SYLVrCOLID^, WARBLERS. — GEN. 29. 91 



tremulous, flight vacillating. Wils., v, 89, pi. 89; Nutt., i, 450; Aud., 

 iii, 40, pi. 140 ; Bd., 232 ludovicianus. 



29. Genus NEOCORYS Sclater. 



I) ^ Missouri 8kylar]c. Brown, the feathers with paler edges ; below and a 

 superciliary line, whitish, the breast sharply speckled with dusky ; wings 

 and tail dusky, inner secondaries pale-edged, outer tail feathers white; 5 J ; 

 wing 3, tail 2J. Region of the Upper Missouri aud Saskatchewan, ex- 

 tremely rare ; said to resemble closely the European skylark in habits. 

 Aud., vii, 335, pi. 486 ; Bd., 232 spraguei. 



Family SYLVICOLID^. American Warblers. 



Primaries, nine ; inner secondaries not enlarged, nor Iiind toe lengthened and 

 straightened, as in the two preceding families ; bill without a lobe or tooth near the 

 middle of the commissure, as in Pyranga, nor strongly' toothed and hooked at end, 

 as in Collurio and Vireo, nor greatly flattened with gape reaching to eyes, as in 

 Hinmdinidce, nor strictly conical with angulated commissure, as in FringilUdai. 

 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 satis- 

 factorily defined. But doubtless the student will be able to assure himself that his 

 specimen is a sj'lvicoline, by its not showing the peculiarities of our other nine- 

 primaried Oscines. 



All the sj'lvicolas are small birds ; excepting Icteria, and perhaps a species of 

 Seiurus, not one is over six inches long, and they hardly average over five. With 

 few exceptions they are beautifully clothed in 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 diflferent specimens of the same species maj^ bear 

 to each other but little resemblance ; this of course renders careful discrimination 

 necessary. The usual shape of the bill maj^ be called conoid-elongate (something 

 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 extraor- 

 dinary development, and are sometimes wanting. The wings are longer than the 

 tail, except in GeoMypis, Icteria, and one or two exotic genera ; neither the wing 

 nor tail ever presents striking forms. The feet have no special peculiarities, though 

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

 strictly arboricole, habits. Some of the warblers have the habits of titmice or 

 wrens ; others of creepers or nuthatches ; the Seiuri closely resemble the tit- 

 larks in some respects, and have even been placed in Van Motacillidoi ; while the 

 Setopliaginoi simulate the Tyrannidce (of a different suborder) so perfectly that 

 they used to be classed with the true flycatchers. The warblers grade so perfectly 

 towards the tanagers that they have all been made a subfamily of Tanagridce 

 (where possibly they belong). The affinity of some of them with the Ccerabidce, 

 or honey-creepers of the tropics, is so close that the dividing line has not been 

 drawn. The position of Icteria and its two associate 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 iToup ; 

 meanwhile, the very diversity of forms included in it enables us to mark otiT sec- 

 tions with ease. 



