BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 303 



small, longitudinally elliptical or subcuneate, much nearer to tomium 

 than to culmen, covered by a conspicuous antrorse and semierect 

 dense prefrontal tuft of rather short, bristly tipped feathers. Feath- 

 ers of malar apex semiantrorse, short, but with distinct bristle-like 

 tips, those of the chin with recurved, semiantrorse, bristle-like tips. 

 Orbital region naked for a considerable distance around eyes, the 

 margin of eyelids without feathers. Wing short and rounded, very 

 concave beneath, the longest primaries exceeding distal secondaries 

 by much less than length of culmen; sixth and seventh or fifth, 

 sixth and seventh primaries longest, the eighth shorter than fifth 

 (sometimes nearly equal to third), the ninth much shorter than first, 

 the tenth less than half as long as ninth. Tail a little more than 

 half to three-fifths as long as wing, strongly rounded or graduated, 

 the rectrices rather narrow, not rigid, with slender shaft and soft, 

 rounded tip. Tarsus longer than outer hind toe without claw, the 

 planta tarsi with a single row of large quadrate scutella; outer toes 

 equal in length or the posterior one very slightly longer; inner front 

 toe with its claw reaching nearly (sometimes quite) to base of claw 

 of outer toe. 



Coloration. — Pileum black dotted with white (the crown partly red 

 or orange in adult males) ; back and scapulars grayish brown or ofive, 

 sometimes dotted with white or barred or squamated with dusky; 

 tail black, the inner web of middle pair of rectrices white or pale 

 yellow; under parts whitish or yellowish barred or squamated with 

 black (in part, at least), or brown spotted with white or with chest 

 and indistinct stripes on sides plain ohve. 



Range. — Honduras to southern Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and 

 Peru. (About thirty-five species, all but one of them South 

 American.") 



KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OP PICUMNUS OLIVACEUS. 



a. Crown streaked with, orange-red or yellowish orange. {Adult males.) 

 h. Crown streaked with orange-red (scarlet). 

 c. Back, etc., more buffy or yellowish olive; chest more buffy; yellow of posterior 

 imder parts more creamy; wing averaging 55.8, tail 28.8, culmen 11.6, 

 outer anterior toe 10.4. (Central Colombia.) 



Picumnus olivaceus olivaceus (exti-alimital).& 

 cc. Back, etc., darker and less buffy or yellowish olive; chest less buffy; yellow 

 of posterior under parts less creamy (more sulphur yellow); wing averag- 

 ing 53.3, tail 28, culmen 12.3, outer anterior toe 11.2 (Eastern Nicaragua 

 and Honduras.) Picumnus olivaceus dimotus (p. 307). 



<» The above generic description is based on P. olivaceus, P. spilogaster, P. cir- 

 rhatus, P. minutus, P. squamulatus, P. pijgmxu^, and P. gutti/er. 



^ P[icu7nnus] olivaceus Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool., viii, Jan., 1845, 7 (Bogotd, Colombia; 

 coll. Massena). — Picumnus olivaceus Sxjndevall, Consp. Picin., 1866, 104; Hargitt, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xviii, 1890, 548, part (excl. syn. P. flavotinctu^ and specimens 

 from Honduras). — Picumnus olivaceus olivaceus Ridgway, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 

 xxiv, Feb. 24, 1911, 34 (geog. range). 



