202 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



distinctly scutellate; middle toe, with claw, equal to tarsus (P.fusci- 

 pennis) or more or less shorter (other species); outer toe, mthout 

 claw, reaching to or beyond middle of subterminal phalanx of middle 

 toe, the inner toe slightly shorter; hallux about as long as outer toe 

 but much stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe wholly united to 

 lateral toes; claws moderate in size and curvature, that of the hallux 

 decidedly shorter than the digit. 



Coloration. — Plain brown, brown and gray, or rufescent above, the 

 tail and upper tail-coverts usually cinnamon-rufous or rufous-tawny; 

 a more or less distinct superciliary stripe of rufous-tawny, ochra- 

 ceous, buff, or whitish; under parts plain tawny, ochraceous, or 

 bufTy. Sexes alike. 



Range. — Costa Kica to Peru, Bolivia, southeastern Brazil, and 

 Cayenne. (About fifteen species.) "^ 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF PHILYDOR.& 



a. Upper tail-coverts buffy brown, like back but lighter; wings cinnamon-rufous, con- 

 trasting strongly with color of back. 

 6. Pileum distinctly gray, the forehead broadly and abruptly buffy. (Southeastern 



Brazil) Philydor rufus (extralimital).c 



bb. Pileum not distinctly, if at all, gray, the forehead neither broadly nor abruptly 

 buffy. 

 c. Coloration much paler, the back, etc., light buffy brown, under parts buff; 

 pileum brownish gray or grayish brown. (Venezuela.) 



Philydor columbianus (extralimital).'^ 



" Of the fifteen species enumerated under Philydor in Dr. Sharpe's Hand-List of the 

 Genera and Species of Birds (vol. iii, 1901, pp. 68, 69), I have examined only P. atri- 

 capiUus (l\Iaximilian), P. rufus (Vieillot), P. Kchtensteini Cabanis, P. pyrrhodes 

 (Cabanis), P. fuscipennis Salvin, P. panerythrus Sclater, and P. eryihrocercus (Pel- 

 zeln) — leaving eight species, or more than one-half, unknown to me autoptically. A 

 careful comparison of all the species would, I feel quite sure, result in subdivision of 

 the genus, which is certainly far from being a homogeneous or natural group. 



b Including only the more closely allied extralimital forms that are available at 

 this time. 



cDendrocopus rufus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxvi, 1818, 119 .~P[hilydor] 

 rufus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, Aug., 1859, 29 .—Philydor rufus Sclater, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. Lond., 18G1, 378; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 97 .—S[phcnur a] polio- 

 cephala Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl., 1823, 41 (S. Paulo, s. Brazil; coll. Berlin Mus.).— 

 Philydor ruficollis Spix, Av. Bras., "1824," 74, pi. 75 (int. prov. Bahia, Brazil).— 

 D[endroma] caniceps Swainson, Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 316 (based on "Braz. Birds, 

 pi. 80").—Xenops ru^/rons Lesson, Traits d'Orn., 1831, 317 (ex Valenciennes, manu- 

 script; new name for Philydor ruficollis Spix). 



dP[hilydor] columbianus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, Aug., 1859, 29, footnote 

 (Puerto Cabello, Venezuela; coll. Berlin Mus.). —Philydor columbianus Sclater and 

 Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 170 (Cardcas, Venezuela). —Philydor colombianus 

 Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 98. 



