BIRDS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
KEY TO ORDERS. 
WATER BIRDS. 
1. Feet fully webbed (except grebes in Pygopodes, which have the toes 
lobed or margined). 
2. Foot with three webs, all four toes connected. 
Steganopodes : Totipalmate Swimmers, p. 3. 
2'. Foot with two webs, three front toes connected. 
3. Nostrils tubular. Tubinares: Tube-nosed Swimmers, p. 3. 
3'. Nostrils not tubular. 
4. Edges of mandibles toothed or serrate. 
Anseres : Lamellirostral Swimmers, p. 3. 
4'. Edges of mandibles not toothed or serrate. 
5. Legs placed far back; wings short. 
Pygopodes : Diving Birds, p. 2. 
5\ Legs placed near middle of body; wings long and pointed. 
Longipennes : Long-winged Swimmers, p. 2. 
1'. Feet incompletely or not at all webbed. 
2. Lores and ring around eye naked. 
Herodiones : Herons, Storks, and Ibises, p. 4. 
2'. Lores and ring around eye feathered. 
3. Hind toe long and approximately on a level with front toes (except 
in cranes, which are over three feet long) . . . Paludicolee : 
Cranes, Rails, Coots, Gallinules, etc., p. 4. 
3'. Hind toe short and elevated or absent; bird never over twenty-six 
inches long. Limicolae : Shore Birds, p. 4. 
LAND BIRDS. 
1. Bill strongly hooked. 
2. Toes two in front and two behind, outer toe permanently reversed. 
Psittaci : Parrots, etc., p. 109. 
2'. Toes three in front, or outer toe reversible. 
Raptores : Birds of Prey, p. 109. 
1'. Bill not strongly hooked. 
2. Hind toe small and elevated above front ones. 
Gallinae : Gallinaceous Birds, p. 108. 
2'. Hind toe not elevated above front ones. 
3. Bill with soft swollen skin around nostrils. 
Columbae : Pigeons or Doves, p. 108. 
