50 SYLVIIDA. 
path in the pine-forest at an elevation of 10,000 feet; but no specimen was secured, 
so that its occurrence in those parts needs confirmation. 
Regulus calendula is described by writers on American ornithology as gifted with 
great powers of song. The habits of the bird are minutely described by them; but, 
as yet its eggs have never been obtained, and its nest was only quite recently described 
by Dr. Coues. This would seem to be rather a clumsy structure compared with that 
of Regulus cristatus. | 
Subfam. POLIOPTILIN ZA. 
POLIOPTILA. 
Polioptila, Sclater, P. Z.S. 1855, p. 11. (Type Motacilla cerulea, Linn.) 
The right position of this genus is still a matter of uncertainty. It has been placed 
with the Paride, a family in which its slender bill makes it much out of place. It has 
also been supposed to have relationship with the Old-World Muscicapide; but the 
point has never been thoroughly examined, nor, indeed, would it be possible to do so 
now without opening the wide question of the relationship of the Muscicapide with the 
Sylviide, Turdide, &c., which would lead us into a discussion much beyond the scope 
of this work. American writers have of late years placed Polioptila in a subfamily 
of the Sylviide ; and in so doing we must, for the present, be content to follow them. 
The form of the first primary and the general structure of these birds would seem to 
indicate that such a position cannot be very far from the correct one, though it is 
very questionable whether the group should take the rank of a subfamily. 
The genus Polioptila comprises about eight or nine species, all very similar in colour 
and of quite uniform structure. These range from the United States to the La-Plata 
basin. Three species are found in North America, of which one, P. cwrulea, enters 
our region as a winter immigrant, the other two being resident beyond the northern 
border. Counting P. cewrulea, four so-called species are found in Mexico and Central 
America: two or three of these, however, appear to mingle to some extent. Cuba has 
a peculiar species in P. lembeyt, and also shelters P. cwrulea in winter. Guiana and 
South-eastern Brazil have each a species closely allied to one another and to the more 
northern P. nigriceps ; and Bolivia and the La-Plata region have P. dumicola in common. 
1. Polioptila ecerulea.” 
Motacilla cerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 837°. 
Polioptila cerulea, Scl. P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 362°; Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 74°; Lawr. Ann. Lye. 
N.Y. ix. p. 199°; Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 267°; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 12°; 
Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 787; Merrill, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 120°; 
Coues, B. Col. Vall. i. p. 101°; Gundl. Orn. Cub. p. 61”. 
Culicivora mexicana, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 316". 
