SOOTY SYNALLAXIS 



ever, not of this family but one of the warblers 

 (Mniotiltidce) . 



Key to the Ovenbirds 



a. Habits terrestrial. 



b. Tail feathers relatively long and spine-like with thin 

 loose webs; plumage mostly dark slate-gray with 

 top of head and patch on wings reddish chestnut 

 .... Synallaxis brachyura nigrifumosa (sexes alike) 



bb. Tail feathers not relatively long and spine-like, with 

 loose webs. 



c. Chunky birds with relatively long bill and short 

 tail. 



d. Throat and chest tawny rufous; rump and tail 



chestnut 



. . . Sclerurus mexicanus anomalus (sexes alike) 



dd. Throat whitish spotted with dusky, chest tawny, 



the feathers margined with dusky 



Sclerurus g. guatemalensis (sexes alike) 



cc. Shorter bill and longer tail; throat creamy white, 

 unspotted; brown above, shading to chestnut 



on tail 



A utomolus p. pallidigularis (sexes alike) 



aa. Arboreal, with creeping or climbing habits; bill wedge- 

 shaped with lower mandible sloping upward, a silky 

 whitish crescentic marking on side of head; wings 



with broad tawny band 



Xenops genibarbis ridgwayi (sexes alike) 



i. Synallaxis brachyura nigrifumosa 



Lawrence 

 Sooty Synallaxis 



Synallaxis pudica pudica RIDGWAY, Birds of N. and 

 M. Amer., V, p. 191, 1911; STONE, Proc. Phila. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci., 1918, p. 262. 



Sexes alike. Length 148 mm. (5.80 in.); 

 tail 69 mm. (2.75 in.). Forehead and sides of 

 head and neck slate gray; rest of top of head 

 260 



