222 VERTEBRATA. 



Order IV. PASSEEES. 



INSESSORES. CANTORES. AMBULATORER. CLAMATORES. 

 VOLUCRES. OSCINES. CoRACOMORPH^E. 



Bill various, but never arched from the base ; no cere. Tongue 

 not fleshy. Legs moderate ; one toe behind, three in front, the 

 outer joined at its base to the middle toe. 



The comparatively strong feet are formed for perching, all the 

 toes being on the same level, and only one directed backwards. 

 The tarsus is covered anteriorly by five or six or seven imbricated 

 scales (scutes or scutellse), rarely by one only. The females are 

 smaller than the males, and are less distinctly coloured. They 

 build complex nests, and the young leave the egg in a blind and 

 naked state. 



Passerine birds, as here limited, have only moderate powers of 

 flight, and live chiefly either on berries and seed, or on insects 

 and worms ; but a few are omnivorous. This order contains all 

 the singing birds ; they have all, even those species that do not 

 sing, a lower larynx, which may be of "every degree of com- 

 plexity" and worked by five pairs of muscles, or it may only 

 nave two pairs, or may be devoid of any. Wallace observes that 

 Passeres with "imperfect singing apparatus" are characterized 

 by having wings with ten primaries, while all other birds have 

 nine only, or if ten then the first " below its proportionate size." 



Besides the names mentioned below, the following are some of 

 the most familiar birds belonging to this order : the night- 

 ingale (Luscinia philomela), [the Persian nightingale or bulbul is 

 the Luscinia Hafizii, the bulbuls of India are Pycnonoti], black- 

 aup(Curruca atricapilla), white-throat (Curruca cinerea), garden- 

 warbler (Sylvia hortensis), wood-wren (Phyllopneuste sibilatrix), 

 chiff-chaff (Phylloscopus rufus), robin (Eryihacus rubec'iila), hedge- 

 sparrow (Accentor modularis), titlark (Anthus pratensis), wheatear 

 (Saxicola cenanthe], thrush (Turdus musicus), blackbird (Turdus 

 merula), fieldfare ( Turdus pilaris), wagtail (Motacilla alba), wren 

 (Troglodytes vulgaris), goldfinch (Carduelis elcgans), canary 

 (Carduelis canarid), chaffinch (Fringillaccelebs), hawfinch (Cocco- 

 thraustes vulgaris), sparrow (Passer domesticus\ linnet (Linota 

 cannabina), yellow-ammer (Emberiza citrinella'), ortolan (Embe- 

 riza hortulana), skylark (Alauda arvensis), crow (Corvus cor one], 

 raven (Corvus corax), jackdaw (Corvus monedula), rook ( Corvus 

 friigileyus}, magpie (Pica caudata), and jay ( Garrulus glandariua}. 



