BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 381 



Bill excessively broad and Hal, its width at base about equal to 

 lencrth of exposed culmeii, its width at nostrils greater than distance 

 from nostril to tip of maxilla; exposed culmen about half as long as 

 head, rather distinctly ridged, nearly straight for most of its length, 

 gradually but decidedly decurved terminally, the tip of maxilla rather 

 minutely uncinate; gonys about as long as mandibular rami, faintly 

 convex or nearly straight; lateral outlines of bill more or less strongly 

 convex, the extreme tip of both maxilla and mantUble, however, more 

 or less distinctly constricted. Nostril ex])osed, broatUy oval or round- 

 ish, in anterior end of nasal fossa*, overhung by rather broad mem- 

 brane. Rictal bristles greatly developetl but slender, reaching nearly 

 to tip of bill; latero-frontal feathers and feathers of chin with- 

 out bristly tips. Wing moik^rate, much rounded, the sixth, seventh, 

 and eighth primaries longest and about equal, ninth intermediate 

 between fifth and sixth, the tenth (outermost) not longer than second, 

 sometimes shorter than first; longest primaries exceeding seconchiries 

 by less than length of exposed culmen. Tail nearly lialf to a little 

 more than half as long as wing, slightly rounck'd. Tarsus longer 

 than commissure, the acrotarsium fused or ' 'booted " ; mi(klle toe, with 

 claw, much shorter than tarsus, its basal phalanx completely united 

 to outer toe, united for greater part of its length to inner toe; outer 

 toe (without claw) reaching nearly if not quite to terminal joint of 

 middle toe, the inner toe much shorter, reaching (without claw) only 

 to middle of subterminal phalanx of midtlle toe; hallux about as long 

 as inner toe but much stouter, its claw nearly if not quite as long as 

 the digit; all the claws moderately curved, sharp, much compressed. 



Coloration. — Plain brown or olive above, the crown with or without 

 a concealed patch of white, yellow, or red; beneath pale olive or olive- 

 yellowish, more brown on chest, the throat sometimes white. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to western Ecuador, Paraguay, and 

 Argentina. (x\bout ten species, including subspecies.) 



This genus is quite distinct from Platyrincluis Desmaresf^ which 

 differs in having the tail relatively much longer (much more than 

 half as long as wing), the wing-tip much longer (longest primaries 

 exceeding distal secondaries by more than length of tarsus or nearly 

 half the length of tail), longer tenth (outermost) primary which equals 

 the fifth instead of being not h)nger than the third and usiudly shorter 

 than first, very much shorter tarsus (little more than one-fifth, 

 instead of nearly to quite one-third, as long as w4ng^ but little longer 

 than middle toe with claw, and less than luilf as long again instead of 

 nearly to quite twdce as long as exposed culmen), and presence of 

 bristly tips to feathers of the chin. 



a Plalyrinchus Desmarest, Hist. Nat. des Tangaras, etc., livr. 4, 1805, text to pi. T2 

 (Type, P. ornatus Desmare!^t= 7W«s pluhjrhijnvJtus Giiieliu.) 



