202 ANALYSIS OF SYLVICOLID^E 



which prey upou the hopes of the fruit-grower, and whicb, 

 if undisturbed, would bring his care to nought. Some War- 

 blers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the tallest trees ; 

 others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled boughs of 

 the forest kings ; some peep from the thicket, the coppice, the 

 impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water- 

 courses, playing at hide-and-seek with all comers ; others more 

 humble still descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty 

 mincing steps and affected turning of the head this way and 

 that, their delicate flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of 

 withered leaves with which a past season carpeted the ground. 

 We may seek Warblers everywhere in their season ; we shall 

 find them a continual surprise ; all mood and circumstance is 

 theirs. 



Naturalists have sought to divide the varied forms of the 

 Warblers into groups ; an attempt attended with no little diffi- 

 culty, so varied are the phases of bird-life here exhibited. 

 Even the earliest writers, whose genera were usually more 

 comprehensive than our modern families are, dissociated these 

 birds in three or more different genera, Motacillay Sylvia, Mus- 

 clcapa, and some others, vaguely perceiving how varied these 

 birds are in form and habits. Later systematists have multi- 

 plied genera, as the fashion of minute subdivision dictated, 

 though some of the newest genera, like Denclt'ceca, Eelmintho- 

 phaga, and Setophaga, were still allowed to contain numerous 

 species. Professor Baird's critical studies of this group gave 

 us four subfamilies, according to the schedule* which I subjoin 



^Bill conical, its Iristles very short, or wanting. 



Sylvicolin^. Bill conical, or about as high as wide, or even higher, 

 opposite the nostrils. Gape with short bristles, not reaching beyond the 

 nostrils, or none. Tip of bill not hooked; with or without a faint notch; 

 commissure nearly straight. Wings long and pointed ; considerably longer 

 than the narrow, nearly even tail. Legs short and weak : tars-i not as long 

 as 1 he head (except iu Mniotiltece). 



[Sections Mniotiltece, or Creej)ing Wm-Mers (genera Mniotilta and Panda) ; 

 Ferntivore(v., or Swamp Warblers (genera Protonotaria, Helminthophaga, and 

 Helminthei'us) ; and Sylvicolew, or Wood Warhlers (genera Pei'issoglossa and 

 Dendi'oeca).'] 



Geothlypin^. Bill much as in Sylvicolinw, with distinct notch ; slender, 

 or stout, the culmen gently curved ; the commissure nearly straight. Legs 

 much developed : tarsi longer than the skull. Bristles of rictus short but 

 appreciable. Ground Warblers. 



[Sections Seiitrece (genera Seiurus and Oporornis) and Geothlypea; (genus 

 Geothlypis).^ 



