CHAPTER XXVI. 



PASSERES. 



Perchers Proper Altricial Birds. 



This order includes about half of all the known birds. 

 Their range is from tropical to arctic regions. Practically 

 all the countries of the known world have their character- 

 istic Passeres, while there are some genera that are 

 practically common to all. This is 

 the order of the robins, the thrushes, 

 the catbirds, the sparrows, the crows, 

 and the jays. 



The feet are perfectly adapted for 

 perching, first, by the strength and 

 position of the hind toe, and by the 

 fact that it can be placed opposite to 

 any one of the other toes, much as the 

 human thumb can be apposed to any 

 one of the fingers. (Fig. 107.) No one 

 of the front toes is capable of being 

 turned backward, and all the toes are 

 separate to their bases. With one 

 exception there are always four toes, 

 and the bird which makes this excep- 

 tion does not appear among our birds so it need not give 

 us any trouble. The passerine foot comes nearest to the 

 human hand in the range of its adaptability. 



The Passeres were named by Cuvier in 1798; the 

 name is the plural of the Latin noun, passer, meaning a 

 sparrow. The group with its present limits was estab- 



307 



FIG. 107. Typical 

 passerine foot. 



