THE VIEEOS. 179 



FAMILY VIREONID^E. THE VIEEOS. 



"The essential features of this family appear to consist in the 

 combination of the dentirostral bill, notched in both mandibles; 

 the ten primaries (except Vireosylvia) , of which the outer is usually 

 from one fourth to one half the second; the rather short, nearly 

 even tail, with narrow feathers, and the great amount of adhesion 

 of the anterior toes, the whole basal joint of the middle being 

 generally united on both sides to the adjacent joints, and decidedly 

 shorter than the basal of inner or two basal of outer. The outer 

 lateral toe is generally appreciably longer than the inner, reaching 

 considerably beyond the base of the middle claw. The tarsi are 

 always distinctly scutellate anteriorly. The young are never spotted, 

 or streaked as in the Thrushes ; nor, indeed, do the adults exhibit 

 such markings. 



"The Vireonidce are peculiar to the New World, and are widely 

 distributed, although but one genus belongs to the United States." 

 (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



GENUS VIHEO VIEILLOT. 



Vireo VIEILL, Ois. Am. S.ept. 1,1807,83. Type, Muscicapa noveboracensis GMEL. 



"No great violence will be done by considering all the American 

 Vireos as belonging to one genus, divisible into three subgenera, as, 

 however different the extremes of the series may be from each 

 other, the gradation is quite complete. 



"The North American species take a wide range during their 

 southern winter migration, only paralleled in this respect by the 

 SylvicolidcB; they do not visit the West Indies, save as very rare 

 stragglers to Cuba (V. olivaceus, solitarius, flavifrons, and novebora- 

 censis). They all have a melodious song, and, so far as known, 



