46 



IDKNTTFTCATION. 



Is he a Flycatcher? Look at his bill. Is it broad and flat, with 

 bristles at its base ? Is it such a bill, in fact, 

 as he would catch flies with when he is on 

 the wing ? Are his nostrils partly hidden 

 under the frontal plumes ? Are his toes all 

 free of each other, and the middle one much 

 longer than the rest ? Has he small feet ? 

 Is his wing long and pointed, and with the second primary a trifle 

 shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth, which are longer than any of 

 the others ? If not we can pass on from Muscicapinas. 



Is he a Shrike ? Has he a short bill with a tooth in it, as if he 

 could be a bird of prey on occasion ; has 

 he a good deal of soft slaty grey in his 

 plumage ; are two of his toes united, the 

 middle toe with the outer ? Has he 

 forward pointing hairs at the base of his 

 bill ? Is his middle toe shorter than his 

 tarsus ? Are his nostrils oval ? Is his 

 third primary longer than the others ? 

 No. Then he cannot be assigned to the Laniinas. 



Is he a Nuthatch ? Has he a long straight bill like this? Is he a 

 bluish little fellow, with his two middle tail 

 feathers grey, and pale brown legs with 

 strong and clumsy feet ? No. Then he is 

 not one of the Sittinas, for the Nuthatch is 

 our only representative of that sub-family. 



Is he a Tit ? Are his three front toes 

 united as far as the second joint, and is his ^ 



hind claw long? No. He is too big for a Tit, even for a Great Tit, 

 and he has no black apron which would distinguish him if he were. 



We have only two groups left. One, the Accentorins, has only two 

 representatives, the Hedge Sparrow and the 

 Alpine Accentor, one of which has the throat 

 bluish grey, while the other has it white, with 

 black spots. He is too large for either of 

 these, even if his bill were strong enough and 

 his wings rounded enough. That he should WIM^^ 



be the Alpine bird is unlikely, for only a few 

 stragglers of that species come over here. That he might be a Hedge 

 Sparrow is more reasonable, but then everyone knows the Hedge 

 Sparrow. And as we have thus eliminated twelve of our groups, our 

 representative specimen can only belong to the thirteenth and last. 

 He is either a Thrush or a Warbler. 



But suppose we have made a mistake ? Then we shall soon find 

 it out, as we should have found it had we allocated him to any of the 

 other families or sub-families ; for our scheme is so arranged that if 

 we take the wrong road we shall soon come to " no thoroughfare," 

 and have to return and try somewhere else down the line. This time, 

 however, we have been right in disregarding the junctions, and 

 following the main line of the plan given in our next chapter. 



Our bird, then, is one of the Turdins, and we have discovered what 

 he is by separating him from what he is not. Let us pursue that 

 method. To what genus of the Turdinae does he belong? 



