I. Toes 2 in front and 2 behind. 2. Cuculidae. Cuckoos. 



II. 3 toes in front and one behind. i. Alcedinidae. Kingfishers. 



< )RDER 5. PSITTACI. Parrots. 

 Tlie Carolina Paroquet has been extinct in the state for more than twenty years. 



161. Carolina Paroquet. 



Order 6. RAPTORES. Vultures, Hawks, Eagles, Owls, etc. 



To this order belong the birds which eat flesh. Their feel and bills are adapted for catching 

 and holding the prey, and tearing it into morsels. The vultures have bare heads because they feed 

 upon carrion. The whole group is of so great importance as a balancer of the forces of nature in 

 the animal realm that about half of them are nighl prowlers; tint-, both the diurnal and the noc- 

 turnal disturbers of fields and gardens are held in check by the flesh-eaters. Only four of the 

 species wnich are found in Ohio are harmful to poultry interests 



I.. Eyes looking straight forward, set in a striking disk of 

 feathers. 



A. Feathers on back of tarsus growing up. 1. Strigidae. Barn Owl. 



B. Feathers on back of tarsus growing down. 2. Bubonidae. Horned ami Hoot 



Owls. 

 II. Eyes not looking forward, no facial disk. 



A. Head bare. 4. CatharTidae. Vi 1 



B. Head feathered. 3. FalconidaE. Hawks. Eagles, Fal- 



CO IS, ETC. 



< >RDER J- C< >l J'.MBJE. Doves and Pigeons. 

 To this order belongs the single family Columbae. The Mourning Dove is the only repre- 

 sentative of the ordei now regularly found in the state. 



Order 8. CAIJJX.lt. Turkeys, Grouse, Bob-white. 

 The best representatives of this group are the barn-yard fowds and domestic turkey. Thej .1'.' 

 heavy bodied, short winged birds, which are able to get up from the ground suddenly and fly -hurt 

 distances with great velocity. Their food consists of both vegetable and animal matter in about 

 the proportions of the domestic members of the group. 



I. Size very large — about 4 feet long. 1. Meleagrinae. Turkeys. 



II. Size smaller — less than 2 feet long. 2 Tetraonidae. Grouse, Bob-white. 



OrdEe 9. PAEUDICl >L.E. Cranes, Rails. Coots, Gallinules. 



To this diverse group belong the smaller swamp-haunting birds. Only the cranes can be called 



true waders, living in the more open water, or even in fields away from water; the others are 

 rather sedge haunters, running over the swamp vegetation rather than wading. They feed largely 

 Upon swamp animal life. 



I. Tarsus over six inches. 2. GruidaE. Cranks. 



II, Tarsus under 3.00 inches. 1, RallidaE. Rails, C s GallinulE. 



Order to. HERODIONES. Herons, Egrets. Bitterns, etc. 

 The members of tin- group are preeminently waders, their long leg- and long neck enabling 

 them to fish standing in the water. They eat almost any animals which may lie found in the swamps 

 and shallow water. They are awkward-appearing birds, but fly well, usuallj stretching the long legs 

 straight nut behind like a rudder when flying. 



I. Bill straight and sharp. 1. Ardeidae. Bitterns, Herons, Egrets. 



II. Bill curved downward, blunt. 



A. Wing over 16.00 inches. 2. Ciconiidae. Wood Ibis. 



B. Wing under 13.00 inches. 3, IbididaE. Ir.isi:s. 



Order ti. IJ.MICOL.E. Shore Birds. 

 While the birds comprising this group have been called waders they are not so much so as the 

 Herndifine-. Many species live mure on the uplands than in or near the water, but some are true 

 wader- in shallow- water S^me probe in the soft mud. some glean from the surface of the ground, 

 some glean at the water's edge, some search under stones and drift for their food. While none 

 can be called singers in the proper -ense. yet some have calls which are certainly more musical than 

 the cries of the Crow or Grackles, which belong to the Oscines. All are nimble of foot and wing. 

 Many flock while migrating, the whole thick moving and turning as one bird. 



