VP te9, es. 
92 SYLVICOLIDH, WARBLERS.— GEN. 30, 31. 
As at present constituted, the Sylvicolide, comprising upwards of a hundred 
genuine species, may be considered to represent, in Ameriea to which they are 
confined, the Sylviide or typical Old World warblers. I divide them into three 
subfamilies, uniting the Geothlypine of Baird with the true Sylvicoline. Their 
characters, mostly borrowed from Baird’s excellent analysis, will be found in full 
beyond; here they may be shortly contrasted : — 
Sylvicolinte. — Wings longer than tail (except in Greothlypis); commissure 
slightly curved, with short bristles or none. . 
Icteriinee. — Wings shorter than tail; commissure much curved, unbristled. 
Setophagine.— Wings longer than tail; commissure slightly curved, with 
bristles reaching beyond the nostrils. 
Subfamily SYLVICOLIN. Warblers. 
Bill conoid-elongate, shorter than the head, about as high as, or rather higher 
than, wide opposite the nostrils, not hooked, but with a slight notch, or none, at tip ; 
commissure straight or slightly curved; a few rictal bristles, reaching little if any 
beyond the nostrils, or none. Wings pointed, longer than the narrow, nearly even 
tail (except in Geothlypis). 
This group is specially characteristic of North America; all the genera and the 
great majority of the species occurring within our limits in summer, though most of 
them winter in the West Indies, Mexico and Central America. Dendreca, the ~ 
largest and most beautiful genus, is particularly characteristic of the Eastern 
United States. All are strictly insectivorous, though not such expert flycatchers as 
the Setophagine ; none rank high as songsters, though they have pleasing notes in 
springtime. With us, they are all migratory. 
*.* Genera 30, 31, are creeping warblers, haying the hind toe longer than its 
claw, and the front toes more extensively soldered together at base than in any other 
forms. Gen. 36, 37, 388 are ground warblers, with the feet relatively stouter than 
in the rest. Gen. 32, 33, 34 are worm-eating warblers; these have no rictal bristles 
at all. Genus 35 comprehends the wood warblers par excellence. 
30. Genus MNIOTILTA Vieillot. 
Black and White Creeper. (Pl. u, figs. 12, 18, 14, 12a, 13a, 14a.) 
Entirely black and white, in streaks, except on the belly; tail white-spotted, 
wings white-barred ; 5-54, wing 24-23, tail 24. Eastern North America ; 
a common bird, generally observed scrambling like a nuthatch about the 
trunk and larger branches of forest trees. WILS., 
iii, 22, pl. 19; Nurr., 1, 384; Aup., ii, 1055 pl 
ila SOI eee On ere eet Ace lolica u WAMRTLAL 
31. Genus PARULA Bonaparte. 
Blue Yellow-backed Warbler. @, in spring: 
blue, back with a golden-brown patch, throat and 
breast yellow with a rich brown or blackish patch, 
Fic. 35. Black and White 5 4 f 
Creeper; natural size. the former sometimes extending along the sides; 
belly, eyelids, two wing-bars, and several tail-spots, white ; lores black ; 
upper mandible black, under flesh colored; @ , in spring, with the blue less 
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