CAPKIMrLGUS.— PHALJENOPTILUS. 389 



tions made in the Volcan de Chiriqui, is the only one we have received. This was 

 described in the second paper on Arce's Veraguan collections i. More than twenty years 

 afterwards, Mr. Eidgway having received a specimen from Senor Anastasio Alfaro, of 

 the Costa Rica Xational Museum, redescribed the species under the name of Aniro- 

 stomus rufomaculatus\ He subsequently sent us the type for examination, when its 

 identity with A. saturates was at once evident and the fact recorded by Mr. Hartert. 



C. saturatus has no near allies that we are acquainted with. In having the inner 

 web of the primaries uniform, the outer web being spotted, it agrees with C. sericeo- 

 caudatus and a few extra- American species. In its general aspect it is not unlike 

 C. nigresceiis, a species with large white spots on the primaries ; but the relationship is 

 not at all close. 



There is much to learn concerning this interesting species, the female even being 

 unknown. 



PHALJiNOPTILUS. 



Phahenoptilus, Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii. p. 5 (1880) ; Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xvi, 

 p. 579. 



Mr. Eidgway separated this genus from Caprimulgvs on account of its " short even 

 tail ("much shorter than the wing), and lengthened perfectly naked tarsus (longer than 

 the middle toe), the first quill shorter than the fourth, and the plumage with a peculiar 

 velvety moth-like surface." 



Regarding the relative length of the tarsus and middle toe, if the claw of the latter is 

 omitted Mr. Eidgway's statement is correct, but the toe and claw together are con- 

 siderably longer than the tarsus as stated by Mr. Hartert. Nor can the tarsus be said to 

 be entirely naked in front (Eidgway), for the proximal end is certainly slightly feathered 

 though the rest of the joint is bare. Eegarding the relative lengths of the first and 

 fourth primaries, the first is, as Mr. Eidgway says, usually the shorter of the two, but in 

 some of the specimens before me they are nearly equal. 



We would therefore define PhalcenoptUus as having a short even tail, much shorter 

 than the wing ; tarsi stout, feathered in front only at the extreme proximal end, and 

 longer relatively to the middle toe and claw than in Caprimulgus. Plimiage exceed- 

 ingly soft. 



The range of the genus is that of its single species as given below. 



1. Fhalsenoptilus uuttalli. 



Caprimtilgus nuttalli, Aud. Birds Am. vii. p. 250, t. 495 \ 



Antrostomus nuttalli, Baird, Brew., & B,idgw. X. Am. Birds, ii. p. 417 ^; Coues, Bh-ds !X. W. p. 261 ^. 

 PhalcenoptUus nuttalli, Eidgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii. p. 5*; Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. jNIus, xvi. 

 p. 579'. 



Snpra griseus, nigro. miaute irroratus ; capite summo plumis singulis fascia nigra medialiter transfasciatis ; 

 scapnlaribus macnlis hastifonnibus nigris distincte notatis : subtos gula grisea nigro indistincte trans- 



