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ANATOMY OF PIGEON.
Coue's Key NABirds.
ere Pst
KEY
TO
NortTH AMERICAN BIRDS.
CONTAINING A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF EVERY SPECIES OF LIVING AND FOSSIL.
BIRD AT PRESENT KNOWN FROM THE CONTINENT NORTH OF THE
MEXICAN AND UNITED STATES BOUNDARY, INCLUSIVE
OF GREENLAND AND LOWER CALIFORNIA,
WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY:
AN OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS;
AND
FIELD ORNITHOLOGY,
A MANUAL OF COLLECTING, PREPARING, AND PRESERVING BIRDS.
Che Fourth Britton,
EXHIBITING THE NEW NOMENCLATURE OF THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION, AND
INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF ADDITIONAL SPECIES, ETC.
‘By ELLIOTT COUES, A.M., M.D., PH.D.,
Late Captain and Assisrant Surgeon U.S, Army and Secretary U.S. Geological Survey ; Vice-President of the American
Ornithotogists’ Union. and Chai of the C i on the Classi ion and Ni 1 of North American Birds ;
Foreign Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union; C ding Member of the Zodlogical Scciety
of London ; Member of the i Academy of Sci of the Faculty of the National
Medical College, of the Phi: ical and Biological Societies of Washi
of the General Council of the Theosophical Society of India, etc.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.
BOSTON:
ESTES AND’ LAURIAT
1896. :
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
F, W. Putnam AnD ELLIOTT COUEs,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, py
F. W. PUTNAM AND ELLIOTT COUEs,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Copyright, 1882, 1884, and 1887,
By EstEs anD LAURIAT.
UNIVERSITY PRESS:
JoHNn WiLson AnD Son, CAMBRIDUR.
Go
SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD,
\
NESTOR OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS,
Chis Mork,
BEARING TO OTHERS THE TORCH RECEIVED FROM HIM IN EARLIER DAYS,
Is Dedicated.
CONTENTS.
MBS 52 ee aah Te RE ap. Tee eh cae HE ae RE ee sin a CR a oe Ee WO i
DEDICATION: Ue Gow. Ge) SORE Bw a. Ree EO Aa ee el ee ie a OE
CONTENTS: <6) eo Ge° ewes Seosen cee ae Ree ie! “Hie Gae Bein AR a Eg lee ar eae ee en v
HistoRicAL- PREFACE . 2 «© @ % # * 4 © 6 © Siw 2 2 oe # © ee ee ee ORL
PART I.
FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
§1. Implements for collecting, and theiruse . . «1.71 we we ew ee ew ewe UL
§2. Dogs . . soe ee ee ee ee ee
§ 3. Various suggestions and Gesctions for field. en C9 Be we ER ee BR ww OD
§ 4. Hygiene of collectorship. 2. . 6. 6 6 1 ee ee ee ew we ew ee ee OD
§ 5. Registration and labelling . . . a Fea) tae sag Co Sg » 21
§ 6. Instruments, materials, and fixtures for neeyariig rdstans %, See ae aes Goce 1 225
§ 7. How to makeabirdskin. © 2 6 1 1 6 ee ee we ee ew ee we 88
§ 8. Miscellaneous particulars . . . ... SOR age eh Ae) serewe ad. Gy UES
§ 9. Collection of nests andeggs - . «6 ee ee we ew ee we ew ee 8D
§10. Care ofacollection . 2. 6. 2 2 6 ee 1 ew we we ww th ee ee CB
PART II.
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
§1. Definition of birds . . - eo Gh Rog Re AD Ger et Swe a 59
§ 2. Principles and practice of discatiioabion 2S fe Bw ee ee 85
§ 3. Definitions and descriptions of the exterior parts of binds Rea. agra tenn Sep “tex Gale, tt 282
a. Of the feathers, or plumage . . 6 ee ee ee ee ee ee ewe 8D
6. The topography of birds . - - - - 1 ee ee we ee ee ee OO
1. Regions of the body . . . . fe eae. ae eee we. OE
9. Of the members; their parts scl OPBANS. kw eae we A we ws 00
fe The bill). eae) de age Bh a Re Be ee we we wee OO
ii. The wings. . - 2 ee ee ee we we ew et we ww ws 106
fig Whe tall fsa. open SP seek eek ee we gh Ee a ee
ayes Wheteete> ge. co ate, ge es AY es ee se SS ce, STS
vi CONTENTS.
§ 4. An introduction to the Anatomy of birds. . . . . 6 se wo
a, Osteology : the osseous system, or skeleton . . - + » « © +
1. The spinalcolumn. . - «1 1 eee ee ee ee
2. The thorax: ribsandstermnum ......+ + +e >
3. The pectoralarch . . . 6 - 2 se © 1 eo we te
4. The pelvicarch. . 2. 2 1 ee ee ee ew we ee
5. Theskull. «2 @ = « « 4 eis! 8
6. Neurology: the nervous system; organs of special senses . + «
e. Myology: the muscular system . . . Sas ee Gee
d, Angeiology: the vascular or circulatory ayttenis: ne Mie
e. Pneumatology: the respiratory system. . . . + -
‘A Splanchnology: the digestive system . . . . +»
Odlogy: the urogenital system . 6. oe oe eB
§ 5. Destine for using the artificial keys
ARTIFICIAL Kry To THE ORDERS AND SUBORDERS. . - + - s+ «© «
ARtiFIcIaL Key to tHE FaMiniss . . . - ee ee ew ee
TaBULAR VIEW OF THE GROUPS HIGHER THAN GENERA. . » + + © ©
PART III.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS.
I. Order PASSERES : Insessores, or Perchers Proper .
1. Suborder PASSERES ACROMYODI, or OSCINES: omen Birds
1. Family Turpipa: Thrushes, ete... 2... . P
1. Subfamily Turdine: Typical Thrushes. . . . .
2. Subfamily Mimine: Mocking Thrushes .
3. Subfamily Cixcline: Dippers. . .
4. Subfamily Sazicoline : Stone-chats and Ble: hits .
5. Subfamily Reguline: Kinglets and Wood-wrens .
6. Subfamily Polioptiline: Gnat-catchers .
2. Family Coamaipz: Wren-tis . . . 2... 2...
8. Family Paripm: Titmice, or Chickadees . . . . .
7. Subfamily Paring: True Titmice
4. Family Srrtipz: Nuthatches .
5. Family Certuipa#: Creepers
8. Subfamily Certhiine: Typical Creepers
6. Family TroctopyTipz: Wrens . :
9. Subfamily Campylorhynchine : Fan-iailed Wheto
10. Subfamily 7roglodytine: True Wrens .
7% Family Avavpipa: Larks . ‘
11. Subfamily Calandriting: Shore Tavis.
12. Subfamily Alaudine: Sky Larks
8 Family Motactttipa: Wagtails and Pipits
18. Subfamily Motucilline: Wagtails . . 2...
14. Subfamily Axthine: Pipits, or Titlarks
238
- 240
240
243
248
254
256
259
260
262
263
263
269
272
272
273
274
277
280
281
282
283
284
285
CONTENTS.
9. Family Synvicotipm: American Warblers . . . .
15. Subfamily Syloicoline: True Warblers . .
16, Subfamily Icteriize: Chats
17. Subfamily Setophaging: Fly-catching Warblers . ‘i
10. Family Cerzsina: Honey Creepers sho
11. Family Tanacripa#: Tanagers
12. Family Hisunpinipa: Swallows
18. Family Ampetip®: Chatterers ‘
18. Subfamily Ampeline: Waxwings
19. Subfamily Prilogonatine: Fly-snappers* :
20. Subfamily Myiadestine : Fy-catching Thrushes .
14. Family Virzonip#: Vireos, or Greenlets. . . . .
15. Family Lanurpam: Shrikes . :
21. Subfamily Laniine: True Shrikes’ ,
16. Family Frinem.mwaz: Finches, etc. .
17. Family Icterip#: American Starlings ; Btiok bade, ete. .
22. Subfamily Ageleine: Marsh Blackbirds
23. Subfamily Sturnelline: Meadow Starlings
24. Subfamily Icterine: Orioles .. F
25. Subfamily Quiscaline: Crow Blackbirds .
18. Family Cornvinm: Crows, Jays, etc.
26. Subfamily Corvine: Crows
27. Subfamily Gerruline: Jays . .
19. Family Sturwip#: Old World Starlings
28. Subfamily Sturnine: Typical Starlings
2. Suborder PASSERES MESOMYODI, or CLAMATORES: Songs Paseares 5
20. Family Trrawnip#: American Flycatchers
29. Subfamily Zyrannine: True Tyrant Flycatchers :
{I. Order PICARL#: Picarian Birds
3. Suborder CYPSELIFORMES: Cypseliform Birds
21. Family Carrimutem: Goatsuckers
30. Subfamily Caprimulgine: True Goatsuckers ,
22. Family Cypseripm: Swifts 28
31. Subfamily Cypseline : Typical Swifts
32. Subfamily Cheturing: Spine-tail Swifts
28. Family Trocuitipz: Humming-birds
33. Subfamily Zrochiline: Humming-birds
4. Suborder CUCULIFORMES: Cuculiform Birds
24. Family TRosontpz: Trogons . ‘
34. Subfamily Trogonine: Trogons .
(—. Family Momorma: Sawbills] .
28. Family Aucepinip#: Kingfishers .
35. Subfamily Alcedinide: Piscivorous Kingfishers ‘
26. Family Cucvrip#: Cuckoos
36. Subfamily Crotophagine: Anis
37. Subfamily Scurothering : Ground Cnokeoos
88. Subfamily Coccyyine: American Cuckoos .
5. Suborder PICIFORMES: Piciform Birds ‘
27. Family Picip#: Woodpeckers .
Vili CONTENTS.
III. Order PSITTACI: Parrots . . .. 1. 2 ee we we eee
28. Family Psirracipm: Parrots . . . . 2 © © + + 2 ee
39. Subfamily dring: Parrots . ». »- «+ + 2 ee ee
IV. Order RAPTORES: Birds of Prey. . . o RB OS
6. Suborder STRIGES: Nocturnal Birds of vey ee ae
29. Family Auuconipz#: Barn Owls ERO ays
80. Family Stricipz: Other Owls . ge Coy aya os AS a, hy 9
40. Subfamily Strigina : PGR ae Oh de cB -be- Bue
41. Subfamily Budonine: fay OR Se ee
%. Suborder ACCIPITRES: Diurnal Birds of — a
$1. Family Fatconipz: Vultures, Falcons, —— Pagls, ste.
42. Subfamily Circine: Harriers
43. Subfamily Milvine: Kites .
44, Subfamily Accipitrine: Hawks a eh ee Se a
45. Subfamily Falconine: Faleoons . . . .-1 2 2 ew
46. Subfamily Polyborine: Caracaras . . oe ae
47. Subfamily Buteoning: Buzzards and Eagles : oi
82. Family Panpionipz: Fish Hawks, or Ospreys . . . . - ] ©
8. Suborder CATHARTIDES: American Vultures . . . ...
88. Family Catnartip#: American Vultures .
V. Order COLUMB.=: Columbine Birds .. . Bo BP Shen ee.
9. Suborder PERISTERA: True Columbine Binks , A can Cases 8
34. Family Corumpipm: Pigeons . . . ae ee
48. Subfamily Columbine: Typical Piseaus- oe fr aa
49. Subfamily Zenaidine: Ground Doves . . . . « - « e
50. Subfamily Starnenadine: Quail Doves ... ....
VI. Order GALLINZ: Gallinaceous Birds; Fowls . ... .
10. Suborder PERISTEROPODES : Pigeon-toed fowls . oe
85. Family Cractp#: Curassows ue shag
51. Subfamily Penelopine: Guans .
11. Suborder ALECTOROPODES: True Fowls .
86. Family Mrtzacripipa: Turkeys ae
87. Family Tetraonip#: Grouse; Partridge; Quail ss
52. Subfamily Zetraonine: Grouse 5
53. Subfamily Odontophoring : American Partiid ees aa Guts.
(—. Subfamily Perdicing : Old World Partridges and Quails .
VII. Order LIMICOL: Shore-birds
38. Family Cuaraprii#: Plover :
54. Subfamily Charadriing: True Plover ,
55. Subfamily Aphrizine: Surf-birds ‘
89. Family Hamatoropip#: Oyster-catchers ; Turnstones:
56. Subfamily Hematopoding: Oyster-catchers .
57. Subfamily Strepsilaing : Turnstones
40. Family Recurvirostrip#: Avocets; Stilts . . ' .
41. Family Poataropopipa: Phalaropes ae ap te Heshtgs
42. Family Scotorpactpm: Snipe,et. 2... . .
CONTENTS.
VIII. Order HERODIONES: Herons and their Allies .
12. Suborder IBIDES: The Ibis Series . ‘
48. Family Ininipaz: Ibises
44. Family PuataLeipa: Spoonbills .
13. Suborder PELARGI: The Stork Series .
48. Family Cicontrp#: Storks .
58. Subfamily Zantaline : Wood Thikee.
59. Subfamily Ciconiine: True Storks .
14. Suborder HERODII: The Heron Series
46. Family Anpeipz: Herons . : F
60. Subfamily drdeine: True Herons .
61. Subfamily Botaurine: Bitterns .
IX. Order ALECTORIDES: Cranes, Rails, and their Allies
15. Suborder GRUIFORMES: Cranes and their Allies .
47, Family Gruipa: Cranes .
48. Family Anamipa: Courlans
16. Suborder RALLIFORMES: Ralliform Birds,
49. Family Panripa: Jacanas .
50. Family Ratuipa: Rails, ete. . a
62. Subfamily Ralling: True Rails .
63. Subfamily Gallinuling: Gallinules .
64. Subfamily Fulicine : Coots
X. Order LAMELLIROSTRES : Anserine Birds .
17. Suborder ODONTOGLOSSA: Grallatorial Anseres
51. Family Po@wicorreripaz: Flamingoes .
18. Suborder ANSERES: Anserine Birds Proper . . .« ;
52. Family Anatipm: Geese, Ducks, etc.
65. Subfamily Cygning: Swans
66. Subfamily Auserine: Geese .
67. Subfamily Anating: River Ducks
68. Subfamily Fuliguline: Sea Ducks
69. Subfamily Merging: Mergansers -
XI. Order STEGANOPODES : ia aie Birds.
58. Family Sutmp#: Gannets .
54. Family Pevecanrpa: Pelicans . :
55. Family Poatacrocoracip#: Cormorants .
56. Family Puotipm: Darters
57. Family Tacnyprtipa#: Frigates
58. Family Paaiitsontips#: Tropic Birds
XII. Order LONGIPENNES: Long-winged Swimmers
19. Suborder GAVLA: Slit-nosed Longwings
59. Family Lanmwa#: Gulls, Terns, etc.
70. Subfamily Lestriding: Jaegers, or Skua Gulls
71. Subfamily Zaring: Gulls .
72. Subfamily Sternine: Terns
73. Subfamily Rhynchoping: Skimmers
x CONTENTS.
PAGE
20. Suborder TUBINARES: Petrels. «ga F738
60. Family PRocEtLarmp®. Petrels . eo a FEB
74 Subfamily Diomedeine : Albairoaeas . W74
75. Subfamily Procellartine: Petrels 776
“XIII, Order PYGOPODES: Diving Birds . . 787
61. Family Cotympip#: Loons . . 789
62, Family Popictrepipa#: Grebes 792
63. Family Aucipm: Auks . 7 797
76. Subfamily Phaleridine : Perrot Anks, eto. . 800
77. Subfamily Alcine: Guillemots, Murres, and Auks fcoper. ° 810
PART IV.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF THE FOSSIL BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA.
A. Tertiary Birps - . . 822
B. Cretaczous Birps . 2 2 « 825
C. Jupassic Brrps . o 6 « 829
831
AINIDEN ap, fy as stones Sabon Yay RS Gap BT AB eee ec aae fa eh ie! wer Anak Re Ye
NDI a 93 a, eA BS BR Ge! Be EO ee ee) ks
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
r presenting a new edition of the Ky to those who are interested in North
American Birds, the publishers desire the author to add a word by way
of preface. But little need be said of a book which speaks for itself in passing
through several editions to supply that demand for a standard textbook of
ornithology which this work has itself done much to create, by stimulating and
satisfying an interest in one of the most delightful departments of Natural
History.
The part which the Kuy has taken in the evolution of the subject since
1872 is sketched in the “Historical Preface ” (pp. xxvi-xxx), first introduced
in the Second Edition, 1884. Since the founding of the American Ornitholo-
gists’ Union in 1883 the impetus then given to the study of birds has resulted
in a momentum directly proportionate to the number of workers in this field
and to the length of time these have been engaged. I could wish the fruits
of such unparalleled activity were all sound and ripe, but they are not; growth
has been forced to some extent in rival hot-houses, and the familiar parable of
wheat and tares finds a fresh illustration. Too quick transition from an old to
a new order of things in the technicalities of our subject has brought disorder,
as usual. Till the pace slackens somewhat, so that we can see where we stand,
I do not think it would be wise to recast the KEY.
Therefore, the only change in the present edition is the addition of a Second
Appendix, beginning page 897.
E. C.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
HE second edition of the “Key,” which appeared in May, 1884, has al-
ready been out of print for more than a year. Though aware of the
continued: demand for a standard work of reference, the author has been unable -
to meet it more promptly, having meanwhile accepted some other literary en-
gagements which proved imperative in their demand upon his capacity for work.
Slight as the requisite revision of this book has proven to be, it did not seem ex-
vedient to go to press again without recognizing the steps American Ornithology .
has taken during the past three years, though these may be called many rather
than great ones. There is so little to change in the substance of the book that
it has been thought decidedly best to reprint from the same plates, and put what
new matter has come to hand in the form of an Appendix. However much
there is that might have advantageously gone into the second edition, but did
not, the author is satisfied with nearly everything that did go in, and quite ready
to submit it all to the still further test of time. The transition from what some
of his friends have called the “Couesian Period” may mean a change in form
rather than in fact. ;
The naming of our birds, as an art distinguished from the science of know-
ing them, has lately been pitched in a key so high that the familiar notes of the
former “Key” might jangle out of tune, or be lost entirely, were the attempt
made to reset them just now. During the confusion unavoidably incident to
such sweeping changes in nomenclature as we have recently made, it will be a
decided benefit to the student, the sportsman, and the amateur, if not also to
every working ornithologist, to be provided with a convenient means of compar-
ing the older with the newer style of nomenclature we have adopted, until each
one shall have grown accustomed to the change of spectacles. This accommoda-
tion is afforded by the present edition, which leaves the names and their num-
ii PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
bers untouched in the body of the text, and then adjusts them to the new angle
of vision in the Appendix, in parallel columns. Thus the new “Key” turns
either way ; or, to vary the metaphor, the renovated structure stands Janus-
faced, looking both ways at once— backward upon its old self, of which it
has no cause to be ashamed; forward upon another self, of which it has much
reason to be proud.
The train of incidents which resulted in what may be called a nomenclatural
explosion was fired at the founding of the American Ornithologists’ Union at
New York, in September, 1883. As one of three persons who brought that
happy episode upon an unsuspecting bird-world, which nevertheless greeted their
stroke with acclamation, the author must plead a modesty act in bar of trial of
his pen on that particular count. But as the honor was his of presiding over
the first Congress of the Union, whilst the ideas of its tounders were shapen in-
to a permanent and world-wide organization, so also it fell to his lot to appoint
several committees for the despatch of business the Union at once took in hand ;
and of one of these he has to speak here.
This particular wheel within other wheels turned upon a resolution of the
Union “that the Chairman appoint a committee of five, including himself, to
whom shall be referred the question of a revision of the Classification and
Nomenclature of the Birds of North America.” Having accepted the situation,
the author held with his esteemed colleagues many sessions of the Committee in
Washington and New York, and in April, 1885, offered to the Union the result
of much joint labor. The report of the Committee being accepted, it was ordered
to be printed, and it appeared in 1886 in an octavo volume of 400 pages,
entitled “The Code of Nomenclature and Check-list of North American Birds,
adopted by the American Ornithologists’ Union,” ete.
The objects which we kept steadily in view were: first, to establish certain
sound principles or canons of nomenclature applicable to zodlogy at large as
well as to ornithology; and, secondly, to apply these rules consistently and
effectually to the naming of North American birds. Others must be left to
judge how well or ill these purposes may have been accomplished, but the
simple fact is that no sooner had the book appeared than it became the standard
and indeed the only recognized Nomenclator in American Omithology. That
which the Committee had stamped with the seal of the Union became the
current coin of the realm, other than which our venerable fowl, The Auk, should
know none.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. iii
In estimating the probable consequences for the long run, it is necessary to
discriminate between any given ornithological fact and the handle we may agree
to give that fact. The former is a natural fixity, the latter is a movable furni-
ture; the former is subject to no authority we can set up, the latter is wholly ar-
bitrary, determinable at our pleasure. Uniformity of nomenclature is so obvious
and decided a practical convenience that even at the risk of seeming to laud
work in which he had a hand, the author cannot too strongly urge compliance
with the Union’s code, and adherence to the set of names the Union has
adopted. These may not be the best possible, but they are the best we have.
The author's insistence upon this point does not of course extend to any
case where an error of ornithological fact may appear. That is an entirely
different matter. Reserving to himself, as he certainly does, the right of indi-
vidual judgment in every question of ornithological science, he is the last to
persuade others to refrain from equal freedom of expert opinion. “So many
men, so many minds,” even when the number is only five; no individual opinion
is necessarily reflected upon any point in the Code and Check-list ; it is the collec-
tive voice of a majority of the Committee that is heard in every instance. The
occasion for individual dissent on the part of any member of that body, as of any
other writer upon the subject, arises when in his private capacity as an author
he has, as it were, to pass upon and approve or disapprove any results of the
labors of others. The Appendix to the present edition of the “Key” unavoidably
brings up such an occasion. Yet that he may not even seem to reflect upon any
of his co-workers, his criticism express or implied has been sedulously reduced
to its lowest terms. It consists chiefly in declining to admit to the “Key” some
forms that the Committee have deemed worthy of recognition by name. Indeed
he has preferred to err, if at all, on the other sidé, desiring to give the user of this
book the later results of the whole Committee.
Nevertheless he must here record an earnest protest, futile though it may
be, against the fatal facility with which the system of trinomials lends itself to
sad consequences in the hands of immature or inexperienced specialists. No
allusion is here intended to anything that has been done, but he must reiterate
what was said before (Key, p. xxvii ) respecting what may be done hereafter if
more judicious conservatism than we have enjoyed of late be not brought to bear
down hard upon trifling incompetents. The “trinomial tool” is too sharp to
be made a toy; and even if we do not cut our own fingers with it, we are likely
to cut the throat of the whole system of naming we have reared with such
iv PREFACE TO .THE THIRD EDITION.
care, Better throw the instrument away than use it to slice species so thin that
it takes a microscope to perceive them. It may be assumed, as a safe rule of
procedure, that it is useless to divide and subdivide beyond the fair average
ability of ornithologists to recognize and verify the result. Named varieties of
birds that require to be “compared with the types” by holding them up slant-
wise in a good strong light, — just as the ladies match crewels in the milliner’s
shop, — such often exist in the cabinets or in the books of their describers, but
seldom in the woods and fields.
E. C.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
WasuinetTon, D.C., April, 1887.
HISTORICAL PREFACE.
WerE a modern Hesiod to essay — neither a cos-
mogony nor a theogony — but the genesis of even the
least department of human knowledge, — were he to
seek the beginnings of American Ornithology, he would
find it only in Chaos. For from this sprang all things,
great and small alike,
to pass through Night
and Nemesis to the
light of days which
first see orderly pro-
gress in the course
of natural evolution,
when is first estab-
lished some sequence
of events we recognize
as causes and effects.
Then there is system,
and formal law ; there
science becomes possi-
ble ; there its possible
history begins.
Long was the time
during which the birds
of our country were
known to its inhab-
itants, after the fash-
ion of the people of
those days, — known
as things of which use
could be made, and
studied, too, that use
might be madeofthem.
But this period is pre-
historic; no evidence
remains, save in some quaint pictograph or rudely graven image. There followed a
period— shorter by far than the former one, though it endures to-day — when the same
xil HISTORICAL PREFACE.
birds awakened in other men an interest they could not excite ina savage breast, and
the sense of beauty was felt. Use and Beauty! What may not spring from such divinely
mated pair, when once they brood upon the human mind, like halcyons stilling troubled
waters, sinking the instincts of the animal in the restful, satisfying reflections of the
man ? :
The history of American Ornithology begins at the time when men first wrote upon
American birds ; for men write nothing without some reason, and to reason at all is the
beginning of science, even as to reason aright is its end. The date no one can assign,
unless it be arbitrarily ; it was during the latter part of the sixteenth century, which,
with the whole of the seventeenth, represents the formative or embryonic period during
which were gathering about the germ the crude materials out of which an ornithology of
North America was to be fashioned. As these accumulated and were assimilated, — as
the writings multiplied and books bred books, ‘each after its kind,” this special depart-
ment of knowledge grew up, and its form changed with each new impress made upon its
plastic organization.
Viewing in proper perspective these three centuries and more which our subject has
seen — passing in retrospect the steps of its development — we find that it offers several
phases, representing as many “epochs” or major divisions, of very unequal duration, and
of scientific significance inversely proportionate to their respective lengths. All that
went before 1700 constitutes the first of these, which’may be termed the Archaic epoch.
The eighteenth century witnessed an extraordinary event, the consequence of which to
systematic zodlogy cannot be over-estimated’ ; it occurred almost exactly in the middle of
the century, which is thus sharply divided into a Pre-Linnean epoch, before the institu-
tion of the binomial nomenclature, and a Post-Linnean epoch, during which this technic
of modern zodlogy was established, —each approximately of half a century’s duration.
In respect of our particular theme, the first quarter of the nineteenth century saw the
“father of American ornithology,” whose spirit pointed the crescent in the sky of the
Wilsonian epoch. During the second quarter, these horns were filled with the genius of
the Audubonian epoch. In the third, the plenteousness of a master mind has marked
the Bairdian epoch.
Clearly as these six epochs may be recognized, there is of course no break between
them ; they not only meet, but merge in one another. The sharpest line is that which
runs across Linneus at 1758; but even that is only visible in historical perspective, while
the assignation of the dates 1700 and 1800 is rather a chronological convenience than
otherwise. Nothing absolutely marks the former; and Wilson was unseen till 1808.
The Archaic epoch stretches into the dim past with unshifting scene, even at the
turning-point of the two centuries in which it lies. It is otherwise with the rest ; their
shapes have incessantly changed; and several have been the periods in each of them dur-
ing which their course of development has been accelerated or retarded, or modified in
some special feature. These changes have invariably coincided with — have in fact been
induced by — the appearance of some great work ; great, not necessarily in itself, but
in its relation to the times, and thus in the consequences of the interaction between the
times and the author who left the science other than he found it. The edifice as it
stands to-day is the work of all, even of the humblest, builders; but its plan is that of
the architects who have modelled its main features, and the changes they have success-
HISTORICAL PREFACE. xili
ively wrought are the marks of progress. It is consequently possible, and it will be found
convenient, to subdivide the epochs named (excepting the first) into lesser natural inter-
vals of time, which may be called “ periods,” to each of which may attach the name of
‘the architect whose design is expressed most clearly. I recognize fifteen such periods, of
very unequal duration, to which specific dates may attach. Seven of these fall in the
last century ; eight in the three-quarters of the present century. We may pass them in
brief review.
Tue Aronatc Epocu: 0 1700.
Mere mention or fragmentary notice of North American birds may be traced back
to the middle of the sixteenth century ; but, up to the eighteenth, no book entirely and
exclusively devoted to the subject had appeared. The Turkey and the Humming-bird
were among the earliest to appear in print ; the latter forms the subject of the earliest
paper-I have found, exclusively and formally treating of any North American bird as
such, and this was not until 1693, when Hamersly described the “ American Tomineius,”
as it was called. One of the largest, as well as the smallest of our birds, — the turkey,
early came in for a share of attention. The germs of the modern “ faunal list,” —that is
to say, notes upon the birds of some particular region or locality, — appeared early in the
seventeenth century, and continued throughout; but only as incidental and very slight
features of books published by colonists, adventurers, and missionaries, in their several
interests, — unless Hernandez’s famous “Thesaurus” be brought into the present connec-
tion. Among such books containing bird-matter may be noted Smith’s “ Virginia,” 1612;
Hamor’s “ Virginia,” 1615 ; Whitbourne’s ‘‘ Newfoundland,” 1620; Higginson’s “New
England,” 1630; Morton’s “ New English Canaan,” 1632; Wood’s “New England’s
Prospect,” 1634; Sagard Theodat’s “ Voyage,” 1632; Josselyn’s “ New England’s
Rarities,” 1672 ; — and so on, with a few more,— sometimes mere paragraphs, some-
times a page or a formal chapter, — but scarcely anything to be now considered except in
a spirit of curiosity.
Tse Pre-Linnawan Epocy : 1700-1758.
i (1700-1730.)
The Lawsonian Period. —It may be a lueus a non to call this the “ Lawsonian”
period ; but a name is needed for the portion of this epoch prior to Catesby, during which
no other name is so prominent as that of John Lawson, Gentleman, Surveyor-General of
North Carolina, whose “ Description and Natural History ” of that country contains one
of the most considerable fannal lists of our birds which appeared before 1730, and went
through many editions, — the last of these being published at Raleigh, in 1860. The
several early editions devote some fifteen or twenty pages to birds, —an amount aug-
mented considerably when Brickell appropriated the work in 1737. The Baron de la
Hontan did similar service to Canadian birds in his “ Voyages,” 1793; but, on the
whole, this period is scarcely more than archaic.
(1730-1748.)
The Catesbian Period. — This comprises the time when Mark Catesby’s great work
was appearing by instalments. ‘‘The Natural History of Carolina, Florida,” etc, is the
xiv HISTORICAL PREFACE.
first really great work to come under our notice ; its influence was immediate, and is even
now felt. It is the “ Audubon” of that time ; a folioin two volumes, dating respectively
1731 and 1743, with an appendix, 1748; passing to a second edition in 1754, to a
third in 1771, under the supervision of Edwards ; reproduced in Germany, in “ Selig-"
mann’s Sammlung,” 1749-76. It was published in parts, the date of the first of which
I believe to have been 1730, though it may have been a little earlier. Volume I, contain-
ing the birds, appears to have been issued in five parts, and was made up in 1731 ; it consists
of a hundred colored pilates of birds, with as many leaves of text ; a few more birds are
given in the appendix, raising the number to 113. These illustrations are recognizable
almost without exception ; most of the species are for the first time described and figured ;
they furnish the basis of many subsequently named in the Linnean system ; the work
was eventually provided by Edwards with a Linnean concordance or index ; and alto-
gether it is not easy to overestimate the significance of the Catesbian period, due to this
one work ; for no other book requires or indeed deserves to be mentioned in the same
connection, though a few contributions, of somewhat “archaic” character, were made by
various writers.
(1'748-1758.)
The Edwardsian Period. — This bridges the interval between Catesby and the estab-
lishment of the binomial nomenclature, and finishes the Pre-Linnzan epoch. No great
name of exclusive pertinence to North American ornithology appears in this decade.
But the great naturalist whose name is inseparably associated with that of Catesby had
begun in 1741 the “ Natural History of Uncommon Birds,” which he completed in four
parts or volumes, in 1751, and in which the North American element is conspicuous.
This work contains two hundred and ten colored plates, with accompanying text, forming
a treatise which easily ranks among the half-dozen greatest works of the kind of the Pre-
Linnean epoch, and passed through several editions in different languages. Its impress
upon American ornithology of the time is second only to that made by Catesby’s, of
which it was the natural sequence, if not consequence It bore similarly upon birds soon
to be described in binomial terms, and was shortly followed by the not less famous
“Gleanings of Natural History,” 1758-64, a work of precisely the same character, and in
fact a continuation of the former. Edwards also made some of our birds the subject of
special papers before the Philosophical Society, as those of 1755 and 1758 upon the
Ruffed Grouse and the Phalarope. It may be noted here that one of the few special papers
upon any American bird which Linnzus published appeared in this period, he having in
1750 first described the Louisiana Nonpareil (Passerina ciris). This period also saw the
publication of part of the original Swedish edition of Peter Kalm’s “ Travels,” 1753-61,
which went through numerous editions in different languages. Kalm was a correspondent
of Linneus; the genus of plants, Kalmia, commemorates his name; his work contains
accounts of many of our birds, some of them the bases of Linnean species; and he also
published, in 1759, a special paper upon the Wild Pigeon. As in the Catesbian period,
various lesser contributions were made, but none requiring comment. Thus Lawson,
as representing the continuation of a preceding epoch, and the associated names of
Catesby and Edwards in the present one, have carried us past the middle of the last
century.
HISTORICAL PREFACE. XV
Tse Post-Linnzan Epocu: 1758-1800.
(1758-1766. )
The Linnean Period. An interregnum here, during which not a notable work or
worker appears in North American ornithology itself. But events elsewhere occurred,
the reflex action of which upon our theme is simply incalculable, fully requiring the
recognition of this period. The dates, 1758-1766, are respectively those of the appear-
ance of the tenth and of the twelth edition of the “Systema Nature” of Linneus. In
the former the illustrious Swede first formally and consistently applied his system of
nomenclature to all birds known to him;-the latter is his completed system, as it finally
left his hands ; and from then to now, zodlogists and especially ornithologists have dis-
puted whether 1758 or 1766 should be taken as the starting-point of zodlogical nomen-
clature. In ornithology, the matter is still at issue between the American and the
British schools. However this may result, the fact remains that during this ‘Linnean
period,” 1758 to'1766, we have the origin of all the tenable specific names of those of
our birds which were known to Linneeus; the gathering up and methodical digestion
and systematic arrangement of all that had gone before. Let this scant decade stand, —
mute in America, but eloquent in Sweden, and since applauded to the echo of the world.
Nor is this all. The year 1760 saw the famous “Ornithologia” of Mathurin Jacques
Brisson (born April 20, 1725 —died June 23, 1806), in six portly quartos with 261 folded
plates, and elaborate descriptions in Latin and French of hundreds of birds, a fair pro-
portion of which are North American. Many are described for the first time, though
unfortunately not in the binomial nomenclature. The -work holds permanent place ;
and most of the original descriptions of Brisson’s.are among the surest bases of Linnean
species.
(1766-1785.)
The Forsterian Period. — Nearly twenty years have now elapsed with so little in-
cident that two brochures determine the complexion of this period. John Reinhold
Forster was a learned and able man, whose connection with North American ornithology
is interesting. In 1771 he published a tract, now very scarce and of no consequence
whatever, entitled “A Catalogue of the Animals of North America.” But it was the
first attempt to do anything of the sort, —in short, the first thing of its kind. It gives
302 birds, neither described nor even named scientifically. But that was a large num-
ber of North American birds to even mention in those days,— more than Wilson gave
in 1814. Forster followed up this exploit in 1772 with an interesting and valuable
account of 58 birds from Hudson’s Bay, occupying some fifty pages of the ‘‘ Philosophical
Transactions.” Several of these birds were new to science, and were formally named, —
such as our White-throated Sparrow, Black-poll Warbler, Hudsonian Titmouse, and
Eskimo Curlew. Aside from its intrinsic merit, this paper is notable as the first formal
treatise exclusively devoted to a collection of North American birds sent abroad. The
period is otherwise marked by the publication in 1780 of Fabricius’ “ Fauna Groenlandica,”
in which some 50 birds of Greenland receive attention ; and especially by the appearance
of a great statesman and one of the Presidents of the United States in the réle of orni-
thologist, Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” having been first pri-
xvi HISTORICAL PREFACE
vately printed in Paris in 1782, though the authorized publication was not till 1787.
It contains a list of 77 birds of Virginia, fortified with references to Catesby, Linnzus,
and Brisson, as the author’s authorities. There were many editions, one dating 1853.
The long publication in France of one of the monumental works on general orni-
thology coincides very nearly with this period. I refer of course to Buffon and his
collaborators. The “Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux,” by Buffon and Montbeillard, dates
in its original edition 1770-1783, being in nine quarto volumes with 264 plain plates.
It forms a part of the grand set of volumes dating 1749-1804 in their original editions.
With the nine bird-volumes are associated the magnificent series of colored plates known
as the “Planches Enluminées,” published in 42 fascicles from 1765 to 1781. The
plates are 1008 in number, of which 973 represent birds.
(1'785-1791.) #
The Pennantian Period. — A great landmark — one of the most conspicuous of the
last century —- was set up with the appearance in 1785 of the second volume of Thomas
Pennant’s “Arctic Zoology.” The whole work, in three quarto volumes with many
plates, 1784-1787, was ‘“‘designed as a sketch of the Zodlogy of North America.”
In this year, also, John Latham completed the third volume (or sixth part) of his
“General Synopsis of Birds.” These two great works have much in common, in so far
as a more restricted treatise can be compared with a more comprehensive one; and in
the history of our subject the names of Latham and Pennant are linked as closely as
those of Catesby and Edwards. The parallel may be drawn still further; for neither
Pennant nor Latham (up to the date in mention) used binomial names; their species
had consequently no standing; but they furnished to Gmelin in 1788 the same bases
of formally-named species of the thirteenth edition of the “Systema Nature,” that
Catesby and Edwards had afforded Linneus in 1758 and 1766. Pennant treated up-
wards of 500 nominal species of North American Birds. The events at large of this brief
but important period were the progress of Latham’s Supplement to his Synopsis, the first
volume of which appeared in 1787, though the second was not completed till 1801;
the appearance in 1790 of Latham’s “ Index Ornithologicus,” in which his birds receive
Latin names in due form; and the publication in 1788 of the thirteenth edition of the
“Systema Nature,” as just said.
We are so accustomed to see “Linn.” and “Gm.” after the names of our longest-
known birds that we almost unconsciously acquire the notion that Linnzeus and Gmelin
were great discoverers or describers of birds in those days. But the men who made
North American ornithology what it was during the last century were Catesby,
Edwards, Forster, Pennant, Latham, and Bartram. For “the illustrious Swede” was in
this case little more than a methodical cataloguer, or systematic indexer ; while his editor,
Gmelin, was merely an industrious, indiscriminate compiler and transcriber. Neither of
these men discovered anything to speak of in this connection.
(1791-1800.)
The Bartramian Period. — William Bartram’s figure in the events we are sketching
is a notable one, — rather more on account of his bearing upon Wilson’s subsequent ca-
reer than of his own actual achievements. Wilson is often called the “ father of Ameri-
HISTORICAL PREFACE. xvii
can ornithology ;” if this designation be apt, then Bartram may be styled its godfather.
Few are fully aware how much Wilson owed to Bartram, his “guide, philosopher, and
friend,” who published in 1791 his “Travels through North and South Carolina,” con-
taining much ornithological matter that was novel and valuable, including a formal
catalogue of the birds of the Eastern United States, in which many species are named
asnew. I have always contended that those of his names which are identifiable are
available, though Bartram frequently lapsed from strict binomial propriety ; and the
question furnishes a bone of contention to this day. Many birds which Wilson first
fully described and figured were really named by Bartram, and several of the latter’s
designations were simply adopted by Wilson, who, in relation to Bartram, is as the
broader and clearer stream to its principal tributary affluent. The notable “Travels,”
freighted with its unpretending yet almost portentous bird-matter, went through several
editions and at least two translations ; and I consider it the starting-point of a distinctively
American school of ornithology.
We have seen, in several earlier periods, that men’s names appear in pairs, if not
also as mates. -Thus, Catesby and Edwards; Linneus and Gmelin; Pennant and
Latham ; and, perhaps, Buffon and Brisson. The Bartramian alter ego is not Wilson,
but Barton, whose ‘‘ Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania,” 1799, closed
the period which Bartram had opened, and with it the century also. Benjamin Smith
Barton’s tract, a folio now very scarce, is doubly a “fragment,” being at once a work
never finished, and very imperfect as far as it went; but it is one of the most notable
special treatises of the last century, and I think the first book published in this country
that is entirely devoted to ornithology. But its author’s laurels must rest mainly upon
this count, for its influence or impression upon the course of events is scarcely to be rec-
ognized, —is incomparably less than that made by Bartram’s “Travels,” and-by his
mentorship of Wilson.
By the side of Bartram and Barton stand several lesser figures in the picture of this
period. Jeremy Belknap treated the birds of New Hampshire in his ‘“ History” of that
state (1792). Samuel Williams did like service for those of Vermont im his “‘ History”
(1794). Samuel Hearne, a pioneer ornithologist in the northerly parts of America, fore-
shadowed, as it were, the much later “Fauna Boreali-Americana” in the narrative of his
journey from Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean —a stout quarto published in 1795.
Here a chapter of fifty pages is devoted to about as many species of birds ; and Hearne’s
observations have a value which “time, the destroyer,” has not yet wholly effaced.
Tae Witsontan Epocnu: 1800-1824.
(1800-1808.)
The Vieillotian Period. — As we round the turn of the century a great work occupies
the opening years, before the appearance of Wilson, —a work by a foreigner, a French-
man, almost unknown to or ignored by his contemporaries in America, although he was
already the author of several illustrated works on ornithology when, in 1807, his “ Histoire
Naturelle des Oiseaux de Amérique Septentrionale” was completed in two large folio
volumes, containing more than a hundred engravings, with text relating to several hun-
dred species of birds of North America and ‘the West Indies; many of them figured for
xviii HISTORICAL PREFACE.
the first time, or entirely new to science. This work, bearing much the same relation
to its times that Catesby’s and Edwards’ respectively did to theirs, is said to have been
published in twenty-two parts of six plates each, probably during several years; but the
date of its inception I have never been able to ascertain. However this may be, Vieillot,
alone and completely fills a period of eight years, during which no other notable or even
mentionable treatise upon North American birds saw the light. Vieillot’s case is an
exceptional one. As the author of numerous splendidly illustrated works, all of which
live; of a system of ornithology, most of the generic names contained in which are
ingrained in the science; of very extensive encyclopedic work in which hundreds of
species of birds receive new technical names: Vieillot has a fame which time rather
brightens than obscures. Yet it is to be feared that the world was unkind during his
lifetime. At Paris, he stood in the shadow of Cuvier’s great name; Temminck assailed
him from Holland ; while, as to his work upon our birds, many years passed before it
was appreciated or in any way adequately recognized. Thus, singularly, so great a work
as the “Histoire Naturelle” — one absolutely characteristic of a period — had no appre-
ciable effect upon the course of events till long after the times that saw its birth, when
Cassin, Baird, and others brought Vieillot into proper perspective. There is so little
trace of Vieillot during the Wilsonian and Audubonian epochs, that his “ Birds of North
America” may almost be said to have slept for half a century. But to-day, the solitary
figure of the Vieillotian period stands out in bold relief.
(1808-1824.)
The Wilsonian Period.— The “ Paisley weaver ;” the ‘Scotch pedler ;” the “ melan-
choly poet-naturalist ;” the ‘father of American ornithology,” — strange indeed are the
guises of genius, yet stranger its disguises in the epithets by which we attempt to label
and pigeon-hole that thing which has no name but its own, no place but its own. Alex-
ander Wilson had genius, and not much of anything else — very little learning, scarcely
any money, not many friends, and a paltry share of “the world’s regard” while he lived.
But genius brings a message which men must hear, and never tire of hearing; it is
the word that comes when the passion that conceives is wedded with the patience that
achieves. Wilson was a poet by nature, a naturalist by force of circumstances, an Ameri-
can ornithologist by mere accident, — that is, if anything can be accidental in the life of
aman of genius. As a poet, he missed greatness by those limitations of passion which
seem so sad and so unaccountable ; as the naturalist, he achieved it by the patience that
knew no limitation till death interposed. As between the man and his works, the very
touchstone of genius is there; for the man was greater than all his works are. Genius
may do that which satisfies all men, but never that which satisfies itself ; for its inspira-
tion is infinite and divine, its accomplishment finite and human. Such is the penalty
of its possession.
Wilson made, of course, the epoch in which his work appeared, and I cannot restrict
the Wilsonian period otherwise than by giving to Vieillot his own. The period of Wil-
son’s actual authorship was brief; it began in September, 1808, when the first volume of
the “ American Ornithology ” appeared, and was cut short by death before the work was
finished. Wilson, having been born July 6, 1766, and come to America in 1794, died
August 23, 1813, when his seventh volume was finished ; the eighth and ninth being
HISTORICAL PREFACE. xix
completed in 1814 by his friend and editor, George Ord. But from this time to 1824, ..
when Bonaparte began to write, the reigning work was still Wilson’s, nothing appearing
during these years to alter the complexion of American ornithology appreciably. Wil-
son’s name overshadows nearly the whole epoch, — not that others were not then great,
but that he was so much greater. This author treated about 280 species, giving faithful
descriptions of all, and colored illustrations of most of them. There are numerous
editions of his work, of which the principal are Ord’s, 1828-29, in three volumes;
Jameson’s, 1831, in four; Jardine’s, 1832, in three; and Brewer's, 1840, in one; all
of these, excepting of course the first one, containing Bonaparte’s “American Orni-
thology” and other matter foreign to the original “ Wilson.” In 1814, just as “ Wilson”
was finished, appeared the history of the memorable expedition under Lewis and Clarke
—an expedition which furnished some material to Wilson himself, as witness Lewis’
Woodpecker, Clarke’s Crow, and the ‘“‘ Louisiana” Tanager; and more to Ord, who con-
tributed to the second edition of “ Guthrie’s Geography” an article upon ornithology.
Ord’s prominence in this science, however, rests mainly upon his connection with Wilson’s
work, as already noted. Near the close of the Wilsonian period, Thomas Say gave us
important notices of Western birds, upon the basis of material acquired through Long’s
Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, the account of which appeared in 1823. In this
work, Say described sundry species of birds new to science; but he was rather an ento-
mologist than an ornithologist, and his imprint upon our subject is scarcely to be found
outside the volume just named. A noted — some might say rather notorious — character
appeared upon the scene during this period, in the person of C. S. Rafinesque, who seems
to have been a genius, but one so awry that it is difficult to do aught else than mis-
understand him, unless we confess that we scarcely understand him at all. In the
elegant vernacular of the present day he would be called a crank ; but I presume that
term means that kind of genius which fails of interpretation ; for an unsuccessful genius
is a crank, and a successful crank is a genius. For the rest, the Wilsonian period was
marked by great activity in Arctic exploration, in connection with the ornithological
results of which appear prominently the names of William E. Leach and Edward
Sabine.
As illustrating the relation between Wilson and Bartram, which I have already
pointedly mentioned, I may quote a few lines from Ord’s “Life of Wilson.”
