SYLVICOLIDH, WARBLERS.— GEN. 29. 91 
tremulous, flight vacillating. Wus., v, 89, pl. 89; Nurr., i, 450; Aup., 
mOMAOe pl tAOR BW. 202.) . (aioe mu po Wo do te” «) SLUDOVIOIANUS: 
29. Genus NEOCORYS Sclater. 
Missouri Skylark. Brown, the feathers with paler edges; below and a 
superciliary line, whitish, the breast sharply speckled with dusky ; wings 
and tail dusky, inner secondaries pale-edged, outer tail feathers white ; 53; 
wing 3, tail 2$. Region of the Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan, ex- 
tremely rare; said to resemble closely the European skylark in habits. 
AID sev poOD pl. 4865) BD, 202. «© «+ «© « « «y= «SPRAGUE: 
Family SYLVICOLIDA. American Warblers. 
Primaries, nine; inner secondaries not enlarged, nor hind toe lengthened and 
straightened, as in the two preceding families ; bill without a lobe or tooth near the 
middle of the commissure, as in Pyranga, nor strongly toothed and hooked at end, 
as in Collurio and Vireo, nor greatly flattened with gape reaching to eyes, as in 
Hirundinide, nor strictly conical with angulated commissure, as in Fringillide. 
The family presents such a number of minor modifications of form, that it seems 
impossible to characterize it, except negatively; in fact, it has never been satis- 
factorily defined. But doubtless the student will be able to assure himself that his 
specimen is a sylvicoline, by its not showing the peculiarities of our other nine- 
primaried Oscines. 
All the sylvicolas are small birds; excepting Icteria, and perhaps a species of 
Seiurus, not one is over six inches long, and they hardly average over five. With 
few exceptions they are beautifully clothed in variegated colors; but the sexes are 
generally unlike, and the changes of plumage, with age and season of the year, are 
usually strongly marked, so that different specimens of the same species may bear 
_ to each other but little resemblance; this of course renders careful discrimination 
necessary. ‘The usual shape of the bill may be called conoid-elongate (something 
like a slender minié bullet in miniature), but the variations in precise shape are 
endless. The rictus is usually bristled; the bristles sometimes have an extraor- 
dinary development, and are sometimes wanting. The wings are longer than the 
_ tail, except in Geothlypis, Icteria, and one or two exotic genera; neither the wing 
nor tail ever presents striking forms. The feet have no special peculiarities, though 
they show some slight modifications corresponding to somewhat terrestrial, or more 
strictly arboricole, habits. Some of the warblers have the habits of titmice or 
wrens; others of creepers or nuthatches; the Seiuri closely resemble the tit- 
larks in some respects, and have even been placed in the Motacillide ; while the 
Setophagine simulate the Tyrannide (of a different suborder) so perfectly that 
they used to be classed with the true flycatchers. The warblers grade so perfectly 
towards the tanagers that they have all been made a subfamily of Yanagride 
(where possibly they belong). The affinity of some of them with the Carebide, 
or honey-creepers of the tropics, is so close that the dividing line has not been 
drawn. The position of Icteria and its two associate exotic genera, Granatellus 
and Teretristis, is open to question; perhaps they come nearer Vireonide. It is 
probable that final critical study will result in a remapping of the whole group; 
meanwhile, the very diversity of forms included in it enables us to mark off sec- 
tions with ease. 
