310 5 YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA S SERES — OSCINES. 



Territory ; breeds throughout its U. S. range ; winters from Florida southward ; common in 

 woods, shrubbery, and swamps. A bird of rather slow and sedate movements ; nest on the 

 ground, of leaves, grasses, rootlets; eggs 4-5, crystal-white, minutely dotted with reddish- 

 brown, 0.70 X 0.50. 



HELINAI'A. (Gr. cXoy, helos, a marsh, and mica, naio^ I dwell, abide: AuD., Syn., 1839, 

 p. 66, where the faulty word is coined; emended to Helomea by Agassiz, and so given by me 

 in the Century Diet. The orig. form of the word is preserved in the A. 0. U. Lists. The 

 genus was intended by Audubon to include all the so-called "worm-eating" Warblers; but by 

 successive restrictions it has been confined to its type species, which has usually been included 

 under Helminthents, as in all former eds. of the Key.) Canebrake Warblers. Characters 

 in general of Helmitherus. Bill larger and differently shaped, nearly as long as the tarsus, 

 deep at base, acute at tip, with straight, sharp cuhoinal ridge rising high on the forehead, 

 something like a meadow-lark's. Point of wing formed by 2d and 3d quills ; 1st shorter than 

 2d. Feet stout, with tarsus slightly longer than middle toe and claw. Coloration plain and 

 simple. Habits terrestrial and aquatic. One species, afiording a curious analogy t(i the 

 " acrocephaline " type of Reed Warblers of the Old World family Sylviidce. 

 H. swain'soni. (To Wm. Swainson.) Swainson's Warbler. Somewhat similar to the 

 last; no long black head stripes ; no strong markings anywhere. Adult $ 9 '• Upper parts olive, 

 nearly uniform, but brownish on exposed surfaces of wings and tail, and quite reddish-brown on 

 crown and nape. A long light superciliary stripe ; below this a dusky loral and transocular 

 line ; sides of head below this speckled with brownish on a whitish ground ; sometimes also a 

 short median yellowish stripe on forehead. Lower parts whitish, of a creamy or pale yellowish 

 tinge, shaded on sides with brownish-olive, and quite across breast with some nebulous mark- 

 ings. Specimens vary much in precise tone of coloration, some being more olivaceous, others 

 more brownish, independently of sex and season. Bill brown above, pale below: feet flesh- 

 color; iris brown. Young in the fall are browner than adults above, more yellowish below 

 and on eyebrows ; they show blackish lores ; the first plumage is mostly dull rufous-brown be- 

 coming whitish on belly; wings and tail as in adults. A rather large Warbler; length up to 

 6.00 or more; extent about 9.00; wing 2.65-2.95; tail 1.85-2.15; tarsus 0.65-0.75; middle 

 toe nearly as much ; culmen 0.65-0.75. This interesting bird, long very rare iu collections 

 and supposed to be confined to the S. Atlantic States, is now well known by many specimens 

 to extend N. to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, to Indiana, Missouri, and E. Texas; in 

 winter, S. in Mexico to Vera Cruz ; Cuba ; Jamaica. It is a beautiful songster, of sedate 

 movements and retiring disposition, breeding in canebrakes, where the nest is affixed to canes 

 over the water, like a Marsh Wren's; it is a bulky structure of twigs, leaves, mosses, rootlets, 

 hairs, etc., sometimes 5 or 6 inches in diameter; eggs 2 or 3, 0.75 X 0.58, whitish, plain or 

 variously marked with pale spots which may be scattered over the whole surface or wreathed 

 about one end, laid late in June. For history of the species since the Audubouian period, see 

 GuNDL., Journ. f. Orn., 1872, p. 412 (Cuba) ;' Maynard, B. Fla., 1873, p. 47 ; N. C. Brown, 

 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1878, p. 172; Ridgw., ihid., p. 163, and 1881, p. 54; A. Newton, 

 P. Z. S., 1879, p. 552 (Jamaica); Hoxie, Orn. and 061., 1884, p. 138; Coues, Forest and 

 Stream, Nov. 6, 1884, p. 285; and especially Brewst., Auk, Jan. 1885, p. 65; For. and Str., 

 July 9, 1885, p. 468; Auk, Oct. 1885, p. 346. 



HELMINTHO'PHILA. (Gr. eX^is, e^fxivdos, hehnis, helminthos, a bug; (jiikta, 'phileo, I 

 love.) WoRM-EATiNG Warblers. Bill slender and exceedingly acute, unnotched, un- 

 bristled (fig. 167). Wings pointed, longer than nearly even tail — in one species nearly half 

 as long again. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. Tail-feathers in some species white- 

 blotched, iu others plain — the former being otherwise of bright and varied colors, the latter 

 more simply clad. Nest on the ground or quite near it (excepting iu the case of H. lucice)', 

 eggs white, spotted. To the 8 established U. S. species of the genus have been added 3 others ; 



