200 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and resembles somewhat a Goldfinch's nest, mostly composed of gray- 

 plant fibers and cottony down, feathers, hair and a few grasses, placed 

 in the upright crotch of a tall bush or small tree lo to 25 feet from the 

 ground. The outside dimensions are about 3 by 2.5 inches, the inside 

 dimensions 2 by 1.5. The eggs are 3 or 4 in number, milk white in color, 

 the average size .65 by .50 inches. Fresh eggs are found from May 20 

 to 30, or in the northern counties from the 5th to the 15th of June. 



Suborder OSCIXES 



Songbirds 



Syrinx with 4 or 5 pairs of intrinsic muscles. These are inserted 

 at the ends of the 3 upper bronchial half rings, thereby producing a greater 

 flexibility and effectiveness of the voice apparatus. The tarsus is bilami- 

 nate, each side being covered with a horny plate meeting its mate behind 

 in a sharp ridge. The primaries are 9 or 10, the first often short or spurious. 



This suborder includes the greater nimiber of our perching birds which 



are characterized by the complexity of their song. They all have the 



bilaminate tarsus, with the exception of the larks described under Family 



Alaudidae, and the thrushes with their relatives, that have a "booted tarsus," 



the chief characteristic of these highly differentiated birds which are usually 



considered to represent the acme of avian evolution. 



Family A.LA.UDIDA.E 



Larks 



Wings long and pointed, the inner secondaries conspicuously elongated; 

 primaries 9 to 10 in number; tail of moderate length, rather broad and 

 squarish; bill stout, short, subcorneal; nostrils covered with tufts of bristles; 

 tarsus subcylindrical and scutellate both before and behind, a very unusual 

 condition for the passerine foot; the hind claw long ajid much straightened, 

 evidently adapted for walking in the field or snow; moult single; plumage 

 more or less mottled and streaked. This family is holarctic in distribution, 

 numbering about one hundred species. They resemble sparrows in feed- 

 ing habits. Most, if not all the members of the family, however, seem 

 to be walkers instead of hoppers, spending most of their time upon the 

 ground. They are excellent flyers, however, progressing in long, sweeping 

 undulations, and many of the species migrate over vast extents of country. 

 They are musical, several species singing while on the wing, mounting 



