135 



But one species is as yet known, and of this only two specimens, 

 both of unknown history, exist in museums. The two specimens in 

 question form part of the collection of the United States National 

 Museum, and are supposed to have come from California. 



OXYCHOTES GRUBEET. 



Onydioles gruberl, Ridgway, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil.a. Dec. 1870, 149 (descriptiou of fnli- 

 ginous phase); B. B. &, R. Hist. N. Am. Birds, iii, 1874, 254 (figure of fuligi- 

 nous phase); Rod and Guu, vol. 6, No. ij. May 1, 1875, G5 (first description 

 of white-breasted phase). 

 Oiiycliotes grueieri, Shakpe, Cat. Ace. Brit. JIus. 1874, 158 (foot-note). 



ITaft.— California? (F. Gruber). 



Wing, 10.10-11.50 ; tail, G.50-7.30 ; culmen, about 0.80 ; tarsus, 2.70 

 2.80 5 middle toe, 1.45-1.60 ; posterior claw, 1.00 ; its digit, 0.80. 



Adult, — Tail brownish-gray, the feathers with a hoary cast near the 

 shaft, not paler at the tip, and crossed by a rather indefinite number 

 (apparently from 9 to 11) of narrow and rather indistinct bars of dusky 

 brown, these becoming gradually obsolete basally; the inner webs but 

 little paler, becoming white only toward edges. Light phase (No. 62168, 

 Nat. Mus.) : — Above, chiefly dusky grayish-brown, beneath ochraceous 

 white, deeper ochraceous on the middle of the breast and abdomen. 

 Pileuui and nape striped with blackish-brown and ochraceous-white, 

 the former prevailing, the latter on the edges of the feathers ; cheeks 

 and sides of the neck with finer and fainter streaks ; sides of the breast 

 with narrow irregularly-lanceolate streaks of grayish-brown : sides with 

 broader, ragged stripes, or longitudinal cloudings of the same, and tibial 

 plumes with dusky shaft-streaks and faint grayish mottlings j longer 

 lower tail-coverts with an irregular large spot of brownish-gray near 

 the end. Lining of the wing deep creamy-buff, whiter along the outer 

 edge, with a few scattered small spots of grayish-brown; under primary 

 coverts pale grayish for the terminal portion, where marked with two 

 or three narrow l3ars of darker. Inner ^ebs of primaries entirely white 

 to the emarginations, beyond which tliey are plain grayish, darker 

 toward edges ; no transverse bars are observable except on the inner 

 quills. Axillars mostly white, irregularly spotted, and brokenly barred 

 with brown, mixed with rusty, the brown predominating, toward the 

 end of the feathers. Upper parts slightly variegated, chiefly by whitish 

 and dusky bars on the basal portion of the feathers; lesser wing- 

 coverts faintly spotted with rusty: outer webs of secondaries and 

 inner primaries with very indistinct darker bars. Wing, 11.50 ; tail, 

 7.30 ; tarsus, 2.80 ; middle toe, 1.60. Fuliginous phase (No. 41703, Nat. 

 Mus.; adult?): — Everywhere dark grayish-brown, the feathers with 

 darker shafts ; feathers of the neck all round broadly edged with dull 

 rusty ; lining of the wing and tibial plumes dull cinnamon-rusty ; flanks 

 and crissum tinged with the same. Eemiges as in the normal phase, 

 but without trace of darker bars on outer web.s, while those on the inner 

 webs are more distinctly indicated. Tail as in the light pha.se. Wing, 

 10.10; tail, 6.50; culmen, about 0.80; tar.><us. 2.70; "middle toe, 1.45; 

 posterior claw, 1.00; its digit, 0.80. 



