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THE IDENTIFICATION OF wf A 
BIRDS. se 
PART IL.—PASSERINES. 
By EF. FINy, B.A., F.Z.S. 
Qo OREN the enormous number of 
species included in the Passeride, and the =, 
fact that they differ so little im anatomical oS 
characters that they are really only equivalent 
to one family, 1t is not surprising that they 
are difficult to subdivide. There is thus no 
Flag 
royal road to their identification, for some 
of the groups merge into each other in so Su kare edad 
confusing a manner as to defy exact definition; yet, after a certain inlies 
= = 2 HAWFINCH. 
amount of practice and observation of the characters of typical 
examples of the various subdivisions of the family, even an unknown Passerine bird may 
be referred to its proper section with a fair amount of confidence, though exceptions 
must be expected. 
The great agreement in anatomical characters presented by this huge group is 
paralleled by their similarity in foot-structure; one has only to compare the Lyre-Bird 
(Fig. 1) with the Hawfinch (Fig. 2) to see how similar they are in plan, although the 
two birds are about as different as any two Passerines can be. The dominance, so to 
speak, of the hind-toe, and the small number and large size of the scales covering the 
whole member, strike one at once. The most important detail to notice in the way of 
difference is the length of the shank in the one and its shortness in the other, and 
the fact that in the Lyre-Bird the backs of the shanks are covered with separate scales, 
and not with continuous horny plates as in the Hawfinch; the uniform plating at the 
back being the rule. These differences of the scaling of the shanks are important in 
classification; and the relative lengths are also useful means of distinction, though not 
always constant in any given group. 
The bills of the two birds also mark a distinction which is very noticeable; the 
luyre-Bird’s being a fairly typical insect-eater’s bill, shght in form and moderate in length, 
although the unusually forward position of the nostril is not a common character; while 
the Hawfinch’s huge nut-cracker shows the seed-eater’s beak in its most extreme form. 
It will be noticed that the bill and foot of the Jackdaw, shown in the last article, 
are of a somewhat intermediate type, their owner being literally a jack-of-all-trades, and 
able to turn his bill and foot to almost any use, like the crow tribe in general. 
In giving the scientific names of the Passerine groups, I shall use the termination 
-d@e, as in the real families dealt with in the last article. The reason for this is 
that ornithologists, although admitting the insignificance of the Passerine groups, from 
the point of view of the anatomists who make their classifications, yet somewhat 
mconsistently retain them as families, instead of reducing them to sub-family rank. 
(Sub-families are indicated by the termination -in@.) It should be remarked, however, 
that uniform as these subdivisions of the Passerines appear anatomically and in their 
foot-structure, they are remarkably distimct in that they never interbreed—one never 
195 
