288 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES— OSCINES. 
group 5 meanwhile, the very diversity of forms included in it enables us to mark off sections 
with ease. 
This is the second largest family of North American birds, the Fringillidce alone surpass- 
ing it in number of species. If not exactly representative, " in a technical sense, of the Old 
World Sylviince, it may be considered to replace that family in America, having much the 
same role in bird-economy ; both families abound in species and individuals ; they are small, 
migratory, insectivorous, and everywhere take prominent ])art in the make-up of the bird-fauna. 
There are u^nyard of a hundred species of Sijlvicoliclcc, distributed over the whole of North and 
Middle America, and much of South America. The centre of abundauce of the Setophagince, 
or fiycatching warblers, is in the warmer parts of America ; comparatively few species reach 
the United States, and only two or three are extensively dispersed in this country. On the 
other hand, the Sylvicolince are more particularly birds of North America ] very few of the 
species are confined to Middle or South America ; and Bendraeca, the leading type of this group, 
is the largest, most beautiful, and most attractive genus of North American birds, preeminently 
characteristic of this country. The warblers have we always with us, all in their own good 
time 5 they come out of the South, ])ass on, return, and are away again, their appearance and 
withdrawal scarcely less than a mystery ; many stay with us all summer long, and some brave 
the winters in our midst. Some of these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel 
true to the meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past ''like a thief in the night," stoop- 
ing at day-break from their lofty flights to rest and recruit for the next stage of the journey. 
Others pass more leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration, gleaning as they 
go the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead the way for the weaker females and the 
yearlings. With tireless industry do the warblers befriend the human race ; their unconscious 
zeal plays due part in the nice adjustment of Nature's forces, helping to bring about that bal- 
ance of vegetable and insect life without which agriculture would be in vain. They visit the 
orchard when the apple and pear, the peach; plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel 
carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but never faltering in their 
good work. They peer into the crevices of the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very 
heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly insignificant, 
collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, 
would bring his care to nought. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the 
tallest trees ; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled boughs of the forest kings ; 
some peep from the thicket, the coppice, the impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny 
water-courses, playing at hide-and-seek with all comers ; others more humble still descend to 
the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and affected turning of the head this 
way and that, their delicate flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with 
which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers everywhere in their season ; 
we shall find them a continual surprise; all mood and circumstance is theirs. 
As at present constituted, the Si/lvicolidce, comprising upwards of a hundred good species, 
may be divided into three subfamilies, the characters of which, given more at length beyond, 
may here be shortly contrasted : — 
Analysis of Subfamilies. 
Sylvicolince. — ^ings longer than tail (except in Geothlypis) ; bill conical, slender; commissure slightly 
curved, with short bristles or none. Size moderate. 
Icteriince. — Wrings shorter than tail ; bill compressed, high, very stout ; commissure much curved, with- 
out any bristles ; size very large. 
SetophagincB. — V^ing^ longer than tail; bill broad, flattened ; commissure slightly curved, with bristles 
reaching far beyond the nostrils. 
Artificial Key to the Genera of Sylvicolidce. 
Length 7.00 inches or more Icteria 43 
Length 5.50 inches or more and tail-feathers plain Siurus 40 
Length under 5.50 or tail-feathers not plain. 
