FRINGILLID^. — CLXVII. 281 



feathers. Tarsus scutellate in front, with an undivided ridge 

 behind. 



A very large family, the most extensive in Ornithology, com- 

 prising about 100 genera and 300 species, found in nearly every 

 part of the world, except Australia. They are especially abundant 

 in North America, where about one seventh of all the birds are 

 Fringillidce. " Any one United States locality of average attract- 

 iveness to birds, has a bird-fauna of over two hundred species, and 

 if it be away from the sea-coast, and consequently uninhabited by 

 marine birds, about one-fourth of the species are Mniotillidce and 

 FringillidcB together, the latter somewhat in excess of the former. 

 It is not easy, therefore, to give undue prominence to these two 

 families." (^CouesJ) 



All the Finches are granivorous, feeding chiefly on seeds, but not 

 rejecting either berries or insects ; nearly all sing, and some most 

 delightfully ; most of them are plainly clad, a streaky brown being 

 the prevailing tint, but others are among the most brilliantly col- 

 ored birds. Among these latter only are the changes in plumage 

 strongly marked. (Lat, fringilla, finch.) 



A strictly natural analysis of the genera of Fringillidce is prac- 

 tically impossible, as they do not fall naturally into definable groups. 

 The characters drawn from the development of the palate are not 

 available for the ordinary purposes of the student. The following 

 semi-artificial key is largely adapted from Ridgway's Manual. 



a. Mandibles falcate, crossed at tip ; nostrils concealed by a small ruff. 



LoxiA, 474, 

 aa. Mandibles not crossed at tip. 

 b. Head with a conspicuous crest; bill very large ; culmen strongly curved 



(bill, wings, and tail chiefly red) Cakdinalis, 491. 



hb. Head without crest. 



c. Bill very stout, its depth at base equal to length of hind toe with claw, 

 and more than J tarsus; nostrils partly concealed. 



CoCCOTHRAUSTES, 471. 



cc. Bill less stout, its depth at base less than length of hind toe with 

 claw, 

 e. Nasal plumules long, covering the basal third of upper mandible; 



bill stout PiNicoLA, 472. 



ee. Nasal plumules, if present, covering much less than one-third of 

 length of upper mandible. 

 f. Introduced birds; gonys distinctly convex in profile ; (plumage 

 streaked above, not below; no white, red, yellow, or blue). 



Passer, 473, note. 

 ff. Native birds; gonys straight or nearly so. 



g. Primaries much longer than secondaries (exceeding them by 

 length of tarsus). 

 h. Wing at least 5 times as long as the short tarsus. 

 i. Birds of moderate size, the wing more than 3j inches. 

 j. Base of gonys nearer base of bill than its tip (measuring 



