324 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



with, broadly rounded tips, and moderately rigid. Tarsus decidedly 

 shorter than middle toe (without claw), the upper third (more or less) 

 feathered in front, the acrotarsium with a single series of large trans- 

 verse scutella on the upper part (of unfeathered portion), the lower 

 part with a double series of large hexagonal scales, the planta tarsi 

 covered with small, rather indistinct hexagonal scales; toes slender, 

 the middle one decidedly longer than tarsus (in ratio of 1.15 to 1.18 

 to 1), the lateral toes decidedly shorter, with claws falling short of 

 base of middle claw, the outer toe slightly longer than the inner; 

 hallux thicker than lateral toes, much longer than basal phalanx of 

 middle toe. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage of head, neck, and under parts 

 blended; bare orbital space very restricted, distinct only beneath 

 eye, where narrow. Coloration plain brown above, the head, neck, 

 and under parts lighter purplish brown or purplish drab; no white 

 in plumage nor bluish gray on rump, axillars, or under wing-coverts. 



Range. — Southeastern Mexico to the Guianas, Brazil, Bolivia, and 

 Peru. (Seven or more forms. ) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OP CENCENAS. 6 



a. Larger Owing 165 or more, averaging 170 or more). 

 &. Inner webs of remiges grayish, brown, without cinnamomeous tinge; back, etc., 

 grayish brown or olive-brown; under parts only faintly (sometimes not at all) 

 vinaceouB. {(Encenas plumbea.) 

 c. Back, etc., deep brownish gray; under parts lighter brownish gray, without 

 vinaceous tingq; bill and feet larger; wing, 178; tail, 137.2; exposed culmen, 

 15.5; tarsus, 27.5; middle toe, 28.5.° (Southern Brazil; Paraguay.) 



(Enoenas plumbea plumbea (extralimital).^ 



» These include at least three species, but just how many can not be ascertained 

 without study of much more ample material than I have been able to examine. 



& The measurements given in this key are the averages of all the specimens of each 

 form, irrespective of sex. 



c Until this most puzzling group can be carefully studied from ample material it 

 can not be stated with certainty how many definable forms there really are, nor how 

 many specific types are represented. The arrangement here given can only be con- 

 sidered as an attempt to clear up, to some extent, the existing confusion, though con- 

 clusions based on inadequate material must, necessarily, be subject to future revision. 



<z Columba plumbea Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxvi, 1818, 358 (Brazil); 

 Salvadori, Oat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxi, 1893, 323, part (in synonymy, and references 

 pertaining to southern Brazilian localities). — C[olumba] plumbea plumbea Hartert, 

 Novit. Zool., ix, Dec, 1902, 602, in text. — Leptoptila plumbea Reichenbach, Av. Syst. 

 Nat., 1852, p. xxv, fig. 1262. — [Chloroenas] plumbea Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 

 1857, 53 (Brazil). — Chloroenas plumbea Berlepsch, Journ. fur Orn., 1874, 241, part 

 (Minas Geraes, Santa Ana dos Alegros, Paracutu, Rio Belmonte, etc., s. Brazil; syn- 

 onymy; range; crit.). — Lepidoenas plumbea Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, iv, no. 35 

 (Columbae), 1873, 70 (Brazil). 



