350 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



frontal antise at least equal to (sometimes decidedly greater than) 

 distance from nostril to tip of maxilla; culmen not distinctly ridged, 

 nearly straight for most of its length, gradually but decidedly decurved 

 terminally, the tij) of maxilla fineh^ uncinate; gonys not longer (some- 

 times shorter) than mandibular rami, slightly but distinctly convex. 

 Nostril large, nearly circular, occupying anterior end of nasal fossae. 

 Rictal bristles obvious, but small; bristly tips of frontal feathers and 

 those of chin not conspicuous. Wing rather large, with longest prima- 

 ries exceeding secondaries by more than length of tarsus; ninth, eighth, 

 and seventh primaries longest, and subequal, the tenth and sixth but 

 little shorter (in C. leuconotus) or shorter than fifth (in C. colonus). 

 Tail about as long as wing from bend to end of secondaries (C. colonus) 

 or decidedly shorter (C. leuconotus), even; the rectrices broad, but the 

 middle pair elongated (excessively so in adult males), very narrow, 

 broadest terminally and constricted near middle portion where the 

 webs almost disappear. Tarsus stout, as long as middle toe with 

 claw {C. leuconotus) or slightly longer {C. colonus), its scutellation 

 typically exaspidean, with the two edges of the acrotarsium in contact 

 on lower posterior portion of the tarsus (at least in C. leuconotus), 

 the transverse segments distinct; basal phalanx of middle toe wholly 

 imited to outer toe, about half adherent to inner toe; lateral toes 

 equal in length in C. leuconotus, the outer slightly longer than inner in 

 C. colonus, both decidedly shorter than middle toe; hallux about as 

 long as inner toe, but much stouter, its claw shorter than the digit; all 

 the claws strong, moderately curved, sharp. 



Coloration. — Plain black, mth pileum gray and white and a spot of 

 white or pale gray on rump (a white streak down middle of back in 

 one species). Young entirely sooty blackish. 



Nidijication. — Nest in holes of trees. Eggs unknown. 



Range. — Southern Honduras to western Ecuador, southern Brazil, 

 and Paraguay. (Two species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPEriES OF ('OPURUS. 



a. liack entirely black. ( Copurus colonus.) 



b. Pileum and hinclneck pale gray, fading gradually into white on forehead and 

 superciliary region. (Brazil, south of Amazon River, eastern Ecuador, and 

 east»rn Peru.) Copurus colonus colonus (extralirnital) a 



aMuscicapa colonus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxi, 1818, 448 (Paraguay; 

 based on Colon Azara, Apunt. Parag., ii, 114). — C[opurus] colonus Cabanisand Heine, 

 Mus. Hein., ii, Sept., 1859, 41; Pelzeln, Orn. Bras., 1871, 100; Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., xiv, 1888, 50, part. — Platyrhynchos platurus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., 

 xxvii, 1818, 17 {Brazil) .— Muscipeta leucocilla Hahn, Ausl. Vog., Lief. 9, pi. 2 (South 

 America). — P[ipra] atra Thunberg, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb., ^■iii, 1822, 

 283, 287 {BYAz[\).—Plali/rhytichus filicauda Spix, Av. Bras., ii, 1825, 12, pi. 14.— 

 C[opurus] Jilicaudus Strickland, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1841, 29. — Copurus filicauda 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1854, 113 (Quijos, Ecuador). — Muscipeta monacha 

 Maximilian, Beitr. Naturg. Bras., iii, 1831, 925. — C[opurus]funebris Cabanis and Heine, 

 Mus. Hein., ii, Sept., 1859, 41, footnote (MinasGeraes, s. Brazil; coll. Berlin Mus.;= 

 young). 



