CANTATORES. SONGSTERS. 43 



The down-feathers grow on all the spaces intervening be- 

 tween those covered by the ordinary feathers. They are gene- 

 rally sparse, but denser on the abdomen. The hair-feathers grow 

 sparsely on all the spaces covered by the regular feathers, but 

 not on those covered by the down-feathers, and in many species 

 several project beyond the surface of the plumage on the nape. 

 The arrangement and texture of the plumage are thus simi- 

 lar to those of the Deglubitores and Vagatores ; which, more- 

 over, do not differ very essentially in the form and proportions 

 of their skeleton. The Cantatores however are readily distin- 

 guished by their slender, straightish, compressed bill, and by 

 the peculiarities of their digestive organs, which are adapted 

 for insect food, although also capable of extracting nourishment 

 from other substances. Their feet being fitted for perching and 

 walking or leaping, are not essentially different from those of 

 the orders just mentioned. 



Species of this order occur in all parts of the globe, from the 

 frigid regions bordering on the polar ice to the torrid climes of 

 the equator, although they are more numerous in the warmer 

 zones. Their food consists chiefly of insects, larvae, worms, and 

 terrestrial or fresh-water mollusca, which they procure by 

 searching among the herbage and foliage, under thickets, by 

 walls, in the fields and pastures, and by brooks and pools. On 

 the ground they generally advance by a succession of short 

 leaps, and although some proceed by an alternate motion of the 

 feet, none walk in the sedate manner of the Crows and other 

 Vagatores. Almost all cling with ease to twigs, and move 

 among the branches and herbage with great agility. Their 

 flight is generally rapid, light, and undulated ; but it varies 

 considerably in the different families and genera, being direct 

 and produced by a continued flutter in the Dippers, buoyant 

 and deeply undulated in the Wagtails, with intermediate 

 gradations. In summer they are generally unsocial, in winter 

 gregarious. Very many are migratory, the necessity of moving 

 southward in autumn being obvious in those which are strictly 

 insectivorous. They bask in the sun, flutter among sand or dust, 

 wash occasionally, and drink by sipping. Their nests are elabo- 

 rate, generally hemispherical or cup-shaped, sometimes arched, 

 usually lined with hair or feathers, but so diversified as not to 



