Back streaked with black and white. Cistothorus.
Bill short, stout; its depth equal to one half its length from the nostril; gonys straight or even convex, ascending. Crown streaked; no distinct superciliary stripe … Subgenus Cistothorus.
Bill elongated, slender; its depth less than one third its length from the nostril; gonys slightly concave, declining. Crown not streaked; a conspicuous superciliary stripe … Subgenus Telmatodytes.
Genus CAMPYLORHYNCHUS, Spix.
Campylorhynchus, Spix, Av. Bras. I, 1824, 77. (Type, C. scolopaceus, Spix = Turdus variegatus, Gmel.)
Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus.
7149
Gen. Char. Bill stout, compressed, as long as, or longer than the head, without notch or rictal bristles; culmen and commissure curved; gonys nearly straight. Nostrils in the antero-inferior part of nasal groove, in advance of the frontal feathers, with an overhanging scale with thickened edge, as in Thryothorus; sometimes, as in the type, reduced to a slight ridge along the upper side of the nasal groove. Lateral septum not projecting below or anteriorly into the nasal cavity, but concealed by the nasal scale. Tarsus a little longer than middle toe and claw; claws strong, much curved, and very sharp; middle toe with basal joint adherent almost throughout. Wings and tail about equal, the latter graduated; the exterior webs of lateral feathers broad.
This genus embraces the largest species of the family, and is well represented in Middle and South America, two species only reaching into North America, which may be distinguished as follows:—
Top of head and post-ocular stripe reddish-brown; back streaked longitudinally and linearly with white. All the feathers beneath conspicuously spotted. Crissum and flanks with rounded or elongated spots. Iris reddish. Nostrils inferior, linear, overhung by a scale. Nests large and purse-shaped; eggs white, profusely marked with salmon-colored or reddish spots.