INTRODUCTION. xi 



or wrist joint, in the folded wing : Basal. Relating to the base, as basal portion of tail or quills, 

 etc.: C7n'7i. The.space between the forks or ram i of the lower mandible or jaw: Carpus. The 

 wrist or space between the bend and hand-joint of the wing : Carpal. Pertaining to the carpus : 

 Cerrix. The hind-neck ; from occiput to the beginning of back, including the nape and scruff : 

 <<L Pertaining to the cervix: Cheek. "An arbitrary sub-division of the side of the head, 

 differently employed by various writers, but usually corresponding to the malar region, or the 

 feathered portion of the lower jaw:" Compressed. Narrowed sideways; higher than wide: 

 Lengthened feathers on top of the head : Decomposed. Separated or standing apart : De- 

 cumbent. Bending or hanging downward : Ear-tufts. Lengthened and erectile tufts of feathers 

 springing from the sides of crown or forehead ; well shown in certain owls, and the Horned Lark : 

 Emarginated. Notched at the end ; an " emarginate taU has the middle feather shortest, the rest 

 successively a little longer ; hence an emarginate tail is very slightly forked. An emarginate quill 

 has the web suddenly narrowed by an abmipt cutting away of the edge :" Erectile. Capable of 

 being raised, as a crest : Falcate. Sickle-shaped ; scythe-shaped : Femoral. Pertaining to the 

 thigh, or part of leg from knee to hip : Flanks. Most posterior feathers on sides of trunk : Form. 

 " In a special sense, a sort of non-committal term frequently used by modern writers to designate 

 what is of doubtful rank. The term * form ' is thus used for what may prove to be a species, or 

 may be only a race, but as to the rank of which the author is in doubt.'' 



Fuscous. A dark brown color : Genus. "An assemblage of species which agree in the posses- 

 sion of certain characters distinguishing them from otherwise allied forms. (In taxonomic value 

 a genus ranks next below a sub-family.)" Gorget. Throat-patch, distinguished by color or text- 

 ure of the feathers ; as the gorget of a Humming bird : Gonys. Keel or outline of bill from tip- 

 to point where the mandibular rami begin to diverge : Ground-color. The prevailing color of the 

 general surface of the egg-shell : Gula. The throat ; Gular. Pretaining to the throat or upper 

 foreneck : Family. "A systematic group in scientific classification, embracing a greater or less 

 number of genera which agree in certain characters not shared by other birds of the same order. 

 In rank, a Family stands between Order and Genus, the former being composed of a greater or 

 less number of nearly related families. In zoological nomenclature the name of a Family is 

 taken from a typical Genus, the name of which is modified by the termination idee. Sub-famil- 

 ies are distinguished by the termination ince. : " Hooded. A bird is said to be Hooded when the 

 feathers of the head are markedly different in color from the rest of the plumage, as the Hooded 

 Merganser and Warbler (Sylvan ia mitrata): Immature. This term is applied to a bird which has 

 not attained the mature or adult plumage: Incubation. The act of sitting on eggs for the pur- 

 pose of hatching young : Lanceolate. Shaped like a lancehead : Leg. Used generally as synony- 

 mous with tarsus often written "legs and feet" otherwise tarsi and toes : Linear. Narrow with 

 straight parallel edges or sides : Lower parts and Under parts. These terms refer to the whole 

 under surface of a bird from the chin to the crissum : Malar Region. A well defined, and gen- 

 erally feathered space, extending from base of bill, to side of neck bounded above by lores and 

 auriculars, and below by chin and throat : Nape or Nucha. Upper part of hind-neck, next to the 

 occiput: Nuchal. Pertaining to the Nucha : Occipital. Pertaining to the occiput : Orbit. The 

 region around the eye : Order. "In natural history, a group of families possessing in common 

 peculiar characteristics : Parasitic. This term is applied to the Cow Blackbird >.Molotlirus ater) 

 in this country, and also to the European Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) which habitually make use 

 of the nests birds to which are left the duties of incubation and rearing the young : Pyriform. 

 Pear-shaped: Quadrate. Square: Ramus (plural rami) branch or fork of the lower mandible ; 

 the chin is bounded on the sides bj* the rami. Race. "A nascent species or a 'form' which on ac- 

 count of the existence of intermediate specimens cannot be considered a species, no matter how 

 great a degree of differentiation may have been reached. Races are distinguished as 'Geograph- 

 ical' and 'Local' according as to whether they occupy extensive or limited areas of country. Geo- 

 graphical races are usually correlative with definite geographical areas, being in fact, the ex- 

 pression of geographical variation :" Recurved. Bent or curved upward : Rufous. A brownish- 

 red color: Scutellate. Having transverse scales on tarsus or toes: Semipalmate or Scmipalmatcd. 

 Half-webbed : having a membrane between the front toes, reaching about half-way to their 

 ends : Shaft. The stem or middle part of a feather : Specie*. "The aggregate of individuals re- 

 lated by generic descent, and differing constantly in certain features whereby they are distin- 

 guished from all other beings :" Speculum. A brightly colored area on the secondaries, particularly 

 of ducks ; Spurious. Bastard; imperfect; false; rudimentary: Spurious quill. Applied to the 

 first primary when very short : Sub-orbital. Below the eye : Supra-orbital : Above the eye : 

 Sub-order. "A group intermediate in taxonomic rank between an order and a family :" Supercil- 

 liary. Refers to the region above the eye (eye-brow) as a streak of black, white, etc., over the 

 eye : Totipalmate. Having all toes webbed : Variety. "Properly, an individual or unusual and 

 irregular variation from the normal type of form or coloration, as the various breeds or 'strains' 

 of domestic animals. But the term is often, though improperly applied to subspecies, or geo- 

 graphical races." Web. The thin part or vane of a feather on either side of the shaft. 



To Mr. Benjamin M. Everhart, of West Chester, Pa., a gentleman 



