274 
FEMALE GOLDEN- WINGED WARBLER. 
downwards, in pursuit of larvae and insects, which constitute 
exclusively the food of this species. 
Wilson was impressed with the opinion, that the shape of 
the bill would justify the formation of a distinct sub-genus, 
which would include this bird, the Sylvia vermivora, and some 
other species. In this opinion Cuvier has coincided, by form- 
ing his sub-genus Dacnis^ which he places under his extensive 
genus Cassicusy remarking that they form the passage to Mota* 
cilia. This sub-genus we shall adopt, but we differ from Cuvier 
by arranging it under Sylvia ; it will then form the transition 
to the more slender-billed Icteri, Temminckand Vieillothave 
arranged them also under Sylvia ; the latter author, in the 
(French) JVew Dictionary of Natural History, gives them the 
name of pitpits ; and it is most probably from want of exami- 
nation, that he has not considered the present bird as belonging 
to that section.* 
* The opinion of Wilson, now mentioned by his continuator, shows the accu- 
rate perception he had of the generic foi’ms and modifications of birds; the 
subdivision he mentions has actually been made by various ornithologists. Hold- 
ing different views, we certainly also prefer placing it among the Sylviada, but 
it may lead off in other directions according to the ideas of the systematist, and 
the mode of analysis he pursues. Vermivora is now retained on account of, as 
far as we are aware, the more restricted form.— Ed. 
