164 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



reaching to beyond middle of subterminal phalanx of middle toe, 

 the inner toe conspicuously shorter, reaching (without claw) only to 

 subterminal articulation of middle toe; hallux longer than inner but 

 shorter than outer toe; claws moderate in size and curvature to 

 rather large and strongly curved, much compressed, that of the 

 hallux shorter than the digit. 



Coloration. — Plain brownish, the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 usually more rufescent, sometimes bright or deep chestnut; under 

 parts paler than upper, the throat sometimes gray or whitish or 

 squamated. Sexes alike. 



Nidification. — Nest (of S. umbretta) composed of leaf-ribs placed 

 in a rounded chamber at the end of a gallery in the ground. Eggs 

 white.*^ 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Cayenne, Argentina, and Peru. 

 (About twelve species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF SCLERURUS. 



a. Lower rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut, distinctly different from color of 

 back. 

 6. Chin and throat whitish or grayish, distinctly different from color of chest, 

 c. Chin and throat dull white or grayish white, the feathers margined or tipped 



with dusky. (Southern Brazil.) Sclerurus umbretta (extralimital).^ 



cc. Chin dull white deepening into gray on throat, the feathers without distinct, 

 if any, darker margin or tip. 

 d. Back, etc., brown; chest tawny brown or dull rusty. (Sclerurus albigularis .) 

 e. Back, etc., olive-brown; chest tawny brown; throat grayish white, deep- 

 ening into pale gray on lower portion. (Venezuela; Tobago.) 



Sclerurus albigularis albigularis (extralimital).c 

 ee. Back, etc., burnt-umber brown; chest dull rusty; throat smoke gray. 

 (Northeastern Colombia.) 



Sclerurus albigularis propinquus (extralimital).'^ 



a Gooldi, Ibis, 1896, 305. 



b M[yiothera] umbretta Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl., 1823, 43 (Bahia, Brazil). — 

 Myioturdus umbretta Menetries, Mem. de I'Acad. St. Petersb., ser. 6, Sci. Nat., i, 

 1835, 468 {B3hi&).—F[ormicarius] umbretta Gray, Gen. Birds, i, 1840, 211.— Sclerurus 

 umbretta Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, 574 (lower Amazon Valley); 

 Burmeister, Syst. Ueb. Th. Bras., iii, 1856, 45; Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 

 1890, 22 (monogr.); Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, Hi.— Sclerurus cauda- 

 cutus umbretta Hellmayr, Novit. Zool., xiv, 1907, 56 {cni.). —Oxypyga scansor Mene- 

 tries, Mem. de I'Acad. St. Petersb., ser. 6, Sci. Nat., i, 1835, 520, pi. 11 (Rio de 

 Janeiro, Brazil). — T[inactor] fuscus Maximilian, Beitr. Naturg. Bras., iii, 1831, 1106, 

 part (female only). 



c Sclerurus albigularis "Sw[ainson] Braz. B. t. 78" Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 

 210 (nomen nudum); Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, (pub. April, 

 1869), 630 (Venezuela; diagnosis); Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 114, 

 part (excl. syn. S. canigularis) . — Sclerurus albogularis Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., xii, 1889 (1890), 24 (monogr.; Venezuela; Tobago). 



d Sclerurus albigularis propinquus Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xiii, Nov. 11, 1899, 

 99 (Chirua, Santa Marta, Colombia, 7,000 ft.; coll. E. A. and O. Bangs). 



