PASSERES : JAYS, ETC. 1G3 



The Jays usually have the head more or less crested, as 

 seen in the well-known Blue Jay (Fig. 193), a bird which 



FIG. 193. 



Blue Jay, Cyanura cristata, Swainson. 



in beauty of plumage is scarcely surpassed, even if 

 equaled, by any other bird in North America. 



To the Passeres belong also the famous Birds of Para- 

 dise, the ParadiseidjB, whose plumage is wonderfully 

 developed and exceedingly beautiful (Fig. 194.) One of 

 the best known species has a body about the size of the 

 common Robin ; its general color maroon ; head and neck 

 yellow ; the throat and around the bill emerald. On the 

 sides of the body there is a splendid plume of delicate 

 yellow feathers. 



In the division of the Passeres called CLAMATORES the 

 vocal muscles of the lower larynx are small, or merely 

 rudimentary, as already stated ; that is, these birds have 

 no well-developed singing apparatus. The Clamatores 

 are also distinguishable from the Oscines,_ by the struc- 



