BIRDS 



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— sparrows, swallows, larks, blackbirds, orioles, kingbirds, and many others 

 well known to every bird lover. In this group the toes are so placed, three 

 toes being turned forward and 

 one backward, as to be perfectly 

 adapted to perching. A large 

 number of our sweetest song- 

 sters belong among the perchers, 

 the warblers, wrens, thrushes, 

 bluebirds, and last but not 

 least, our robin. 



II. The Fowls or Gallina- 

 ceous Birds. — This order is of 

 great economic importance. 

 From the jungle fowl, found 

 wild in the jungles of India, all 

 our domesticated fowls have de- 

 scended. Other familiar exam- 

 ples are the turkeys, quails, partridge or ruffed grouse, and the pheasants and 

 prairie chickens. In this group the legs are strong and stout, the body thick- 

 set, the bill and claws rather blunt. Birds of this order do not fly far in a 

 state of nature, preferring to live on or near the ground. Such birds as the 

 ruffed grouse, which nest on the ground, are almost invariably protectively 



White-throated sparrow {Zonotrichia albicuUis). 



Ptarmigan in winter. Davison, Zoology. 



colored Another interesting example of protective resemblance in this 

 grouf is seen in the ptarmigan. This bird in the winter is white as the 



