RELATIONSHIPS OP SYLVICOLIDiE 197 



America, the SylvicolidcB are not distinguished by any known 

 character ; and the same is the case in the relations both with 

 the FringillidcB and the Tanagridm. For, though extreme forms 

 of SylvicoUdee, Tanagridm, and Fringillidce are sufQciently 



In his previous critical stadias of this group, Prof. Baird had been as 

 much perplexed. I quote some passages from Rev. A. B., pp. 160, 161 : — " The 

 SylvicoUda are essentially characterized among the Oscines with nine pri- 

 maries, by their small size, the usually slender and conical insectivorous bill, 

 shorter than the head, without angle in the gape near the base ; the toes 

 deeply cleft so as to leave the inner one free almost to its very base (except 

 in MniotiUece), etc. The shallow notch at the end of the tongue, instead of 

 a deeply fissured tip, distinguishes the family from the CwreMdce,to some of 

 which there is otherwise so great a resemblance. The absence of abrupt 

 hook and notch in both mandibles separates it ftom such of the Vireonidw 

 as have nine primaries. To the TanagridcB, through the slender-billed forms, 

 as Chloro8pingu8, Nemoaia, Chlorochrysa, etc., the relationship is very close ; 

 so much so that, by many, both families are included in one. . . . 



" There is, perhaps, no family to which the relationship is closer than to the 

 Ccerebida. Of equally small size, and, to some extent, of a somewhat simi- 

 lar style of coloration, it is not to be wondered at that many species in each 

 family have been indifferently assigned to either. The genus Helmintho- 

 phaga, for instance, can scarcely be so defined as to distinguish it from Coni- 

 rostrum, exxjepting by the characters of the tongue, so rarely preserved in a 

 skin, ... I am by no means sure that some of the species even now re- 

 tained among the Sylvicolida would not be more appropriately placed iu 

 CwreiidcB, as Helminthophaga bachmani, Parula gutturalis, etc. ... To the 

 general character of the tongue in the Sylvicolidce, however, that of ' Den- 

 droiaa tigrina' forms a striking exception in its approximation to the Ccere- 

 iine character, especially that of Certhiola." And it remains to be seen 

 whether various other reputed Sylvicolines do not show similar structure of 

 the tongue, as comparatively few of the species have been examined with 

 reference to this point. 



One species of the Ccerebidw is found in the United States, and has been 

 attributed, but erroneously, to the Colorado Valley : it is the following : — 



Certblola baliamensls.— Babaman Honey-creeper. 



Certbla flaveola, 0, Z. SS. i. 1766, 187, n. 18 (from Cates. Car. pi. 59, and Brits. Orn. iii. 



620, pi. 34, f. 5 — this fig. however, is of the Martinique bird). 

 Gertbla flaveola, y, Gm. SN. i. 1788, 479, n. 18 j- (Gates. 1. o. and Penn. AZ. ii. 285, n. 175).— 



Lath. 10. i. 1790, 297, n. 53. 

 Certhiola flaveola, Sp. CA. i. 1850, 402 (partly).— JJoird, BNA. 1858, 924 ; atlas to ed. of 



1860, pi. 83, f. 3 (Florida).— JBry. Pr. Bost. Soc. vii. 1859, 117 (Bahamas).— J.J!ir. J. f. O. 



1361, 54 (the same).— <7o«e», Pr. Phila. Acad, xviii. 1866, 67 ("Arizona"— a blonder).— 



Coues, Key, 1872, 110 (Indian Key, Fla.). 

 Certhiola bahamensls, JJeicA. "Handb.i. 1853,253" (from Catesby).— Oasipin, Pr. Phila. 



Acad. 1864, iU.— Baird, Am. Nat. vii. 1873, 612 (critical).- B. B. <& B. NAB. i. 1874, 



428, pi. 19, f. 5 (Florida).— BensA. List. B. Ariz. 1875, 157 (error). 

 Certhiola bairdl. Cab. J. f. 0. 1865, 412 (= O. flaveola of Baird, 1858). 

 Grlmperean de Bahama, Certhla bahamensis, Briss. Orn. iii. 1760, 620. 

 Parns bahamlensis, Bahama Titmouse, Catet. Car. i. 1771, 59, pi. 59 (deBcr.orig.). 

 Bahama Creeper, Penn. AZ. ii. 1785, 285, n. 175. 

 Honey Creeper, Coues, 1. u. (1872). 

 Hab. — Bahama Islands and coast of Florida. 



