722 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus SETOPHAGA Swainson. 



Setophaga Swainson, Philos. Mag., new ser. , i, May, 1827, 368. (Type, Muscimpa 



rutidlla Linnaeus. ) 

 (Mophaga (emendation) Lesson, Man. d'Orn., ii, 1828, 430. 

 Sylvania, part, Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. and Can., i, 1832, 290. (Proposed as 



a substitute for ,Setophaga Swainson; see Coues, Auk, xiv, 1897, 223.) 



Small "fly-catching" Mniotiltidse with the bill much shorter than 

 head, much depressed, triangular or broadly wedge-shaped in vertical 

 profile, with rictal bristles not reaching nearly to tip; ninth primary 

 longer than fifth; tail decidedly shorter than wing, rounded; adult 

 males (both sexes in one species) black, varied with red (or orange) 

 and white. 



Bill about half as long as head, much depressed, broad at base, its 

 vertical profile triangular or broadly wedge-shaped; culmen sharply 

 ridged, straight for basal half or more, strongly decurved terminally; 

 commissure nearly straight, the maxillary tomium with distinct sub- 

 terminal notch. Nostril longitudinally oval or elliptical, in lower 

 anterior portion of nasal fossae, overhung b}' a broad membranous 

 operculum. Rictal bristles conspicuously developed, but not reach- 

 ing much if any beyond middle of bill (when directed forward). Wing 

 rather long, pointed (ninth to seventh or eighth to sixth primaries 

 longest, the ninth equal to or longer than fifth, sometimes longer than 

 sixth); wing-tip equal to tarsus (A', ridirillti) or a little .shorter 

 {S. picta). Tail shorter than wing, but decidedly longer than distance 

 from bend of wing to tips of secondaries, decidedly rounded, the rec- 

 trices rather broad, subacuminate {S. rutlcilht) or rounded {S. pictd) 

 at tips. Tarsus slightly less than one-fourth as long as wing, its scu- 

 tella rather distinct; middle toe, with claw, decidedly shorter than tar- 

 sus; basal phalanx of middle toe united for more than half its length 

 to outer toe, for about half its length, or less, to inner toe. 



Coloration. — Adult males (both sexes of one species) black, varied 

 with red (or orange) and white; head, neck, and upper parts uniform 

 black; breast with a median patch of red (extending to abdomen) or 

 with lateral patches of orange or 3?ellow (extending to under wing- 

 coverts); wings with a large white patch on greater or middle coverts, 

 or with basal portion of secondaries extensively pale orange or yellow; 

 lateral rectrices extensively white, or else with basal half or more 

 pale orange or yellow. 



Mdification. — Arboreal in 8. rutidlla., terrestrial (in holes of 

 banks, or beneath projecting stones) in 8. picta. 



Range. — Temperate North America, to highlands of Guatemala; in 

 winter throughout West Indies and to northern South America. (Two 

 species.) 



The two species of Setophaga differ very slightly in the details of 