1 ‘* His school-heuse and residence being but a short distance from Bartram’s Botanic Garden, situated on
the west bank of the Schuylkill: a sequestered spot, possessing attractions of no ordinary kind; an acquaintance
was soon contracted with that venerable naturalist, Mr. William Bartram, which grew into an uncommon friend-
ship, and continued without the least abatement until severed by death. Here it was that Wilson found him-
self translated, if we may so speak, into a new existence. He had long been a lover of the works of Nature, and
had derived more happiness from the contemplation of her simple beauties, than from any other source of gratifi-
cation. But he had hitherto been a mere novice ; he was now about to receive instructions from one whom the
experiences of a long life, spent in travel and rural retirement, had rendered qualified to teach. Mr. Bartram
soon perceived the bent of his friend’s mind, and its congeniality to his own; and took every pains to encourage
him in a study, which, while it expands the faculties, and purifies the heart, insensibly leads to the contemplation
of the glorious Author of Nature himself. _ From his youth Wilson had been an observer of the manners of birds;
and since his arrival in America he had found them objects of uncommon interest; but he had not yet viewed
them with the eye of a naturalist.”
This was about 1800 —rather a little later. Wilson’s ‘ novitiate’? was the Vieillotian period, almost exactly.
Bartram survived till July 22, 1823, his eighty-fourth year; the date of his death thus coinciding very nearly with
the close of the Wilsonian epoch and period.
xx HISTORICAL PREFACE.
Tue Avupupontan Epocu: 1824-1853.
(1824-1831.)
The Bonapartian Period. A princely person, destined to die one of the most
famous of modern naturalists Charles Lucien Bonaparte, early conceived and executed
the plan of continuing Wilson’s work in similar style, if not in the same spirit. He
began by publishing a series of ‘Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson’s Orni-
thology,” in the “Journal” of the Philadelphia Academy, 1824-25, republished in an
octavo volume, 1826. This valuable critical commentary introduced a new feature, —
decided changes in nomenclature resulting from the sifting and rectification of synonymy.
It is here that questions of synonymy — to-day the bane and drudgery of the working
naturalist — first acquire prominence in the history of our special subject. There had
been very little of it before, and Wilson himself, the least “bookish” of men, ,gave it
scarcely any attention. Bonaparte also in 1825 added several species to our fauna upon
material collected in Florida by the now venerable Titian R. Peale, — whose honored
name is thus the first of those of men still living to appear in these annals. Bonaparte’s
“ American Ornithology,” uniform with “Wilson,” and generally incorporated therewith
in subsequent editions, as a continuation of Wilson’s work, was originally published in
four large quarto volumes, running 1825-33. The year 1827, in the midst of this work
of Bonaparte’s, was a notable one in several particulars. Bonaparte himself was very busy,
producing a “Catalogue of the Birds of the United States,” which, with a “Supplement,”
raised the number of species to 366, and of genera to 83; nearly a hundred species
having been thus become known to us since Ord laid aside the pen that Wilson had
dropped. William Swainson the same year described a number of new Mexican species
and genera, many of which come also into the “ North American” fauna. But the most
notable event of the year was the appearance of the first five parts of Audubon’s elephant
folio plates. In 1828-29, as may also be noted, Ord brought out his three-vol. 8vo
edition of Wilson. In 1828, Bonaparte returned to the charge of systematically cata-
loguing the birds of North America, giving now 382 species; and about this time he
also produced a comparative list of the birds of Rome and Philadelphia. His main
work having been completed in 1833, as just said, Bonaparte continued his labors with
a “Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America,”
published in London in 1838. This brochure gives 503 European and 471 American
species. The celebrated zodlogist wrote until 1857, but his connection with North
American birds was only incidental after 1838. The period here assigned him, 1824—
1831, may seem too short: but this was the opening of the Audubonian epoch—a
period of brilliant inception, and one in which events that were soon to mature their
splendid fruit came crowding fast; so that room must be made at once for others who
were early in the present epoch.
(1831-1832.)
The Swainsonio-Richardsonian Period. The “Fauna Boreali-Americana,” the
ornithological volume of which was published in 1831, made an impression so indelible
that a period, albeit a brief one, must be put here. The technic of this celebrated
HISTORICAL PREFACE. xxl
treatise, more valuable for its descriptions of new species and genera than for its methods
of classification, was by William Swainson, as were the elegant and accurate colored
plates ; the biographical matter, by Dr. (later Sir) John Richardson, increased our knowl-
edge of the life-history of the northerly birds so largely, that it became a fountain of
facts to be drawn upon by nearly every writer of prominence from that day to this,
Each of the distinguished authors had previously appeared in connection with our birds,
— Swainson as above said; Richardson in 1825, in the appendix to Captain Parry’s
“ Journal.” The influence of the work on the whole cannot be well overstated.
Two events, besides the appearance of the “ Fauna,” mark the year 1831. One of
these is the publication of the first volume of Audubon’s “ Ornithological Biography,”
being the beginning of the text belonging to his great folio plates. The other is the
completion of the bird-volumes of Peter Pallas’ famous “‘ Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica,”
one of the most important contributions ever made to our subject, treating so largely
as it does of the birds of the region now called Alaska. The same year saw also the
Jameson edition of “ Wilson and Bonaparte.”
(1832-1834.)
The Nuttallian Pertod.—Thomas Nuttall (born 1786—died 1859) was rather botanist
than ornithologist ; but the travels of this distinguished English-American naturalist
made him the personal acquaintance of many of our birds, his love for which bore fruit
in his “ Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada,” of which the first
volume appeared in 1832, the second in 1834. The work is notable as the first “ hand-
book” of the subject ; it possesses an agreeable flavor, and I think was the first formal
treatise, excepting Wilson’s, to pass to a second edition, as it did in 1840. Nuttall’s
name is permanent in our annals; and many years after he wrote, the honored title was
chosen to be borne by the first. distinctively ornithological association of this country, —
the “Nuttall Ornithological Club,” founded at Cambridge in 1873, and still flourishing.
(1834-1853.)
The Audubonian Period. — Meanwhile, the incomparable work of Audubon —~
“the greatest monument erected by art to nature” — was steadily progressing. The
splendid genius of the man, surmounting every difficulty and discouragement of the
author, had found and claimed its own. That which was always great had come to be
known and named as such, victorious in’ its impetuous yet long-enduring battle with
that curse of the world, —I mean the commonplace; the commonplace, with which
genius never yet effected a compromise, since genius is necessarily a perpetual menace
to mediocrity. Audubon and his work were one; he lived in his work, and in his
work will live forever. When did Audubon die. We may read, indeed, ‘‘on Thurs-
day morning, January 27th, 1851, when a deep pallor overspread his countenance. ...
Then, though he did not speak, his eyes, which had been so long nearly quenched,
rekindled with their former lustre and beauty; his spirit seemed to be conscious that
it was approaching the Spirit-land.” And yet there are those who are wont to exclaim,
“a soul! a soul! what is that?” Happy indeed are they who are conscious of its
existence in themselves, and who can see it in others, every instant of time during their
lives !
xxii ; HISTORICAL PREFACE.
_ Audubon’s first publication, perhaps, was in 1826,—an account of the Turkey-
buzzard, in the “Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,” and some other minor notices
came from his pen. But his energies were already focused on his life-work, with that
intense and perfect absorption of self. which only genius knows. The first volume of
the magnificent folio plates, an hundred in number, appeared in 1827-30, in five parts ;
the second, in 1831-34, of the same number of plates; the third, in 1834-35, likewise
of the same number of plates; the whole series of 4 volumes, 87 parts, 435 plates and
1065 figures of birds, being completed in June, 1839. Meanwhile, the text of the
“Birds of America,” entitled “ Ornithological Biography,” was steadily progressing, the
first of these royal octavo volumes appearing in 1831, the fifth and last in 1839. In
this latter year also appeared the “Synopsis of the Birds of North America,” a single
handy volume serving as a systematic index to the whole work. In 1840-44 appeared
the standard octavo edition in seven volumes, with the plates reduced to octavo size
and the text rearranged systematically ; with a later and better nomenclature than that
given in the “ Ornithological Biography,” and some other changes, including an appendix
describing various new species procured during the author’s journey to the upper Mis-
souri in 1843. In the original elephant folios there were 435 plates ; with the reduction
in size the number was raised to 483, by the separation of various figures which had
previously occupied the same plate; and to these 17 new ones were added, making 500
in all. The species of birds treated in the “ Synopsis” are 491 in number; those in the
work, as it finally left the illustrious author’s hands, are 506 in number, nearly all of
them splendidly figured in colors.
In estimating the influence of so grand an accomplishment as this, we must not
leave Audubon “alone in his glory.” Vivid and ardent was his genius; matchless
he was both with pen and pencil in giving life and spirit to the beautiful objects he
delineated with passionate love ; but there was a strong and patient worker by his side, —
William Macgillivray, the countryman of Wilson, destined to lend the sturdy Scotch
fibre to an Audubonian epoch. The brilliant French-American naturalist was little of
a “scientist.” Of his work, the magical beauties of form and color and movement are
all his ; his page is redolent of Nature’s fragrance: but Macgillivray’s are the bone and
sinew, the hidden anatomical parts beneath the lovely face, the nomenclature, the
classification, —in a word, the technicalities of the science. Not that Macgillivray was
only a closet-naturalist ; he was a naturalist in the best sense—in every sense —of the
word, and the “vital spark” is gleaming all through his works upon British birds,
showing his intense and loyal love of Nature in all her moods. But his place in the
Audubonian epoch in American ornithology is as has been said. The anatomical struc-
ture of American birds was first disclosed in any systematic manner, and to any consider-
able extent, by him. But only to-day, as it were, is this most important department
of ornithology assuming its rightful place; and have we a modem Maggillivray to
come 1 ;
The sensuous beauty with which Audubon endowed the object of his life was long
in acquiring, with loss of no comeliness, the aspect more strict and severe of a later and
maturer epoch. Audubon was practically accomplished in 1844, the year which saw
his completed work ; but I note no special or material change in the course of events, —
no name of assured prominence, till 1853, when a new régime, that had meanwhile been
HISTORICAL PREFACE. t Xxiii
insensibly established, may be considered to have closed the Andubonian epoch, — the
Audubonian period thus extending through the nine years after 1844.
While Audubon was finishing, several mentionable events occurred. I have already
spoken of Bonaparte’s “ List” of 1838, and of the 1840 edition of Nuttall’s “ Manual.”
Richardson in 1837 contributed to the Report of the Sixth Meeting of the British Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science an elaborate and important “Report on North
American Zodlogy,” relating in due part to birds. The distinguished Danish naturalist,
Reinhardt, wrote a special treatise on Greenland Birds, 1838; W. B. O. Peabody one
upon the birds of Massachusetts, 1839. The important Zoblogy of Captain Beechey’s
Voyage appeared in 1839, with the birds done by N. A. Vigors. Maximilian, Prince
of Wied, published his “Reise in das Innere Nord-America” in 1839-41. Sixteen new
species of birds from Texas were described and figured by J. P. Giraud in 1841, and
the same author’s useful “Birds of Long Island” was published in 1844. This year
saw also the bird-volume of De Kay’s “ Zotlogy of New York.” The Rev. J. H. Linsley
furnished a notable catalogue of the birds of Connecticut in 1843. A name intimately
associated with Audubon’s is that of J. K. Townsend, whose fruitful travels in the
West in company with Nuttall in 1834 resulted in adding to our list the many new
species which were published by Townsend himself in 1837, and also utilized by
Audubon. Townsend’s “Narrative” of his journey appeared in 1839; and the same
year saw the beginning of a large work which Townsend projected, an ‘‘ Ornithology
of the United States,” which, however, progressed no further than one part or number,
being killed by the octavo edition of Audubon. In 1837 I first find the name of a
friend of Audubon which often appears in his work —that of Dr. Thomas Mayo Brewer,
who wrote on the birds of Massachusetts in this year, and in 1840 brought out his use-
ful and convenient duodecimo edition of “‘ Wilson,” in one volume. In 1844, Audubon’s
last effectual year, the brothers Wm. M. and S. F. Baird appear, with a list of the birds
of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, having the year previously, in July, 1843, described two new
species of flycatchers, in the first paper ever written by the one who was to make the
succeeding epoch; and it is significant that the last bird in Audubon’s work was named
“Emberiza bairdit.”
Such were the aspects of the ornithological sky as the glorious Audubonian sun
approached and passed the zenith ; still more significant were the signs of the times as
that orb neared its golden western horizon. In the interval between 1844 and 1853,
Baird and Brewer continued; Cassin and Lawrence appeared in various papers; and
round these names are grouped those of William Gambel, with new and interesting ob-
servations in the Southwest; of George A. McCall and S. W. Woodhouse, in the same
connection; and of Holbéll in respect of Greenland birds. The most important con-
tributions were the several papers published by Gambel, in 1845 and subsequently, and
Baird’s Zodlogy of Stansbury’s Expedition, 1852. But no period-marking, still less epoch-
making, work accelerated the setting of the sun of Audubon.
Tar Barrpian Erocn: 1853-18 —.
(1853-1858.)
The Cassinian Period. — While much material was accumulating from ees explora-
tion of the great West, and the Bairdian period was rapidly nearing ; while Brewer and
xxiv ; HISTORICAL PREFACE.
Lawrence were continuing their studies and writings, and many other names of lesser
note were contributing their several shares to the whole result: the figure of John Cassin
stands prominent. Cassin was born September 6, 1813, and passed from view in the
Quaker City, January 10, 1869. Numerous valuable papers and several important works
attest the assiduity and success with which he cultivated his favorite science to the end
of his days. I think that his first paper was the description of a new hawk, Cymindis
wilsont, in 1847. Among his most important works are the Ornithology of the Wilkes
Exploring Expedition ; of the Perry Japan Expedition ; and of the Gilliss Expedition to
Chili. Aside from his strong codperation with Baird in the great work to be presently
noticed, Cassin’s seal is set upon North American ornithology in the beautiful book
begun in 1853 and finished in 1856, entitled “Illustrations of the Birds of California,”
etc., forming a large octavo volume, illustrated with fifty colored plates. His distinc-
tive place in ornithology is this: he was the only ornithelogist this country has ever
produced who was as familiar with the birds of the Old World as with those of America.
Enjoying the facilities of the then unrivalled collection of the Philadelphia Academy, his
monographic studies were pushed into almost every group of birds of the world at
large. He was patient and laborious in the technic of his art, and full of book-learning
in the history of his subject ; with the result, that the Cassinian period, largely by the
work of Cassin himself, is marked by its “bookishness,” by its breadth and scope in
ornithology at large, and by the first decided change since Audubon in the aspect of the
classification and nomenclature of the birds of our country. The Cassinian period marks
the culmination of the changes that wrought the fall of the Audubonian sceptre in all
that relates to the technicalities of the science, and consequently represents the beginning
of a new epoch.
The peers of this period are only three, — Lawrence, Brewer, and Baird. The for-
mer of these, already an eminent ornithologist, continued his rapidly succeeding papers
and was preparing his share of Baird’s great work of 1858; though later his attention be-
came so closely fixed upon the birds of Central and South America, that a “ Lawrencian
period” is to be found in the history of the ornithology of those countries rather than
of our own. Dr. Brewer’s various articles appeared, and in 1857 this author, so well
known since Audubonian times, became the recognized leading odlogist of North America,
through the publication of the first part of his “ North American Odlogy ” —a work unfor-
tunately suspended at this point. Though thus fragmentary, this quarto volume stands
as the first systematic treatise published in this country exclusively devoted to odlogy, and
giving a considerable series of colored illustrations of eggs. Buta larger measure of the
world’s regard became his much later, when, in 1874, appeared the great “ History of North
American Birds,” in three quarto volumes, all the biographical matter of which was by
him ; and, even as I write, two more volumes are about to appear, in which he has like
large share. Thus closely is the name of Brewer identified with the progress of the
science for nearly half a century, — from 1837 at least, to 1884, some four years after his
death, which occurred January 23, 1880. He was born in Boston, November 21, 1814.
Baird published little during the Cassinian period, being then intent upon the great
work about to appear; but the number of workers in special fields attests the activity
of the times. S. W. Woodhouse published his completed observations upon the birds
of the Southwest in an illustrated octavo volume. Zadock Thompson’s “ Natural History
HISTORICAL PREFACE. XXV
of Vermont” (1853) paid attention to the birds of that state. Birds of Wisconsin were
catalogued by P. R. Hoy; of Ohio, by M. C. Read and Robert Kennicott ; of Illinois, by
H. Pratten ; of Indiana, by R. Haymond ; of Massachusetts, by F. W. Putnam; and
various other ‘‘faunal lists”? and local annotations appeared, including President Jeffer-
son’s Virginian ornithology, three-quarters of a century out of date. Dr. T. C. Henry
and Dr. A. L. Heermann wrote upon birds of the Southwest ; Reinhardt continued ob-
servations on Greenland birds; Dr. Henry Bryant published some valuable papers.
The since very eminent English ornithologist, Dr. P. L. Sclater, appeared during this
period in the present connection. The series of Pacific Railroad Reports, which were
to culminate, so far as ornithology is concerned, with the famous ninth volume, were in
progress ; the sixth volume, containing Dr. J. S. Newherry’s valuable and interesting
article upon the birds of California and Oregon, was published in 1857. Thus the
Cassinian period, besides being marked as already said in its broader features, was
notable in its details for the increase in the number of active workers, the extent and
variety of their independent observations, and the consequent accumulation of materials
ready to be worked into shape and system.
(1858-18—.)
The Batrdian Period. — The ninth volume of the “ Pacific Railroad Reports ” was an
epoch-making work, bearing the same relation to the times that the respective works
of Audubon and Wilson had sustained in former years. A great amount of material —
not all of which is more than hinted at in the foregoing paragraph — was at the service
of Professor Baird. In the hands of a less methodical, learned, and sagacious naturalist,
— of one less capable of elaborating and systematizing, — the result would probably have
been an ordinary official report upon the collections of birds secured during a few years
by the naturalists of the several explorations and surveys for a railroad route from the
Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Ocean. But having already transformed the eighth
volume of the Reports from such a “public document” into a systematic treatise on
North American Mammals, this author did the same for the birds of North America,
with the codperation of Cassin and Lawrence. This portly quarto volume, published in
1858, represents the most important and decided single step ever taken in North Ameri-
can ornithology in all that relates to the technicalities of the science. It effected a
revolution — one already imminent in consequence of Cassin’s studies — in classification
and nomenclature, nearly all the names of our birds which had been in use in the
Audubonian epoch being changed in accordance with more modern usages’ in generic
and specific determinations. While the work contains no biographical matter, — nothing
of the life-history of birds, it gives lucid and exact diagnoses of the species and genera
known at the time, with copious synonymy and critical commentary. Various new
genera are characterized, and many new species are described. The influence of the
great work was immediate and widespread, and for many years the list of names of the
738 species contained in the work remained a standard of nomenclature from which
few desired or indeed were in position to deviate. The value of the work was further
enhanced in 1860 by its republication, identical in the text, but with the addition of an
atlas of 100 colored plates. Many of these plates were the same as those which had
appeared in other volumes of the Pacific Railroad Reports, notably the sixth and tenth
XXVi HISTORICAL PREFACE.
and twelfth (the two latter volumes having appeared in 1859) ; others were those con-
tained in the “Mexican Boundary Report” which had appeared under Professor Baird’s
editorship.in 1859; about half of them were new.
I have spoken of the collaboration of Cassin and Lawrence in the production of this
remarkable. treatise. Considering it only as one of a series of reports upon the Pacific
Railroad Surveys, I should bring into somewhat of association the names of those who
contributed the ornithological portions of other volumes, as the fourth, sixth, tenth, and
twelfth, — Dr. C. B. R. Kennerly, Dr. J. 8. Newberry, Dr. A. L. Heermann, Dr. J. G.
Cooper, and Dr, George Suckley. Nor should it be forgotten that numberless other col-
lectors and contributors, whose specimens are catalogued throughout the volume, brought
their hands to bear upon the erection of this grand monument.
But what of the genius of this work ?— for I have not measured my words in speak-
ing of Wilson and Audubon.’ Can any work be really great without that mysterious
quality ? Certainly not. This work is instinct with the genius of the times that saw
its birth. This work is the spirit of an epoch embodied.
But here I must pause. My little sketch is brought upon the threshold of contem-
poraneous history, — to the beginning of the Bairdian period, of the close of which, as
of the duration of the Bairdian epoch, it is not.for me to speak. When the splendid
achievements of American ornithologists during the past quarter of a century shall be
seen in historical perspective; when the brilliant possibilities of our near future
shall have become the realizations of a past; when the glowing names that went before
shall have fired another generation with a noble zeal, a lofty purpose, and a generous
emulation —- then, perhaps, the thread here dropped may be recovered by another hand.
Yet a few words of Preface proper to the present work appear to be required. The
original edition of the “Key” -was published in October, 1872, in an issue of about
2,200 copies. It was not.stereotyped, and has been for some years entirely out of print.
It formed an imperial octavo of 361 pages, illustrated with 238 woodcuts in the text and
6 steel plates. It was designed asa manual or text-book of North American Ornithology.
To meet this design, the Introduction consisted of a general account of the external
characters of ‘birds, an explanation of the technical terms used in describing them, and
some exposition of the leading principles of classification and nomenclature. An artificial
“key” or analysis of the genera, constructed upon a plan found practically useful in
botany, but seldom applied to zoélogy, was introduced, to enable one who had some
knowledge of the technical terms to refer a given specimen 'to its proper genus. Then,
in the body ofthe work, each species was briefly described, with indication of its
geographical distribution and references to several leading authorities. The families and
orders of North American birds were also’ characterized, and a synopsis of the fossil birds
was appended. The work introduced many decided changes in classification and nomen-
clature which the then state of the science seemed to require, and systematically recog-
nized a large number of those subspecies or geographical races which are now indicated.
by. the use of trinomial nomenclature, — a method now fully established and recognized
as peculiar to the “ American school.” The central idea of the treatise was to enable one
HISTORICAL PREFACE. XXvii
to identify and label his specimens, though he might have no other knowledge of orni-
thology than such as the book itself gave him. I have been given to understand that
‘the work has answered its purpose, and has had a useful career; and I have long since
been advised by my esteemed publishers that they were ready to issue a second edition,
which I have only just now found time to complete.
The present edition of the ‘‘ Key ” is conceived in the same spirit as the former one,
to fulfil precisely the same purpose. But it has been entirely rewritten, and is quite
another work, though the old title is preserved. An author who practises his profession
diligently for twenty years is apt to find fault with his first book, and seek to remedy
its defects when opportunity offers. It has become quite clear to me, as it doubtless has
to others, that the old ‘“ Key” no longer turns in the lock with ease and precision, — not
that it has rusted from disuse, but that the more complicated mechanism of the lock re-
quires its key to be refitted. During no previous period has our knowledge gone faster
or farther or more surely than in the interval between the two editions of the ‘“ Key ;”
there are scores of active and enthusiastic workers where there was one before ; scores of
important treatises have appeared ; the literature of the subject has been searched, sifted,
and systematized ; every corner of our country has been ransacked for birds, and the list
of our species and subspecies has reached about 900 by the many late discoveries ; active
interest in this branch of science is no longer confined to professed ornithologists ; the
importance of avian anatomy is as fully recognized as is the beauty of the life-history of
birds ; a distinctively American school of ornithology has grown up, introducing radical
changes in nomenclature and classification ; a quarterly journal of ornithology has reached
its ninth annual volume ; an American Ornithologists’ Union, the membership of which
extends to every quarter of the globe, has been founded.
So rapid, indeed, has been the progress, and so radical the changes wrought during the
last few years, that I doubt not this is the time to take our bearings anew and proceed
with judicious conservatism. Neither do I doubt that just at this moment a new
departure is imminent, hinging upon the establishment of the American Ornithologists’
Union. It behooves us, therefore, to consider the question, not alone of where we stand
to-day, but also, of whither we are tending ; for we are certainly in a transition state, and
not even the near future can as yet be accurately forecast. The pliability and elasticity of
our trinomial system of nomenclature is very great ; and the method lends itself so readily to
the nicest discriminations of geographical races, — of the finest shades of variation in sub-
specific characters with climatic and other local conditions of environment, that our new toy
may not impossibly prove a dangerous instrument, if it be not used with judgment and cau-
tion. We seem to be in danger of going too far, if not too fast, in this direction. It is not
to ery “halt!” — for any advance is better than any standstill ; but it is to urge prudence,
caution, and circumspection, lest we be forced to recede ingloriously from an untenable
position, — that these words are penned, with a serious sense of their necessity.
In the present unsettled and perplexing state of our nomenclature, when appeal to
no “authority ” or ultimate jurisdiction is possible, it is well to formulate and codify
some canons of nomenclature by which to agree to abide. It is well to apply such
canons rigidly, with thorough sifting of synonymy, no matter what precedents be disre-
garded, what innovations be caused. It is well to use trinomials for subspecific deter-
minations. But it is not well to overdo the “variety business ;” feather-splitting is
XXviii HISTORICAL PREFACE.
no better than hair-splitting, and the liberties of the “American idea” must never
degenerate into license. Our action in this regard must stop short of a point where an
unfavorable reaction would be the inevitable result.
But I have digressed, in saying a warning word, from the point of the conclusion of
this Preface, which is simply to describe the new edition of the “ Key” with special
reference to its difference from the former one. The classification and nomenclature are
materially different, in consequence of the progress of our knowledge during the past twelve
years. In 1873, a year after the old “Key” appeared, I published a “ Check List,” con-
formed exactly with the nomenclature of the ‘‘ Key.” In 1882, when I had recast the “‘ Key,”
I published a second edition of the “ Check List” in conformity with the new “ Key.”
The present work, therefore, gives the same names, with scarcely any variance, though with
a few additional ones; the new “Check List” and the new “ Key” being practically one
in all that pertains to nomenclature, and representing a particular phase of the subject.
The numbering of the species, also, corresponds with that in the “ Check List.”
Part I. of the present work consists of my “ Field Ornithology,” originally published as
a separate treatise in 1874, and now for the first time incorporated with the “Key.” It is
reprinted nearly verbatim, but with some little amplification towards its end, and the intro-
duction of a few illustrations.
Part II. consists of the introductory matter of the old ‘‘ Key,” very greatly amplified.
In its present shape it is a sort of “ Closet Ornithology ” as distinguished from a “ Field
Ornithology ;” being a treatise on the classification and structure of birds, explaining and
defining the technical terms used in ornithology, —in short, teaching the principles of
the science and illustrating their application.
Part III., the main body of the work, describes all the species and subspecies of
North American birds known to me, defines the genera, and characterizes the families and
higher groups. The descriptions are much more elaborate than those of the old “ Key,”
and I trust that such amplification has been made without loss of that sharpness of
definition which was the aim of the first edition. I have kept steadily in view my main
purpose — the ready identification of specimens. In many cases I have drawn upon my
other works — such as the “ Birds of the Colorado Valley,” the “ Birds of the North-
west,” and several of my Monographs, — for available ready-made descriptions ; but for
the most part the matter of this kind is new. Scarcely any of this part of the old
“ Key ” remains as it was. One improvement, I think, will be found in the removal of
the unnecessary references to authorities which closed the descriptive paragraphs of the
old “ Key,” and the utilization of the space thus gained by introducing terse biograph-
ical items, with special reference to nests and eggs, to song, flight, migrative and other
habits ; the technical descriptions of the species thus also epitomizing the life-history of
the birds. Geographical distribution is also more fully treated, as its importance de-
serves. More attention has been paid to the description of the plumages of females and
young birds. The specific names head their respective paragraphs, instead of tailing-off
the same; they are also marked for accent, and their etymology is concisely stated, —
though for this matter the student should continue to use the new “Check List.”
As regards the artificial “key to the genera” of the old work, it has proven that
too much was attempted in undertaking to carry the student at once to our refined mod-
ern genera. I have accordingly substituted artificial keys to the orders and families ;
HISTORICAL PREFACE. xxix
and throughout the work have analyzed species under their respective genera, these
under their subfamilies or families, and these again under their orders.
Part IV. consists of a Synopsis of the Fossil birds of North America, corresponding
to the appendix of the old ‘“‘ Key,” but augmented by later discoveries. As before, this
part of the work has been revised by Professor O. C. Marsh.
In the mechanical execution of the work, it has been my aim to compress the most
matter into the least space and leave no waste paper, in order to keep the treatise within
a single portable volume of convenient text-book size. I judge that there is nearly four
times as much matter in the present volume as there was in the original edition, the
page being much more closely printed, in a smaller type, and on thinner paper.
The old “ Key” was insufficiently illustrated, and the average character of the cuts
was not entirely satisfactory. The present edition more than doubles the number of
illustrations. These are in part original, in part derived from various sources, all of
which are duly accredited in the text. The basis of the series is of course the cuts of the
former edition ; but many of these have been discarded and replaced by better ones.
About fifty of the most effective engravings were secured by my publishers from Brehm’s
“Thierleben ;” nearly as many more are from Dixon’s “ Rural Bird Life,” the American
edition of which is owned by the same firm. A few have been copied from D. G. Elliot’s
“ Birds of America,” and a few others from the Proceedings of the Zotlogical Society of
London. About fifty of the prettiest ones were drawn by Mr. Edwin Sheppard and en-
graved by Mr. H. H. Nichols, expressly for this edition. Another set—- how many there
are of them I do not know —are from my own drawings, and have mostly appeared in
other of my publications. Several of Mr. R. Ridgway’s drawings have been placed at my
service, through his kind attentions, and with Professor Baird’s permission. I am in-
debted to Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. 8. A., for about thirty original anatomical drawings, as
well as for the colored frontispiece. Mr. Henry W. Elliott has kindly put at my dis-
position several of his own artistic compositions, and I have received some very beautiful
engravings with the compliments of the Century Company of New York.
It is always agreeable to pay one’s respects when due, and acknowledge assistance
and encouragement received in the preparation of one’s books. Yet what an embarrass-
ment is mine now! For there is no writer of repute on North Amenvan ornithology,
and scarcely a leader of the science at large, who has not assisted in the making of the
“ Key ;” and there is no reader of the work who has not encouraged its author to produce
this new edition. I am trebly in debt, —to thousands whose names I know not; to
hundreds I only know by name and fame; to scores of tried and trusted friends.
But let me say how much I am indebted to my vompositors and proof-readers of the
University Press at Cambridge for the skill with which they have turned copy into print,
and to the proprietors of that justly-celebrated establishment for the pains they have
taken in making the book an example of beautiful and accurate typography: Let me
recognize here the liberality and generosity of my friend, Mr. Dana Estes, senior of the
firm of Estes and Lauriat, in permitting me to make the book to suit myself, and in
sparing no expense to which he might be put in consequence. Let me not forget that
during its preparation, as for many years previously, I have enjoyed to the fullest extent
the privileges of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum, through the
courtesy of Professor Baird, my access to the great collection of birds being always facili-
XXX HISTORICAL PREFACE.
tated by the attentions of Mr. Robert Ridgway, the Curator of Ornithology. And may
that less tangible but not less real source of strength which inheres in the sympathetic
and genial intercourse of a lifetime continue to be mine to draw upon, for all my works,
from my warm friend, J. A. Allen, the first President of the American Ornithologists’
Union. ;
“ Prefaces,” says some one, “ever were and still are but of two sorts; . . . still the
author keeps to his old and wonted method of prefacing, when, at the beginning of his
book he enters, either with a halter about his neck, submitting himself to his reader’s
mercy whether he shall be hanged, or no; or else in a huffing manner he appears, with
the halter in his hand, and threatens to hang his reader, if he gives him not his good
word.” But I wish neither to hang nor be hanged; I wish the work were better than it
is, for my reader’s sake ; I wish the author were better than he is, for my own sake ; and
above all I wish that every author may rise superior to his best work, to the end that the
man himself be judged above his largest achievements. It is well to do great things,
but better still to be great.
E. C.
Smirusoni1an InstiTurion,
Wasuineton, D.C., Aprit, 1884.
Part IL
FIELD ORNITHOLOGY:
BEING A
MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION FOR COLLECTING, PREPARING,
AND PRESERVING BIRDS.
ITELD ORNITHOLOGY must lead the way to Systematic and Descriptive Ornithology.
The study of Birds in the field is an indispensable prerequisite to their study in the
library and the museum. Directions for observing and collecting birds, for preparing and pre-
serving them as objects of natural history, will greatly help the student on his way to become
a successful Ornithologist, if he will faithfully and intelligently observe them. It is believed
that the practical Instructions which the author has to give will, if followed out, enable any
one who has the least taste or aptitude for such pursuits to become proficient in the necessary
qualifications of the good working ornithologist. These instructions are derived from the
writer’s own experience, reaching in time over twenty years, and extending in area over large
portions of North America. Having made in the field the personal acquaintance of most
species of North American birds, and having shot and skinned with his own hands several
thousand specimens, he may reasonably venture to speak with confidence, if not also with
authority, respecting methods of study and manipulation. Feeling so much at home in the
field, with his gun for destroying birds, and his instruments for preserving their skins, he
wishes to-put the most inexperienced student equally at ease; and therefore begs to lay
formality aside, that he may address the reader familiarly, as if chatting with a friend on a
subject of mutual interest.
§ 1.—IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE.
The Double-barrelled Shot Gun is your main reliance. Under some circumstances
you may trap or snare birds, catch them with bird-lime, or use other devices; but such cases
are exceptions to the rule that you will shoot birds, and for this purpose no weapon compares
with the one just mentioned. The soul of good advice respecting the selection of a gun is,
Get the best one you can afford to buy ; go the full length of your purse in the matters of
material and workmanship. To say nothing of the prime requisite, safety, or of the next most
desirable quality, efficiency, the durability of a high-priced gun makes it cheapest in the end.
1
2 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
Style of finish is obviously of little consequence, except as an index of other qualities; for
inferior guns rarely, if ever, display the exquisite appointments that mark a first-rate arm.
There is really so little choice among good guns that nothing need be said on this score; you
cannot miss it if you pay enough to any reputable maker or reliable dealer. But collecting
is a specialty, and some guns are better adapted than others to your particular purpose, which
is the’ destruction, as a rule, of small birds, at moderate range, with the least possible injury
to their plumage. Probably three-fourths or more of the birds of a miscellaneous collection
average under the size of a pigeon, and were shot within thirty yards. A heavy gun is there-
fore unnecessary, in fact ineligible, the extra weight being useless. You will find a gun of
74 to 8 pounds weight most suitable. For similar reasons the bore should be small; I prefer
14 gauge, and should not think of going over 12. To judge from the best sporting authorities,
length of barrel is of less consequence than many suppose; for myself, I incline to a rather
long barrel, — one nearer 33 than 28 inches, —believing that such a barrel may throw shot
better; but Iam not sure that this is even the rule, while it is well known that several
circumstances of loading, besides some almost inappreciable differences in the way barrels are
bored, will cause guns apparently exactly alike to throw shot differently. Length and crook
of stock should of course be adapted to your figure, —a gun may be made to fit you, as well
as a coat. For wild-fowl shooting, and on some other special occasions, a heavier and
altogether more powerful gun will be preferable.
Breech-Loader ys. Muzzle-Loader, a case long argued, may be considered settled in
favor of the former. Provided the mechanism and workmanship of the breech be what they
should, there are no valid objections to offset obvious advantages, some of which are these:
ease and rapidity of loading, and consequently delivery of shots in quick succession ; facility of
cleaning; compactness and portability of ammunition ; readiness with which different-sized shot
may be used. This last is highly important to the collector, who never knows the moment
he may wish to fire at a very different bird from such as he has already loaded for. The
muzzle-loader must always contain the fine shot with which nine-tenths of your specimens
will be secured; if in both barrels, you cannot deal with a hawk or other large bird with
reasonable prospects of success; if in only one barrel, the other being more heavily charged,
you are crippled to the extent of exactly one-half of your resources for ordinary shooting.
Whereas, with the breech-loader you will habitually use mustard-seed in both barrels, and yet
can slip in a different shell in time to seize most opportunities requiring large shot. This con-
sideration alone should decide the case. But, moreover, the time spent in the field in loading
an ordinary gun is no small item; while cartridges may be charged in your leisure at home.
This should become the natural occupation of your spare moments. No time is really gained ;
you simply change to advantage the time consumed. Metal shells, charged with loose ammu-
nition, and susceptible of being reloaded mnany times, may be used instead of any special fixed
ammunition which, once exhausted in a distant place (and circumstances may upset the best
calculations on that score), leaves the gun useless. On charging the shells mark the number
of the shot used on the outside wad; or better, use colored wads, say plain white for dust shot,
and red, blue, and green for certain other sizes. If going far away, take as many shells as you
think can possibly be wanted — and a few more.
Experience, however, will soon teach you to prefer paper cartridges for breech-loaders.
They may of course be loaded according to circumstances, with the same facility as metal
shells, and even reloaded if desired. It is a good deal of trouble to take care of metal shells,
to prevent loss, keep them clean, and avoid bending or indenting ; while there is often a prac-
tical difficulty in recapping— at least with the common styles that take a special primer.
Those fitted with a screw top holding a nipple for ordinary caps are expensive. Paper cart-
IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 3
ridges come already capped, so that this bother is avoided, as it is not ordinarily worth while
to reload them. They are made of different colors, distinguishing various sizes of shot used
without employ of colored wads otherwise required. They may be taken into the field empty
and loaded on occasion to suit; but it is better to pay a trifle extra to have them loaded at the
shop. In such case, about four-fifths of the stock should contain mustard-seed, nearly all the
rest about No. 7, a very few being reserved for about No. 4. Cost of ammunition is hardly
appreciably increased ; its weight is put in the most conveniently portable shape; the whole
apparatus for carrying it, and loading the shells, is dispensed with; much time is saved, the
entire drudgery (excepting gun-cleaning) of collecting being avoided. I was prepared in this
way during the summer of 1873 for the heaviest work I ever succeeded in accomplishing during
the same length of time. In June, when birds were plentiful, I easily averaged fifteen skins
a day, and occasionally made twice as many. As items serving to base calculations, I may
mention that in four months I used about two thousand cartridges, loaded, at $42 per M.,
with seven-eighths of an ounce of shot and two and three-fourths drachms of powder; only
about three hundred were charged with shot larger than mustard-seed. In estimating the size
of a collection that may result from use of a given number of cartridges, it may not be safe for
even a good shot to count on much more than half as many specimens as cartridges. The
number is practically reduced by the following steps: — Cartridges lost or damaged, or orig-
inally defective; shots missed; birds killed or wounded, not recovered; specimens secured
unfit for preservation, or not pieseeved for any reason ; specimens wodidentally spoilt in stuffing,
or subsequently damaged so as to be not worth keeping; and finally, use of cartridges to
supply the table.
Other Weapons, etc. — An ordinary single-barrel gun will of course answer; but is a
sorry makeshift, for it is sometimes so poorly constructed as to be unsafe, and can at best be
only just half as effective. This remark does not apply to any of the fine single-barrelled breech-
loaders now made. You will find them very effective weapons, and they are not at all expen-
sive. An arm now much used by collectors is a kind of breech-loading pistol, with or without
a skeleton gun-stock to screw into the handle, and taking a particular style of metal cartridge,
charged with a few grains of powder, or with nothing but the fulminate. They are very light,
very cheap, safe and easy to work, and astonishingly effective up to twenty or thirty yards;
making probably the best ‘‘ second choice” after the matchless double-barrelled breech-
loader itself. The cane-gun should be mentioned in this connection. It is a single-barrel,
lacquered to look like a stick, with a brass stopper at the muzzle to imitate a ferule, counter-
sunk hammer and trigger, and either a simple curved handle, or a light gunstock-shaped piece
that screws in. The affair is easily mistaken for a cane. Some have acquired considerable
dexterity in its use; my own experience with it is very limited and unsatisfactory ; the handle
always hit me in the face, and I generally missed my bird. It has only two recommendations.
If you approve of shooting on Sunday and yet scruple to shock popular prejudice, you can slip
out of town unsuspected. If you are shooting where the law forbids destruction of small birds,
——a wise and good law that you may sometimes be inclined to defy, —artfully careless handling
of the deceitful implement may prevent arrest and fine. A blow-gun is sometimes used. It is
a long slender tube of wood, metal, or glass, through which clay-balls, tiny arrows, etc., are
projected by force of the breath. It must be quite an art to use such a weapon successfully,
and its employment is necessarily exceptional. Some uncivilized tribes are said to possess
marvellous skill in the use of long bamboo blow-guns; and such people are often valuable
employés of the collector. I have had no experience with the noiseless air-gun, which is, in
effect, a modified blow-gun, compressed air being the explosive power. Nor can I say much
of various methods of trapping birds that may be practised. On these points I must leave you
to your own devices, with the remark that horse-hair snares, set over a nest, are often of great
4 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
service in securing the parent of eggs that might otherwise remain unidentified. I have no
practical knowledge of bird-lime ; I believe it is seldom used in this country. A method of
netting birds alive, which I have tried, is both easy and successful. A net of fine green silk,
some 8 or 10 feet square, is stretched perpendicularly across a narrow part of one of the tiny
brooks, overgrown with briers and shrubbery, that intersect many of our meadows. Retreating
to a distance, the collector beats along the shrubbery making all the noise he can, urging on
the little birds till they reach the almost invisible net and become entangled in trying to fly
through. I have in this manner taken a dozen sparrows and the like at one “drive.” But
the gun can rarely be laid aside for this or any similar device.
Ammunition,— The best powder is that combining strength and cleanliness in the highest
compatible degree. In some brands too much of the latter is sacrificed to the former. Other
things being equal, a rather coarse powder is preferable, since its slower action tends to throw
shot closer. Some numbers are said to be “‘too quick” for fine breech-loaders. Inexperienced
sportsmen and collectors almost invariably use too coarse shot. When unnecessarily large, two
evils result: the number of pellets in a load is decreased, the chances of killing being corre-
spondingly lessened; and the plumage is unnecessarily injured, either by direct mutilation,
or by subsequent bleeding through large holes. As already hinted, shot cannot be too fine for
your routine collecting. Use “‘ mustard-seed,” or ‘ dust-shot,” as it is variously called; it is
smaller than any of the sizes usually numbered. As the very finest can only be procured in
cities, provide yourself liberally on leaving any centre of civilization for even a country village,
to say nothing of remote regions. A small bird that would have been torn to pieces by a few
large pellets, may be riddled with mustard-seed and yet be preservable ; moreover, there is, as
a rule, little or no bleeding from such minute holes, which close up by the elasticity of the
tissues involved. It is astonishing what large birds may be brought down with the tiny pellets.
I have killed hawks with such shot, knocked over a wood ibis at forty yards and once shot
a wolf dead with No. 10, though I am bound to say the animal was within a few feet of me.
After dust-shot, and the nearest number or two, No. 8 or 7 will be found most useful. Water-
fowl, thick-skinned sea-birds, like loons, cormorants, and pelicans, and a few of the largest land
birds, require heavier shot. I have had no experience with the substitution of fine gravel or
sand, much less water, as a projectile; besides shot I never fired anything at a bird except
my ramrod, on one or two occasions, when I never afterwards saw either the bird or the stick.
The comparatively trivial matter of caps will repay attention. Breech-loaders not discharged
with a pin take a particular style of short cap called a “ primer;” for other guns the best
water-proof lined caps will prevent annoyance and disappointment in wet weather, and may
save you an eye, for they only split when exploded; whereas, the flimsy cheap ones — that
“G D” trash, for instance, sold in the corner grocery at ten cents a hundred —usually Hy
to pieces. Cut felt wads are the only suitable article. Ely’s “chemically prepared” wadding
is the best. It is well, when using plain wads, occasionally to drive a greased one through
the barrel. Since you may sometimes run out of wads through an unexpected contingency,
always keep a wad-cutter to fit your gun. You can make serviceable wads of pasteboard, but
they are inferior to felt. Cut them on the flat sawn end of a stick of firewood: the side of a
plank does not do very well. Use a wooden mallet, instead of a hammer or hatchet, and so
save your cutter. Soft paper is next best after wads; I have never used Tags, cotton or tow,
fearing these tinder-like substances might leave a spark in the barrels. Crumbled leaves or
grass will answer at a pinch. I have occasionally, in a desperate hurry, loaded and killed
without any wadding.
Other Equipments. —(a.) For the Gun. A gun-case will come cheap in the end,
especially if you travel much. The usual box, divided into compartments, and well lined,
IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 5
is the best, though the full length leather or india-rubber cloth case answers very well. The
box should contain a small kit of tools, such as mainspring-vice, nipple-wrench, screw-driver,
etc. A stout hard-wood cleaning rod, with wormer, will be required. It is always safe to
have parts of the gun-lock, especially mainspring, in duplicate. For muzzle-loaders extra
nipples and extra ramrod heads and tips often come into use. For breech-loaders the appara-
tus for charging the shells is so useful as to be practically indispensable. (b.) For ammuni-
tion. Metal shells or paper cartridges may be carried loose in the large lower coat pocket,
or in a leather satchel. There is said to be a chance of explosion by some unlucky blow, when
they are so carried, but I never knew of an instance. Another way is to fix them separately
in a row in snug loops of soft leather sewn continuously along a stout waist-belt; or in several
such horizontal rows on a square piece of thick leather, to be slung by a strap over the shoul-
der. But better than anything else is a stout linen vest, similarly furnished with loops holding
each a cartridge; this distributes the weight so perfectly, that the usual “ forty rounds” may
be carried without feeling it. The appliances for loose ammunition are almost endlessly
varied, so every one may consult his taste or convenience. But now that everybody uses the
breech-loader, shot-pouches and powder-flasks are among the things that were. (c.) For
specimens. You must always carry paper in which to wrap up your specimens, as more par-
ticularly directed beyond. Nothing is better for this purpose than writing-paper; ‘‘ rejected”
or otherwise useless MSS. may thus be utilized. The ordinary game bag, with leather back
and network front, answers very well; but a light basket, fitting the body, such as is used
by fishermen, is the best thing to carry specimeris in. Avoid putting specimens into pockets,
unless you have your coat-tail largely excavated: crowding them into a close pocket, where
they press each other, and receive warmth from the person, will injure them. It is always
well to take a little cotton into the field, to plug up shot-holes, mouth, nostrils, or vent, imme-
diately, if required. (d.) For Yourself. The indications to be fulfilled in your clothing are
these: Adaptability to the weather; and since a shooting-coat is not conveniently changed,
while an overcoat is ordinarily ineligible, the requirement is best met by different underclothes.
Easy fit, allowing perfect freedom of muscular action, especially of the arms. Strength of
fabric, to resist briers and stand wear; velveteen and corduroy are excellent materials. Sub-
dued color, to render you as inconspicuous as possible, and to show dirt the least. Multiplicity
of pockets — a perfect shooting-coat is an ingenious system of hanging pouches about the
person. Broad-soled, low-heeled boots or shoes, giving a firm tread even when wet. Close-
fitting cap with prominent visor, or low soft felt hat, rather broad brimmed. Let india-rubber
goods alone ; the field is no place for a sweat-bath.
Qualifications for Success. — With the outfit just indicated you command all the required
appliances that you can buy, and the rest lies with yourself. Success hangs upon your own
exertions; upon your energy, industry, and perseverance; your knowledge and skill; your
zeal and enthusiasm, in collecting birds, much as in other affairs of life. But that your
efforts —maiden attempts they must once have been if they be not such now—may be directed
to best advantage, further instructions may not be unacceptable.
