TOWNSENDS PTILOGONYS. 207 



Head ovato-oblong ; neck rather short ; body slender. Feet short 

 and rather slender ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe with its claw, 

 compressed, covered anteriorly with a long plate and two inferior scu- 

 tella, behind with two plates meeting so as to form a sharp edge. Toes 

 free, the outer only united for a short space ; hind toe rather large, 

 stouter, outer toe a little longer than inner, and more slender toward 

 the end ; claws moderate, arched, compressed, laterally grooved, acute. 



Plumage soft and blended. There are slight bristles at the base of 

 the upper mandible, and the feathers in the angle of the lower are 

 somewhat bristle-tipped and curved forward. Wings long, rounded ; 

 the first quill very small, being only an inch long, the second four- 

 twelfths shorter than the third, the fourth longest, exceeding the third 

 by half a twelfth, and the fourth by one-twelfth, the rest rapidly gra- 

 duated ; secondaries long, rounded, the inner diminishing. Tail very 

 long, straight, emarginate, or doubly rounded, the middle feathers 

 being five-twelfths, the lateral two and a half twelfths shorter than 

 the longest. 



Bill and feet black. The general colour of the plumage is dull 

 brownish-grey ; the quills and coverts dusky brown ; the edge of the 

 wing anterior to the primary coverts dull white ; the basal part of the 

 primaries pale yellow, of the secondaries ochre-yellow ; the edges of 

 all the quills dull greyish-white ; the secondaries with a faint patch of 

 light brownish-grey on the outer web toward the end. The middle 

 tail-feathers are greyish-brown, the rest blackish-brown, the outer 

 with an oblique patch of white, including from the tip a considerable 

 portion of the inner web, and more than two-thirds of the outer ; the 

 next with a white patch at the end. The lower parts are paler than 

 the upper, the lower tail and wing coverts broadly tipped with dull 

 white ; some of the inner wing-coverts white. 



Length to end of tail S^ inches, to end of wings 6^ ; wing from 

 flexure 4^ ; tail 4:j^^ ; bill along the ridge ^^|, along the edge of lower 

 mandible i% ; tarsus {^ ; hind toe ^|, its claw i% ; second toe i|, its 

 claw II ; third toe ||, its claw -{^ ', fourth toe i^, its claw ||. 



