236 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATipNAL MUSEUM. 



about one-fourth as long as wing, stout, very distinctly scutellate 

 (endaspidean) ; middle toe, with claw, about as long as tarsus or 

 slightly longer; outer toe (with or without claw) as long as middle 

 toe or barely shorter; inner toe (without claw) reaching to subter- 

 minal articulation of middle toe, its claw falling considerably short 

 of terminal articulation of middle toe; hallux much shorter than 

 inner toe and slightly thicker; middle toe united for whole of its first 

 and part of its second phalanx to outer toe, for about half its first 

 phalanx to inner toe; claws large, very strongly curved, very acute, 

 that of the hallux less strongly curved, equal to or slightly longer 

 than the digit. 



Coloration. — Tail and remiges cinnamon-rufous or chestnut, the 

 inner webs of longer primaries tipped with dusky; rest of plumage 

 brownish (sometimes cinnamon-rufous), the chest, pileum, and 

 hindneck (sometimes back also) streaked with paler, the throat at 

 least partly dull whitish. Sexes alike. 



Nidijication. — Nests in holes; eggs white. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, 

 Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. (About eighteen species, including 

 subspecies.") 



KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OP XIPHOCOLAPTES EMIGRANS.& 



a. Smaller (wing averaging 137.5 in male, 134.7 in female; ciilmen averaging 46.9 

 in male, 48.7 in female). (Highlands of Guatemala.) 



Xiphocolaptes emigrans emigrans (]). 237). 

 bb. Larger (wing averaging 140 or more in males, 136 or more in females; culmen 

 averaging 52 or more in males, usually more than 55 in females). 

 c. Coloration darker and brighter (much as in X. c. emigrans). 



d. Wing averaging shorter (140 in male, 138 in female) but bill larger (culmen 

 averaging 53 in male, 55 in female); pileum darker, \vith streaks paler. 

 (Highlands of southeastern Mexico.) 



Xiphocolaptes emigrans sclateri (p. 238). 

 dd. Wing averaging longer (145.5 in male, 136 in female) but bill smaller 

 (culmen averaging 52 in male, 47.7 in female); pileum lighter or browner, 

 with streaks more buffy. (Highlands of Costa Rica.) 



Xiphocolaptes emigrans costaricensis (p. 239). 

 cc. Coloration paler and duller. (Wing averaging 143.3 in male, 140.5 in female; 

 culmen averaging 54.2 in male, 56.5 in female.) (Highlands of south- 

 western Mexico) Xiphocolaptes emigrans omiltemensis (p. 239). 



a The following have been examined in the preparation of this work: X. albicollis 

 (Vieillot), X. argentinus Ridgway, X. emigrans Sclater (and its several subspecies), 

 X. promeropirhynchus (Lesson), X. crassi7-ostris Taczanowski and Berlepsch, X. 

 fortis Heine, X. virgatus Ridgway, X. ignotus Ridgway, X. compressirostris Tac- 

 zanowski, X. saturatus Ridgway, X. major Vieillot, X. castaneus Ridgway, and 

 X. cinnamomeus Ridgway. 



b All the Mexican and Central American forms of this genus are evidently very 

 closely related to X. promeropirhynchus (Lesson) and other forms of northern South 

 America; but material available for study is so scant that their exact status can not 

 be worked out at the present time. 



