BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 101 



short, mostly covered on top by the recurved antrorse feathers of 

 frontal antiae, its anterior outHne sKghtly convex above, concave 

 below; nostril narrow (almost slitlike); oblique, situated rather below 

 middle of cere, its anterior end touching margin of cere. Wing long 

 and broad, the longest primary exceeding distal secondary by about 

 one-fifth the length of wing; fourth, fifth, or sixth primary (from out- 

 side) longest, the first (outermost) shorter than tenth; five or six outer 

 primaries with inner webs faintly sinuated. Tail much shorter than 

 wing, slightly rounded, the retrices broad, w-ith rounded tips. Tarsus 

 about one-eighth as long as wing, usually about as long as culmen, 

 sometimes decidedly shorter, occasionally slightly longer, relatively 

 thick but compressed, nearly the upper half feathered (except on planta 

 tarsi), the bare portion covered with hexagonal, mostly longitudinal, 

 scales, these larger and more quadrate on acrotarsium; middle toe 

 shorter than tarsus; lateral toes much shorter than middle toe, the 

 outer and inner toes slightly unequal, hallux shorter than inner toe 

 but stouter; all the toes compressed, their upper surface with trans- 

 verse scutella nearly if not quite to base; claws rather long, moderately 

 curved, compressed, moderately acute, that of middle claw longest 

 (about as long as hallux) and mth inner edge much produced; no 

 web between basal phalanges of outer and middle toes. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage in general full and soft; contour 

 feathers of underparts very broad with nearly truncate tips, those of 

 pileum soft and blended, becoming longer, broader, and more truncate 

 on nape; remiges and rectrices long and broad, of soft texture, the 

 secondaries about three-fourths as long as longest primaries; loral 

 region, and adjacent parts of superciliary and suborbital regions 

 wholly nude, except a narrow line of short bristlelike feathers extend- 

 ing from anterior angle of eye to anterolateral edge of frontal feather- 

 ing, the latter extending as far forward as to almost cover top of cere; 

 malar antia with rather large radiating bristles, and eyelids with small 

 lashes; aftershafts of contour feathers better developed than in 

 Odontriorchis. Coloration exceedingly variable, but adults usually 

 mostly plain gray or blackish (the underparts sometimes narrowly 

 barred with paler), the tail black crossed by one or two bands of 

 grayish and tipped with same, the young with color of upperparts 

 more or less broken by paler tips or margins to the feathers (the hind 

 neck sometimes with a more or less distinct white or buffy collar), 

 the underparts barred ^vith brown or rufous and white or buffy, the 

 tail with four (instead of one or two) paler bands. 

 Range. — Continental Tropical America; Cuba. (Three species.) 

 "Although often considered as congeneric with Odontriorchis, this 

 genus is exceedingly distinct, so much so, in fact, that it is hard to 

 understand whey they should ever have been combined. The form 



