BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 621 



less than one-third) the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla and 

 slightly greater than its width at same point; exposed culmen longer 

 than middle toe without claw, but much shorter than tarsus, nearly 

 straight or very faintly curved for most of its length, gradually but 

 not strongly decurved terminally; gonys decidedly shorter than dis- 

 tance from nostril to tip of maxilla, straight; maxillary tomium dis- 

 tinctly but not stronglj^ concave, distinctly notched subterminally, the 

 basal (rictal) portion distinctly, sometimes abruptly, deflexed. Nos- 

 tril small, circular or oblong, opening in anterior end of nasal fossa, 

 separated from feathering of latero-frontal antiae by naked membrane, 

 which also extends along the upper edge of the nostril. Rictal bristles 

 obvious, one to three being fairly well developed. Wing moderate, 

 much rounded, very concave beneath; seventh to fourth primaries 

 longest and nearly equal, or sixth and fifth slightly longer than 

 seventh and fourth, sometimes (in T. pleurostictus) the seventh and 

 sixth longest; eighth of variable relative length (equaling the first, 

 second, third, fourth, or fifth, respectively, in different species); ninth 

 shorter than secondaries, decidedly less than twice as long as tenth. 

 Tail two-thirds" to nine-tenths* as long as wing, mucl»rounded (grad- 

 uation sometimes equal to nearly one-third its length), the rectrices 

 broadly rounded at tip. Tarsus longer than middle toe with claw, 

 much longer than exposed culmen, about two-fifths' to one-third as 

 long as wing, the acrotarsium distinctly scutellate, the planta tarsi 

 booted; outer toe slighly longer than inner, reaching (without claw) 

 to decidedly beyond subterminal joint of middle toe, its claw falling 

 short of base of middle claw ; hallux (without claw) ,as long as outer 

 toe (without claw) but decidedly stouter, its claw decidedly shorter 

 than the digit; basal phalanx of middle toe united to outer toe for 

 most (sometimes all) of its length to inner toe for more than half its 

 length. 



Coloration. — Above ranging from grayish brown to chestnut-rufous, 

 the pileum and hindneck sometimes black; remiges and rectrices more 

 or less distinctly barred with black or dusky, the back sometimes 

 faintly barred; under parts more variable, the general color whitish, 

 grayish brown, or rufous, sometimes barred, more or less, with black, 

 the throat, chest, and breast striped with black and white in one 

 -species. 



Nidification. — The nidification of few species is known. T. pleuros- 

 tictus builds a retort-shaped nest of dry grasses, lined with hairs and 

 plant down, "fixed horizontally around the stem of a bush, often at 

 the fork of two branches," ** and lays eggs "of a beautiful greenish 

 blue color."" T. sinaloa also builds a nest "partly suspended from 



"In T. thoracicus. " Sumicharst, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 4, 1876, 14. 



6 In T. modestus. 