To Carry a Gun without peril to human life or limb is the a bc of its use. “ There’s
death in the pot.” Such constant care is required to avoid accidents that no man can give it
by continual voluntary efforts: safe carriage of the gun must become an unconscious habit, fixed
as the movements of an:‘automaton. The golden rule and whole secret is: the muzzle must
; accidental discharge should send the shot into the ground before your
There are several safe and easy ways of holding a piece: they
e particular muscles when fatigued. 1. Hold it in the
ft, as you can recover to aim in less time than from the
never sweep the horizon
feet, or away up in the air.
will be employed by turns to reliev
hollow of the arm (preferably the le
6 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
tight), aeross the front of your person, the hand on the grip, the muzzle elevated about 45°.
9. Hang it by the trigger guard hitched over the forearm brought round to the breast, the
stock passing behind the upper arm, the muzzle pointing to the ground a pace or so in front
of you. 3. Shoulder it, the hand on the grip or heel-plate, the muzzle pointing upward
at least 45°. 4. Shoulder it reversed, the hand grasping the barrels about their middle, the
muzzle pointing forward and downward: this is perfectly admissible, but is the most awkward
position of all to recover from. Always carry a loaded gun at half-cock, unless you are about
to shoot. Most good guns are now fitted with rebounding locks, an arrangement by which
the hammer is thrown back to half-cock as soon as the blow is delivered on the pin. This
admirable device is a great safe-guard, and is particularly eligible for breech-loaders, as the
barrels may be unlocked and relocked without touching the hammers. Unless the lock fail,
accidental discharge is impossible, except under these circumstances: a, a direct blow on the
nipple or pin; }, catching of both hammer and trigger simultaneously, drawing back of
the former and its release whilst the trigger is still held, the chances against which are
simply inealeulable. Full-cock, ticklish as it seems, is safer than no-cock, when a tap on
the hammer or even the heel-plate, or a slight catch and release of the hammer, may cause
discharge. Never let the muzzle of a loaded gun point toward your own person for a
single instant. Get your gun over fences, or into boats or carriages, before you get over
or in yourself, or at any rate no later. Remove caps or cartridges on entering a house.
Never aim a gun, loaded or not, at any object, unless you mean to press the trigger. Never
put a loaded gun away long enough to forget whether it is loaded or not; never leave a
loaded gun to be found by others under circumstances reasonably presupposing it to be un-
loaded. Never put a gun where it can be knocked down by a dog or a child. Never imagine
that there can be any excuse for leaving a breech-loader loaded under any circumstances.
Never forget that the idiots who kill people because they ‘‘ did n’t know it was loaded,” are
perennial. Never forget that though a gunning accident may be sometimes interpreted (from
a certain standpoint) as a “dispensation of Providence,” such dispensations happen oftenest
to the careless.
To Clean a Gun properly requires some knowledge, more good temper, and most
“elbow-grease;” it is dirty, disagreeable, inevitable work, which laziness, business, tiredness,
indifference, and good taste will by turns tempt you to shirk. After a hunt you are tired, have
your clothes to change, a meal to eat, a lot of birds to skin, a journal to write up. If you
“sub-let ” the contract the chances are it is but half fulfilled; serve yourself, if you want to
be well served. If you cannot find time for a regular cleaning, an intolerably foul gun may be
made to do another day’s work by swabbing for a few moments with a wet (not dripping) rag,
and then with an oiled one. For the full wash use cold water first ; it loosens dirt better than
hot water. Set the barrels in a pail of water; wrap the end of the cleaning rod with tow or
cloth, and pump away till your arms ache. Change the rag or tow, and the water too, till
they both stay clean for all the swabbing you can do. Fill the barrels with boiling water till
they are well heated; pour it out, wipe as dry as possible inside and out, and set them by a
fire. Finish with a laght oiling, inside and out; touch up all the metal about the stock, and
polish the woud-work. Do not remove the locks oftener than is necessary ; every time they
are taken out, something of the exquisite fitting that marks a good gun may be lost; as long
as they work smoothly take it for granted they are all right. The same direction applies to
nipples. To keep a gun well, under long disuse, it should have had a particularly thorough
cleaning ; the chambers should be packed with greasy tow; greased wads may be rammed at
intervals along the barrels; or the barrels may be filled with melted tallow. Neat’s-foot is
recommended as the best easily procured oil; porpoise-oil which is, I believe, used by watch-
makers, is the very best; the oil made for use on sewing-machines is excellent 3 “olive” oil
IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 7
(made of lard) for table use answers the purpose. The quality of any oil may be improved by
putting in it a few tacks, or seraps of zine, — the oil expends its rusty capacity in oxidizing the
metal. Inferior oils get “sticky.” One of the best preventives of rust is mercurial (“blue”)
ointment: it may be freely used. Kerosene: will remove rust; but use it sparingly for it
“ eats” sound metal too.
To Load a Gun effectively requires something more than knowledge of the facts that the
powder should go in before the shot, and that each should have a wad a-top. Probably the
most nearly universal fault is use of too much shot for the amount of powder; and the next,
too much of both. The rule is bulk for bulk of powder and shot. If not exactly this, then
rather less shot than powder. It is absurd to suppose, as some persons who ought to know
better do, that the more shot in a gun the greater the chances of killing. The projectile
force of a charge cannot possibly be greater than the vis inertie of the gun as held by the
shooter. The explosion is manifested in all directions, and blows the shot one way simply
and only because it has no other escape. If the resistance in front of the powder were
greater than elsewhere, the shot would not budge, but the gun would fly backward, or
burst. This always reminds me of Lord Dundreary’s famous conundrum — Why does a dog
wag his tail? Because he is bigger than his tail; otherwise the tail would wag him. A
gun shoots shot because the gun is the heavier; otherwise the shot would shoot the gun.
Every unnecessary pellet is a pellet against you, not against the game. The experienced sports -
inan uses about one-third less shot than the tyro, with proportionally better result, other things
being equal. As to powder, moreover, a gun can only burn just so much, and every grain
blown out unburnt is wasted if nothing more. No express directions for absulute weight or
measures of either powder’ or shot can be given; in fact, different guns take as their most
effective charge such a variable amount of ammunition, that one of the first things you have to
learn about your own arm is, its normal charge-gauge. Find out, by assiduous target practice,
what absolute amounts (and to a slight degree, what relative proportion) of powder and shot
are required to shoot the furthest and distribute the pellets most evenly. This practice, further-
more, will acquaint you with the gun’s capacities in every respect. You should learn exactly
. what it will and what it will not do, so as to feel perfect confidence in your arm within a cer-
tain range, and to waste no shots in attempting miracles. Immoderate recoil is a pretty sure
sign that the gun was overloaded, or otherwise wrongly charged; and all force of recoil is sub-
tracted from the impulse of the shot. It is useless to ram powder very hard; two or three
sinart taps of the rod will suffice, and more will not increase the explosive force. On the shot
the wad should simply be pressed close enough to fix the pellets immovably. All these direc-
tions apply to the charging of metal or paper cartridges as well as to loading by the muzzle.
The latter operation is so rarely required, now that guns of every grade break at the breach,
that advice on this score may seem quite anachronistic; nevertheless, I let what I said in the
original edition stand. When about to recharge one barrel see that the hammer of the other
stands at half-cock. Do not drop the ramrod into the other barrel, for a stray shot might
impact between the swell of the head and the gun and make it difficult to withdraw the rod.
During the whole operation keep the muzzle as far from your person as you conveniently can.
Never force home a wad with the flat of your hand over the end of the rod, but hold the rod
between your fingers and thumb ; in case of premature explosion, it will make just the differ-
ence of lacerated finger tips, or a blown-up hand. Never look into a loaded gun-barrel; you
might as wisely put your head into a lion’s mouth to see what the animal had for dinner.
After a miss-fire hold the gun up a few moments and be slow to reload; the fire sometimes
“hangs” for several seconds. Finally, let me strongly impress upon you the expediency of
light loading in your routine collecting. Three-fourths of your shots need not bring into action
the gun’s full powers of execution. You will shoot more birds under than over 30 yards; not
8 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
a few you must secure, if at all, at 10 or 15 yards; and your object is always to kill them with
the least possible damage to the plumage. I have, on particular occasions, loaded even down
to toz. of shot and 1§dr. of powder. There is astonishing force compressed in a few grains of
powder ; an astonishing number of pellets in the smallest load of mustard-seed. If you can
load so nicely as to just drive the shot into a bird and not through it and out again, do so, and
save half the holes in the skin.
To Shoot successfully is an art which may be acquired by practice, and can be learned
only in the school of experience. No general directions will make you a good shot, any more
than a proficient in music or painting. To tell you that in order to hit a bird you must point
the gun at it and press the trigger, is like saying that to play on the fiddle you must shove
the bow across the strings with one hand while you finger them with the other; in either
case the result is the same, a noise—vox et preterea nihil—but neither music nor game.
Nor is it possible for every one to become an artist in gunnery; a ‘‘crack shot,” like a poet, is
born, not made. For myself I make no pretensions to genius in that direction; for although
I generally make fair bags, and have destroyed many thousand birds in my time, this is rather ..
owing to some familiarity I have gained with the habits of birds, and a certain knack, acquired
by long practice, of picking them out of trees and bushes, than to skilful shooting from the
sportsman’s standpoint ; in fact, if I cut down two or three birds on the wing without a miss
I am working quite up to my average in that line. But any one not a purblind “ butter fin-
gers,” can become a reasonably fair shot by practice, and do good collecting. It is not so hard,
after all, to sight a gun correctly on an immovable object, and collecting differs from sporting
proper in this, that comparatively few birds are shot on the wing. But I do not mean to
imply that it requires less skill to collect successfully than to secure game; on the contrary, it
is finer shooting, I think, to drop a warbler skipping about a tree-top than to stop a quail at
full speed ; while hitting a sparrow that springs from the grass at one’s feet to flicker in sight
a few seconds and disappear is the most difficult of all shooting. Besides, a crack shot, as
understood, aims unconsciously, with mechanical accuracy and certitude of hitting; he simply
wills, and the trained muscles obey without his superintendence, just as the fingers form letters
with the pen in writing ; whereas the collector must usually supervise his muscles all through
the act and see that they mind. In spite of the proportion of snap shots of all sorts you will
have to take, your collecting shots, as a rule, are made with deliberate aim. There is much
the same difference, on the whole, between the sportsman’s work and the collector’s, that there
is between shot-gun and rifle practice, collecting being comparable to the latter. It is gener-
ally understood that the acme of skill with the two weapons is an incompatibility ; and, cer-
tainly, the best shot is not always the best collector, even supposing the two to be on a par in
their knowledge of birds’ haunts and habits. Still a hopelessly poor shot can only attain fair
results by extraordinary diligence and perseverance. Certain principles of shooting may per-
haps be reduced to words. Aim deliberately directly at’an immovable object at fair range.
Hold over a motionless object when far off, as the trajectory of the shot curves downward.
Hold a little to one side of a stationary object when very near, preferring rather to take the
chances of missing it with the peripheral pellets, than of hopelessly mutilating it with the
main body of the charge. Fire at the first fair aim, without trying to improve what is good
enough already. Never ‘‘pull” the trigger, but press it. Bear the shock of discharge with-
out flinching. In shooting on the wing, fire the instant the but of the gun taps your shoulder;
you will miss at first, but by and by the birds will begin to drop, and you will have laid the
foundation of good shooting, the knack of “eovering” a bird unconsciously. The habit of
“poking” after a bird on the wing is an almost incurable vice, and may keep you a poor
shot all your life. (The collector's frequent necessity of poking after little birds in the bush
is just what so often hinders him from acquiring brilliant execution.) Aim ahead of a
SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 9
flying bird —the calculation to be made varies, according to the distance of the object,
its velocity, its course and the wind, from a few inches to several feet; practice will finally
render it intuitive.
§ 2.— DOGS.
A Good Dog is one of the most faithful, respectful, affectionate and sensible of brutes ‘
deference to such rare qualities demands a chapter, however brief. A trained dog is the indis-
pensable servant of the sportsman in his pursuit of most kinds of game ; but I trust I am guilty
of no discourtesy to the noble animal, when I say that he is a luxury rather than a necessity te
the collector —a pleasant companion, who knows almost everything except how to talk, who
converses with his eyes and ears and tail, shares comforts and discomforts with equal alacrity,
and occasionally makes himself useful. So far as a collector’s work tallies with that of a
sportsman, the dog is equally useful to both ; but finding and telling of game aside, your dog’s
services are restricted to companionship and retrieving. He may, indeed, flush many sorts of
birds for you; but he does it, if at all, at random, while capering about; for the brute intellect
is limited after all, and cannot comprehend a naturalist. The best trained setter or pointer
that ever marked a quail could not be made to understand what you are about, and it would
ruin him for sporting purposes if he did. Take a well-bred dog out with you, and the chances
are he will soon trot home in disgust at your performances with jack-sparrows and tomtits. It
implies such a lowering and perversion of a good dog’s instincts to make him really a useful
servant of yours, that I am half inclined to say nothing about retrieving, and tell you to make
a companion of your dog, or let him alone. I was followed for several years by “‘ the best dog
T ever saw” (every one’s gun, dog, and child is the best ever seen), and a first-rate retriever ;
yet I always preferred, when practicable, to pick up my own birds, rather than let a delicate
plumage into a dog’s mouth, and scolded away the poor brute so often, that she very properly
returned the compliment, in the end, by retrieving just when she felt like it. However, we
remained the best of friends. Any good setter, pointer, or spaniel, and some kinds of curs,
may be trained to retrieve. The great point is to teach them not to “mouth” a bird; it may
be accomplished by sticking pins in the ball with which their early lessons are taught. Such
dogs are particularly useful in bringing birds out of the water, and in searching for them when
lost. One point in training should never be neglected: teach a dog what ‘to heel” means,
and make him obey this command. A riotous brute is simply unendurable under any
circumstances.
§3.— VARIOUS SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK.
To be a Good Collector, and nothing more, is a small affair; great skill may be ac-
quired in the art, without a single quality commanding respect. One of the most vulgar,
brutal, and ignorant men I ever knew was a sharp collector and an excellent taxidermist.
Collecting stands much in the same relation to ornithology that the useful and indispensable
office of an apothecary bears to the duties of a physician. A field-naturalist is always more or
less of a collector; the latter is sometimes found to know almost nothing of natural history
worth knowing. The true ornithologist goes out to study birds alive and destroys some of
them simply because that is the only way of learning their structure and technical characters.
There is much more about a bird than can be discovered in its dead body, —how much more,
then, than can be found out from its stuffed skin! In my humble opinion the man who only
gathers birds, as a miser money, to swell his cabinet, and that other man who gloats, as miser-
like, over the same hoard, both work on a plane far beneath where the enlightened naturalist
stands. One looks at Nature, and never knows that she is beautiful; the other knows she is
beautiful, as even a corpse may be; the naturalist catches her sentient ‘expression, and knows
10 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
how beautiful she is! I would have you to know and love her; for fairer mistress never
swayed the heart of man. Aim high! — press on, and leave the half-way house of mere col-
lectorship far behind in your pursuit of a delightful study, nor fancy the closet its goal.
Birds may be sought anywhere, at any time; they should be sought everywhere, at
all times. Some come about your doorstep to tell their stories unasked. Others spring up
before you as you stroll in the field, like the flowers that enticed the feet of Proserpine. Birds
flit by as you measure the tired roadside, lending a tithe of their life to quicken your dusty
steps. They disport overhead at hide-and-seek with the foliage as you loiter in the shade of
the forest, and their music now answers the sigh of the tree-tops, now ripples an echo to the
voice of the brook. But you will uot always so pluck a thornless rose. Birds hedge them-
selves about with a bristling girdle of brier and bramble you cannot break; they build their
tiny castles in the air surrounded by impassable moats, and the drawbridges are never down.
They crown the mountain-top you may lose your breath to climb; they sprinkle the desert
where your parched lips may find no cooling draught; they fleck the snow-wreath when the
nipping blast may make you turn your back; they breathe unharmed the pestilent vapors of
the swamp that mean disease, if not death, for you; they outride the storm at sea that sends
strong nen to their last account. Where now will you look for birds?
And yet, as skilled labor is always most productive, so expert search yields more than
random or blundering pursuit. Iimprimis ; The more varied the face of a country, the more
varied its birds. A place all plain, all marsh, all woodland, yields its particular set of birds,
perhaps in profusion: but the kinds will be limited in number. It is of first importance to
remember this, when you are so fortunate as to have choice of a collecting-ground ; and it will
guide your steps aright in a day’s walk anywhere, for it will make you leave covert for open,
wet for dry, high for low and back again. Well-watered country is more fruitful of bird-life
than desert or even prairie; warm regions are more productive thon cold ones. As a rule,
variety and abundance of birds are in direct ratio to diversity and luxuriance of vegetation.
Your most valuable as well as largest bags may be made in the regions most favored botani-
cally, up to the point where exuberance of plant-growth mechanically opposes your operations.
Search for particular Birds can only be well directed, of course, by a knowledge of
their special haunts and habits, and is one of the mysteries of wood-eraft only solved by long
experience and close observation. Here is where the true naturalist bears himself with con-
scious pride and strength, winning laurels that become him, and do honor to his calling.
Where to find game (‘‘game” is anything that vulgar people do not ridicule you for shooting)
of all the kinds we have in this country has been so often and so minutely detailed in sporting-
works that it need not be here enlarged upon, especially since, being the best known, it is the
least valuable of ornithological material. Most large or otherwise conspicuous birds have very
special haunts that may be soon learned; and as a rule such rank next after game in ornitho-
logical disesteem. Birds of prey are an exception to these statements; they range everywhere,
and most of them are worth securing. Hawks will unwittingly fly in your way oftener than
they will allow you to approach them when perched: be ready for them. Owls will be
startled out of their retreats in thick bushes, dense foliage, and hollow trees, in the daytime ;
if hunting them at night, good aim in the dark may be taken by rubbing a wet lucifer match
on the sight of the gun, causing a momentary glimmer. Large and small waders are to be
found by any water's edge, in open marshes, and often on dry plains; the herons more particu-~
larly in heavy bogs and dense swamps. Under cover, waders are oftenest approached by
stealth ; in the open, by strategy; but most of the smaller kinds require the exercise of no special
precautions. Swimming birds, aside from water-fowl (as the ‘‘ game” kinds are called), are gen-
erally shot from a boat, as they fly past; but at their breeding places many kinds that congre-
SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 11
gate in vast numbezs ¢ re more readily reached. There is a knack of shooting loons and grebes
on the water; if they are to be reached at all by the shot it will be by aiming not directly at
them but at the water just in front of them. They do not go under just where they float,
but kick up behind like a jumping-jack and plunge forward. Rails and several kinds of
sparrows are confined to reedy marshes. But why prolong such desultory remarks? Little
can be said to the point without at least a miniature treatise on ornithology; and I have not
yet even alluded to the diversified host of small insectivorous and granivorous birds that fill our
woods and fields. The very existence of most of these is unknown to all but the initiated ; yet
they include the treasures of the ornithologist. Some are plain and humble, others are among
the most beautiful objects in nature; but most agree in being small, and therefore liable to be
overlooked. The sum of my advice about them must be brief. Get over as much ground,
both wooded and open, as you can thoroughly examine in a day’s tramp, and go out as many
days as youcan. It is not always necessary, however, to keep on the tramp, especially dur-
ing the migration of the restless insectivorous species. One may often shoot for hours without
moving more than a few yards, by selecting a favorable locality and allowing the birds to
come to him as they pass in varied troops through the low woodlands or swampy thickets.
Keep your eyes and ears wide open. Look out for every rustling leaf and swaying twig and
bending blade of grass. Hearken to every note, however faint; when there is no sound, listen
for a chirp. Habitually move as noiselessly as possible. Keep your gun always ready.
Improve every opportunity of studying a bird you do not wish to destroy ; you may often
make observations more valuable than the specimen. Let this be the rule with all birds you
recognize. But I fear I must tell you to shoot an unknown bird on sight; it may give you
the slip in a moment and a prize may be lost. One of the most fascinating things about field-
work is its delightful uncettainty: you never know what’s in store for you as you start out ;
you never can tell what will happen next; surprises are always in order, and excitement is
continually whetted on the chances of the varied chase.
For myself, the time is past, happily or not, when every bird was an agreeable surprise,
for dewdrops do not last all day; but I have never yet walked in the woods without learning
something pleasant that I did not know before. I should consider a bird new to science
ample reward for a month’s steady work; one bird new to a locality would repay a week’s
search; a day is happily spent that shows me any bird that I never saw alive before. How
then can you, with so much before you, keep out of the woods another minute ? -
All Times are good times to go a-shooting; but some are better than others. (a.) Time
of year. Tn all temperate latitudes, spring and fall — periods of migration with most birds —
are the most profitable seasons for collecting. Not only are birds then most numerous, both as
species and as individuals, and most active, so as to be the more readily found, but they
include a far larger proportion of rare and valuable kinds. In every locality in this country
the periodical visitants outnumber the permanent residents; in most regions the number of
regular migrants, that simply pass through in the spring and fall, equals or exceeds that of
either of the sets of species that come from the south in spring to breed during the summer,
or from the north to spend the winter. Far north, of course, on or near the limit of the vernal
migration, where there are few if any migrants passing through, and where the winter birds
are extremely few, nearly all the bird fauna is composed of “summer visitants ;” far south,
in this country, the reverse is somewhat the case, though with many qualifications. Between
these extremes, what is conventionally known as “a season” means the period of the vernal or
autumnal migration. For example, the body of birds present in the District of Columbia (where
I collected for several years) in the two months from April 20th to May 20th, and from Septem-
ber 10th to October 10th, is undoubtedly greater, as far as individuals are concerned, than the
total number found there at all other seasons of the year together. As for species, the number
12 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
of migrants about equals that of summer visitants; the permanent residents equal the winter
residents, both these being fewer than either of the first mentioned sets; while the irregular vis-
itors, or stragglers, that complete the bird fauna, are about, or rather less than one-half as many
as the species of either of the other categories. About Washington, therefore, I would readily
undertake to secure a greater variety of birds in the nine weeks above specified than in all the
test of the year; for in that time would be found, not only all the permanent residents, but nearly
all the migrants, and almost all the summer visitants; while the number of individual birds
that might be taken exceeds, by quite as much, the number of those procurable in the same
length of time at any other season. Mutatis mutandis, it is the same everywhere in this
country. Look out then, for ‘the season;” work all through it at a rate you could not
possibly sustain the year around; and make hay while the sun shines. (b.) Time of day.
Early in the morning and late in the afternoon are the best times for birds. There is a myste-
rious something in these diurnal crises that sets bird-life astir, over and above what is ex-
plainable by the simple fact that they are the transition periods from repose to activity, or
the reverse. Subtile meteorological changes occur; various delicate instruments used in
physicists’ researches are sometimes inexplicably disturbed ; diseases have often their turning
point for better or worse; people are apt to be born or die; and the susceptible organisms of
birds manifest various excitements. Whatever the operative influence, the fact is, birds are
particularly lively at such hours. In the dark, they rest — most of them do; at noonday,
again, they are comparatively still; between these times they are passing to or from their
feeding grounds or roosting places; they are foraging for food, they are singing; at any rate,
they are in motion. Many migratory birds (among them warblers, etc.) perform their journeys
by night; just at daybreak they may be seen to descend from the upper regions, rest a while,
and then move about briskly, singing and searching for food. : Their meal taken, they recu-
perate by resting till towards evening; feed again and are off for the night. If you have had
some experience, don’t you remember what a fine spurt you made early that morning ?—
how many unexpected shots offered as you trudged home belated that evening? Now I am
no fowl, and have no desire to adopt the habits of the hen-yard; I have my opinion of those
who like the world before it is aired ; I think it served the worm right for getting up, when
caught by the early bird; nevertheless I go shooting betimes in the morning, and would walk
all night to find a rare bird at daylight. (¢.) Weather. It rarely occurs in this country that
either heat: or cold is unendurably severe; but extremes of temperature are unfavorable, for two
reasons: they both occasion great personal discomfort ; and in one extreme only a few hardy
birds will be found, while in the other most birds are languid, disposed to seek shelter, and
therefore less likely to be found. A still, cloudy day of moderate temperature offers as a rule
the best chance ; among other reasons, there is no sun to blind the eyes, as always occurs on a
bright day in one direction, particularly when the sun is low. While a bright day has its good
influence in setting many birds astir, some others are most easily approached in heavy or fall-
ing weather. Some kinds are more likely to be secured during a light snowfall, or after a
storm. Singular as it may seem, a thoroughly wet day offers some peculiar inducements to
the collector. I cannot well specify them, but I heartily indorse a remark John Cassin once
made to me:—‘“‘T like,” said he, ‘to go shooting in the rain sometimes; there are some
curious things to be learned about birds when the trees are dripping, things too that have not
yet found their way into the books.”
How many Birds of the Same Kind do you want ? — All you can get — with some
reasonable limitations; say fifty or a hundredfof any but the most abundant and widely diffused
species. You may often be provoked with your friend for speaking of some bird he shot, but
did not bring you, because, he says, ‘‘Why, you’ve got one like that!” Birdskins are
capital ; capital unemployed may be useless, but can never be worthless. Birdskins are a
SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 18
medium of exchange among ornithologists the world over; they represent value, — money value
and scientific value. If you have more of one kind than you can use, exchange with some
one for species you lack; both parties to the transaction are equally benefited. Let me bring
this matter under several heads. (.) Your own “series” of skins of any species is:incomplete
until it contains at least one example of each sex, of every normal state of plumage, and every
normal transition stage of plumage, and further illustrates at least the principal abnormal
variations in size, form, and color to which the species may be subject; I will even add that
every different faunal area the bird is known to inhabit should be represeuted by a specimen,
particularly if there be anything exceptional in the geographical distribution of the species.
Any additional specimens to all such are your only ‘‘ duplicates,” properly speaking. (b.) Birds
vary so much in their size, form, and coloring, that a “‘ specific character” ean only be pre-
cisely determined from examination of a large number of specimens, shot at different times, in
different places ; still less can the “limits of variation” in these respects be settled without
ample materials. (c.) The rarity of any bird is necessarily an arbitrary and fluctuating con-
sideration, because in the nature of the case there can be no natural unit of comparison, —
nor standard of appreciation. It may be said, in general terms, no bird is actually ‘ rare.” .’
With a few possible exceptions, as in the cases of birds occupying extraordinarily limited
areas, like some of the birds of paradise, or about to become extinct, like the pied duck,
enough birds of all kinds exist to overstock every public and private collection in the world,
without sensible diminution of their numbers. ‘‘ Rarity” or the reverse is only predicable
upon the accidental (so to speak) circumstances that throw, or tend to throw, specimens into
naturalists’ hands. Accessibility is the variable element in every case. The fulmar petrel is
said (on what authority I know not) to exceed any other bird in its aggregate of individuals ;
how do the skins of that bird you have handled compare in number with specimens you have
seen of the ‘‘ rare” warbler of your own vicinity? All birds are common somewhere at some
season; the point is, have collectors been there at the time? Moreover, even the arbitrary
appreciation of “rarity ” is fluctuating, and may change at any time; long sought and highly
prized birds are liable to appear suddenly in great numbers in places that knew them not
before ; a single heavy “invoice” of a bird from some distant or little-explored region may at
once stock the market, and depreciate the current value of the species to almost nothing.
For example, Baird’s bunting and Sprague’s lark remained for thirty years among our special
desiderata, only one specimen of the former and two or three of the latter being known. Yet
they are two of the most abundant birds of Dakota, where in 1873 I took as many of both as
I desired; and specimens enough have lately been secured to stock all the leading museums
of this country and Europe. (d.) Some practical deductions are to be made from these
premises. Your object is to make yourself acquainted with all the birds of your vicinity, and
to preserve a complete suite of specimens of every species. Begin by shooting every bird you
can, coupling this sad destruction, however, with the closest observations upon habits. You
will very soon fill your series of a few kinds, that you find almost everywhere, almost daily.
Then if you are in a region the ornithology of which is well known to the profession, at once
stop killing these common birds—they are in every collection. You should not, as a rule,
destroy any more robins, ‘luebirds, song-sparrows, and the like, than you want for yourself.
Keep an eye on them, studying them always, but turn your actual pursuit into other channels,
until in this way, gradually eliminating the undesirables, you exhaust the bird fauna as far as
possible (you will not quite exhaust it — at least for many years). But if you are in a new
or little-known locality, I had almost said the very reverse course is the best. The chances
are that the most abundant and characteristic birds are ‘‘ rare” in collections. Many a bird’s
range is quite restricted: you may happen to be just at its metropolis ; seize the opportunity.
and get good store, — yes, up to fifty or a hundred; all you can spare will be thankfully
received by those who have none. Quite as likely, birds that are scarce just where you happen
14 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
to be, are so only because you are on the edge of their habitat, and are plentiful in more acces-
sible regions. But, rare or not, it is always a point to determine the exact geographical
distribution of a species; and this is fixed best by having specimens to tell each its own tale,
from as many different and widely separated localities as possible. This alone warrants pro-
curing one or more specimens in every locality ; the commonest bird acquires a certain value
if it be captured away from its ordinary range. An Eastern bluebird (Stalia sialis) shot in
California might be considered more valuable than the ‘‘rarest” bird of that State, and would
certainly be worth a hundred Massachusetts skins; a varied thrush (Turdus nevius) killed
in Massachusetts is worth a like number from Oregon. But let all your justifiable destruction
of birds be tempered with mercy; your humanity will be continually shocked with the havoc
you work, ‘and should never permit you to take life wantonly. Never shoot a bird you do not
fully intend to preserve, or to utilize in some proper way. Bird-life is too beautiful a thing to
destroy to no purpose; too sacred a thing, like all life, to be sacrificed, unless the tribute is hal-
lowed by worthiness of motive. ‘‘ Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without His notice.”
I should not neglect to speak particularly of the care to be taken to secure full suites of
females. Most miscellaneots collections contain four or more males to every female, — a dis-
proportion that should be as far reduced as possible. The occasion of the disparity is obvious :
females are usually more shy and retiring in disposition, and consequently less frequently
noticed, while their smaller size and plainer plumage, as a rule, further favor their eluding
observation. The difference in coloring is greatest among those groups where the males are
most richly clad, and the shyness of the mother birds is most marked during the breeding
season, just when the males, full of song, and in their nuptial attire, become most conspicuous.
It is often worth while to neglect the gay Benedicts, to trace out and secure the plainer but not
jess interesting females. This pursuit, moreover, often leads to. discovery of the nests and
eggs, — an important consideration. Although both sexes are generally found together when
breeding, and mixing indiscriminately at other seasons, they often go in separate flocks, and
often migrate independently of each other; in this case the males usually im advance.
Towards the end of the passage of some warblers, for instance, we may get almost nothing
but females, all our specimens of a few‘days before having been males. The notable excep-
tions to the rule of smaller size of the female are among rapacious birds and many waders,
though in these last the disparity is not so marked. I only recall one instance, among Amer-
ican birds, of the female being more richly colored than the male — the phalaropes. When
the sexes are notably different in adult life, the yowng of both sexes usually resemble the adult
female, the young males gradually assuming their distinctive characters. When the adults
of both sexes are alike, the young commonly differ from them.
In the same. connection I wish to urge a point, the importance of which is often over-
looked ; it is our practical interpretation of the adage, ‘‘ a bird in the hand is worth two in the
bush.” Always keep the first specimen you secure of a species till you get another; no matter
how common the species, how poor the specimen, or how certain you may feel of potting other
better ones, keep it. Your most reasonable calculations may come to naught, from a variety
of circumstances, and any specimen is better than no specimen, on general principles. And in
general, do not, if you can help it, discard any specimen im the field. No tyro can tell what
will prove valuable and what not; while even the expert may regret to find that a point comes
up which a specimen he injudiciously discarded might have determined. Let a collection be
“weeded out,” if at all, only after deliberate and mature examination, when the scientific results
it affords have been elaborated by a competent ornithologist ; and even then, the refuse (with
certain limitations) had better be put where it will do some good, than be destroyed utterly.
For instance, I myself once valued, and used, some Smithsonian “ sweepings” ; and I know
very weil what to do with specimens, now, to which I would not give house-room in my own
cabinet. If forced to reduce bulk, owing to limited facilities for transportation in the field
SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 15
(as too often happens), throw away according to size, other things being equal. Given only
so many cubic inches or feet, eliminate the few large birds which take up the space that would
contain fifty or a hundred different little ones. If you have a fine large bald eagle or pelican,
for instance, throw it away first, and follow it with your ducks, geese, ete. In this way, the
bulk of a large miscellaneous collection may be reduced one half, perhaps, with very little
depreciation of its actual value. The same principle may be extended to other collections in
natural history (excepting fossils, which are always weighty, if not also bulky) ; very few bird-
skins, indeed, being as valuable contributions to science as, for example, a vial of miscella-
neous insects that occupies no more rvom may prove to be.
What is “A Good Day’s Work ? ” — Fifty birds shot, their skins preserved, and obser-
vations recorded, is a very good day’s work; it is sharp practice, even when birds are plentiful.
I never knew a person to average anywhere near it; even during the ‘ season” such work
cannot possibly be sustained. You may, of course, by a murderous discharge into a flock,
as of. blackbirds or reedbirds, get a hundred or more in a moment; but I refer to collecting
a fair variety of birds. You will do very well if you average a dozen a day during the seasons.
I doubt whether any collector ever averaged as many the year around; it would be over four
thousand specimens annually. The greatest number I ever procured and prepared in one day
was forty, and I have not often gone over twenty. Even when collecting regularly and
assiduously, I am satisfied to average a dozen a day during the migrations, and one-third or
one-fourth as many the rest of the year. Probably this implies the shooting of about one in
five not skinned for various reasons, as mutilation, decay, or want of time.
Approaching Birds. There is little if any trouble in getting near enough to shoot
most birds. With notable exceptions, they are harder to see when near enough, or to hit
when seen ; particularly small birds that are almost incessantly in motion. As a rule—anda
curious one it is— difficulty of approach is in direct ratio to the size of the bird; it is perhaps
because large conspicuous birds are objects of more general pursuit than the little ones you
ordinarily search for. The qualities that birds possess for self-preservation may be called
wariness in large birds, shyness in small ones. The former make off knowingly from a sus-
picious object; the latter fly from anything that is strange to them, be it dangerous or not.
This is strikingly illustrated in the behavior of small birds in the wilderness, as contrasted with
their actions about towns; singular as it may seem, they are more timid under the former cir.
cumstances than when grown accustomed to the presence of man. It is just the reverse with
a hawk or raven, for instance ; in populous districts they spend much of their time in trying to
save their skins, while in a new country they have not learned, like Indians, that a white man
is ‘mighty uncertain.” In stealing on a shy bird, you will of course take advantage of any
cover that may offer, as inequalities.of the ground, thick bushes, the trunks of trees; and it is
often worth while to make a considerable détour to secure unobserved approach. I think that
birds are more likely, as a rule, to be frightened away by the movements of the collector,
than by his simple presence, however near, and that they are more afraid of noise than of
mere motion. Crackling of twigs and rustling of leaves are sharp sounds, though not loud
ones; you may have sometimes been surprised to find how distinctly you could hear the move-
ments of a horse or cow in underbrush at some distance. Birds have sharp ears for such
sounds. Forma habit of stealthy movement; it tells, in the long run, in comparison with
lumbering tread. There are no special preeautiuns to be taken in shooting through high open
forest ; you have only to saunter along with your eyes in the tree-tops. It is ordinarily the
easiest and on the whole the most renumerative path of the collector. In traversing fields and
meadows move briskly, your principal object being to flush birds out of the grass; and as most
of your shots will be snap ones, keep in readiness for instant: action. Excellent and varied
16 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
shooting is to be had along the hedge rows, and in the rank herbage that fringes fences. It is
best to keep at a little distance, yet near enough to arouse all the birds as you pass: you may
catch them on wing, or pick them off just as they settle after a short flight. In this shooting,
two persons, one on each side, can together do more than twice as much work as one. Thick-
ets and tangled undergrowth are favorite resorts of many birds; but when very close, or,
as often happens, over miry ground, they are hard places to shoot in. As you come thrashing
through the brush, the little inhabitants are scared into deeper recesses ; but if you keep still a
few minutes in some favorable spot, they are reassured, and will often come back to take a
peep at you. A good deal of standing still will repay you at such times ; needless to add, you
cannot be too lightly loaded for such shooting, when birds are mostly out of sight if a dozen
yards off. When yourself concealed in a thicket, and no birds appear, you ean often call num-
bers about you by a simple artifice. Apply the back of your hand to your slightly parted lips,
and suck in air; it makes a nondescript ‘‘screeping” noise, variable in intonation at your
whin, and some of the sounds resemble the cries of a wounded bird, or a young one in distress.
It wakes up the whole neighborhood, and sometimes puts certain birds almost beside themselves,
particularly in the breeding season. Torturing a wounded bird to make it scream in agony
accomplishes the same result, but of course is only permissible under great exigency. ° In pen-
etrating swamps and marshes, the best advice I can give you is to tell you to get along the
best way you can. Shooting on perfectly open ground offers much the same case; you must
‘be left to your own devices. I will say, however, you can ride on horseback, or even in a
buggy, nearer birds than they will allow you to walk up to them. Sportsmen take advantage
of this to get within a shot of the upland plover, usually a very wary bird in populous districts ;
T have driven right into a flock of wild geese; in California they often train a bullock to graze
gradually up to geese, the gunner being hidden by its body. There is one trick worth know-
ing; it is not to let a bird that has seen you know by your action that you have seen it, but to
keep on unconcernedly, gradually sidling nearer. I have secured many hawks in this way,
when the bird would have flown off at the first step of direct approach. Numberless other
little arts will come to you as your wood-craft matures.
Recovering Birds. — It is not always that you secure the birds you kill; you may not
be able to find them, or you may see them lying, perhaps but a few feet off, in a spot practi-
cally inaccessible. Under such circumstances a retriever does excellent service, as already
hinted ; he is equally useful when a bird properly ‘‘ marked down” is not found there, having
fluttered or run away and hidden elsewhere. The most difficult of all places to find birds is
among reeds, the eternal sameness of which makes it almost impossible to rediscover a spot’
whence the eye has once wandered, while the peculiar growth allows birds to slip far down out
of sight. In rank grass or weeds, when you have walked up with your eye fixed on the spot
where the bird seemed to fall, yet failed to discover it, drop your cap or handkerchief for a
mark, and hunt around it as a centre, in enlarging circles. In thickets, make a “bee line”
for the spot, if possible keeping your eye on the spray from which the bird fell, and not for-
getting where you stood on firing; you may require to come back to the spot and take a new
departure. You will not seldom see a bird just shot at fly off as if unharmed, when really it
will drop dead in a few moments. In all cases therefore when the bird does not drop at the
shot, follow it with your eyes as far as you can; if you see it finally drop, or even flutter
languidly downward, mark it on the principles just mentioned, and go in search. Make every
endeavor to secure wounded birds, on the score of humanity; they should not be left to pine
away and die in lingering misery if it can possibly be avoided. '
Killing Wounded Birds. — You will often recover winged birds, as full of life as before
the bone was broken ; and others too grievously hurt to fly, yet far from death. Your object is
SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 17
tu kill them as quickly and as painlessly as possible, without injuring the plumage. This is
to be accomplished, with all small birds, by suffocation. The respiration and circulation of
birds is very active, and most of them die in a few moments if the lungs are so compressed
that they cannot breathe. Squeeze the bird tightly across the chest, under the wings, thumb
on one side, middle finger on the other, forefinger pressed in the hollow at the root of the neck,
between the forks of the merrythought. Press firmly, hard enough to fix the chest immovably
and compress the lungs, but not to break in the ribs. The bird will make vigorous but ineffect-
ual efforts to breathe, when the muscles will contract spasmodically ; but in a moment more,
the system relaxes with a painful shiver, light fades from the eyes, and the lids close. I
assure you, it will make you wince the first few times; you had better habitually hold the
poor creature behind you. You can tell by its limp feel and motionlessness when it is dead,
without watching the sad struggle. Large birds obviously cannot be dealt with in this
way; I would as soon attempt to throttle a dog as a loon, for instance, upon which all the
pressure you can give makes no sensible impression. A winged hawk, again, will throw itself
on its back as you come up, and show such good fight with beak and talons, that you may be
quite severely scratched in the encounter: meanwhile the struggling bird may be bespattering
its plumage with blood. In such a case — in any case of a large bird making decided resist-
ance —I think it best to step back a few paces and settle the matter with a light charge of
mustard-seed. Any large bird once secured inay be speedily dispatched by stabbing to the
heart with some slender instrument thrust in under the wing — care must be taken too about
the bleeding ; or, it may be instantly killed by piercing the brain with a knife introduced into
the mouth and driven upward and obliquely backward from the palate. The latter method is
preferable as it leaves no outward sign and causes no bleeding to speak of. With your thumb,
you may indent the back part of a bird’s skull so as to compress the cerebellum; if you cap
get deep enough in, without materially disordering the plumage, or breaking the skin, the
method is unobjectionable.
Handling Bleeding Birds.— Bleeding depends altogether upon the part or organ
wounded ; but other things being equal, violence of the haemorrhage is usually in direct pro-
_portion to the size of the shot-hole ; when mustard-seed is used it is ordinarily very trifling, if it
occur at all. Blood flows oftener from the orifice of exit of a shot, than from the wound of
entrance, for the latter is usually plugged with a little wad of feathers driven in. Bleeding from
the mouth or nostrils is the rule when the lungs are wounded. When it occcurs, hold up the
bird by the feet, and let it drip; a general squeeze of the body in that position will facilitate
the drainage. In general, hold a bird so that a bleeding place is most dependent; then, pres-
sure about the part will help the flow. .A ‘‘ gob” of blood, which is simply a forming clot,
on the plumage may often be dexterously flipped almost clean away with a snap of the finger.
It is first-rate practice to take cotton and forceps into the field to plug up shot-holes, and stop
the mouth and nostrils and vent on the spot. I follow the custom of the books in recommend-
ing this, but I will confess I have rarely done it myself, and I suspect that only a few of our
most leisurely and elegant collectors do so habitually. Shot-holes may be found by gently
raising the feathers, or blowing them aside; you can of course get only a tiny plug into the
wound itself, but it should be one end of a sizable pledget, the rest lying fluffy among the
feathers. In stopping the mouth or vent, ram the fluff of cotton, entirely inside. You cannot
conveniently stop up the nostrils of small birds separately ; but take a light cylinder of cotton,
lay it transversely across the base of the upper mandible, closely covering the nostrils, and
confine it there by tucking each end tightly into the corner of the mouth. In default of such
nice fixing as this, a pinch of dry loam pressed on a bleeding spot will plaster itself there and
stop further mischief. Never try to wipe off fresh blood that has already wetted the plumage ;
you will only make matters worse. Let it dry on, and then —but the treatment of blood-
stains, and other soilings of plumage, is given beyond.
18 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
Carrying Birds Home Safe.— Suppose you have secured a fine specimen, very likely
without a soiled or ruffled feather; your next care will be to keep it so till you are ready to
skin it. But if you pocket or bag it directly, it will be a sorry-looking object before you get
home. Each specimen must be separately cared for, by wrapping in stout paper; writing
paper is as good as any, if not the best. It will repay you to prepare a stock of paper before
starting out; your most convenient sizes are those of a half-sheet of note, of letter, and of cap
respectively. Either take these, or fold and cut newspaper to correspond; besides, it is always
well to have a whole newspaper or two for large birds. Plenty of paper will go in the breast
pockets of the shooting-coat. Make a ‘‘ cornucopia,” — the simplest thing in the world, but,
like tying a particular knot, hard to explain. Setting the wings closely, adjusting disturbed
feathers, and seeing that the bill points straight forward, thrust the bird head first into one
of these paper cones, till it will go no further, being bound by the bulge of the breast. Let
the cone be large enough for the open end to fold over or pinch together entirely beyond the
tail. Be particular not to crumple or bend the tail-feathers. Lay the paper cases in the game
bag or great pocket so that they very nearly run parallel and lie horizontal; they will carry
better than if thrown in at random. Avoid overcrowding the packages, as far as is reasonably
practicable; moderate pressure will du no harm, as a rule, but if great it may make birds
bleed afresh, or cause the fluids of a wounded intestine to ooze out and soak the plumage of
the belly, —a very bad accident indeed. For similar obvious reasons, do not put a large heavy
bird on top of a lot of little ones ; I would sooner sling a hawk or heron over my shoulder, or
carry it by hand. If it goes in the bag, see that it gets to the bottom. Avoid putting birds
in pockets that are close about your person; they are almost always unduly pressed, and may
gain just enough additional warmth from your body to make them begin to decompose before
you can get at skinning them. Handle birds no more than is necessary, especially white-
plumaged ones; ten to one your hands are powder-begrimed: and besides, even the warmth
. and moisture of your palms may tend to injure a delicate feathering. Ordinarily pick up a
bird by the feet or bill; as you need both hands to make the cornucopia, let the specimen
dangle by the toes from your teeth while you are so employed. In catching at a wounded
bird, aim to cover it entirely with your hand; but whatever you do, never seize it by the tail,
which then will often be left in your hands for your pains. Never grasp wing-tips or tail-r
feathers; these large flat quills would get a peculiar crimping all along the webs, very difficult
to efface. Finally, I would add there is a certain’ knack or art in manipulating, either of a
dead bird or a birdskin, by which you may handle it with seeming carelessness and perfect
impunity; whilst the most gingerly fingering of an inexperienced person will leave its rude
trace. You will naturally acquire the correct touch; but it can be neither taught nor
described.
A Special Case. — While the ordinary run of land birds will be brought home in good
order by the foregoing method, some require special precautions. I refer to sea birds, such as
gulls, terns, petrels, etc., shot from a boat. In the first place, the plumage of most of them is,
in part at least, white and of exquisite purity. Then, fish-eating birds usually vomit and
purge when shot. They are necessarily fished all dripping from the water. They are too
large for pocketing. If you put them on the thwarts or elsewhere about the boat, they usually
fall off, or are knocked off, into the bilge water; if you stow them in the cubby-hole, they will
assuredly soil by mutual pressure, or by rolling about. It will repay you to pick them from
the water by the bill, and shake off all the water you can; hold them up, or let some one do
it, till they are tolerably dry ; plug the mouth, nustrils, and vent, if not also shot-holes ; wrap
each one separately in a cloth (not paper) or a inass of tow, and pack steadily in a covered box
or basket taken on board for this purpuse. With such precautions as these birds most liable
to be soiled reach the skinning table in perfect order; and your care will afterward transform
them into specimens without spot or blemish.
HYGIENE OF COLLECTORSHIP. 19
§ 4.— HYGIENE OF COLLECTORSHIP.
