Fig. 138.–Sugar-bird. Certhiola flaveola. × ½.
The coloration varies from black, grey, or purplish, relieved by rufous and white, to brilliant blue, purple, or green, with the quills only black, or with further yellow, chestnut, and exceptionally scarlet, decorations. Uniform black, or olive and brown hues are unusual, save in females, which, however, are often bright green, with the addition of a little blue or yellow.
Fam. XXXII. Mniotiltidae.–The "American Warblers," almost replacing the Sylviinae in the New World, are a somewhat heterogeneous assemblage of rather small birds, of which Granatellus is perhaps Tanagrine. They frequent localities of all descriptions in North and South America, being commonest in the middle portions. Teretistris is peculiar to Cuba, Leucopeza to St. Lucia and St. Vincent; Ergaticus occupies the Central American highlands, while two or three species wander to Greenland.
The bill is usually slender and straight, but varies in length and curvature, that of Setophaga and Myiodioctes being broad and depressed with bristly gape, that of Icteria (doubtfully referred here) very stout and compressed, and so forth. Other species also exhibit bristles, or have notched beaks. The tongue is frequently bifid and fringed in Dendroeca, and in D. (Perissoglossa) tigrina is semitubular. The metatarsi are naturally longest and strongest in the more terrestrial forms, such as Geothlypis and Siurus; Icteria has partly feathered legs, Mniotilta particularly long toes. The wings may be concave and roundish, as in Leucopeza and Geothlypis, or elongated and pointed, as in Protonotaria and Peucedramus; the moderate tail is square, rounded, or emarginate, or, as in Setophaga, broad and graduated. The general coloration is olive-green, grey, or slaty-blue, with yellow or rarely orange under parts; chestnut marks, white wing-bands, and the like, occasionally relieving the plumage. The head is often particularly dark or streaky. Mniotilta exhibits black and white stripes; Ergaticus shews chiefly crimson and white; Granatellus is grey, black, and white above, but red and white with black collar below. Setophaga, the "American Redstart," is mainly red and black, or red and plumbeous; Cardellina is grey, black, and white with crimson cheeks and throat; Siurus has olive-brown upper, and whitish under parts, with dusky striations. The bill is black or brown, commonly with pinkish, yellowish, or bluish mandible.
Fig. 139.–Black-and-White Warbler. Mniotilta varia. × ½.
These active, restless, and often shy birds either seek their food, consisting chiefly of insects and their larvae, worms, spiders, and even molluscs, upon the ground or upon the bark of trees. Many forms resemble Tits in their actions; Mniotilta and others ascend the trunks spirally like Creepers; Setophaga and its allies–and exceptionally Dendroeca–sally after insects like Flycatchers; D. palmarum and Siurus run along with the tail in motion, the former recalling a Titlark, the latter gaining, from its appearance and habit of wading, the name of Water-Thrush. The flight is usually swift, easy, and graceful, yet brief and frequently undulating; Myiodioctes and Setophaga flit about alternately opening and closing the rectrices. Fruits, including conifer- and grass-seeds, vary the diet. Small parties collect in winter. A few species, such as Basileuterus, Setophaga, Myiodioctes, and Siurus have fine clear songs, but the usual utterances are feeble warbles, sweet whistles, reiterated "chirrups," or mournful trills. The majority build their cup-shaped nests in trees, bushes, and thickets generally, Dendroeca in some districts choosing a fir; they are made of grass, bark, leaves, roots, moss, hair, fur, lichens, and spiders' webs, or even twigs, sedges, and feathers, and contain from two to six creamy or, exceptionally, greenish or purplish eggs, more or less spotted or blotched with red-brown, grey, and lilac, or sometimes, as in Myiodioctes, scrawled with black.
Fam. XXXIII. Tanagridae.[[308]]–The Tanagers form a New World group, hardly distinguishable from the Fringillidae, except by their more feeble conformation and their exposed nostrils. The coloration is often particularly gorgeous, but their habits are comparatively little known. The bill varies much in length and thickness, the hooked tip being highly developed in Lamprotes and Sericossypha, while Procnias has a wide Swallow-like gape. The metatarsi are short and stout; the toes are large, with sharp curved claws in Lamprotes and Sericossypha; the wings are moderate and somewhat pointed, being unusually long in Procnias; while the tail may be very short as in Euphonia, but is rarely long and graduated as in Cissopis, and only occasionally forked.
These birds are characteristic of the forests and wooded country of the Neotropical Region, whence four species of Pyranga extend to the United States, and two reach Canada and British Columbia respectively; several forms, moreover, are peculiar to the Antilles. They are chiefly of small size, Euphonia possessing the least and Pitylus or Saltator the largest members of the Family; the sexes are commonly similar, but the female is often duller, or even quite different from the male, as in Rhamphocoelus and Pyranga. A short crest occurs rarely, as in Eucometis and Stephanophorus. The prevailing colours are black and red or uniform red in Pyranga, Phlogothraupis, and most species of Rhamphocoelus and Calochaetes; blue or purplish-black and yellow in Buthraupis, Iridornis, and their nearest allies; blue and black in Procnias and Pseudodacnis; orange or yellow, with black and white in Spindalis and Lanio; black and white in Lamprospiza and Cissopis; olive and brown in Chlorospingus; chestnut and brown in Orchesticus; grey, olive, yellow, or green, with more or less blue in Thraupis (Tanagra). Buarremon and several other forms are comparatively dull; Tanagra (Calliste) exhibits a beautiful mixture of all the above hues; Euphonia is also varied, but lacks scarlet tints; Chlorochrysa is brilliant green, relieved by orange, chestnut, blue, and black. The bill may be red, black, yellow, leaden or horn-coloured. Roughly speaking, Tanagra contains sixty species, Euphonia, Chlorospingus, and Buarremon each over thirty.