226 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
like in form, though without a chisel-shaped tip and well adapted to 
hammering or chipping the decayed wood, as in the case of the 
Woodpeckers. Insize the Dendrocolaptide vary from the dimensions 
of a true Creeper (Certhia) to those of a Flicker (Colaptes). There is 
little range in the variety of their coloration, rufous or chestnut and 
olivaceous hues prevailing throughout the group, often unvaried but 
sometimes relieved by streaks or bars of darker and lighter hues. 
The family as properly restricted is equal to the ‘‘Subfamily 
Dendrocolaptine”’ of Dr. Sclater,* minus the genera Margarornis 
and Pygarrhicus, which belong to the Furnariide, and plus the 
genera Glyphorhynchus and Dendrornis, which constitute Dr. Sclater’s 
‘Subfamily Glyphorhynchine.”’ 
KEY TO THE GENERA OF DENDROCOLAPTIDZ.} 
a. Nostril roundish, without distinct operculum. (Dendrocolaptinz.) 
b. Bill moderately elongated (much less than twice as long as tarsus) or rather 
short. 
c. Bill depressed (at least as broad as deep at nostril); maxillary tomium more 
or less distinctly notched subterminally. (Dendrocolaptex.) 
d. Bill relatively short and stout, the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla 
not greater than length of tarsus, its depth at nostril equal to one-third 
the length of exposed culmen and nearly half the distance from nostril 
to tip of maxilla. .u..00. 02.2... ee ee es wees Dendrexetastes (extralimital).¢ 
dd. Bill relatively longer and more slender, the distance from nostril to tip 
of maxilla greater than length of tarsus, its depth at nostril less than 
one-fourth the length of exposed culmen and less than one-third the 
distance from nostril to tip of maxilla......-.. Dendrocolaptes (p. 227). 
cc. Bill compressed (much deeper than broad at nostril); maxillary tomium 
without trace of subterminal notch. (Xtphocolaptex.) 
d. Bill straight ....2c.:.ce.ccceee ve ves sexseeeaess Dendroplex (extralimital).¢ 
dd. Bill more or less decurved. 
e. Larger (wing 120-152 mm.); bill relatively shorter and deeper, with 
gonydeal angle more prominent and base of gonys with a narrow but 
distinct median ridge.........-.--.----.-+.---- Xiphocolaptes (p. 235.) 
ee. Smaller (wing less—usually much less—than 120 mm.); bill relatively 
longer and less deep, with tip of maxilla more decidedly decurved, 
gonydeal angle less prominent, and base of gonys without median 
ridge. 
f. Bill nearly straight (only the tip of maxilla decidedly decurved), rela- 
tively much deeper (depth at nostril equal to nearly one-fourth to 
about one-third the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla). 
Xiphorhynchus (p. 239). 
@ Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, vol. xv, 1890, pp. 117-175. 
6 The genus Hylexetastes Sclater (type, Dendrocolaptes perrotit Lafresnaye) I have 
not examined, and therefore is omitted. 
¢ Dendrexetastes Eyton, in Jardine’s Contr. Orn., 1851, 76. (Type, D. capitoides 
Eyton=Dendrocolaptes temminckti Lafresnaye.—Cladoscopus Reichenbach, Handb. 
Spec. Orn., 1853, 192. Type, Dendrocolaptes temminckti Lafremaye. (Cayenne and 
upper Amazon Valley; two species.) 
@ Dendroplex Swainson, Zool. Journ., iii, 1827, 354. Type, Oriolus picus Gmelin. 
(Colombia and Venezuela to Bolivia, southeastern Brazil, and lower Amazon Valley; 
two species.) 
