300 S YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA S SERES — OS CINES. 



barred. Bill blackish above, whitish below, extremely small, scarcely | as loug as head ; feet 

 brown. Length 4.50; extent 5.75-6.00 ; wing and tail each 

 about 1.75; bill 0.35-0.40 ; tarsus, middle toe, and claw to- 

 gether, about 1.12. The streaking of head and that of back 

 are usually separated by a plain nuchal interval; but these 

 are often run together, the whole bird above being streaked 

 with whitish and blackish upon a brown ground. The wings, 

 tail, and entire under parts are much like those of palustris, 

 from which the species is distinguished by the markings of 

 Fig. 159. — Short-billed Marsh Wren, the upper parts and extremely short bill. Eastern U. S. and 

 nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. c.) adjoining British Provinces ; N. to New Hampshire, Michigan, 



Ontario, and Manitoba, W. to the Great Plains. Migratory ; winters in the Southern States. 

 Frequents marshy places like palustris, but is not common. Nesting similar, but eggs pure 

 white, 0.65 X 0.45; nest typically a ball of green grass hung in meadow grass. 



Family MOTACILLID^ : Wagtails and Pipits. 



Bill shorter than head, very slender, straight, acute, notched at tip. Nostrils not concealed 

 by feathers, which however reach into nasal fosste. Rictus not notably bristled. Primaries 9 ; 

 1st about as long as 2d; first 3, 4, or 5, forming point of the wing; inner secondaries 

 enlarged, the longest one nearly or quite equalling primaries in the closed wing. Tail length- 

 ened, averaging about equal to wing. Feet long and slender; tarsus scutellate, usually longer 

 than middle toe and claw ; inner toe cleft to the very base, but basal joint of outer toe soldered 

 with middle one; hind toe bearing a long and little curved claw (except in Motacilla proper). 

 A well-defined group of about 60, chiefly Old World, species, which may be termed terrestrial 

 Sylvias, all living mostly on the ground, where they run with facility, like Larks, never hopping 

 like most Oscines. They are usually gregarious ; are insectivctrous and migratory. They have 

 gained their name from the characteristic habit of moving the tail with a peculiar see-saw 

 motion, as if they were using it to balance themselves upon unsteady footing. They may be 

 distinguished from all the foregoing birds by having only 9 primaries ; from all the following 

 Oscines except AlauclidfE, by having long flowing inner secondaries ; and from Alaudidce, with 

 which they agree in this respect, as well as in usually having a lengthened, straightish hind 

 claw, by having the tarsal envelop as in Oscines generally, slender bill, exposed nostiils and 

 double moult. Two subfiimilies have been generally recognized, but the distinctions are 

 scarcely more than generic. They hold pretty well for the few forms found in America, but 

 break down when the Old World genera are considered. I therefore banish them from the 

 Key, as the A. 0. U. does from its List, following Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., x, 1885, p. 456. 



Anoli/sis of Genera. 



Wagtails. Point of wing formed by first 3 primaries. Tail longer or not obviously shorter than wings, with narrow 

 tapering feathers. Hind claw variable in length and curvature. Coloration black and white, or yellow and greenish. 

 Tail decidedly longer than wings, doubly emarginate. Hind claw of ordinary length and curvature. 



Colors black, ashy, and white, in masses Motacilla 



Tail, if anything, shorter than wings, nearly even. Hind claw lengthened and straightened. Colors yellow and 



green, in masses Budytes 



Pipits. Point of wing formed by first 4 or 5 primaries. Tail decidedly shorter than wings, its feathers not tapering. 

 Hind claw lengthened and straightened. Coloration brownish ; under parts streaked, upper usually also variegated 



Anlhus 



MOTACIL'LA. (Lat. mota-cilla, wag-tail ; name of some small bird.) Water Wagtails. 

 Tail much longer than wings, of 12 narrow, weak, tapering or almost linear feathers. First 

 3 primaries about equal and longest; longest secondary (when full grown) about reaching 



