70 



NORTH AilERICAN BIRDS. 



catchers. The nest is placed on the ground, and is of an oval or spherical 

 form with a round ofiening on one side. The se.\es are similar, and the 

 young difl'er very little fnjm the parents. 



Genus PHYLLOPNEUSTE, Meter & Wolf. 



Phyllopnemtc, Mever & Wolk, Tasclieubucli, 1*22. 

 I, 1S67, 543. 



-Degl.ixd ct Gerbe, Ornitli. Europ. 



Gen. Char. Bill .shorter than the head ; 



PhyUoptuuste bortalis. 



.straight, .slender, and depressed, notched 

 at tip. Nostrils open. Tarsi lenijtliened ; 

 exceeding the middle toe; .scutellate an- 

 teriorly, but with the plates indistinct, 

 claws short, much curved. Wings point- 

 ed, longer than tail, and reaching at 

 least to its middle: .spurious quill ex- 

 tending farther than the upper covert. 

 Tail emarginate. Olivaceous above ; 

 yellowish or whitish beneath. 



For the purpose of distinguishing this 

 American, it is enougli to say that, of tlie ( 

 general appearance of the warblers, it has 

 a short spurious first primary, as in the 

 Thrushes, and some Virconida: The single 

 species found as yet within our limits re- 

 sembles at first sight an immature Bcndroica 

 ccstiva, but is easily distinguished by the 

 wing formula, the yellowish stripe over the 

 eye, and the brown tail-feathers. 



"onus from any other North 





PhyUopneu&le buncdis. 



^1 Phyllopneuste borealis, Bl.\s. 



ALASKA WILLOW WAEBLIIE. 



Phyllopneuste borealis, Bla.s. Ibis, 1862, 69. riujUopiicaste, K.EX.N., B.vuiD, Trans. Chicago 

 Acad. Sci. I, ii, p. 313, pi. xxx, fig. 2, 1869. 



Sp. Char. (Description of specimen No. 4.5.000.) Plumage in August: above olive- 

 green, with a slight shade of brown on top of head, rather lighter- behind ; beneath white, 

 tinged with greenish-yellow ; more olive on the throat and breast ; and more j'ellow 

 behind, inside the wing and on tliighs; axillars purer yellow. A well-marked gieenish- 

 yellow line from nostrils over the eye to the nape (extending behind the eye nearly as 

 far as from eye to tip of bill), beneath this an olivaceous streak through the eye, running 

 into the mixed olive and yellowish of the cheeks. Quills and tail-feathers brown, edged 

 with olivaceous ; the outer edges of primaries more yellowi.sh than those of secondaries ; 

 the greater coverts tipped externally with greenish-yellow, so as to form a distinct baud 



