Page:Birds of North and Middle America partIII Ridgway.djvu/152

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126
BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

tarsus. Tail shorter than distance from bend of wing to tips of secondaries, even or very slightly rounded, the rectrices rather narrow, with broadly rounded tip, their shafts hard and stiff. Tarsus longer than middle toe without claw but shorter than middle toe with claw, about one-fourth as long as wing, stout, the acrotarsium very distinctly scutellate; outer toe reaching to middle of subterminal phalanx of middle toe, its claw reaching beyond base of middle claw; inner toe decidedly shorter, its claw falling short of base of middle claw; hallux equal in length to inner toe, but much stouter, its claw much shorter than the digit, but well developed and strongly curved; basal phalanx of middle toe united to outer toe by greater part of its length, to inner toe by about half its length.

Coloration. — Above plain olive; beneath pale yellowish or whitish, conspicuously streaked with dusky; plumage harsh, very different from the silky blended character of that in Ampelidæ and Ptilogonatidæ.

Nidification. — Nest enormously bulky, composed externally of sticks and twigs (its internal structure unknown), placed in crown of tall palm trees. Eggs unknown.

Range. — Island of Haiti, Greater Antilles. (Monotypic?; possibly two species.)

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF DULUS.

a. No white on upper parts; larger (wing 83-87). (Haiti.)

Dulus dominicus (p. 126)

aa. No white patch on hindneck; smaller (wing 81). (Habitat unknown.)

Dulus nuchalis (p. 127)

DULUS DOMINICUS (Linnæus).

PALM CHAT.

Adults {sexes alike). — Above olive, the back, scapulars, and wing- coverts decidedly more brownish, the lower rump and upper tail- coverts olive-greenish; feathers of pileum and hindneck showing very indistinct mesial streaks of darker; secondaries (except tertials) and primaries edged with light yellowish olive-green; tail brownish gray, the rectrices edged with light olive-greenish, and with brown shafts; lores, suborbital region, and auricular region uniform dark brown or dusky; malar region dusky, streaked with yellowish white; under parts yellowish white, broadly and sharply streaked with sooty brown, the streaks narrower on abdomen, broader and paler brown on under tail- coverts; under wing-coverts pale buff or buffy whitish, with very narrow and indistinct shaft-lines of brown; bill light brown, the mandible paler; iris brown; legs and feet dusky in dried skins.

Adult male. — Length (skin), 160; wing, 83; tail, 65; exposed culmen, 12; tarsus (broken); middle toe, 18.[1]

Adult female. — 'Length (skin), 161; wing, 87; tail, 68; exposed

culmen, 12; tarsus, 21; middle toe, 18.[2]


  1. One specimen.
  2. One specimen.