14 FEMALE GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER. 
its short stay in Pennsylvania, it is solitary and silent, gleaning 
amongst the branches of trees, and creeping much after the man¬ 
ner of the Titmouse, with its head frequently downwards, in pur¬ 
suit 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 forming his sub¬ 
genus Dacnis, which he places under his extensive genus Cassicus, 
remarking that they form the passage to Motacilla . 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. Temminck and Vieillot have arranged them also 
under Sylvia; the latter author, in the (French) New Dictionary 
of Natural History, gives them the name of Pitpits; and it is 
most probably from want of examination, that he has not consi¬ 
dered the present bird as belonging to that section. 
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