50 STLVIID^. 



path in the pine-forest at an elevation of 10,000 feet; but no specimen was secured, 

 so that its occurrence in those parts needs confirmation. 



Eegulus calendula is described by writers on American ornithology as gifted with 

 great powers of song. The habits of the bird are minutely described by them ; but 

 as yet its eggs have never been obtained, and its nest was only quite recently described 

 by Dr. Coues. This would seem to be rather a clumsy structure compared with that 

 of Hegulus cristatus. 



Subfam. POLIOPTILINM 



POLIOPTILA. 



Polioptila, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 11. (Type Motadlla ceerulea, Linn.) 



The right position of this genus is still a matter of uncertainty. It has been placed 

 with the Paridse, a family in which its slender bill makes it much out of place. It has 

 also been supposed to have relationship with the Old-World Muscicapidse ; but the 

 point has never been thoroughly examined, nor, indeed, would it be possible to do so 

 now without opening the wide question of the relationship of the Muscicapidae with the 

 Sylviidse, Turdidse, &c., which would lead us into a discussion much beyond the scope 

 of this work. American writers have of late years placed Polioptila in a subfamily 

 of the Sylviidse ; and in so doing we must, for the present, be content to follow them. 

 The form of the first primary and the general structure of these birds would seem to 

 indicate that such a position cannot be very far from the correct one, though it is 

 very questionable whether the group should take the rank of a subfamily. 



The genus Polioptila comprises about eight or nine species, all very similar in colour 

 and of quite uniform structure. These range from the United States to the La-Plata 

 basin. Three species are found in North America, of which one, P. ccerulea, enters 

 our region as a winter immigrant, the other two being resident beyond the northern 

 border. Counting P. coerulea, four so-called species are found in Mexico and Central 

 America : two or three of these, however, appear to mingle to some extent. Cuba has 

 a peculiar species in P. lemheyi, and also shelters P. ccerulea in winter. Guiana and 

 South-eastern Brazil have each a species closely allied to one another and to the more 

 northern P. nigriceps ; and Bolivia and the La-Plata region have P. dumicola in common. 



1. Polioptila caerulea. 



Motadlla ccerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 337 \ 



Polioptila ceerulea, Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 362 ^ Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 74' j Lawr. Ann. Lye. 



N. Y. ix. p. 199*; Mem. Bost. Soe. N. H. ii. p. 267'; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 12'; 



Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 78"; Merrill, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 120"; 



Coues, B. Col. Vail. i. p. 101"; Gundl. Om. Cub. p. 61 '°. 

 Culicivora mewicana, Bp. Consp. Av. 1. p. 316". 



