LIFE-HISTORIES 



OF 



BIRDS 



OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Sub-class I. AveS Aurese, or Insessores. 

 Aerial Birds, or Perchcrs. 



Order Passeres. Sub-order Oscines. 



Family CorvidaB, Crows, Jays, etc. 



This somewhat large and important family embraces the 

 ravens, crows, magpies, and kindred types, besides a few 

 diverging species not so well known. It is closely related 

 to the Family Paradiseidce. The following are its charac- 

 ters : ten primaries, the first somewhat abbreviated and 

 nearly one half the length of the second, the outer ones 

 being more or less sinuate and attenuate on the inner web 

 towards the extremities. As is usual among higher birds, the 

 tail possesses twelve rectrices ; but it varies in configuration, 

 being generally rounded, sometimes extremely graduated, 

 but never forked in any of our forms. The tarsus is scutel- 

 lated anteriorly, separated by a groove on one or both sides 

 from the residue of tarsal covering, sometimes naked, and 

 as often filled in by small scales. The bill is stout, as long 

 as, or shorter than the head, tapering, rather acuminate, 

 usually notched, and with convex culmen. The commissu- 

 ral angulation of the Fringillidcc and Icteridce, the deep 

 cleavage of the Hirnndhiidtc, and the remarkable attenua- 

 tion of the Certhiidce and most small insect-eating birds, 

 are wanting. The rictus ordinarily possesses a feu stitrish 

 bristles, which also exist about the base of the bill. The 

 dense covering of the nostrils, with its closely pressed an- 

 trorse bristle-like feathers, is an essential character, which has 



