120 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus PHAINOPEPLA Sclater. 



Phainopeplaa Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., xxvi, 1858 (pub. Jan. -May, 1859 b) , 



543. (Type, Ptilogonys nitens Swainson. ) 

 Phsmopepla (emendation) Coues, Ibis, April, 1865, 163, in text. 

 Phaenopepla Baird, Review Am. Birds, May, 1866, 415. 



Ptilogonatidae with the tail about as long- as wing, head with a 

 pointed crest of narrow, individualized feathers, plumage without any 

 yellow, and inner webs of rectrices without an}' white. 



Bill narrow, compressed terminally (width at posterior end of 

 nostrils decidedly less than distance from nostril to tip of maxilla, 

 decidedly greater than its depth at same point); culmen gradually but 

 decidedly decurved terminally, the tip of maxilla scarcely or at least 

 not distincth' uncinate; maxillarj^ tomium faintly concave medially, 

 faintlv convex subbasally, distinctly notched subterminally; gonys 

 about equal to unfeathered portion of mandibular rami, slightly but 

 distinctly, convex. Nostril small, wholly exposed, broadh' oval or 

 roundish, pierced through the lower central portion of the nasal mem- 

 brane, which borders it narrowly beneath, more broadly elsewhere. 

 Rictal bristles distinct. Ninth primar}^ equal to or longer than first, 

 the eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth (usually seventh and sixth) longest; 

 three outermost primaries of normal form. Tail about as long as 

 wing, slightly rounded, the rectrices l)roadening terminally, with tips 

 subtruncate. Tarsus nearly as long as middle toe with claw, with 

 acrotarsium and lower fourth or more of planta tarsi distinctly scutel- 

 late; outer toe decidedly longer than inner, its claw not reaching to 

 base of middle claw; basal phalanx of middle toe united to outer toe 

 by most of its length, to that of inner toe by about half of its length. 

 Plumage soft and blended, the head with a pointed crest of narrow, 

 distinctly outlined, feathers; tibial feathers normal (rather short, not 

 completely covering tibio-tarsal joint). 



Coloration. — Adult male entire h' gloss}' blue-black, with inner webs 

 of primaries extensively white; adult female and young plain brownish 

 gray with whitish edgings to wing-feathers. 



Nidificatlon. — Nest saucer-shaped, compact, composed of plant 

 fibers, etc., placed on trees. Eggs 2-5, pale grayish or dull grayish 

 white, speckled with neutral tint, dark ])rown, and blackish. 



Range. — Arid districts of southwestern United States and Mexico. 

 (Monotypic.) 



PHAINOPEPLA NITENS (Sv/ainson.). 

 PHAINOPEPLA. 



Adult male. — Uniform glossy greenish blue-black; larger wing- 

 cov^erts, remiges, and rectrices less glossy black, edged with glossy dark 



« '■^^aeivoi, nitidus, et TtSTtXoz, vestis." 



^The name first published by Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, p. xxxiv. 



