PICARI^: PICAHIAN BIRDS. 445 



this order includes all the noii-passeriue Land Birds down to those with a cered bill (parrots 

 and birds of prey). Excluding the parrots, which constitute a strongly marked natural group, 

 of equal value with those called orders in this work, the Picarice correspond to the Strisores -(- 

 Scansores of authors ; including, however, some that are often referred to Clamatores. (This 

 '•'order" Scansores, or ZygodactyU, containing all the birds that have the toes arranged in 

 pairs, two in front and two behind (and some that have not), is one of the most unmitigated 

 inflictions that ornithology has sufi'ered ; it is as thoroughly unnatural as the divisions of my 

 artificial key to our genera.) I have no faith whatever in the integrity of any such grouping 

 as * ' Picariae " implies ; but if I should break up this conventional assemblage, I sh(juld not 

 know what to do with the fragments ; not being prepared to foUow Garrod to the length of 

 a classification of birds based primarily upon the condition of certain muscles of the leg ; and 

 knowing of no available alternative. With this protest, and upon such understanding, I retain 

 the Picarian group, as in the original edition of the Key, to include all the N. A. Land Birds of 

 non-passerine character, without a hooked and cered bill, and without the proper characters of 

 the Columbine and Galline families. 



Manifestly, from what has been said, the Picarice are insusceptible of satisfactory definition ; 

 but I may indicate some leading features, mostly of a negative character, that they possess in com- 

 mon. The sternum rarely conforms to the particular Passerine model, its posterior border 

 usually being either entire or else doubly-notched. The vocal apparatus is not highly developed, 

 having not more than three pairs of separate intrinsic muscles ; the birds, consequently, are 

 never highly musical. There are some modifications of the cranial bones not observed in 

 Passeres. According to Sundevall, the Picarice, like lower birds, usually lack a certain sjiecial- 

 ization of the flexor muscles of the toes seen in Passeres. The feet are very variously modified ; 

 one or another of all the toes, except the middle one, is susceptible of being turned, in this or 

 that case, in an opposite from the customary direction ; the fourth one being frequently capable 

 of turning either way; while in two genera (of Picidce the first, and in two others (of Alce- 

 dinidce) the second, toe is deficient. The tarsal envelope is never entire behind, as in the 

 higher Passeres. Another curious peculiarity of the feet is, that the claw of the hind toe is 

 smaller, or at most not larger, than that of the third toe ; and on the whole the hind toe itself 

 is inconsiderable, weak if not wanting, not always perfectly incumbent and apposable. The 

 wings, endlessly varied in shape, agree in possessing ten developed primaries, of which the first 

 is rarely spurious or very short. (A notable exception to this occurs in the Pici.) A very 

 general and useful wing-character is, that the coverts are larger and in more numerous series 

 than in Passeres; the gi-eater coverts being at least half as long as the secondary quills they 

 cover, and sometimes reaching nearly to the ends of these quills. This is the common case 

 among lower birds, but it distinguishes most of the Picarice from Passeres; it is not shown, 

 however, in the Picidce and some others. The tail is indefinitely varied in shape, but the 

 number of its feathers is a good clue to Picarice. There are not ordinarily more than ten perfect 

 rectrices, and occasionally there are only eight ; the Woodpeckers have twelve, but one pair is 

 abortive ; there are twelve, however, in the Kingfishers, and some others. The bill shows 

 numberless modifications in form, and has its own specialization in nearly every family ; it 

 assumes some of the most extraordinary shapes, as in the hornbills and toucans, and is seldom 

 of the simple style seen in a thrush or finch ; it is never hooked and cered as in parrots and birds 

 of prey, nor soft and swollen at the nostrils, as in pigeons. 



With this slight sketch of some leading features of the group (it will enable the student to 

 recognize any Picarian bird of this country at least, and that is my main object), I pass to the 

 consideration of its subdivision, with the remark that a precedent may be found for any con- 

 ceivable grouping of the families that is not perfectly prepostei'ous, and for some arrangements 

 that are nearly so. As well as I can judge from the material at my command, and relying upon 

 authority for data that I lack, the Picarice fall into three divisions at least. These I shall call 



