VIRl.;0XIDyE-THE VIUEOS. ggK 



Family VIREONID^. — The Vikkos. 



The essential reat.ne. „f thi.s family appear to c.nsist in the conibi..ation 

 of the clent.mstral bill, notehed in bc.th nmn.lible.s ; the ten i.rinmries (except 

 Fmosf/lviu), oi winch the m.ter i.s usually IVoni .,ne fourth to one half the 

 socoml; the rather .short, nearly e v.-. ail, with narrow leathers, an.l the 

 ,.eat amount of adhesion of the anterior toes, - the whole basal joint of 

 Ihonnddle ben,j. j^enerally united on both sides to the adjacent joints and 

 decidedly shorter than the basal oi' inner or two b,usal of outer, 'ihe outer 

 latera toe is j^enerally aj.preciably longer than the inner, reaching con- 

 siderably beyond the base of the middle claw. The tarsi are always dis- 

 Unctly scute late anteriorly. The young .,. never .spotted, or streaked as 

 m the Ihrushes; nor, i.uleed, do the adults e.vhibit such markings 



riie Vireonidcv are peculiar to the New World, and are widely"distributed 

 although but one genus belongs to the United States. 



Gexls VIRBO, Vikill. 



Virco, Vmu.. Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 83. (Type, ^hc..cky,^ v,,rh,nur,,.is, r.^,.) 



No great violence will be done by considering all the American Vireos as 

 belonging to one ge.i«,s, divisible into three subgen.M'a, as, however dilferent 

 the extremes of the series may be from each other, the gradation is .,uite 

 complete. '■ 



The North American species take a wide range during their .southern 

 winter migration, only paralleled in this respect by the ,S>/lvi,v/id„- ■ they do 

 not visit the ^\est Indies, save as very rare stragglers to Cuba ( K o/ivumts 

 M,nu.,flov,from, and novcboracenxi.). They all have a melodious son-r and 

 so ar as known, make a deej) nest, snspen.led by its up,,er edge between the' 

 forks of a horizontal twig. The eggs are white, generally with a lew reduish 

 or brown blotches. 



Quite a number are characterized by having the eyes white, red or 

 yellow. ' 



£abgenera. 

 Vireosylvia. IJill c<mipiv,.s..,l, nam.w ; culnu.n and commk«nro strai-rht 

 the t>p al.n.ptly cuiv.,! (or, if thi.s i.s not iIk- ca.so, thoro i.s no truco of light 

 bands on the wn.fr; sec sce.ion "6"). Snpereiliary .stripe continued baek to 

 the occiput. i\o trace of hght han.l. on the wing. x\o conspicuous ring round 



n. Xo .spurious primary. Bill compressed, its tip abruptly hooVed ; culmeP 

 and coannissurc straight Crown decidetlly more ashy than tlu; back. 



b. An acute .spurious primary. Bill .leprc.ssed, the tip orly slightly hooked ; 



culmen slightly curved. Crown .scarcely more ashy than back' ." . Sp. ,,ih;,.. 



