CCEBEBID^: HONEY CREEPERS. TANAGRID^ : TANAGERS. 317 
10. Family CCEREBID^ : Honey Creepers. 
Primaries 9, and other external characters very nearly as in the last family : but the bill is 
generally slenderer and sharper, and often a little decurved. The line between the two fami- 
lies has never been drawn with precision, and has become more difficult of expression since 
some of the Sylvicolidce have proven possessed of a peculiarity of the Ccerebidce : deeply bifid, 
penicillate tongue. As commonly understood, it is a small group containing perhaps 40 species 
of pretty little birds, of the genera Certhiola, JDiglossa, and Coereba^ confined to tropical and 
subtropical America, being especially numerous in the West Indies. Our species is merely a 
stray visitor to Florida. 
47. CERTHI/QLA. (Diminutive of Lat. certhia, a creeper. Fig. 177.) Honey Creepers. 
Bill little shorter than head, stout at base, but rapidly tapering to the extremely acute tip ; 
whole bill much curved, culmen very convex, outline of under mandible continuously concave 
from base to tip. Rictus unbristled. Wings long, exceeding the short rounded tail. Tarsus 
longer than middle toe without claw. Contains about 15 species or varieties, mostly West 
Indian. 
153. C. bahamen'sis. (Of the Bahamas.) Bahaman Honey Creeper. Dark brown above ; 
long superciliary line and under parts dull white; breast, edge of wing, and rump, bright 
yellow ; wings dusky, with a white spot at base of primaries, and whitish edging of the quills ; 
tail dusky, tipped with white ; bill and feet black; eyes blue. Length 4.50 ; wing 2.33 ; tail 
1.75. Florida; Bahamas; closely related to the Stock species, C. flaveola. 
11. Family TANAGRID^ : Tanagers. 
48. 
Fig. 178. — Dentirostral bill of a Tana 
ger (Pyranga hepatica), nat. size. 
An extensive, brilliant family, confined to America, 
abounding in species between the tropics. Its position 
is a point at issue with ornithologists ; it may naturally 
follow the Cosrehidce and SyloicolidcB, though certainly 
no families should stand between it and Fringillidce. 
In fact, certain tropical forms might be assigned to 
either indiff'erently. The best definition of the Tana- 
gers is that given by the distinguished ornithologist 
who called them "dentirostral finches;" but this gen- 
eralization, like other happy epigrams, is insusceptible of application in detail, and the Tana- 
gers remain to be precisely characterized. As a consequence, the number of species can 
hardly be approximately estimated ; but upwards of 300 are usually enumerated. 
The single well-established North American genus may be recognized, among all the 
birds of our country, by the combination of nine primaries and scutellate tarsi with a turgid 
bill, notched at the tip and toothed or lobed near the middle of the maxillary tomia (fig. 178); 
though this last character is sometimes so obscure that it might be looked at without being 
seen. The species of Pijranga are birds of brilliant colors, with great seasonal and sexual 
differences of plumage. They are frugivorous and insectivorous, and consequently migratory 
in the United States. They inhabit woodland, lay 4-5 dark -colored, speckled eggs, nest in 
trees, and are no great songsters. In distribution they are rather southerly, scarcely passing 
northward beyond the U. S. One species of another genus, Euphonia elegantissima, admitted 
to our fauna upon insufficient evidence, doubtless occurs over the Mexican border. 
PYRAN'GA. (Barbarous name of some South American bird.) Summer Tanagers. Bill 
stout, turgid, conoidal, usually notched at tip, and with one or more denticulations of the cut- 
ting edge of upper mandible near middle of commissure. Rictal bristles well-developed. Nos- 
trils basal, the frontal antise reaching them. Wings lengthened and pointed ; first 4 feathers 
