BIRDS OP NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 11 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage in general compact but soft 

 and blended ; pileum not crested ; upper tail-coverts moderate, cov- 

 ering not more than basal half of tail; a naked crescentic space 

 beneath lower eyelid; eyelashes obsolete or very minute; no trace of 

 bristles about base of bill. Above plain brownish gray or olive (some- 

 times clear gray on pileum), the remiges sometimes with more or less 

 of cinnamon-rufous, the tail (except middle rectrices) usually black 

 broadly tipped with white; in some species a blackish orbital and 

 auricular area; under parts plain whitish or buffy; sexes alike, and 

 young not materially different. (In 0. lansbergi, the plumage mostly 

 rufescent above, with gray pileum.) 



Range. — Temperate and tropical North and South America, includ- 

 ing West Indies and Galapagos Islands. (About seven species, with 

 additional subspecies.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF COCCYZITS. 



a. Hindneck, back, and scapulars grayish, brown, not very, if at all, different from 

 color of head; under parts not darker than light ochraceous-buff. 

 6. Lateral rectrices black (in adults) broadly tipped with white. 

 c. Auricular region concolor with pileum, or very slightly darker; under parts 

 white, without buffy tinge. (Coccyzus americanus.) 

 d. Inner webs of primaries largely cinnamon-rufous, their outer webs more or 

 less strongly tinged with the same; color of upper parts slightly lighter; 

 larger (wing averaging more than 140, tail averaging more than 140 mm.). 

 e. Smaller (wing averaging 143.6 in male, 146.4 in female; tail 140.7 in male, 

 145.7 in female; exposed culmen 26.4 in male, 27 in female). (Eastern 

 United States, south in winter through West Indies and through eastern 

 Mexico and Central America to northern South America.) 



Coeeyzus americanus americanus (p. 12). 



ee. Larger (wing averaging 149.6 in male, 150 in female; tail 147.1 in male 



147.2 in female; exposed culmen 27.7 in male and female). (Western 



United States, north to British Columbia; south in winter to Costa Rica.) 



Coccyzus americanus occidentalis (p. 17). 



dd. Inner webs of primaries pale buffy or dull buffy whitish proximally, without 



cinnamon-rufous, their outer webs not atall tinged with cinnamon-rufous; 



color of upper parts slightly darker; smaller (wing averaging 135.2, tail 



138 .3). (Island of Sombrero, Lesser Antilles; eastern South America, from 



Guiana to southern Brazil and Argentina.) 



Coccyzus americanus julieni (p. 19). 

 cc. Auricular region blackish, in strong contrast with color of pileum; under 

 parts more or less buffy. 

 d. Mandible yellow, tipped with black. 

 e. Wings without rufescent color. (Coccyzus minor.) 

 f. Suborbital and subauricular regions and sides of neck and chest not tinged 

 with gray. 

 g. Darker, with pileum concolor with back, and smaller (wing averaging 

 128.7 in male, 132.8 in female). (Atlantic coast, from lower Amazon 



Valley to Tamaulipas, Mexico.) Coccyzus minor minor (p. 21). 



gg. Paler (the palest of all forms of the species, except C. m. maynardi), 

 with pileum distinctly grayer than back, and larger (wing aver- 

 aging 140.4 in male, 141.6 in female). (Pacific coast from Costa 

 Rica to Sinaloa, Mexico.) Coccyzus minor palloris (p. 23). 



° Possibly this is the breeding bird on other islands in the W es t Indies. 



