BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 139 



(not ridged) posteriorly, the plantar sciitella forming a single series 

 which bends around from the outer to the inner side, wliere separated 

 from the inner edge of the acrotarsiimi b}^ a distinct groove; middle 

 toe, with claw, longer than tarsus; outer toe, without claw, not 

 reacliing to middle of subterminal phalanx of middle toe, the inner 

 toe very slightly shorter; hallux as long as outer toe, but much 

 stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe wholly united to outer toe, for 

 about half its length to inner toe; claws moderate in size and curva- 

 ture, that of the hallux shorter than the digit. Plumage rather thin, 

 but feathers mostly broad and cHstinctly outlined, those of rump and 

 flanks more elongated and lax; feathering of head very short (scale- 

 like on superciliary region and sides of neck), the rictal and postocular 

 regions naked. 



Coloration. — Above brownish, with a concealed white dorsal patch; 

 wings black with two buffy or fulvous bands (tips of middle and 

 greater coverts) and an obhque band of same across subterminal por- 

 tion of primaries; a broad white band across inner webs of remiges 

 near base; under parts of body gray, the throat and upper chest 

 black in male, rufous-tawny in female. 



Range. — Nicaragua to Cayenne and P^cuador. (Two species.") 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF RHOPOTERPE. 



a. Inner webs of remiges crossed by a band of white; remiges without buff or tawny 

 terminal spots; upper tail-coverts and tail cinnamon-rufous. (Cayenne and 



British Guiana to eastern Ecuad6r. ) Rhopoterpe torquata (extralimital) . b 



aa. Inner webs of remiges crossed by a band of buff or ta\vny; remiges tipped with a 

 buff or tawny spot; upper tail-coverts and tail brown. (Eastern Nicaragua.) 



Rhopoterpe stictoptera (p. 139). 



RHOPOTERPE STICTOPTERA Salvin. 



RICHARDSON'S ANTTHRUSH. 



Allied to R. torquata and of the same size and for the most part 

 similar in coloration; but top of head darker, rump and tail more 

 fuscous, outer web of remiges with a distinct terminal spot of fawn 



a The above description is based entirely on the type of the genus, R. torquata 

 (Gmelin). R. stictoptera Salvin, of Nicaragua, which I have not seen, is apparently 

 very similar in coloration, but has the band across inner webs of remiges fulvous 

 instead of white. 



bFormicarius iorquatus Boddaert, Tabl. PI. Enl., 1783, 43 (Cayenne; based on Le 

 Fourmillier de Cayenne Daubenton, PI. Enl., pl. 700, fig. 1). — Rhopoterpe torquata 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1858, 275; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 298.— 

 [Turdus]formidvorus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, pt. 2, 1788, 828 (based on Fourmillier de 

 Cayenne Daubenton, PI. Enl., pl. 700, fig. 1). — Myrmothera formicivora Vieillot, Nouv. 

 Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xii, 1817, 114, pl. D. 2Q. ^Rhopoterpe formicivora Cabanis, Wieg- 

 mann's Archiv fiir Naturg., 1847, pt. i, 228. — F ormicivorus palikourT evaminck, Cat. 

 Syst. Cabinet d'Orn., 1807, 93 (new name for Turdus formieivorus Gmelin).— Myio- 

 turdus palikour M^n^tri^a, M^m. Acad. St. Petersburg, s6r. vi (Sci. Nat.), 1 (Livr. 5), 

 1835, 470. 



