43. 
144. 
145. 
312 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES. 
ICTE/RIA. (Gr. txrepos, ikteros, the jaundice; hence, yellowness; from the bird’s golden 
breast.) CHatTs. Bill stout, high at the ba igher than broad at nostrils), thence com- 
pressed ; unnotched, unbristled, with-much curved culmen and commissure. Frontal feathers 
reaching the nostrils, which are subcircular and scaled. Wings much rounded, shorter or not 
longer than the graduated tail. Tarsus partly booted, longer than middle toe; feet stout. 
Inner toe cleft to the degree usually seen in this family. Of largest size for this family. Form 
stout. Coloration simple, chiefly olive, yellow, and white. Sexes alike. Nestin bushes. Eggs 
white, spotted. Probably only one species. j 
I. virens. (Lat. virens, being green. Fig. 172.) YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. (9, adult: 
Bright olive-green, below golden-yellow, belly abruptly white ; lore black, isolating the white 
under-eyelid from a white superciliary line above and a short white maxillary line below; wings 
and tail unmarked, glossed with olive; bill blue-black : 
feet plumbeous. Length about 7.50; extent about 10.00; 
wing about 3.00; tail about 3.25. Little difference with 
age, sex, or season in the plumage of this rich bird; very 
young have the fore under parts gray or white slashed 
with yellow, no black on lore, and lower mandible pale; 
white of belly and crissum tinged with buff. Eastern U.S., 
N.to Massachusetts, abundant, migratory ; breeds through- 
Fic. 172, — Yellow-breasted Chat,nat, OUt its range; an exclusive inhabitant of low tangled un- 
size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) dergrowth, and oftener heard than seen, except during the 
mating season, when it performs the extravagant aérial evolutions for which, as well as for 
the variety and volubility of its song, it is noted. Nest in a crotch of a bush near the ground ; 
eggs 3-4, very variable in size and markings. about 1.00 x 0.80, white, dotted, spotted or 
blotched with reddish-browns and the usual lilac shell-markings. 
I. v. longicau’da. (Lat. longus, long; cauda, tail.) LoNG-TAILEpD Cuat. ¢ 9: Entire 
upper parts, including exposed surfaces of the wings and tail, grayish-olive. Quills of the wings 
and tail fuscous. Fore half of body below, including lining of the wings, rich yellow; hinder 
half white, shaded with gray on the sides. Loral region black; a sharp maxillary line, 
another from nostril over the eye, and the under eyelid, white. Bill blackish-plumbeous ; feet 
plumbeous. Size of the last; tail averaging longer. Middle and Western Provinces of the 
U. 8. This form, in its typical manifestation, differs from virens in the shade of the upper 
parts — quite grayish instead of pure olive-green; in the dullest-colored birds there is scarcely 
a tinge of olive in the gray of the upper parts. The yellow of the breast is as rich, however, as 
that of virens. As in the eases of so many birds from this region, the tail averages longer than 
that of Eastern representatives of the same species. 
{7. Subfamily SETOPHACINEA: Fly-catching Warblers. 
These usually have the bill depressed, broader than high at base, notched and hooked at tip, 
and furnished with long stiff bristles that reach half-way or more from the nostrils to the end 
of the bill. In other respects they are not distinguished from the rest of the family. While 
many or most other Sylvicolide are expert in taking insects on the wing, these capture their 
prey in the air with special address, simulating in this respect the true Clamatorial flycatchers 
with which some species of Setophaga used to be classed in the extensive old genus ‘* Musci- 
capa.” It is hardly necessary to say that, however closely some of them may resemble the 
Tyrannide, they are at once distinguished from those Clamatorial birds by the Oscine character 
of the tarsi, and the presence of only nine primaries. The Setophagine are most developed in 
Central and South America, where they are represented by three or four genera, and upwards of 
forty species. They include some very brilliant little birds, with glossy black, orange, and even 
carmine red, very likely mistaken by heedless bugs for the tints of flowers. Besides the species 
