160 REVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS, [PART I, 
Famity SYLVICOLID.* 
The Sylvicolide are essentially characterized among the Oscines 
with nine primaries,? by their small size, the usually slender and 
conical insectivorous bill, shorter than the head, without angle in 
the gape near the base ; the toes deeply cleft so as to leave the inner 
one free almost to its very base (except in Mniotiltex), etc. The 
shallow notch at the end of the tongue, instead of a deeply fissured tip, 
distinguishes the family from the Cerebide, to some of which there 
is otherwise so great a resemblance. ‘The absence of abrupt hook 
1 A diagnostic table of families will be given as an appendix to the work. 
2 Although we speak of the absence of the outer or first primary, and the 
presence of nine only as characterizing most of the Oscines, the expression is 
not strictly correct, as in all cases where I have made a careful search, I have 
never failed to find the first primary in a rudimentary condition. Indeed 
the gradation from the very short, though evident spurious primary of some 
of the Vireos, to the stage in others of the genus where this primary appears 
entirely wanting, is merely the difference between its being placed so as to rest 
on the inner side of the basal portion of the shaft of the outer large feather 
or moved round so as to lie on its outer side. It occupies the terminal 
joint of the wing, just as when well developed, and is only overlooked be- 
cause confounded with the coverts of the primaries. Its presence can easily 
be demonstrated by comparing the wing of a Thrush, with distinct first pri- 
mary, and that of a Sparrow, Swallow, or other bird, in which this primary is 
wanting (very well seen in Quiscalus). In the Thrush, for instance, there will 
be seen the usual coverts on the outside of the primaries, each one with its 
sheath inserted into that of the corresponding primary, and resting a little on 
the external side of the barrel of the quill. The first quill lacks a covert; 
all the rest, nine in number, have one each. The first covert is usually much 
shorter than the rest, and stands singly when there is a distinct, though 
abbreviated first primary, asin Turdus. In a Sparrow, however, or Quiscalus, 
there appears to be a second short covert, immediately beneath the one just 
referred to, but which, on examination, is seen to occupy the true place of the 
deficient first primary. Whenever, therefore, there are apparently only nine 
primaries, it is probable that two of these short stiff feathers will be found, 
and with ten distinct primaries only one will be found. When there is any 
peculiar coloration of the primaries, not seen in the other feathers of the 
wing, this second of the short feathers will have it, and not the outside one, 
as will be referred to more particularly hereafter, especially under Vireo 
flavifrons. 
