42(> BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Ill addition to the foniiis which arc usually referred to the Miiiotil- 

 tidiv'^ it seems best to place here the following genera, withdrawn 

 from ()th(M- oroiips: Cctihidea and Ateleodacnis^ (pro])al)ly also Coni- 

 roxtntni), from the CcBrebidiv; I[einl!<j>l)}<ju><,^ from Tanagrida', and 

 Rliodlnocicldd^ from Mimida?. This transfer seems to he necessary in 

 order to render pos,si])le an^^thing like a satisfactory diagnosis of the 

 iVIniotiltida% Ccerebidjv, and Tanagridi\% as separate groups. The 

 only on(> of these regarding which there can be reasonable doubt is 

 Rliodhioricldd. This has hitherto l)een placed in either the Troglod}"- 

 tida» or the Mimi(he; ])ut since it is a "nine-primaried " bird it can not 

 belong to either of these groups; and among the nine-primaried Oxeines 

 there is no other group than the present one where it would not be 

 conspicuously out of place. With this single exception the group is 

 ([iiite as natural as any other Oscine family (excepting, of course, the 

 llinindinida'), although Certhidea is also to a degree aberrant; and, 

 so far as I am al)le to see, is in no need of ""readjustment" so far as 

 the forms which have usually l)een referred to it are concerned. 

 Nexertheless, Dr. Sharpe, in forecasting a "readjustment of the 

 family*, which must inevitably take place some day," suggests that 

 ^^ St'tojdtaga and its allies will prol)abl3' be considered to be Fh'catchers 

 [Muscicapidaj] ratluM- than Warblers, JTelmivthophaga and Ilelmin- 

 tliotherxx will very ])i'<)]»ably prove to ])e Wrens [Troglodytida^], Jcterhi 

 to ))e an a))errant Vireonine form, while GrarKdellKx will be placed 

 with the Tanagers." It is true that some of the genera mentioned 

 represent very diverse types (though less diti'erentiated than the aber- 

 rant genera RhodJnodvIda and (rrthj'dca), but that they are unquestion- 

 ably all true Mniotiltidai is perfectly evident from a careful examination 

 of all the genera, which shows that S(,'f(>pha</a, Tldmlnthopliihi^ and 

 Jctcrki, representing three extremes of divergence, are so completely 

 connected by intermediate forms that it is difficult to diagnose even sec- 

 tions or minor groups to include the forms most closely related to the 

 genera in question. The position of Icteria in the Mniotiltidre has 

 more than once lieen questioned; indeed it had not ))een referred to 

 this family at all until lsr)S. when Professor Raii'd formally placed it 

 hen^* as sole i-epreseiitative of a group or section Irf,r/ea'. That he 

 was fully justiiied in doing so is quite certain, for. however unlike 

 other North American i\Iniotilti(he /cAvvV/ may seem, the extralimital 

 genera ( 7i(n/ia'f/di/j)/'x nud (J rtm a f c/ / k.s d\stuK't\y connect it with more 



'See Sharpe, in Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, x, 1SS5, 225-439, 

 638-653, pis. 9-12. 



^A section of the genus Ihirnis as given by Dr. Sclalor in Catalogue of the P>ini.s in 

 the British Museum, xi, 1886, 18-27 (species 10-14). 



'A section of the gemu CliJoronjtliiffnii, as given by Dr. Sclater, Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the British Museum, x, 18S6, 237-251 (species 16-32). 



*Rep. Pacific li. U. Surv., ix, 1858, 248. 



