8YLVIC0LIDJS : AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



287 



9. Family SYLVICOLID^E : American Warblers. 



Primaries, nine ; rec- 

 trices, twelve ; tarsi scu- 

 tellatc ; iuner secondaries 

 not enlarged, nor hind toe 

 lengthened and straight- 

 ened, as in the two pre- 

 ceding families ; bill with- 

 out a lobe or tooth near 

 the middle of the coni- 

 uiissure, as in Pyranga ; 

 not strongly toothed and 

 booked at end, as iu La- 

 niiis and Vireo (which 

 may have ten primaries), 

 nor greatly flattened with 

 gape reaching to eyes, as in 

 Himndiiiidce, nor strictly 

 Fig. 160. —Black-tliroateel Green Warbler, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) conical with angulated 



commissure, as in FringilUdm. The family presents such a number of minor modifications 

 of form, that it seems impossible to characterize it, except negatively ; in fact, it has never been 

 satisfactorily defined. But doubtless the student ^vill be able to assure himself that his speci- 

 men is a sylvicoline, by its not showing the peculiarities of our other niue-primaried Oscines. 

 All the sylvicolas are small birds ; excepting Icteria, and perhaps a species of Siiirus, not 

 one is over six inches long, and they hardly average over five. With few exceptions they 

 are beautifully clothed iu variegated colors ; but the sexes are generally unlike, and the changes 

 of plumage, with age and season of the year, are usually strongly marked, so that different 

 specimens of the same species may bear to each other but little resemblance ; this of course 

 renders careful discrimination necessary. Tlie usual shape of the bill may be called conoid- 

 elongate (sometliing like a slender minie bullet in miniature), but the variations in precise 

 shape are endless. The rictus is usually bristled ; the bristles sometimes have an extraordi- 

 nary development, and are sometimes wanting. The wings are longer than the taU, except 

 in Geothlypis, Icteria, and one or two exotic genera ; neither the wing nor tail ever presents 

 striking forms ; the head is never crested. The feet have no special peculiarities, though 

 they show some slight modifications corresponding to somewhat terrestrial, or more strictly 

 arboricole, habits. The nidification is endlessly varied, more or less artistic or artless nests 

 being built in trees, bushes, holes, or on the ground. Musical proficiency might be expected 

 from the agreeably suggestive name of the family, but as a rule the "warbler's" singing is 

 rather " quaint and curious" than very skilfully modulated or highly melodious, — to which 

 statement, however, there is signal exception to be taken, as in the case of the Siuri. Some of 

 the warblers have the habits of titmice or wrens ; others of creepers or nuthatches ; the Siuri 

 closely resemble the titlarks in some respects, and have even been placed in the MotaciUidce ; 

 while the Setopliaginm simulate the TyrannidcB (of a diS'erent suborder) so perfectly that they 

 used to be classed with these clamatorial flycatchers. The warblers grade so perfectly toward 

 the tanagers that they have all been made a subfamily of TanagridcB (where possibly they 

 belong). The affinity of some of them with the Cccrehidce, or honey-creepers of the tropics, is 

 so close that the dividing line has not been drawn. The position of Icteria and its two asso- 

 ciate exotic genera, Granatellus and Teretristis, is open to question; perhaps they come nearer 

 Vireonidce. It is probable that final critical study will result in a remapping of the whole 



