. Birds of the Colorado valley ... scientific and popular information concerning North American ornithology;. Birds. CHARACTERS OF IJELMINTHOPHAG^ 217 There is a, great similarity in the habits of the Helminthophagw, as might be expected from their close resemblance to each other in structure. They are indefatigable insect-hunters, peer- ing into the crevices of bark and the interstices of leaves and blossoms for the minute bugs upon which they prey, catching them adroitly with their acute and attenuate bill; but they do not appear to pursue flying insects so persistently as many other Sylvico
. Birds of the Colorado valley ... scientific and popular information concerning North American ornithology;. Birds. CHARACTERS OF IJELMINTHOPHAG^ 217 There is a, great similarity in the habits of the Helminthophagw, as might be expected from their close resemblance to each other in structure. They are indefatigable insect-hunters, peer- ing into the crevices of bark and the interstices of leaves and blossoms for the minute bugs upon which they prey, catching them adroitly with their acute and attenuate bill; but they do not appear to pursue flying insects so persistently as many other Sylvicolines are known to do. Their notes are few, odd, and not very musical, pitched in a high key, and delivered in a slender, wiry tone. They are, without exception, migratory; perhaps they are not more delicate than other Warblers, but the special nature of their food compels them to leave scenes which some other species withstand without inconvenience. Their mode of nest- ing is nearly uniform; all the species, as far as certainly known, build on the ground or scarcely above it, making rather coarse and bulky nests, for such elegant little owners, out of grasses, weeds, mosses, withered leaves, bark-strips, and the like. The eggs of all are alike white, speckled with various reddish shades. The ten species may be thrown into two groups, according to color—groups which correspond in a general way with geo- graphical distribution, and exactly divide the genus in halves. In one set of five species, uavae\^, pinus, lawrencii, clirysoptera, leucobronchialis, and bachmani, the colors are highly variegated, and the tail-feathers are largely blotched with white. These are all exclusively Eastern. In the other five, ruficapilla, vir- ginice, celata, peregrina, and lucicB, the coloration is simpler; the Gold-wlnged Warbler, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. it 1783,492, n. 118. Gold-wliig Warbler, Penn. AZ. ii. 1785,403, n. 295. Flguier aux alles dories. Buff. "v. 311". Figuler cendre a gorge
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