GINCLID^, DIPPERS. SYLVIID^, SYLVIAS. GEN. 7, 8. 77 



ries of which the 1st is spurious, still shorter, square tail, almost liidfleii by the 

 coverts, linear nostrils, slender bill, almost a little turned up (gonys convex, cul- 

 men slightly concave), with no trace of rictal bristles. There is only one genus, 

 with about a dozen species, all inhabiting clear mountain streams of most parts of 

 the world, easily progressing under water ; feed on 

 aquatic animal substances ; moderately vocal ; our 

 species builds a remarltable and elegant dome-like ^^::r ^^V ^ 

 nest of moss, with a hole in one side. 



7. Genus CINCLUS Bechatein. 



^'^ Water Ouzel. Dipper. Lead-colored, nearly fig.is cpper, mtm-isize 



uniform, but apt to be brownish on head; 7; wing 3^; tail 2^. Rocky 



Mountain region of N. A. Nutt., ii, .5GU ; Aud,, ii, 182, pi. 1.37; Bu., 



229; Coop., 25 mexicanus. 



Family SYLVIID^. Sylvias. 



A large familj^, chiefly Old World, sparingly represented in the New. Primaries 

 10, the 1st short or spurious, about half the 2d, which is shorter than the Cth ; 

 bill slender, about straight, shorter than the head, usually slightljr notched and 

 hooked at tip ; rictus bristly ; nostrils exposed, or slightly overhung, but never 

 denseljr hidden : part have booted tarsi, and these are difflcult to distinguish 

 technically from Turdince and Saxtcolida', but here size is a good criterion, none 

 of our Sylviidce, being over five inches long ; the rest, with scutellate tarsi, are of 

 course distinguishable on siglit from the last mentioned families ; from the 

 Certhiidw, bj'' not having stiff acuminate tail-feathers ; from the Paridce and 

 Sittidfje by not having denselj' feathered nostrils ; from the Troglodytidce, by the 

 less cohesion of the toes at base ; and from all the Stjlvicolidce by having more 

 than nine primaries. Three subfamilies occur in North America ; one of them, 

 PolioptiUnce, peculiar to this countrj', used to be associated with the Paridce, with 

 which, however, it has no special affinity ; another, Regidince, is simply warblers 

 with booted tarsi ; a third, Syloiince, with its several not well defined groups, con- 

 stitutes an immense assemblage of upwards of five hundred recorded species, 

 among them the famous nightingale of Europe. 



Subfamihj SYLVIIN^JS. Typical Old World Warblers. 

 Represented in North America by a single waif from Asia. 



8. Genus PHYLLOPNEUSTE Meyer. 



V* Kennicott's Sylvia. Olive-green; below yellowish and white; super- 

 ciliary line yellow ; wings and tail dusk}^ olive-edged ; wing coverts yellow- 

 ish-tipped. 4f ; wing 2^; tail 2. Alaska (Dall). Bd., Trans. Chicago 

 Acad., 1869, 313, pi. 30. f. 2 .. bokealis. 



Subfamily EEGULINurE. Kinglets. ■ 



Tarsus booted; wings longer than the emarginate tail. Elegant greenish-olive 

 pigmies, with brilliant colors on the head when adult. There are about ten species 

 of the following genus, inhabiting Europe, Asia and America"; two of them are 



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