MNI0TILTID35. 



225 



Family MNIOTILTIDvE. 



The genera included in this family are the same as those admitted 

 by Professor Baird in his celebrated ' Eeview,' and subsequently by 

 Dr. Coues and by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin ; but I have great 

 doubts as to the correctness of amalgamating all these genera under 

 the heading of one family, the characteristics of which it is impos- 

 sible to define. These doubts are held in common with the three 

 ornithologists above mentioned. 



Dr. Coues has simplified matters, to a great extent, by dividing 

 the MniotUtidce into three subfamilies ; but the characters which he 

 has given are really not sufficient to warrant such a subdivision if 

 all the genera enumerated are true Mniotiltine birds, and it seems 

 to me certain that several of them have little, or nothing, to do 

 with the genera of the other subfamilies, to which they ought, at 

 least, to show some kind of affinity. 



It has become more and more clear to me, during my study of 

 the Passeriformes, that there is not a single arrangement of the 

 Perching Birds as yet propounded by any naturalist which can be 

 held to be a natural one : and that, in taking the number of pri- 

 maries in a bird's wing as an essential character, too much stress 

 has been laid on this peculiarity. In the case of the MmotUtidce 

 it has certainly resulted in the placing together of many forms not 

 really allied ; and in the readjustment of the family, which must in- 

 evitably take place some day, Setopluiga and its allies will probably 

 be considered to be Flycatchers rather than Warblers, Helmintho- 

 phaga and HelminiJwthei-vs will very probably prove to be Wrens, 

 Icteria to be an aberrant Yireonine form, while GranateJIus will be 

 placed with the Tanagers. However, in accordance with the plan 

 of the ' Catalogue,' we accept the limits of the MniotUtidcp as they 

 have been established by the majority of recent ornithologists. 



As with the common European species. I have not quoted every 

 trivial reference, confining myself to the citation of those which deal 

 principally with the life-history and distribution of these American 

 Warblers. Students who desire a more detailed reference to the 

 periodical literature of the family are referred to Dr. Coues's ' Birds 

 of the Colorado Valley,' a work which has been of the utmost service 

 to myself in the compilation of the synonymy of the Mniotiltido'. 



Key to the Genera*. 



a. Rictal bristles obsolete or entirely ab- 

 sent ; bill acute and pointed. 

 a'. Wing concave and greatly rounded : 

 the first primary much shorter than 

 the second, which is again shorter 

 than the third, the latter being the 

 longest 1. LEfCOPEZA, p. 227. 



♦ Many of the generic characters here enumerated are taken from Eaird's 

 E«view.' 

 VOL. X. a 



