_Helminthophaga_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 20. (Type, _Sylvia
ruficapilla_, WILS.)
[Line drawing: _Helminthophaga ruficapilla._
2238]
GEN. CHAR. Bill elongated, conical, very acute; the outlines very
nearly straight, sometimes slightly decurved; no trace of notch at the
tip, nor of bristles on the rictus. Wings long and pointed; the first
quill nearly or quite the longest. Tail nearly even or slightly
emarginate; short and rather slender. Tarsi longer than the middle toe
and claw.
The species of this section are well characterized by the attenuation
and acuteness of the bill, and the absence of any notch. There are,
however, considerable subordinate differences in the different
species. In some the bill is larger and more acute than others; in one
species, the _H. peregrina_, the wings are unusually lengthened, the
tail being only about seven twelfths as long.
Species and Varieties.
COMMON CHARACTERS. Iris brown. Length about 5.00. Nest on the
ground, in grass or dead leaves. Eggs clear white, thickest at
end, with minute dots of brown of various shades and faint purple.
A. Tail with a conspicuous patch of white.
_a._ A black patch covering throat and breast.
1. chrysoptera. Above ash, beneath white. Forehead and a
patch on the wing yellow. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United
States, south to Bogota; Cuba.
2. bachmani. Above olive-green; beneath, with forehead,
yellow; crown ash, bounded anteriorly with a black bar. No
yellow on wing. _Hab._ South Carolina and Georgia. Cuba in
winter.
_b._ No black on throat or breast.
3. pinus. Above olive-green; beneath, with forehead, yellow;
wings ash, with two white bands; lores black. _Hab._ Eastern
Province of United States, south into Guatemala.
B. Tail without a conspicuous white patch.
_c._ Crown with a concealed patch of rufous (obsolete in ♀).
4. ruficapilla. Above olive-green; head ashy; beneath
continuous yellow; a light orbital ring. _Hab._ North America
(very rare in Middle and Western Provinces); Greenland. South
to Southern Mexico (Oaxaca, Cordova, Orizaba).
Yellow of throat spreading over cheeks, and staining lores
and eyelids. Atlantic States. (Carlisle, Penn., specimens.) …
var. _ruficapilla_.
Yellow of throat confined within the maxillæ; lores and
eyelids clear white. Mississippi Valley. (Chicago
specimens.) … var. _ocularis_.
Yellow of throat restricted to a medial stripe, leaving its
sides ashy. Middle Province. (Specimen from Fort Tejon,
Cal., and East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada.) …
var. _gutturalis_.
5. virginiæ. Above ash to the rump, beneath white. A patch
on the jugulum, with the upper and lower tail-coverts,
yellow. _Hab._ Rocky Mountains of United States, west to East
Humboldt Mountains.
6. luciæ. Above ash, beneath continuous white. Upper
tail-coverts chestnut. _Hab._ Colorado region of Middle
Province.
7. celata. Above continuous olive-green, below continuous
pale yellow. (Orange on crown in ♂ only?) … var. _celata_.
Above ashy-olive, beneath yellowish olivaceous-white; inner
webs of tail-feathers broadly edged with white. (Middle
regions of North America; Mexico.) … var. _lutescens_.
Above greenish-olive, beneath bright greenish-yellow; white
edges to inner webs of tail-feathers obsolete. (Pacific
Province of North America.) … var. _obscura_.
Similar to var. _celata_, but plumage darker and more
dingy. No white edgings to tail-feathers, and apparently
_no rufous_ on the crown in either sex. (Georgia, Florida,
etc.)
_d._ No rufous on crown.
8. peregrina. Above olive-green; head and neck pure ash;
beneath continuous white. _Hab._ Eastern Province of North
America north to Fort Simpson, H. B. T. south to Panama. Cuba
(rare).
Helminthophaga chrysoptera, CABAN.