Sp. Char. Tail much graduated; the lateral feathers about two inches shortest. Second quill equal to the secondaries; third and fourth longest. General color dark smoky-brown, becoming almost black on the head; the breast brownish-gray; nearly white about the anus; under tail-coverts tinged with brown; the exposed portion of the tail with a decided gloss of blue; bill and feet, in some specimens yellow, in others black. Length, 16.00; wing, 8.00; tail. 8.25; tarsus. 1.80.
Hab. Rio Grande Valley, north-eastern Mexico, southward. Cordova (Scl. 1856, 300); ? Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 22); Honduras (Scl. II, 113); Costa Rica (Caban. J. 1861, 83); Vera Cruz, hot and temperate regions (Sumich. Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 554).
The difference in the color of the bill appears to be independent of sex. The feet of the yellow-billed birds are not of the same pure yellow.
The Psilorhinus mexicanus of Rüppell is described as having white tips to the tail-feathers; of these there is no trace in the adult specimens, male and female, from the Rio Grande, before us. He speaks of a supposed young bird sent from Tamaulipas, by Lindheimer, as being without these white tips.
PLATE XLII.
1. Xanthoura luxuosa. New Leon, New Mex., 4052.