The\ Identification of Birds 203 
PASSERINE BIRDS OF GENERALIZED 
STRUCTURE 
With no very striking peculiarity; usually mixed 
feeders. 
The Thrushes (Turdide@), found all over 
the world, are so devoid of characteristic 
points that they are not at all easy to 
describe. They are well-proportioned birds 
with slight bills of no great length, and 
slender legs; both the wings and tail usually 
Fig. 15. SWALLOW. well developed, but not remarkably long 
(Fig. 16). The larger and more typical 
Thrushes feed a great deal on fruit as well 
as insects, &c., and often run as well as 
hop when on the ground; the smaller kinds, 
Robins, Chats, Redstarts, and the like, seldom progress except by hopping, and are 
much more exclusively insectivorous. Thrushes are never crested, and their plumage 
is hardly ever glossy, which distinguishes them from some thrush-like starlings. Unlike 
the Babblers, they never hold food in their feet, nor are they sociable like those 
birds. As a rule they have, when first fledged, a buff-spotted plumage, while the 
front of the shank is usually uniform and smooth like the back. This is not, 
however, the case with the ‘“ Hedge-Sparrows” or Accentors, which belong to this 
family, and have the buff-spotted young plumage. The Dippers or Water-Ouzels 
(Cinclus) are also Thrushes, and noteworthy as being the only swimmers and divers 
among the Passerines. The nest varies in this group, but is more often an open one. 
The Mocking-Birds (Mimide) of America are sometimes classed separately. 
The Warblers (Sylviide) are practically small delicate Thrushes, of brown or olive- 
ereen colour as a rule, and devoid of the spotted young plumage. Moreover, the front of 
the shank is separately scaled as usual. They are mainly insectivorous, and do not come 
much to the ground; but some, like our Blackcap and Garden-Warbler, are also great 
fruit-eaters. This is an Old-World group, though one species invades North America. 
Their nests vary, being usually open, but sometimes domed; the well-known Tailor-Bird 
(Orthotomus sutorius) and others which sew leaves for a nest-bag belong to this group. 
The Gold-Crests (Regulus) are sometimes placed in a 
separate family. 
The American Warblers (Mniotiltide) are likewise 
small delicately-shaped birds of usually, tree-haunting 
and insectivorous habits, but they show gay and varied 
colours, and as they are only found in the New World, 
are the less likely to be confused with the true 
Warblers. They appear to grade into the Tanagers 
(Tanagride) on the one hand and the Sugar-Birds 
(Cerebide) on the other. Their nests are open and 
cup-shaped as a rule. 
The Greenlets (Vireonide) are also small American 
tree-haunting insectivorous birds. Their plumage is 
green or olive, and their bills vary from slight to 
stout; they build open nests, and are sometimes classed , 
with the Shrikes, which group the strong-billed types Uy 
somewhat resemble in appearance. Fig. 16. THRUSH. 
