422 BULLETIlsr 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the basal half (more or less) sometimes flattened; gonys decidedly 

 to much more than twice as long as mandibular rami, very faintly 

 to decidedly convex, more or less prominent basaUy (through con- 

 traction of mandibular rami), usually rather distinctly ridged for 

 terminal half or more, sometimes with a median groove on basal 

 portion ; commissure nearly straight for most of its length, but basal 

 portion of maxillary tomium strongly convex. Nostril narrow 

 (sUt-like), longitudinal or slightly oblique, overhung by a broad 

 operculum. No trace of antrorse bristles at rictus or elsewhere about 

 base of bill. Wing moderate or rather short, roimded, the seventh, 

 and eighth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, or seventh, eighth and ninth, 

 primaries longest, the ninth not longer (usually shorter) than seventh, 

 the tenth (outermost) shorter than fifth, sometimes shorter than 

 sixth. Tail three-fifths to two-thirds as long as wing, rounded. 

 Tarsus longer than inner anterior toe without claw. 



Coloration and 'plumage. — Above metaUic bronze-green, the tail 

 (sometimes wings also) more or less spotted or barred with white; 

 beneath mostly white (adult males with a pectoral and jugular area of 

 chestnut-tawny) or deep orange-tawny, paler on throat (adult males 

 with a broad jugular band of barred white and blackish). Feathers 

 of crown and occiput blended, not distinctly elongated, those 

 of napes lightly elongated, or (in C. amazona) feathers of hinder 

 crown, occiput, and nape narrow and distinctly elongated (as in 

 Streptoceryle) . 



Range. — Northern Mexico (including southern Texas) to Peru, 

 Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, etc. (Four species, with 

 additional subspecies.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OP CHXOROCERYLE. 



a. Sides and flanks white, more or less heavily spotted or streaked with dark metallic 



bronze-green; breast white; males with chest white or buffy crossed by a broken 



band of dark metallic bronze-green or with a lateral patch of that color, females 



with chest deep cinnamon-rufous or rufous-chestnut. 



h. Larger (wing 125.5-146, exposed culmen 65-75.5); distinctly crested; sides and 



flanks striped; no white spots on outer webs of secondaries. (Eastern Mexico 



to Paraguay, Uruguay, etc.) CMoroceryle amazona (p. 424). 



hh. Smaller (wing 73-88.5, exposed culmen 38-55); not distinctly crested; sides and 

 flanks spotted; outer webs of Becondaries spotted or barred with white. 

 {CMoroceryle americana.) 



