51 



of Finches, Crossbills, Snow-flakes, Buntings, and Sparrows {Fri/i- 

 gillidcz), numbering over five hundred and fifty species, with repre- 

 sentatives in all parts of the world, except the Australian region. 

 They are for the most part plainly colored, with very rarely any 

 special ornamentation, but varying greatly in the size and form of 

 the beak. The Crossbills have the mandibles curved and crossed 

 at the point; the Grosbeaks, particularly in some of the South 

 American genera, have the beak enormously thickened, while in the 

 Long-spurs and Snow-flakes it is small and rather slender. Bright- 

 ly colored forms are, however, not wholly wanting, examples of 



Fig. i6. Nests of African Weaver Birds. 



which being the Gold-finches, Cardinals, and Nonpareils (see 

 Case B). Many of the Sparrows and Finches are among the most 

 familiar birds of nearly all countries, and not a few are highly 

 prized for their songs. Being mostly hardy, seed-eating species 

 they thrive well in confinement and form favorite cage-birds. 



The Weaver-birds {Ploceidce) are closely allied to the Sparrows 

 and Finches in general features— differing mainly in having 

 ten primary wing feathers instead of nine — but as a whole are 

 more brightly colored and some are otherwise more strikingly 

 marked, as the Vida-Finches or Widow-Finches of Africa, by 



