SYLVICOLID^ — THE WARBLERS. 



191 



Genus HELMINTHOPHAGA, Cabax. 



Helminthoplmga, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 20. (Type, Sijlvia ruficapilla, WiLS.) 



Gen. Char. Bill elongated, conical, very acute ; the outlines very nearly straight, 

 sometimes slightly decurved ; no trace of notch at 

 the tip, nor of bristles on the rictus. Wings long and 

 pointed ; the first quill neai'ly or' quite the longest. 

 Tail nearly even or slightly emarginate ; short and 

 rather slender. Tarsi longer than the middle toe and 

 claw. 



Helminthophaga riiJicapiUa. 



The species of this section are well char- 

 acterized by the attenuation and acuteness 

 of the bill, and the absence of any notch. 

 There are, however, considerable subordinate 

 differences in the different species. In some the bill is larger and more 

 acute than others ; in one species, the If. peregrina, the wings are unusually 

 lengthened, the tail being only about seven twelfths as long. 



Species and Varieties. 



CoMMOX Characters. Iris brown. Length about 5.00. Nest on the ground, 

 in grass or dead leaves. Eggs clear white, thickest at end, with minute dots of 

 brown of various shades and faint pui-ple. 



A. Tail with a conspicuous patch of white. 



(/. A black patch covering throat and breast. 



L chrysoptera. Above ash, beneath white. Forehead and a patch 

 on the wing yellow. Ilah. Eastern Province of United States, south to 

 Bogota ; Cuba. 



2. bachmani. Above olive-green ; beneath, with forehead, yellow ; 

 crown ash, bounded anteriorly with a black bar. No yellow on wino-. 

 Hnb. South Carolina and Georgia. Cuba in winter. 



h. No black on throat or breast. 



3. pinus. Above olive-green ; beneath, with forehead, yellow ; wings 

 ash, with two white bands ; lores black. Hah. Eastern Province of 

 United States, south into- Guatemala. 



B. Tail without a conspicuous white patch. 



c. Crown with a concealed patch of rufous (obsolete in 9). 



4. ruficapilla. Above olive-green ; head ashy ; beneath continuous 

 yellow ; a light oi'bital ring. Hab. North America (very rare in Middle 

 and Western Provinces) ; Greenland. South to Southern Mexico (Oax- 

 aca, Cordova, Orizaba). 



Yellow of throat spreading over cheeks, and staining lores and 

 eyelids. Atlantic States. (Carlisle, Penn., specimens.) var. ruficapilla. 



Yellow of throat confined within the maxilte ; lores and eyelids 

 clear white. Mississippi Valley. (Chicago specimens.) vav. ocularis. 



Yellow of throat restricted to a medial stripe, leaving its sides 

 ashy. Middle Province. (Specimen from Fort Tejon, Cat, and 

 East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada.) . . . vai: g utf uralis 



