ABTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 



233 



Page 

 — exposed; length — over 9 Inches; color brown or bine . CoRvroM Hi 

 — 7-8 inches; crested; S glossy black Ampelid^ 326 

 1| 6^ inches; bill distinctly hooked; tail soft, 



without black VntEONiD^ 329 

 H di inches; bill slender, curved, tail stiff, acute 



Ceethiid^ 272 

 — Birds without these characters ; rictus — bristled 



TusniDM 240 

 — unbiistled 

 Teoglodttidje 373 



(k.) XUSOB — Bcutelliplantar; hind claw straight (Larks) ,. Alaudid^ 280 



— laminlplantar; bill — metagnathous, both mandibles falcate, their points crossed 



FUINGILLID^ 339 



— paragnathous, tomia of up. mand. toothed or lobed near middle 



(Tanagers) Taitagbid^ 317 



— epigaathous,notcbed and hooked at tip. Length SJ-e^ Vireontd^ 329 



— various. Quills — tipped with red horny appendages ; head 



crested AMPELiD.aE 325 

 —not appendaged; bill — flssirostral (go to 1). 



— dentirostral or tenui- 

 rostral (go to m). 

 — conirostral (go to n). 

 (la) Bill triangular-depressed, about as wide at base as long, gape twice as long as culmen, reaching 



about opposite eyes, tarsus not longer than outer toe and claw (Swallows) HiBUNDnnD.*! 319 



(m.) Longest secondary nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind claw (usually) little 



curved, nearly twice as long as middle claw (Titlarks) MoTAoiLLiDiE 283 



Longest secondary not nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind claw well curved, 

 not nearly twice as. long as middle claw (Warblers, &c.) . C(EKEBID.aE 317, or Syivicoud.*; 287 



(n.) Bill usually thick, stout, and with evident angulation of the commissure Ioiebid.^ 399 



ori FRiifQiLLiD.s; 339 



» Note. — These two families carnnot be concisely distinguished. Iciebid^ contains the blackbirds, orioles, 

 meadow starlings, bobolinks, and oowbirds. Fbihgilltda, our largest family, includes all kinds of grosbeaks, 

 buntings, linnets, flnches, and sparrows. 



Z— 







Fia. 112 ter. Diagram of fore limbs of man, bat, horse, and bird. The lines 1-9 ai;e isotomea, cutting the limbs 

 into morphologically equal parts, or isomeres. 