It is Unnecessary to speak of the Healthfulness of a pursuit that, like the collector’s
occupation, demands regular bodily exercise, and at the same time stimulates the mind by
supplying an object, thus calling the whole system into exhilarating action. Yet collecting
has its perils, not to be overlooked if we would adequately guard against them, as fortunately
we may, in most cases, by simple precautions. The dangers of taxidermy itself are elsewhere
noticed; but, besides these, the collector is exposed to vicissitudes of the weather, may endure
great fatigue, may breathe miasm, and may be mechanically injured.
Accidents from the Gun have been already treated; a few special rules will render
others little liable to occur. The secret of safe climbing is never to relax one hold until another
is secured; it is in spirit equally applicable to scrambling over rocks, a particularly difficult
thing to do safely with a loaded gun. Test rotten, slippery, or otherwise suspicious holds
before trusting them. In lifting the body up anywhere, keep the mouth shut, breathe
through the nostrils, and go slowly. In swimming, waste no strength unnecessarily in trying
to stem a current; yield partly, and land obliquely lower down; if exhausted, float; the
slightest motion of the hands will ordinarily keep the face above water; and in any event keep
your wits collected. In fording deeply, a heavy stone will strengthen your position. Never
sail a boat experimentally ; if you are no sailor, take one with you or stay on land. In cross-
ing a high, narrow footpath, never look lower than your feet; the muscles will work true if
not confused with faltering instructions from a, giddy brain. On soft ground, see what, if
anything, has preceded you; large hoof-marks generally mean that the way is safe; if none
are found, inquire for yourself before going on. Quicksand is the most treacherous, because
far more dangerous than it looks; but I have seen a mule’s ears finally disappear in genuine
mud. Cattle paths, however erratic, commonly prove the surest way out of a difficult place,
whether of uncertain footing or dense undergrowth.
Miasm. — Unguarded exposure in malarious regions usually entails sickness, often pre-
ventable. however, by due precautions. It is worth knowing, in the first place, that miasmatic
poison is most powerful between sunset and sunrise; more exactly, from the damp of the
evening until night vapors are dissipated; we may be out in the daytime with comparative
impunity, where to pass a night would be almost certain disease. If forced to camp out, seek
the highest and dryest spot, put a good fire on the swamp side, and also, if possible, let trees
intervene. Never go out on an empty stomach ; just a cup of coffee and a crust may make a
decided difference. Meet the earliest unfavorable symptoms with quinine; I should rather say,
if unacelimated, anticipate them with this invaluable agent. Endeavor to maintain high
health of all functions by the natural means of regularity and temperance in diet, exercise, and
repose.
“ Taking Cold.” — This vague ‘‘ household word ” indicates one or more of a long varied
train of unpleasant affections, nearly always traceable to one or the other of only two causes:
sudden change of temperature, and wnequal distribution of temperature. No extremes of heat
or cold can alone effect this result; persons frozen to death do not “take cold” during the
process. But if a part of the body be rapidly cooled, as by evaporation from a wet article of
clothing, or by sitting in a draught of air, the rest of the body remaining at an ordinary tem-
perature; or if the temperature of the whole be suddenly changed by going out into the cold,
or, especially, by coming into a warm room, there is much liability of trouble. There is an
old saying, —
« When the air comes through a hole
Say your prayers to save your soul;’””
20 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
and I should think almost any one could get a “cold” with a spoonful of water on the wrist
held to a key-hole. Singular as it may seem, sudden warming when cold is more dangerous
than the reverse; every one has noticed how soon the handkerchief is required on entering a
heated room on a cold day. Frost-bite is an extreme illustration of this. As the Irishman
said on picking himself up, it was not the fall, but stopping so quickly that hurt him ; it is
not the lowering of the temperature to the freezing point, but its subsequent elevation, that
devitalizes the tissue. This is why rubbing with snow, or bathing in cold water, is required
to restore safely a frozen part; the arrested circulation must be very gradually re-established,
or inflammation, perhaps mortification, ensues. General precautions against taking cold are
almost self-evident, in this light. There is ordinarily little if any danger to be apprehended
from wet clothes, so long as exercise is kept up; for the ‘‘ glow” about compensates for the
extra cooling by evaporation. Nor is a complete drenching more likely to be injurious than
wetting of one part. But never sit still wet; and in changing rub the body dry. There isa
general tendency, springing from fatigue, indolence, or indifference, to neglect damp feet; that
is to say, to dry them by the fire; but this process is tedious and uncertain. I would say
especially, off with the muddy boots and sodden socks at once; dry stockings and slippers,
after a hunt, may make just the difference of your being able to go out again or never. Take
care never to check perspiration ; during this process, the body is in a somewhat critical condi-
tion, and sudden arrest of the function may result disastrously, even fatally. One part of the
business of perspiration is to equalize bodily temperature, and it must not be interfered with.
The secret of much that might be said about bathing when heated, lies here. A person over-
heated, panting it may be, with throbbing temples and a dry skin, is in danger partly because
the natural cooling by evaporation from the skin is denied, and this condition is sometimes not
far from a ‘‘sunstroke.” Under these circumstances, a person of fairly good constitution may
plunge into the water with impunity, even with benefit. But if the body be already cooling
by sweating, rapid abstraction of heat from the surface may cause internal congestion, never
unattended with danger. Drinking ice-water offers a somewhat parallel vase; even on stoop-
ing to drink at the brook, when flushed with heat, it is well to bathe the face and hands first,
and to taste the water before a full draught. It is a well-known excellent rule, not to bathe
immediately after a full meal; because during digestion the organs concerned are compara-
tively engorged, and any sudden disturbance of the circulation may be disastrous. The
imperative necessity of resisting drowsiness under extreme cold requires no comment. In
walking under a hot sun, the head may be sensibly protected by green leaves or grass in the
hat; they may be advantageously moistened, but not enough to drip about the ears. Under
such circumstances the slightest giddiness, dimness of sight, or confusion of ideas, should be
taken as a warning of possible sunstroke, instantly demanding rest and shelter.
Hunger and Fatigue are more closely related than they might seem to be; one is a sign
that the fuel is out, and the other asks for it. Extreme fatigue, indeed, destroys appetite ;
this simply means, temporary incapacity for digestion. But even far short of this, food is more
easily digested and better relished after a little preparation of the furnace. On coming home
tired, it is much better to make a leisurely and reasonably nice toilet than to eat at once, or to
lie still thinking how tired you are; after a change and a wash you will feel like a “new
man,” and go to table in capital state. Whatever dietetic irregularities a high state of civili-
zation may demand or render practicable, a normally healthy person is inconvenienced almost
as soon as his regular meal-time passes without food; a few can work comfortably or profit-
ably fasting over six or eight hours. Eat before starting; if for a day’s tramp, take a lunch;
the most frugal meal will appease if it do not satisfy hunger, and so postpone its urgency. As
a sinall scrap of practical wisdom, I would add, keep the remnants of the lunch, if there are
any; for you cannot always be sure of getting in to supper.
REGISTRATION AND LABELLING. 21
Stimulation. — When cold, fatigued, depressed in mind, and on other occasions, you
may feel inclined to resort to artificial stimulus. Respecting this many-sided theme I have a
few words to offer of direct bearing on the collector’s case. It should be clearly understood in
the first place that a stimulant confers no strength whatever; it simply calls the powers that be
into increased action at their own expense. Seeking real strength in stimulus is as wise as an
attempt to lift yourself up by the boot-straps. You may gather yourself to leap the ditch and
you clear it; but no such muscular energy can be sustained; exhaustion speedily renders further
expenditure impossible. But now suppose a very powerful mental impression be made, say
the circumstance of a succession of ditches in front, and a mad dog behind; if the stimulus of
terror be sufficiently strong, you may leap on till you drop senseless. Alcoholic stimulus is a
parallel case, and is not seldom pushed to the same extreme. Under its influence you never
can tell when you are tired; the expenditure goes on, indeed, with unnatural rapidity, only it
is not felt at the time; but the upshot is you have all the original fatigue to endure and to
recover from, plus the fatigue resulting from over-excitation of the system. Taken as a forti-
fication against cold, alcohol is as unsatisfactory as a remedy for fatigue. Insensibility to cold
does not imply protection. The fact is the exposure is greater than before; the circulation and
respiration being hurried, the waste is greater, and as sound fuel cannot be immediately supplied,
the temperature of the body is soon lowered. The transient warmth and glow over, the system
has both cold and depression to endure ; there is no use in borrowing from yourself and fancy-
ing you are richer. Secondly, the value of any stimulus (except in a few exigencies of disease
or injury) is in proportion, not to the intensity, but to the equableness and durability of its
effect. This is one reason why tea, coffee, and articles of corresponding qualities, are preferable
to alcoholic drinks ; they work so smoothly that their effect is often unnoticed, and they “stay
by” well; the friction of alcohol is tremendous in comparison. A glass of grog may help a
veteran over the fence, but no one, young or old, can shoot all day on liquor. I thave had
so much experience in the use of tobacco as a mild stimulant that Iam probably no impartial
judge of its merits: I will simply say I do not use it in the field, because it indisposes to mus-
cular activity, and favors reflection when observation is required; and because temporary
abstinence provokes the morbid appetite and renders the weed more grateful afterwards.
Thirdly, undue excitation of any physical function is followed by corresponding depression, on
the simple principle that action and reaction are equal; and the balance of health turns too
easily to be wilfully disturbed. Stimulation is a draft upon vital capital, when interest alone
should suffice; it may be needed at times to bridge a chasm, but habitual living beyond vital
income infallibly entails bankruptcy in health. The use of alcohol in health seems practically
restricted to purposes of sensuous gratification on the part of those prepared to pay a round
price for this luxury. The three golden rules here are, —never drink before breakfast, never
drink alone, and never drink bad liquor; their observance may make even the abuse of
alcohol tolerable. Serious objections for a naturalist, at least, are that science, viewed
through a glass, seems distant and uncertain, while the joys of rum are immediate and unques-
tionable ; and that intemperance, being an attempt to defy certain physical laws, is therefore
eminently unscientific.
§5— REGISTRATION AND LABELLING.
A mere Outline of a Field Naturalist’s Duties would be inexcusably incomplete with-
out mention of these important matters; and, because so much of the business of collecting
must be left to be acquired in the school of experience, I am the more anxious to give explicit
directions whenever, as in this instance, it is possible to do so.
Record your Observations Daily. — In one sense the specimens themselves are your
record, — prima facie evidence of your industry and ability; and if labelled, as I shall presently
22 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
advise, they tell no small part of the whole story. But this is not enough; indeed, I am not
sure that an ably conducted ornithological journal is not the better half of your operations.
Under your editorship of labelling, specimens tell what they know about themselves ; but you
can tell much more yourself. Let us look at a day’s work: You have shot and skinned so
many. birds and laid them away labelled. You have made observations about them before
shooting, and have observed a number of birds that you did not shoot. You have items of
haunts and habits, abundance or scarcity ; of manners and actiuns under special circumstances,
as of pairing, nesting, laying, rearing young, feeding, migrating, and what not; various notes
of birds are still ringing in your ears ; and finally, you may have noted the absence of species you
saw a while before, or had expected to occur in your vicinity. Meteorological and topegraphi-
eal items, especially when travelling, are often of great assistance in explaining the occurrences
and actions of birds. Now you know these things, but very likely no one else does; and
you know them at the time, but you will not recollect a tithe of them in a few weeks or months,
to say nothing of years. Don’t trust your memory: it will trip you up; what is clear now will
grow obscure; what is found will be lost. Write down everything while it is fresh in your
mind; write it out in full: time so spent now will be time saved in the end, when you offer
your researches to the discriminating public. Don’t be satisfied with a dry-as-dust item ;
clothe a skeleton fact, and breathe life into it with thoughts that glow; let the paper smell of
the woods. There’s a pulse in a new fact; catch the rhythm before it dies. Keep off the
quicksands of mere memorandum— that means something ‘to be remembered,” which is just
what you cannot do. Shun abbreviations; such keys rust with disuse, and may fail in after
times to unlock the secret that should have been laid bare in the beginning. Use no signs
intelligible only to yourself: your note-books may come to be overhauled by others whom
you would not wish to disappoint. Be sparing of sentiment, a delicate thing, easily degraded
to drivel :* crude enthusiasm always hacks instead of hewing. Beware of literary infelicities :
‘* the written word remains,” it may be, after you have passed away; put down nothing for
your friend’s blush, or your enemy’s sneer; write as if a stranger were looking over your
shoulder.
Ornithological Book-keeping may be left to your discretion and good taste in the
details of execution. Each may consult his preferences for rulings, headings, and blank forms
of all sorts, as well as particular modes of entry. But my experience has been that the entries
it is advisable to make are too multifarious to be accommodated by the most ingenious formal
ruling; unless, indeed, you make the conventional heading ‘‘ Remarks” disproportionately
wide, and commit to it everything not otherwise provided for. My preference is decidedly for a
plain page. I use a strongly bound blank book, cap size, containing at least six or eight
quires of good smooth paper; but smaller may be needed for travelling, even down to a pocket
note-book. I would not advise a multiplicity of books, splitting up your record into different
departments: let it be journal and register of specimens combined. (The registry of your
own collecting has nothing to do with the register of your cabinet of birds, which is sure to
include a proportion of specimens from other sources, received in exchange, donated, or pur-
chased. I speak of this beyond.) I have found it convenient to commence a day’s record
with a register of the specimens secured, each entry consisting of a duplicate of the bird’s label
(see beyond), accompanied by any further remarks I have to offer respecting the particular
specimens ; then to go on with the full of my day’s observations, as suggested in the last para-
graph. You thus have a “register of collections” in chronological order, told off with an
unbroken series of numbers, checked with the routine label-items, and continually interspersed
with the balance of your ornithological studies. Since your private field-number is sometimes
an indispensable clew to the authentication of a specimen after it has left your own hands,
never duplicate it. If you are collecting other objects of natural history besides birds, still have
REGISTRATION AND LABELLING. 23
but one series of numbers; duly enter your mammal, or mineral, or whatever it is, in its
place, with the number under which it happens to fall. Be scrupulously accurate with these
and all other figures, as of dates and measurements. Always use black ink; the ‘ fancy ”
writing-fluids, even the useful carmine, fade sooner than black, while lead-pencilling is never
safe.
Labelling. — This should never be neglected. It is enough to make a sensitive ornithol-
ogist shiver to see a specimen without that indispensable appendage —a label. I am sorry to
observe that the routine labelling of most collections is far from being satisfactory. A well-
appointed label is something more than a slip of paper with the bird’s name on it, and is still
defective, if, as is too often the case, only the locality and collector are added. A complete
label records the following particulars: 1. Title of the survey, voyage, exploration, or other
expedition (if any), during which the specimen was collected. 2%. Name of the person in
charge of the same (and it may be remarked that the less he really cares about birds, and the
less he actually interests himself to procure them, the more particular he will be about this).
3. Title of the institution or association (if any) under the auspices or patronage of which the
specimen was procured, or for which it is designed. 4. Name of collector; partly to give
credit where it is due, but principally to fix responsibility, and authenticate the rest of the
items. 5. Collector’s number, referring to his note-book, as just explained; if the specimen
afterwards forms part of a general collection it usually acquires another number by new regis-
try; the collector’s then becoming the “original,” as distinguished from the ‘“ current,”
number. 6. Locality, perhaps the most important of all the items. A specimen of unknown
or even uncertain origin is worthless or nearly so; while lamentable confusion has only too
often arisen in ornithological writings from vague or erroneous indications of locality: I should
say that a specimen ‘‘not authentic” in this particular had better have its supposed origin
erased and be let alone. Nor will it do to say simply, for instance, ‘‘ North America” or even
“‘United States.” The general geographical distribution of birds being according to recognized
faunal areas, ornithologists generally know already the quarter of the globe from which any.
bird comes ; the locality of particular specimens, therefore, should be fixed down to the very
spot. If this be obscure add the name of the nearest place to be found on a fairly good map,
giving distance and direction. 7. Date of collection, —day of the month, and year. Among
other reasons for this may be mentioned the fact that it is often important to know what
season a particular plumage indicates. 8. Sex, and if possible also age, of the specimen, — an
item that bespeaks its own importance. Ornithologists of all countries are agreed upon certain
signs to indicate sex. These are: ¢ for male, 9 for female,—the symbols respectively of
Mars and Venus, Immaturity is often denoted by the sign ,; thus, g ,, young male. Or,
we may write 9 ad., 9 yg., for adult female, young female, respectively. It is preferable,
however, to use the language of science, not our vernacular, and say gf juv. (juvenis, young).
“ Nupt.” signifies breeding plumage; ‘‘ hornot.” means a bird of the year. 9. Measurements
of length, and of extent of wings; the former can only be obtained approximately, and the
latter not at all, from a prepared specimen. 10. Color of the eyes, and of the bill, feet, or
other naked or soft parts, the tints of which may change in drying. 11. Miscellaneous partic-
ulars, such as contents of stomach, special circumstances of capture, vernacular name, ete.
12. Scientific name of the bird. This is really the least important item of all, though
generally thought to take precedence. But a bird labels itself, so to speak; and nature’s
label may be deciphered at any time. In fact, I would enjoin upon the collector not to
write out the supposed name of the bird in the field, unless the species is so well known as
to be absolutely unquestionable. Proper identification, in any case to which the slightest
doubt may attach, can only be made after critical study in the closet with ample facilities for
examination and comparison. The first eight items, and the twelfth, usually constitute the
24 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
face of a label ; the rest are commonly written on the back. Labels should be of light card-
board, or very stiff writing paper; they may be dressed attractively, as fancy suggests; the
general items of a large number of specimens are best printed; the special ones must of course
be written. Shape is immaterial; small ‘‘cards” or “ tickets” are preferred by some, and
certainly look very well when ueatly appointed; but I think, on the whole, that a shape
answering the idea of a ‘‘ slip” rather than a ‘‘ ticket” is most eligible. A slip about three
inches long and two thirds of an inch wide will do very well for anything, from a hawk to a
humming-bird. Something like the ‘shipping tag” used by merchants is excellent, particu-
larly for larger objects. It seems most natural to attach the string to the left-hand end. The
slip should be tied so as to swing just clear of the bird’s legs, but not loose enough to dangle
several-inches, for in that case the labels are continually tangling with each other when the
birds are laid away in drawers. The following diagrams show the face and back of the last
label I happened to write before these lines were originally penned; they represent the size
and shape that I find most convenient for general purposes; while the “‘ legend” illustrates
every one of the twelve items above specified.
3 Explorations in Dakota. Dr. Elliott Coues, U.S.A. 5
™ a
g No. 2655. Buteo borealis(Gm.)V. ? juv. Es
oe
' Fort Randall, Missouri River. Oct. 29, 1872. 8
&
Obverse. z
23.00 x 53.00 x 17.60. — Eyes yellowish-gray; bill horn-blue,
darker at tip; cere wax-yellow; tarsi dull yellowish; claws
bluish-black. Stomach contained portions of a rabbit; also, a
large tapeworm. :
Reverse.
Directions for Measurement may be inserted here, as this matter pertains rightfully to
the recording of specimens. The following instructions apply not only to length and extent,
but to the principal other dimensions, which may be taken at any time. For large birds, a
tape-line showing inches and fourths will do; for smaller ones, a foot-rule graduated for inches
and eighths, or better, decimals to hundredths, must be used; and for all nice measurements
the dividers are indispensable. ‘‘ Length: ” Distance between the tip of the bill and end of
the longest tail-feather. Lay the bird on its back on the ruler on a table; take hold of the bill
with one hand and of both legs with the other ; pull with reasonable force to get the curve all
out of the neck ; hold the bird thus with the tip of the bill flush with one end of the ruler, and
see where the end of the tail points. Put the tape-line in place of the ruler, in the same way,
for larger birds*- “‘ Extent:” Distance between the tips of the outspread wings. They must
be fully outstretched, with the bird on its back, crosswise on the ruler, its bill pointing to your
breast. Take hold of right and left metacarpus with the thumb and forefinger of your left and
tight hand respectively, stretch with reasonable force, getting one wing-tip flush with one end
of the ruler, and see how much the other wing-tip reaches. With large birds pull away as
hard as you please, and use the table, floor, or side of the room; mark the points and apply
tape-line. ‘‘ Length of wing:” Distance from the carpal angle formed at the bend of the
wing to the end of the longest primary. Get it with compasses for small birds. In birds with
a convex wing, do not lay the tape-line over the curve, but under the wing in a straight line.
This measurement is the one called, for short, ‘‘ the wing.” ‘ Length of tail: Distance
MATERIALS FOR PREPARING BIRDSKINS. 25
from the roots of the rectrices to the end of the longest one. Feel for the pope’s nose; in either
a fresh or dried specimen there is more or less of a palpable lump into which the tail-feathers
stick. Guess as near as you can to the middle of this lump; place the end of the ruler oppusite
this point, and see where the tip of the longest tail-feather comes. “‘ Length of bill: Some
take the curve of the upper mandible; others the side of the upper mandible from the feathers :
others the gape, ete. I take the chord of the culmen. Place one foot of the dividers on the
culmen just where the feathers end; no matter whether the culmen runs up on the forehead, or
the frontal feathers run out on the culmen, and no matter whether the culmen is straight or
curved. Then with me the length of the bill is the shortest distance from the point just indi-
cated to the tip of the upper mandible; measure it with the dividers. In a straight bill of
course it is the length of the culmen itself; in a curved bill, however, it is quite another thing.
‘* Length of tarsus :” Distance between the joint of the tarsus with the leg above, and that
with the first phalanx of the middle toe below. Measure it ahvays with dividers, and in front
of the leg. “ Length of toes:” Distance in a straight line along the upper surface of a toe
from the point last indicated to the root of the claw on top. Length of toe is to be taken
without the claw, unless otherwise specified. “Length of the claws:” Distance in a straight line
from the point last indicated to the tip of the claw. ‘“ Length of head” is often a convenient
dimension for comparison with the bill. Set one foot of the dividers over the base of the culmen
(determined as above) and allow the other to slip snugly down over the arch of the occiput.
4
§ 6.— INSTRUMENTS, MATERIALS, AND FIXTURES FOR PREPARING BIRDSKINS.
Instruments. — The only indispensable instrument is a pair of scissors or a knife;
although practically you want both of these, a pair of spring forceps, and a knitting-needle, or
some similar wooden or ivory object, yet I have made hundreds of birdskins consecutively
without touching another tool. ‘‘ Persicos odi, puer, apparatus!” I always mistrust the
emphasis of a collector who makes a flourish of instruments. You might be surprised to see
what a meagre, shabby-looking bit our best taxidermists work with. Stick to your scissors,
knife, forceps, and needle. But you may as well buy, at the outset, a common dissecting-case,
just what medical students begin business with; it is very cheap, and if there are some unneces-
sary things in it, it makes a nice little box in which to keep your tools. The case contains,
among other things, several scalpels, just the knives you want; a ‘ cartilage-knife,” which is
nothing but a stout scalpel, suitable for large birds; the best kind of scissors for your purpose,
with short blades and long handles —if ‘‘ kneed” at the hinge so much the better; spring
forceps, the very thing ; a blow-pipe, useful in many ways and answering well for a knitting-
needle ; and some little steel-hooks, chained together, which you may want to use. But you
will also require, for large birds, a very heavy pair of scissors, or small shears, short-bladed
and long-handled, and a stout pair of bone-nippers. Have some pins and needles; surgical
needles, which cut instead of punching, are the best. Get a hone or strop, if you wish, and a
feather duster. Use of scissors requires no comment, and I would urge their habitual employ
instead of the knife-blade ; I do nine-tenths of my cutting with scissors, and find it much the
easiest. A double-lever is twice as effective as a single one, and besides, you gain in cutting
soft, yielding substances by opposing two blades. Moreover, sealpels need constant sharpen-
ing; mine are generally too dull to cut much with, and I suppose I am like other people —
while scissors stay sharp enough. The flat, thin ivory or ebony handle of the scalpel is about
as useful as the blade. Finger-nails, which were made before scalpels, are a mighty help.
Forceps are almost indispensable for seizing and holding parts too small or too remote to be
guasped by the fingers. The knitting-needle is wanted for a specific purpose noted beyond.
The shears or nippers are only needed for what the ordinary scissors are,too weak to do. Our
instruments, you see new, are ‘a short horse soon curried.”
26 , FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
Materials. — (a.) For stuffing. ‘‘ What do you stuff ’em with?” is usually the first
question of idle curiosity about taxidermy, as if that were the gréat point; whereas, the stuffing
is so small a matter that I generally reply, “‘ anything, except brickbats!” But if stuffing
birds were the final cause of Cotton, that admirable substance could not be more perfectly
adapted than it is to the purpose. Ordinary raw cotton-batting or wadding is what you want.
When I can get it I never think of using anything else for small birds. I would use it for all
birds were expense no object. Here tow comes in; there is a fine, clean, bleached article of
tow prepared for surgical dressings; this is the best, but any will do. Some say chop your
tow fine; this is harmless, but unnecessary. A crumpled newspaper, wrapped with tow, is
first-rate for a large bird. Failing cotton or tow, any soft, light, dry, vegetable substance may
be made to answer, — rags, paper, crumbled leaves, fine dried grass, soft fibrous inner bark,
etc. ; the down of certain plants, as thistle and silkweed, makes an exquisite filling for small
birds. But I will qualify my remark about brickbats by saying: never put hair, wool, feathers,
or any other ANIMAL substance in a birdskin ; far better leave it empty: for, as we shall see in
the sequel, bugs come fast enough, without being invited into a snug nest. (b.) For preserv-
ing. ARSENIC, — not the pure metal properly so called, but arsenic of the shops, or arsenious
acid, —is the great preservative. Use dry powdered arsenic, plenty of it, and nothing else.
There is no substitute for arsenic worthy of the name, and no preparation of arsenic so good as
the simple substance. Various kinds of ‘ arsenical soap” were and may still be in vogue;
it Is a nasty greasy substance, not fit to handle; and although efficacious ehough, there is a
very serious hygienic objection to its use.1 Arsenic, I need not say, is a violent irritant poison,
and must therefore be duly guarded, but may be used with perfect impunity. It is a very
heavy substance, not appreciably volatile at ordinary temperatures, and therefore not liable,
as some suppose, to be breathed, to any perceptible, much less injurious, extent. It will not
even at once enter the pores of healthy unbroken skin ; so it is no matter if it gets on the fingers.
The exceedingly minute quantity that may be supposed to find its way into the system in the
course of time is believed by many competent physicians to be rather beneficial as a tonic. I
will not commit myself to this; for, though I have never felt better than when working daily
with arsenic, I do not know how much my health was improved by the out-door exercise
always taken at the same time. The simple precautions are, not to let it lie too long in con-
tact with the skin, nor get into an abrasion, nor under the nails. It will convert a scratch or
cut into a festering sore of some little severity ; while if lodged under the nails it soon shows
itself by soreness, increased by pressure; a white speck appears, then a tiny abscess forms, dis-
charges and gets well in a few days. Your precautions really respect other persons more than
yourself; the receptacle should be conspicuously labelled ‘“‘POISON!” Arsenic is a good
friend of ours; besides preserving our birds, it keeps busybodies and meddlesome folks away
from the scene of operations, by raising a wholesome suspicion of the taxidermist’s surround-
ings. It may be kept in the tin pots in which it is usually sold; but some shallower, broader
receptacle is more convenient. A little drawer say 6x6 inches, and an inch deep, to slip
under the edge of the table, or a similar compartment in a large drawer, will be found handy.
A salt-spoon, or little wooden shovel whittled like one, is nice to use it with, though in effect,
T always shovel it up with the handle of a scalpel. As stated, there is no substitute for arsenic;
1 “Strange as it may appear to some, I would say avoid especially all the so-called arsenical soaps ; they
are at best but filthy preparations ; besides, it is a fact to which I can bear painful testimony that they are,
especially when applied to a greasy skin, poisonous in the extreme. I have been so badly poisoned, while working
upon the skins of some fat water birds that had been prepared with arsenical soap, as to be made seriously ill, the
poison having worked into the system through some small wounds or scratches on my hand. Had pure arsenic
been used in preparing the skins, the effect would not have been as bad, although grease and arsenic are generally
a blood-poison in some degree; but when combined with ‘soap’ the effect, at least as far as my experience gogs,
is much more injurious.” (MAYNARD, Guide, p. 12.) In endorsing this, I would add that the combination is the
more poisonous, in all probability, simply because the soap, being detersive, mechanically facilitates the entrance
of the poison, without, however, chemically increasing its virulence.
. MATERIALS FOR PREPARING BIRDSKINS. 27
but at a pinch you can make temporary shift with the following, among other articles: —table
salt, or saltpetre, or charcoal strewn plentifully; strong solution of corrosive sublimate, brushed
over the skin inside ; creosote ; impure carbolic acid; these last two are quite efficacious, but
they smell horribly for an indefinite period. A bird threatening to decompose before you can
get at it to skin, may be saved for a while by squirting weak carbolic acid or creusote down the
throat and up the fundament; or by disembowelling, and filling the cavity with powdered
charcoal. (c¢.) For cleansing. Gypsum is an almost indispensable material for cleansing
soiled plumage. ‘Gypsum ” is properly native hydrated sulphate of lime ; the article referred
to is ‘‘ plaster of Paris” or gypsum heated up to 260° F. (by which the water of erystalliza-
tion is driven off) and then finely pulverized. When mixed with water it soon solidifies, the
original hydrate being again formed. The mode of using it is indicated beyond. It is most
conveniently kept in a shallow tray, say a foot square, and an inch or two deep, which had
better, furthermore, slide under the table as a drawer; or form a compartment of a larger
drawer. Keep gypsum and arsenic in different-looking receptacles, not so much to keep from
poisoning yourself, as to keep from not poisoning a birdskin. They look much alike, and
skinning becomes such a mechanical process that you may get hold of the wrong article when
your thoughts are wandering in the woods. Gypsum, like arsenic, has no worthy rival in its
own field ; some substitutes, in the order of their applicability, are: — corn-meal, probably the
best thing after gypsum; calcined magnesia (very good, but too light — it floats in the air,
and makes you cough); bicarbonate of magnesia; powdered chalk (‘‘ prepared chalk,” creta
preparata of the drug shops, is the best kind); fine wood-ashes; clean dry loam. No article,
however powdery when dry, that contains a glutinous principle, as for instance gum-arabic or
flour, is admissible. (d.) For wrapping, you want a thin, pliable, strong paper ; water-closet
paper is the very best; newspaper is pretty good. For making the cones or cylinders in
which birdskins may be set to dry, a stiffer article is required ; writing paper answers perfectly.
Naturalists habitually carry a Pocket Lens, much as other people do a watch. You
will find a magnifying glass very conveniént in your search for the sexual organs of small
birds when obscure, as they frequently are, out of the breeding season; in picking lice from
plumage, to send to your entomological friend, who will very likely pronounce them to be of a
‘“new species ;” and for other purposes.
Fixtures. When travelling, your fixtures must ordinarily be limited to a collecting-
chest ; you will have to skin birds on the top of this, on the tail-board of a wagon, or on your
lap, as the case may be. The chest should be very substantial —iron-bound is best; strong
as to hinges and lock—and have handles. A good size is 30x18 x 18 inches. Let it be
fitted with a set of trays; the bottom one say four inches deep; the rest shallower; the top
one very shallow, and divided into compartments for your tools and materials, unless you fix
these on the under side of the lid. Start out with all the trays full of cotton or tow. At
home, have a room to yourself, if possible; taxidermy makes a mess to which your wife may
object, and arsenic must not come in the way of children. At any rate have your own table.
I prefer plain deal that may be scrubbed when required; great cleanliness is indispensable,
especially when doing much work in hot weather, for the place soon smells sour if neglected.
I use no special receptacle for offal, for this only makes another article to be cleaned; lay
down a piece of paper for the refuse, and throw the whole away. A perfectly smooth surface
is desirable. I generally have a large pane of window-glass on the table before me. It will
really be found advantageous to have a scale of inches scratched on the edge of the table; only
a small part of it need be fractionally subdivided; this replaces the foot-rule and tape-line,
just as the tacks of a dry-goods counter answer for the yardstick. You will find it worth while
to rig some sort of a derrick arrangement, which you can readily devise, on one eud of the
28 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
table, to hitch your hook to, if you hang your birds up to skin them ; they should swing clear
of everything. The table should have a large general drawer, with a little drawer for gypsum
and arsenic already mentioned, unless these be kept elsewhere. Stuffing may be kept in a box
under the table, and make a nice footstool; or in a bag slung to the table leg.
Query: Have you cleansed the bird’s plumage? Have you plugged the mouth, nostrils,
and vent? Have you measured the specimen and noted the color of the eyes, bill, and feet,
and prepared the labels, and made the entry in the register? Have you got all your apparatus
within arm’s length? Then we are ready to proceed.
§7.—HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN.
a. THe REGULAR PROCESS.
Lay the Bird on its Back, the bill pointing to your righttelbow. Take the scalpel like
a pen, with edge of blade uppermost, and run a straight furrow through the feathers along the
middle line of the belly, from end of the breast-bone to the vent. Part the feathers com-
pletely, and keep them parted.? Observe a strip of skin either perfectly naked, or only cov-
ered with short down; this is the line for incision. Take scissors, stick in the pointed blade
just over the end of the breast-bone, cut in a straight line thence to and into the vent; cut
extremely shallow.®
Take the forceps in your left hand, and scalpel in your right, both held pen-wise, and with
the forceps seize and lift up one of the edges of the cut skin, gently pressing away the belly-
walls with the scalpel-point ; no cutting is required; the skin may be peeled off without trouble.
Skin away till you meet an obstacle; it is the thigh. Lay down the instruments; with your
left hand take hold of the leg outside at the shank; put your right forefinger under the raised
flap of skin, and feel a bump; it is the knee ; push up the leg till this bump comes into view;
hold it so. Take the scissors in your right hand; tuck one blade under the concavity of the
knee, and sever the joint at a stroke; then the thigh is left with the rest of the body, while
the rest of the leg is dissevered and hangs only by skin. Push the leg further up till it has
siipped out of its sheath of skin, like a finger out of a glove, down to the heel-joint. You
have now to clear off the flesh and leave the bone there; you may scrape till this is done,
but there is a better way. Stick the closed points of the scissors in among the muscles just
below the head of the bone, then separate the blades just wide enough to grasp the bone;
snip off its head; draw the head to one side; all the muscles follow, being there attached ;
strip thein downward from the bone; the bone is left naked, with the muscle hanging by a
bundle of tendons (‘‘leaders”).at its foot; sever these tendous collectively at a stroke. This
whole performance will occupy about three seconds, after practice; and you may soon discover
you can nick off the head of the bone of a small bird with the thumb-nail. Draw the leg bone
back into its sheath, and leave it. Repeat all the foregoing steps on the other side of the bird.
If you are bothered by the skin-flaps settling against the belly-walls, insert a fluff of cotton.
1 Reverse this and following directions for position, if you are left-handed.
2 The motion is exactly like stroking the right and left sides of a moustache apart; you would never dress
the hairs smoothly away from the middle line, by poking from ends to reot; nor will the feathers stay aside,
unless stroked away from base to tips.
8 The skin over the belly is thin as tissue paper in a small bird; the chances are you will at first cut the
walls of the belly too, opening the cavity; this is no great: matter, for a pledget of cotton will keep the bowels in;
nevertheless, try to divide skin only. Reason for cutting into vent: this orifice makes a nice natural termination
of the incision, buttonhole-wise, and may keep the end of the cut from tearing around the root of the tail. Reason
for beginning to cut over the edge of the sternum: the muscular walls of the belly are very thin, and stick so close
to the skin that you may be in danger of attempting to remove them with the skin, instead of removing the skin
from them; whereas, you cannot remove anything but skin from over the breast bone, so you have a guide at the
start. Youcan tell skin from belly-wall, by its livid, translucent whitisness instead of redness.
HOW .TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 29
Keep the feathers out of the wound; cotton and the moustache movement will doit. Next you
must sever the tail from the body, leaving a small ‘‘ pope’s-nose” for the feathers to stay stuck
into. Put the bird in the hollow of your lightly closed left hand, tail upward, belly toward you;
or, if too large for this, stand it on its breast on the table in similar position. Throw your
left forefinger across the front of the tail, pressing a little backward; take the scissors, cut the
end of the lower bowel free first, then peck away at bone and muscle with cautious snips, till
the tail-stump is dissevered from the rump, and the tail hangs only by skin. You will soon
learn to do it all at one stroke; but you cannot be too careful at first; you are cutting right
down on to the skin over the top of the pope’s-nose, and if you divide this, the bird will part
company with its tail altogether. Now you have the rump-stump protruding naked; the legs
dangling on either side; the tail hanging loose over the bird’s back between them. Lay down
scissors, take up forceps1 in your left hand; with them seize and hold the stump of the rump;
and with point or handle of scalpel in the other hand, with finger-tips, or with thumb-nail
(best), gently press down on and peel away skin.? No cutting will be required (usually) till
you come to the wings: the skin peels off (usually) as easily as an orange-rind; as fast as it
is loosened, evert it; that is make it continually turn itself more and more completely inside
out. Work thus till you are stopped by the obtruding wings. You have to sever the wing
from the body at the shoulder, just as you did the leg at the knee, and leave it hanging by
skin alone. Take your scissors,* as soon as the upper arm is exposed, and cut through flesh
and bone alike at one stroke, a little below (outside of) the shoulder-joint. Do the same with
the other wing. As soon as the wings are severed the body has been skinned to the root of
the neck; the process becomes very easy ; the neck almost slips out of its sheath of itself; and
if you have properly attended to keeping the feathers out of the wound and to continual ever-
sion of the skin, you now find you have a naked body connected dumb-bell-wise by a naked
neck to a cap of reversed skin into which the head has disappeared, from the inside of which
the legs and wings dangle, and around the edges of which is a row of plumage and a tail.®
Here comes up an important consideration: the skin, plumage, legs, wings, and tail together
weigh something, — enough to stretch ® unduly the skin of the neck, from the small cylinder of
which they are now suspended; the whole mass must be supported. For small birds, gather
it in the hollow of your left hand, letting the body swing over the back of your hand out of the
1 Or at this stage you may instead stick a hook into a firm part of the rump, and hang up the bird about
the level of your breast ; you thus have hoth hands free to work with. This is advisable with all birds too large
to be readily taken in hand, and will help you, at first, with any bird. But there is really no use of it with a small
pird, and you may as well learn the best way of working at first as afterward.
2 The idea of the whole movement is exactly like ungloving your hand from the wrist, by turning the glove
inside out to the very finger tips. Some people say, pull off the skin; I say never pull a bird’s skin under any cir-
cumstances: push it off, always operating at lines of contact of skin with body, never upon areas of skins already
detached.
3 The elbows will get in your way before you reach the point of attack, namely, the shoulder, unless the
wings were completely relaxed (as was essential, indeed, if you measured alar expanse correctly). Think what a
difference it would make, were you skinning a man through a slit in the belly, whether his arms were stretched
above his head, or pinned against his ribs. It is just the same with a bird. When properly relaxed the wings
are readily pressed away toward the bird’s head, so that; the shoulders are encountered before the elbows.
4 Shears will be required to crash through a darge arm-bone. Or, you may with the scalpel unjoint the
shoulder. The joint will be found higher up and deeper among the breast muscles than you might suppose,
unless you are used to carving fowls at table. With asmall bird, you may snap the bone with the thumb-nail
and tear asunder the muscles in an instant.
5 You find that the little straight cut you made along the belly has somehow become a hole larger than the
greatest girth of the bird; be undismayed; it is all right.
6 If you have up to this point properly pushed off the skin instead of pulling it, there is as yet probably no
stretching of any consequence; but, in skinning the head, which comes next, it is almost impossible for a beginner
to avoid stretching to an extent involving great damage to the good looks of askin. Try your utmost, by delicacy
of manipulation at the lines of contact of skin with flesh, and only there, to prevent lengthwise stretching. Cross-
wise distension is of no consequence; in fact more or less of it is usually required to skin the head, and it tends
to counteract the ill effect of undue elongation.
30 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
way; for large ones, rest the affair on the table or your lap. To skin the head, secure the
body in the position just indicated, by confining the neck between your left thumb and fore-
finger; bring the right fingers and thumb to a cone over the head, and draw it out with gentle
foree; or, holding the head itself between the left thumb and forefinger, insert the handle of
the scalpel between the skin and skull, and pry a little, to enlarge the neck-cylinder of skin
enough to let the head pass. It will generally! slip out of its hood very readily, as far as its
greatest diameter ;? there it sticks, being in fact pinned by the ears. Still holding the bird as
before, with the point of the scalpel handled like a nut-picker, or with your thumb-nail, detach
the delicate membrane that lines the ear-opening ; do the same for the other ear. The skull is
then shelled out to the eyes, and will skin no further of its own accord, being again attached
by a membrane, around the border of the eye-socket. Holding the scalpel as before, run its.
edge around an are (a semicircle is enough to let you into the orbit) of the circumference, dis-
severing the membrane from the bone. Reverse the scalpel, and scoop out the eyeball with
the end of the handle; you bring out the eye betwixt the ball of your thumb and the handle
of the instrument, tearing apart the optic nerve and the conjunctival tissue, but taking care
not to open the eyeball? or lacerate the eyelids. Do the same with the other eye. The head
is then skinned far enough ; there is no use of getting quite to the base of the bill. You have
now to get rid of the brain and flesh of the nape and jaws,* and leave most of the skull in; the
cranial dome makes the only perfect “stuffing” for the skin of the head. This is all done at once
by only four particular cuts. Hold the head between your left thumb and fingers, the bill point-
ing towards you, the bird’s palate facing you; you observe a space bounded behind by the base
of the skull where the neck joins, in front by the floor of the mouth, on either side by the prongs
of the under jaw, —these last especially prominent. Take the scissors; stick one blade just
inside one branch of the lower jaw, thence into the eye-socket which lies below (the head
being upside down), thence into the brain-box; make a cut parallel with the jaw, just inside
of it, bringing the upper scissor blade perpendicularly downward, crashing through the skull just
inside of the angle of the jaw. Duplicate this cut on the other side. Connect the anterior
ends of these cuts by a transverse one across the floor and roof of the mouth. Connect the
posterior ends of the side cuts by one across the back of the skull near its base, -—just where
the nape-muscle ceases to override the cranium. You have enclosed and cut out a squarish-
shaped mass of bone and muscle, and, on gently pulling the neck (to which of course it
remains attached), the whole affair comes out, bringing the brain with it, but leaving the
entire roof of the skull supported on a scaffolding of jaw-bone. It only remains to skin the
wings. Seize the arm-stump with fingers or forceps; the upper arm is readily drawn from its
sheath as far as the elbow; but the wing must be skinned to the wrist (carpus — “bend o:
the wing”); yet it will not come out so easily, because the secondary quills grow to one of the
fore-arm bones (the ulna), pinning down the skin the whole way along a series of points. To
break up these connections, hold the upper arm firmly with the left thumb and forefinger, the
convexity of the elbow looking towards you; press the right thumb-nail closely against the
back edge of the ulna, and strip downward, scraping the bone with the nail the whole way.
If you only hit the line of adhesions, there is no trouble at all about this. Now you want to
1 The special case of head too large for the calibre of the neck is treated beyond.
2 and you will at once find a great apparent increase of amount of free skin in your hand, owing to release
and extension of all that was before shortened in length by circular distension, in enlargement of the neck-
cylinder.
3 An eyeball is much larger than it looks from the outside; if you stick the instrument straight into the
socket, you may punch a hole in the ball and let out the water; a very disagreeable complication. Insinuate the
knife-handle close to the rim of the socket, and hug the wall of the cavity throughout.
* You may of course at this stage cut off the neck at the nape, punch a hole in the base of the skull, dig out
the brains, and scrape away at the jaw-muscles till you are satisfied or tired; an unnecessary job, during which
the skin may have become dry and shrivelled and hard to turn right side out. The operation described in the
text may require ten seconds, perhaps.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 31
leave in one of the two fore-arm bones, to preserve sufficiently the shape of the limb, but to
remove the other, with the upper-arm bone and all the flesh. It is done in a moment: stick the
point of the scissors between the heads of the two fore-arm bones, and cut the hinder one (ulna)
away from the elbow; then the other fore-arm bone (radius), bearing on its near end the
elbow and the whole upper arm, is to be stripped away from the ulna, taking with it the flesh
of the fore-arm, and to be cut off at its far end close to the wrist-joint, one stroke severing the
bone and all the tendons that pass over the wrist to the hand; then the ulna, bare of flesh,
is alone left in, attached at the wrist. Draw gently on the wing from the outside till it slips
into the natural position whence you everted it. Do the same’for the other wing. This
finishes the skinning process. The skin is now to be turned right side out. Begin any way
you please, till you see the point of the bill reappearing among the feathers; seize it with
fingers or forceps, as convenient, and use it for gentle traction. But by no means pull it out
by holding on to the rear end of the skin —that would infallibly stretch the skin. Holding
the bill, make a cylinder of your left hand and coax the skin backward with a sort of milking
motion. It will come easily enough, until the final stage of getting the head back into its
skull-cap; this may require some little dexterity ; but you cannot fail to get the head in, if
you remember what you did to get it out. When this is fairly accomplished, you for the first
time have the pleasure of seeing something that looks like a birdskin. Your next! care is to
apply arsenic. Lay the skin on its back, the opening toward you and wide spread, so the
interior is in view. Run the scalpel-handle iuto the neck to dilate that cylinder until you can
see the skull; find your way to the orifices of the legs and wings; expose the pope’s-nose ;
thus you have not only the general skin surface, but all the points where some traces of flesh
were left, fairly in view. Shovel in arsenic; dump some down the neck, making sure it reaches
and plentifully besprinkles the whole skull; drop a little in each wing hole and leg hole;
leave a small pile at the root of the tail; strew some more over the skin at large. The simple
rule is, put in as much arsenic as will stick anywhere. Then close the opening, and shake up
the skin ; move the head about by the bill; rustle the wings and move the legs; this distrib-
utes the poison thoroughly. If you have got in more than is necessary, as you may judge by
seeing it piled up dry, anywhere, hold the skin with the opening downward over the poison-
drawer, and give it a flip and let the superfluous powder fall out. Now for the “make up,”
upon which the beauty of the preparation depends. First get the empty skin into good shape.
Let it lie on its back; draw it straight out to its natural length. See that the skin of the
head fits snugly ; that the eyes, ears, and jaws are in place. Expand the wings to make sure
that the bone is in place, and fold them so that the quills override each other naturally ; set the
tail-feathers shinglewise also; draw down the legs and leave them straddling wide apart.
Give the plumage a preliminary dressing ; if the skin is free from kinks and creases, the feath-
ers come naturally into place; particular ones that may be awry should be set right, as may
be generally done by stroking, or by lifting them free repeatedly, and letting them fall; if any
{through carelessness) remain turned into the opening, they should be carefully picked out.
