CHAPTER XV 



THE PERCHING-BIRDS 



SUCH an enormous host are included under this head nearly 6,000 out of the total of 

 13,000 known birds and so great are the difficulties connected with their systematic 

 arrangement, that it has been considered best to begin the present chapter with the 

 highest instead of the lowest types of the group. 



The extensive group of Perching-birds is defined mainly from the characters afforded by 

 the structure of the voice-organ, and these are of much too technical a nature to be discussed 



Fh,l, I, C. Riif\ [IViikaw, N.B. 



JACKDAWS 



It is believed that the jackdaw is the bird referred to by Shakespeare as the Russet-fated Chough (Midsummer-Night's Dream, Hi. 2) 



here. Suffice it to say that, on account of these characters, the group is further divided into 

 two sections, and each section again divided into two. 



THE CROWS, ORIOLES, FINCHES, AND THEIR ALLIES 



At the head of the tribe stands, by general though by no means universal consent, the 

 Crow Family, of which the recognised chief is the RAVEN, a bird which has for thousands of 

 years commanded a more than passing interest amongst mankind. Renowned as the truant 

 from the Ark, or as the wonderful minister of the prophet Elijah, there are few even of the 

 youngest amongst us who do not know of its striking personality. The poet and the dramatist 

 have both made use of the raven, and it would seem that it has even found a place in the 

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