ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 



239 



Page 

 — exposed ; length — over 9 inches ; color brown or blue . . Corvid^ 484 



— 8J inches ; glossy green and blue, speckled ; bill 



yellow Sturnid-e 502 



— 7-8 inches ; crested ; (f glossy black Ampelid^ 357 



— 4j-6i inches ; bill distinctly hooked ; tail soft, 



without black Vireon'Id^ 3G1 



— 4i-5J inches ; bill slender, curved, tail stiff, acute 



Ceethiid^ 278 



— under 6 inches ; colors bluish, black and white 



(Gnatcatchers) Sylviid-e 261 



— Birds without these characters (Wrens, Thrash- 



ers, etc.) Teoolodytid^ 280 



(k.) Tarsus — scutelliplantar ; hind claw straight (Horned Larks) Alaudid^ 503 



— laniiuiplantar ; bill — metagnathous, both mandibles falcate, their points crossed 



Fringillld* 373 



— paragnathous, toraia of up. mand. toothed or lobed near middle 



(Tanagers) Tanagrid.e 347 



— epignathous, notched and hooked at tip. Length 5\-G\ Vikeonid^ 3G1 



— various. Quills — tipped with red horny appendages ; head 



crested (1st quill minute) . . Ampelid.*; 357 

 — not appendaged ; bill — fissirostral (go to 1). 



— dentirostral or tenuiros- 



tral (go to in). 



— conirostral (go to n). 

 (1.) Bill triangular-depressed, about as wide at base as long, gape twice as long as culmeu, reaching about 



opposite eyes, tarsus not longer than outer toe and claw (Swallows) Hirundinid.e 350 



(m.) Longest secondary nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing ; hind claw (usually) little curved, 



nearly twice as long as middle claw ( Wagtails and Pipits) Motacillid^e 300 



Longest secondary not nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind claw well curved, not 



nearly twice as long as middle claw (Warblers, etc.) . . . C(EREBID« 34G, or Mniotiltid.e 304 



(n ) Bill usually thick, stout, and with evident angulation of the commissure Icterid^e 463 



or Fringillid^ 373 



Xfite. — These two families cannot be concisely distinguished. IcTEEiDiE contains the Blackbirds, Orioles. 

 Meadow Starlings, Bobolink^, and Cowbirds. FRiUGllXlDiE, our largest family, includes all kinds of Grosbeaks, Bunt- 

 ings, Linnets, Finches, and Sparrows. 



1 v;: ?<r\ -j;^^ — /- 



Fig. 112 /cr. — Diagram of fore limbs of man, bat, horse, and bird. The lines 1-0 are isotonics, cutting the limbs 

 into morphologically equal parts, or isomeres. 