Remove all traces of gypsum or arsenic with the feather duster. The stuffing is to be put in
through the opening in the belly; the art is to get in just enough, in the right places. It
would never do to push in pellets of cotton, as you would stuff a pillow-case, till the skin is
filled up; no subsequent skill in setting could remove the distortion that would result. It
takes just fowr? pieces of stuffing — oue for each eye, one for the neck, and one for the body;
1 Some direct the poisoning to be done while the skin is still wrong side out; and it may be very thoroughly
effected at that stage. I wait, because the arsenic generally strews over the table in the operation of reversing
the skin, if you use as much as I think advisable; and it is better to have a cavity to put it into than a surface to
atrew it on.
2 For any ordinary bird up to the size of a crow. It is often directed that the leg-bones and wing-bones be
wrapped with cotton or tow. I should not think of putting anything around the wing-bones of any bird up to the
size of an eagle, swan, or pelican. Examination of a skinned wing will show how extremely compact it is, except
32 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
while it requires rather less than half as much stuffing as an inexperienced person night
suppose. Take a shred of cotton that will make a tight ball as large as the bird’s eye; stick
it on the end of your knitting-needle, and by twirling the needle whilst the cotton is confined
in your finger tips, you make a neat ball. Introduce this through the belly-opening, into
the eye-socket; if you have cut away skull enough, as already directed, it will go right
in; disengage the needle with a reverse twirl, and withdraw it. Take hold of the bill with
one hand, and with the forceps in the other, dress the eyelids neatly and naturally over
the elastic substance within. Repeat for the other eye. Take next a shred of cotton that
will roll into a firm cylinder rather less than the size of the bird’s neck. Rod it on the
needle much as you did the eye-ball, introduce it in the same way, and ram it firmly into
the base of the skull; disengage the needle by twirling it the other way, and withdraw it,
taking care not to dislodge the cotton neck. If now you peep into the skin you will see
the end of this artificial neck; push it up against the skin of the breast, — it must not lie
down on the back between the shoulders. The body-wad comes next; you want to
imitate the size and shape of the bird’s trunk. Take a mass of cotton you think will be
enough, and take about half of this; that will be plenty (cotton is very elastic). It should
make a tolerably firm ball, rather egg-shaped, swelling at the breast, smaller behind. If you
simply squeeze up the cotton, it will not stay compressed; it requires a movion something
like that which bakers employ to knead dough into the shape of a loaf. Keep tucking
over the borders of the cotton till the desired shape and firmness are attained. Insert the ball
between the blades of the forceps in such way that the instrument confines the folded-over
edges, and with a wriggling motion insinuate it aright into the body. Before relaxing
the forceps, put your thumb and forefinger in the bird’s armpits, and pinch: the shoulders
together till they almost touch; this is to make sure that there is no stuffing between the
shoulders, — the whole mass lying breastwards. Loosen the forceps and withdraw them. If
the ball is rightly made and tucked in, the elasticity of the cotton will chiefly expend itself in
puffing out the breast, which is just what is wanted. Be careful not to push the body too far
in; if it impacts against the skin of the neck, this will infallibly stretch, driving the shoulders
apart, and no art will remedy the unsightly gape resulting. You see I dwell on this matter of
the shoulders; the whole knack of stuffing correctly focuses just over the shoulders. If you find
you have made the body too large, pull it out and make a smaller one; if it fits nicely about
the shoulders, but is too long to go in, or too puffy over the belly, let it stay, and pick away
shreds at the open end till the redundancy is remedied. Your bird is now stusfed. Close the
opening by bringing the edges of the original cut together. There is no use of sewing? up
the cut, for a small bird; if the stuffing is correct, the feathers will hide the opening; and if they
do not, it is no matter. You are not making an object for a show case, but for a naturalist’s
just at the shoulder. What you remove will never make any difference from the outside, while you would almost
inevitably get in too much, not of the right shape, and make an awkward bulging no art would remedy; I say,
then, leave the wings of all but the largest birds empty, and put in very little under any circumstances, As for
legs, the whole host of small perching birds need no wrapping whatever; depend upon it you will make a nicer
skin without wrapping. But large birds and those with very muscular or otherwise prominent legs must have
the removal of flesh compensated for. I treat of these cases beyond, :
1 Although a bird’s neck is really, of course, in direct continuation of the back-bone, yet the natural sigmoid
curve of the neck is such that it virtually takes departure rather from the breast, its lower curve being received
between the prongs of the merrythought. This is what we must imitate instead of the true anatomy. If you let
the end of the neck lie between the shoulders, it will infallibly press them apart, so that the interscapular plumage
cannot shingle over the scapular feathers as it should, and a gaping place, showing down or even naked skin,
will result. Likewise if the neck be made too large (the chances are that way, at first), the same result follows.
These seemingly trifling points are very important indeed; I never made a decent birdskin till I learned to get the
neck small enough and to shove the end of it against the breast.
2 But sew it up, if you please, though you may be perhaps giving: the man who subsequently mounts the
bird the trouble of ripping out the stitches. Stitches, however, will not come amiss witb a /arge bird. I generally,
in such cases, pin the edges of the cut in one or more places.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 33
cabinet. Supposing you to have been so far successful, little remains to be done; the skin
already looks very much like a dead bird; you have only to give the finishing touches, and
“set” it, Fixing the wings nicely isa great point. Fold each wing closely; see that the
carpal bend is well defined, that the coverts show their several oblique rows perfectly, that all
the quills override each other like shingles. Tuck the folded wings close up to the body —
rather on the bird’s back than along its sides; see that the wing tips meet over the tail (wnder
the tail as the bird lies on its back); let the carpal angle nestle in the plumage; have the
shoulders close together, so that the interscapulars shingle over the scapulars. If the wing be
pressed in too tightly, the scapulars will rise up on end; there must be neither furrow nor
ridge about the insertion of the wings; everything must lie perfectly smooth. At this stage
of the process, I generally lift up the skin gingerly, and let it slip head first through one hand
after the other, pressing here or there to correct a deformity, or uniformly to make the whole
skin compact. The wings set, next bring the legs together, so that the bones within the
skin lie parallel with each other; bend the heel-joint a little, to let the tarsi cross each other
about their middle; lay them sidewise on the tail, so that the naturally flexed toes lie flat, all
the claws mutually facing each other. See that the neck is perfectly straight, and, if anything,
shortened rather than outstretched ; have the crown of the head flat on the table, the bill point-
ing straight forward,! the mandibles shut tightly.2- Never attempt any ‘‘fancy” attitudes with
a birdskin; the simpler and more compactly it is made up the better.2 Finally, I say, hang
over your bird (if you have time); dress better the feathers that were well dressed before ;
perfect every curve; finish caressingly, and put it away tenderly, as you hope to be shriven
yourself when the time comes.
There are several ways of laying a birdskin. A common, easy, and slovenly way is to
thrust it head first into a paper cone; but it makes a hollow-chested, pot-bellied object,
unpleasant to see, and renders your nice work on the make-up futile. A paper cylinder,
corresponding in calibre to the greatest girth of the birdskin, binds the wings well, and makes
a good ordinary specimen, — perhaps better than the average. Remarking that there are some
detestable practices, such as hanging up a bird by a string through the nose (methods only to
be mentioned to be condemned), I will tell you the easiest and best way, by which the most
elegant and tasteful results are almost necessarily secured. The skins are simply laid away
in cotton, just as they come from your hands. Take a considerable wad of cotton, make a
“bed” of it, lay the specimen in, and tuck it up nicely around the edges. In effect, I gener- .
7 ay ip 9 p y 8
ally take a thin sheet of cotton wadding, the sizing of which confers some textile consistency,
and wrap the bird completely but lightly in it. By loosening or tightening a trifle here or
there, laying down a “‘ pillow” or other special slight pressure, the most delicate contour-lines
may be preserved with perfect aoe Unnecessary pother is sometimes made about drying
1 Exceptions, Woodpeckers, ducks, and some other birds treated of beyond, are best set with the head flat
on one side, the bill pointing obliquely to the right or left; owls, with the bill pointing straight up in the air as
the bird lies on its back.
2 If the mandibles gape, run a thread through the nostrils and tie it tightly under the bill, Or, since this
injures the nostrils (and we frequently want to examine their structure) stick a pin in under the bill close to the
gonys, driving it obliquely into the palate. Sometimes the skin of the throat looks sunken betwixt the sides of the
jaw. A shred of cotton introduced with forceps through the mouth will obviate this.
8 Don’t cock up the head, trying to impart a knowing air — it cannot be done, and only makes the poor bird
look ridiculous. Don’t lay the skin on one side, with the legs in perching position, and don’t spread the wings —
the bird will never perch nor fly again, and the suggestion is unartistic because incongruous. The only permis-
sible departure from the rule of severe simplicity is when some special ornament, as a fine crest, may be naturally
displayed, or some hidden markings are desired to be brought out, or a shape of tail or wing to be perpetuated ;
but in all such cases the “flowery”? inclination should be sparingly and judiciously indulged. It is, however,
frequently desirable to give some special set to hide a defect, as loss of plumage, etc.; this may often be accom-
plished very cunningly, with excellent result. No rules for this can be laid down, since the details vary in every
case; but in general the weak spot may be hidden by contracting the skin of the place, and then setting the bird
{nan attitude that naturally corresponds, thus making a virtue of necessity.
3
34 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
skins ; the fact being that under ordinary circumstances they could not be kept from drying
perfectly ; and they dry in exactly the shape they are set, if not accidentally pressed upon. At
sea, however, or during unusually protracted wet weather, they of course dry slowly, and may
require some attention to prevent mildew or souring, especially in the cases of very large,
thick-skinned, or greasy specimens. Thorough poisoning, and drying by a fire, or placing
in the sun, will always answer. Very close packing retards drying. When travelling, or
operating under other circumstances requiring economy of space, you must not expect to
turn out your collection in elegant order. Perfection of contour-lines can only be secured by
putting each specimen away by itself; undue pressure is always liable to produce unhappily
outré configuration of a skin. Trays in a packing box are of great service in limiting possi-
bilities of pressure ; they should be shallow; oue four inches deep will take a well stuffed hen-
hawk, for example, or accommodate from three to six sparrows a-top of one another. It is
well to sort out your specimens somewhat according to size, to keep heavy ones off little ones;
though the chinks around the former may usually be economized with advantage by packing
in the less valuable or the less neatly prepared of the latter. When limited to a travelling
chest, I generally pass in the skins as fast as made, packing them “ solid” in one sense, yet
hunting up a nice resting-place for each. If each rests in its own cotton coffin, it is astonishing
how close they may be laid without harm, and how many will go in a given space; a tray
30 x 18 x 4 inches will easily hold three hundred and fifty birds six inches long. As a tray fills
up, the drier ones first. put in may be submitted to more pressure. A skin originally dried in
good shape may subsequently be pressed perfectly flat without material injury; the only thing
to avoid being contortion. The whole knack of packing birds corresponds to that of filling a
trunk solidly full of clothes, as may easily be done without damage to an immaculate shirt-
front. Finally, I would say, never put away a bird unlabelled, not even for an hour; you may
forget it or die. Never tie a label to a bird’s bill, wing, or tail; tie it securely to both legs
where they cross, and it will be just half as liable to become detached as if tied to one leg only.
Never paste a label, or even a number, on a bird’s plumage. Never put in glass eyes before
mounting. Never paint or varnish a bird’s bill or feet. Never replace missing plumage of one
bird with the feathers of another — no, not even if the birds came out of the same nest.
b. SprcraAL Processes; COMPLICATIONS AND ACCIDENTS.
The Foregoing Method of procedure is a routine practice applicable to three-fourths if
not nine-tenths of the ‘‘ general run” of birds. But there are several cases requiring a modi-
fication of this programme; while several circumstances may tend to embarrass your operations,
The principal special conditions may therefore be separately treated to your advantage.
Size. — Other things being equal, a large bird is more difficult to prepare than a small
one. In one case, you only need a certain delicacy of touch, easily acquired and soon becom-
ing mechanical ; in the other, demand on your strength may be made, till your museles ache.
It takes longer, too;1 I could put away a dozen sparrows in the time I should spend over
an eagle; and I would rather undertake a hundred humming-birds than one ostrich. For
1 The reader may be curious to know something of the statistics on this score — how long it ought to take
him to prepare an ordinary skin. He can scarcely imagine, from his first tedious operations, how expert he may
become, not only in beauty of result, but in rapidity of execution. I have seen taxidermists make good small
skins at the rate of ten an hour; but this is extraordinary. The quickest work I ever did myself was eight an
hour, or an average of seven and a half minutes apiece, and fairly good skins. But I picked my birds, all small
ones, well shot, labelled, measured, and plugged beforehand, so that the rate of work was exceptional, besides
including only the actual manipulations from first cut to laying away. No one averages eight birds an hour, even
excluding the necessary preliminaries of cleansing, plugging, etc. Four birds an hour, everything included, is
good work. A very eminent ornithologist of this country, and an expert taxidermist, once laid a whimsical wager,
that he would skin and stuff a bird before a certain friend of his could pick all the feathers off a specimen of the
same kind. I forget the time, but he won, and his friend ate crow, literally, that night.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 385
“large” birds, say anything from a hen-hawk upward, various special manipulations I have
directed may be foregone, while however you observe their general drift and intent. You may
open the bird as directed, or, turning it tail to you, cut with a knife! Forceps are rarely
required; there is not much that is too small to be taken in hand. As soon as the tail is
divided, hang up the bird by the rump, so you will have both hands free. Let it swing clear
of the wall or table, at any height most convenient. The steel hooks of a dissecting case are
not always large enough; use a stout fish-hook with the barb filed off. Work with your nails,
assisted by the scalpel if necessary. I know of no bird, and I think there is none, in this
country at least, the skin of which is so intimately adherent by fibrous or muscular tissue as
to require actual dissecting throughout; a pelican comes, perhaps, as near this as any; but in
many cases the knife may be constantly employed with advantage. Use it with long clean
sweeping strokes, hugging the skin rather than the body. The knee and shoulder commonly
require disarticulation, unless you use bone-nippers or strong shears; the four cuts of the skull
may presuppose a very able-bodied instrument, even a chisel. The wings will give you the
most trouble, and they require a special process; for you cannot readily break up the adhesions
of the secondary quills to the ulna, nor is it desirable that very large feathers should be
deprived of this natural support. Hammer or nip off the great head of the upper arm-bone,
just below the insertion of the breast muscles; clean the rest of that bone and leave it in. Tie
a string around it (what sailors call “‘two half hitches” gives a secure hold on the bony
cylinder), and tie it to the other humerus, inside the skin, so that the two bones shall be rather
less than their natural distance apart. After the skin is brought right side out, attack the
wings thus: Spread the wing under side uppermost, and secure it on the table by driving
a tack or brad through the wrist-joint; this fixes the far end, while the weight of the skin
steadies the other. Raise a whole layer of the under wing-coverts, and make a cut in the skin
thus exposed, from elbow to wrist, in the middle line between the two forearm bones. Raise
the flaps of skin and all the muscle is laid bare; it is to be removed. This is best done by
lifting each muscle from its bed separately, slipping the handle of the scalpel under the
individual bellies; there is little if any bony attachment except at each end, and this is readily
severed. Strew in arsenic; a little cotton may be used to fill the bed of muscle removed from
avery large bird; bring the flaps of skin together, and smooth down the coverts; you need
not be particular to sew up the cut, for the coverts will hide the opening; in fact, the operation
does not show at all after the make-up. Stuffing of large birds is not commonly done with
only the four pieces already directed. The eyeballs, and usually the neck-cylinder, go in as
before; the body may be filled any way you please, provided you do not put in too much
stuffing nor get any between the shoulders. All large birds had better have the leg-bones
wrapped to nearly natural size. Observe that the leg-muscles do not form a cylinder, but a
cone; let the wrapping taper naturally from top to bottom. Attention to this point is neces-
sary for all large or medium-sized birds with naturally prominent legs. The large finely
feathered legs of a hawk, for example, ought to be well displayed ; with these birds, and also
"with rails, etc., moreover, imitate the bulge of the thigh with a special wad laid inside the
skin. Large birds commonly require also a special wad introduced by the mouth, to make
the swell of the throat; this wad should be rather fluffy than firm. As a rule, do not fill out
1 Certain among larger birds are often opened elsewhere than along the belly, with what advantage I cannot
say from my own experience. Various water birds, such as loons, grebes, auks, gulls, and ducks (in fact any
swimming bird with dense under plumage) may be opened along the side by a cut under the wings from the
shoulder over the hip to the rump; the cut is completely hidden by the make-up, and the plumage is never ruffled,
But I see no necessity for this; for, as a rule, the belly opening can, if desired, be completely effaced with due care,
though a very greasy bird with white under plumage generally stains where opened, in spite of every precaution.
Such birds as loons, grebes, cormorants, and penguins are often opened by a cut across the fundament from one
leg to the other; their conformation in fact suggests and favors this operation. I have often seen water birds slit
down the back; but I consider it very poor practice.
36 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
large birds to their natural dimensions; they take up too much room. Let the head, neck,
and legs be accurately prepared, but leave the main cavity one-third if not one-half empty ;
no more is required than will fairly smooth out creases in the skin. Reduce bulk rather by
flattening out than by general compression. Use tow instead of cotton ; and if at all short of
tow, economize with paper, hay, ete., at least for the deeper portions of the main stuffing.
Large birds may be “set” in a great quantity of tow; wrapped in paper, much like any
other parcel ; or simply left to dry on the table, the wings being only supported by cushioning
or other suitable means.
Shape. — Some special configurations have been noticed in the last paragraph, prema-
turely perhaps, but leading directly up to further considerations respecting shape of certain
birds as a modifying element in the process of preparation. As for skinning, there is one
extremely important matter. Most ducks, many woodpeckers, flamingoes, and doubtless
some others with which I am not familiar, cannot be skinned in the usual way, because the
head is too large for the calibre of the neck and cannot be drawn through. In such cases,
skin as usual to the base of the skull, cut off the head there (inside the skin of course), and
operate upon it, after turning the skin right side out, as follows: Part the feathers carefully
in a straight line down the back of the skull, make a cut through the skin, just long enough
to permit the head to pass, draw out the skull through this opening, and dress it as already
directed. Return it, draw the edges of the cut nicely together, and sew up the opening with
a great many fine stitches. Simple as it may appear, this process is often embarrassing, for
the cut has an unhappy tendency to wander about the neck, enlarging itself even under the
most careful manipulation; while the feathers of the parts are usually so short, that it is diffi-
cult to efface all traces of the vperation. I consider it very disagreeable ; but for ducks I know
of no alternative. I have however found out a way to avoid it with woodpeckers, excepting
the very largest; it is this: Before skinning, part the eyelids, and plunge the scalpel right
into the eyeballs; seize the cut edge of the ball with the forceps, and pull the eye right out.
It may be dexterously done without spilling the eye-water on the plumage; but, for fear of
this, previously put a little pile of plaster on the spot. Throw arsenic into the socket, and
then fill it with cotton poked in between the lids. The eyes are thus disposed of. Then, in
skinning, when you come to the head, dissever it from the neck and work the skull as far out
as you can; it may be sufficiently exposed, in all cases, for you to gouge out the base of the
skull with the scissors, and get at the brain to remove it. Apply an extra large dose of
arsenic, and you will never hear from what jaw-muscle has been left in. In all these cases, as
already remarked, the head is preferably set lying on one side, with the bill pointing obliquely
to the right or left. Certain birds require a special mode of setting ; these are, birds with very
long legs or neck, or both, as swans, geese, pelicans, cormorants, snakebirds, loons, and
especially cranes, herons, ibises, and flamingoes. Long legs should be doubled completely on
themselves by bending at the heel-joint, and either tucked under the wings, or laid on the
under surface ; the chief point is to see that the toes lie flat, so that the claws do not stick up,*
to catch in things or get broken off. A long neck should be carefully folded; not at a sharp
angle with a crease in the skin, but with a short curve, and brought round either to the side
of the bird or on its breast, as may seem most convenient. The object is to make a “ bale”
of the skin as nearly as may be, and when it is properly effected it is surprising what little
space a crane, for instance, occupies. But it is rarely, if ever, admissible to bend a tail back
on the body, however inconveniently long it may be. Special dilations of skin, like the pouch
of a pelican, or the air sacs of a prairie hen, may be moderately displayed.
Thin Skin. — Loose Plumage. — It is astonishing how much resistance is offered by
the thin skin of the smallest bird. Though no thicker than tissue paper, it is not very liable
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 37
to tear if deftly handled; yet a rent once started often enlarges to an embarrassing extent if
the skin be stretched in the least. Accidental rents and enlargements of shot-holes should be
neatly sewn up, if occurring in an exposed place; but in most cases the plumage may be set
to hide the openings. The trogons are said to have remarkably thin and delicate skin; I have
never handled one in the flesh. Among our birds, the cardinal grosbeak and the species of
Caprimulgide have, I think, about the tenderest skins. The obvious indication in all such
cases is simply a little extra delicacy of manipulation. In skinning most birds, you should
not loose more than a feather or two, excepting those loosened by the shot. Pigeons are
peculiar, among our birds, for the very loose insertion of their plumage; you will have to be
particularly careful with them, and in spite of all your precautions a good many feathers will
probably drop. As stripping down the secondary quills from the forearm, in the manner
already indicated, will almost invariably set these feathers free from the skin, I recommend you
not to attempt it, but to dress the wings as prescribed for large birds.
Fatness. — Fat is a substance abhorred of all dissectors; always in the way, embarrass- -
ing operations and obscuring observations; while it is seldom worth examination after its
structure has once been ascertained. It is particularly obnoxious to the taxidermist, since it
is liable to soil the plumage during skinning, and also tu soak into the feathers afterwards ;
and greasy birdskins are never pleasing objects. A few birds never seem to have any fat;
some, like petrels, are always oily ; at times, especially in the indolent autumn season, when
birds have little to do but feed, the great majority acquire an embonpoint doubtless to their own
satisfaction, but to the taxidermist’s discomfort. In all such cases gypsum should be lavishly
employed. Strew plaster plentifully, from the first cut all through the operation; dip your
fingers in it frequently, as well as your instruments. The invaluable absorbent will deal with
most of the ‘‘running” fat. When the skin is completely reversed, remove as much of the
solid fat as possible; it is generally found occupying the areolar tissue of particular definite
tracts, and most of it may usually be peeled or flaked off in considerable masses. Since the
soft and oozy state of most birds’ fat at ordinary temperatures may be much improved by cold,
it will repay you to leave your birds on ice for a while before skinning, if you have the means
and time to do so; the fat will become quite firm. There is a device for preventing or at any
rate lessening the soiling of the plumage so apt to occur along the line of your incision; it is
invaluable in all cases of white plumage. Take a strip of cloth of greater width than the
length of the feathers, long enough to go up one side of the cut and down the other. Sew
this closely to the skin all around the cut, and it will form an apron to guard the plumage.
You will too frequently find that a bird, prepared without soiling and laid away apparently
safe, afterwards grows greasy; if the plumage is white, it soon becomes worse than ever by
showing dust that the grease catches. Perhaps the majority of such birds in our museums
show the dirty streak along the belly. The reason is, that the grease has oozed out along the
eut, or wherever else the skin has been broken, and infiltrated the plumage, being drawn up
apparently by capillary attraction, just as a lampwick “sucks up” oil. Sometimes, without
obviously soiling the plumage, the grease will run along the thread that ties the label, and
make a uniformly transparent piece of “‘oil-paper.” I have no remedy to offer for this gradual
infiltration of the plumage. It will not wash out, even with soap and water. Possibly careful
and persistent treatment with an ether might be effective, but I am not prepared to say it would
be. Removal of all fat that can be got off during skinning, with a liberal use of plaster, will
in a measure prevent a difficulty that remains incurable.
Bloodstains, ete. —In the nature of the case, this complication is of continual occurrence ;
fortunately it is easier dealt with than greasiness. Much may be done in the field to prevent
bloodying of the plumage, as already said. A little blood does not show much on a dark
38 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
plumage ; but it is of course conspicuous on light or white feathers. Dried blood may often
be scraped off, in imitation of the natural process by which a bird cleanses its plumage with -
the bill; or be pulverized by gently twiddling the feathers between the fingers, and then
blown off. But feathers may by due care be washed almost as readily as clothing; and we
must ordinarily resort to this to remove all traces of blood, especially from white surfaces. If
properly dried they do not show the operation. With a soft rag or pledget of cotton dipped in
warm water bathe the place assiduously, pressing down pretty hard, only taking care to stroke
the feathers the right way, so as not to crumple them, until the red color disappears ; then you
have simply a wet place to deal with. Press gypsum on the spot; it will cake; flake it off
and apply more, till it will no longer stick. Then raise the feathers on a knife-blade and
sprinkle gypsum in among them; pat it down and shake it up, wrestling with the spot till the
moisture is entirely absorbed. Two other fluids of the body will give you occasional annoy-
ance, —the juices of the alimentary canal and the eye-water. Escape of the former by mouth,
nostrils, or vent is preventable by plugging these orifices, and its occurrence is inexcusable.
But shot often lacerates the gullet, crop, and bowels, and though nothing may flow at the
time, subsequent jolting or pressure in the game-bag causes the escape of fluids: a seemingly
safe specimen may be unwrapped to show the whole belly-plumage a sodden brown mass.
Such accidents should be treated precisely like bloodstains ; but it is to be remarked that these
stains are not seldom indelible, traces usually persisting in white plumage at least in spite of
our best endeavors. Eye-water, insignificant as it may appear, is often a great annoyance.
This liquor is slightly glairy, or rather glassy, and puts a sort of sizing on the plumage difficult
to efface; the more so since the soiling necessarily occurs in a conspicuous place, where the
plumage is too scanty and delicate to bear much handling. It frequently happens that a lacer-
ated eyeball, by the elasticity of the coats, or adhesion of the lids, retains its fluid till this is
pressed out in manipulating the parts; and recollecting how the head lies buried in plumage at
that stage of the process, it-will be seen that not only the head, but much of the neck and even
the breast may become wetted. If the parts are extensively soaked, the specimen is almost
irreparably damaged, if not ruined. Plaster will absorb the moisture, but much of the sizing
may be retained on the plumage ; therefore, though the place seems simply wet, it should be
thoroughly washed with water before the gypsum is applied. I always endeavor to prevent
the accident; if I notice a lacerated eyeball, I extract it before skinning, in the manner
described for woodpeckers. Miscellaneous stains, from the juices of plants, ete., may be
received ; all such are treated on general principles. Blood on the beak and feet of rapacious
birds, mud on the bill and legs of waders, et¢., etc., may be washed off without the slightest
difficulty. A land bird that has fallen in the water should be recovered as soon as possible,
picked up by the bill, and shaken ; most of the water will run off, unless the plumage is com-
pletely soaked. It should be allowed to dry just as it is, without touching the plumage,
before being wrapped and bagged. If a bird fall in soft mud, the dirt should be scraped or
snapped off as far as this can be done without plastering the feathers down, and the rest
allowed to dry; it may afterward be rubbed fine and dusted off, when no harm will ensue,
except to white feathers which may require washing.
Mutilation. — You will often be troubled, early in your practice, with broken legs and
wings, and various lacerations ; but the injury must be very severe (such as the cartying away
of a limb, or blowing off the whole top of a head) that cannot be in great measure remedied by
care and skill. Suppose a little bird, shot through the neck or small of the back, comes apart
while being skinned; you have only to remove the hinder portion, be that much or little, and
go on with the rest as if it were the whole. If the leg bone of a small bird be broken near
the heel, let it come away altogether; it will make little if any difference. In case of the
same accident to a large bird that ought to have the legs wrapped, whittle out a peg and stick
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 39
it in the hollow stump of the bone; if there is no stump left, file a piece of stout wire to a
point and stick it into the heel joint. If the forearm bone that you usually leave in a small
bird is broken, remove it and leave the other in; if both are broken, do not clean the wings
so thoroughly that they become detached ; an extra pinch of arsenic will condone the omission.
In a large bird, if both bones of the forearm are broken, splint them with a bit of wood laid in
between, so that one end hitches at the elbow, the other at the wrist. A humerus may be
replaced like a leg bone, but this is rarely required. If the skull be smashed, save the pieces,
and leave them if you can; if not, imitate the arch of the head with a firm cotton-ball. . A
broken tarsus is readily splinted with a pin thrust up through the sole of the foot: if too large
for this, use a pointed piece of wire. There is no mending a bill when part of it is shot away ;
for I think the replacing of part by putty, stucco, etc., inadmissible; but if it be only fractured,
the pieces may usually be retained in place by winding with thread, or with a touch of glue or
mucilage. It is singular, by the way, what unsightliness results from a very trifling injury to
the bill; much, I suppose, as a boil on a person’s nose is peculiarly deplorable. I have already
hinted how artfully various weak places in a skin, due to mutilation or loss of plumage, may be
hidden.
Decomposition. — It might seem unnecessary to speak of what may be smelled out so
readily as animal putrescence; but there are some useful points to be learned in this connection,
besides the important sanitary precautions that are to be deduced. Immediately after death
the various fluids of the body begin to ‘ settle” (so to speak), and shortly after the muscular
system as a rule becomes fixed in what is technically called rigor mortis. This stiffening
usually occurs as the animal heat dies away; but its onset, and especially its duration, is very
variable, according to circumstances, such as cause of death ; although in most cases of sudden
violent death of an animal in previous good health, it seems to depend chiefly upon tempera-
ture, being transient and imperfect, or altogether wanting, in hot weather. As it passes off,
the whole system relaxes, and the body soon becomes as “limp” as at the moment of death.
This is the period immediately preceding decomposition ; in fact, it may be considered as the
stage of incipient putridity ; it is very brief in warm weather, and it should be seized as the
last opportunity of preparing a bird without inconvenience and even danger. If not skinned
at once, putrescence becomes established; it is indicated by the effluvium (at the outset ‘‘ sour,”
but rapidly acquiring a variety of disgusting odors) ; by the distension of the abdomen with
gaseous products of decomposition ; by the loosening of the cuticle, and consequently of the
feathers; and by other signs. If you part the feathers of a bad-smelling bird’s belly to find
the skin’ swollen and livid or greenish, while the feathers come off at a touch, the bird is too
far gone to be recovered without trouble and risk that no ordinary specimen warrants. It is
a singular fact that this early putrescence is more poisonous than utter rottenness; as physicians
are aware, a post-mortem examination at this stage, or even before it, involves more risk
than their ordinary dissecting-room experience. It seems that both natural and pathological
puisons lose their early virulence by resolution into other products of decay. The obvious
deduction from all this is to skin your birds soon enough. Some say they are best skinned
perfectly fresh, but I see no reason for this; when I have time to choose, I take the period of
rigidity as being preferable on the whole; for the fluids have then “‘ settled,” and the limbs are
readily relaxed by manipulation. If you have a large bag to dispose of, and are pressed for
time, set them in the coolest place you can find, preferably on ice; a slight lowering of temper-
ature may make a decided difference. Disembowelling, which may be accomplished in a
moment, will materially retard decomposition. Injections of creosote or dilute carbolic acid
will arrest decay for a time, for an indefinitely long period if a large quantity of these anti-
septics be employed. When it becomes desirable (it can never be necessary) to skin a putres-
cent bird, great care must be exercised not only to accomplish the operation, but to avoid
40 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
danger. I must not, however, unconsciously lead you to exaggerate the risk, and will add
that I think it often overrated. I have probably skinned birds as “‘ gamey ” as any one has,
and repeatedly, without being conscious of any ill effects. I am sure that no poison, ordinarily
generated by decomposition of a body healthy at death, can compare in virulence with that
commonly resulting after death by many diseases. I also believe that the gaseous products,
however offensive to the smell, are innocuous as arule. The danger practically narrows down
to the absorption of fluids through an abraded surface; the poison is rarely taken in by natural
pores of healthy skin, if it remain in contact but a short time. Cuts and scratches may be
closed with a film of collodion, or covered with isinglass or court plaster, or protected by
rubber cots on the fingers. The hands should, of course, be washed with particular care
immediately after the operation, and the nails scrupulously dressed. Having never been
poisoned (to my knowledge), I cannot give the symptoms from personal experience; but I
will quote from Mr. Maynard:
“Tn a few days numerous pimples, which are exceedingly painful, appear upon the skin
of the face and other parts of the person and, upon those parts where there is chafing or
rubbing, become large and deep sores. There is a general languor and, if badly poisoned,
complete prostration results; the slightest scratch becomes a festering sore. Once poisoned
in this manner (and I speak from experience), one is never afterward able to skin any animal
that has become in the least putrid, without experiencing some of the symptoms above
described. Even birds that you handled before with impunity, you cannot now skin without
great care. The best remedy in this case is, as the Hibernian would say, not to get poisoned,
... + batife the parts frequently in cold water ; and, if chafed, sprinkle the parts after bathing,
with wheat flour. These remedies, if persisted in, will effect a cure, if not too bad; then,
medical advice should be procured without delay.” 1
How to mount Birds.— As some may not improbably procure this volume with a
reasonable expectation of being taught to mount birds, I append the required instructions,
although the work only professes to treat of the preparation of skins for the cabinet. Asa
rule, the purposes of science are best subserved by not mounting specimens; for display. the
only end attained, is not required. I would strongly advise you not to mount your rarer or
otherwise particularly valuable specimens; select for this purpose nice, pretty birds of no
special scientific value. The principal objections to mounted birds are, that they take up
altogether too much room, require special arrangements for keeping and transportation, and
cannot be handled for study with impunity. Some might suppose that a mounted bird would
givea better idea of its figure and general aspect than a skin; but this is only true to a limited
extent. Faultless mounting is an art really difficult, acquired by few; the average work done
in this line shows something of caricature, ludicrous or repulsive, as the case may be. To
copy nature faithfully by taxidermy requires not only long and close study, but an artistic
sense; and this last is a rare gift. Unless you have at least the germs of the faculty in your
composition, your taxidermal success will be incommensurate with the time and trouble you
bestow. My own taxidermal art is of a low order, decidedly not above average; although I
have mounted a great many birds that would compare very favorably with ordinary museum
work, few of them have entirely answered my ideas. A live bird is to me such a beautiful
object that the slightest taxidermal Haw in the effort to represent it is painfully offensive ; per-
haps this makes me place the standard of excellence too high for practical purposes. I like a
good honest birdskin that does not pretend to be anything else; it is far preferable to the
1 Avoid all mechanical irritation of the inflamed parts; touch the parts that have ulcerated with a stick
of lunar caustic; take a dose of salts; use syrup of the iodide of iron, or tincture of the chloride of iron, say thirty
drops of either, in a wineglass of water, thrice daily; rest at first, exercise gradually as you can bear it; and skin
no birds till you have completely recovered.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 41
ordinary taxidermal -abortions of the show-cases. But if, after the warnings that I mean to
convey in this paragraph, you still wish to try your hand in the higher department of taxi-
dermy, I will explain the whole process as far as manipulation goes; the art you must discover
in yourself.
The operation of skinning is precisely the same as that already given in detail; then,
instead of stuffing the skin as directed above, to lie on its back in a drawer, you have to stuff
it so that it will stand up on its feet and look as much like a live bird as possible. To this end
a few additional implements and materials are required. These are: a, annealed wire of vari-
ous numbers; it may be iron or brass, but must be perfectly annealed, so as to retain no
elasticity or ‘“‘ spring ;” b, several files of different sizes; c, sume slender, straight, brad awls ;
d, cutting pliers; e, setting needles, merely sewing or darning needles stuck in a light wooden
handle, for dressing individual feathers ; f, plenty of pins (the long, slender insect pins used by
entomologists are the best) and sewing thread; g, an assortment of glass eyes. (The fixtures
and decorations are noticed, beyond, as occasion for their use arises.)
There are two principal methods of mounting, which may be respectively styled soft stuff-
ing and hard stuffing. In the former, a wire framework, consisting of a single anterior piece
passing in the middle line of the body up through the neck and out at top of the head, is
immovably joined behind with two pieces, one passing through each leg; around this naked
forked frame soft stuffing is introduced, bit by bit, till the proper contour of the skin is secured.
IT have seen very pretty work of this kind, particularly on small birds; but I consider it much
more difficult to secure satisfactory results in this way than by hard stuffing, and I shall there-
fore confine attention to the latter. This method is applicable to all birds, is readily “practised,
facilitates setting of the wings, arranging of the plumage, and giving of any desired attitude.
Tn hard stuffing, you make a firm ball of tow rolled upon a wire of the size and shape of the
bird’s body and neck together ; you introduce this whole, afterwards running in the leg wires
and clinching them immovably in the mass of tow.
Having your empty skin in good shape, as already described; cut three pieces of wire of
the right! size; one piece somewhat longer than the whole bird, the other pieces two or three
times as long as the whole leg of the bird. File one end of each piece to a fine sharp point ;
try to secure a three-edged cutting point like that of a surgical needle, rather than the smooth
punching point of a sewing-needle, as the former perforates more readily. Have these wires
perfectly straight.2_ Bend a small portion of the unfiled end of the longer wire irregularly upon
itself, as a convenient nucleus for the ball of tow.2 Take fine clean tow, in loose dossils, and
wrap it round and round the wire nucleus, till you make a firm ball, of the size and shape of
the bird’s body and neck. Study the contour of the skinned body: notice the swelling breast-
muscles, the arch of the lower back, the hollow between the furcula into which the neck, when
naturally curved, sinks. Everything depends upon correct shaping of the artificial body; if
it be misshapen, no art can properly adjust the skin over it. Firmness of the tow ball and
accurate contour may both be secured by wrapping the mass with sewing thread, loosening
here, tightening there, till the shape is satisfactory. Be particular to secure a smooth super-
ficies; the skin in drying will shrink close to the stuffing, disclosing its irregularities, if there
be any, by the maladjustment of the plumage that will ensue. Observe especially that the
neck, though the direct continuation of the backbone, dips at its lower end into the hollow of
the merry-thought, and: so virtually begins there instead of directly between the shoulders.
1 The right size is the smallest that will support the whole weight of the stuffing and skin without bending,
when a piece is introduced into each leg. If using too thick wire, you may have trouble in thrusting it through
the legs, or may burst the tarsal envelope.
2 If accidentally kinky, the finer sizes of wire may be readily straightened by drawing strongly upon them
go as to stretch them a little. Heavier wire must be hammered out straight,
3 Cotton will not do at all; it is too soft and elastic, and moreover will not allow of the leg wires being thrust
into it and there clinched.
42 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
The three mistakes most likely to be made by a beginner are, getting the body altogether too
large, not firm enough, and irregular. When properly made, it will closely resemble the
bird’s body and neck, with an inch or several inches of sharp-pointed wire protruding from the
anterior extremity of the neck of tow. You have now to introduce the whole affair into
the skin. ‘With the birdskin on its back, the tail pointing to your right elbow, and the
abdominal opening as wide as possible, hold the tow body in position relative to the skin;
enter the wire, pass it up through the neck, bring the sharp point exactly against the middle
of the skull, pierce skull and skin, causing the wire to protrude some distance from the middle
of the crown. Then by gentle means insinuate the body, partly pushing it in, partly drawing
the skin over it, till it rests in its proper position. This is just like drawing on a tight kid
glove, and no more difficult. See that the body is completely encased; you must be able to
close the abdominal aperture entirely. You have next to wire the legs. Enter the sharp
point of one of the leg-wires already prepared, exactly at the centre of the sole of the foot,
thrusting it up inside the tarsal envelope the whole length of the ‘‘shank,” thence across ‘the
heel joint + and up along the next bone of the leg, still inside the skin. The point of the wire
will then be seen within the skin, and may be seized and drawn a little further through, and
you will have passed a wire entirely out of sight all the way along the leg. The end of the
wire is next to be fixed immovably in the tow ball. Thrust it in at the point where the knee,
in life, rests against the side of the body.? Bring the point to view, bend it over and reinsert
it till it sticks fast. There are no special directions to be given here; fasten the wire in ary
way that effectually prevents ‘‘ wabbling.” You may find it convenient to wire both legs
before fastening either, and then clinch them by twisting the two ends together. But remem-
ber that the leg-wires may be fixed respecting each other, yet permit a see-saw motion of the
body upon them. This must not be; the body and legs must be fixed upon a jointless frame.
Having secured the legs, close the abdominal opening nicely, either by sewing or pinning; you
may stick pins in anywhere, as freely as in a pin-cushion; the feathers hide their heads. Stick
a pin through the pope’s nose to fix the tail in place.
All this while the bird has been lying on its back, the neck stretched straight in continua-
tion of the body, wired stiffly, the legs straddling wide apart, straight and stiff, the wings lying
loosely, half-spread. Now bring the legs together, parallel with each other, and make the
sharp bend at the heel joint that will bring the feet naturally under the belly (over it, as the
bird lies on its back). Pick up the bird by the wires that project from the soles and set it on
its stand, by running the wires through holes bored the proper distance apart, and then secur-
ing the ends by twisting. The temporary stand that you use for this purpose should have a
heavy or otherwise firm support, so as not easily to overturn during the subsequent manipu-
lations. At this stage the bird is a sorry-looking object ; but if you have stuffed correctly and
wired securely, it will soon improve. Begin by making it stand properly. The common fault
here is placing the tarsi too nearly perpendicular. Perching birds, constituting the majority,
habitually stand with the tarsi more nearly horizontal than perpendicular, and generally keep
the tarsi parallel with each other. Wading and most walking birds stand with the legs more
nearly upright and straight. Many swimming birds straddle a little; others rarely if ever.
See that the toes clasp the perch naturally, or are properly spread on the flat surface. Cause
the flank feathers to be correctly adjusted over the tibiee (and here I will remark that with
most birds little, if any, of the tibiz shows in life), the heel joint barely, if at all, projecting
1 There is occasionally difficulty in getting the wire across this joint, from the point sticking into the enlarged
end of the shin-bone, In such case, take stout pliers and pinch the joint till the bone is smashed to fragments.
The wire will then pass and the comminution will not show. If there is any trouble in passing the wire through
the tarsus, bore a hole for it with a brad awl.
2 This point is further forward and more belly-ward than you might suppose. Observe the skinned body
again, and see where the lower end of the thigh lies. If you insert the wire too far back, you cannot by any possi-
bility balance the bird naturally on its perch; it will look in imminent danger of toppling over.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 43
from the general plumage. It is a common fault of stuffing not to draw the legs closely
enough to the body. Above all, look out for the centre of gravity; though you have really
fastened the bird to its perch, you must not let it look as if it would fall off if the wires slipped;
it. must appear to rest there of its own accord. Next, give the head and neck a preliminary
setting, according to the attitude you have determined upon. This will bring the plumage
about the shoulders in proper position for the setting of the wings, to which you may at once
attend. If the body be correctly fashioned and the skin of the shoulders duly adjusted over it,
the wings will fold into place without the slightest difficulty. All that I have said before
about setting the wings in a skin applies here as well; but in this case they will not stay
in place, since they fall by their own weight. They must be pinned up. Holding the wing
in place, thrust a pin steadily through near the wrist joint, into the tow body. Sometimes
another pin is required to support the weight of the primaries; it may be stuck into the flank
of the bird, the outer quill feather resting directly upon it. With large birds a sharp pointed
wire must replace the pin. When properly set, the wing-tips will fall together or symmetri-
cally opposite each other, the quills and coverts will be smoothly imbricated, the scapular
series of feathers will lie close, and no bare space will show in front of the shoulder. Much
depends upon the final adjustment of the head. The commonest mistake is getting it too
far away from the body. In the ordinary attitudes of most birds little neck shows, the head
appearing nestled upon the shoulders. Ifthe neck appears too long, it is not to be contracted
by pushing the head directly down upon it, but by making an S curve of the neck. No precise
directions can be given for the set of the head, but you may be assured it is a delicate, difficult
matter; the slightest turn of the bill one way or another may alter the whole expression of the
bird. You will of course have determined beforehand upon your attitude, upon what you wish
the bird to appear to be doing; then, let your meaning be pointed by the bird’s bill.
On the general subject of striking an attitude, and giving expression to a stuffed bird, little
ean be said to good purpose. If you are to become proficient in this art, it will come from
your own study of birds in the field, your own good taste and appreciation of bird life. The
manual processes are easily described and practised; it is easy to grind paint, I suppose, but
not so to be an artist. I shall therefore only follow the above account of the general processes
with some special practical points. After “‘attitudinizing” to your satisfaction, or to the best
of your ability, the plumage is to be carefully ‘ dressed.” Feathers awry may be set in place
with a light spring forceps, or needles fixed in a handle, one by one if necessary. When no
individual feather seems out of place, it often occurs that the general plumage has a loose,
slovenly aspect. This is readily corrected by wrapping with fine thread. Stick a pin into the
middle of the back, another into the breast, and perhaps others, elsewhere. Fasten the end of
a, spool of sewing cotton to one of the pins, and carry it to another, winding the thread about
among the pins, till the whole surface is covered with an irregular network. Tighten to
reduce an undue prominence, loosen over a depression ; but let the wrapping as a whole be
light, firm, and even. This procedure, nicely executed, will give a smoothness to the plumage
not otherwise attainable, and may be made to produce the most exquisite curves, particularly
about the head, neck, and breast. The thread should be left on till the bird is perfectly dry ;
it may then be unwound or cut off, and the pins withdrawn. When a particular patch of skin
is out of place, it may often be pulled into position and pinned there. You need not be afraid
of sticking pins in anywhere: they may be buried in the plumage and left there, or withdrawn
when the skin is dry. In addition to the main stuffing, a little is often required in particular
places. As for the legs, they should be filled out in all such cases as I indicated earlier in this
section ; small birds require no such stuffing. It is necessary to fill out the eyes so that the
lids rest naturally ; it may be done as heretofore directed, or by putting in pledgets of cotton
from the outside. A little nice stuffing is generally required about the upper throat. To stuff
a bird with spread wings requires a special process, in most cases. The wings are to be wired,
44 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
exactly as directed for the legs; they may then be placed in any shape. But with most small
birds, and those with short wings, simple pinning in the half-spread position indicating flutter-
ing will suffice; it is readily accomplished with a long, slender insect pin. I have already
spoken of fixing the tail by pinning or wiring the pope’s nose to the tow body; it may be thus
fixed at any desired elevation or depression. There are two ways of spreading the tail. One
is to run a pointed wire through the quills, near their base, where the wire will be hidden by
the coverts ; each feather may be set at any required distance from the next by sliding it along
this wire. This method is applicable to large birds; for small ones the tail may be fixed with
the desired spread by enclosing it near its base in a split match, or two slips of card-board,
with the ends tied together. This holds the feathers until they dry in position, when it is to
be taken off. Crests may be raised, spread, and displayed on similar principles. A small
crest, like that of a cardinal or cherry bird, for instance, may be held up till it dries in position
by sticking in behind it a pin with a little ball of cotton on its head. It is sometimes neces-
sary to make a bird’s toes grasp a support by tying them down to it till they dry. The toes
of waders that do not lie evenly on the surface of the stand may be tacked down with small
brads. The bill may be pinned open or shut, as desired, by the method already given. Never
paint or varnish a bird’s bill or feet.
