MNIOTILTID-E THE AMERICAN WARBLERS. 115 



2. Middle toe, with claw, not longer than tarsus. 



Bill without a distinct notch, or lacking it entirely; rictal bristles want- 

 ing, or very minute; culmen and gonys nearly straight; bill only very 

 moderately compressed. 



a. Middle toe and claw about equal to tarsus. 



Bill not acute; culmen and gonys decidedly convex; notch just per- 

 ceptible; bristles apparent Protonotaria. 



Bill moderately acute, robust; no notch; culmen straight, its base 

 elevated and slightly arched; bristles not apparent .Helinaia. 



Bill moderately acute: robust; no notch; culmen conveys, its base 

 not elevated; bristles apparent Helmitheros. 



b. Middle toe and claw considerably shorter than tarsus. 



Bill very acute, its outlines nearly straight; notch not perceptible: 

 bristles not apparent Helminthophila. 



Bill very acute, its outlines nearly straight; notch just perceptible; 

 bristles strong Compsothlypis. 



Bill distinctly notched; rictal bristles strong; outlines generally 

 slightly curved Dendroica. 



b. Geothlypeae. 



3. Wings pointed, longer than nearly even tail. 



Above olive- brown; beneath white with dark streaks Seiurus. 



Above olive-green; beneath yellow without streaks Oporornis. 



4. Wings rounded, shorter than the graduated tail. 



Colors as in Oporornis Geothlypis. 



c. Icterieas. 



5. Characters as given above; outer toe completely separated from the middle 



one; upper mandible decidedly deeper than the lower. 



Color above uniform olive-ereen or olive-gray; beneath rich yellow 

 for anterior half, white posteriorly Icteria. 



d. Setophageae. 



6. Bill decidedly "Tyrannine." Tail fan-shaped, equal to or longer than wing, 



decidedly rounded. Colors mainly black, orange-red, and white in the 



male, grayish, yellow, and white in the female Setophaga 



7. Bill much less depressed, and with less strongly developed rictal bristles. 



Tail shorter and narrower (shorter than the wing), nearly even. Colors, 

 plain olive-green or gray above, yellow beneath, with more or less of 

 black about the head in the male (sometimes in the female also) Sylvania. 



It is possible that of the above the Icteriea should properly rank 

 as a subfamily ; but some tropical genera (e. g. Granatelliis of Middle 

 and South America and leretistris of Cuba) appear to connect the 

 only genus, Icteria, with the genus Geothlypis, through certain trop- 

 ical species of the latter which have much stouter and more arched 

 bills than the North American species. The connection between 

 Dendroica and Seiurus is very nearly made in a West Indian species 

 of the former (D. plumbea Lawr.) and the Antillean genus Catharo- 

 peza ; the genera Seiurus and Oporornis differ more in coloration than 

 anything else, while the differences in form between the type of the 

 latter genus and that of Geothlypis are reduced to almost nil by the 



