BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. ^1 



decidedly shorter; hallux about as lon^ as inner toe but much 

 stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe united to outer toe for most 

 of its length, to inner toe by about half its length (or less) ; claws 

 moderate or rather weak, that of the hallux tlecidedly shorter than 

 its digit. Plumage full and blended, that of rump and flanks more 

 elongated and lax; feathers of pileum not elongated. 



Coloration. — Plain gray, slate color, or blackish, the back with a 

 concealed patch of white, the wing-coverts narrowly tipped \\'ith 

 white (lateral rectrices sometimes broadly tipped with white) ; adult 

 females of some species similar but throat streaked with white, of 

 others brown above, tawny or ochraceous below. 



Nidification. — Nest (of O. nigricans) composed of dry grasses, 

 placed in fork of a low bush. Eggs mahogany color, mottled with 

 darker shades of the same color.'' 



Range. — Southern Mexico to C^ayenne, southeastern Brazil, and 

 Peru. (About 10 species.)'' 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF CERCOMACRA. 



a. General color black or slaty. 



h. Lateral rectrices broadly tipped with white. (Cercomacra nigricans.) 

 c. General color deep black, the throat without white streaks. (Eastern Panama 

 to Venezuela, Trinidad, and western Ecuador.) 



Cercomacra nigricans, adult male (p. 91). 

 cc. General color blackish slate (more blackish l)eneath), the throat streaked 



mth white Cercomacra nigricans, adult female (p. 92). 



bb. Lateral rectrices very narrowly if at all tipped with whitish. (Cercomacra 

 tyrannina.) 

 c. Paler (slate color above, slate-gray below). (Eastern Panamd to British 

 Guiana, western Ecuador, etc.) 



Cercomacra tyrannina tyrannina, adult male (p. 93). 

 cc. Darker (slate-blackish above, slate color or blackish slate below). (Western 

 Panamd to southeastern Mexico.) 



Cercomacra tyrannina crepera, adult male (p. 95). 

 aa. General color olive-brownish above, tawny below. 



b. Paler Cercomacra tyrannina tyrannina, adult female (p. 93). 



bb. Darker Cercomacra tyrannina crepera, adult female (p. 96). 



CERCOMACRA NIGRICANS Sclater. 



BLACK TYRANNINE ANTBIRD. 



Adult male. — Uniform deep black, relieved by white tips to wing- 

 coverts (anterior half of lesser covert area wholly white), broad white 

 edging to outermost feather of alula, and broad white tips to rec- 

 trices (except middle pair) ; feathers of back extensively white beneath 

 surface; under wing-coverts uniform black for anterior half or moi-e, 

 white for posterior portion; inner webs of remiges broadly edged 

 (except terminally) with white; bill black; iris dark brown; legs and 



« Sclater and Ralvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1879, 526. 

 b Some of these doubtless only subspecies. 



