BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLK AMERICA. 643 



Genus SALPINCTES Cabanis. 



Salpindes Cahaxis, in Wiegmann's Archiv. fiir Naturg., 1847 (i), 323. (Type, 

 Troglodytes obsoletus Say. ) 



Medium-sized Tro^-lodytidu' with iiuior toe (witlunit chiw j not roach- 

 \\\^ to penidtinuite joint of middle toe, plantti tarsi more or less divided 

 into segments (at least on inner side), the under parts mostly \vliiti>h 

 (sometimes speekled or 1)arred with dusky), and tail with a subterminal 

 l)and (interrupt(>d l)y middle rectrices) of pale cinnamon. 



Bill shorter than head (sometimes nearly as long), slender, straight 

 (except extreme tip); exposed culmen shorter than tarsus but longer 

 than middle toe without claw, straight, or very nearl}^ so, to near tip, 

 where gradually but decidedly decurved; gon3^s decidedly shorter than 

 distance from nostril to tip of maxilla, straight or veiy faintlv concave 

 terminally; maxillary tomium with slight subtenninal notch or indi- 

 cation of one. Nostril longitudinal, guttate (the pointed end anterior), 

 overhung by a distinct though rather narrow corneous excurrent 

 operculum, its posterior end in contact witli latero-frontal feathers. 

 Rictal bristles obsolete. Wing rather long, moderately rounded; eighth, 

 seventh, and sixth primaries longest, ninth about etpuil to third and 

 about twice as long as tenth. Tail nearly three-fourths as long as 

 wing, slightly rounded, the rectrices very broad. Tarsus equal to or 

 longer than exposed culmen, more than one-fourth as long as wing, 

 slender, the acrotarsium distincth' scutellate, the planta tarsi more 

 or less divided into segments, especially on inner side;" middle toe, 

 with claw\ decidedly shorter than tarsus; lateral toes of very une([ual 

 length, the inner (without claw) not reaching to middle (subterminal) 

 joint of middle toe, the outer scarcely reaching to beyond this joint, 

 its claw falling decidedlv short of base of middle claw; hallux remark- 

 abl}- slender (no thicker than anterior toes), its length (without claw) 

 about equal to that of outer toe (without claw); basal phalanx of mid- 

 dle toe adherent for entire length to outer toe, for more than half its 

 lengtli to inner toe. 



Coloration. — Above light grayish brown or brownish gray, becom- 

 ing cinnamomeous on rump, more or less speckled or dotted with 

 dusky and whitish; tail with a mottled terminal band, preceded by 

 one of pale cinnamon, this b}' one of black, these all (except the first) 

 interrupted by the median rectrices; under parts whitish, sometimes 

 streaked, speckled, or barred Avith dusky. 



^aw^d.— Western United States and southward through higher dis- 

 tricts of Mexico and Central America to northern Costa Rica. (Four 

 species?) 



« These are sometimes (in very old birds?) obsolete for the upper half or more. 



