334 S YS TEMA TIC S Y NOP SIS. — PA S SERES — OSCINES. 



border S. to the West Indies, and Central and S. America; a common inhabitant of thickets, 

 swamps, and morasses, less frequently of mixed woodland. Nest usually under a stump or log, 

 in wet places or near water, not roofed over, but simply built of mosses, leaves, and grasses, 

 lined with rootlets ; eggs 4-6, brilliant white, profusely speckled with reddish-brown surface- 

 markings and neutral-tint shell-spots, 0.80 X 0.60. S- noveboracensis A. 0. U. 

 S. n. nota'bilis? (Lat. notahilis, noteworthy.) Wyoming Water Thrush. Grix- 

 xell's Water Thrush. Identical in coloration with the last, but larger ; wing 3.25 ; tail 

 2.50; bill from nostril 0.50 ; its depth at base 0.25 ; tarsus 0.83; middle toe without claw 0.56. 

 A slight variation upon the last, originally described from Wyoming, later extended to include 

 the small-billed Water Thrushes of Western N. Am., chiefly iu the interior, E. to Illinois and 

 Indiana (sometimes to the Atlantic coast.'), with latitudinal extension from Arctic to South 

 America. I continue to query the bird, as iu former eds. of the Key. A. 0. U. Lists, 

 No. 675 a. 



S. motacil'la. (Lat. 7notaeilla, a wag-tail. See p. 300.) Large-billed Wagtail War- 

 bler. Louisiana Water Thrush. Y ery similar to S.ncsviiis; larger; length 6.00-6.25; 

 extent ] 0.00-10.75; wing 3.00-3.25; bill especially longer and stouter, over 0.50; tarsus 

 nearly 1.00. Under parts white, only faintly tinged, and chiefly on flanks and crissum, with 

 buff (not sulphury-yellow); the streaks sparse, pale, and not very sharp ; throat, as well as 

 belly and crissum, unmarked ; legs pale. I have yet to see a specimen I cannot distinguish 

 on sight ; size of bill is by no means the only character, though it is a principal one. Eastern 

 U. S., rather southern, and not very common ; N. to Massachusetts and southern Ontario, 

 Mich., and Minn.; W. to Kansas, Indian Territory, and Texas; more abundant in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley ; breeds in its U. S. range at large ; winters extralimital iu the West Indies, some 

 parts of Mexico, and thence to Panama. Habits, nest, and eggs like those of S. navius. A 

 sweet and skilful songster. 



GEO'THLYPIS. (Gr. yij or yea, ge or gea, the earth, and 6\vnis or Opavnis, tJiht^xis or 

 thraupis, uame of some bird.) Ground Warblers. Bill of ordinary Sylvicoline charac- 

 ters; rictal bristles short and few, but evident. Wings variable; pointed, and much longer 

 than the tail in the subgenus Oporornis, with 1st quill nearly or quite the longest; short and 

 much rounded, scarcely or not longer than the tail in Geothhjpis proper ; colored like the back, 

 and without markings, in both subgenera. Legs stout ; tarsi longer or not shorter than mid- 

 dle toe and claw. Of medium and rather small size for this family. Coloration plain olivaceous 

 above, with more or less extensive yellow below and veiled with ash or blackish on the head (as 

 iu Oporornis and some species of Geothlypis) or there masked with black, ash, and white or 

 hoary, as in $ of the G. trichas group ; sexes alike in the former case, unlike the latter. Tail 

 about even, or a little rounded, without white spots. Legs pale-colored. Habits somewhat 

 terrestrial. Nest on the ground or near it. This genus affords numerous species more or less 

 resembling the common Maryland Yellow-throat, chiefly of tlie warmer parts of America — 

 seven of N. Am. Most of them are well distinguished from other Warblers by the extreme 

 shortness of the wings, which are scarcely or not longer than the tail, and all of them by the 

 size of the pale-colored legs, which indicates their somewhat terrestrial habits; in the two 

 species of Oporornis the outstretched feet reach nearly or quite to tlie end of the tail ; and they 

 reach about as far in G. Philadelphia and G- macgiJlivrayi, though the tail is relatively longer 

 in the G. trichas group. Our species are familiar inhabitants of shrubbery, ordinarily keeping 

 near the ground, where the nest is usually placed. (Genera Oporornis and Geothli/pis of all 

 previous eds. of the Key, the former being now reduced to a subgenus of the latter. I am glad 

 to follow the A. 0. U. example in this case, as two of our species {Philadelphia and tolmiei 

 both) connect the two species of Oporornis so closely with the trichas group, tliat tliey liave 

 been even placed in the former subgenus by one high authority.) 



