382 BULLETIN oO, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ri,ATYTRICCrS. 



a. General color of upper parts decidedly V)rown; wing without, distinct liands. 

 h. Under parts of V)ody paler, less tawny, the throat whiter. 



c. Bill smaller and relatively narrower (width at base less than 10 mm. ). 



(/. Paler, especially the pileum and under parts; adult male with only a small 

 patch of yellow on crown, often with none. (Southern Mexico to western 



Costa Rica.) Platytriccus cancrommus (p. 382) 



dd. Darker, especially ]>ileum and under parts; adult male always (?) with a 

 large patch of yellow on crown. (Costa Rica and Panama.) 



Platytriccus albogularis (p. 384) 

 cc. Bill larger and relatively bi-oader (width at base 10 mm.). (Islands of Tobago 



and Trinidad; Venezuela?) Platytriccus insularis (exfralimital) « 



66. Under parts of body darker and more tawny, the throat more yellowish or ])uffy. 

 (fUiiana to southern Brazil and Paraguay.) 



Platytriccus mystaceus (|extralimital) b 



aa. General color of upper parts decidedly olive; wing with two distinct bands. 



(Southwestern Brazil. ) Platytriccus bifasciatus (extralimital) c 



PLATYTRICCUS CANCROMINUS ( Sclater and Salvin). 

 MEXICAN SPADE-BILLED FLYCATCHER. 



Adult male. — Pileum and hindneck plain dusky olive or dull grayish 

 olive, sometimes (always in perfectly adult birds ?) with a small 

 central concealed patch of yellow; back, scapulars, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and lesser wing-coverts plain brownish olive or olive-brown, 

 the wings and tail similar but somewhat browner, inclining to russet 

 on edges of secondaries and tips of middle and greater wing-coverts; 

 a dull white or brownish white orbital ring, confluent with a supra- 

 loral streak and a postocular (supra-auricular) streak of the same, 

 the latter sometimes obsolete; a dusky loral spot immediately in 

 front of eye; malar and auricular regions dusky olive inclosing a 

 rather indistinct spot of pale buffy olive-whitish; chin and throat 

 white, usually slightly tinged with pale brownish buft'; underparts 

 of body pale bufl^y yellowish medially passing into bufi^y olive-brown 

 laterally, this color deepest on sides of chest; maxilla black, man- 

 dible light colored; legs and feet pale brownish (in dried skins); 

 length (skins), 86-99 (92); wing, 56-60.5 (58.2); tail, 27.5-31 (29.4); 

 exposed cidmen, 10-10.5 (10.3); tarsus, 16-17.5 (16.9); middle toe, 

 8-10 (9.4).^^ 



aPlatyrhynchus insularis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. N. H., ii, June 28, 1889, 143 (Tobago; 

 coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). — P[latyrhynchus] mystaceus insularis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. N. H., 

 ii, June, 1889, 143. — Platyrhynchus mystaceus insularis Chsqyman, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., vi, 1894, 37 (Trinidad; habits; notes); (?) Robinson, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 xviii, 1896, 684 (LaGuaira, Venezuela). — Platytriccus insularis Ridgway, Proc. Biol. 

 Soc. Wash., xviii, Oct. 17, 1905, 211. ' 



b Platyrhynchos mystaceus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxvii, 1818, 14 (Para- 

 guay).— P/a<?//-/i2/ncAHs mystaceus Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xiv, 1888, 67, part. — 

 Platyrhynchus cancroma Temminck, PL Col., livr. 2, Sept., 1820, pi. 12, fig. 2, and 

 text (Brazil). 



c Platyrhjnchus bifasciatus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. N. II., ii, June 28, 1889, 141 (Chap- 

 ada, Mattogrosso, s. w. Brazil; coll. Am. Mus. N. H.). 



d Nine specimens. 



