You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="24" ns="0" title="Mount Vernon Weed &amp; Seed" />
      <page pageid="89" ns="0" title="Yonkers Juvenile Crime Enforcement Coalition (YJCEC)" />
      <page pageid="92" ns="0" title="Mount Vernon Continuum of Care for the Homeless" />
      <page pageid="104" ns="0" title="Testgroup1 Page" />
      <page pageid="105" ns="0" title="WPEN" />
      <page pageid="296" ns="0" title="DCMHS+C" />
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>