110 KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



are popularly called sparrows. About a dozen of the large 

 species have very heavy, stout bills, and are called grosbeaks.^ ' 

 Some are bright colored, others have bright markings of red or 

 yellow ; these often have names to indicate their colors. Some 

 have the nail of the hind toe peculiarly elongated and straight- 

 ened;* these constitute the longspurs. Others, the cross- 

 bills, have the bill remarkably curved and crossed at tip.^ 

 Others, as the j uncos and towhees, have the plumage un- 

 streaked, but with masses of different colors on different 

 portions of the body. None of our species equal the robin 

 in size, though a few come near it. The English sparrow is 

 about the average, there being about twenty species smaller, 

 twenty larger, and about twenty like it in size. The painted 

 bunting, the smallest species (except Sharp's seed-eater of 

 Texas), is about the size of the kinglets. The singing power 

 varies wonderfully ; some hardly sing at all, while others are 

 noted songsters. Some of our favorite cage birds — the canary 

 for example — belong to this family. Nearly all are seed-eaters, 

 and for this reason are not so migratory as the insect-eaters of 

 other families ; the migration of birds being more due to lack of 

 food than to inability to stand the cold. The streaked species 

 are mainly inhabitants of the ground, while the brighter col- 

 ored ones are more generally to be found among the trees. 



Key to the Species 



* Mandibles long and much curved, their points crossed at tip.^ 



— Without wing bars 4. American Crossbill. 



— With white wing bars 5. White-winged Crossbill. 



* Bill very stout, as high at base as the culm en is long ; top and bottom 



of bill usually much curved.^ ^ (X.) 



* Bill neither very stout (at least not so high at base as long) nor the 



points crossed at tip. (A.) 

 A. Rather evenly colored birds ; there may be large patches of dif- 

 ferent colors, but they are not sharply spotted or streaked either 

 above or below ; some are somewhat mottled, but not in any very_ 

 definite manner. (T.) 

 A. Decidedly spotted or streaked either above or below. (B.) 

 B. Upper (middle) tail feathers especially narrow and sharp-pointed, 

 much more so than the under ones.* (Q.) 



