368 CYPSELID^. 



genus and sometimes in the other. Its position is best recognized under a distinct 

 name and placed between the two above-mentioned genera. From Cypselus, Aeronautes 

 may be distinguished by the toes as well as -the tarsi being feathered and in having 

 the outermost tail-feather on either side shorter than the next. Aeronautes agrees 

 with Panyptila in having feathered toes, but the tail is much less deeply forked, the 

 feathers wider, less acute at their ends, and the outermost pair shorter than the next. 

 The outermost primary is shorter than the second and equal to the third, and is thus 

 shorter as well as blunter than the same feather of Panyptila. In nidification Aero- 

 nautes agrees with Cypselus rather than with Panyptila. 



The range of Aeronautes as given in detail below extends from Wyoming Territory 

 southwards through California to Arizona and Western Texas and to Mexico and 

 Guatemala. 



1. Aeronautes melauoleucus. 



" Acanthylis saxatilis," Woodh. Expl. Zuni and Colorado Rivers, p. 64 (1853) ' ; Cones, Ibis, 



1865, p. 536 ^ 

 Panyptila saxatilis, Cones, Birds N. W. p. 265 ^ ; Hensh. in "Wheeler's Snrv., Zool. v. p. 370*. 

 Cypselus melauoleucus, Baird, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1854, p. 118 ^ 

 Panyptila melanoleuca, Baird, Birds N. Am. p. 141, t. 18. f . 1 " ; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 125 ^ ; 



Scl. P.Z.S. 1865, p. 607 %• Snmichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 562'; Baird, Brew., 



& Ridgw. N.-Am. Birds, ii. p. 424 '". 

 Micropus melanoleucus, Shufeldt, Ibis, 1887, p. 151, t. 5 ". 

 Aeronautes melanoleucus, Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mns. xvi. p. 459 ". 



Niger, fronte, cervice postica, et capitis lateribus magis faliginosis ; gutture toto, abdomine medio, plaga 

 utrinque hypochondriali, campterio alari, et secundariis ad apicem albis, plumis ad gutturis latera et 

 pectoris fusco marginatis ; rectrice extima in pogonio externo stricte albo marginato, reliquis (duabus 

 mediis exceptis) in pogonio interno plaga elongata alba ad basin notatis : rostro nigro, digitis cum 

 unguibus suis flavidis. Long, tota circa 6-0, alse 5-9, caudsB rectr. med. 1-8, rectr. lat. 2-3. 



5 mari similis. (Descr. maris ex DueSas, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Ea6. North America, Wyoming, California, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and 

 Arizona ^ ^.—Mexico (Mus. Brit. ^^), Mountains of Orizaba ? (Sumichrast ^) ; 

 Guatemala, Gorge of Eio Guacalate near Duenas (0. S. & P. B. G. ''). 



Dr. Woodhouse no doubt saw birds of this species at Inscription Eock in 1851, 

 when he accompanied Sitgreaves's Expedition to the Zuni and Colorado Elvers i. As 

 he did not obtain specimens, his name for the species, ''Acanthylis saxatilis," rests 

 upon a somewhat questionable basis. Dr. Coues 2 s, and after him Mr. Henshaw^ and 

 others, have, however, used the name Panyptila saxatilis in preference to that of 

 Cypselus melanoleucus given to it in 1854 by Baird from a specimen obtained by 

 Kennerly and Mollhausen in the San Francisco Mountains s. Eecent American 

 writers have now reverted to melanoleucus, which was for many years the only specific 

 name employed. 



