CHAPTER XV. 



THE PERCHING-BIRDS. 



V.r 



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 denned mainly from the characters afforded by 

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



I'hotoby C. Reid} 



[Wiihaic, N.B. 



JACKDAWS. 

 It is believed that the jackdaw is the bird referred to by Shakeepeare as the Russet-pated Chough (Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 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. 



v\ " ' 



THE CROWS, ORIOLES, FINCHES, AND THEIR ALLIES. 



At the head of the tribe standsj 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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