Substitution of an artificial eye for the natural one is essential for the good looks of a
specimen. Glass eyes, of all sizes and colors, may be purchased at a moderate cost. The
pupil is always black; the iris varies. You will, of course, secure the proper color if it is
known, but if not, put in a dark brown or black eye. It is well understood that this means
nothing ; it is purely conventional. Yellow is probably the next most common color; then
come red, white, blue, and green, perhaps approximately in this order of frequency. But do
not use these striking colors at hap-hazard; sacrificing truth, perhaps, to looks. Eyes are gen-
erally inserted after the specimen is dry. Remove a portion of the cotton from the orbit, and
moisten the lids till they are perfectly pliable; fix the eye in with putty or wet plaster of Paris,
making sure that the lids are naturally adjusted over it. It goes in obliquely, like a button
through a button-hole. Much art may be displayed in this little matter, making a bird look
this way or that, to carry out the general ‘‘ expression.”
On finishing a specimen, set it away to dry; the time required varies, of course, with the
weather, the size of the bird, its fatness, etc. The more slowly it dries the better; there is
less risk of the skin shrinking irregularly. You will often find that a specimen set away with
smooth plumage and satisfactory curves dries more or less out of shape, perhaps with the
feathers raised in places. I know of no remedy: it may, in a measure, be prevented by scru-
pulous vare in.making the body smooth and firm, and in securing slow, equable drying.
When perfectly dry remove the wrapping, pull out the superfluous pins or wires, nip off the
others so short that the ends are concealed, and insert the eyes. The specimen. is then ready
to be transferred to its permanent stand.
Fixtures for the display of the object of course vary interminably. We will take the
simplest case, of a large collection of mounted birds for public exhibition. In this instance,
uniformity and simplicity are desiderata. ‘‘ Spread eagle” styles of mounting, artificial rocks
and flowers, ete., are entirely out of place in a collection of any scientific pretensions, or
designed for popular instruction. Besides, they take up too much room. Artistic grouping
of an extensive collection is usually out of the question; and when this is unattainable, half-
way efforts in that direction should be abandoned in favor of severe simplicity. Birds look
best on the whole in uniform rows, assorted according to size, as far as a natural classification
allows. They are best set on the plainest stands, with circular base and a short cylindrical
erossbar on a lightly turned upright. The stands should be painted dead-white, and be no
larger than is necessary for secure support ; a neat stiff paper label may be attached. A small
collection of birds, as an ornament to a private residence, offers a different case; here, variety
MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 45
of attitude and appropriate imitation of the birds’ natural surroundings are to be secured. A
miniature tree, on which a number of birds may be placed, is readily made. Take stout wire,
and by bending it, and attaching other pieces, get the framework of the tree of the desired size,
shape, and number of perches. Wrap it closely with tow to a proper calibre, remembering
that the two forks of a stem must be together only about as large as the stem itself. Gather
a basket full of lichens and tree moss; reduce them to coarse powder by rubbing with the
hands; besmear the whole tree with mucilage or thin glue, and sift the lichen powder on it till
the tow is completely hidden. This produces a very natural effect, which may be heightened
by separately affixing larger scraps of lichen, or little bunches of moss; artificial leaves and
flowers may be added at your taste. The groundwork may be similarly prepared with a bit
of board, made adhesive and bestrewn with the same substance; grasses and moss may be
added. If a flat surface is not desired, soak stout pasteboard till it can be moulded in various
irregular elevations and depressions; lay it over the board and decorate it in the same way.
Rocks may be thus nicely imitated, with the addition of powdered glass of various colors.
Such a lot of birds is generally enclosed in a cylindrical glass case with arched top. As it
stands on a table to be viewed from different points, it must be presentable on all sides. A
niche in parlor or study is often fitted with a wall-case, which, when artistically arranged, has
a very pleasing effect. As such cases may be of considerable size, there is opportunity for the
display of great taste in grouping. A place is not to be found for a bird, but a bird for the
place, — waders and swimmers below on the ground, perchers on projecting rests above.
The surroundings may be prepared by the methods just indicated. One point deserves atten-
tion here; since the birds are only viewed from the front, they may have a ‘‘ show-side” to
which everything else may be sacrificed. Birds are represented flying in such cases more
readily than under other circumstances, supported on a concealed wire inserted in the back of
the case. I have seen some very successful ‘attempts to represent a bird swimming, the duck
being let down part way through an oval hole in a plate of thick glass, underneath which
were fixed stuffed fishes, shells, and seaweed. It is hardly necessary to add that in all orna-
mental collections, labels or other scientific machinery must be rigorously suppressed.
Transportation of mounted birds offers obvious difficulty. Unless very small, they are
best secured immovably inside a box by screwing the foot of the stands to the bottom and
sides, so that they stay in place without touching each other. Or, they may be carefully packed
in cotton, with or without removal of the stands. Their preservation from accidental injury
depends upon the same care that is bestowed upon ordinary fragile ornaments of the parlor.
The ravages of insects are to be prevented upon the principles to be hereafter given in treating
of the preservation of birdskins.
§ 8.— MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS.
Determination of Sex. — This is an important matter, which must never be neglected.
For although many birds show unequivocal sexual distinctions of size, shape, and color, like
those of the barnyard cock and hen for instance, yet the outward characteristics are more
frequently obscure, if not altogether inappreciable, on examination of the skin alone. Young
birds, moreover, are usually indistinguishable as to sex, although the adults of the same species
may be easily recognized. The rule results, that the sexual organs should be examined as the
only infallible indices. The essential organs of masculinity are the testicles ; similarly, the
ovaries contain the essence of the female nature. However similar the accessory sexual struc-
tures may be, the testicles and ovaries are always distinct. The male organs of birds never
leave the cavity of the belly to fill an external bag of skin (scrotum) as they do among
mammalia; they remain within the abdomen, and lie in the same position as the ovaries
of the female. Both these organs are situated in the belly opposite what corresponds to the
46 | FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
‘small of the back,” bound closely to the spine, resting on the front of the kidneys near their
fore end. The testicles are a pair of subspherical or rather ellipsoidal bodies, usually of the
same size, shape, and color, and are commonly of a dull opaque whitish tint. They always
lie close together. A remarkable fact connected with them is, that they are not always of the
samme size in the same bird, being subject to periodical enlargement during the breeding season,
and corresponding atrophy at other seasons. Thus the testicles of a house sparrow, no bigger
than a pin’s head in winter, swell to the size of peas in April.. The ovary (for although this
organ is paired originally, only one is usually functionally developed in birds) will be recog-
nized as a flattish mass of irregular contour, and usually whitish color; when inactive, it
simply appears of finely granular structure which may require a hand lens to be made out;
when producing eggs, its appearance is unmistakable. Both testis and ovary may further be
recognized by a thread leading to the end of the lower bowel, —in one case the sperm-duct, in
the other the oviduct; the latter is usually much the more conspicuous, as it at times transmits
the perfect egg. There is no difficulty in reaching the site of these organs. Lay the bird on
the left side, its belly toward you: cut with the scissors through the belly-walls diagonally
from anus to the root of the last rib, or further, snipping across a few of the lower ribs, if these
continue far down, as they do in a loon for instance. Press the whole mass of intestines aside
collectively, and you at once see to the small of the back. There you observe the kidneys, —
large, lobular, dark reddish masses moulded into the concavity of the sacrum (or back middle
bone of the pelvis); and on their surface, towards their fore end, lie testes or ovary, as just
described. The only precaution required is, not to mistake for testicles a pair of small bodies
capping the kidneys. These are the adrenals or “‘ supra-renal capsules,” — organs whose
function is unknown, but with which at any rate we have nothing to do in this connection.
They occur in both sexes, and if the testicles are not immediately seen, or the ovary not at
once recognized, they might easily be mistaken for testicles. Observe, that instead of lying
in front, they cap the kidneys; that they are usually yellowish instead of opaque whitish ; and
that they have not the firm, smooth, regular sphericity of the testicles. The testes, however,
vary more in shape and color than might be expected, being sometimes rather oblong or linear,
and sometimes grayish or livid bluish, or reddish. There is occasionally but one. The sex
determined, use the sign ¢ or 9 to designate it, as already explained. In the very rare cases
of impotence or sterility among birds, of course no organs will be observed; but I should dislike
to become responsible for such labelling without very careful examination. The organs of a
small bird out of the breeding season are never conspicuous, but may always be found on close
scrutiny, unless the parts are disintegrated by a shot.
Recognition of Age is a matter of ornithological experience requiring in many or most
cases great familiarity with birds for its even approximate accomplishment. There are, how-
ever, some unmistakable signs of immaturity, even after a bird has become full-feathered, that
persist for at least one season. These are, in the first place, a peculiar soft fluffy “‘ feel” of the
plumage ; the feathers lack a certain smoothness, density, and stiffening which they subse-
quently acquire. Secondly, the bill and feet are softer than those of the adults; the corners of
the mouth are puffy and flabby, the edges and point of the bill are dull, and the scales, etc.,
of the legs are not sharply cut. Thirdly, the flesh itself is tender and pale colored. These are
some of the points common to all birds, and are independent of the special markings that
belong to the youth of particular species. Some birds are actually larger for a while after
leaving the nest, than in after years when the frame seems to shrink somewhat in acquiring
the compactness of senility. On the other hand, the various members, especially the bill and
feet, are proportionally smaller at first. Newly growing quills are usually recognized on sight,
the barrel being dark colored and full of liquid, while the vanes are incomplete. In studying,
for example, the shape of a wing or tail, there is always reason to suspect that the natural
MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 4T
proportions are not yet presented, unless the quill is dry, colorless, and empty, or only occupied
with shrunken white pith.
Examination of the Stomach frequently leads to interesting observations, and is always
worth while. In the first place, we learn most unquestionably the nature of the bird’s food,
which is a highly important item in its natural history. Secondly, we often secure valuable
specimens in other departments of zodlogy, particularly entomology. Birds consume incal-
culable numbers of insects, the harder kinds of which, such as beetles, are not seldom found
intact in their stomachs; and a due percentage of these represent rare and curious species.
The gizzards of birds of prey, in particular, should always be inspected, in search of the small
mammals, ete., they devour; and even if the creatures are unfit for preservation, we at least
learn of their occurrence, perhaps unknown before in a particular region. Mollusk-feeding
and fish-eating birds yield their share of specimens. The alimentary canal is often the seat of
parasites of various kinds, interesting to the helminthologist ; other species are to be found
under the skin, in the body of muscle, in the brain, etc. Most birds are also infested with
external parasites of many kinds, so various that almost every leading species has its own sort
of louse, tick, etc. Since these creatures are only at home with a live host, they will be found
crawling on the surface of the plumage, preparing for departure, as soon as the body cools after
death. There is thus much to learn of a bird aside from what the prepared specimen
teaches, and moreover apart from regular anatomical investigations. Whenever practicable,
brief items should be recorded on the label, as already mentioned.
Restoration of Poor Skins. —If your cabinet be a ‘‘general” one, comprising specimens
from various sources, you will frequently happen to receive skins so badly prepared as to be
unpleasant objects, besides failing to show their specific characters. There is of course no sup-
plying of missing parts or plumage; but if the defect be simply deformity, this may usually be
in a measure remedied. The point is simply to relax the skin, and then proceed as if it were
freshly removed from the bird; it is what bird-stuffers constantly do in mounting birds from
prepared skins. The relaxation is effected by moisture alone. Remove the stuffing ; fill the
interior with cotton or tow saturated with water, yet not dripping ; put pads of the same under
the wings; wrap the bill and feet, and set the specimen in a damp, cool place. Small birds
soften very readily and completely ; the process may be facilitated by persistent manipulation.
This is the usual method, but there is another, more thorough and more effective; it is expo-
sure to a vapor-bath. The appointments of the kitchen stove furnish all the apparatus
required for an extempore “ steamer ;” the regular fixture is a tin vessel much like a wash-
boiler, with closed lid, false bottom, and stopcock at lower edge. . On the false bottom. is
placed a heavy layer of gypsum, completely saturated with water; the birds are laid on a
perforated tray above it; and a gentle heat is maintained over a stove. The vapor penetrates
every part of the skin, and completely relaxes it, without actually wetting the feathers. The
time required varies greatly of course ; observation is the best guide. The chief precaution
is not to let the thing get too hot. Professor Baird has remarked that crumpled or bent
feathers may have much of their original elasticity restored by dipping in hot water. Immer-
sion for a few seconds suffices, when the feathers will be observed to straighten out. Shaking
off superfluous water, they may be simply left to dry, or they may be dried with plaster. The
method is chiefly applicable to the large feathers of the wings and tail. Soiled plumage of
dried skins may be treated exactly as in the case of fresh skins.
Mummification. — As before mentioned, decay may be arrested by injections of carbolic
acid and other antiseptics; if the tissues be sufficiently permeated with these substances, the
body will keep indefinitely; it dries and hardens, becoming, in short, a “mummy.” Injection
48 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
should be done by the mouth and vent, be thorough, and be repeated several times as the
fluid dries in. It is an improvement on this to disembowel and fill the belly with saturated
tow or cotton. Due care should be taken not to soil the feathers in any case, nor should the
carbolic solution come in contact with the hands, for it is a powerful irritant poison. I mention
the process chiefly to condemn it as an atrocious one; I cannot imagine what circumstances
would recommend it, while only an extreme emergency could justify it. It is further objection-
able because it appears to lend a dingy hue to some plumages, and to dull most of them
perceptibly. Birds prepared—rather unprepared — in this way, may be relaxed by the
method just described, and then skinned; but the operation is rather difficult.
Wet Preparations. — By this term is technically understood an object immersed in some
preservative fluid. It is highly desirable to obtain more information of birds than their stuffed
skins can ever furnish, and their structure cannot be always examined by dissection on the
spot. In fact, a certain small proportion of the birds of any protracted or otherwise ‘‘ heavy ”
collecting may be preferably and very profitably preserved in this way. Specimens in too
poor plumage to be worth skinning may be thus utilized ; so may the bodies of skinned birds,
which, although necessarily defective, retain all the viscera, and also afford osteological mate-
rial. Alcohol is the liquid usually employed, and, of all the various articles recommended,
seems to answer best on the whole. I have used a very weak solution of chloride of zine with
excellent results; it should not be strong enough to show the slightest turbidity. As glass
bottles are liable to break when travelling, do not fit corners, and offer practical annoyance
about corkage, rectangular metal cans, preferably of copper, with screw-lid opening, are
advisable. They are to be set in small, strong, wooden boxes, made to leave a little room for
the lid wrench, muslin bags for doing up separate parcels, parchment for labels, ete. Unoc-
cupied space in the cans should be filled with tow or a similar substance, to prevent the
specimens from swashing about. Labelling should be on parchment; the writing should be
perfectly dry before immersion ; india-ink is the best. Skinned bodies should be numbered to
correspond with the dried skin from which taken; otherwise they may not be identifiable.
Large birds thrown in unskinned should have the belly opened, to let in the alcohol freely.
Birds may be skinned, after being in alcohol, by simply drying them: they often make fair
specimens. They are best withdrawn by the bill, that the ‘‘ swash” of the alcohol at the
moment of emersion may set the plumage all one way, and hung up to dry untouched.
Watery moisture that may remain after evaporation of the alcohol may be dried with plaster.
Fics 1, 2.— Views of sternum and pectoral arch of the ptarmigan, Lagopus albus, reduced; after A. New-
ton. 1, lateral view, with the bones upside down; 2, viewed from below. a, sternum or breast-bone, showing two
long slender lateral prc ; 6, ends of sternal ribs; c, ends of humerus, or upper arm-bone, near the shoulder-
joint; ¢@, scapula, or shoulder-blade; e, coracoid; , merry-thought, or furculum (clavicles).
Osteological and other Preparations (figs. 1-3). — While complete skeletonizing of
a bird is a special art of some difficulty, and one that does not fall within the scope of this
treatise, I may mention two bony preparations very readily made, and susceptible of rendering
MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS.
ornithology essential service.
attachinents.
afford in most cases invaluable
is of course to sacrifice a skin, to
mutilated or decayed specimens
in this way. The breast-bone
tilated, is always preservable with
may form its natural accompani-
with it the coracotds (the stout
with the shoulders, figs. 1, 2, e),
intervening between these bones,
d), all without detachment from
tively constitute the ‘ shoulder-
off the large breast muscles close
sertions into the wing-bounes (c) ;
that tie the shoulder-blades tu the
b) close to the side of the breast-
usually found between the prongs
hold of the shoulders (figs. 1, 2,
affair, dividing some slight connec-
behind it. The following points
often has long slender processes
mon fowl and the ptarmigan are
shown in the figures), liable to be
snapped ; the shoulder-blades usu-
off; the merry-thought is some-
When travelling, it is generally not
tions of either skull or sternum ;
finous flesh removed, and besprin-
perfectly cleaned, is particularly
pronged bones that hinge the jaw,
push on the palate from behind.
specting the identification of these
which should invariably bear the
it belongs; the label should be
is more likely to be able to speak
ally accompanied by a skin; never-
eilitate its recognition should be
are methods, with which I am not
preparations. You may secure
ing the bones; or, what is perhaps
til] the flesh is completely rotted
the sun. A little potassa or soda
bones, if you can stop the process
dissolved but the tougher ligaments
preparation, as it is called; if the
parts of a large specimen may be
one gined. I think it best, with
Fie. 3. — Trachea or
windpipe of the male red-
breasted merganser, Mer-
gus serrator, about 4 nat.
size, viewed from above
(behind); after Newton, 4,
tongue; BB, its attach-
ments; C C, windpipe, di-
lated in the middle and
swelling below into abony
box, D; £& £#, bronchial
tubes, going to lungs.
49
I refer to the skull, and to the breast-bone with its principal
These parts of the skeleton are, as a rule, so highly characteristic that they
zoological items. To save a skull
all intents; but you often have
that are very profitably utilized
(figs. 1, 2, a) excepting when imu-
the skin, and for “choice” invoices
ment. You want to remove along
bones connecting the breast-bone
the merry-thought (figs. 1, 2, f)
and the shoulder-blades (figs. 1, 2,
each other, for these bones collec-
girdle,” or scapular arch. Slice
to the bone, and divide their in-
scrape or cut away the muscles
chest ; snip off the ribs (figs. 1, 2,
bone; sever a tough meinbrane
of the wish-bone; then, by taking
at ¢), you can lift out the whole
tions underneath the bone and
require attention: the breast-bone
behind and on the sides (the com-
extreme illustrations of this, as
cut by mistake for ribs, or to be
ally taper to a point, easily broken
times very delicate or defective.
advisable to make perfect prepara-
they are best dried with only super-
kled with arsenic. The skull, if
Hable to lose the odd-shaped,
and the freely movable pair that
Great care should be exercised re-
bones, particularly the sternum,
number of the specimen to which
tied to the coracoid bone. A skull
for itself, and, besides, is not usn-
theless, any recurd tending to fa-
duly entered on the register. There
familiar, of making elegant bony
very good results by simply boil-
better, macerating them in water
away, and then bleaching them in
hastens the process. With breast-
just when the flesh is completely
remain, you secure a ‘‘natural”
ligaments go too, the associate
wired together, those of a small
skulls, to clean them entirely of
ligament as well as muscle; for the underneath parts are usually those conveying the most
desirable information, and they should not be in the slightest degree obscured. Since in. such
4
50 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
ease the anvil-shaped bones, the palatal cylinders already mentioned, and sometimes other
portions come apart, the whole are best kept in a suitable box. I prefer to see a skull with
the sheath of the beak removed, though in some cases, particularly of hard-billed birds, it
may profitably be left on. The completed preparations should be fully labelled by writing on
the bone, in preference to an accompanying or attached paper slip, which may be lost. Some
- object to this, as others do to writing on eggs, that it “ defaces ” the specimen ; but I confess
J see in dry bones no beauty but that of utility.
“(In many families of birds, as the ducks (Anatide), the trachea or windpipe of the male
affords valuable means of distinguishing between the different natural groups, or even species,
chiefly by the form of the bony labyrinth, or bulla ossea, situated at or just above the divari-
cation of the bronchial tubes. A little trouble will enable the collector in all cases to preserve
this organ perfectly, as represented in the annexed engraving (fig. 3). Before proceeding to
skin the specimen, a narrow-bladed knife should be introduced into its mouth and by taking
hold of the tongue (A) by the fingers or forceps, the muscles (B B) by which it is attached to
the lower jaw should be severed as far as they can be reached, care being of course taken not
to puncture the windpipe (C C); and later in the operation of skinning, when dividing the
body from the neck or head, not to cut into or through it. This done, the windpipe can be
easily withdrawn entire and separated from the neck, and then the sternal apparatus being
removed as before described, its course must be traced to where, after branching off in a fork
(D), the bronchial tubes (HE) join the lungs. At these latter points it is to be cut off. Then
rinsing it in cold water, and leaving it to dry partially, it may, while yet pliant, be either
wrapped round the sternum, or coiled up and labelled separately.” — (A. Newton.)
§ 9.— COLLECTION OF NESTS AND EGGS.
Ornithology and Odlogy are twin studies, or rather one includes the other. A collec-
tion of nests and eggs is indispensable for any thorough study of birds; and many persons
find peculiar pleasure in forming one. Some, however, shrink from ‘ robbing birds’ nests”
as something particularly cruel; a sentiment springing, no doubt, from the sympathy and
deference that the tender office of maternity inspires; but with all proper respect for the
humane emotion, it may be said simply, that birds’-nesting is not nearly so cruel as bird-
shooting. What I saidin a former section, in endeavoring to guide search for birds, applies
in substance to hunting for their nests; the essential difference is, that the latter are of
course stationary objects, and consequently more liable to be overlooked, other things being
equal, than birds themselves. Most birds nest on trees or bushes; many on the ground
and on rocks; others in hollows. Some build elegant, elaborate structures, endlessly varied
in details of form and material; others make no nest whatever. In this country, egging is
chiefly practicable in May and during the summer; but some species, particularly birds of
prey, begin to lay in January, while, on our southern border at least, the season of repro-
duction is protracted through September ; so there is really a long period for search. Par-
ticular nests, of course, like the birds that build them, can only be found through ornithological
knowledge; but general search is usually rewarded with a varied assortmeut. The best clew
to a hidden nest is the actions of the parents; patient watchfulness is commonly successful in
tracing the bird’s home. As the science of odlogy has not progressed to the point of deter-
mining from the nests and eggs to what bird they belong, in even a majority of cases, the
utmost care in authentication is indispensable. To be worth anything, not to be worse
than worthless in fact, an egg must be identified beyond question; must be not only
unsuspected, but above suspicion. A shade of suspicion is often attached to dealers’ eggs;
not necessarily implying had faith or even negligence on the dealers’ part, but from the nature
of the case. Itis often extremely difficult to make an unquestionable determination, as for
COLLECTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 51
instance when numbers of birds of similar habits are breeding close together; or even impos-
sible, as in case the parent eludes observation. Sometimes the most acute observer may be
mistaken, circumstances appearing to prove a parentage when such is not the fact. It is in
general advisable to secure the parent with the eggs: if shot or snared on the nest, the
identification is simply unquestionable. If you do not yourself know the species, it then
becomes necessary to secure the specimen, and retain it with the eggs. It is not required to
make a perfect preparation; the head, or better, the head and a wing, will answer the purpose.
When egging in downright earnest, a pair of climbing irons, a coil of $ inch rope, and a tin
collecting box filled with cotton, become practically indispensable; these are the only field
implements required in addition to those already specified.
Preparing Eggs. For blowing eggs, a set of special tools is needed. These are “‘ egg-
drills,” —steel implements with a sharp-pointed conical head of rasping surface, and a slender
shaft; several such, of different sizes, are needed; also, blow-pipes of different sizes, a delicate
ena
Fie. 4. —Egg-drills, different sizes, nat.
ob. Le 5 after Newton.
‘
thin pair of. scissors, light spring for-
ceps, some little hooks, and a small
g X Fie. 5. —Instruments for blowing eggs; after Newton. a, b,
syringe. They are inexpensive, and blow-pipes, } nat. size; c, wire for cleansing them; d, syringe, }
may be had of any dealer in natur- Bab sze(He ring of the handle mast be lrg enough to ae
alists’ supplies. (See figs. 4-7.) Eggs
should never be blown in the old way of making a hole at each end; nor are two holes any-
where usually required. Opening should be effected on one side, preferably that showing least
conspicuous or characteristic markings. If two are wade, they should be rather near together ;
on the same side at any rate. But one is generally sufficient, as the fluid contents can escape
around the blow-pipe. Holding the egg gently but steadily in the fingers,’ apply the point of
1 The usual method of emptying eggs through one small hole is doubtless supposed to be a very modern trick ;
but.it dates back at least to 1828, when M. Danger proposed “‘ a new method of preparing and preseving eggs for
the cabinet,” which is practically the one now followed, though he used a three-edged needle to prick the hole,
instead of our modern drill, and did not appear to know some of our ways of managing the embryo. I make this
reference to his article to call attention to one of the tools he recommends, which I think would prove useful, as
being better than the fingers for holding an egg during drilling and blowing. The simple instrument will be un-
derstood from a glance at the figure given in the Nuttall Bulletin, iii, 1878, p. 191. The oval rings are covered with
light fabric, like mosquito-netting or muslin, and do not touch the egg, which is held lightly but securely in the
netting. The cost would be trifling, and danger might be avoided by Dangevr’s method
52 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
the drill perpendicularly to the surface, unless it be preferred to prick with a needle first.
A twirling motion of the instrument gradually enlarges the opening by filmg away the shell,
and so bores a smooth-edged circular hole. This should be no larger than is required to
insert the blow-pipe loosely, with room for the contents to escape around it. Nor is it always
necessary to imsert the pipe; a fine stream of water may be easily injected by holding the
instrument close to the egg, but not quite touching. The blowing should be continuous and
equable, rather than forcible ; a strong puff easily bursts a delicate egg. Be sure that all the
contents are removed; then rinse the interior thoroughly with clean water, either by taking a
mouthful and sending it through a blow-pipe, or with the syringe. Blowing eggs is a rather
fatiguing process, more so
than it might seem; the o\ AY
cheek museles soon tire, A
and the operator actually
becomes “blown” himself
before long. The opera-
tion had better be done
over a basin of water, both
to receive the contents, and
to catch the egg if it slip
from the fingers. The
membrane lining the shell
should be removed if pos-
sible. It may be seized by
the edge around the hole,
with the forceps, and
drawn out, or picked out
with a bent pin. But this
is scarcely to be accom-
plished in the case of fresh
eggs, when the membrane
_Fia. 6.— Scissors, knives, and forceps, }nat. may be simply pared
size; after Newton.
smoothly around the edge
of the hole. Eggs that have been incubated of course offer diffi-
culty, in proportion to the size of the embryo. The hole may be
drilled, as before, but it must be larger; and as the drill is apt to
split a shell after it has bored beyond a eertain size of hole, it is often
Fig. 7.—Hooks for ex-
well to prick, with a fine needle, a circular series of minute holes tracting embryos, nat. size ;
2 2 1, :. after Newton. a, 8, c, plain
almost touching, and then remove the enclosed circle of shell. This yooxs; d, bill-hook, having
must be very carefully done, or the needle will indent or crack the cutting edge along the con-
shell, which, it must be remembered, grows more brittle towards Pavey:
the time of hatching. Well-formed embryos cannot be got bodily through any hole that can
be made in an egg; they must be extracted piecemeal. They may be cut to pieces with the
slender scissors introduced through the hole, and the fragments be picked out with the
forceps, hooked out, or blown out. No embryo should be forced through a@ hole too small;
there is every probability that the shell will burst at the critical moment. Addled eggs, the
contents of which are thickened or hardened, offer some difficulty, to overcome which persistent
syringing and repeated rinsing are required; or it may be necessary to fill them with water,
and set them away for such length of time that the contents dissolve by maceration ; carbonate
of soda is said to hasten the solution ; the process may be repeated as often as may be necessary.
In no event must any of the animal contents be suffered to remain in the shell. When emptied
COLLECTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 53
and rinsed, eggs should be gently wiped dry, and set hole downward on blotting-paper to
drain.! Broken eggs may be neatly mended, sometimes with a film of collodion, or a bit of
tissue paper and paste, or the edges may be simply stuck together with any adhesive substance.
Even when fragmentary a rare egg is worth preserving. Eggs should ordinarily be left empty ;
indeed, the only case in which any filling is admissible is that of a defective specimen to which
some slight solidity can be imparted with cotton. It is unnecessary even to close up the hole.
It is best, on all accounts, to keep eggs in sets, a ‘‘ set” being the natural clutch, or whatever
less number was taken from a nest. The most scrupulous attention must be paid to accurate,
complete, and permanent labelling. So important is this, that the undeniable defacing of a
specimen, by writing on it, is no offset to the advantages accruing from such fixity of record.
It is practically impossible to attach a label, as is done with a bird-skin, and a loose label is
always in danger of being lost or displaced. Write on the shell, then, as many items as
possible; if done neatly, on the side in which the hole was bored, at least one good ‘‘ show side ”
remains. An egg should always bear the same number as the parent, in the collector’s
record. In a general collection, where separate ornithological and odlogical registers are kept,
identification of egg with parent is nevertheless readily secured, by making one the numerator
the other the denominator of a fraction, to be simply inverted in its respective application.
Thus, bird No. 456, and egg No. 123, are identified by making the former 43} the latter +338.
All the eggs of a clutch should have the same number. If the shell be large enough, the name
of the species should be written on it; if too small, it should be accompanied by a label, and
may have the name indicated by a number referring to a certain catalogue. According to my
‘Check List,” for example, “No. 1” would indicate Turdus migratorius. The date of collec-
tion is a highly desirable item; it may be abbreviated thus; 3 | 6 | 82 means June 3, 1882. It
is well to have the egg authenticated by the collector’s initials at least. Since ‘‘ sets” of eggs
may be broken up for distributions to other cabinets, yet permanent indication of the size of
the clutch be wanted, it is well to have some method. A good one is to write the number of
the clutch on each egg composing it, giving each egg of the set, moreover, its individual
number. Supposing for example the clutch No. }2% contained five eggs ; one of them would
be 422 | 5 | 1: the next 122 | 5 | 2, and so on. But it should be remembered that all such
arbitrary memoranda must be systematic, and be accompanied by a key. Eggs may be kept
in cabinets of shallow drawers in little pasteboard trays, each holding a set, and containing‘a
paper label on which various items that cannot be traced on the shell are written in full.
' Reinforcing the Eggshell before Blowing. = Fig. 8 “ shows 4 piece of paper, a number of which, when gummed
on to an egg, one over the other, and left to dry, strengthen the shell in such a mannér that the instruments above
described can be introduced through the aperture in the middle and worked to the best advantage, and thus a
fully fotmed embryo may be cut up, and the pieces extracted through a very moderately
sized hole; thé number of thicknesses requiréd depends, of course, greatly upon the size
of the egg, the length of time it has been incubated, and the stoutness of the shell and
the paper. Five or six is the least number that it is safe to use. Hach piece should be
left to dry before the next is gummed on. The slits in the margin cause them to set
pretty smoothly, which will be found very desirable; the aperture in the middle of each
may be cut out first, or the whole series of layers may be drilled through when the hole
is made in the egg. For convenience’ sake, the papers may be prepared already gummed,
and moistened when put on (in the same way that adhesive postage labels are used).
Doubtless, patehes of linen or cotton cloth would answer equally well. When the opera-
tion is over, a slight application of water (especially if warm) through the syringe will FH, 8,<-Nat. size.
loosen them so that they can be easily removed, and they can be separated from one
another, and dried to serve another time. The size represented in the sketch is that suitable for an egg of mod-
erate dimension, such as that of a common fowl. The most effectual way of adopting this method of emptying
eggs is by using véry many layers of thin paper and plenty of tick gum, but this is, of course, the most tedious.
Nevertheless, it is quite worth the trouble in the case of really rare specimens, and they will be none the worse for
operating upon from the delay of a few days caused by waiting for the gum to dry and harden. The naturalist
to whom this method fitst o¢curred has found it answer remarkably well in every case that it has been used, from
the egg of an eagle to that of a humming-bird, and among English odlogists it has been generally adopted.”
(4, Newton, in Smiths. Misc. Coll. 139, 1860.)
54 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
Such trays should all be of the same depth, —half an inch is a convenient depth for generat
purposes; and of assorted sizes, say from one inch by one and one half inches up to three by
six inches; it is convenient to have the dimensions regularly graduated by a constant factor
of, say half an inch, so that the little boxes may be set side by side, either lengthwise or
crosswise, without interference. Eggs may also be kept safely, advantageously, and with
attractive effect, in the nests themselves, in which a fluff of cotton may be placed to steady
them. When not too bulky, too loosely constructed, or of material unsuitable for preservation,
nests should always be collected.1_ Those that are very closely attached to twigs should not be
torn off. Nests threatening tu come tu pieces, or too frail to be handled without injury, may
be secured by sewing through and through with fine thread: indeed, this is an advisable pre-
caution in most cases. Packing eggs for transportation requires much care, but the precau-
tions to be taken are obvious. I will only remark that there is no safer way than to leave them
in their own nests, each wrapped in cotton, with which the whole cavity is to be lightly filled ;
the nests themselves being packed close enough to be perfectly steady.
§ 10.—CARE OF A COLLECTION.
Well Preserved Specimens will. last ‘‘ forever and a day,” so far as natural decay is
concerned. I have handled birds in good state, shot back in the twenties, and have no doubt
that some eighteenth century preparations are still extant. The precautions against defilement,
mutilation, or other mechanical injury, are self-evident, and may be dismissed with the remark,
that white plumages, especially if at all greasy, require the most care to guard against soiling.
We have, however, tu fight fur our possessions against a host of enemies, individually despica-
ble but collectively formidable, — foes so determined that untiring vigilance is required to ward
off their attacks even temporarily, whilst in the end they prove invincible. It may be said that
to be eaten up by insects is the natural end of all bird-skins not sooner destroyed.
1 “4 Plea for the Study of Nests,’ made by Mr. Ernest Ingersoll in his excellent “‘ Birds’-Nesting,”’ suits
me so well that I will transcribe it. ‘*‘ Whether or not it is worth while to collect nests—for there are many per-
sons who never do so —is, it seems to me, only a question of room in the cabinet. As a scientific study there is far
more advantage to be obtained from a series of nests than from a series of eggs. The nest is something with which
the will and energies of the bird are concerned. It expresses the character of the workman; is to a certain extent
an index of its rank among birds, — for in general those of the highest organization are the best architects, — and
give us a glimpse of the bird’s mind and power to understand and adapt itself to changed conditions of life. Over
the shape and ornamentation of an egg the bird has no control, being no more able to govern the matter than it
can the growth of its beak. There is as much difference to me, in the interest inspired, between the nest and the
egg of a bird, as between its brain and its skull, — using the word brain to mean the seat of intellect. The nest is
always more or less the result of conscious planning and intelligent work, even though it does follow a hereditary
habit in its style; while the egg is an automatic production varying, if at all, only as the whole organization of
the bird undergoes change. Don’t neglect the nests then. In them more than anywhere else lies the key to the
mind and thoughts of a bird,—the spirit which inhabits that beautiful frame and bubbles out of that golden
mouth. And is it not this inner life, —this human significance in bird nature, —this soul of ornithology, that we
are all aiming to discover? ‘Nests are beautiful, too. What can surpass the delicacy of the humming-bird’s home
glued to the surface of a mossy branch or nestling in the warped point of a pendent leaf; the vireo’s silken ham-
mock ; the oriole’s gracefully swaying purse; the blackbird’s model basket in the flags; the snug little caves of the
marsh wrens; the hermitage-huts of the shy wagtails and ground-warblers, the stout fortresses of the sociable
swallows! Moreover, there is much that is highly interesting which remains to be learned about nests, and which
can only be known by paying close attention to these artistic masterpieces of animal art. We want to know by
what sort of skill the many nests are woven together that we find it so hard even to disentangle; we want to know
how long they are in being built; whether there is any particular choice in respect to location; whether it be a
rule, as is supposed, that the female bird is the architect, to the exclusion of her mate’s efforts further than his
supplying a part of the materials. Many such points remain to be cleared up. Then there is the question of
variation, and its extent in the architect of the same species in different quarters of its ranging area. How far is
this carried, and how many varieties can be recorded from a single district, where the same list of materials is
open to all the birds equally? Variation shows individual opinion or taste among the builders as to the suitability
of this or that sort of timber or farniture for their dwellings, and observations upon it thus increase our acquaint-
ance with the scope of ideas and habits characteristic of each species of bird.”
CARE OF A COLLECTION. 55
Insect Pests (Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12) with which we have to contend belong principally to the
two families Z’neide and Dermestide — the former are moths, the latter beetles. The moths are
of species identical with, and allied to, the common clothes moth, Tinea flavifrontella, the carpet
moth, T. tapetzella, etc., — small species observed flying about our apartments and museums,
in May and during the summer. The beetles are several rather small thick-set species, princi-
pally of the genera Dermestes and Anthrenus. I am able to figure species of these genera,
with their larval stages, and of two other genera, Ptinus and Sttodrepa, through the attentions
of Prof. C. V. Riley, the eminent entomologist. The larve (‘‘ caterpillars” of the moths, and
““orubs” of the beetles) appear to be the chief agents of the destruction. The presence of the
mature insects is usually readily detected ; on disturbing an infested suite of specimens the moths
Fig. 9.—Anthrenus scrofularie, enlarged; the short line shows nat. size. a, b, larve; c, pupa; d, imaga
Fic. 10. — Dermestes lardarius, en- Fig. 11.— Sitodrepa panicea, Fic. 12. — Ptinus brunneus.
larged. a, larva; b, anenlarged hair; enlarged. a, imago; 3, its an-
c, imago. tenna, more enlarged.
flutter about, and the beetles crawl as fast as they can into shelter, or simulate death. The
insidious larvee, however, are not so easily observed, burrowing as they do among the feathers,
or in the interior of a skin; whilst the minute eggs are commonly altogether overlooked. But
the “‘bugs” are not long at work without leaving their unmistakable traces. Shreds of
feathers float off when a specimen is handled, or fly out on flipping the skin with the fingers,
and in bad cases even whole bundles of plumes come away at atouch. Sometimes, leaving the
plumage intact, bugs eat away the horny covering of the bill and feet, making a peculiarly
unhappy and irreparable mutilation. I suppose this piece of work is done by a particular
insect, but if so I do not know what one. It would appear that when the bugs effect lodgment
in any one skin, they usually finish it before attacking another, unless they are in great force.
We may consequently, by prompt removal of an infested specimen, save further depredations ;
56 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY.
nevertheless, the rest become ‘‘suspictous,” and the whole drawer or box should be quaran-
tined, if not submitted to any of the processes described beyond. Our lines of defence are sev-
eral. We may mechanically oppose entrance of the enemy ; we may meet him with abhorrent
odors that drive him off, sicken or kill him, and finally we may cook him to death. I will
notice these methods successively, taking occasion to describe a cabinet under head of the first.
Cases for Storage or Transportation should be rather small, for several reasons. They
are easier to handle and pack. There are fewer birds pressing each other. Particular speci-
mens are more readily reached. Bugs must effect just so many more separate entrauces to
infest the whole. Small lids are more readily fitted tight. For the ordinary run of small birds
I should not desire a box over 18x18x18, and should prefer a smaller one; for large birds, a box
just long enough for the biggest specimen, and of other proportions to correspond fairly, is
most eligible. Whatever the dimensions, a proper box presupposes perfect jointing; but if
any suspicion be entertained on this score, stout paper should be pasted along all the edges,
both inside and out. We have practically to do with the lid only. If the lot is likely to
remain long untouched, the cover may be screwed very close and the crack pasted like the
others. Under other and usual circumstances the lid may be provided with a metal boss fitting
a groove lined with india rubber or filled with wax. An excellent case may be made of tin
with the lid secured in this manner, and further fortified with a wooden casing. Birdskins
entirely free from insects or their eggs, encased in some such secure manner, will remain intact
indefinitely ; but there is misery in store if any bugs or nits be put away with them.
Cabinets. — As a matter of fact, most collections are kept readily accessible for examina-
tion, display, or other immediate use, and this precludes any disposition of them in ‘‘hermeti-
.eal” cases. The most we can do is to secure tight fitting of movable woodwork. The
“cabinet” is most eligible for private collections. This is, in effect, simply a bureau, or chest of
drawers, protected with folding doors, or a front that may be detached, either of plain wood or
sashing for panes of glass. It is simply astonishing how many birdskins of average size can
be accommodated in a cabinet that makes no inconvenient piece of furniture for an ordinary
room. feather, though
quite a8 6. in afew kinds
j ely want- Fie. 20. — Two barbs,
birds: a, a, of a vane, bearing an-
1rd$; terior, 6, b, and posterior,
: ‘4 the ¢,varbules; enlarged; after
large, strong wing- =_—\ Nitzsch. :
I
Ny)
feathers. The vane cons, :
of a series of appressed,
e ywerlinear laminge or
aychis by their bases,
ean \PRe flat, narrowly linear or
os plates, set obliquely on th
i i t from it at av
_ 19. — A partly pennaceous, partly plum- diverging ou ‘ :
ee cer es Argus pheasant; after ing in a free point ; each such 3 9pen angle, end
we d, main stem; d, calamus; @, rhachis; barb (Lat. barba. a béTow, acute plate
a ae cut away on left side in order not 18 called a barb ( aa , dete, Sie. a)
° hterfens with b, the after-shaft, the whole of Now if these laminee or barbs sift; 18. ¥, 4, ae
the right vane of which is likewise cut away. each other, like the leaves of a ie ea: oe
i r nected together ; for, jo, the teather
no consistency; therefore, they are connec ie :
He — or series of bathe so does each barb bear its vanes of the seco Rey sacniene
ace called barbules (dimin. of barba ; fig. 20, b, >, ¢). These are to ee ee
the bare are to the shaft, and are similarly given off from both sides of t 2 : : tae
he barbs; they make the vane truly a web, that is, they so connect the barkP a g ne
: ie little force is required to pull them apart. Barbules are variously ee eee —
ne sideways, with upper and lower border at base, rapidly eine : a pone = - ee
a
several barbules of the next barb, crossing’ "
and are long enough to reach over sev Daa ae
liquely. All the foregoing structures are seen by aad - eaen aca ji
scri i microscope: they are the epcaaue.
but the next to be described require a eee (ee Ota
; ine -lashes (fig. 21); and hamuli, or hooklets instance :
barb); also agente i he barbules, just!Te befor». a Tittle
§ i ly a sort of fringe to the arbules, just, of. &
hook; fig. 21). These are simp. ae : ee paneer ine edge
rom each other in that beNaz,, int’ edg
of the barbules were frayed out, and only differ y, 1) ee
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS. — FEATHERS. 85
like processes, while hamuli are hooked at the end; they are not found on all feathers, nor on
all parts of some feathers. Barbicels occur on both anterior and posterior rows of barbules,
Fig. 21.—
A single bar-
bule, bearing
barbicels and
honk‘ets; mag-
though rarely on the latter; hooklets are confined to any an-
terior series of barbules, which, as we have seen, overlie the
posterior rows, forming a diagonal mesh-work. The design
of this beautiful structure is evident; the barbules are inter-
locked, and the whole made a web; for each hooklet of one
barbule catches hold of a barbule from the next barb in front,
any barbule thus holding on to as many of the barbules of the
next barb as it has hooklets; while, to facilitate this interlock-
ing, the barbules have a thickened upper edge of the right size
for the hooklets to grasp. The arrangement is shown in fig.
22, where a, a, a, a, are four barbs in transverse section, viewed
from the cut surfaces, with their anterior, 6, b, b, b, and pos-
terior, ¢, ¢, ¢, c, barbules, the former bearing the hooklets
which catch over the edge of the latter.
Types of Feathery Structure. — But all feathers do not
answer the above description. The after-shaft may be wanting,
as we have seen. Hooklets may not be developed, as frequently
happens. Barbicels may be few or entirely wanting. Barb-
ules may be similarly deficient, or so defective as to be only
recognized by their position and relations. Even barbs them-
selves may be few or lacking on one side of the shaft, or on
Fie. 22, —
Four barbs in
cross section, a,
a, a, a, bearing
anterior, b, b, b,
6, and posterior
C, ¢c, ¢, ¢, bar-
bules, the form-
er bearing hook~-
lets which catch
over the latter;
magnified ; after
Nitzsch.
nified ; after
Sich both sides, as in certain bristly or hair-like styles of feathers. Consideration of
itzsch.
these and other modifications of feather-structure has led to the recognition of
three types or plans: 1. The perfectly feathery, plumous, or pennaceous (Lat. pluma, a plume,
or penna, a feather fit for writing with; fig. 23), as above described. 2. The downy or
plumulaceous (Lat. plumula, a little plume, a down-feather), when the stem is short aud
weak, with soft rhachis and barbs, with long slender thready barbules, little knotty dilata-
tions in place of barbi- . _ Betivons
cels, and no hooklets. PSS
3. The hairy, bristly, or § Y
Silo - plumaceous (Lat.
filum, a thread), with
a very long, slender stem,
and rudimentary or very
small vanes composed of fine cylindrical barbs and barbules, if any, and uo barbicels, knots,
or hooklets. ‘There is no abrupt definition between these types of structure ; in fact, the same
feather may be constructed on more than one of these plans, as in fig. 19, partly pennaceous,
partly plumulaceous. All feathers are built upon one or another, or some combination, or
modification, of these types; and, in all their endless diversity, may be reduced to four or five
Fic. 283. — A feather from the tail of a kingbird, Tyrannus carolinensis,
almost entirely pennaceous; no after-shaft. From nature, by Coues.
Different Kinds of Feathers. —1. Contour-feathers, penne or plume proper, have a
perfect stem composed of calamus and rhachis, with vanes of pennaceous structure, at least
in part, usually plumulaceous toward the base. These form the great bulk of the surface-
plumage exposed to light; their beautiful tints give the bird’s colors ; they are the most
modified in detail of all, from the fish-like scales of a penguin’s wings to the glittering jewels of
the humming-bird, and all the endless array of the tufts, crests, ruffs, and other ornaments of the
feathered tribes; even the imperfect bristle-like feathers above mentioned may belong among
4
86 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
them. Another feature is, that they are usually individually moved by subcutaneous muscles,
of which there may be several to one feather, passing to be attached to the sheath of the tube,
inside the skin, in which the stem is inserted. These muscles may be plainly seen under the
skin of a goose, and every one has observed their operation when a hen. shakes herself after a
sand bath, or any bird erects its top-knot. 2 Down-feathers, plumule,* are charactefized by
a downy structure throughout. They more or less completely invest'the bddy, but are almost
always hidden beneath the contour-feathers, like padding about the bases éf the latter; occa-
sionally they come to light, as in the fleeey ruff about the neck of the condor, anil then usually
replace contour-feathers ; they have an after-shaft, or none; and sometinies no rhachis at all,
the barbs then being sessile in a tuft at the end of the quill. They often stand in a regular quin-
eunx (:-!) between four contour-feathers. 3. Semiplumes, semiplume, may be said to unite
the characters of the last two, possessing the pennaceous stem of the former, and the plumula-
ceous vanes of the latter; they are with or without after-shaft. They starid among perine, as
the plumule do, about the edges of patches of the former, or in parcels by themselves, but are
always covered by contour-feathers. 4. Filoplumes, filoplwme; or thread-feathers, haye an
extremely slender, almost invisible stem, not well distinguished into barrel and shaft, and
usually no vane, unless a terminal tuft of barbs may be held for such. Long as they are,
they are usually hidden by the contour-feathers, close to which they stand as accessories,
one or more seeming to issue out of the very sacs in which the larger feathers:are implanted.
