GEN. CHAR. Bill shorter than the head, rather broad at base. Rictal bristles moderately developed, reaching to the nostrils. Wings a little shorter than the tail, rounded; secondaries well developed; fourth and fifth quills longest; third and sixth little shorter; first and ninth about equal, and about the length of secondaries; first quill more than half the second, about half the third. Tail graduated; lateral feather about .70 shorter than the middle. Tarsi longer than middle toe and claw by about an additional half-claw; scutellate anteriorly, more or less distinctly in different specimens; scutellæ about seven. The conspicuous naked membranous border round the eye of some Thrushes, with the bare space behind it, not appreciable. [Line drawing: _Galeoscoptes carolinensis._ 2596] There is little difference in form between the single species of _Galeoscoptes_ and _Mimus polyglottus_, beyond the less degree of definition of the tarsal plates; and but for the difference in coloration (uniform plumbeous instead of gray above and white beneath), we would hardly be inclined to distinguish the two generically. The single species known is lead-colored, with black cap, and chestnut-red under tail-coverts. Galeoscoptes carolinensis, CABAN. THE CATBIRD. _Muscicapa carolinensis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 328. _Turdus carolinensis_, LICHT. Verz. 1823, 38.—D’ORBIGNY, La Sagra’s Cuba, Ois. 1840, 51. _Orpheus carolinensis_, JONES, Nat. Bermuda, 1859, 27 (breeds). _Mimus carolinensis_, GRAY, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1859, 346.—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 69 (Inagua).—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. (Woolwich), IV, 1864, 117 (east of Cascade Mts.). _Galeoscoptes carolinensis_, CAB. Mus. Hein. I, 1850, 82 (type of genus).—IB. Jour. Orn. 1855, 470 (Cuba).—GUNDLACH, Repert. 1865, 230 (Cuba, very common).—SCLATER, Catal. Birds, 1861, 6, no. 39.—SCL. & SALV. Pr. 1867, 278 (Mosquito Coast).—BAIRD, Rev. 1864, 54.—SAMUELS, 172.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 23. Figures: AUD. B. A. II, pl. 140.—IB. Orn. Biog. II, pl. 28.—VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, pl. lxvii.—WILSON, Am. Orn. II, pl. xiv, f. 3. SP. CHAR. Third quill longest; first shorter than sixth. Prevailing color dark plumbeous, more ashy beneath. Crown and nape dark sooty-brown. Wings dark brown, edged with plumbeous. Tail greenish-black; the lateral feathers obscurely tipped with plumbeous. The under tail-coverts dark brownish-chestnut. Female smaller. Length, 8.85; wing, 3.65; tail, 4.00; tarsus, 1.05. [Illustration: _Galeoscoptes carolinensis._] HAB. United States, north to Lake Winnipeg, west to head of Columbia, and Cascade Mountains (Lord); south to Panama R. R.; Cuba; Bahamas; Bermuda (breeds). Accidental in Heligoland Island, Europe. Oaxaca, Cordova, and Guatemala, SCLATER; Mosquito Coast, SCL. & SALV.; Orizaba (winter), SUMICHRAST; Yucatan, LAWR.