722 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus SETOPHAGA Swainson. 



8eto]>}iag<i Swainson, IMuIds. ^lag., new ser., i, ^Nlay, 1827, 3HS. (Type, MvxcH'apd 



ruticUld Limiifus. ) 

 CetopUagn (eiuendatioii) IjEsson, Man. (rOrii., ii, 1S2S, A'M). 

 Sylvania, part, NittaMj, Man. Orn. U. S. and Can., i, 1832, 290. (rrojjoseil a.« 



a giubHtitute for SctopJutga Swainyun; see Cones, Ank, xiv, 1897, 228. ) 



Small **rty-ciitchinj^" Miiiotiltida' with the l)ill iiuich shorter than 

 head, much depros.scd, triano-ular or l)roadly wedge-shaped in vertical 

 profile, with rictal bristles not reaching nearl}^ to tip; ninth primary 

 longer than fifth; tail decidedly shorter than wing, rounded; adult 

 males (l)oth sexes in one species) ])lack. \'aried with red (or orange) 

 and white. 



Bill about half as long as head, nuich depressed, broad at base, its 

 vertical profile triangular i)V broadly wedge-shaped; culmen sharply 

 ridged, straight for basal half or more, strongly decurved terminally; 

 commissure nearly straight, the maxillary tomium with distinct sub- 

 terminal notch. Nostril longitudinally oval or elli})tical. in lower 

 anterior portion of nasal fossa?, overhung by a broad membranous 

 operculum. Rictal bristles conspicuously developed, but not reach- 

 ing nmch if any ))eyond middle of ])ill (when directed forward). Wing 

 rather long, pointed (ninth to seventh or eighth to sixth primaries 

 longest, the ninth equal to or longer than fifth, sometimes longer than 

 sixth); wing-tip ecpial to tarsus {S. ruticilhi) or a little shorter 

 {S.. plvt((). Tail shorter than wing, but decidedly longer than distance 

 from bend of wing to tips of secondaries, decidedly rounded, the rec- 

 trices rather broad, sul)acuminate {S^. i'uf!cill<i) or rounded {S. picta) 

 at tips. Tarsus slightly less than one-fourth as long as wing, its scu- 

 tella rather distinct; middle toe, with claw, decidedly shorter than tar- 

 sus; basal phi'Janx of middle toe united for more than half its length 

 to outer toe, for al)out half its length, or less, to inner toe. 



Coloration. — Adult males (both sexes of one species) black, varied 

 with red (or orange) and white; head, neck, and u])])ei' ])arts uniform 

 black; breast with a median patch of red (extending to abdomen) or 

 with lateral patches of orange or yellow (extending to un<ler wing- 

 coverts); wings with a large white patch on greater or middle coverts, 

 or with basal portion of secondaries extensively pale orange or yellow; 

 lateral rectrices extensively white, or else with basal half or niore 

 pale orange or yellow. 



Nldlfication. — Arboreal in *S'. r>itlcill<i^ terrestrial (in holes of 

 banks, or beneath projecting stones) in S. picta. 



Ram/e. — Temperate North America, to highlands of Ctuatemala; in 

 winter throughout West Indies and to northern South America. (Two 

 species.) 



The two species of ^^etoplauja difier very slightly in the details of 



