340 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES—OSCINES. 



indeed ; but iu some of the smaller- billed fonns, and especially those with slender bill, it \& 

 hardly ])erceptible. On the whole, however, it is a good cliaracter, and at any rate it is the 

 most reliable external feature that can be found. It separates our fringilline birds pretty 

 trenchantly from other 9-primaried Oscines except Icteridce, and most of these may be dis- 

 tinguished by the characters giveu beyond. 



Taking their characters all together, Fringillidcc may be defined as 9-primaried conirostral 

 laminiplautar oscine Passeres with axis of bill at an angle with that of skull, and nostrils 

 nearer culmen than cutting edge of bill. 



When we come, however, to consider this great group of conirostral Oscines in its entirety, 

 as compared with bordering families like the Old World Ploceidae, or the Icteridce, and espe- 

 cially the Tanagridce, of the New, the difficulty if not the impossibility of framing a perfect 

 diagnosis becomes apparent, and I am not aware that any attempts at rigid definition have 

 proven successful. Ornithologists are nearly agreed what birds to call fringilline, without being 

 so well prepared to say what ' ' fringilliue " means. The subdivisions of the family, as might 

 be expected, are still conventional, and varying with every leading writer. Our species might 

 be thrown into several groups, but the distinctions would be more or less arbitrary and not 

 readily perceived. It is therefore best to waive the question, and simply collocate the genera in 

 orderly sequence. 



The Fringillidce are popularly known by several different names. Here belong all the 

 sparrows, with the allied birds called finches, buntings, linnets, grosbeaks and crossbills. In 

 the following pages I describe 123 species and subspecies, mostly well determined, and ascer- 

 tained to occur within our limits, referi'ing them to 37 genera, as the custom is, although I 

 think this number of genera altogether too large. Two of them. Passer domesticus and P. mon- 

 tanus, are imported and naturalized. Species occur throughout our country, in every situation, 

 and many of them are among our most abundant and familiar birds. They are all granivorous 

 — seed-eaters, but many feed extensively on buds, fruits, and other soft vegetable substances, 

 as well as on insects. They are not so perfectly migratory as the exclusively insectivorous 

 birds, the nature of whose food requires prompt removal at the approach of cold weather ; but, 

 with some exceptions, they withdraw from their breeding places in the fall to spend the winter 

 farther south, and to return in the spring. With a few signal exceptions they are not truly 

 gregarious birds, though they often associate in large companies, assembled in community of 

 interest. The modes of nesting are too various to be here summarized. Nearly all the finches 

 sing, with varying ability and effect ; some of them are among our most delightful vocalists. 

 As a rule, they are plainly clad — even meanly, in comparison with some of our sylvan 

 beauties ; but among them are birds of elegant and striking colors. Among the highly-colored 

 ones, the sexes are more or less unlike, and other changes, with age and season, are strongly 

 marked ; the reverse is the case with the rest. 



The unpractised student will have more trouble in this family than elsewhere in identifying 

 his specimens. In the first place, the genera and species are very numerous, and so variously 

 interrelated that no satisfactory subfamilies have been established; they are therefore not 

 parcelled out in sets. Secondly, all the genera cannot be discriminated in a line of type. To 

 meet the difficulty, I have caused the family to be profusely illustrated with cuts of more than 

 average excellence, and attempted a tabular analysis of the genera, which, though necessarily 

 defective, will doubtless help to some extent. Speaking roundly, there are three lots of 

 genera : (a) Loxiine, mostly boreal birds, sexed unlike, $ often red, 9 dull, no blue, colors 

 massed or streaky, biU usually ruffed at base, wings pointed, tail forked, feet weak; (6) 

 Spizelline, everywhere, mostly small streaked and spotted species, sexed alike, may be 

 yellowed but are never red or blue, wings, tail, and feet various ; (c) Spizine, mostly south- 

 erly, sexed unlike, $ often red or blue, bill unruffed, wings, tail, and feet various; — but 

 nothing will serve to distinguish these groups unexceptionaUy. 



