Plate CCCCXIX. Fig. 2. Female.
General colour dull brownish-grey; quills and coverts dusky brown;
edge of wing dull white; basal part of primaries pale yellow, of
secondaries ochre-yellow; edges of all the quills dull greyish-white;
secondaries with a faint patch of light brownish-grey on the outer web
toward the end; middle tail-feathers greyish-brown, the rest
blackish-brown, the outer with an oblique white space, including, from
the tip, a considerable portion of the inner web, and more than
two-thirds of the outer; the next with a white patch at the end; lower
parts paler than the upper; lower tail and wing-coverts broadly tipped
with dull white, some of the inner wing-coverts white.
_Female_, 8-1/4, wing, 4-1/2.
Columbia River.
Townsend's Ptilogonys, Ptilogonys Townsendi, Aud. Orn. Biog.
v. v. p. 206.
GENUS IV. CULICIVORA, Swains. GNAT-CATCHER.
Bill of moderate length, depressed at the base, rapidly attenuated,
becoming very slender toward the end; upper mandible with the ridge
distinct, the tip extremely narrow and deflected, the edges
overlapping, the notch distinct, but very small; lower mandible with
the angle of moderate length, the ridge narrowed towards the end, the
edges inclinate, the tip acute. Nostrils oblong, exposed. Head ovate;
neck short; body slender. Feet of moderate length, tarsus longer than
the middle toe, extremely slender, with the upper scutella indistinct;
toes very small, extremely compressed; hind toe proportionally very
large; outer adherent at the base. Claws well arched, extremely
compressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plumage very soft and blended.
Wings of moderate length, concave; the first quill about a third of
the length of the second, fourth longest, third and fifth little
shorter. Tail long, slender, much rounded.