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BRITISH BIRDS. 



Perching Birds— or^/^;- Passeriformes. 



THE first Order oi Birds, the Passeriformes, contains a larger number of 

 species than any of the others, and we find that quite a third of the British 

 species belong to the Perching Birds. The characters by which they are distinguished 

 from the members of other Orders are not so easily explained as might be imagined 

 by any one who compares in his mind a Rook or a Canary with a Duck or an 

 Owl ; for although the external diflerences between the various Orders of Birds 

 may be obvious enough, the characters for their recognition are deep-seated 

 and often anatomical. Thus the principal feature which distinguishes a Passerine, 

 or Perching, Bird is to be found in the form of the palatine bones, where the vomer is 

 truncated in front, and is not connected with the maxillo-palatines. The arrangement 

 of the tendons of the foot is also peculiar and is characteristic of the Order. .As 

 regards external form, the Perching Birds present us with every possible variation — 

 strong bills, weak bills, hooked bills, flat bills, wings, powerful, weak, pointed, 

 rounded, and so on through every character. Those character.s which are of 

 service in classifying the larger birds, such as Hawks, Ducks, or even Wading 

 Birds, fail us when we wish to define the Order Passeriformes, nor are the 



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