BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 551 



phalanges) ; middle toe, without claw, about three-fourths as long as 

 tarsus, the lateral toes much shorter, the outer slightly longer than the 

 inner; hallux very stout, nearly as long as inner toe; web between basal 

 phalanges well developed; under surface of toes distinctly but not con- 

 spicuously spiculated; claws normal, of moderate length and curve, 

 then- edges unusually sharp. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage full and soft, except on head, 

 the feathers of pileum much elongated, lanceolate, with rigid shafts, 

 forming a bushy decumbent but erectile crest; lores densely bristled, 

 the loral and frontal bristles invading the cere so as to almost cover 

 it, especially on upper surface, where they grow to the anterior 

 edge; eyelids with very strong bristlelike lashes; superciliary shield 

 bare, prominent; primaries and rectrices rather soft and obtuse, the 

 former straight (not bowed) , Head, neck, and underparts bufFy (more 

 or less deep) or buffy whitish, the first with a large spectaclelike patch 

 of black on each side, involving the posterior half of lores, orbital, 

 suborbital, auricular, and malar regions, and extending round nape 

 or upper hindneck, forming a broad, abruptly defined collar, leaving 

 an equally well-defined buffy or whitish collar below it (across lower 

 hindneck) ; general color of upperparts blackish brown, the basal 

 portion of primaries variegated with buffy or whitish, the tail crossed 

 by six to eight bands of the same. Sexes alike in coloration and young 

 not materially different from adults. 



Nidification. — -Unkno wn . 



Range. — Continental tropical America, from central Mexico to 

 Bolivia, Paraguay, and western Colombia. (Monotypic.) 



KEY TO THE RACES OF HERPETOTHERES CACHINNANS 



a. Back darker, dark clove brown to fuscous-black. 



b. Underparts darker — pale cinnamon-buff; also top of head and longer 

 upper tail coverts of this color (Nicaragua and El Salvador south to 

 Ecuador and n. Brazil). 



Herpetotheres cachinnans cachinnans (p. 555) 



bb. Underparts and the top of head and longer upper tail coverts paler — 



cartridge buff to ivory yellow (Mexico, south to Guatemala and 



Honduras) Herpetotheres cachinnans chapmani (p. 552) 



aa. Back paler — sepia (Amazonia to Argentina). 



Herpetotheres cachinnans queribxindus (extralimital)^' 



^' Astur cachinnans (not Falco cachinnans Linnaeus) Spix, Av. Bras., i, 1824, 

 8, pi. iiia (Bahia; Minas Geraes; Pard). — (?) Macagua cachinnans d'Orbigny, 

 Voy. Amer. M6rid., iv, pt. 3, 1839, 96 (Bolivia; habits); d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye, 

 Synop. Avium, 1839, 5 {BoMvia) .—Herpetotheres cachinnans Bonaparte, Consp. 

 Gen. Av., i, 1850, 3, part; Rev. Mag. ZooL, vi, 1854, 532, part; Burmeister, 

 Syst. tJbers. Th. Bras., ii, 1856, 90; Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 London, 1867, 590 (Mexiana Island, Brazil); Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 122, 

 part (Brazil); (?) 1879, 638 (provinces of Moxos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 



