49Ô VARIÉ» THRUSH.
Columbia they are only winter birds of ¡passage 'arriving about 'Octofe,
™ i lessfcèquently throughout the winter. At this
time they Art through th® forest in | § i | J flocîis, frequenting usually
low trees, on which they perch in perfect silence, and are at tunes very
tmffiftSus and difficult rf a P ] W i , having g the shy sagadity of .the
Rob», and appearing at afl,times in a very desultory manner.»-
• numerous specimens of this Thrush in my possession have enabled
m® t 0 ^ U mm-atonm, àiid another new Thrush
frtftfl' Chili. On examining the tail, from thé shape of which Mr
Swainson considers this, .pedes allied to our Mocking Bird, l found
its form, length, tad extent beyond the wing*,, to. correspond, aim«*
•exactly with those of the tail of our Hobif, ; m if it proves',™« that
the Varied. Thrush forms a »est tedded with mild,, it will .strengthen
a y opinion that both these andtfce Chilian spebiés are as nearly allied
as.fiMillft and therefore ought te be co^ideréd.as Thrushes of
^hich, to assume thv language of .systematic writers, Tnrdm migr'ato-
***** t h e typ8 ™ America, whilst Tnrdm MeruUm is that of Europei, ,
T i e two figwes'in ciyplàte wérê .tààen from. «Mt males shot in
spring. -You will find-afigufè of the feniale in Plate CCCCXXXIII.
. I ^ s ÉM. .S?st. Nat. vol. i p. S I J ^M. a d . 0 m i t t ^ t ^ ^
- Brir:.A:TTTerf TO]. li. p. 137.
Adult Male. I'tote. (XCF.XIX. ¡1*1»!%ft. .
< (Bill-of moderate leng£h^ rather strong, compressed, acute; upper mantfible
with Its dorsal» outline slightly archèd; the ridge narrow the sides
convex toward theend, the edges sharp, overlapping, destitute of notch
•there being m its place an curemelv .light sinus,'the tip, a littfe declt '
nate ; lower mandible with the angle rather long and narrow, the dor •
sal line v e f y s%h% convex, the ridge narrow,, the sides erect aiid convex,
the edges sharp and slightly decurved towards the-naraow rather
• obtuse, tip. Nostrils basal, oblong, half closed by a toy operculum
-Head.of moderate size, ovate, convex anteriorly; neck rather short
body moderately fall. Feet of ordinary length, rather stout ? tarsus
anteriorly covered with a long plate and .four inferior
seutela, posteriorly with two long plates meeting at. a very acute angle
Tôte rather large, the first strong«, the laufal nearly equal the,
VARIED THRUSH. 491
third arid fourth united! as far as the second joint of the latter. Claws
rather large, moderately arched, much Compressed, acute.
Pluinago soft and rather blended. Wings of moderate length,
broad, rounded ; the first primary extremely short, being about a fifth
df the length of the third, which is longest, but scarcely exceeds the
fourth ; the së.cond four-uvolfths shorter than the third. Tail large, rather
long, nearly even, of twelve broad rounded feathers.
Bill black, with the basal half of the lower mandible yellow ; iris
hazel i;:, feët 'and claws ftesh-Coloured: The general » four of the upper
parts is a deep-leadm-grey, darker on the head, the feathers very
narrowly margined with brown ; the quills and tail-feathers dusky, the
outer webs of 'the latter tinged with grey, and their tips white ; the
lore dusky ; a band of reddish-orange passes from over the'fore part of
the eye down the side of "the neck, and almost meets its fellow on the
h'mil part ; two conspicuous bands of the same cross, the wing obliquely
being formed of the tips of the first row of small coverts, and those of
the secondary coverts ; the outer webs (if the primary coverts about
the middle, a band on the primaries near the base, part of the outer
webs towards the end, and the tips of thé secondaries, also pale reddishorange.
Tiie lower parts in general are reddish-orange, paler behind ;
a band of greyish-black passés down the side, and crosses the lower
part of the neck, where it is almost pure black ; the feathers of the sides
are tipped with light grey ; those of the middle of the abdomen are
white ; and the lower tail-covorts arc tipped with the latter colour.
The axillary feathers are white, tipped with grey ; the smaller coverts
grey, tipped with reddish-whit®, the primary coverts grey, the secondary
nearly white, of which also there is a bar formed by part of the
inner webs of the quills.
Length to end of tail 10J inches ; wing from flexure 5J ; tail ;
bill along the ridge along the edge of lower mandible 1. ; tarsus
I j ; hind toé f^, its claw ft ; middle: toe its claw
Adult teníale. Plate CCCCXXXIl l . Fig. 6.
The female, which is scarcely smaller than the male, is coloured
in the same manner ; but the upper parte are strongly tinged with
olive-brown ; the reddish-orange bands are much paler, the tail-feathers
are margined with dull reddish-brown ; the band on the lore, down the.
sides of the neck, and across it, is light greyish-brown ; the orange tint