554 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



latero-occipital feathers elongated, forming conspicuous, erectile, 

 pointed "ear-tufts;" lateral margin of pileum forming a sharp pro- 

 jecting ridge from base of bill to base of ear-tufts; rictal bristles 

 extremely long, strongly incurved terminally. 



Bill small and relatively very narrow, feathered on top as far as 

 middle of nostrils. Nostril broadly oval, tubular, opening laterally. 

 Wing rather long and pointed, the longest primaries exceeding distal 

 secondaries by more than one- third the length of wing; eighth and 

 ninth primaries longest, the seventh slightly but decidedly shorter, 

 the tenth (outermost) equal to sixth. Tail four-fifths as long as wing, 

 slightly rounded, the rectrices appreciably widening distaUy, with 

 broadly rounded tip. Tarsus very slightly longer than middle toe 

 without claw, naked, except extreme upper portion in front. 



Plumage and coZorafiori,— Prefrontal feathers erect, those on mes- 

 orhiniumwith small bristly tips; rictal bristles extremely long, strongly 

 incurved terminally; feathers of pileum extremely broad, broadly 

 rounded at tip; feathers forming upper margin of loral and super- 

 ciliary regions directed upward and outward forming a conspicuous, 

 sharp, projecting ridge along each side of pileum, from base of biU to 

 base of the conspicuous, erectile, pointed "ear-tufts" formed by the 

 elongated latero-occipital feathers, the outermost of which have 

 slender projecting bristles; feathers of the chest elongated, forming a 

 conspicuous erectile lappet or "apron," the posterior edge of which 

 is abruptly defined against the much shorter and differently colored 

 plumage of the breast; plumage in general very soft, velvety. Gen- 

 eral color chestnut, this much broken above by grayish mottling, the 

 scapulars with large spots of much darker chestnut shading into black- 

 ish and narrowly margined with buffy; pileum not streaked; a white 

 band across lower throat; rectrices (except middle pair) tipped with 

 whitish ; primaries banded or spotted with cinnamon-bufF and dusky. 



In wing-formula, relative length of wing and tail, shape and "pat- 

 tern" of the latter, and naked tarsi, this remarkable form resembles 

 Phalsenoptilus, from which, however, it differs greatly in possessing 

 very conspicuous pointed ear-tufts, narrower bill, longer and more 

 slender rictal bristles, conspicuous, erectile jugular "flap," relatively 

 shorter tarsus and much longer hallux, and very different style 

 of coloration.*^ 



Range. — Mexico. (Monotypic.) 



OTOPHANES MCLEODH Brewster. 



EARED POORWILL. 



Adult male. — Top of the head sandy brown, minutely mottled with 

 buff and shaded with darker brown; hindneck banded with buff and 



« Otophanes is in reality very much more closely allied to Nyctagreus, the few differ- 

 ences between these two genera being mentioned under the latter on p. 556. 



