CHAPTER XVIII. 



TflE WARBLER FAMILY 



(Sylvudas). 



The Nonpareil The Pin-tail or East Indian Non- 

 pareil The Indian Dial-Bird, or Shamah. 



ARBLERS are a well-defined group, and 

 I may be straining relationships a trifle 

 when I include with them such birds as 

 the Nonpareils and the Indigo Warbler; 

 but I do not see where else I can put the latter, unless 

 I take him as the type of a distinct family, which 

 I scarcely think I should be warranted in doing. 



THE NONPAREIL, Cyanospiza ciris, is a well-known 

 bird whose chief habitat is in the southern parts of 

 the United States, whence it is annually exported to 

 Europe in very large numbers, which, as a rule, soon 

 die in consequence of the general ignorance that 

 prevails as to its habits and position in the great 

 family of birds. 



Few of our foreign favourites are more brilliantly 

 clad than the Nonpareil, with his head, neck, and 

 throat shimmering with bright violet-blue tints; his 

 wings of reddish-brown; back, shoulders, and edges 



