OSCINES. SINGING BIRDS. 145 



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SUB-ORDER OSCINES. Singing Birds. 



Toes, three anterior, one behind, all at the same level, and none versatile, the 

 outer anterior never entirely free to the base ; tail feathers twelve; primaries, either 

 nine only, or else the first is spurious or Tnuch shorter than the second, malcing the 

 tenth; tail feathers usually twelve; tarsi feathered to the knee, the pla'tes on the 

 anterior face either fused into one or with distinct divisions, the posterior portion of 

 the sides covered h\ one continuous plate on either side, meeting in a sharp edge 

 behind, or with only a few divisions inferiorly. Occasionally, the hinder side has 

 transverse plates, corresponding in number to the anterior; but there are tlien usuallv 

 r.one on the sides. Larynx provided with a peculiar muscular apparatus for singing, 

 composed of five pairs of muscles. 



Family TURDID^. The Thrushes. 



The following characteristics of this ftimily and its genera, represented in New 

 England, are given by Professor Spencer F. Baird, in his recent "Review of the 

 Birds of North America," published in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions : — 



"Primaries ten, the first of which is either spurious or much shorter than the 

 second. The bill is elongated and subulate, moderately slender, and usually notched 

 at tip; nostrils uncovered; the culmen moderately curved from the base, and the 

 mouth well provided with bristles, except in a few cases. Usually, the scutellie 

 covering the front and sides of the tarsus are fused into one continuous plate, or else 

 scarcely appreciable, except on the inner edge only ; in the Mocking Thrushes, they 

 are, however, distinctly marked. The lateral toes are nearly equal, the outer rather 

 the longer." These general characteristics apply also to the SaxicoUdce, more ful!v 

 spoken of in a succeeding page. 



The peculiar characteristics of the family Turdklm are: "Wings moderate, more 

 rounded, not reaching beyond middle of the often rounded tail, and not more \\\&n 

 one and a third the latter, usualh' more nearh' equal. Spurious primary sometimes 

 half the length of second quill, the second quill shorter than the fourth. In the 

 closed wing, the outer secondary reaches three-fourths or more the length of longest 

 primary." 



Professor Baird divides this family into the sub-families Turdlna, which have 

 ^' tarsi covered anteriorly with a continuous plate;" and the il/iVantc, whose tarsi 

 arc scutellate anteriorly ; scutellse seven. 



Suh-Family Turdin^. 



Nostrils oval ; bristles along the base of the bill from gape to nostrils, those oi 

 rictus not reaching beyond nostrils; the loral feathers with bristly points; second 

 quill longer than sixth; outer lateral toes longer; wings long. 



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