BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 163 



Genus SCLERURUS Swainson. 



Sderurus Swainson, Zool. Journ., iii, 1827, 356. (Type, Myiothera uvibrelta 



Lichtenstcin.) 

 Scelurus (typographical error?) Burmeister, Syst. Ueb. Th. Bras., iii, 1856, 45. 

 Tinactor Maximilian, Beitr. Naturg. Bras., iii, pt. ii, 1831, 1106. (Tyj^e, T. 



fuscus Maximilian.) 

 Oxypyga o Menetries, Mem. de I'Acad. St. Petersb., ser. vi, Sci. Nat., i, 1835. 



519. (Type, 0. scansor Menetnes= Myiothera umbretta Lichtenstein.) 

 Oxypiga Lesson, 1839. 

 Geocecia Bertoni, Aves Nuevas del Paraguay, 1901, 79. (Type, G. orryctcra 



'Bertom= Myiothera 7imbretta Lichtenstein.) 



Medium sized Furnariida? (length about 150-160 mm.) with long 

 slender bill (as long as or longer than head), tail much shorter than 

 wing, with rectrices broad and rounded terminally and witli veiy 

 rigid but not protruded shafts; hallux much longer than inner toe, 

 the latter conspicuously shorter than outer toe, middle toe united 

 to outer toe for whole of first and part of second phalanx, and plain 

 brownish coloration. 



Bill about as long as head, or longer, slender, straight or slightly 

 decurved, its width at loral antise equal to or greater than its depth 

 at same point and equal to a little less than one-fourth to nearly 

 one-third the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla; culmen dis- 

 tinctly ridged, straight basally, gradually decurved terminally, or 

 straight for most of its length and terminal portion rather abruptly 

 decurved; maxillary tomium nearly straight to decidedh^ concave, 

 minutely but distinctl}^ notched subterminall}"; mandibular tomium 

 more or less convex, at least terminally, without trace of notch; 

 gonys faintly convex basally, faintly concave terminally (the tip of 

 mandible slightly but distinctly decurved in S. mexicanus). Nostril 

 exposed, posteriorly in contact with loral feathering, broadly oval, 

 horizontal, margined above by narrow membrane, a conspicuous 

 internal tubercle or septum occupying nearly the posterior half. 

 Rictal bristles absent, and feathers of chin, etc., without distinct 

 (if any) terminal setse. Wing rather large and pointed, the longest 

 primaries considerably longer than secondaries; eighth, or sixth, 

 seventh, and eighth, primaries longest, the tenth (outermost) two- 

 thirds to three-fourths as long as the longest, the ninth equal to or 

 longer (sometimes much longer) than secondaries. Tail between 

 two-thirds and three-fourths as long as wing, strongly rounded, the 

 rectrices (12) broad, rounded terminally, with very rigid shafts, 

 which are denuded but not protruded terminally. Tarsus shorter 

 than culmen, about one-fourth as long as wing, scutellate anteriorly 

 (sometimes indistinctly so), the planta fused (nonscutellate) ; middle 

 toe, with claw, a little longer than tarsus; outer toe, without claw, 



« 0^0 acutus, TiufTj Cauda. (Menetries.) 



