13 .") 
But one species is as yet known, and of this only two specimens, 
both of unknown history, exist in museums. The two specimens in 
question form part of the collection ol the United States National 
Museum, and are supposed to have come from California. 
ONYCHOTES GRUBERI. 
Onychotes yruberi, Ridgw.vy, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. Dec. 1870, 149 (description of fuli¬ 
ginous phase); B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. Birds, iii, 1«74, 254 (figure of fuligi¬ 
nous phase); Rod and Gun, vol. 6, No. 5, May 1, 1875,65 (first description 
of white-breasted phase). 
Onychotesgrueberi, Sharpe, Cat. Acc. Brit. Mus. 1874, 158 (foot-note). 
Hal). —California? (F. Gruber). 
Wing, 10.10-11.50; tail, 0.50-7.30; culmen, about 0.80; tarsus, 2.70 
2.80; middle toe, 1.45-1.60 ; posterior claw, 1.00 ; its digit, 0.80. 
Aclult. —Tail brownish-gray, the feathers with a hoary cast near the 
shaft, not paler at the tip, and crossed by a rather indefinite number 
(apparently from 9 to 11 ) of narrow and rather indistinct bars oi dusky 
brown, these becoming gradually obsolete basally; the inner webs but 
little paler, becoming white only toward edges. Light phase (No. 02108, 
Nat. Mus.)Above, chiefly dusky grayish-brown, beneath ochraceous 
white, deeper ochraceous on the middle of the breast and abdomen. 
Pileum and nape striped with blackish-brown and ochraceous-white, 
the former prevailing, the latter on the edges of the feathers; cheeks 
and sides of the neck with finer and fainter streaks; sides ot the breast 
with narrow irregularly-lanceolate streaks of grayish-brown ; sides with 
broader, ragged stripes, or longitudinal cloudings of the same, and tibial 
plumes with dusky shaft-streaks and faint grayish mottlings; longer 
lower tail-coverts with an irregular large spot of brownish-gray near 
the end. Lining of the wing deep creamy-buff, whiter along the outer 
edge, with a few scattered small spots of grayish-brown; under primary 
coverts pale grayish for the terminal portion, where marked with two 
or three narrow bars of darker. Inner webs of primaries entirely white 
to the emarginations, beyond which they are plain grayish, darker 
toward edges; no transverse bars are observable except on the inner 
quills. Axillars mostly white, irregularly spotted, and brokenly barred 
with brown, mixed with rusty, the brown predominating toward the 
end of the feathers. Upper parts slightly variegated, chiefly by whitish 
and dusky bars on the basal portion of the feathers; lesser wing- 
coverts faintly spotted with rusty; outer webs of secondaries and 
inner primaries with very indistinct darker bars. Wing, 11.50; tail, 
7.30; tarsus, 2.80; middle toe, 1.00. Fuliginous phase (No. 41703, Nat. 
Mus.; adult?): —Everywhere dark grayish-brown, the feathers witli 
; feathers of the neck all round broadly edged with dull 
darker shafts, _ _ _ _ 
rusty ; lining of the wing and tibial plumes dull cinnamon-rusty ; flanks 
and crissum tinged witli the same. Remiges as in the normal phase, 
bat without trace of darker bars on outer webs, while those on the inner 
webs are more distinctly indicated. Tail as in the light phase. W ing, ( 
10.10; tail, 0.50; culmen, about 0.80; tarsus, 2.70 ; middle toe. 1.45; 
posterior claw, 1.00; its digit, 0.80. 
