Peck, The Affinities of Mniotiltid^. 35 



Probably tlie most natural way of preseiitiiipf the subject in hand is to take 

 up each genus seperately and trace its relationships to other groups, if such are 

 found to exist. The necessity for proceeding by genera will at once be evident. 

 An isolated species will frequently not show sufficient grounds for assigning it 

 any particular place relative to some other family, wliile genera will usually be 

 found to grade from the main family type toward some other. The order here 

 followed is that given in Ridgeway's "Manual." 



Mniotilta, of which the Black and White Warbler is the only species, is 

 very distinct from the rest of the family in several important points, the most 

 noticeable of which is the position of the head relative to the line of the vertebral 

 column ; that is, the beak falls almost in the line of the spinal axis. The latter 

 • is slender and has a very decided curve. These points, together with the bird's 

 mode of life, show at once a close relationship to the Coerebedae, or Honey- 

 creepers of tropical America. Certain species of this family lean strongly 

 toward the Mniotiltidae, so that there is a point where the branches of the two 

 nearly meet. The Coerebidse are not a highly specialized family and in 

 Mniotilta we find, as we might expect, many generalized characters, likewise. 



The genera Protonotaria and Helinaia show no determinable affinities to 

 any other family ; the family type reaches in them, therefore, a very high de- 

 velopment. In both, the bristles about the gape are wholly wanting and the 

 bill is strongly developed. In Protonotaria it is long, stout and slightly com- 

 pressed ; in Helinaia it is long, very acute and much compressed. Swainson's 

 Warbler, the only species of the latter gen^is, has an indistinct line of yellowish 

 or whitish on the forehead. The closely allied genus, Helmintherus, of w^hich 

 the Worm-eating Warbler is the only species found in the United States, has 

 the bill but slightly compressed and the culmen considerably curved. The 

 crown-markings, of which there was but a slight trace in the preceeding, here 

 become very prominent in the broad buff and black stripes extending over the 

 entire head. These head-markings are characteristic of the family in its fullest 

 development. 



Helminthophila has the gape-bristles small or wanting and the bill small 

 and very acute, with no curve. Crown-markings are nearly always present, 

 though often partially concealed ; they are wanting, however, in the Tennessee 

 Warbler. The Blue- winged and Golden- winged have a patch of bright yellow 

 covering the entire crown. Backman's Warbler has a black baud across the 

 anterior portion of the crown, and in the remaining species of the genus the 

 crown-patch is orange, brown or chestnut. Yellow^ or yellowish- white wing- 

 bands are sometimes present. In this genus cephalization of coloring, a pecu- 

 liarity of the family, reaches its maximum, though the most brilliant colors 

 have not yet been reached. 



A tropical and sub-tropical genus, Oreothlypis, stands very close, struc- 

 turally, to Helminthophila, the chief point of seperation being the slighter 

 difference between the comparative length of wing and tail relative to the 

 length of the tarsus. The species (S/offeyatis of this genus is plumbeous above 

 with a triangular patch of black on the back; the chin, throat and breast are 

 orange. In the species siopeJ'ciliosa the rump and back are olive, the throat 

 and breast yellow, the chest with a chestnut spot. 



