xxii NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Bill stout, tumid, convex in nearly all its outlines; tomia not 

 angulated, but with one or more lobes or nicks in advance of 

 the base. Nostrils placed very high. Other characters much 

 as in Sylvicolidce. Colors chiefly red and yellow. One genus of Tanagridce. 



Bill truly conic, much shorter than head, usually with the an- 

 gulation evident ; no lobe along middle of tomia, but usually a 

 notch at end. Nostrils placed very high. Rictal bristles usually 



obvious Frincjillidce. 



Bill conic, but lengthened, little if any shorter than head; the 

 angulation of the tomia evident; no notch at end. Nostrils hifh. 



No rictal bristles Ideridce. 



hb. Primaries ten. 



Otherwise with characters much as in Ideridce . . . Sturnidce. 

 d. Nostrils concealed with antrorse bristly feathers (except in 

 Psilorliinus and Oymnokitta)} 



Base of bill sheathed with antrorse bristly feathers, having 

 lateral branches to their very ends ; its tip mostly notched. 

 Basal joint of middle toe united only half-way to the lateral. 

 Sides of tarsus occupied by a lateral groove, mostly filled in 

 with small plates. First primary more than half as long as 

 second. Large, — over seven inches ..... Corvidce. 

 Base of bill with two tufts of bristly feathers, ending in sim- 

 ple filaments without lateral branches, its tip mostly un- 

 notched. Basal joint of middle toe united nearly all its length 

 with the lateral. Sides of tarsus ungrooved. First primary 

 less than half as long as second. Small, — under seven inches. ParidcB? 

 dd. Nostrils exposed. 



e. Tail scansorial, with rigid acute feathers. Whole bill 

 slender, compressed, acute, decurved, unnotched, unbristled. 



Outer toe much longer than inner Certhiidce. 



ee. Tail not scansorial, graduated. First primary not less 

 (generally more) than half as long as the second, and inner 

 toe united to the middle by at least one half (usually more) 

 of the length of its basal joint. 



Tarsus with few obscure scuteha. Rictal bristles present. 

 Bill stout, but not toothed nor hooked. Wing excessively 

 rounded (fifth, sixth, and seventh primaries longest), much 

 shorter than the long graduated tail. Size small. Plumage 



brown, unhanded Chamceadce. 



Tarsus distinctly scutellate. Nostrils wholly exposed, 



nostrils are nearer the eiilmen than the tomia. The whole bill is more or less bent in its axis from 

 the axis of the cranial base, so that the palate curves down, or is excavated or, as it were, is broken 

 into two planes meeting at an angle, — one plane the anterior hard imperforate roof of the mouth, 

 the other the back palate where the internal nares are situate (Sundevall). The single North 

 American genus of Tanagridce (Pyranga) is here conventionally ranged on account of its high 

 nostrils and conic bill, although it does not show angulation of the tomia. The Ideridce, with 

 obviously angulated tomia, shade into the Frincjillidce in shortness and thickness of bill, and into 

 other families in its length and slenderness. 



^ These two genera, PsiJorhinua and Gijmnokitta, of the family Corvidce, have naked nostrils, 

 as under dd, hut otherwise show the characters of Corvidce. 



2 With the Paridoe the authors of this work include the Nuthatches as a subfamily Sittince, 

 which I prefer to dissociate and place as a group of equal grade next to Certhiidce. 



