ORDER FOURTH. 



GRANIVOROUS or PASSERINE BIRDS. 



In these the bill is strong, short, thick, more or less 

 conic, and advancing back upon the forehead ; the ridge 

 of the upper mandible is usually samewhat flattened, and 

 both portions of the bill are generally without the toothed 

 notch. The feet are arranged with three of the toes for- 

 ward and one backward, and the anterior digits are 

 divided. The wings are of moderate dimensions. 



The general habits of this numerous order of birds 

 are to live in pairs, until by instinct they assemble to- 

 gether and migrate in numerous troops. According to 

 the climates they happen to inhabit, they are either seden- 

 tary, or birds of passage. The greater number migrate 

 periodically, or sometimes only accidentally from coun- 

 tries unequally subjected to the influence of frost. Their 

 nourishment consists principally of grain and seeds, from 

 which they usually shell the husk. Insects principally 

 constitute their food during the time they are engaged 

 in raising their progeny, and their young are fed wholly 

 on this kind of diet ; all of them, when adult, may be 

 nourished with seeds in a state of captivity. Among all 

 the feathered race, after the Pigeons and Gallinaceous 

 birds, these associate the most freely with man, and are 

 very susceptible of being trained to a domestic state. — 



