Birds of this section have a somewhat thrush-like appearance, but
(except in _Oreoscoptes_) with longer, much more graduated, and
broader tail; short concave wings, about equal to or shorter than the
tail, usually lengthened, sometimes decurved bill without notch, and
strongly marked scutellæ on the anterior face of the tarsus. The loral
feathers are soft, and not ending in bristly points. The colors are
dull shades of brown, gray, or plumbeous. Most of the species, in
addition to a melodious native song, possess the power of imitating
the notes of other birds; sometimes, as in the American Mocking Bird,
to an eminent degree. All are peculiar to the New World, and the
species are much less vagrant than those of the _Turdinæ_,—those of
the United States scarcely going beyond its northern boundary; others,
again, restricted to small islands in the West Indies or in the
Pacific Ocean.