430 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus CLARA VIS Oberholser. 



Peristera (not of Rafinesque, 1815), Swainson - , Zool. Journ., iii, 1827, 360. (Type, 

 Columba dnerea Tewramck=Peristera pretiosa Ferrari-Perez.) 



Claravis a Oberholseb, Proc.Ac. Nat.Sci. Phila., June 2, 1899,203. (Newname 

 for Peristera Swainson, preoccupied.) 



Small arboreal or semi-terrestrial Pigeons (length about 180-240 

 mm.) with outermost primary abruptly attenuated terminally; tail 

 nearly three-fourths as long as wing, truncated ; planta tarsi without 

 scales, and frontal antia decidedly posterior to malar antia. 



Bill relatively small and slender, the exposed culmen decidedly 

 shorter than tarsus (slightly longer than outer toe without claw), its 

 greatest depth equal to about one-fourth the length of exposed cul- 

 men, the maxillary unguis faintly arched basally, the gonys not 

 distinctly prominent basally; nasal operculum relatively short and 

 broad, moderately tumid; frontal antia reaching but little beyond 

 base of nasal operculi, much posterior to malar antia, which is oppo- 

 site middle of nasal operculum, the mental antia reaching to decid- 

 edly beyond anterior end of the same. Wing moderately large, 

 rather pointed, the longest primaries exceeding distal secondaries 

 by about one-third the length of wing; third primary (from outside) 

 longest, but second and fourth very little shorter, the first (outer- 

 most) shorter than fifth, its terminal portion abruptly and exces- 

 sively attenuated. 6 Tail nearly three-fourths as long as wing, trun- 

 cated or very slightly rounded, the rectrices appreciably broader api- 

 cally, their tips broadly rounded. Tarsus as long as middle toe without 

 claw, the extreme upper portion in front feathered, the acrotarsium, 

 with a single series of broad, rather indistinct, transverse scutella,the 

 planta tarsi without obvious scales, except on upper portion, where 

 very indistinct; lateral toes much shorter than middle toe, the inner 

 toe with claw reaching to base of middle claw, the outer a little shorter; 

 hallux (without claw) about as long as basal phalanx and half of 

 second phalanx of middle toe. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage soft and blended, except scapa- 

 lars, wing-coverts, and tail-coverts; bare orbital space very narrow, 

 obvious only beneath eye. 



Range. — Southern Mexico 'to southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and 

 Peru. (Three species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CLABAVIS. 



a. Upper parts gray. (Adult males.) 

 b. Tail entirely black; under tail-coverts slate-gray. (Southern Mexico to Peru, 

 Bolivia, and Paraguay.) Claravis pretiosa, adult male (p. 431). 



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o "From clara (clarus) and avis. " (Oberholser.) 

 6 As in the genus Leptotila. 



