DIBECTIONS FOB USING THE KEYS. 



229 



pancy is not beyond certain bounds. A variation of, say, five per cent, may be safely allowed 

 on birds not larger than a robin : from tbis size up to that of a crow or hawk, ten per cent. ; 

 for larger birds even more. Some birds vary up to twenty or twenty-flve per cent., in their 

 total length at least. So if I say of a sparrow for instance, "length six inches," and the 

 specimen is found to be anywhere between five and three-fourths and six and one-fourth, it 

 will be quite near enough. But the relative proportions of the different parts of a bird are 

 much more "constant, and here less discrepancy is allowable^ Thus " tarsus " longer than the 

 middle toe," or the reverse, is often a matter of much less than a quarter of an inch ; and as it 

 is upon just such nice points as this that a great many of the generic analyses rest, the neces- 

 sity of the utmost accuracy in measuring, for the use of the keys, becomes obvious. When I 

 finiit necessary to use the qualification "about" (as, "bUl a6oM< ^ tarsus ") I probably never 

 mean to indicate a difference of more than five per cent, of the length of the part in question. 



It may be well to call attention to the fact, that most persons unaccustomed to handling 

 birds are liable to be deceived in attempting to estimate a given dimension ; they generally 

 make it out less than measurement shows it to be. This seems to be an optical effect con- 

 nected with the solidarity of the object, as is well illustrated in drawing plates of birds, which, 

 when made exactly of life-size, always look larger than the original, on account of the flatness 

 of the paper. The ruler or tape-line, therefore, should always be used, and particularly in 

 those oases where analyses in the key rest upon dimensions. It is hardly necessary to add, 

 that in taking, approximately, the total length from a prepared specimen, regard should be 

 had for the "make-up" of the skin. A little practice wUl enable one to determine pretty 

 accurately how much a skin is stretched or shrunken, and to make the due allowance in either 

 case. „ 



The measurements used in this work are all in English inches and decimals. 



There are probably no signs or "abbreviations not self-explanatory or not already explained 

 in " Field Ornithology." 



"~--^ miff u^^^y^''"~~<:--' ^y^i 



Fio. 112 Ms. — Diagram of corresponding segments of liind limbs of man, hoise, and bird. Tlie lines 1-11 are 

 isotomes, cutting tlie limbs into morpbologicaUy equal parts, or Uomeres. 



