4357 ⅓
Syrnium nebulosum.
Subgenera.
Scotiaptex. Six outer quills with their inner webs emarginated. Toes completely concealed by dense long hair-like feathers. Iris yellow. (Type, S. cinereum.)
Syrnium, Swainson. Five outer quills with their inner webs emarginated. Toes not completely concealed by feathers; sometimes nearly naked; terminal scutellæ always (?) exposed. Iris blackish. (Type, S. aluco.)
The typical species of this genus are confined to the Northern Hemisphere. It is yet doubtful whether the Tropical American species usually referred to this genus really belong here. The genera Ciccaba, Wagl., and Pulsatrix, Kaup, have been instituted to include most of them; but whether these are generically or only subgenerically distinct from the typical species of Syrnium remains to be decided.
Our S. nebulosum and S. occidentale seem to be strictly congeneric with the S. aluca, the type of the subgenus Syrnium, since they agree in the minutest particulars in regard to their external form, and other characters not specific.
4337 ½ ½
Syrnium nebulosum.