BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 427 



typical forms, the fornior being-, indeed, a veiy near relative, its elose 

 relationship l)eino- shown even in the coloration. 



The Mniotdti<he are essentially — most of tiiem strictly — insectivo- 

 rous l)irds, of active ha1)its. Most of them are arboreal, nestino- and 

 feeding' among the trees and rarely descending to the ground; some are 

 terresti'ial. living much upon or near the ground, where they Avalk in the 

 graceful '"mincing" manner of a Wagtail oi Pipit, meanwhile tilting 

 the body, as if upon a pivot, and oscillating the tail in the same char- 

 actei-istic maimer. Most of tiiem are experi " flycatchers, " the Scto- 

 pJuKpr notably so. Others creep about the truidvs and l)ranches of 

 trees as nimbly as a Nuthatch. The majority of them combine, in 

 various degi'ees, these several habits. 



As a rule the Mniotiltidic are birds of Ix^autiFul ])lumage, though 

 their attractiveness in this respect consists in the tastefid arrangement 

 or '"'pattern" of the colors rather than their ])rilliancy. Yellow is the 

 most connnon and characteristic hue, though this is usually relieved 

 by markings or areas of black, gray, olive-green, or white, usually by 

 two or more of these colors; red is not unfrecjuent, grayish blue less 

 common, while pure blue, gi'cen, or purple are never present, and the 

 plumage never glossy as it is in many CVerebidje and Tanagrida\ 



\Miile few Mniotiltidii; are songsters of the first class, ^ many of 

 them have attractive songs; l)ut perhaps the majority, at least among 

 the North American species, are songsters of very ordinary or inferior 

 merit. Some of them' possess two songs of utterly different char- 

 acter: a plain, monotonous repetition of sharp notes as the ordinary 

 song, and a rich, exul)erant warble, uttered on special occasions, 

 sometimes entirely' replacing the former dui'ing the evening hours. ^ 



The group is peculiar to America, where it represents the S^ylviidaj 

 and Muscicapid;e of the Eastern Hemisphere. The latest authoi'ify on 

 the family ^ recognizes 158 species and subspecies l)elonging to 21 

 genera; but if to these be added 32 speci(\s and -i genera transferred 

 from the Coerebid*, Tanagrid^, and Mimidaj, as before noted, and 



' This (listiiiction can, perhaps, be claimed for only one genus. RliorJivncirlihi ftrliis- 

 taccd is said to he one of the sweetest songsters of western Mexico, its " \(iiii|)tuous 

 and melodious notes" heing, according to the late Colonel Graysun, fully t'(]nai to 

 those of any species of Thrush. 



'^Selnrus (lurocdpllhis and Proloiiotaria ritrea, for example. 



•'* For further information concerning general characteristics of the Mnictiltidie see 

 Cones, Birds of the Colorado Valley (1878), 199-202, and Ridgway, The Ornithology 

 of Illinois, i (1889), ll.'l, 114. 



■"Catalogue | of the | Passeriformes, | or | Perching Birds, | in the | Collection | of 

 the I British Museum. | — - | Fringilliformes. Part I. | containing tiie families j 

 Dicfeidai, Hirundinida', Ampelidfe, | Mniotiltidfe, and Motacillidic. | By | H. Bowdler 

 Sharpe. | London | Printed by order of the Trustees. | 1885. | 



Pp. [i]-xin, 1-682, pis. i-xii. (Mniotiltidse on pp. 225-4;», 6.38-65;j, pis. ix-xii. 

 Constituting vol. x of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.) 



