154 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
tensile nor vermiform nor barbed. Salivary glands and hyoidean appa- i 
ratus not peculiar. No nasal tufts of feathers. Arboreal and terrestrial. > 
(Cuckoos.) XXVII. Cuculidce . 
Highly scansorial ; tail of twelve rigid acuminate feathers, whereof the 
outer pair are short and spurious, concealed between bases of next two 
pairs. Bill stout, straight, with the tip truncate or acute, not decurved, 
— an efficient chisel for hammering and boring wood. Tongue vermi- : 
form, extensile , 1 and barbed. Salivary glands large ; hyoidean apparatus ; 
peculiar. Nasal tufts usually present. Arboreal. . . XXVIII. Picidce. v/ 
Family of PSITTACI. f : 
To characters of Psittaci add: Cere feathered, concealing the nostrils. Feet 
granular, rugose. Wings pointed. Tail cuneate. Plumage coarse and dry. 
Head feathered. Colors green, with yellow and blue . . XXIX. Psittacidee>S 
Analysis of Families of HAPTORES. 
Feet highly raptorial, with large, strong, sharp, curved, contractile claws, 
adapted for grasping. Hallux perfectly incumbent, lengthened (more than half as 
long as the fourth toe), with large claw. Front toes with slight basal webbing 
between outer or middle ones, or none; outer toe often reversible. Nostrils im- 
perforate. Bill short, stout, not notably contracted in its continuity, with 
strongly hooked tip ; tomia often once-twice toothed or lobed. Head feathered 
wholly or in greatest part. Lower larynx developed with one pair of muscles. 
Plumage with or without after-shafts. Coeca present, as a rule, if not always. 
Physiognomy peculiar by reason of great lateral expansion and lengthwise Jj : 
shortening of the cranium, causing the eyes to be directed forward. Eyes 
surrounded by a disc of radiating bristly feathers, in front closely appressed 
to and hiding the base of the bill, elsewhere bounded by a rim of differently 
formed feathers. Tomia never toothed or lobed. Nostrils usually at the edge 
of the cere. Outer toe completely versatile, shorter than the inner toe. Basal 
phalanx of middle toe not longer than the second, and much shorter than the 
next. Legs commonly feathered or bristly to or on the toes. Plumage 
peculiarly soft and lax, without after-shafts ; flight perfectly noiseless. Cra- 
nial walls widely separated by intervention of spongy diploe. Sternum 
commonly doubly notched. Chiefly nocturnal. . . . XXX. Strigidce\ / 
Physiognomy not peculiar in any lateral expansion of the cranium; the 
eyes lateral in direction. No complete facial disc; base of bill not hidden by 
appressed bristles. Nostrils wholly in the cere. Outer toe rarely versatile, 
except Pandion , etc. ; not shorter than the inner. Basal phalanx of middle 
toe longer than the second. Legs commonly naked and scutellate or reticu- 
late in some portion of their length ; toes always bare and scaly. Plumage 
compact, usually with after-shafts; flight audible. Cranial walls with little 
diploe. Sternum commonly single-notched or fenestrate, sometimes entire. 
Diurnal ........... XXXI. Falconidce.s/ 
Feet scarcely raptorial, with lengthened, little curved or contractile, weak, short 
claws. Hallux elevated, shortened, not more than half as long as the fourth toe, 
with small claw. Front toes all webbed at base; middle toe lengthened; outer 
not reversible. Basal phalanx of middle toe longer than either of the succeeding. 
1 Excepting Sphyrctpicus, in which the tongue is not more protrusible than in ordinary birds. ^ 
