330 THE GENUS CARDELLINA 



and the rest have been in the search for its nest. Mr. Henshaw 

 has a paragraph in his late work confirmatory of the probable 

 breeding of the Blackcap in Arizona : " That some remain in 

 Arizona to breed, retiring for this purpose to the summits of 

 the high mountain ranges, seeias quite probable ; for I have 

 met with individuals early in August which could hardly at 

 this date have made their way from very far north, while, by the 

 middle of this month, the species abounds everywhere, being 

 much more widely diffused and in greater numbers than it ever 

 is in the East." Finally, I may refer to a note given by Dr. 

 Cooper, who observed the arrival of the birds at Santa Cruz 

 about the 20th of April, and saw them "apparently gathering 

 materials for nests' 7 about the same time. Farther north, near 

 and beyond the boundary of the United States, the breeding- 

 range of the bird drops down to sea-level, as it does in North- 

 ern New England. 



There is nothing to show that the Blackcap ever winters over 

 our border, notwithstanding the great lengths to which it 

 pushes its spring migration. It will be remembered that it 

 belongs to an essentially semi-tropical group of birds, compara- 

 tively few of which enter the United States at all. Its extra- 

 limital range has been already mentioned. 



Though the distribution and movements of the species are 

 thus satisfactorily made out, its special habits or distinctive 

 traits, if it have any, do not appear to have been very carefully 

 studied by any one. Since penning the last sentence, I have 

 looked over a dozen or more of the fragmentary notices we 

 possess, without finding anything to justify transcription,- and 

 my own observations serve me with nothing particularly to 



the point. 



Genus CARDELLINA Dubus 



Cardellina, "Dubus, Esq. Orn. 1850, ". Bp. CA. i. 1850, 318. (Type O. amicta Dabus 



= Muscicapa rubrifrons Giraud.) Bd. Kev. AB. 1865, 263. 

 ErgatiCUS, Bd. Kev. AB. 1865, 264. (As subgenus of Cardellina ; type Setophaga rubra Sw.) 



CHARS. "Bill Parine in appearance, much shorter than head, 

 high at base, and the culmen considerably decurved through- 

 out; the commissure curved and somewhat angulated in the 

 middle. Rictal bristles stiff, but not very long, hardly reaching 

 half way from the nostrils to tip of bill, which exhibits scarcely 

 any trace of notch. Wings long and pointed ; the 2d, 3d, and 

 4th quills nearly equal and longest ; the 1st a little longer than 

 the 5th. The tail is shorter than the wings, nearly even, a very 

 little rounded. Feet small j tarsi short, the scutellar divisions 



