ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 233 
Page 
= exposed ; length — over 9 inches; color brown or blue . Corvipa 414 
— 7-8 inches; crested; 6 glossy black AMPELIDA 325 
—44$-6} inches; bill distinctly hooked; tail, soft, 
without black VIREONID 329 
—4}-5} inches; bill slender, curved, tail stiff, acute 
CERTHIIDA 272 
— Birds without these characters; rictus — bristled 
TURDIDZE 240 
—unbristled 
TROGLODYTIDE 273 
(k.) Tarsus — scutelliplantar; hind claw straight (Larks)..... . + + + « ALAUDIDAD 280 
— laminiplantar; bill — metagnathous, both mandibles faleate, their points crossed 
FRINGILLIDZ 339 
— paragnathous, tomia of up. mand. toothed or lobed near middle 
(Tanagers) TANAGRIDZ 317 
— epignathous, notched and hooked at tip. Length 54-6} VIREONIDE 329 
— various. Quills — tipped with red horny appendages; head 
crested AMPELIDZ® 325 
— not appendaged; bill — fissirostral (go to 1). 
—dentirostral or tenui- 
rostral (go to m). 
— conirostral (go to n). 
G.) 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) . HIRUNDINIDA 319 
(m.) Longest secondary nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind daw (usually) little 
curved, nearly twice as long as middle claw (Titlarks) . in ai » + + . MOTACILLIDA 283 
Longest secondary not nearly reaching end of primaries in lowed wing; bind claw well curved, 
not nearly twice as long as middle claw (Warblers, &c.) C@REBID 317, or SYLVICOLIDA 287 
(n.) Bill usually thick, stout, and with evident angulation of the commissure. . . . Ioreripa 399 
or! FRINGILLIDZ 339 
1 Note. — These two families cannot be concisely distinguished. IcTERID contains the blackbirds, orioles, 
meadow starlings, bobolinks, and cowbirds. FRINGILLID&, our largest family, includes all kinds of grosbeaks, 
buntings, linnets, finches, and sparrows. 
Wisin = ARR SE anR s oe Doo  eaeeee Cena ey 
Fig. 112 ter. Diagram of fore limbs of man, bat, horse, and bird. The lines 1-9 are isotomes, cutting the limbs 
into morphologically equal parts, or isomeres. 
