BIRDS 



153 



they do. In most cases the back of the metatarsus is protected 

 by two narrow elongated plates, instead of by scales. There 

 are generally ten, or it may be nine, primary quills in the wing, 

 which is covered by only a few small contour feathers. The 

 tail-quills are usually twelve in number. The young are helpless 

 and almost destitute of feathers. 



Among the enormous number of birds included in this order 

 are the following representatives of important families: — i. Crows; 

 2. Birds of Paradise; 3. Bower-Birds; 4. Starlings; 5. Orioles; 



Fig. 105. — Rook {Coruusfrugilegtts) 



6. Finches; 7. Weaver- Birds; 8. Buntings; 9. Larks; 10. Wagtails; 

 II. Creepers; 12. Nuthatches; 13. Sun-Birds; 14. Tits; 15. Shrikes; 

 16. Thrushes and Warblers; 17. Wrens; 18. Swallows; and 19. 

 Lyre- Birds. The British species belonging to these families, 

 if any, will be enumerated, except in the case of rare stragglers. 

 I. Crows and their allies are large birds with strong beaks, and 

 nostrils protected by bristles. Many of them are black or black 

 and white, and they are practically cosmopolitan, being absent, 

 however, from New Zealand, Among British forms the Raven 

 {Corvus corax) is entirely black, as are the Carrion Crow {Corvus 

 corone) and the Rook {Corvus frugilegus) (fig. 105), there being, 

 however, in the latter a bare patch extending round the base of 

 the beak. The Jackdaw {Corvus moneduld) has a grey neck, 

 while the long-tailed Magpie {Pica rusticd) is black and white, 

 as the name indicates. The Jay {Garrulus glandarius) is a 

 much more brightly - coloured member of the same family, its 



