TROCHILID.A. — CLXII. 271 
uniform purplish, its feathers narrow; 9 without red, the tail 
variegated; no scales on crown. L. 34. W. 12. T. 14. B. 2. 
E. N. Am.; abundant in summer, hovering about flowers. (S. Am. 
name, Colibri.) 
Orper XLVI. PASSERES. (Tue PasserineE Birps.) 
Toes always 4; feet fitted for perching ; the hind toe always on 
the level of the rest, its claw at least as long as that of the mid- 
dle toe; joints of toes 2, 3, 4, 5, respectively, from first to fourth ; 
none of the toes versatile, and none webbed; wing coverts few, 
chiefly in two series; tail feathers 12; primaries 10, but in most 
of the families the first one is reduced in size, and often rudimen- 
tary and displaced; musical apparatus more or less developed ; 
sternum of a uniform passerine pattern; palate egithognathous. 
Nature altricial. 
This order includes about 6000 known species, or more than half 
of all the kinds of birds. They represent the “highest grade of 
development and the most complex organization of the class ; ; their 
high physical irritability is co-ordinate with the rapidity of their 
respiration and circulation; they consume the most oxygen and 
live the fastest of all birds.” (Coues.) 
A considerable number of anatomical characters (for which see 
Stejneger, “Standard Natural History,” p. 458, et seq.), are more 
or less perfectly distinctive of the Passeres. ‘These cannot, how- 
ever, be discussed here. The group is divided, on anatomical charac- 
ters, into about 5 suborders. Two of these groups, the Clamatores 
and the Oscines, are represented in our fauna. The latter, charac- 
terized especially by the perfect musical apparatus, comprises the 
vast majority of the Passeres. (Lat., passer, sparrow.) 
Families of Passeres. 
a. Tarsus with its hinder edge rounded ; encircled by a single horny envelope 
divided into scutella anteriorly and on outer side, this sometimes ex- 
tending all round (though separated by a seam along inner side), but 
often widely separated on inner side or behind or both, the intervening 
space occupied by granular scales, reticulations, or plain naked skin; 
musical apparatus imperfect; primaries 10, the first about as long as 
second. (Clamatores.) 
6. Inner toe free at base from middle toe; tarsus not reticulate behind; 
bill hooked at tip, with long rictal bristles. . . . TYRANNID#, 163. 
aa. Tarsus with its hinder edge compressed, forming a sharp, nearly undi- 
vided ridge (except in the Larks, which may be known by the long, 
nearly straight hind claw); musical apparatus highly developed; _pri- 
maries properly ten, but the first short, or spurious, or sometimes rudi- 
mentary and misplaced, so that but nine are evident. in which case the 
first developed primary is about as long as second. ( Oscines.) 
