CHAPTER V. 
PASSERINE Birps—concluded. 
FINCHES, SWALLOWS, SUNBIRDS, &C. 
THE FINCHES. 
Tue Finches are the largest family of birds, and out- 
rival the Thrushes in the wideness of their distribution. 
They are very easily recognizable by their beak, which is 
always more or less markedly conical in form, being thick 
and high at the root and tapering very rapidly to the tip. 
Of course some have longer and thinner bills than others, 
but there is no mistaking a Finch’s bill. The nostrils are 
set at the very root, where the forehead feathering begins, 
and the mouth turns down at the corner as in the Starlings. 
The use of this stout beak is to crack seed, the 
Finches being mainly seed-eaters, and always husking 
their seed before they swallow it. In fact, they eat all 
food rather slowly, not gulping it like most birds. They 
readily eat other things as well as seed, such as fruit, 
buds, leaves, and insects, and should always have some 
such food allowed them in captivity. 
Finches are, as a family, small birds; they are never 
larger than a Mynah, and some are among the very 
tiniest of birds. The short-winged Finches of the warmer 
parts of the Old World, with, for the most part, stouter 
bills and coarser feet than the more migratory Finches 
