426 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



In addition to the fprms which are usually' I'eferrcd to the Muiotil- 

 tidse' it seems best to place here the following genera, withdrawn 

 from other groups: Oerthidea and Ateleodacnia'^ (probably also Coni- 

 rosirum), from the Coerebidse; IIeml»j)!ngus,^ from Tanagridaj, and 

 Rhodinociclila, from Mimidfe. This transfer seems to be necessary in 

 order to render possible anything like a satisfactory diagnosis of the 

 Muiotiltidffi, Coerebidaj, and Tanagridaj, as separate groups. The 

 only one' of these regarding which there can be reasonable doubt is 

 Rhodhiocichla. This has hitherto been placed in either the Troglody- 

 tidte or the Mimidffi; but since it is a " nine-primaried " bird it can not 

 belong to either of these groups ; and among the nine-primaried Oscines 

 there is no other group than the present one where it would not be 

 conspicuously out of place. With this single exception the group is 

 quite as natural as any other Oscine family' (excepting, of course, the 

 Hirundinidaj), although Cei'tlddea is also to a degree aberrant; and, 

 so far as I am able to see, is in no need of "readjustment"' so far as 

 the forms which have usually been referred to it are concerned. 

 Nevertheless, Dr. Sharpe, in forecasting a "readjustment of the 

 family, which must inevitably take place some daj'," suggests that 

 '"'' Setophaga and its allies will probably be considered to be FI3' catchers 

 [Muscicapidse] rather than Warblers, Ilelm.inthoj^Jiaga and Tlelmin- 

 thotherus will very probabl}' prove to be Wrens [Troglodj^tidis], Icteria 

 to be an aberrant Vireonine form, while Granatdhm will be placed 

 with the Tanagers." It is true that some of the genera mentioned 

 represent \'ery diverse types (though less differentiated than the aber- 

 rant genera Rhodinocichla and Oerthidea), Init that thej^ are unquestion- 

 ably all true Mniotiltidiii is perfectly evident from a careful examination 

 of all the genera, which shows that SetojyJuiga, Tlehrnvthaphihu and 

 Ictm'ia, representing three extremes of divergence, are so completely 

 connected ))y intermediate forms that it is difficult to diagnose even sec- 

 tions or minor groups to include the forms most closely related to the 

 genera in question. The position of Icteria in the Mniotiltidse has 

 more than once been questioned; indeed it had not been referred to 

 this family at all until 1858, when Professor Baird formally placed it 

 here* as sole representative of a group or section Icterieie. That he 

 was fully justified in doing so is quite certam, for, however unlike 

 other North American Mniotiltidse Icteria may seem, the extralimitsl 

 genera ChammtUypis and Grmuttelhis distinctly connect it with more 



'See Sharpe, in Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, x, 1SS5, 225-439, 

 638-653, pis. 9-12. 



^A section of the genus Dacnis as given by Dr. Sclater in Catalogue of the Birds in 

 the British Museum, xi, 1886, 18-27 (species 10-14). 



".A. section of the genu^ Chlorospingus, as given by Dr. Sclater, Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the British Museum, x, 1886, 237-251 (species 16-32). 



•Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 248. 



