INSESSORES. 



461 



The family of the Starlings (Sturnida] is not separated from 

 that of the Crows by any important characters. Besides our 

 common Starlings, it includes a number of other more or less 

 singular birds, of which the Bower-birds of Australia are perhaps 

 the most peculiar. These curious birds have the habit of 

 building very elaborate bowers, often very beautifully constructed 

 and of considerable size, in which they amuse themselves and 

 apparently make love to one another. These bowers are wholly 

 independent of their nests, which they construct elsewhere. 



The last family of the Conirostres is that of the Fringillida, 

 comprising the Finches, Linnets, and Larks. In these birds 

 the bill is stout and conical, with a sharp apex, but not having 

 the upper mandible toothed. The toes are adapted for perch- 

 ing, and are provided with 

 long and curved claws, that 

 of the hinder toe being 

 usually longer than the rest. 

 They are all monogamous, 

 and they build more or less 

 elaborate nests. In this family 

 are the true Finches (Frin- 

 gillina), the Buntings, the 

 Larks, the Tanagers, the 

 Grosbeaks, and many others, 

 but their numbers are so 

 great that any further notice 

 of them is impossible here. 



The only remaining members of the Conirostres which 

 require notice are the Cross-bills (Loxiada), which are some- 

 times placed with the Finches, and sometimes considered 

 as a separate order. In these birds the structure of the beak 

 is so peculiar that its Conirostral character is completely 

 masked, and it has been looked upon as a deformity. Both 

 mandibles, namely, cross one another towards the tip, giving 

 the entire bill a most remarkable appearance. In point of 

 fact, however, instead of being a deformity, the bill of the 

 Cross-bills is a beautiful natural adaptation, enabling the bird 

 with the greatest facility to tear in pieces the hard fir-cones, on 

 the seeds of which it feeds. 



Sub -order 2. Dentirostres. The birds in this section are 

 characterised by the fact that the upper mandible is provided 

 with a distinct notch in its lower margin near the tip (fig. 178, 

 D). They all feed upon insects. This sub-order includes the 

 Shrikes (Laniidce), the Fly-catchers (Muscicapidcz\ the Thrushes 

 (Merulidce), the Tits (Parince), and the Warblers (Sylviadce). 



Fig. 179. Head of the common Bullfinch 

 (Pyrrhula vulgaris), showing the Coni- 

 rostral beak. 



