SYLVIID.E — SYLVIIN.E: OLD WORLD WARBLERS. 261 



posteriorly: throat usually nearly white; bill mostly yellow; white tipping of wing-feathers at 

 a inaximum ; in some cases the tail-feathers similarly marked. Mountains of Western N. A., 

 from Alaska to Guatemala; E. in the U. S. to tlie eastern bases and spurs of the Rocky 

 Mts., as in the Black Hills of S. Dakota; a sprightly and engaging resident of clear mountain 

 streams, usually observed flitting among the rocks ; has a fine song. Nest a pretty ball of 

 green moss lined with grasses, with a hole at the side, hidden in the rift of a rock, or other 

 nook close to the water: eggs about 5, 1.04 X 0.70, pure white, unmarked. 



Family SYLVIID^ : Old World Warblers, Kinglets, etc. 



A large family of chiefly Old World birds, mainly represented in America by the genera 

 Regulus and Polioptila. They belcnig to the Turdoid series, and the line between Turdidce 

 and Si/lciidce is not a hard and fast one. The fact that young Sylviidcc are not spotted like 

 young Thrushes is probably the best character that can be ascribed ; this seems to be correlated 

 with the double annual moult which normal Sylviidce undergo, in spring and fall, as contrasted 

 witli the single moult of true Turdidce. The tendency of Sijlviidoi is toward booted tarsi, as in 

 Turdidce, and fusion of scutella is usually extensive, as in Sylviince and Regulince ; but in some 

 groups, as Polioptilince, the scutellation is plain. There is no difficulty, however, in recogniz- 

 ing any North American bird of the family as here given, by the very diminutive size (length 

 under 6.00, usually 5.00 or less); 10 primaries, the 1st spurious; slender bill, more or less 

 notched or even hooked at tip ; and greenish or bluish coloration. Our 3 genera fall in as many 

 subfamilies, recognition of which is convenient, but a mere conventionality. (The Sylviidce are 

 brought under Turdidce in 2d-4th eds. of Key, but we have the authority of the A. 0. U. for 

 separating them as a family, and thus reverting to the arrangement given in the orig. ed., 1872.) 



Analysis of Subfamilies. 



Tarsus more or less booted. 



Colors greenish ; no crest. (Old World. N. Am. only in Alaska.) SylviincB 



Colors greenish, with a red or flaming crest. No black on wings or tail RegulincB 



Tarsus distinctly scuteUate. 



Colors bluish and white, with much black on wings and tail Polioptilince 



Subfamily SYLVilN/E: Old World Warblers. 



Characters suflBciently indicated for present purposes in the above analysis, as the subfamily 

 cuts no figure in America, though it is a large and important group in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 

 with numerous (over 100) species of many modern genera, among which are Sylvia proper, 

 riiyllopseustes (or Fhylloscopus), Hypolais, Acrocephalus, Locustella, Lusciniola, and Gettia 

 — tliis last exhibiting the passerine anomaly of only 10 rectrices, and perhaps standing as type 

 of a different subfamily Gettiince. We have here to do only with the genus 

 PHYLLOPSEUS'TES. (Gr. <^vXXov, phullon, a leaf; y\r(T€vsrr)i, psc^stes, a liar, cheat; ap- 

 jdication nut obvious. ^leyer, 181."). PhyUoscopus of most authors, as of 2d-4th eds. of Key; 

 Phyllopneuste of the orig. ed.) Old World Wood-Warbler.s. Willow Warblers. 

 Bill shorter than head, slender, straight, depressed at base, compressed and notched at tip ; nos- 

 trils exposed, though reached by the frontal feathers. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, 

 booted or indistinctly scuteUate; wings longer than tail; pointed by 8d and 4th quills; 5th 

 much slK)rter, 6th sliorter still, 2d between 5th and 6th ; 1st spurious, very short, exposed less 

 than 0.50. Tail about even. Size diminutive and coloration simple. Includes numerous 

 (about 25) Old World species, one of them occurring in Alaska. 



P. borea'lis. (Lat. borealis, northern; boreas, the north-wind.) Arctic Willow Warbler. 

 Kennicott's Warbler. <J 9 > adult: Above, olive-green, clear, continuous, and nearly 



