which Mr. Cory has identified it. Mr. F. D. Godman received three adults and one
young bird from Mr. Cory in exchange; and I find on examination that all these birds have pale
bills, while the patch on the abdomen is of a deeper chestnut, and not so cinnamon as in
M. rubripes of Cuba. So many of the species from Cayman Brae have proved to be distinct
from their Cuban allies, that it is not surprising that the Mimocichla should also turn out to
be different.
A young bird is rather duller grey than the adults, with triangular spots of orange at the
end of the wing-coverts ; the black throat-patch of the adults is represented by a mass of
triangular black spots, extending to the base of the chin, and there is only a small white
cheek-stripe; the grey feathers of the underparts have black bars at the ends with a subterminal
wash of pale cinnamon. The bill is pale horn-brown, with a conspicuous yellow base to the
mandible.
The specimens described are in the Salvin-Godman Collection. They were collected by
Mr. C. J. Maynard, and were sent in exchange by Mr. C. B. Cory to Mr. Godman. [R. B. S.]