These are the nearest approach to hairs that birds have; they are very well shown on domestic
poultry, being what a good cook finds it necessary to singe off after plucking a fowl for the
table. 5. Certain down-feathers are remarkable for continuing to grow indefinitely, and with
this unlimited growth is associated a continual breaking down of the ends of the’ barbs. Such
plumule, from being always dusted over with dry, scurfy exfoliation, are called powder-down ;
they may be entitled to rank as a fifth kind, or pulviplumes. They occur in the hawk, parrot,
and gallinaceous tribes, and especially in the herons and their allies. They are always present
in the latter, where they may be readily seen as at least two large patches of greasy or dusty,
whitish feathers, watted over the hips and on the breast. The design is unknown.
Feather Oil Gland. — Birds do not perspire, and cutaneous glands, corresponding to the
sweat-glands and sebaceous follicles so common in Mammalia, are little known among ‘them.
But their ‘oil-can” is a kind of sebaceous follicle, which may be noticed here in connection
with other tegumentary appendages. This is a two-lobed or rather heart-shaped gland, sad-
dled upon the ‘ pope’s nose,” at the root of the tail, and hence sometimes called the wropygial
(Lat. uropygium, rump), or rump-gland. If there be no single word to name it, it may be
called the elaodochon (Gr. édaso8éxos, elaiodochos, containing oil). .It is composed of numerous
slender tubes or follicles which secrete the greasy fluid, the ducts of which, uniting successively
in larger tubes, finally open by one or more pores, commonly upon a little nipple-like elevation.
Birds press out a drop of oil with the beak and dress the feathers with it, in the well-known
operation called ‘‘preening.” The gland is large and always present in aquatic birds, which
have need of waterproof plumage ; smaller in land-birds, as a rule, and wanting in some. The
presence or absence of this singular structure, and whether or not it is surmounted by a particu-
lar circlet of feathers, distinguishes certain groups of birds, and has come to be made much use
of in classification.
Pterylography. — Feathered Tracts and Unfeathered Spaces. — Excepting certain
birds having obviously naked spaces, as about the head or feet, all would be taken to be
fully feathered. So they are all covered with feathers, but it does not follow that feathers are
everywhere implanted upon the skin. On the contrary, a uniform and continuous pterylosis
is the rarest of all kinds of feathering ; though such occurs, almost or quite perfectly, among
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— FEATHERS. 87
certain birds, as the ostrich tribe, penguins, and toucans. If we compare a bird’s skin to a
well-kept park, part woodland, part lawn ; then where feathers grow is the woodland; where
they do uot grow is the lawn. The former places are called tracts or pteryle (dimin. from Gr.
mrepov, pteron, a ‘pluue); the latter, spaces or apteria (Gr. u privative, and mrepév) ; they
mutually distinguish certain definite areas. Not only are the pteryle and apteria thus definite,
but their size, form, and arrangement mark whole families and even orders of birds; so that
pterylosis becomes available, and is indeed found to be important, for purposes of classification.
Pterylography, or the description of this matter, has been made a special study by the cele-
brated Nitzsch, who has laid down the general plan of pterylosis which obtains in the great
majority of birds, as follows: 1. The spinal or dorsal tract (pteryla spinalis; fig. 24, 1),
running along the middle of the bird above from the nape of the neck to the tail; subject to
great variation in width, to dilation and contraction, to forking, to sending out branches, to
interruption, etc. 2. The humeral tracts (pt. humerales ; Lat. humerus, the shoulder, or upper
arm-bone; fig. 24, 2), always present, one on each wing; they are narrow bands, running from
the shoulder obliquely backward upon the upper arm-bone, parallel with the shoulder-blade.
i
| Fig, 24. — Pterylosis of Cypselus apus, drawn by Coues after Nitzsch; right hand upper, left hand lower,
surface. 1. spinal tract; 2. humeral; 8, femoral; 4. capital; 5. alar; 6. caudal; 7. crural; 8. ventral.
3. The femoral tracts ¢ pt. femorales ; Lat. femur, the thigh; fig. 24, 3): a similar oblique
band upon the outside of each thigh, but subject to great variation. 4. The ventral tract (pt.
ventralis ; Lat. venter, the belly ; fig. 24, 8), which forms most of the plumage on the under
part of a bird, commencing at or near the throat, and continued to the vent; like the dorsal
tract, it is very variable, is usually bifurcate, or forked into right or left halves, with a median
apterium, is broad or narrow, branched, etc.; thus, Nitzsch enumerates seventeen distinct modi-
fications! The foregoing are mostly isolated tracts, that is, bands nearly surrounded by com-
plementary apteria; the following are, in general, continuously and uniformly feathered, and
thus practically equivalent to the part of the body they represent: Thus, 5, the head tract
(pt. capitalis ; Lat. caput, capitis, head; fig. 24, 4) clothes the head, and generally runs
into the beginning of both dorsal and ventral tracts. 6. The wing tract (pt. alaris ; Lat. ala,
wing ; fig. 24, 5) represents all the feathers that grow upon the wing, excepting those of
the humeral tract. 7. The tail tract (pt. caudalis ; Lat. cauda, tail; fig. 24, 6) includes
the tail-feathers proper and their coverts, and those about the el@odochon, and usually receives
the termination of the dorsal, ventral, and femoral tracts. 8. The leg tract (pt. cruralis ;
Lat. crus, erwris, leg; figs. 24, 7) clothes the legs as far as these are feathered, which is
generally to the heel, always below the knee, and sometimes to the toes or even the claws. —
I need not enumerate the apteria, as these are merely the complements of the pteryle. The
88 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
highly important special “ flight-feathers ” of the wings and “‘ rudder-feathers” of the tail are
to be examined beyond, in describing those members for purposes of classification.
Endysis and Ecdysis. — Putting on and off Plumage. — Newly hatched birds are
covered for some time with a kind ‘of down, entirely different from such feathers as they ulti-
mately acquire. It is scanty, leaving much or all of the body naked, in most aléricial birds,
such as are reared by the parents in the nest (Lat. aliriz, female nourisher) ; but thick and
puffy in some Altrices, and in all Precoces (Lat. precox, precocious), which run about at birth.
Since many birds which require to be reared in the nest are also hatched clothed, or very speedily
become downy, a more exact distinction may be drawn by using the terms ptilopedic and psilo-
pedic (Gr. rrirtov, ptilon, a feather; Widds, psilos, bare; and mais, pais, a child) respectively
for those birds which are hatched feathered or naked ; a chicken and a canary-bird are familiar
examples. It is the rule, that the higher birds are born helpless and naked, requiring to be
reared in the nest till their feathers grow ; the reverse with lower birds, as the walking, wading,
and swimming kinds; and a primary division of birds has even been proposed upon this physio-
logical distinction. It offers, however, too many exceptions; thus, no birds are more naked
and helpless at birth than young cormorants. Probably all precocial birds are also ptilopzedic
and all psilopaedic birds altricial; but the converse is far from holding good, many altrices, as
hawks and owls, being also ptilopedic. In other words, psilopedic birds are always altricial,
but ptilopeedic birds may be either altricial or preecocial. In any case, true feathers are soon
gained, in some days or weeks, those of the wings and tail being usually the first to sprout.
The acquisition of plumage is called endysis (évdvots, endusis, putting on). The renewal of
plumage is a process familiar to all, in its generalities, under the term ‘‘ moult,” or ecdysis
(Gr. exducts, ekdusis, putting off).. Feathers are of such rapid growth, and make such a drain
upon the vital energies, that we easily understand how critical are periods of the change.
The first plumage is usually worn but a short time; then another more or less complete
change commonly occurs. The moult is as a rule annual; and in many cases more than
one moult is required before the bird attains the perfection of maturity in its feathering.
It is: well known how different inany birds are the first year in their coloration from that
afterward acquired; sometimes changes progress for several years; and some birds appear
to have a period of senile decline. All such changes are necessarily connected, if not
with actual moult, as is the rule, then at any rate with wear and, tear and repair of the
plumage. The first plumage being gained, under whatever conditions peculiar to the species,
it is the general rule, that birds are subject to single, or annual, moult. This commonly occurs
in the fall, when the duties of incubation are concluded, and the well-worn plumage most needs
renewal. This once-a-year moult, at least, happens to nearly or quite all birds. Many,
however, moult twice a year, the additional moult usually occurring in the spring-time, when
a fresh nuptial suit is acquired; in such cases, the moult is said to, be double, or semi-annual.
Such additional moult is generally incomplete; that is, all the feathers are not shed and
renewed, but more or fewer new ones are gained, with more or less loss of the old ones, if
any. The most striking ornaments donned for the breeding season, as the elegant plumes
of many herons, are usually worn but a brief time, being doffed in advance of the general
fall moult. A few birds, as the ptarmigan (Lagopus), regularly have even a third or triple
moult, shedding many of their feathers as usual in the early autumn, then changing
entirely to pure white for the winter, then in spring moulting completely to assume their
wedding-dress. As a rule, feathers are moulted so gradually, particularly those of the wings
and tail, and so simultaneously upon right and left sides of the body, that birds are at. no time
deprived of the power of flight. The first flight-feathers acquired by young birds are usually
kept till the next season; but in those that fly very early, before they are half grown, as so
many gallinaceous birds do, their first weak wing-feathers are included in the general moult
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS. — FEATHERS. 89
which occurs to young and old in the fall. The duck tribe offer the remarkable case, that
they drop their wing-quills so nearly all at once as to he for some time deprived of the power
of flight. It is quite certain that many birds change the colors of their plumage remarkably,
without losing or gaining any feathers, by some process which affects the texture of the feath-
ers, such as the shedding of the barbicels and hooklets, or its pigmentation ; or by such processes
combined. The male of our bobolink changes from the buff dress of the female to his rich black
suit without losing or gaining any feathers. It is difficult to lay down any rules of moulting
for particular groups of birds, since birds very closely related differ greatly in respect to their
changes of plumage, and the subject has not yet received the attention its interest and impor-
tance should claim for it. The physiological processes ‘involved are analogous to those con-
cerned in the shedding of the hair of mammals and the casting of the cuticle of reptiles.
Plumage-changes with Sex, Age, and Season. Aside from any consideration of the
way in which plumage changes, whether by moult or otherwise, the fact remains that most birds
of the same species differ more or less from one another according to certain circumstances. The
dissimilarity is not only in coloration, though this is the usual and most pronounced difference,
but also in the degree of development of plumes, — their size, form, and texture. Since young
birds are those which have not come to sexual vigor; since breeding recurs at regular periods
of the year; and since males and females usually differ in plumage, — nearly all the various
dresses worn by different individuals of the same species are correlated with the conditions of
the reproductive system. As the internal generative organs represent of course the essential or
primary sexual characters, all those of the plumage just indicated may be properly classed as
secondary secual characters. These are of great importance, not only in practical ornithology,
but as the basis of some of the soundest views that have been advanced respecting the evolu-
tion of specific characters in this class of animals. The generalizations may be made: that
when the sexes are strikingly different in plumage, the young at first resemble the female;
when the adults are alike, the young are different from either; when seasonal changes are great,
the young resemble the fall plumage of the parents; and, further, that when the adults of two
related species of the same genus are nearly alike, the young are usually intermediate, their
specific characters not being fully developed. Specific characters are often to be found only in
the male, the females of two related species being scarcely distinguishable, though the males
may be told apart at a glance. Extraordinary developments of feathers, as to size, shape, and
color, are often confined to one sex, usually the male. The more richly, extensively, or pecu-
liarly the male is adorned, the simpler the female in comparison, as the peacock and peahen.
The Wise Man of Late has formulated the several categories of secondary sexual characters,
giving the following rules or classes of cases: ‘‘1. When the adult male is more beautiful or
conspicuous than the adult female, the young of both sexes in their first plumage closely
resemble the adult female, as with the common fowl and peacock; or, as occasionally
occurs, they resemble her much more closely than they do the adult male. 2. When the adult
female is more conspicuous than the adult male, as sometimes though rarely occurs [chiefly
with certain birds of prey and snipe-like birds], the young of both sexes in their first plumage
resemble the adult male. 3. When the adult male resembles the adult female, the young of
both sexes have a peculiar first plumage of their own, as with the robin [usual]. 4, When the
adult male resembles the adult female, the young of both sexes in their first plumage resemble
the adults [unusual]. 5. When the adults of both sexes have a distinct winter and summer
plumage, whether or not the male differs from the female, the young resemble the adults of
both sexes in their winter dress, or much more rarely in their summer dress, or they resemble
the females alone. Or the young may have an intermediate character; or again they may
differ greatly from the adults in both their seasonal pluinages. 6. In some few: cases the
young in their first plumage differ from each other according to sex; the young males re-
90 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
sembling more or less closely the adult males, and the young females more or less closely the
adult females.” — (Darwin, Desc. of Man, new ed., 1881, p. 466.)
Summary of Secondary Sexual Characters of Birds.— The temptation to give the
conclusion of the whole matter in Darwin’s own words, summary of his views of Sexual
Selection as so important a factor in Natural Selection, need not be resisted. I therefore quote
again from the work last cited, pp. 496-499.
“ Most male birds are highly pugnacious during the breeding-season, and some possess weapons adapted for
fighting with their rivals. But the most pugnacious and the best armed males rarely or never depend for success
solely upon their power to drive away or kill their rivals, but have special means for charming the female. With
some it is the power of song, or of giving forth strange cries, or instrumental music, and the males in consequence
differ in their vocal organs, or in the structure of certain feathers. From the curiously diversified means for pro-
ducing various sounds, we gain a high idea of the importance of this means of courtship. Many birds endeavor to
charm the female by love-dances or antics, performed on the ground or in the air, and sometimes at prepared places,
But ornaments of many kinds, the most brilliant tints, combs, and wattles, beautiful plumes, elongated feathers,
top-knots, and so forth, are by far the commonest means. In some cases mere novelty appears to have acted as a
charm. The ornaments of the males must be highly important to them, for they have been acquired in not a few
cases at the cost of increased danger from enemies, and even at some loss of power in fighting with their rivals.
The males of very many species do not assume their ornamental dress until they arrive at maturity, or they assume
it only during the breeding season, or the tints then become more vivid. Certain ornamental appendages become
enlarged, turgid, and brightly colored during the act of courtship. The males display their charms with elaburate
care and to the best effect; and this is done in the presence of the females. The courtship is sometimes a pro-
longed affair, and many males and females congregate at an appointed place. To suppose that the females do not
appreciate the beauty of the males, is to admit that their splendid decorations, all their pomp and display, are
useless; and this is incredible. Birds have fine powers of discrimination, and in some few cases it can be shewn
that they have a taste for the beautiful. The females, moreover, are known occasionally to exhibit a marked
preference or antipathy for certain individual males,
“Tf it be admitted that the females prefer, or are unconsciously excited by the more beautiful males, then
the males would slowly but surely be rendered more and more attractive through sexual selection. That it is
this sex which has been chiefly modified, we may infer from the fact that, in almost every genus where the sexes
differ, the males differ much more from one another than do the females ; this is well shown in certain closely-allied
representative species, in which the females can hardly be distinguished, whilst the males are quite distinct. Birds
in a state of nature offer individual differences which would amply suffice for the work of sexual selection; but we
have seen that they occasionally present more strongly-marked variations which recur so frequently that they
woul: immediately be fixed, if they served to allure the female. The laws of variation must determine the nature
of the initial changes and will have largely influenced the final result. ‘The gradations, which may be observed
between the males of allied species, indicate the nature of the steps through which they have passed. They
explain also in the most interesting manner how certain characters have originated, such as the indented ocelli
on the tail-feathers of the peacock and the ball and socket ocelli on the wing-feathers of the Argus pheasant. It is
evident that the brilliant colors, top-knots, fine plumes, &c., of many male birds cannot have been acquired
as a protection; indeed, they sometimes lead to danger. That they are not due to the direct and definite action
of the conditions of life, we may feel assured, because the females have been exposed to the same conditions,
and yet often differ from the males to an extreme degree, Although it is probable that changed conditions acting
during a lengthened period have in some cases produced a definite effect on both sexes, or sometimes on one sex
alone, the more important result will have been an increased tendency to vary or to present more strongly marked
individual differences : and such differences will have afforded an excellent ground-work for the action of sexual
selection.
“ The laws of inheritance, irrespectively of selection, appear to have determined whether the characters
acquired by the males for the sake of ornament, for producing various sounds, and for fighting together, have been
transmitted to the males alone or to both sexes, either permanently, or periodically during certain seasons of the
year. Why various characters should have been transmitted sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, is not
in most cases known; but the period of variability seems often to have been the determining cause. When the
two sexes have inherited all characters in common, they necessarily resemble each other; but as the successive
variations may be differently transmitted, every possible gradation may be found, even within the same genus,
from the closest similarity to the widest dissimilarity between the sexes. With many closely-allied species, follow-
ing nearly the same habits of life, the males have come to differ from each other chiefly through the action of
sexua! selection; whilst the females have come to differ chiefly from partaking more or less of the characters thus
acquired by the males. The effects, moreover, of the definite action of the conditions of life, will not have been
masked in the females, as in the males, by the accumulation through sexual selection of strongly-pronounced colors
and other ornaments. The individuals of both sexes, however affected, will have been kept at each successive
period nearly uniform by the free intercrossing of many individuals.
“ With species, in which the sexes differ in color, it is possible or probable that some of the successive varia-
tions often tended to be transmitted equally to both sexes; but that when this occurred the females were pre~
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS. — TOPOGRAPHY. 91
vented from acquiring the bright colors of the males, by the destruction which they suffered during incubation.
There is no evidence that it is possible by natural selection to convert one form of transmission into another. But
there would not be the least difficulty in rendering a female dull-colored, the male being still kept bright-colored,
by the selection by successive variations, which were from the first limited in their traasmission to the same sex.
Whether the females of many species have actually been thus modified, must at present remain doubtful. When,
through the law of the equal transmission of characters to both sexes, the females were rendered as conspicuously
colored as the males, their instincts appear often to have been moditied so that they were led to build domed or
concealed nests,
“Tn one small and curious class of cases the characters and habits of the two sexes have been completely
transposed, for the females are larger, stronger, more vociferous and brighter colored than the males. They have,
also, become so quarrelsome that they often fight together for the possession of the males, like the males of other
pugnacious species for the possession of the females. If, as seems probable, such females habitually drive away
their rivals, and by the display of their bright colors or other charms endeavour to attract the males, we can under-
stand how it is that they have gradually been rendered, by sexual selection and sexually-limited transmission,
more beautiful than the males — the latter being left unmodified or only slightly modified.
“ Whenever the law of inheritance at corresponding ages prevails, but not that of sexually-limited trans-
mission, then if the parents vary late in life—and we know that this constantly occurs with our poultry,
and occasionally with other birds — the young will be left unaffected, whilst the adults of both sexes will be
moditied. If both these laws of inheritance prevail and either sex varies late in life, that sex alone will be
modified, the other sex and the young being unaffected. When variations in brightness or in other conspicuous
characters occur early in life, as no doubt often happens, they will not be acted on through sexual selection until
the period of reproduction arrives; consequently if dangerous to the young, they will be eliminated through
natural selection. Thus we can understand how it is that variations arising late in life have so often been pre-
served for the ornamentation of the males; the females and the young being left almost unaffected, and therefore
like each other. With species having a distinct summer and winter plumage, the males of which either resemble
or differ from the females during both seasons or during the summer alone, the degrees and kinds of resemblance
between the young and the old are exceedingly complex; and this complexity apparently depends on characters,
first acquired by the males, being transmitted in various ways, as limited by age, sex, and season.
“As the young of so many species have been but little modified in color and other ornaments, we are enabled
to form some judgment with respect to the plumage of their early progenitors; and we may infer that the beauty
of our existing species, if we look to the whole class, has been largely increased since that period, of which the
plumage gives us an indistinct record. Many birds, especially those which live much on the ground, have undoubt-
edly been obscurely colored for the sake of protection. In some instances the upper exposed surface of the plumage
has been thus colored in both sexes, whilst the lower surface in the males alone has been variously ornamented
through sexual selection. Finally, from the facts given in these four chapters (pp. 358-499 of the work in citation],
we may conclude that weapons for battle, organs for producing sound, ornaments of many kinds, bright and con-
spicuous colors, have generally beer. acquired by the males through variation and sexual selection, and have been
transmitted in various ways according to the several laws of inheritance — the female and the young being left
comparatively but little modified.”
b. Tue TopoGRAPHY oF Brrps.
The Contour of «a Bird with the feathers on is spindle-shaped, or fusiform (Lat.
fusus, a spindle), tapering at both ends; it represents two cones joined base to base at the middle
or greatest girth of the budy, tapering in front to the tip of the bill, behind to the end of the
tail. The obvious design is easiest cleavage of air in front, and least drag or wash behind, in
the act of flying. This shape is largely produced by the lay of the plumage; a naked bird pre-
sents several prominences and depressions, this irregular contour being reducible, in general
terms, to two spindles or double cones. The head tapers to a point in front, at the tip of the
bill, and contracts behind, toward the middle of the neck, in consequence of diminution in
bulk of the muscles by which it is slung on the neck; which last is somewhat contracted or
hour-glass shaped near the middle, swelling where it is slung to the body. The body is largest
in front and tapers to the tail. The
Centre of Gravity is admirably preserved beneath the centre of the body, and opposite
the points where it is supported by the wings. The enormous breast-muscles of a bird are
among its heaviest parts, sometimes weighing, to speak roundly, as much as one-sixth of the
whole bird. Now these are they that effect all the movements of the wings at the shoulder-
joints, lifting as well as lowering the wings. Did these pectoral muscles pull straight, the
lifters would have to be above the shoulder-joint ; but they all lie below it, and the lifters
92 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
accomplish their office by running through pulleys to change the line of their traction. They
work liké men hoisting sails from the deck of a vessel; and thus, like a ship’s cargo, a bird’s
chief weight is kept below the centre of motion. Top-heaviness is further obviated by the way
in which. birds with a long heavy neck and head draw these parts in upon the breast, and
extend the legs behind, as is well shown by the attitude of a heron flying. The nice adjust-
ment of balance by the variable extension of the head and feet is exactly like that produced in
weighing by shifting a weight along the arm of a steel-yard; and together with the slinging
of the chief weight under the wings instead of over or even between them, enables a bird to
easily keep right side up in flight. The
Exterior of a Bird is divided for purposes of description into seven parts: —1. The head
(Lat. caput); 2. The neck (Lat. collum) ; 3. The body proper, or trunk (Lat. truncus); 4.
The bill or beak (Lat. rostrum); 5. The wings (Lat. pl. alg); 6. The tail (Lat. cauda) ; 7.
The feet (Lat. pl. pedes). Of these, 1, 2, 3, the head, neck, and trunk, are collectively termed
the body (Lat. corpus), in distinction from 4, 5, 6, 7, which are the members (Lat. membra).
The wings and feet are of course double or paired parts. The Dill is strictly but a part of the
head; but its manifold uses as an organ of prehension make it functionally a hand, and there-
fore one of the ‘‘ members.” The
Head has the general shape of a four-sided pyramid; of which the base is applied to the
end of the neck, therefore not appearing from the exterior, and the apex of which ‘is frustrated
at the base of the bill. The uppermost side is more or less convex or vaulted, sloping in
every direction ; the under side is flattish and horizontal; the lateral surfaces are flattish and
vertical ; all similarly taper forward. The departures from any such typical shape are endless
in degree and variable in kind, giving rise to numerous general descriptive terms, such as
‘head flattened,” ‘‘head globular,” but not susceptible of exact definition. The head is
moulded, of course, upon the skull, corresponding in a general way to the brain-cavity of the
cranium proper, both in size and shape; but it differs in several particulars. In the first place,
there is the scaffolding of the jaws; secondly, large excavations to receive the eye-balls, and
smaller ones for the ear-parts; thirdly, muscular masses overlying the bone; aud lastly, in
some birds, large hollow spaces in the bone between the inner and outer tables or plates of the
cranial walls. Each side of the head presents two openings for the eye (Lat. oculus) and ear
(Lat. awris), the position of which is variable, both absolutely and in relation to each other.
But in the vast majority of birds, the eye is strictly lateral in situation, and near the middle of
the side of the head; while the ear is behind and a little below the eye, near the articulation
of the lower jaw. But the shape of the skull of owls is such, that the eyes are directed forward,
and such birds are said to have “ eyes anterior.” Owls also have enormous outer ears, in some
cases provided with a movable flap or conch, closing upon the opening like the lid of a box;
and in many cases their ear-parts, and some of the cranium itself, is unsymmetrical. In
most birds the ear-opening is quite small, and only covered by modified feathers. In the
woodcock and snipe, owing to the way the brain-box is tilted up, the ears are below and not
behind the eyes. The mouth (Lat. os, gen. oris) is always a fissure across the front of the head.
The cleavage varies, both in extent and direction; the latter is usually horizontal, or nearly
so, but may trend much downward ; the former varies from a mininum, in which the cleft does
not reach back of the horny part of the bill, as in a snipe, to the maximum seen in fissure-billed
-birds like the swifts and goatsuckers, which gape almost from ear to ear. There are no other
openings in the head proper, for the nostrils are always in the bill. The
Neck, in effect, is a simple cylinder, rendered somewhat hour-glass-shaped, as above said.
It consists of a movable chain of bones, the cervical vertebra (Lat. cervix, the neck; verto, I
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— TOPOGRAPHY. 98
turn) enveloped in muscle, along which in front lie the gullet (Lat. esophagus) and windpipe
(Lat. trachea), with associate blood-vessels, nerves, etc. Its length is very variable, as is the
number of its bones, the latter ranging from 8 to about 26. Bearing as it does the head, with
the bill, which is the true hand of a bird, the neck is extremely flexible, to permit the neces-
sarily varied movements of this handy member. Its least length may be said to be that which
allows the point of a bird’s beak to reach the oil-gland on the rump; its greatest length some-
times exceeds that of the body and tail together, as in the case of a swan, crane, or heron. The
length is usually in direct proportion to that of the legs, in obvious design of allowing the beak
to touch the ground easily to pick up food. The neck is habitually carried in a double curve,
like an open § or italic f, the lower belly of the curve, convex forward, fitting in between the
forks of the merry-thought (Lat. furculwm), the upper curve holding the head horizontal at the
same time. This ‘sigmoid flexure” (sigma, Greek 8), highly characteristic of the bird’s neck,
is produced by the saddle-shaping of the articular surfaces of the several bones. The mechan-
ical arrangement is such, that the sigma may be easily bent till the upper end (head) rests on
the lower convexity, or as easily straightened to a right line ; but little if any further deviation
in opposite curvature is permitted. As a generalization, the neck may be called relatively
longest in wading birds, as herons, cranes, ibises, etc. ; shortest in perching birds, as the great
majority of small Insessores; intermediate in swimming birds. But many swimmers, as
swans and cormorants, have extremely long necks; and some waders, as plovers, have very
short ones. A long neck is a rarity among the higher birds (above the Galline), in most of
which the head seems to nestle upon the shoulders. The longer the neck, the more sinuous
and flexible is it likely to be. Anatomically, the neck ends before at the articulation of the
atlas (first cervical vertebra) with the skull, and behind at the first vertebra which bears free
jointed ribs reaching the sternum. (See also p. 183, Anatomy.) The shape of the
Body proper, or Trunk, is obviously referable to that of the egg; it is ovate (Lat.
ovum, an egg; whence oval, the plane figure represented by the middle lengthwise section of
an egg; ovate or ovoid, the solid figure). The swelling of the breast represents the greatest
diameter of the egg, usually near the larger end. But the ovoid is never perfectly expressed,
and departures from the figure are numberless. In general, the higher perching birds have the
body nearly of the ovate shape; among waders, the figure is usually compressed, or flattened
vertically, as is well seen in the herons, and still better in the rails, where the lateral uarrow-
ing is at an extreme; among swimmers, the body is always more or less depressed, or flattened
horizontally, and especially underneath, that the birds may rest on the water with more
stability, as well shown by a duck or diver. Anatomically the body begins with the foremost
dorsal vertebre, or those that bear true ribs; laterally, it ceases quite definitely at the shoulder-
joints, the whole of the fore limb being outside the general content of the trunk; behind, in
the middle line, it includes everything, only the tail-feathers themselves being beyond it;
behind and laterally, it includes more or less of the legs, for these are generally buried in the
common integument of the body to the knee-joint, nearly or quite so, and sometimes to the
heel-joint; though more strictly the trunk should be limited by the hip-joint. The rib-bearing
part of the back-bone, the ribs themselves, and the greatly enlarged breast-bone (Lat. sternum)
compose the cavity of the chest (Lat. thorax). Upon this bony box, which contains the
heart and lungs and some other viscera, are saddled on each side the bones of the shoulder-girdle
or scapular-arch, namely, the shoulder-blades (Lat. scapula), the coracoids, and the collar-bones
(Lat. clavicula), all three of which come together at the shoulder-joint. The thoracic cavity
is not separated by any partition or diaphragm from that of the belly (Lat. abdomen), which
with the pelvis, or basin, contains. the digestive, urinary, and genital organs. The pelvis is
composed, in dorsal mid-line, of so many of the vertebre (dorso-lumbar, sacral proper, and
urosacral, as become immovably joined to one another, and laterally of the confluent haunch-
94 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
- bones. The numerous anchylosed (or confluent) vertebree compose the sacrum. The haunch-
bones or ossa innominata consist on each side of three bones, wm, ischiwm, and pubis, in adult
life more or less perfectly anchylosed. Where they all three come together is the hip-joint.
The remaining bones, usually included among those of the body proper, are the coccygeal or
caudal vertebrae. (For anatomical detail see beyond, under Osteology, etc.)
Topography of the Body. — Besides being thus divided into head, neck, trunk, and mem-
bers, the exterior of the body is further subdivided or mapped out into regions for the purposes
of description. It is necessary for the student to become familiar with the ‘‘topography ” of a
bird, as this kind of mapping out may be called, for the names of the regions or outer areas
are incessantly used in ordinary descriptive ornithology. Many more names have been applied
than are in common use; I shall try to define and explain all those which are usually em-
ployed, beginning with the parts of the body, and ending with those of the members.
1. REGIONS OF THE BODY.
Upper and Under Parts. — Draw a line from the corner of the mouth along the side of
the head and neck to and through the shoulder-joint and thence along the side of the body to
the root of the tail; all above this line, ineluding the upper surfaces of the wings and tail, are
upper parts ; all below it, including under surfaces of wings and tail,are under parts ; for
which the short words ‘‘ above” and ‘‘ below” often stand. The distinction is purely arbi-
trary, but so-convenient as to be practically indispensable. It will be seen how an otherwise
lengthy description, enumerating parts that lie over or under the ‘‘lateral line” can be
put in so few words as, for example, ‘‘ above, green; below, yellow.” Many birds colors have
some such simple general distribution. These parts are also the dorsal (Lat. dorsum, back)
and ventral (Lat. venter, belly) surfaces or aspects. The upper parts of the body proper, or
trunk, have also received the general name of notaum (Gr. véros, notos, back) ; the under parts,
similarly restricted, that of gastrewm (Gr. yaoryp, gaster, belly): but these terms are not
much used now. These two are never naked, while both head and neck may be variously bare
of feathers. The only exception is the transient condition of certain birds during incubation,
when, like the eider duck, they pull off feathers to furnish the nest, or when the plumage, as
usually happens, wears off. The gastreum is rarely ornamented with -feathers different in
texture or structure from those of the plumage at large; but such a case is furnished by our
Lewis’s woodpecker (Asyndesmus torquatus). The noteeum, on the contrary, is often the seat
of extraordinary development of feathers, either in size, shape, or texture, or all three of these
qualities; as the singularly elegant dorsal plumes of many herons. Individual feathers of the
noteeum are generally pennaceous, and for the most part straight and lanceolate; and as a
whole lie smoothly shingled or imbricated. The ventral feathers are usually more largely
plumulaceous, and less flat and imbricated, but even more compact, that is thicker, than those
of the upper parts; especially among water birds, where they are more or less curly, and
very thick set. There are subdivisions of the
Notzum. — Beginning where the neck ends, and ending where the tail-coverts begin
(see fig. 25, 12), this part of a bird is subdivided into back (Lat. dorsum ; fig. 25, 11) and
rump (Lat. wropygium ; fig. 25,13). These are in direct coitinuation of each other, and their
limits are not precisely defined ; the feathers of both are of the pteryla dorsalis. In general,we
should call the anterior two-thirds or three-fourths of noteeum “back,” and the rest “rump.”
With the former are generally included the scapular or shoulder-feathers, scapwlars or scapu-
laries ; these are they that grow on the pteryle humerales. The region of noteum ‘they repre-
sent is called scapulare (Lat. scapula, shoulder-blade), and that part of noteeum strictly
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— TOPOGRAPHY. 95
between them is called the interscapulare (fig. 25, 10) ; it is often marked, as in the chipping
sparrow, with streaks or some other distinctive coloration. A part of dorsum, lying between
interscapulare and uropygium, is sometimes recognized as the ‘‘lower back” (Lat. tergum) ; but
this distinction is not practically useful. To uropygium probably also belong the feathers of
the pteryle femorales, or at any rate these are commonly included with the rump in descrip-
tions; but they more properly represent the flanks (Lat. ilia, or hypochondria) ; that is, sides
of the rump. They are sometimes the seat of largely developed or otherwise peculiarly
inodified feathers, as the snowy flank plumes of the white-bellied swift (Panyptila saxatilis) or
violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina), which meet over the rump. The whole of
noteum, taken together with the upper surfaces of the wings, is called the mantle (Lat. stragu-
lum, a cloak) ; often a convenient term, as in describing gulls and terns for example. In like
manner, the
Fig, 25 — Topography of a Bird. 1, forehead (/rons). 2, lore. 8, circumocular region. 4, crown (vertex).
B, eye. 6, hind head (occiput). 7, nape(nucka). 8, hind neck (cervix). 9, side of neck. 10, interscapular region.
11, dorswm, or back proper, including 10. 12, notewm, or upper part of body proper, including 10, 11, and 18.
13, rump(uwropygium). 14, upper tail-coverts. 15, tail. 16, under tail-coverts (crissum). 17, tarsus. 18, abdo-
men. 19, hind toe (hallux). 20, gastreum, including 18 and 24. 21, outer or fourth toe. 22, middle or third toe.
23, side of the body. 24, breast (pectus), 25, primaries. 26, secondaries. 27, tertiaries; nos. 25, 26, 27 are all
remiges. 28, primary coverts. 29, alula, or bastard wing. 30, greater coverts. 31, median coverts. 32, lesser
coverts. 33, the ‘‘ throat,” including 34, 37, 38. 34, jugulum or lower throat. 35, auriculars. 36, malar region.
87, gula, or middle throat. 38, mentwm, or chin. 39, angle of commissure, or corner of mouth. 40, ramus of
under mandible. 41, side of under mandible. 42, gonys. 43, apex, or tip of bill. 44, tomia, or cutting edges of
the bill. 45, culmen, or ridge of upper mandible, corresponding to gonys. 46, side of upper mandible. 47, nostril.
48 passes across the bill a little in front of its base.
"hgeteline :
24), belly (Lat. abdomen ; fig. 25, 18), and sides of the body (Lat. plewra ; fig. 25, 23). The
“ sides” lor pleurze belong really as much to the dorsal as to the ventral aspects of a bird’s
body; brit in consequence of the underneath-freighted shape, the line we drew passes so high
up along'them, that they are almost entirely given over to gastreum. The breast begins over
vt Cae is subdivided into regions, called, in general terms, breast (Lat. pectus ; fig. 25,
96 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the merry-thought where juguluim (see beyond) ends; on either hand, it slopes up to “ sides” ; ;
behind, its extension is indefinite. It should properly reach as far as the breast-bone does, to
the limit of the thorax; but in many birds this would leave almost nothing for abdomen, and
the limit would moreover fluctuate with almost every family of birds, the sternum being so
variable in length. Practically, therefore, without reference to the breast-bone, ‘‘ breast” or
pectus is restricted to the swelling anterior part of gastreeum, which we call belly or abdomen
as soon as it begins to straighten out and flatten. Abdomen, like pectus, rounds up on either
hand into sides ; behind, it ends definitely in a transverse line passing across the anus. It has
been unnecessarily divided into epigastrium or “ pit of the stomach,” and venter or lower belly ;
but these terms are rarely used. (Crisswm is a word constantly used for some indefinite region
immediately about the vent; sometimes meaning the flanks, sometimes the vent-feathers or
under tail-coverts proper; I refer to it again in connection with these last.) Though these
boundaries seem fluctuating and not perfectly satisfactory, a little practice will enable the
student to appreciate their proper use in descriptions, and to employ them himself with suffi--
cient accuracy. The adjectival terms are respectively pectoral, abdominal, and lateral. The
anterior continuation of the trunk, or the
Neck (Lat. collum) is likewise subdivided into regions. Its lateral aspects, except in
those birds that have lateral neck-tracts of feathers, are formed by the meeting over its sides
of the feathers that grow on the dorsal and ventral pteryle, the skin being usually not planted
with feathers. Partly on this account, perhaps, a distinctively named region is not often
expressed ; we say simply ‘‘ sides of the neck,” or “‘ neck laterally” (parauchenia, fig. 25, 9),
The neck behind, or the dorsal (upper) aspect, is divided into two portions: a lower, the
“hind neck” proper, or ‘‘ scruff of the neck” (Lat. cervix ; fig. 25, 8), next to the back ;
and an upper, or ‘‘ nape of the neck” (Lat. nucha ; fig. 25,7), adjomming the hind head.
These are otherwise respectively known as the cervical and nuchal region ; and, in speaking
of both together, we usually say “‘the neck behind.” The front of the neck has been need-
lessly subdivided, and these subregions vary with almost every writer. It suffices to call it
throat (Lat. gula, fig. 25, 37, or jugulum, 34); remembering that the jugular portion is
lowermost, vanishing in breast, and the gular uppermost, running into chin along the under
surface of the head. Guttur is a term sometimes used to include gula and jugulum together :
it is simply equivalent to ‘‘ throat,” as just defined ; the adjective is guttural. Though gener-
ally covered with feathers, the neck, unlike the trunk, is frequently partly naked. When naked
behind, it is usually cervix that is bare, as so characteristically occurs in herons, from interrup-
tion of the forward extension of the pteryla spinalis. Nucha is seldom if ever naked, except as
an extension of general bald-headeduess. Gula is similarly naked from above downwards, as
conspicuously illustrated in the order Steganopodes, comprising the pelicans, cormorants, ete.,
which have a bare gular pouch; and as seen in many vultures, whose baldness extends over
nucha and gula, and even all around the neck, as in the condor, whose nakedness ends with so
singular a collar of close-set, downy feathers. The lower throat or jugulum becomes naked
in a few birds, in which a distended crop or craw protrudes, pushing apart feathers of two
branches of the pteryla ventralis as these ascend the neck. The rule is, that the neck is not
the seat of enlarged or otherwise highly developed feathers, which might restrict the requisite
freedom of its motion; but there are some signal exceptions, among which may be instanced
the grouse fasnily. The ruffed grouse has a singular umbrella-like tuft on each side of the neck :
the pinnated grouse has still more curious winglets in the same situation, covering bare disten-
sible skin: the sharp-tailed grouse is in somewhat similar but less pronounced case; while the
cock of the plains has some extraordinary jugular developments of feathers in connection with
his subcutaneous tympanum. Cervix proper almost never has modified feathers, but often a
transverse coloration different from that of the rest of the upper parts; when a this
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— TOPOGRAPHY. 97
is called ‘‘ cervical collar,” to distinguish it from the guttural or jugular ‘‘ collars” or rings of
color. Nucha is frequently similarly marked with a ‘nuchal band;” often special develop-
ments there take the form of lengthening of the feathers, and we have a ‘ nuchal crest.” More
particularly in birds of largely variegated colors, guttur and jugulum are marked lengthwise
with stripes and streaks, of which those on the sides are apt to be different from those along
the middle line in front. Jugulum occasionally has lengthened feathers, as in many herons.
Higher up, the neck in front may have variously lengthened or otherwise modified feathers.
Conspicuous among these are the ruffs, or tippets, of some birds, especially of the grebe family
(Podicipedide), and, above all our other birds, of the male ruff (Machetes pugnax). But
these, and a few other modifications of the feathers of the upper mR are more conveniently
considered with those of the
Head.— Though smaller than any of the areas already considered, the head has been
more minutely mapped out, and much detail is required by the number and importance of its
recognizable parts or regions. Without intending to mention all that have been named, I
describe all needed to be known for any practical purposes.
“Top of the head” is a collective term for all the upper surface, from base of bill to
nape, and laterally to about the level of the upper border of the eyes; this is the pilewm or
“cap” (fig. 25, 1, 4, 6); it is divided into three portions. The forehead, or frontal region,
or simply ‘‘ the front” (Lat. frons ; fig. 25, 1), includes all that slopes upward from the bill,
—generally to about opposite the anterior border of the eyes. Middle head or crown (Lat.
corona) or vertex (Lat., fig. 25, 1), includes the top of.the head proper, or highest part, from
the rise of the forehead to the fall of the hind-head towards nucha. This slope is the hind-head,
or occiput (Lat., fig. 25, 6). The lateral border of all three constitutes the superciliary line,
that is, the line over the eye (Lat. super, over; cilia, little hairs, especially of the brows).
‘‘ Crown” is often used as the same thing as pileum. The adjectives of the several words are
frontal, coronal or vertical, and occipital: pileum has none in use, coronal being said instead.
“ Side of the head” is a general term defining itself; it presents for consideration several
regions. The orbital or cirewmorbital region, or simply the orbit (Lat. orbis, an orb, here the
socket of the eyeball; fig. 25, 3), is a small space forming a ring around the eye. It includes
the eye, and especially the eyelids (Lat. palpebre). The points where these meet, in front and
behind, respectively, are the anterior canthus and posterior canthus (Gr. xavOés, kanthos, Lat.
canthus, a tire). The orbital region is subdivided into supra-orbital, infra-orbital, ante-orbital,
and post-orbital, according as its upper, under, front, or back portion is desired to be specially
designated. The situation of the orbit varies much in different groups of birds; it is generally
midway, as said above, but may be higher or lower, jammed on toward the bill, or pushed far
up and back, as strikingly shown in the woodcock. In owls, the orbital region is exaggerated
into a great disc of radiating feathers, conferring a peculiar physiognomy. The aural or
auricular (Lat. auris, or auriculum, ear; fig. 25, 35) region lies about the external opening
of the ear, or meatus auditorius ; its position varies in heads of different shapes, but it nearly
always lies behind and a little below the eye. Wherever located, it may be recognized at a
glance, by the peculiar texture of the feathers (the awriculars) which overlie the meatus.
Doubtless to offer least obstacle to sound, these are a parcel of loose-webbed little plumes,
which may be collectively raised and turned forward, exposing the orifice of the ear; they are
extremely large and notable in those owls which have complicated external ear parts, and in
such they form part of the great facial disc. The term ‘temporal region ” or “ temple” is not
often used in ornithology, not being well distinguished from the post-orbital space between eye
and ear, and having nothing special about it. At the lowermost back corner of the side of the
head, generally just behind and below the ear, may be seen or felt a hard protuberance ; it is
the sharpest corner-stone of the head, being the place where the lower jaw hinges upon the
7
98 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
skull. This is called the ‘angle of the jaw ;” it is a good Jandmark, which must by no means
be confused with the ‘‘angle of the mouth,” where the horny parts of the beak come together.
The lore (Lat. lorum, a strap, or bridle; hence, place where the cheek-strap passes; fig. 25, 2)
includes pretty much all the space between the eye and the side of the base of the upper
mandible; a considerable part of it is simply ante-orbital Thus we say of a hawk, “lores
bristly ;” and examination of a bird of that kind will show how large a space is covered by the
term. Lore, however, should properly be restricted to a narrow line between the eye and bill.
in the direction of the nostrils. It is excellently shown in the heron and grebe families, where
“naked lores” is a distinctive character. The lore is an important place, not only from being
thus marked in mgny birds, but from being frequently the seat of specially modified or specially
colored feathers. The-rest of the side of the head, including the space between angle of jaw
and bill, has the name of cheek (Lat. gena, first eyelid, then, and generally, the prominence
under the eye formed by the cheek-bones; fig. 25, 36). It is bounded above by loral, infra-
orbital, and auricular regions; below, by a more or less straight line, representing the lower
edge of the bony prong of the under mandible. It is cleft in front for a varying distance by the
backward extension of the gape of the mouth; above this gape is more properly gena, or malar
region (Lat. mala, upper jaw) in strictness; below it is jaw (maxilla), or rather ‘side of the
jaw.” The lower edge of the jaw definitely separates the side of the head from the “‘ under
surface” of the head; properly bounded behind by an imaginary line drawn straight across from
one angle of the jaw to the other, and running forward to a point between the forks of the
under mandible. As already hinted, ‘‘ throat” (gula ; fig. 25, 37) extends upward and forward
into this space without obvious dividing line ; it runs into chim (Lat. mentum ; fig. 25, 38), of
which it is only to be said, that it is the (varying in extent) anterior part of the under surface
of the head. Anteriorly, it.may be conveniently marked off, opposite the point where the
feathers end on the. side of the lower jaw, from the feathery space (when any) between the
branches of the upper mandible itself; this latter is called the imterramal space (Lat. inter,
between, ramus, fork).
The head is so often marked lengthwise with different colors, apt to take such definite
position, that these lines have received special names. Median vertical line is one along the
middle of pileum, from base of bill to nucha; lateral vertical times bound it on either side.
Supreiliary line has already been noticed; below it runs the lateral stripe ; that part of it
before the eye, is loral or ante-orbital ; behind the eye, post-orbital ; when these are continu-
ous through the eye, they form a trans-ocular (Lat. trans, across; oculus, eye) line; below
this is malar line, or cheek-stripe (Lat. frenum, a bridle) ; below this, on the under jaw, max-
illary or submaxillary line ; in the middle below, mental or gular lines.
