BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 91 
decidedly shorter; hallux about as long as inner toe but much 
stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe united to outer toe for most 
of its length, to inner toe by about half its length (or less); claws 
moderate or rather weak, that of the hallux decidedly shorter than 
its digit. Plumage full and blended, that of rump and flanks more 
elongated and lax; feathers of pileum not elongated. 
Coloration.—Plain gray, slate color, or blackish, the back with a 
concealed patch of white, the wing-coverts narrowly tipped with 
white (lateral rectrices sometimes broadly tipped with white); adult 
females of some species similar but throat streaked with white, of 
others brown above, tawny or ochraceous below. 
Nidification—Nest (of C. mgricans) composed of dry grasses, 
placed in fork of a low bush. Eggs mahogany color, mottled with 
darker shades of the same color.* 
Range.—Southern Mexico to Cayenne, southeastern Brazil, and 
Peru. (About 10 species.)? 
KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF CERCOMACRA. 
a. General color black or slaty. 
b. Lateral rectrices broadly tipped with white. (Cercomacra nigricans.) 
c. General color deep black, the throat without white streaks. (Eastern Panama 
to Venezuela, Triniddd, and western Ecuador.) 
Cercomacra nigricans, adult male (p. 91). 
ec. General color blackish slate (more blackish beneath), the throat streaked 
with white..........2........- Cercomacra nigricans, adult female (p. 92). 
bb. Lateral rectrices very narrowly if at all tipped with whitish. (Cercomacra 
tyrannina.) 
c. Paler (slate color above, slate-gray below). (Eastern Panamdé to British 
Guiana, western Ecuador, etc.) 
Cercomacra tyrannina tyrannina, adult male (p. 93). 
ce. Darker (slate-blackish above, slate color or blackish slate below). (Western 
Panama to southeastern Mexico.) 
Cercomacra tyrannina crepera, adult male (p. 95). 
aa. General color olive-brownish above, tawny below. 
0; Paler eave tiecemeces sees as Cercomacra tyrannina tyrannina, adult female (p. 93). 
bb... Darkerscccste vv eee se cass Cercomacra tyrannina crepera, adult female (p. 96). 
CERCOMACRA NIGRICANS Sclater. 
BLACK TYRANNINE ANTBIRD. 
Adult male.—Uniform deep black, relieved by white tips to wing- 
coverts (anterior half of lesser covert area wholly white), broad white 
edging to outermost feather of alula, and broad white tips to rec- 
trices (except middle pair) ; feathers of back extensively white beneath 
surface; under wing-coverts uniform black for anterior half or more, 
white for posterior portion; inner webs of remiges broadly edged 
(except terminally) with white; bill black; iris dark brown; legs and 
@ Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1879, 526. 
b Some of these doubtless only subspecies. 
