MYIADESTES. 



431 



the two central feathers which are plumbeous-ash, and the exterior which is 

 light ash, blackish at the base ; the next feather also ashy towards the tip, 

 both featliers with a narrow tip and a border of white along the end of inner 

 web. Axillars and inner face of wings tinged with fulvous. Bill black ; feet 

 pale hazel. " Irids red brown" (XohJhs). 



(No. 37,500.) Total length, 7.80; wing, 4.20; tail, 4.10; difference of outer 

 and 5th (longest) tail feather, .5, difference of innermost and 5th, .25 ; differ- 

 ence of lOtli and longest quills, 1.00 ; exposed portion of 1st primary, 1.00, of 

 2d, 2.65, of longest (4th) (measured from exposed base of 1st primary), 3.12 ; 

 length of bill from forehead, .61, from nostril, .30, along gape, .84; tarsus, 

 .81 ; middle toe and olaw, .79, claw alone, .29 ; hind toe and claw, .54, claw 

 alone, .30. 



The outer webs of the quills are of a darker rufous than elsewhere 

 on the upper surface. The rufous on secondaries reaches the shaft, 

 except about the middle, where there is only a narrow edge bordering 

 a blackish patch like the inner web. On the outer primaries the 

 inner portion of the whole outer web is dusky, bordered externally 

 by rufous cinnamon, diminishing in amount exteriorly, and not 

 appreciable on the outer two quills. 



Specimens vary considerably in intensity of the rufous of the back, 

 which is sometimes very bright, at other times much duller. Occa- 

 sionally, as in No. 35,038, the whitish line from bill to eye meets its 

 fellow, forming a pale frontal band, the same specimen having the 

 upper part of back ashy, like the head and nape. Sometimes there 

 is a wash of fulvous olive on the flanks, which again are entirely 

 ashy. As far as the materials before me show, it is in specimens from 

 western Mexico, Tonila, and Tres Marias, that the ash of head in- 

 vades the back : the rufous of back paler ; the tail also appears 

 longer (4.40 in No. 31,321, Tres Marias). 



This species is quite similar to M. townsendii, although the wings 

 are shorter and less pointed. It is readily distinguished by the 

 reddish of the back and wings ; the dulness of the two trans- 

 verse light cinnamon or fulvous bars across the quills, with the inter- 

 vening black one ; the ashy, not whitish edge of the tail ; the whitish 

 line from nostrils to above eye, and the black line bordering the 

 chin. 



