186 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Ridgway adds tliat in its movements this Warbler is slow and delib- 

 erate, like the HeJmithcrm vcniiivorus, strikingly diflereut iii this respect 

 from the sjirightly, active Bcndroeca'. Its common note is a sharp piph, re- 

 markably like the winter note of tlie Zonotrichia albicollis. 



It has been taken as far north a.s liock Island, 111., and Dr. Cones men- 

 tions the occurrence of one individual near "Washington, D. C, seen in a 

 swampy brier-i;iatcli, May 2, I813I. Tliis was perhaps only an accidental 

 visitor. If regularly found there, it is proliably e.Kceedingly rare. It has not 

 been met with between Washington and St. Stephens, Xew Brunswick, where 

 its occurrence was unquestionably purely accidental. 



Genus HELMITHERUS, Raf. 



HelmUherus, Rafinesque, Journal de Physiiiue, LXXXV'lll, 1819, 417. (Type, MotaciUa 



vermivora. ) 

 Vcrmivura, Swainson, ZoiJl. .lour. IV. 1827, 170 (not of Meyeh, 1822). 

 Ueliiiaia, AuD. Synopsis, 1S39, 6(). (Type, Sylvia swaiitsoai, ACD.) 



Gen. Char. Bill large and stx)ut, compressed, almost tanagrine ; nearly or quite as long 



as the head. Culmen very slightly curved ; 

 gonys straight; no notch in the Vjill ; rictal 



^^ ~''-^r-p^::zi y bristles wanting. Tarsi short, but little longer, 



t' /v^^^Er - 21 18 : y jf any, than the middle toe. Tail considera- 



bly shorter than the wings; rather rounded. 

 Wings rather long, the first quill a little shorter 

 than the second and third. 



lUlmWttTUi vermivorus, Bonnp. 



but two species referable to the 

 from the type in having a considerably 

 longer and more compressed bill, the 

 ridge of wliich is compressed, elevated, 

 and appears to extend backwards on 

 the forehead, as well as to be in a 

 straight line with the upper part of 

 the head. The wings are longer ; the 

 tail forked, not rounded; the feathers 

 narrower and more pointed ; tlie tarsi 

 shorter than in the type. It appears 

 to be at least a distinct subgenus to 

 which the name Helinaia, Aud., is to 

 be apjilied. 



The birds of this di\ision are very 

 plain in tlieir colors, more so than any 

 other American Warblers. Tliere are 

 enus, of which tlie H. swainsoni differs 



Helmithf-Tiis vcrmivorus. 



