_Onychotes gruberi_, RIDGWAY, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. Dec. 1870, p.
149.
[Illustration: _Onychotes gruberi._]
SP. CHAR. _Immature?_ (41,703, “California”; F. Gruber). Outstretched
feet reaching beyond tail. General plumage dull dark-bistre, with a
grayish-umber cast in some lights, darkest on the head above and back;
the posterior lower parts paler and more reddish; throat and neck much
tinged with pale rusty (this obsoletely bordering the feathers, which
here have fine whitish filaments attached to the shafts); primaries
uniform black. Tail like the rump, but with a more hoary tinge (not
paler at the tip), and crossed with seven or eight very narrow obscure
bars of darker, the last of which is distant an inch or more from the
end. Lining of wing dark bistre, much tinged with rusty, this prevalent
toward the edge; under surface of primaries white anterior to their
emargination, beyond which they are ashy, approaching black at ends;
ashy portion with distant, very obsolete, dusky bars, but the cheeks and
throat streaked obsoletely with this color. No distinct white anywhere
about the head or neck. Wing, 10.00; tail, 5.80; tarsus, 2.70; middle
toe, 1.40; inner, .90; outer, 1.10; posterior, .80; hind claw, 1.00
(chord); inner claw, .91; on front of tarsus, twelve exposed large
transverse scutellæ; only 1.70 of the tarsus exposed.
The type of this species still remains unique. It was sent to the
Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Gruber, who labelled it as having been
obtained in California. Nothing is known of its habits.