t4 



BIEDS- 



Rictus with bristles. Nostrils exposed, overhung by a 

 scale, reached by the bristly frontal feathers. Tarsus 

 scutellate; toes soldered at base for the whole length of 

 basal joint of middle one, which is united with the basal 

 joint of the inner and the two basal joints of the outer; 

 lateral toes usually unequal. 



A rather small family, comprising sixty or seventy 

 species of small olivaceous birds, all American. The 

 coloration is usually blended and varies little with age 

 or sex. All are insectivorous, and many of them are 

 remarkable as songsters. 



Concerning the " nine-primaried " species. Prof. Baird 

 remarks: " In V. flavifrons, in which the outer primary 

 is supposed to be wanting, its presence may be easily 

 appreciated. One of the peculiar characters of this 

 species consists in a narrow edging of white to all the 

 primary quills, while the primary coverts (the small 

 feathers covering their bases, as distinguished from what 

 are usually termed the wing coverts, which more properly 

 belong to the forearm or secondaries) are without them. 

 If these coverts are carefully pushed aside, two small 

 feathers considerably shorter than the others will be dis- 

 closed, one overlying the other, which (the under one) 

 springs from the base of the exposed portion of the 

 long outermost primary, and lies immediately against its 

 outer edge. This small feather is stiff, falcate, and 

 edged with white like the other quills, and can be 

 brought partly around on the inner edge of the large 

 primary, when it will look like any spurious quill. The 

 overlying feather is soft, and without light edge. 



In the other Vireos, with appreciable spurious or short 

 outer primary, a similar examination will reveal only one 

 small feather at the outer side of the base of the exterior 

 large primary. 



