ORDER FOURTH. 
GRANIVOROTJS or PASSERINE BIRDS. 
In these the bill is strong, short, thick, more or less 
conic, and advancing back upon the forehead ; the ridge 
of the upper mandible is usually samewhat flattened, and 
both portions of the bill are generally without the toothed 
notch. The feet are arranged with three of the toes for- 
ward and one backward, and the anterior digits are 
divided. The wings are of moderate dimensions. 
The general habits of this numerous order of birds 
are to live in pairs, until by instinct they assemble to- 
gether and migrate in numerous troops. According to 
the climates they happen to inhabit, they are either seden- 
tary, or birds of passage. The greater number migrate 
periodically, or sometimes only accidentally from coun- 
tries unequally subjected to the influence of frost. Their 
nourishment consists principally of grain and seeds, from 
which they usually shell the husk. Insects principally 
constitute their food during the time they are engaged 
in raising their progeny, and their young are fed wholly 
on this kind of diet; all of them, when adult, may be 
nourished with seeds in a state of captivity. Among all 
the feathered race, after the Pigeons and Gallinaceous 
birds, these associate the most freely with man, and are 
very susceptible of being trained to a domestic state. — ■ 
