BIRDS 



177 



KEY, OR TABLE, FOR CLASSIFYING BIRDS {Class Aves) 



INTO ORDERS 



Aj Wings not suited for flight, 2 or 3 toes 

 A 2 Wings suited for flight (except the penguin) 

 Bj Toes united by a web for swimming, legs short 

 Cj Feet placed far back ; wings short, tip not 



reaching to base of tail (Fig. 300) 

 C 2 Bill flattened, horny plates under margin 



of upper bill (Fig. 323) 

 C 3 Wings long and pointed, bill slender 

 C 4 All four toes webbed, bare sac under 

 throat 

 B 2 Toes not united by web for swimming 

 C, Three front toes, neck and legs long, tibia 



(shin, or " drumstick ") partly bare 

 C 2 Three front toes, neck and legs not long 

 Dj Claws short and blunt (e, Fig. 300) 

 E t Feet and beak stout, young feathered, 



base of hind toe elevated 

 E 2 Feet and beak weak, young naked 

 D 2 Claws long, curved and sharp, bill 



hooked and sharp 

 •D 3 Claws long, slightly curved, bill nearly 

 straight 

 C 3 Two front and two hind toes (Fig. 300) 

 £>, Bill straight, feet used for climbing 

 D 1 Bill hooked, both bill and feet used for 

 climbing 



Orders 



Runners 



Divers 



Bill-strainers 



Sea-fliers 

 Gorgers 



Waders 



scratchers 



Messengers 

 Robbers 



Perchers 



Foot-climbers 

 Bill-climbers 



The Food of Birds. — Extracts from Bulletin No. 54 

 (United States Dept. of Agriculture), by F. E. L. Beal. 



The practical value of birds in controlling insect pests should 

 be more generally recognized. It may be an easy matter to 

 exterminate the birds in an orchard or grain field, but it is an 

 extremely difficult one to control the insect pests. It is certain, 

 too, that the value of our native sparrows as weed destroyers is 

 not appreciated. Weed seed forms an important item of the 

 winter food of many of these birds, and it is impossible to estimate 

 the immense numbers of noxious weeds which are thus annually 



