1 



108 



STLVICOLID^, WAEBLEES. GEN. 39. 



has white eyelids. Eocky Mountains to the Pacific, U. S., and southward. 

 One of the most abundant warblers in the mountains of Coloi-ado, and 

 common elsewhere in the West. Trichas tohniei Nutt., 2d ed. i, 460; 

 AuD., ii, 74, pi. 100; Bd., 248; Coop., 96 macgillivkati. 



Subfamily ICTERIIN^. Chats. 



A small group, recently framed to accommodate the following genus and its two 

 tropical allies ; it is perhaps questionable whether they are most naturally classed 

 with the Warblers. Icteria shows the following points : — Larger than any other 

 Sylvicolidce ; bill short, stout, compressed, culmen and commissure both curved, 

 tip unnotched, rictus unbristled ; wings much rounded, shorter or at most not longer 

 than the tail. Sexes alike. Probably contains but one species. 



0D 



39. Genus ICTERIA Vieillot. 

 Yellow-breasted Chat. Bright olive green, below golden yellow, belly 

 abruptly' white ; lore black, isolating the white under eyelid from a white 

 superciliary line above and a short white maxillary line below ; wings and 



tail unmarked, glossed with olive ; bill and 

 feet blue-black ; 7-7 J ; wing about 3 ; tail about 

 3^. Eastern United States, north to Massa- 

 chusetts, abundant ; an exclusive inhabitant of 

 low tangled undergrowth, and oftener heard 

 than seen, except during the mating season, 

 when it performs the extravagant aerial evolu- 

 tions for which, as well as for the variety and 

 volubility of its song, it is noted. Nest in a crotch of a bush near the 

 ground: eggs 4-5, white, speckled with reddish brown. Pipra polyglotta 

 WiLS., i, 90 pi. 6, f. 2; Icteria viridis Nutt., i, 299 : Aud. Orn. Biog. 

 ii, 223, V, 433, pi. 137 ; Bd., 248,; Icteria virensBD., Eev. 228. virens. 



Var. LOKGiCAUDA. Long-tailed Chat. Very similar ; the olive duller and graj'er, 

 sometimes quite ashy on the head : tail usually but not always longer, averaging 

 perhaps 3^. Replaces virens from the Plains to the Pacific, U. S., and southward. 

 Bd., 249 ; Cooper, 98. 



Fig. 48. Yellow-breasted Chat. 



/ 



Subfamily SETOPHAQINJE. Flymtching Warblers. 



These have the bill depressed, considerably broader than high at base, notched 

 and usually hooked at tip, and furnished with long stiff bristles that reach halfway 

 or more from the nostrils to the end of the bill. In other respects they are not 

 distinguished from the rest of the family. While many or most other Sylvicolidce 

 are expert in taking insects on the wing, these capture their prey in the air with 

 special address, representing, in this respect, the true clamatorial flycatchers, with 

 which some species of Setophaginai used to be classed, in the extensive old genus 

 "Muscicapa." As I have said, the Sylvicolince are peculiarly North American; 

 while the Setophaginoe are most developed in Central and South America, where 

 they are represented by three or four genera, and upwards of forty species. It is 

 hardly necessary to add that, however closely some of them may resemble the 



