BIRD. 



409 



two primary subdivisions of diurnal, and nocturnal 

 or crepuscular feeders, are distinct, so that the one 

 cannot, in any specie?, be mistaken for the other; 

 and though, especially iti the diurnal division, there is 

 a very considerable gradation in all the leading 

 characters, so that those at the one extremity differ 

 much from those at the other, yet there is enough of 

 general resemblance preserved, in the beak, the feet, 

 the wings, and even the plumage, to distinguish them 

 from the birds of every other order. 



PASSEKES. This is a much more numerous order 

 than the birds of prey, and by no means so natural. 

 This might, be expected from its extent, and also 

 from the name, which being that of one genus, or 

 species of bird, that of the sparrow, can have little 

 meaning as descriptive of an order. 



The five sub-orders or tribes, into which it is 

 divided, improve it a little, but still they are far 

 from perfect, as they bring together in the system 

 birds whose structures and habits are very different 

 from each other. These five orders are, Dentirostres 

 (toothed bills), which are, generally speaking, feeders 

 upon insects or mollusca, though some of them occa- 

 sionally kill birds ; Fissirosfres (open bills), in which 

 the mandibles do not shut close for their whole 

 length, which are chiefly insect-feeders, 9 ml catch 

 their prey by hawking on the wing; Coniroxtras 

 (conical hills), which have the bill more or less 

 enlarged at the base, and tapering to the point, 

 which arc more miscellaneous in their feeding, but 

 differing so much in their characters and habits, 

 that no one can be selected properly descriptive of 

 the whole tribe ; Tenuirostrcs (slender bills), which 

 feed much on larvsp, and other small animals in the 

 soft state, but catch them in such different situations 

 and ways, that they can hardly be said to have one 

 very striking character in common ; and Syndactyles 

 (united toes), which agree in that structure of the 

 feet, and in several characters, though they differ in 

 others. 



That the last of these tribes or subdivisions of the 

 order is founded upon the structure of the feet, and 

 all the others upon that of the bills, is of itself suf- 

 ficient to show that they cannot be very accurately 

 descriptive of the birds. Dentirostreg is far from 

 accurate, because the birds have a notch in the bill 

 rather than a tooth. The falcons are the true den- 

 tirostres, the tooth in the bill being one of their lead- 

 ing characters, and they are the most typical birds 

 in the order accipitres. Besides, these birds are not 

 the only ones which have a notch in the bill, for 

 some of the divers, and other fishing birds, that have 

 not the tomia of the bill serrated, for the prehension 

 of their slippery prey, have it notched towards the 

 tip. This subdivision of the order contains birds so 

 different, both in appearance and in habit, that it 

 does not admit of much useful general description ; 

 because the characters applicable to one part of it 

 could not be applied to other parts without so much 

 modification as would render them almost entirely 

 new. 



The Fissirostrcs, or open bills, are much better. 

 They are but few, and though some of them are 

 nocturnal, and others diurnal, yet they agree tolerably 

 well in their general habits. Their bills are all very 

 broad at the base ; they are very wide in the gape ; 

 and they do not close in the length of the tomia, so 

 as to cut or bruise hard substances. The whole 

 division are consequently insect-feeders, and feeders on 



the wing, as this form of bill is not adapted for picking- 

 food out of crevices, or even off the ground. 



The Conirostrcs, though not quite so vague as Denti- 

 rostres, are still by no means well or generally 

 described by the name, as any one will perceive upon 

 finding that it includes the lark, the raven, and the 

 bird of paradise, three genera which are unlike each 

 other in appearance, character, haunt, and manners. 

 The name is not indeed accurately descriptive of the 

 bill, as it appears generally in birds of the division. 

 No doubt the bill is, generally speaking, enlarged at 

 the base, and tapering toward the tip, straight, or free 

 from any notch in the tomia, more firm in its general 

 texture, and especially in its cutting edges, than the 

 notched bills of the first division ; but it is conical 

 only in a few genera, and most conspicuously so in 

 the grosbeaks and finches. In other genera it is of 

 a great variety of shapes, sometimes angular, some- 

 times arched in the culmen, sometimes coulter- 

 shaped, and, in fact, of so many different forms, that it 

 cannot with propriety be described by any one general 

 epithet, for the more accurately which that epithet 

 were descriptive of the bill of one genus, it would be 

 the less descriptive of that of others. 



There is, however, a shadowy sort of general 

 resemblance in texture and function among those 

 bills, though it is not very easy to find an appropriate 

 name for it. The texture, at least at the cutting 

 edges, is always firm ; these, in general, close for the 

 whole of their length, and thus they are capable of 

 bruising hard substances, such as seeds with tough 

 coats, and also for digging or boring into the ground 

 in quest of earth insects, or of albuminous roots. 

 Sometimes, as in the case of the crossbills, the bills of 

 those birds have a very peculiar structure ana action ; 

 and, generally speaking, the muscles which move the 

 bill are more powerful, and consequently the head is 

 more enlarged than in the species which feed more 

 exclusively upon insects. 



The birds of this division certainly range awkwardly 

 together, whatever name they may be called by ; and 

 yet it is not very easy to separate them into groups 

 more numerous than families or genera, in a manner 

 that would be much less exceptionable. 



The species which may be considered as forming 

 the one extreme of the division are birds of powerful 

 form and firm plumage. Many of them are voracious, 

 and somewhat gross in their feeding. They eat all 

 manner of carrion and garbage, have no great objection 

 to kill any animal which they can master, especially 

 if they find it in a sick or weakly condition. Some 

 of them occasionally hawk after small birds on the 

 wing, but that is not a general habit with them ; they 

 proceed by stealthincss and craft rather than by 

 daring, as the accipitres do, and in general attack only 

 that which they can take at a disadvantage. They 

 are also great plunderers of the nests of other birds. 



The species which may be regarded as forming the 

 opposite extreme of the division are birds of very 

 different characters and habits. They are of small 

 size, not much disposed to attack other birds for the 

 purpose of preying upon them, and, generally speak- 

 ing, vegetable feeders, though most of them add 

 worms and the larvae of insects at the time when they 

 have their young. 



These two have been named from the general nature 

 of their feeding the first, Omniwra, or general 

 feeders ; and the second, Granivora, or feeders upon 

 grains, or vegetable seeds. These names are not, in 



