SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES. 



LAND-BIRDS. 



ORDER PASSERES: PERCHING BIRDS. 



SUB-ORDER OSCINES: SINGING BIRDS. 



THE birds of this Order have the most highly complex 

 vocal organs, the term Oscines being derived from the 

 Latin, signifying those birds whose songs were regarded in 

 past times as augural. 



Family Turdidae : Thrushes. Page 57. 



7 Species. 1 



Birds of moderate size and stoutish build, bills of mod- 

 erate length, sexes of nearly similar plumage. Melodious 

 singers, feeding chiefly on the ground. The American 

 Robin and the Bluebird belong to this family. The true 

 Thrushes vary through browns and olives on the back, with 

 light breasts more or less spotted, and tails that are wider 

 at the tip than at the base. Insectivorous birds, also casual 

 fruit-eaters. Hoppers. 



Family Sylviidae : Kinglets. Page 68. 



2 Species. 



Very small insectivorous birds, feeding in the trees. 

 General tone of plumage olivaceous, with highly coloured 

 crown patch. Song, during the spring migration, rich and 

 powerful for such small birds. Seen here only in autumn, 

 winter, and early spring. 



1 Number of species described. 

 43 



