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CHAPTER X. 



Passerine Order continued. — Conirostres, Conical Beaks. — Orioles. — Star- 

 lings. — Habits of. — Finch Tribe. — Goldfinch. — Anecdotes of. — Nests 

 rapidly completed. — Curious Nests in Africa. — Age of small Birds.— 

 Canary Birds. — Trade in. — Bullfinches, .Piping. — How trained. — Bold- 

 ness of. — Affectionate and Social Habits of. — Also of Linnets. — Use of 

 small Birds in destroying Insects. 



Table X. Order 2. Passerine. 



There are seven genera of this tribe, of which four are foreign ; 

 it is the most numerous perhaps, of all the divisions, including, 

 as it does, that host of hard-billed birds, of infinite variety, 

 from the Starling down to the Sparrow, which is scattered so 

 widely over the face of the globe. To pretend to enumerate 

 them in a work of this kind would be impossible, and we shall 

 therefore confine ourselves to a few anecdotes, illustrating the 

 habits of some of those species which are most familiarly known. 

 We have placed the Starling at the head of them, as being 

 one of the connecting links between the Grakles and Thrush 

 genera of the preceding table and those of the present. There 

 is one other bird, the Golden Oriole, indeed, which is a more 

 closely connecting link, and might, without impropriety, be 

 placed among the conirostral birds, inasmuch as the point of 

 its upper mandible is slightly notched : but we mention the 

 Starling as the best known, the Oriole, or Golden Thrush, 

 being a bird of great rarity in this country, though, when once 

 seen, it cannot fail of being recognised and remembered, the 

 whole plumage, with the exception of the wings and tail, being 

 of a bright orange or golden colour. 



The Starling, although closely resembling the Thrush and 

 Blackbird in some respects, differs from them essentially in 

 others ; and as its beak, on examination, will be found to be 



