PASSERES. SYLVIA. 165 
Genus XXVI. WARBLER. SYLVIA, Lath. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill slender, rather subulated, and strait ; the point of the 
upper mandible slightly bent, and emarginated ;_ lower man- 
dible strait ; base higher than broad. Nostrils basal, lateral, 
and oval, partly covered by a membrane. Feet having the 
tarsus longer than the middle toe; toes three before and one 
behind ; the outer toe being joined at its base to the middle 
one. Wings, with the first quill very short, sometimes in- 
deed wanting; the second and third nearly of the same 
length. Wing, coverts, and scapulars short. 
The various members of this family were all included by 
the earlier ornithological systematists in their extensive genus 
Motacilla. Dr Laruam afterwards modified this arrange- 
ment, restricting the generic appellation Motacilla to the 
wagtails, and forming from the other species his genus S¥l- 
vi. 
Since the publication of his truly useful works additional 
improvements have been made, and new genera have been 
formed, when sufficiently authorised by distinct and well- 
marked characters. Thus Becustr1n and TEemmrincx have 
separated the stonechats (Saxicola) and accentors (Accentor) 
from the European species of this genus, designating them 
by these new generic terms. I have also ventured to re- 
move from it the golden-crested regulus and the common 
wren, making them the types of two new genera, Regulus 
and T'roglodytes. 'Yhe British species of this genus, as it 
now stands, with the exception of the red-breast and Dart- 
ford warbler, are all periodical visitants for the summer sea- 
son. Most of them possess much sweetness and variety of 
note. 
Mons. TxmMincx’s division of the genus into two sections 
is here adopted; the first containing such as frequent and in- 
habit the margins of waters, marshes, and places abounding 
