BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 377 



decided crop, and uni([ue tritid tongue, i.s equally well characterized, and 

 certainly should .stand apart, seeming- to hold with respect to Carelja 

 [ Cyanerjjes] much the same position that ChamcBa does with the wrens." ^ 



Even after removing the genera Conirostrum and Ateleodacnis^ I am 

 very doubtfid as to the naturalness of the group known as the Cfiere- 

 bida?; but until the internal structure of Digloaxd^ Dtglox.sojjls, Chloro- 

 vhanes, iJacnis, Hemidacnh^ and Oreonianes shall have been sufficiently 

 investigated, any further change in the limits of the supposed family 

 would be prematiu'e. 1 have l)een strongly tempted to separate, as a 

 distinct family, the genera Dajlossa and Diglossojyis^ on account of the 

 peculiar and ver}" remarkable modihcation of the basal portion of the 

 mandible, these two genera difl'ering from all othoi' C<ere])id{e in hav- 

 ing the gonydeal angle decidedly posterior to the nostril — a character 

 quite unique, so far as I am at present aware, in the Order Passeri- 

 formes, or at least the Suborder Oscines. 



The Honej'-Creepers, or Guit-Guits, are peculiar to the forest-clad 

 regions of tropical America, the family, like so many other Neotrop- 

 ical groups, being most developed in the basin of the Amazon and 

 adjacent parts of Colombia and Ecuador. One genus {Ccereba) is most 

 numerous!}' represented in the West Indies, where almost ever}' island 

 possesses its peculiar form. One genus (6r/r>A'^/y>//A/), the representa 

 tive of a distinct subfamily (Glossiptilina?) is peculiar to Jamaica. 

 Altogether about seventy-live species and eleven genera are recognized, 

 of which six genera, but only about twenty-live species, occur within 

 the geographic field of this work. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF CCEREBID^. 



a. Bill much compressed, with tip of maxilla abruptly hooked or uncinate; mandi- 

 bular rami ^ery short, the gonydeal angle decidedly posterior to the nostril. 



Diglossa (p. 378) 



aa. Bill not much compressed; tip of maxilla not abruptly hooked or uncinate; 



mandibular rami of normal length, the gonydeal angle anterior to the nostril. 



h. Exposed culmen equal to or longer than tarsus; bill more subulate, the tip 



obtuse; maxillary tomium more or less obviously notched subterminally. 



c. Outermost (ninth) primary shorter than sixth; wing-tip not longer than tarsus, 



the latter longer than middle toe with claw; adult males glossy green with 



pileum and sides of head black; ^ adult females duller in color, without 



black on head Chlorophanes ( p. 382) 



iProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, .309. 



'■'These two genera, both of which are peculiarly South American, and therefore 

 extra-limital to the present work, I have been obliged to remove from the Cffirebidse 

 and transfer to the Mniotiltidae, or else, as the only alternative, combine the two 

 families into one, the birds of these two genera being, so far as external characters are 

 concerned, quite inseparable from the last-named group. Unfortunately, their ana- 

 tomical structure has not been investigated; but I believe that when this has been done 

 it will be found that they too, like another supposedly Coerebine genus {Certhidea) 

 possess the Mniotiltine type of tongue and palate. (See Lucas: "The Anatomy and 

 Affinities of Certhidea," in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1894, 309, 310.) 



*A South American species (C. purpurascens) is violet-blue with blackish wings 

 and tail but without black pileum; the adult female unknown. 



