distinctly scutellate; middle toe, with claw, equal to tarsus (P. fuscipennis) or more or less shorter (other species); outer toe, without claw, reaching to or beyond middle of subterminal phalanx of middle toe, the inner toe slightly shorter; hallux about as long as outer toe but much stouter; basal phalanx of middle toe wholly united to lateral toes; claws moderate in size and curvature, that of the hallux decidedly shorter than the digit.
Coloration. — Plain brown, brown and gray, or rufescent above, the tail and upper tail-coverts Usually cinnamon-rufous or rufous-tawny; a more or less distinct superciliary stripe of rufous-tawny, ochraceous, buff, or whitish; under parts plain tawny, ochraceous, or buffy. Sexes alike.
Range. — Costa Rica to Peru, Bolivia, southeastern Brazil, and Cayenne. (About fifteen species.)[1]
KEY TO THE SPECIES OF PHILYDOR.[2]
a. Upper tail-coverts buffy brown, like back but lighter; wings cinnamon-rufous, contrasting strongly with color of back.
- b. Pileum distinctly gray, the forehead broadly and abruptly buffy. (Southeastern Brazil)
- bb. Pileum not distinctly, if at all, gray, the forehead neither broadly nor abruptly buffy.
- c. Coloration much paler, the back, etc., light buffy brown, under parts buff; pileum brownish gray or grayish brown. (Venezuela.)
- ↑ Of the fifteen species enumerated under Philydor in Dr. Sharpe's Hand-List of the Genera and Species of Birds (vol. iii, 1901, pp. 68, 69), I have examined only P. atricapillus (Maximilian), P. rufus (Vieillot), P. lichtensteini Cabanis, P. pyrrhodes (Cabanis), P. fuscipennis Salvin, P. panerythrus Sclater, and P. erythrocercus (Pelzeln) — leaving eight species, or more than one-half, unknown to me autoptically. A careful comparison of all the species would, I feel quite sure, result in subdivision of the genus, which is certainly far from being a homogeneous or natural group.
- ↑ Including only the more closely allied extralimital forms that are available at this time.
- ↑ Dendrocopus rufus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxvi, 1818, 119. — P[hilydor] rufus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, Aug., 1859, 29. — Philydor rufus Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1861, 378; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 97. — S[phenura] poliocephala Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl., 1823, 41 (S. Paulo, s. Brazil; coll. Berlin Mus.). — Philydor ruficollis Spix, Av. Bras., "1824," 74, pl. 75 (int. prov. Bahia, Brazil). — D[endroma] caniceps Swainson, Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 316 (based on "Braz. Birds, pl. 80"). — Xenops rufifrons Lesson, Traité d'Orn., 1831, 317 (ex Valenciennes, manuscript; new name for Philydor ruficollis Spix).
- ↑ P[hilydor] columbianus Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, Aug., 1859, 29, footnote (Puerto Cabello, Venezuela; coll. Berlin Mus.). — Philydor columbianus Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 170 (Caracas, Venezuela). — Philydor colombianus Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xv, 1890, 98.
