52 AVES. 



plete : auditory aperture small, oval : head without egrets : 

 wings moderate; third quill longest. 



(1. SURNIA.) Legs and toes thickly feathered. 



(2. NOCTUA.) Tarsi feathered : toes either feathered or hairy. 



ORDER II. INSESSORES. 



Bill various : legs short, or of moderate length : feet 

 adapted for perching: toes four, varying in posi- 

 tion, flat underneath; hind toe articulated on the 

 same plane with the fore toes : claws slender, some- 

 what retractile, curved and acute. 



I. DENTIROSTRES. Bill moderate, more or 

 less weak, furnished with a notch or tooth on 

 each side towards the tip: rictus armed with 

 bristles : feet generally slender ; toes three before 

 and one behind. 



(LANIIDJE.) 



12. LANIUS Bill robust, convex above, much com- 

 pressed at the sides, furnished at the base with hairy fea- 

 thers directed forwards; upper mandible hooked at the 

 extremity, and strongly notched : nostrils basal, lateral, 

 nearly round, partly closed by a membrane: wings with 

 the first quill short ; the second shorter than the third and 

 fourth, which are longest. 



(MUSCICAPIDJE.) 



13. MUSCICAPA. Bill moderate, somewhat tri- 

 angular, depressed at the base, compressed towards the 

 tip, which is deflected ; the upper mandible emarginated : 

 rictus armed with long stiff bristles : tarsus a little longer 



