_Myiodioctes_, AUDUBON, Synopsis, 1839, 48. (Type, _Motacilla
mitrata_, GM.)—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 291.
_Wilsonia_, BONAP. List. 1838 (preoccupied in botany).
_Myioctonus_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 18. (Type, _Motacilla mitrata_.)
[Line drawing: _Myiodioctes mitratus._
2226]
GEN. CHAR. Bill broad, depressed; the lateral outlines a little
concave; the bristles reaching not quite half-way from nostrils to
tip. Culmen and commissure nearly straight to near the tip. Nostrils
oval, with membrane above. Wings pointed, rather longer than the
nearly even but slightly rounded tail; first quill shorter than the
fourth, much longer than the fifth; the second and third quills
longest. Tarsi rather lengthened, the scutellar divisions rather
indistinct; the middle toe without claw, about three fifths the
tarsus.
This genus is distinguished from _Setophaga_, mainly by stouter feet
and longer toes; shorter and more even tail, narrower bill, etc. The
species are decidedly muscicapine in general appearance, as shown by
the depressed bill with bristly rictus. The type _M. mitratus_ is very
similar in character of bill to _Dendroica castanea_, but the wings
are much shorter; the tail longer and more graduated; the legs and
hind toe longer, and the first primary shorter than the fourth (.15 of
an inch less than the longest), not almost equal to the longest. The
species are plain olive or plumbeous above, and yellow beneath. They
may be grouped as follows:—
A. Tail with white patches on the inner feathers.
1. M. mitratus. Head and neck black. Front, cheeks, and under
parts yellow. Back olive-green. _Hab._ Eastern Province of
United States, south to Panama and West Indies.
2. M. minutus. Olive above; yellowish beneath. Two white
bands on the wings. _Hab._ Eastern United States.
B. Tail without white patch on the outer feathers.
3. M. pusillus. Crown black. Forehead, cheeks, and under
parts yellow. Back olive.
Yellow of forehead without an orange tinge; upper parts dull
olive-green; pileum with very dull steel-blue lustre. _Hab._
Eastern Province and Rocky Mountains of North America, south
to Costa Rica … var. _pusillus_.
Yellow of forehead with an orange cast; upper parts bright
yellowish-green; pileum with a bright steel-blue lustre.
_Hab._ Pacific Province of North America, from Sitka to Costa
Rica … var. _pileolata_.
4. M. canadensis. Streaks on the crown, stripes on sides of
head and neck, with pectoral collar of streaks, black. Rest of
under parts, and line to and around the eye, yellow. Back
bluish. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States, south to
Ecuador.
Myiodioctes mitratus, AUD.