OF ORNITHOLOGY 27 



ing, but mostly liard and strong, not weak ; syrinx with more 

 than one pair of muscles. This sub-order is usually defined 

 as including all the birds of the order 7iof included in the two 

 other sub-orders. 



Sub-order 3 PICI or Woodpecker-like Birds 



Same as (Jrder 2. 

 This sub-order generally refers almost exclusively to the 

 Woodpeckers. Wings of ordinary character, not unusually 

 long and pointed ; hind toe not unusually short ; toas in pairs, 

 zygodactyle ; bill stout and straight, not weak ; tongue long 

 and slender. 



This whole order is usually best treated by deKning the sep- 

 arate families in the successive order of their likeness to each- 

 other ; this is really no great labor as there are not many of 

 them. It is ab(^ut the only order among the birds that cannot 

 l)e readily divided. The young student will do well to study 

 the order thoroughly by itself, and become perfectly familiar 

 with the forms that occur in it, — it will then divide itself in 

 his mind naturally and give him comparatively little trouble 

 in referring its members to their proper places. 



ORDER III PSITTACI 



Latin psiitacu.s, Greek psiitake. a parrot; Greek sizo, to hiss. 

 Bill with a cere, and with upper mandible curving over the 

 under ; feet zygodactyle. No one would ever mistake the 

 general form and appearance of a parrot, though the species 

 are very few here in North America. It has no special sub- 

 orders here. 



ORDER IV RAPTORES 



Ijatiii raptor, a robber. 

 This order is so distinctive in its characters as to be readily 

 told from any of the other orders, even without the aid of spe- 

 cial characteristics. Like the Parrots, it has the bill with a 

 cere and with the upper mandible curving over the under, but 



