SYLVIAN^. REGULUS. 
81 
mandible with the angle of moderate length and narrow, the 
dorsal line straight, the sides convex, the tip narrow. Nos- 
trils basal, oval or oblong. Head rather large, ovate ; neck 
short; body rather slender. Feet of ordinary length, slen- 
der; tarsus compressed, with seven anterior scutella; toes 
moderate, compressed ; first stouter, second and fourth nearly 
equal, third much longer, and adherent at the base ; claws 
moderate, arched, slender, compressed, acute. Plumage soft 
and blended. Bristles short or weak. Wings of moderate 
length or long ; the first quill very small, the second, third, 
and fourth longest. Tail long or of moderate length,, of 
twelve feathers. Tongue, sagittate, slender, tapering to a 
slit and lacerated point. CEsophagus rather narrow, without 
crop ; proventriculus oblong ; stomach a gizzard of moderate 
strength, with the muscles distinct, the epithelium dense and 
rugous ; intestine of moderate length ; cceca very small. Tra- 
chaea simple, with four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles. 
Of this family, which in Europe is so numerous, there are 
in North America only two genera. Beg ulus and Sialia, the 
former composed of very small birds, allied in manners to the 
Tits, the latter approaching the Thrushes in form. The con- 
necting links being wanting with us, these genera might seem 
at first sight very dissimilar. 
GENUS I. REGULUS, Cuv. KINGLET. 
Bill short, straight, very slender, a little broader than high 
at the base, compressed toward the end ; upper mandible 
nearly straight in its dorsal outline, the edges slightly notch- 
ed, the tip a little declinate, acute ; lower mandible with its 
outline ascending, nearly straight, the tip acute. Nostrils 
basal, elliptical, concealed by the reversed feathers. Head 
large, broadly ovate ; neck short ; body short. Legs rather 
long ; tarsus slender, longer than the middle toe, much com- 
pressed, scutella blended, excepting the lower four toes, ra- 
ther small, much compressed, hind toe large ; lateral equal ; 
