586 BULLETIN" 50, UlSriTED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF NYCTIBIUS. 



a. No white spots or large whitish area on innermost (pi-oximal) middle wing-coverts; 



under wing-coverts spotted or barred with white. 



h. Lesser wing-coverts not uniform black or dark sooty brown; pileum streaked 



and barred or vermiculated with dusky on a white or pale buffy (sometimes 



partly rufous) ground; general coloration paler, with whitish predominating; 



largest species (wing 365-391 mm.). (Panama to southern Brazil.) 



Nyctibius grandis (p. 587). 

 hh. Lesser wing-coverts uniform dark sooty brown or black; pileum broadly striped 

 Or spotted with sooty black or dark sooty brown ; general color much darker, 

 with little whitish; smaller (wing 215-365). 

 c. Blackish lesser covert area immediately succeeded by a band of whitish, buffy, 

 or ochraceous (most distinct toward bend of wing). 

 d. Larger (wing 350-365 mm.); general color browner or grayer. (Brazil.) 



Nyctibius setliereus (extralimital).« 

 dd. Smaller (wing 280-305); general coloration more rufescent. (Guianas to 

 eastern Ecuador and Peru.). . ..Nyctibius longicaudatus (extralimital).^ 

 I have not seen a specimen of this species. 

 cc. Blackish lesser covert area not succeeded by a band of whitish, buffy, or 

 ochraceous. {Nyctibius griseus.) 

 d. Paler, the under tail-coverts less heavily mottled and inner webs of prima- 

 ries more distinctly spotted; under parts less uniform. 

 e. Larger (wing averaging 290 or more, tail averaging more than 210). 

 /. Smaller (wing averaging 290, tail averaging less than 215.) 

 g. Paler; tail averaging 213.1. (Jamaica.) 



Nyctibius griseus jamaicensis (p. 589). 

 gg. Darker; tail averaging 211.2. (Cost Rica.) 



Nyctibius griseus costaricensis (p. 593). 

 ff. Larger (wing averaging 306.5, tail averaging 220.2). (Vera Cruz and 

 Puebla, Mexico, to Guatemala.) 



Nyctibius griseus mexicanus (p. 592). 

 ee. Smaller (wing averaging 275 or less, tail averaging less than 203. 

 /. Wing averaging 275.3, tail 202.8. (Panama to central Colombia.) 



Nyctibius griseus panamensis (p. 593). 



ff. Wing averaging 246.2, tail 179.4. (Trinidad to Guianas and lower 



Amazon Valley.) Nyctibius griseus griseus (extralimital.)c 



o Caprimulgus asihereus Maximilian, Reise Bras., i, 1820, 236 (Rio Macure, Prov. 

 Bahia, Brazil; type now in coll. Am. Mus. N. H.). — N[yctibus] sethereus Gray, Gen. 

 Birds, i, 1846, 46. — Nyctibius sethereus Cassin, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., v, 1851, 184; 

 Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xvi, 1892, 627. 



& Capriinulgus longicaudatus Spix, Av. Bras., ii, 1825, 1, pi. 1 (Rio Japurd, Brazil). — 

 Nyctibius longicaudatus Lafresnaye, Mag. de Zool., 1837, classe ii, not. 83, p. 25 

 (monogi-.); Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xvi, 1892, 626. 



c [Caprimulgus] griseus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. ii, 1789, 1029 (Cayenne; based 

 on Engoulevent gris Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois., vi, 548; Grey Goatsucker Latham, Synop. 

 Birds, ii, pt. 2, 592). — Nyctibius griseus Berlepsch, Novit. Zool., xv, Nov., 1908, 270 

 (Cayenne; crit.). — Nyctibius griseus griseus Hellmayr, Novit. Zool., xiii, Feb., 1906, 

 37 (Chaguanas and Savana Grande, Trinidad; crit.). — Nyctibius jamaicensis (not 

 Caprimulgus jamaicensis Gmelin) Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xvi, 1892, 625, 

 part. — {?)Nyctibius pectoralis Gould, Icones Avium, pt. ii, Aug., 1838, pi. 18 and text 

 (northern parts of Brazil). 



