202 ANALYSIS OF SYLVICOLID^E 



which prey upou the hopes of the fruit-grower, and which, 

 if undisturbed, would bring his care to nought. Some War- 

 blers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the tallest trees ; 

 others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled boughs of 

 the forest kings ; some peep from the thicket, the coppice, the 

 impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water- 

 courses, playing at hide-and-seek with all comers ; others more 

 humble still descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty 

 mincing steps and affected turning of the head this way and 

 that, their delicate flesh- tinted feet just stirring the layer of 

 withered leaves with which a past season carpeted the ground. 

 We may seek Warblers everywhere in their season ; we shall 

 find them a continual surprise ; all mood and circumstance is 

 theirs. 



Naturalists have sought to divide the varied forms of the 

 Warblers into groups $ an attempt attended with no little diffi- 

 culty, so varied are the phases of bird-life here exhibited. 

 Even the earliest writers, whose genera were usually more 

 comprehensive than our modern families are, dissociated these 

 birds in three or more different genera, Motacilla, Sylvia, Mus- 

 cicapa, and some others, vaguely perceiving how varied these 

 birds are in form and habits. Later systematists have multi- 

 plied genera, as the fashion of minute subdivision dictated, 

 though some of the newest genera, like Dendrceea, Helmintho- 

 phaga, and Setophaga, were still allowed to contain numerous 

 species. Professor Baird's critical studies of this group gave 

 u.s four subfamilies, according to the schedule* which I subjoin 

 



*Bill conical, its bristles very short, or wanting. 



SYLVICOLIN^E. Bill conical, or about as high as wide, or even higher, 

 opposite the nostrils. Gape with short bristles, not reaching btyond the 

 nostrils, or none. Tip of bill not hooked ; with or without a faint notch ; 

 commissure nearly straight. Wings long and pointed ; considerably longer 

 than the narrow, nearly even tail. Legs short and weak : tar&i not as long 

 as i he head (except in Mniotiltece). 



[Sections Mniotiltece, or Creeping Warblers (genera Mniotilta and Parula) ; 

 Vermivoreos, or Swamp Warblers (genera Protonotaria, Helminthophaga, and 

 Helmintherus) ; and Sylvicohce, or Wood Warblers (genera Perissoglossa and 

 Dendrosca).~\ 



GEOTHLYPINJE. Bill much as in Sylvicolince, with distinct notch ; slender, 

 or stout, the culmen gently curved ; the commissure nearly straight. Legs 

 much developed : tarsi longer than the skull. Bristles of rictus short but 

 appreciable. Ground Warblers. 



[Sections Seiurece (genera Seiurus and Oporornis') and G-eothlypece (genus 

 Geothlypis).'] 



