

LUSCININJL 



Culicivora Swains.* 



Bill rather lengthened, and rather depressed at the base, with the culmen curved at the tip, which is 

 emarginated ; the sides much compressed ; the gonys very long and slightly ascending ; the gape 

 furnished with very short weak bristles ; the nostrils basal, placed in a membranous groove, with 

 the opening oblong and exposed. Wings very short, with the first quill very short, and the second 

 shorter than the third ; this is rather shorter than the fourth, which is the longest. Tail lengthened, 

 slender, and graduated. Tarsi longer than the middle toe, slender, and with an entire scale. Toes 

 moderate, with the inner toe shorter than the outer, and united at its base ; the claws small and much 

 curved. 



The species of this genus are found both in North and South America. They are migratory birds frequenting the 

 skirts of woods, along damp or swampy places and the borders of rivers and pools. Their food consists of minute 

 insects ; these they sometimes seize on the wing with great dexterity, or they may be seen hanging at the extremities of 

 the branches of trees while searching the buds and foliage. When just alighted on a branch, the tail is usually erect 

 and the wing drooping. The nest is formed of dried leaves and fibres of various plants, lined with horsehair, and fibres 

 of moss. The eggs are four or five in number. 



1. C. stenura (Temm.) Swains. PI. col. 167. f. 2. 



2. C. cmrulea (Gmel.) Swains. Vieill. Ois. d'Ame'r. Sept. t. 88., 

 Audub. B. of Amer. pi. 84. — Motacilla cana Gmel. 



3. C. leucogastra (Pr. Max.) Beitr. iii. p. 710., PL enl. 704. f. 1. 

 — Culicivora atricapilla Swains. Zool. Illustr. n. s. pi. 57. 



4. C. elegans Less. Zool. Voy. de Thetis, ii. p. 323. 



5. C. dumicola (Vieill.) Hartl. — Sylvia cterulea var., Azara, 

 No. 158. ; S. bivittata Licht. 



6. C. budytoides D'Orb. & Lafr. Syn. Av. p. 56. 



* Established by Mr. Swainson in 1827. Hapalura of M. Cabanis (1847) is coequal. 



August, 1848. 



