8ET0PHAGA. 185 



mistaken for one of the Formicariidse. One specimen he killed was in the midst of an 

 innumerable column of Tepegua ants (JEciton mexicanum), upon which he says it was 

 doubtless feeding. 



In Guatemala its range is very restricted ; and we are not aware that it occurs 

 anywhere except in the forests which lie at an elevation of from 3000 to 4500 feet, 

 between the Volcanos of Agua and Fuego. In September 1859 a pair were watched 

 for some time, and afterwards secured, below the village of Alotenango in this district *, 

 Their restless motions recalled those of Setaphaga ; and they had the curious habit of 

 expanding their tails and swaying them to and fro. Subsequently our Indian hunters 

 used not unfrequently to bring us specimens from the same district ; but we are not 

 aware that the bird ever occurs to the bird-collectors of Vera Paz. 



Southwards of Guatemala we have no record of its existence. 



a 



[Note. — Setophaga multicolor, briefly described by Bonaparte (Consp. Av. i. p. 312) 

 from a specimen in the Senckenberg Museum said to be from Mexico, has not since 

 been recognized as a Mexican bird. The adoption by Bonaparte of Gmelin's name o f 

 Muscicapa multicolor seems to indicate that the bird he described was a specimen of the 

 well-known Australian bird, the Eed-bellied Flycatcher of Latham, which now stands 

 as Petrceca multicolor (Gm.), to which a wrong locality had been attached. Anyhow 

 we must exclude Setophaga multicolor from the Mexican fauna until further evidence 

 of its existence in that coimtry is forthcoming. {Cf. Salvin, Ibis, 1878, p. 321.)] 



Fam. VIREONID-ffi*. 



VIREO. 



Vireo, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. i. p. 83 (1807) (Type Muscicapa noveboracerms, Gm.) ; Baird, Brew. 



& Ridgw. N.-Am. B. i. p. 357; Ooues, B. Col. Vail. i. p. 484. 

 Vireosylvia, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 26 (1888), (Type Muscicapa olivacea, Linn.) 

 Phyllomanes, Cabanis, Arch. f. Nat. 1847, i. p. 321. 



Lanwireo, Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1. p. 345 (1866). (Type Vireo flavifrons, VieiU.) A subgenus. 

 Vireonella, Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 369 (1866). (Type Vireo gundlachi, Lemb.) A subgenus. 



Opinions have differed as to whether this genus should be used in a wide sense so as 

 to include Vireosylvia, or whether it should be so restricted as to leave that genus 

 to stand by itself. Prof. Baird, who closely studied these birds when compiling 

 his ' Eeview of American Birds,' admitted seven genera of Vireonidse, keeping Vireo- 

 Sylvia and Vireo distinct. The former he divided into two subgenera (Vireosylvia and 



* "We follow Prof. Baird (Eev. Am. B. i. p. 322) in the arrangement of this famUy, the members of which 

 are to be distinguished from the MniotUtidse either by the hooked biU or by the presence of a first spurious 

 primary, and by the basal phalanx of the toes being more united. Prof. Baird groups the Yireonidse with the 

 Ampelidffi and Laniidffi, which seems to be their best location. So far as we know at present, the family has 

 no near allies in the Old World, its members being restricted to the two continents of America. 



BIOL. CBNTK.-AMEK., Aves, Vol. I., December 1881. 24 



