BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 861 



each side) ; loral and orbital regions normally feathered, and adult 

 females with side of head chestnut-brown and iinderparts imstreaked. 



Bill about as long as head, broad and swollen, its width at nostrils 

 much greater than its depth at same point, its lateral outlines obvi- 

 ously convex; culmen nearly straight for most of its length, strongly 

 and rather suddenh^ decurved terminally, the tip of mandible ob- 

 viously but rather minutely uncinate; gonys about one and a half 

 times as long as mandibular rami, gently convex, without trace of 

 median ridge; maxillary toniium faintly concave anteriorly, faintly 

 convex subbasally, distinctly notched subterminally. Nostril small, 

 obliquely oval, with narrow superior membrane, posteriorly in con- 

 tact with latero-frontal feathering. Rictal bristles distinct. Wing 

 moderate, with longest primaries exceeding secondaries b}^ about 

 length of tarsus; seventh and eighth primaries longest, the sixth and 

 tenth, successively, shorter; ninth (in adult males) excessively 

 reduced in size, very narrow and acuminate. Tail nearly two-thirds 

 as long as wing, even, the rectrices rather broad and stiff, with 

 broadly rounded or subtruncate tip. Tarsus about as long as exposed 

 covering, its scutellation quasi-taxaspidean, the acrotarsal scutes 

 occupying the anterior half, each side of the planta tarsi being occu- 

 pied by a single continuous row of large subquadrate scutella, the 

 two rows partly in contact along the posterior edge, but occasionally 

 separated by a small interposed scutella; middle toe, with claw, 

 shorter than tarsus, its basal phalanx adherent for about two-thirds 

 its length to outer toe, for about one-half to inner toe; outer toe 

 (without claw) reaching decidedly beyond, the inner about to, middle 

 of subterminal phalanx of middle toe; hallux nearly as long as inner 

 toe, not conspicuously stouter, its basal pad (tylarus) broad and flat- 

 tened, with extended inner edge continuous with that of inner toe; 

 claws rather large and strongly curved, compressed, and sharp. 



Plumage and coloration. — Contour feathers broad and blended; 

 whole head normally feathered, without crest. Adult males light 

 gray above, pale gray or white beneath, with pileum, remiges, and 

 broad band across tail (or whole tail) black, as in Tifyra; adult 

 females similar but with forehead and sides of head rusty brown. 



Nid'ijicatiou. — (Unknown ?) 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil. (Four 

 species.) 



