B. Wings about equal to the graduated tail. Tarsal scutellæ distinct. Above bluish; tail with white spots or patches.
Nostrils uncovered. Head plain; either bluish or black above … Polioptilinæ.
Subfamily SYLVIINÆ.
Char. Size and form of Sylvicolinæ, but with a spurious first primary about one third the second quill. Wings considerably longer than the nearly even or emarginate tail. Feathers of frontal region with bristly points; but not covering the nostrils. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly, but indistinct externally. (Characters drawn with reference to the American form.)
The introduction of this subfamily into the present work is required to accommodate a species of Phyllopneuste collected on the Yukon by the Russian Telegraph Expedition, the first known instance of the existence in North America of a group of birds characteristic of the northern parts of the Old World. Among the smallest of the class, they are eminently sociable, and feed entirely on insects, which they capture mostly on the wing, like flycatchers.
The nest is placed on the ground, and is of an oval or spherical form with a round opening on one side. The sexes are similar, and the young differ very little from the parents.
Genus PHYLLOPNEUSTE, Meyer & Wolf.
Phyllopneuste, Meyer & Wolf, Taschenbuch, 1822.—Degland et Gerbe, Ornith. Europ. I, 1867, 543.
Phyllopneuste borealis.
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