CASSELL'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



ORDER m. PASSERIFORMES THE PERCHING BIRDS, 



CHAPTER I. 



CROWS. 



Order of Perching Birds largest of all Orders Chief Distinguishing Features Two Great Sections of Passerine Birds 

 Distribution- SECTION .4(7O.MT01>/-CIassification by Wing -Sub-order TURDIFOEMES THE CROWS 

 Distribution THE COMMON ROOK Appearance Young Rook Bare Face Distribution Breeding Habits 

 Attachment to Nesting-places, or " Rookeries "Is it a Useful Bird? Its Vigorous Appetite THE TRUE 

 RAVENS Distribution THE COMMON RAVEN Ravens of the Old and New World Distribution Habits His After- 

 Dinner Talk THE COMMON JACKDAW Social Character Cleverness Appearance Habitat Curious instance of 

 Daubing its Eggs THE HOOPED CROW Distribution A Migration Heligoland and its Inhabitants THE CARRION 

 CROW Distribution Inter-breeding with the Hooded Crow Mr. Lumsden's Note on the Subject Mr. Seebohm's 

 Note on the Birds in Eastern Siberia Habits THE INDIAN GREY-NECKED CROW Captain Vincent Legge's Account 

 of its Habits THE COMMON MAGPIE Mischievous Habits Familiarity Instances of Nesting in Gooseberry Bushes 

 Appearance THE TREE PIES THE INDIAN TREE PIE -THE COMMON JAY Its Bad Character As a Pet Appearance 

 THE BLUE JAYS THE COMMON BLUE JAYS THE LONG-TAILED BLUE JAYS THE BARE-NECKED CROW THE HUIA, 

 OR NEW ZEALAND WOOD CROW Curious Form Dr. Buller's Account Its Habitat Rarity Disposition How 

 Specimens were Caught Diet How they Searched for Food Second Sub-family of the Crows CHOUGHS. 



THE order of Perching Birds, known to our readers by the names of Passerine birds, or Insessores, is the 

 largest of all the orders, and contains more than half of the whole number of birds now known. One of 

 the chief distinguishing features of a Passerine bird is its foot, which is simple and ordinary in construc- 

 tion, with well developed toes and claws, the claw of the hind toe being larger than that of any of the 

 other toes. The breast-bone, or sternum, is simple, having only one notch in the hinder margin : and in 

 this respect it differs at once from that of all the Picarian birds which have been treated of in the preceding 

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