70 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



catchers. The nest is placed on the gronnd, and is of an oval or spherical 

 form with a round opening on one side. The sexes are similar, and the 

 young differ very little from the parents. 



Genus PHYLLOPNEUSTE, Meyee & Wolf. 



Phyllojmeuste, Meyer & Wolf, Taschenbuch, 1822. — Degland et Gerbe, Oniith. Eiirop. 

 I, 1867, 543. 



Gen. Char. 



Bill shorter than the head ; straight, slender, and depressed, notched 



at tip. Nostrils open. Tarsi lengthened ; 

 exceeding the middle toe; scutellate an- 

 teriorly, but with the plates indistinct, 

 claws short, much curved. Wings point- 

 ed, longer than tail, and reaching at 

 least to its middle; spurious quill ex- 

 tending farther than the upper covert. 

 Tail emarginate. Olivaceous above ; 

 yellowish or whitish beneath. 



Phyllopneuste borealis. 



For the purpose of distinguishing this genus from any other 

 American, it is enough to say that, of the 

 general appearance of the warblers, it has 

 a sliort spurious first primary, as in the 

 Thrushes, and some Virconidcc. The single 

 species found as yet within our limits re- 

 sembles at first sight an immature Dendroica 

 cestiva, but is easily distinguished by the 

 wing formula, the yellowish stripe over the 

 eye, and the brown tail-feathers. 



Phyllopneuste borealis. 



North 



Phyllopneuste borealis, Blas. 



ALASKA WILLOW WARBLER. 



Phyllopneuste borealis, Blas. Ibis, 1862, 69. Phyllopneuste, Kenn., Baird, Trans. Chicago 

 Acad. Set. I, ii, p. 313, pi. xxx, tig. 2, 1869. 



Sp. Char. (Description of specimen No. 4.5,909.) Plumage in August: above olive- 

 green, with a slight shade of brown on top of head, rather lighter behind ; beneath white, 

 tinged with greenish-yellow ; more olive on the throat and breast ; and more yellow 

 behind, inside the wing and on thighs; axillars purer yellow. A well-marked greenish- 

 yellow line from nostrils over the ^ye to the nape (extending behind the eye nearly as 

 far as from eye to tip of bill), beneath this an olivaceous streak through the eye, running 

 into the mixed olive and yellowish of the cheeks. Quills and tail-feathers brown, edged 

 with olivaceous ; the outer edges of primaries more yellowish than those of secondaries ; 

 the greater coverts tipped externally with greenish-yellow, so as to form a distinct baud 



