DEGLUBITRICES. 185 



prinse, already alluded to, presents similar general cha- 

 racters ; but of this tribe we are entirely destitute. These 

 birds collectively form the order above designated, of which 

 the characters are as follows. 



Bill short or moderate, conical, with the sides convex, 

 the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute, the upper 

 mandible with scarcely any notch or sinus near the ex- 

 tremity. Tongue moderate, slender, compressed, grooved 

 above, horny toward the end, with the tip slit ; oesopha- 

 gus rather wide, and on the middle of the neck dilated 

 into a crop of moderate size, inclining to the right side ; 

 stomach a powerful gizzard, of a roundish form, com- 

 pressed, with two large lateral muscles ; its cuticular lin- 

 ing dense, tough, and longitudinally rugous ; intestine 

 short, or of moderate length ; coeca very small, cylindri- 

 cal, adnate ; cloaca not dilated. Trachea with four pairs 

 of inferior laryngeal muscles. Nostrils roundish at the 

 base of the bill. Eyes of moderate size. Aperture of ear 

 large. Feet with four toes, placed in the same plane, 

 the first stouter, the three anterior slightly spreading ; 

 claws rather long, arched, compressed, tapering to a fine 

 point. Wings of moderate length, rather pointed, the 

 outer three quills longest ; tail of twelve feathers. 



The Deglubitrices, of which species occur in all parts 

 of the world, live chiefly on seeds or other vegetable sub- 

 stances ; but also partly on insects and worms. They 

 generally advance by leaping, but a few walk in the man- 

 ner of the Crows and Starlings. Their flight is rapid, 

 light, generally undulated. Almost all of them are gre- 

 garious in winter, some at all seasons. Of the twenty- 

 five species which occur with us, seventeen are perma- 

 nently resident, all the rest winter visitants from the 

 north, excepting one straggler from the south. Like the 