No part of the body has so variable a ptilosis as the head. In the great majority of birds
it is wholly and densely feathered; it ranges from this to wholly naked; but nakedness, it
should be observed, means only absence of perfect feathers, for most birds with unfeathered
heads have a hair-like growth of filoplumes on the skin. Our samples of uaked-headed birds
are the turkey, the vultures, the cranes, and some of the heron tribe, as ibises. Associated with
more or less complete “‘ baldness,” is the frequent presence of various feshy outgrowths, as
combs, wattles, caruncles (warty excrescences), lobes, and flaps of all sorts, even to enumerate
which would exceed our limits. The parts of the barn-yard cock exemplify the whole; among
North American birds they are very rare, being confined, in evident development at any rate,
to the wild turkey. Sometimes horny plates take the place of feathers on part of the head; as
the frontal shields of the coots and gallinules. A very common form of head-nakedness marks
one whole order of birds, the Steganopodes, which have mentum and more or less of gula
naked, and transformed into a sort of pouch, extremely developed in the pelicans, and well seen
in the cormorants. The next commonest is definite bareness of the lores, as in all herons
and grebes ; in the former including the whole circum-orbital region. A little orbital space is
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—~ TOPOGRAPHY. 99
bare in many birds, as the vulturine hawks, and some pigeons; species of grouse have a bare
warty supra-orbital space. Among water-birds particularly, more or less of the interramal space
is almost always unfeathered ; the nakedness always proceeds from before backwards. With
the rare exceptions of a narrow frontal line, and a little space about the angle of the mouth, no
other special parts of the head than those above given are naked in any North American bird,
unless associated with general baldness.
The opposite condition, that of redundant feathering, gives rise to all the various erests
(Lat., pl. eriste) that form such striking ornaments of many birds. Crests proper belong to
the top of the head, but may be also held to include those growths on its side; these together
being called crests in distinction to the ruffs, ruffles, beard, etc., of gula or mentum. Crests
may be divided into two kinds: 1, where the feathers are simply lengthened or otherwise
enlarged; and 2, where the texture, and sometimes even the structure, is altered. Nearly all
birds possess the power of moving and elevating the feathers on the head, simulating a slight
crest in moments of excitement. The general form of a crest is a full, soft elongation of the
coronal feathers collectively; when perfect, such a crest is globular, as in the genus Pyro-
cephalus ; generally, however, the feathers lengthen on the occiput more than on the vertex
or front, and this gives us the simplest and commonest form. Such crests, when more par-
ticularly occipital, are usually connected with lengthening of nuchal feathers, and are likely
to be of a thin, pointed shape, as well shown in the kingfisher. Coronal or vertical crests
proper are apt to be rather different in coloration than in specially marked elongation of the
feathers ; they are perfectly illustrated in the king-bird, and other species of the genus Tyran-
nus. Frontal crests are the most elegant of all; they generally rise as a pyramid from the
forehead, as excellently shown in the blue jay, cardinal bird, tufted titmouse, and others. All
the foregoing crests are generally single, but sometimes double; as shown in the two lateral
occipital tufts of the “‘ horned” lark, in all the tufted or “‘ horned” owls, and in a few cormo-
rants. Lateral crests are, of course, always double, one on each side of the head; they are of
various shapes, but need not be particularized here, especially since they mostly belong to the
second class of crests, — those consisting of texturally modified feathers. It is a general, though
not exclusive, character of these last that they are temporary ; while the other kind is only
changed with the general moult, these are assumed for a short period only, the breeding season ;
and, furthermore, they are often distinctive of sex. Occurring on the top of the head, they
furnish the most remarkable ornaments of birds. I need only instance the elegant helmet-like
plumes of the partridges of the genus Lophortyx ; the graceful flowing train of Oreortyx ; the
somewhat similar plumes of the night and other herons. The majority of the cormorants, and
many of the auks, possess lateral plumes of similar description ; these, and those of the herons,
‘are probably — in most. cases certainly — deciduous ; while those of the partridges above men-
tioned last as long as the general plumage. These lateral plumes, in many birds, especially
among grebes, are associated with, and, in fact, coalesce with, the ruffs, which are singular
lengthening and modifying in different ways of feathers of auriculars, gene and gula ; and are
almost always temporary. Beards, or special lengthening of the mental feathers aldne, are
comparatively rare; we have no good example among our birds, but a European vulture,
Gypaétus barbatus, is one. The feathers sometimes become scaly (squamous), forming, for
instance, the exquisite gorgelets or frontlets of humming-birds. They are often bristly (seta-
ceous), as about the lores of nearly all hawks, the forehead of the dabchick, neadow-lark,
ete. A particular set of bristles, which grow in single series along the gape of many birds,
are called rictal bristles or vibrisse. These occur in greater or less development in most sinall
insectivorous birds; they are large and stiff and highly characteristic of the family Tyrannida,
or flyeatchers; while in some of the goatsuckers (Caprimulgide) they are prodigiously long,
and in one species of that family (Antrostomus carolinensis) they have lateral filaments. While
usually all the unlengthened head-feathers point backward, they are sometimes erect, forming
100 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
a velvety pile, or they may radiate in a circle from a given point, as from the eye in most owls,
where they form a disc.
In the foregoing paragraph I only mention a few styles of crests, chiefly needed to be
known in the study of our birds; but should add that there are many others, with endless
modifications, among exotic birds ; to these, however, I cannot even allude by name. Peculiar-
ities of nasal feathers, and others around the base of the bill, are noticed below. Forms of crests
are illustrated by many of the figures given passim in the present work.
2. OF THE MEMBERS: THEIR PARTS AND ORGANS.
I. THE BILL.
The Bill (Lat. rostrwm) is hand and mouth in one: the instrument of prehension. As
hand, it takes, holds, and carries food or other substances, and in many instances, feels ; as
mouth, it tears, cuts, or crushes, according to the nature of the substances taken ; assuming
the functions of both lips and teeth, neither of which do any recent birds possess. An organ
thus essential to the prime functions of birds, one directly related to their various modes of life,
is of much consequence in a taxonomic point of view; yet its structural modifications are so
various and so variously interrelated, that it is more important in framing genera than families
or orders; more constant characters must be employed for the higher groups. The general
shape of the bill is referable to the cone; it is the anterior part of the general cone that we
have seen to reach from its point to the base of the skull. This shape confers the greatest
strength combined with the greatest delicacy ; the end is fine to apprehend the smallest objects,
while the base is stout to manipulate the largest. But in no bird is the cone expressed with
entire precision ; and, in most, the departure from this figure is great. The bill always con-
sists of two, the upper and the lower
Mandibles (fig. 26), which lie, as their names indicate, above and below, and are sepa-
rated by a horizontal fissure, — the mouth. Each mandible always consists of certain project-
ing skull-bones, sheathed with more or less horny integument in lieu
of true skin. The frame-work of the Upper Mandible is (chiefly)
a bone called the intermazillary, or better, in this case, the premax-
illary. In general, this is a three-pronged or tripodal bone running
to a point in front, with the uppermost prong, or foot, implanted
upon the forehead, and the other two, lower and horizontal, running
into the sides of the front of the skull. The scaffold of the Under
Mandible is a compound bone called inferior maxillary ; it is U- or
Fre, 26.— Parts of a Bill.
a, side of upper mandible; 6,
culmen; ce, nasal fossa; d,
nostril ; .¢ (see below); f, gape,
or whole commissural line; g,
rictus; 2, commissural point
or angle of the mouth; i, ra-’
mus of under jaw ; j, tomia of
under mandible (the refer-
ence lines e should have been
drawn to indicate the corre-
sponding tomia of upper man-
dible): %, angle of gonys; é,
gonys; m, side of under man-~
dible; , tips of mandibles,
V-shaped, with the point or convexity in front, and the prongs run-
ning to either side of the base of the skull behind, to be there mov-
ably hinged. These two bones, with certain accessory bones of the
upper mandible, as the palate bones, etc., together with the horny
investment, constitute the Jaws. Both jaws, in birds, are movable ;
the under, by the joint’ just mentioned; the upper, either by a
joint at, or by the elasticity of the bones of, the forehead; it is
moved by a singular muscular and bony apparatus in the palate,
further notice of which is given beyond, under head of Anatomy
(Osteology). The motion of the upper mandible is freest and most
extensive in the parrot tribe, where both fronto-maxillary and
palato-maxillary sutures exist. When closed, the jaws meet and fit along their apposed edges
or surfaces, in the same manner and for the same purposes as the lips and teeth of man or
other vertebrate animals. All bills, thus similarly constituted, have been divided into
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE BILL. 101
Four Classes, representing as many ways in which the two mandibles close upon each
"other at the end. 1. The epignathous (Gr. émi, epi, upon, yvdbos, gnathos, jaw) way, plan, or
type, in which the upper mandible is longer than the under, and its tip is evidently bent down
over the tip of the lower. 2. The hypognathous (Gr. id, hupo, under), in which the lower
mandible is longer than the other. 3. The paragnathous (Gr. mapa, para, at or by), in which
both are of about equal length, and neither is evidently bent over the other. 4. The metagna-
thous (Gr. pera, meta, with, beside, etc.), in which the points of the mandibles cross each
other. The secoud and fourth of these are extremely rare; they are exemplified, respectively,
by the skimmer and the cross-bill (genera Rhynchops and Lowia). The first is common,
occurring throughout the birds of prey, the parrots, and among the petrels, gulls, etc., ete.
The great majority of birds exhibit the third; and, among them, there is such evident grada-
tion into epignathism, that it is necessary to restrict the latter to its complete development,
exhibited in the intermaxillary bone divested of its horny sheath, which often, as among fly-
catchers, etc., forms a little overhanging point, but does not constitute epignathism. These
classes, it should be added, though always applicable, and very convenient in descriptions, are
purely arbitrary, that is, they by no means correspond to any four large groups of birds ; but,
on the contrary, usually only mark families and the subdivisions of families; and the four
types may be seen in contiguous genera. The general shape of the bill has also furnished
Other Classes, for many yeurs used as a large basis for ornithological classification, even
for the establishment of orders; but which the progress of the science has shown to be merely
as convevient as, and only less arbitrary than, the foregoing. The principal of these are
represented by the following types: A, among land birds. 1. The fissirostral (Lat. fissus,
cleft, and rostrum), or cleft, in which the bill is small, short, and with a very large gap run-
ning down the side of the head; as in the swallow, chimney-swift, whippoorwill. 2. The
tenuirostral (Lat. tenuis, slender), or slender, in which the bill is small, long, and with a short
cleft ; as in the humming-bird, creeper, nuthatch. 3. The dentirostral (Lat. dens, a tooth),
or toothed, in which, with a various general shape, there is present a nick, tooth, or evident
lobe in the opposed edges of gne or both mandibles near the end; as in the shrike, vireo, and
some wrens, thrushes, and warblers. 4. The conirostral (Lat. conus, a cone), or conical, suffi-
ciently defined by its name, and illustrated by the great finch family and some allied ones. —
B, among water birds. 5. The longirostral (Lat. longus, long), or long, an aquatic style of
the tenuirostral, best exhibited in the great snipe family. 6. The pressirostral (Lat. pressus,
pressed), or the compact, illustrated by the plovers, etc., and quite likely analogous to the
couirostral. 7. The cultrirostral (Lat. culter, a knife), cutting, perhaps analogous to the
dentirostral, exemplified in the heron group. None of these terms are now used to indicate
natural groups, nor have we such absurdities as the ‘‘ orders” Fissirostres, Tenutrostres, etc.
A swallow, for instance, and a swift are equally fissirostral, though only distantly related to
each other; a swift is very closely related to a humming-bird, though the latter is extremely
tenuirostral; and birds of contiguous genera may be dentirostral or not. The words are
nevertheless convenient incidental terms in general descriptions. Various other similar terms,
expressing special modifications, as lamellirostral (Lat. lamella, a plate), acutirostral (Lat.
acutus, sharp), ete., are also employed as common names, simply descriptive of
Other Forms. — A bill is called Jong, when notably longer than the head proper ; short,
when notably shorter ; mediwm, in neither of these conditions. It is compressed, when higher
than wide, at the base at least, and generally for some portion of its length; depressed, when
wider than high ; terete (Lat. teres, cylindric), under neither of these conditions. It is recurved,
when curved upwardg decurved, when curved downward; bent, when the variation in either
direction is at an angle; straight, when not out of line with the axis of the head. A bill is
102 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
obtuse (said chiefly of the paragnathous sort) when it rapidly comes to an end that therefore
is not fine; or when the end is knobby; it is acute when it runs to a sharp point; acuminate,
when equally sharp and slenderer; attenuate, when still slenderer; subulate (awl-shaped),
when slenderer still; acicular (needle-shaped), when slenderest possible, as in some humming-
birds. A bill is arched, vaulted, turgid, twmid, inflated, etc., when its outlines, both crosswise
and lengthwise, are notably more ur less convex ; and contracted, when some, or the principal,
outlines are concave (said chiefly of depressions about the base of the upper mandible, or of
concavity along the sides of both mandibles). A bill is hamulate (Lat. hamus, a hook), or
unguiculate (Lat. wnguis, a claw), when strongly epignathous, as in rapacious birds, where
the upper mandible is like the talon of a carnivorous beast; .it is dentate, when toothed, as in
a falcon ; if there are a number of similar ‘‘ teeth,” it is serrate (Lat. serra, a saw), like a saw;
it is eultrate (knife-like), when extremely compressed and sharp-edged, as in the auk, skimmer ;
if much curved as well as cultrate, it is faleate (Lat. falx, a reaping-hook ; scythe-shaped) ;
and each mandible may: be oppositely falcate, as in the cross-bill, constituting metagnathism.
A bill much flattened and widened at the end (rare) is spatulate (Lat. spatula, a spoon) ;
examples: spoonbill, shoveller duck. One is called lamellate, when it has a series of plates
or processes just inside the edges of the mandibles; as in all the duck order, and in a few
petrels ; the design is to furnish a sifter or strainer of water, just what is effected in the whale,
by the “bone” in its mouth. Finally, the far end of the bill, of whatever shape, is called the
tip or apex (fig. 26, m) ; the near end, joined to the rest of the skull, the base ; the rest is the
continuity. Some other features of the bill as a whole are best treated under separate head of
The Covering of the Bill. —(a.) In the great majority of birds, including nearly all
perchers, many walkers, and some waders and swimmers, the sheathing of the mandibles is.
wholly hard, horny, or corneous (Lat. cornu, a horn); it is integument modified much as in
“the case of the nails or claws of beasts. In nearly all waders and most swimmers, the sheath
becomes, wholly or partly, softer, and is of a dense, leathery texture. But some swimmers, as
among the auks, furnish bills as hard-covered as any, while some perchers have it partly quite
soft, so that no unexceptional rule can be laid down; and, moreover, the gradations from one
extreme to the other are insensible. Probably the softest bill is found among the snipes, where
it is skinny throughout, and in typical snipes and woodcocks vascular and nervous at the tip,
becoming a true organ of touch, used to feel for worms out of sight in the mud. In all the duck
order the bill is likewise soft; but there it is always terminated by a hard, horny, wnguis or
‘‘nail,” more or less distinct ; and such a horny claw also occurs in other water birds with softish
bills, as the pelican. An interesting modification occurs in all, or nearly all, of the pigeon order ;
these birds have the bill hard or hardish at tip and through most of ‘continuity, but towards
and at the base of the upper mandible the sheath changes to a soft, tumid, skinny texture,
overarching the nostrils; it is much the same with most plovers. But the most important
feature in this connection is afforded by the parrots and all the birds of prey; one so remarkable
that it has received a distinct name: CERE. The cere (Lat. cera, wax; because it looks
waxy) is a dense membrane saddled on the upper mandible at base, so different from the rest
of the bill, that it might be questioned whether it does not more properly belong to the head than
to the bill, were it not for the fact that the nostrils open in it. Moreover, the cere is often
densely feathered, as in the Carolina paroquet, in the bill proper of which no nostrils are seen,
these being hidden in the feathered cere, which, therefore, inight easily be mistaken at first sight
for the bird’s forehead. A sort of false cere occurs in some water birds, as the jaegers, or skua-
gulls (genus Stercorarius). The tumid nasal skin of pigeons is sometimes called a cere; but
the term had better be restricted to the birds first above named. The under mandible probably
never presents softening except as a part of general skinniness of the bill? it may have a nail
at the end. (b.) The covering is either entire or pieced. In most birds it is entire ; that is, the
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE BILL. 108
sheath of either mandible may be pulled off whole, like the finger of a glove. It is, however,
in many birds divided into parts, by various lines of slight connection, and then comes off in
pieces ; as is the case with some water birds, particularly petrels, where the divisions are regu-
lar, and the pieces have received distinctive names. Many auks (Alcid@) have the covering
of the bill in particular pieces, and it is an extraordinary fact that such parts are of a secondary
sexual character (see p. 90), being assumed at the breeding season and afterwards moulted
like feathers. Such condition of the sheath of the beak, or of special developments of the
sheath, is called caducous or deciduous. The entire covering of both jaws together is called
rhamphotheca (Gr. paudos, hramphos, beak; Oxy, theke, a sheath), of the upper alone,
rhinotheca (Gr. pis, hris, the nose) ; of the under, gnathotheca (Gr. yrabos, gnathos, jaw) ; but
these terms are not much used. (c.) The covering is otherwise variously marked; sometimes
so strongly that similar features are impressed upon the bones themselves beneath. The most
frequent marks are various ridges (Lat. pl. caring, keels) of all lengths and degrees of expres-
sion, straight or curved, vertical, oblique, horizontal, lengthwise, or transverse; a bill so
marked is said to be striate (Lat. stria, a streak) or carinate ; when numerous and irregular,
they are called ruge (Lat. vuga, a wrinkle) and the bill is said to be corrugated or rugose,
When the elevations.are in points or spots instead of lines, they are called puncta (Lat. punc-
tum, a point) ; a bill so furnished is punctate, but the last word is oftener employed to designate
the presence of little pits or depressions, as in the dried bill of a snipe towards the end. Larger
softish, irregular knobs or elevations pass under the general name of warts or papilla, and a
bill so marked is papillose ; when the processes are very large and soft, the bill is said to be
carunculate (Lat. caro, flesh, diminutive carwnculus, little bit of flesh). Various linear depres-
sions, often but not always associated with caring, are grooves or sulet (Lat. sulcus, a furrow)
and the bill is then called sulcate. Sulci, like carinz, are of all shapes, sizes, and positions ;
when very large and definite, they are sometimes called canaliculi, or channels. The various
knobs, “horns,” and large special features of the bill cannot be here particularized. Any of
the foregoing features may oceur on both mandibles, and they are exclusive of that special
mark of the upper the nasal fossa in which the nostrils open, and which is considered below.
We have still to notice the special parts of either mandible; and will begin with the
simplest, the
Under Mandible. —In the majority of birds it is a little shorter and a little narrower and
not nearly so deep as the upper; but sometimes quite as large, or even larger. The upper
edge, double (3. e., there is an edge on both sides), is called the mandibular tomium, or in the
plural, tomia (Gr. réuvew, temnein, to cut; fig. 26, 7), as far as it is hard; this is received
against, and usually a little within, the corresponding edge of the upper mandible. The
prongs already mentioned are the mandibular rami (pl. of Lat. ramus, a branch; fig. 26, 2) ;
these meet at some point in front, either at a short angle (like >) or with a rounded joining
dike >). At their point of union there is a prominence, more or less marked (fig. 26, k) ;
this is the Gonys (corrupted from the Gr. yévu, gonu, a knee; hence, any similar protuber-
ance). That is to say, this point is gonys proper; but the term is extended to apply to the
whole line of union of the rami, from gonys proper to the tip of the under mandible; and in
descriptions it means, then, the wnder outline of the bill for a corresponding distance (fig. 26, 2).
This important term must be understood; it is constantly used in describing birds. The
gonys is to the under mandible what the keel is to a boat; it is the opposite of the ridge or
culmen of the upper mandible. It varies greatly in length. Ordinarily it forms, say, one-
half to three-fourths of the under outline. Sometimes, as in conirostral birds, a sparrow for
example, it represents nearly all tais outline; while in a few birds it makes the whole, and in
some, as the puffin, is actually longer than the lower mandible proper, because it extends back-
wards in a point. Other birds may have almost no gonys at all; as a pelican, where the rami
104 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
only meet at the extreme tip, or in the whole duck family, where there is hardly more. As
the student must see, the length of the gonys is simply a matter of how extensive is the fusion
of the rami, and that, similarly, their mode of fusion, as in a sharp ridge, a flat surface, a
straight line, a curve, etc., results in corresponding modifications of its special shape. The
interramal space is complementary to length of gonys: sometimes it runs to the tip of the bill,
as in a pelican, sometimes there is next to none, as in a puffin; while its width depends upon
the degree of divergence, and the straightness or curvature, of the rami. The surface between
the tomium and lower edge of rami and gonys together is the side of the wnder mandible
(fig. 26, m). The most important feature of the
Upper Mandible is the culmen (Lat. for top of anything ; fig. 26, 6). The culmen is to
the upper mandible what the ridge is to the roof of a house; it is the upper profile of the bill
—the highest middie lengthwise line of the bill ; it begins where the feathers end on the fore-
head, and extends to the tip of the upper mandible. According to the shape of the bill it may
be straight or convex; or concave, or even somewhat w-shaped; or double-convex, as in the
tufted puffin: but in the great majority of cases it is convex, with increasing convexity towards
the tip. Sometimes it rises up into a thin elevated crest, as well shown in the genus Cro-
tophaga, and in the puffins (Fratercula), when the upper mandible is said to be keeled, and the
culmen itself to be cultrate ; sometimes it is really a furrow instead of a ridge, as toward the
end of a snipe’s bill; but generally it is simply the uppermost line of union of the gently con-
vex and sloping sides of the wpper mandible (fig. 26, a). Ina great many birds, especially
those with depressed Dill, as all the ducks, there is really no culmen; but then the median
lengthwise line of the surface of the upper mandible takes the place and name of culmen.
The culmen generally steps short about opposite the proper base of the bill; then the feathers
sweep across its end, and downwards across the base of the sides of the upper mandible,
usually also obliquely backwards. Variations in both directions from this standard are
frequent; the feathers may run out in a point on the culmen, shortening the latter, or the
culmen may af a way up the forehead, parting the feathers; either in a point, as in the rails
and gallinaceolis birds, or as a broad plate of horn, as in the coots and gallinules. The lower
edge (double) of the upper mandible is the maxillary tomium, as far backward as it is hard
and wo The most conspicuous feature of the upper mandible in most birds is the
Nasal Fossa (Lat. fossa, a ditch), or nasal groove (fig. 26, c), in which the nostrils open.
The upper prong of the intermaxillary bone is usually separated some ways from the two
lateral prongs; the skinny or horny sheath that stretches betwixt them is usually sunken
below the general level of the bill, especially in those birds where the prongs are long or
widely separated; this ‘‘ ditch” is what we are about. It is called fossa when short and wide,
with varying depth ; swleus or groove when long and narrow; the former is well illustrated in
the gallinaceous birds; the latter in nearly all wading birds and many swimmers. When the
intermaxillary prongs are soldered throughout, or are very short and close together, there is
no (or no evident) nasal depression, the nostrils then opening flush with the level of the
bill. The
Nostrils (fig. 26, d), two in number, vary in position as follows :— they are lateral, when
on the sides of the upper mandible (almost always); culminal, when together on the ridge
(rare) ; superior or inferior when evidently above or below midway betwixt culmen and tomia;
they are basal, when at the base of the upper mandible; swb-basal when near it (usual) ;
median when at or near the middle of the upper mandible (frequent, as in cranes, geese, ete.) ;
terminal when beyond this (very rare; probably there are now no birds with nostrils at the
end of the bill, except the Apteryx). The nostrils are pervious, when open, as in nearly all
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE BILL. 105
birds; impervious, when not visibly open, as among cormorants and other birds of the same
order ; they are perfordte when there is no septum (partition) between them, so that you can
look through them from one side of the bill to the other, as in the turkey-buzzard, crane, ete. ;
imperforate when partitioned off from each other, as in most birds ; but different ornithologists
use these terms interchangeably. The principal shapes of the nostrils may be thus exhibited :
—a line, linear nostrils; a line variously enlarged at either end, clavate, club-shaped, oblong,
ovate nostrils ; a line, enlarged in the middle, oval or elliptic nostrils; this passing insensibly
into the circle, round or circular nostrils ; and the various kinds of more or less linear nostrils
may be either longitudinal, as in most birds, or oblique, as in a few; almost never directly
transverse (up and down). Rounded nostrils may have a raised border or rim ; when this is
prolonged they are called tubular, as in some of the goatsucker family, and in all the petrels.
Usually, the nostrils are defined entirely by the substance surrounding them; thus, of cere, in a
hawk ; of softish skin, in a pigeon, plover or snipe; or of horn, in most birds; but often their
contour is partly formed by a special development, somewhat distinct either in form or texture,
and this is called the nasal scale. Generally, it forms a sort of overhanging arch or portico,
as well shown in all the gallinaceous birds, among the wrens, etc. A very curious case of
this is seen in the European wryneck (Iynx torquilla), where the scale forms the floor instead
of the roof of the nostrils. The nostrils also vary in being feathered or naked; the nasal fossa
being a place where the frontal feathers are apt to run out in points (called antie), embracing
the root of the culmen. This extension may completely fill and hide the fossa, as in many
grouse and ptarmigan ; but it oftener runs for a varying distance toward, or above and beyond,
the nostrils ; sometimes similarly below them, as in a chimney-swift ; and the nostrils may be
densely feathered when there is no evident fossa, as in an auk. When thus truly feathered in
varying degree, they are still open to view; another condition is, their being covered over
and hidden by modified feathers not growing on the bill itself, but on the forehead. These
are usually bristle-like (setaceous), and form two tufts, close-pressed and directed forwards, as
is perfectly shown in a crow; or, the feathers may be less modified in texture, and form either
two tufts, one over each nostril, or a single ruff, embracing the whole base of the upper
mandible; as in nuthatches, titmice, red-poll linnets, snow buntings and many other northern
Fringillide. Bristles or feathers thus growing forwards are called retrorse (Lat. retrorswm,
backward; here used in the sense of in an opposite direction from the lay of the general
plumage; but they should properly be called antrorse, i. e., forward). The nostrils, whether
culminal or lateral, are, like the eyes and ears, always two in number, though they may be
united in one tube, as in the petrels.
The Gape. —It only remains to consider what results from the relations of the two
mandibles to each other. When the bill is opened, there is a cleft or fissure between them ;
this is the gape or rictus (Lat. rictus, mouth in the act of grinning). But while thus really
meaning the open space between the mandibles, it is generally used to signify the line of their
closure. Commissure (Lat. committere, to put or join together) means the point where the
gape ends behind, that is, the angle of the mouth, angulus oris, where the apposed edges of the
mandibles join each other; but, as in the last case, it is loosely applied to the whole line of
closure, from true commissure to tip of the bill. So we say, ‘commissure straight,” or ‘‘ com-
missure curved ;” also, ‘‘ commissural edge” of either mandible (equivalent to ‘‘ tomial edge ”)
in distinction from culmen or gonys. But it would be well to have more precision in this
matter. Let, then, tomia (fig. 26, j) be the true cutting edges of either maudible from tip to
opposite base of bill proper; rictus (fig. 26, g) be their edges thence to the POINT commis-
sure (fig. 26, h) where they join when the bill is open; the LINE commissure (fig. 26, f) to
include both when the bill is closed. The gape is straight, when rictus and tomia are both
straight and lie in the same line; curved, sinuate, when they lie in the same curved or waved
106 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
line ; angulated, when they are straight, or nearly so, but do not lie in the same line, and
therefore meet at an angle.
Synopsis.)
(An important distinction.
Il. THE WINGS.
See under family Fringilide in the
Definition. — Pair of anterior or pectoral limbs organized for flight by means of dermal
outgrowths.
D
Fie. 27.— Bones of right wing of a duck, Clangula islandica, from above,
j nat. size. (Dr. R.W. Shufeldt, U.S.A.) .4, shoulder, omos; B, elbow, ancon;
C, wrist, carpus ; D, end of principal finger ; Z, end of hand proper, metacarpus.
A B, upper arm, brachium; BC, fore-arm, antibrachium; CD, whole hand
or pinion, manus; composed of CZ, hand proper or metacarpus, excepting d?;
ED, or d? @4, d4, fingers, digits, digiti. h, humerus; rd, radius ; wl, ulna; se,
outer carpal, scapholunare or radiale; cu, inner carpal, cuneiforme-or ulnare ;
these two composing wrist or carpus. mec, the compound hand-bone, or meta-
carpus, composed of three metacarpal bones, bearing as many digits — the outer
digit seated upon a protuberance at the head of the metacarpal, the other two
situated at the end of the bone. 2, the outer or radial digit, commonly called
the thumb or pollex, composed of two phalanges; d#, the middle digit, of two
phalanges; d4, the inner or ulnar digit, of one phalanx dis the seat of the
feathers of the bastard wing or alula, D to C (whole pinion), seat of the flight-
feathers called primaries; C to B (fore-arm), seat of the secondaries ; at B and
above it in direction of A, seat of tertiaries proper; below .A, in direction of B,
seat of scapularies (upon pteryla humeralis), often called tertiaries. The wing
shown half-spread: complete extension would bring A BC D into a right line;
in complete folding C goes to 4, and D to B; all these motions nearly in the
plane of the paper. The elbow-joint and wrist are such perfect hinges, that, in
opening or closing the wing, C cannot sink below the paper, nor D fly up above
the paper, as would otherwise be the effect of the pressure of the air npon the
flight-feathers. Observe also: rd and wi are two rods connecting Band C; the
construction of their jointing at Band C, and with each other, is such, that they
can slide lengthwise a little upon each other. Now when the point C, revolving
about B, approaches 4 in the arc of a circle, rd pushes on se, while u/ pulls back
cu; the motion is transmitted to _D, and makes this point approach B. Con-
versely, in opening the wing, rd pulls back sc, and wi pushes on cu, making D
recede from B. In other words. the angle A B C cannot be increased or dimin-
ished without similarly increasing or diminishing the angle B C D; so that no
part of the wing can be opened or shut without automatically opening or shut-
ting the rest,— an interesting mechanism by which muscular power is corre-
Jated and economized, This latter mechanism is further illustrated in fig. 28,
where rcand ue show respectively the size, shape and position of the radial con-
dyle and ulnar condyle of the humerus. It is evident that in the flexed state of
the elbow, as shown in the middle figure, the radius, rd, is so pushed upon that
its end projects beyond uw, the ulna; while in the opposite condition of extension,
shown in the lower figure, rd is pulléd back to a corresponding extent.
Used for this purpose by birds in general ; but by ostriches and their allies only
as outriggers to aid running;
by penguins as fins for swim-
miug under water; used also
in the latter capacity by some
birds that fly well, as divers,
cormorants, dippers. Want-
ing in no recent birds, but
imperfect in a few, as all
Ratite ; greatly reduced in
the Emeu, Cassowary, and
Apteryx; also in the Moas
(Dinornis) ; in the Creta-
ceous Hesperornis only the
rudimentary humerus is
known. To understand
their structure we must
notice particularly
The Bony Framework
(figs. 27, 28, 29). — The
skeleton of a bird’s wing is
built upon a plan common
to the fore or pectoral limb
of all the higher vertebrates,
so that its bones and joints
may readily be compared
and identified with those
of any lizard or mammal,
including man. But the
member is highly special-
ized; being fitted for accom-
plishing flight, not only by
the development of feathers,
but also by modifications in
the bones themselves. The
axes of the bones have a
special direction with refer-
ence to each other and to
the axes of the body; the
movements of the joints are
peculiar in some respects;
and the whole extremity of
the wing, from the wrist
outward, is peculiarly con-
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE WINGS. 107
structed, by loss of some of the digits that five-fingered animals possess, and by the compres-
sion of those that are left. The wing proper begins at the shoulder-juint, where it hinges
freely upon the shoulder, in a shallow socket formed conjointly by the shoulder-blade or
scapula, and by the coracoid
bone; these two, with the
clavicles, collar-bones or mer-
ry-thought, furculum, form-
ing the shoulder-girdle, or
pectoral arch (figs. 56, 59).
The wing ordinarily con-
sists, in adult life, of ten or }
eleven actually separate bones;
in the embryo (see fig. 29)
there are indications of several
more at the wrist-joint, which
speedily lose their individual
identity by fusing together
and with bones of the hand.
Aside from these, there is : .
often an accessory ossicle at Fie. 28.— Mechanism of elbow-joint. (See explanation of tig. 27.)
the shoulder-joint (fig. 56, ohs), sometimes one at the wrist-joint, occasionally an extra bone at
the end of the principal finger. The normal or usual number is shown in fig. 27, taken from
a duck (Clangula islandica), in which there are eleven.
The upper arm-bone, h, reaching from the shoulder A
to the elbow B, is the hwmerus. In the closed wing, the
humerus lies nearly in the position of the same bone in man
when the elbow is against the side of the body; in extension
of the wing, the elbow is borne away from the body, as when
we raise the arm, but carry it neither forward nor backward.
A peculiarity of the bird’s humerus is, that it is rotated on
its axis through about the quadrant of a circle, so that what
is the front of the human bone is the outer aspect in the
bird. The humerus is a cylindric bone, straightish or some-
what italic f-shaped, with a globular head to fit the socket
of the shoulder, a strong pectoral ridge for insertion of the
breast muscles, and at the bottom two condyles (fig. 28, re,
uc,) or joint-surfaces for articulation with a pair of sueceed-
ing bones. The fore-arm, cubit or antibrachiwm, extending
from elbow to wrist, B to C, in fig. 27, has two parallel
bones of about equal lengths. These are the ulna, wl, and
the radius, rd; the former, inner and posterior, the larger
of the two, bearing the quills of the secondary series ; the
LZ a latter, slenderer, outer and anterior. The enlarged proximal
extremity of the ulna is called the olecranon, or ‘‘ head of the
Fia. 29, from a young grouse (Centrocercus wrophasianus, six months old), is designed to show the composi-
tion of the carpus and metacarpus before the elements of these bones fuse together: r, radius; wu, ulna; s, scaph-
olunar or radiale; c, cuneiform or ulnare; om, a carpal bone believed to be os magnum, later fusing with the
metacarpus; z, a carpal bone, supposed to be unciform, later fusing with metacarpus; 8, an unidentified fifth
carpal bone, which may be called pentosteon, later fusing with the metacarpus; 7, radial or outer metacarpal
bone, bearing the pollex or outer digit, consisting of two phalanges, d and £k; 91, principal (median) metacarpal
bone, bearing the middle finger, consisting of the two phalanges, @/, d/” ; 9, inner or ulnar metacarpal, bearing @
digit of one phalanx, d///, The pieces marked om, z, 7, 8, 9. all fuse with 9’. (From nature by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt,
U.S.A.)
108 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
elbow.” The third segment of the wing is the wrist or carpus. In adult life, this normally
consists of two little knobby carpal bones, extremely irregular in shape,called the scapholunar,
sc, and cuneiform, cu. One being at the end of the radius, the other at that of the ulna, they
are also called radiale and ulnare. In the embryo, there is at least another carpal bone, that
early fuses with the next segment. This fourth segment is the hand proper, or metacarpus,
me, C to E (exclusive of d2). The single metacarpal or hand-bone is very composite; that
is, compounded of several; for, besides including certain carpal elements, as already said, it
consists of three bones fused (in all recent’ birds) in one, corresponding to the three digits or
fingers that birds possess. In fact it is three metacarpals in one. The metacarpal corre-
sponding to the principal finger is much the largest of the three; that of the first finger is very
short, being only the expanded part seen in the figure just above the bone marked d 2; that
of the third finger is nearly as long as the main metacarpal, but much slenderer, and usually
fused only at its two ends, leaving between itself and the main metacarpal a considerable
space, as seen opposite the letters mc in the figure. The wing is finished off with three
fingers or digits, marked d2, d3, d4. The middle one of these, E to D in the figure, is
much the largest, and forms the main continuation of the hand. This digit, d 8, ordinarily
consists of two bones, called phalanges, placed end to end, as in the example before us; but
oceasionally there is found a third phalanx. The outer or radial digit, d2, ordinarily con-
sists of two bones, of which the terminal one is small, and may be wanting. The inner or
ulnar digit, d 4, consists of a single small phalanx, closely bound to the side of the middle
finger. Corresponding to the compactness and consolidation of these terminal segments, the
digits enjoy little individual motion. The outer or radial digit is the most independent one.
In the Archeopteryx the three metacarpals were free bones, and the whole hand more like
that of a lizard. No bird now has free metacarpals in adult life; none has more than three
digits. These three are supposed by some to correspond to the thumb and fore and middle
fingers of our hands; by others, to the fore, middle, and ring fingers, and being consequently
the second, third, and fourth digits, as marked in the figure. The digit marked d 2 is com-
monly called a bird’s thumb or pollex. The Apteryx and the cassowary have but one complete
digit. The resemblance to a lizard’s or quadruped’s digits is increased by the claws which
many birds possess. These may be borne on the enlarged terminal phalanx of d 2 (k, in
fig. 29), as is very well shown in the turkey-buzzard and other American Cathartide ; both on
this and on the terminal phalanx of d 3 (d” in fig. 29), as in the ostrich; on the latter alone,
as in the Apteryx, cassowary, American ostrich, and swan. The inner finger, d 4 (d’” in
fig. 29) is not known to ever bear a claw, excepting in Archeopteryx. The whole segment,
C to D, is commonly called “‘ the hand,” “ pinion,” or manus, though, as we have seen, it consists
of hand proper (metacarpus), and fingers (digits) with their respective phalanges. (Fig. 112 ter.)
Some other bones are observed in birds’ wings. As already said, there is a little ossicle in
the shoulder-joint of many birds ; it is called the scapula accessoria (fig. 56, ohs). At the con-
vexity of the elbow there may be one or more ossicles, not pertaining properly to the wing-
skeleton, but developed in the tendons of muscles passing over the joint: they are sesamoids,
like the human patella, or knee-cap. In various birds there is found at the convexity of the
wrist, on the head of the metacarpal, an ossicle called the os prominens; apparently a
sesamoid. Some other ossicles observed in the wrists of young birds are all supposed to be
earpal elements, the exact homologies of which may be still questioned.
The Mechanism of these Bones is admirable. The shoulder-joint is free, much like
our own, permitting the humerus to swing all about; though the principal motions are to and
from the side of the body (adduction and abduction), and up and down in a vertical plane.
The elbow-joint is a very strict hinge, permitting motion in one plane, nearly that of the wing
itself. The finger-bones have little individual motion. The construction of the wrist-joint is
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE WINGS. 109
quite peculiar. In the first place the two bones of the forearm are so fixed in relation to each
other, that the radius cannot roll over the ulna, like ours. If you stretch your arm upon the
table, you can, without moving the elbow, turn the hand over so that either the palm or the
knuekles are downward. This is a rotary motion of the bones of the furearm, called pronation
and supination ; the prone when the palm touches the table, supine when the knuckles are
downward. This rotation is absent from the bird’s arm; if it could occur, the action of the air
upon the pinion-feathers would throw them all ‘at sea” during the strokes of the wing, render-
ing flight difficult or impossible. The hingeing of the hand upon the wrist is such, also, that the
hand does not move up and down, as ours can, in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the
wing, but in the same plane as that surface. The motion is that which would take place in our
hand if we could bring the little finger and its border of the hand so far around as to touch the
corresponding border of the forearm. It is a motion of adduction, uot of flexion, and its opposite,
abduction, not extension, by which a wing is folded and spread. Such abduction is the way in
which the hand is ‘‘ extended” upon the wrist-joint, increasing and completing the unfolding
of the wing that begins by the true extension of the forearm upon the elbow and abduction of
the upper arm from the body. In a word, a wing is spread by the motion of abduction at the
shoulder and wrist, of extension at the elbow; it is closed by adduction at the shoulder and
wrist, and flexion at the elbow. The numerous muscles which unfold or straighten out the
wing are called extensors ; those that bend or close it are flecors. Extensors lie upon the back
of the upper arm, and the front of the forearm and hand, their “leaders” or tendons passing
over the convexities of the elbow and of the wrist. The flexors occupy the opposite sides of the
limb, with tendons in the concavities of the joints. The most powerful muscles of the wings
are the great pectoral ur breast muscles, acting upon the upper end of the humerus; there are
several of them, exerted in throwing out the arm from the body, and in giving both the up and
down wing-strokes. Tendons are generally strong inelastic cords ; but there is an interesting
arrangement of an elastic cord in a bird’s wing. In fig. 27, 4 BC isa deep angle formed by
the naked bones, but none such is visible from the exterior, because the space is filled by a
fold of skin passing from.C to near A. But C approaches and recedes from A as the wing
is folded or unfolded, and a cord long enough to reach A—C would be slack in the folded wing,
did not its elasticity enable it to contract and stretch, keeping the anterior border of the wing
straight and smooth. (For another automatic mechanism, see explanation of fig. 28.)
The point C is a highly important landmark in practical ornithology ; it represents, in
any folded wing, a very prominent point, the distance from which to the tip of the longest
flight-feather is a special measurement knowu as that of “‘the wing.” It is the convexity of
the carpus, commonly called the ‘‘ carpal angle,” or ‘‘ bend of the wing.” Having thus glanced
at the bony structure and mechanism of the wing, we are ready to examine the
Feathers of the Wing (fig. 30). How important these are will be evident from the
consideration that they are the bird’s chief organs of locomotion ; for without them the wing
would be useless for flight. We also remember that such means of locomotion is the great
specialty of birds. Wing-feathers are those which grow upon the pteryla alaris. They are
of two main sorts: the flight-feathers proper, or long stiff quills, collectively called remiges
(Lat. remex, pl. remiges, rowers) ; and the smaller, weaker feathers overlying them, and hence
called coverts, or tectrices (Lat. tectrix, pl. tectrices, coverers). To these may be added as a
third distinet group the bastard quills, which constitute the ;
Alula, or Ala Spuria (Lat. alula, little wing, diminutive of ala, wing ; spwria, spurious,
bastard). The ‘‘little wing” is simply the small parcel of feathers which grow upon the
‘thumb ” (see fig. 27,d@2; 29,dandk; 30, al). Highly significant as these may be in a mor-
phological point of view, as representing what this part of the wing may have been in early times,
110 "GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
they are so much reduced in modern birds as to be of little account in practical ornithology.
In fact, the unpractised student may fail to recognize them at first. They form a small packet
on the fore outer border of the pinion near the carpal angle, and lie smoothly upon the upper
surface of the wing, strengthening and finishing off what would be otherwise a weak spot in
the contour of the wing-border. It is quite easy, on recognizing them, to lift them collectively
a little away from the other feathers, owing to the slight mobility the thumb possesses. In fact,
they are sometimes quite obtrusive, when faulty taxidermy has discomposed them. They are
not often conspicuously modified either in size or color. In a few birds (e.g., Cathartes) a claw
will be found at the end of the joint which bears them. The student must be careful to dis-
criminate between the use of the word spwriows in the present connection and its application
to a rudimentary condition of the first remex (see p. 113). The
Wing-Coverts overlie the bases of the large quills on both the upper and under surfaces
of the wing.. They are therefore conveniently divided into an upper set (tectrices supertores)
‘and an under set (tect. inferiores). The former are so much more conspicuous than the latter
: that they are always under-
stood when ‘‘ upper” is not
specified. The latter are
sometimes collectively called
‘‘the lining of the wings.”
Coverts include all the small
feathers of the wings except-
ing the bastard quills; they
extend a varying distance
along the bases of the flight-
feathers. The ordinary dis-
position and division of the
upper coverts is as follows:
One set, rather long and stif-
fish, grow upon the pinion,
and are close-pressed upon
the bases of the outer nine
or ten remiges, covering
these large feathers abont as
far as their structure is plumulaceous. These are the upper PRIMARY coverts, or coverts of the
primaries (fig. 30, pc) ; they are ordinarily the least conspicuous of any. All the rest of the
upper coverts are SECONDARY; they spring mostly from the forearm. These are considered in
three groups or rows. The greater upper secondary coverts, called simply the “‘ greater coverts ”
(tectrices majores, fig. 30, gsc,) are the first, outermost, longest row, reaching nearest the tips of
the flight-feathers; they overlie the bases of nearly all the remiges, excepting the first nine or
ten. The median upper secondary coverts, shortly known as the ‘“ middle coverts” (tectrices
medie), are a next row, shorter and therefore less exposed, but still quite evidently forming a
special series (fig. 30, msc). It is a common feature of these median coverts that they shingle
over each other contrary-wise to the way the greater coverts are imbricated, the outer vane of
one being under the inner vane of the next outer one. All the rest of the upper secondary
ecoverts, forming several indistinguishable rows, pass under the general name of lesser coverts
(tectrices minores ; fig. 30, bc). The greater coverts furnish an excellent zodlogical character ;
for in no Passeres ure they more than half as long as the remiges they cover, while the reverse
is the case in most birds of lower orders. Woodpeckers, however, though non-passerine, have
quite short coverts. The under coverts have the same general arrangement as the upper; but
a 8
Fic. 30. — Feathers of a sparrow’s wing; nat. size. (For explanation see text.)
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.-—THE WINGS. 111
they are more alike and less distinctly disposed in rows or series; so that for practical purposes
they pass under the general name of under wing-coverts, or lining of the wing. Since, when
the wing is particularly marked on the under side, it is the coverts and not the remiges that are
highly or variously colored, the common expression ‘wing below,” or “ under surface of the
wing,” refers to the coverts more particularly. We should distinguish, however, from the under
coverts in general, the avillars, or axillary feathers (Lat. axilla, the arm-pit). These are the
innermost feathers lining the wings, lying close to the body; almost always longer, stiffer,
narrower, or otherwise peculiarly modified. In ducks, for example, and many of the waders,
as snipe and plover, they are remarkably well developed. The color of the axillaries is the
principal distinction between some species of plovers. The
Remiges, or Flight-Feathers (fig. 30, b, s, and ¢),give the wing its general character,
mainly determining both its size and its shape; they represent most of its surface and of its
inner and outer borders, and all of its posterior outline, forming a great expansion of which the-
bony and fleshy framework is insignificant in comparison. The shape of the wing is indeed
primarily affected by the relative lengths of its bony segments, the upper arm being, in a
humming-bird, for example, very short in comparison with the terminal portion of the limb,
and in an albatross again, both upper and forearm being greatly lengthened ; still in any case
it is the fight-feathers that mainly determine the contour of the wing, by their absolute degree
of development, their lengths proportionately to one another, and their individual shapes. They
collectively form a thin, elastic, flattened surface for striking the air, quite firm along the front
border where the bone and muscle lie, thence growing more mobile and resilient toward the
posterior border and along the outer edge. Such surface may be quite flat, as in such birds as
cut the air with long, pointed wings, like oar-blades ; but it is generally a little concave under-
neath and correspondingly convex above ; such arching or vaulting of the wing-surface being
usually associated with a short, broad, rounded wing, as in the gallinaceous tribe, and being
least in birds which have the thinnest and sharpest wings. Corresponding differences in the
mode of flight result. The short, rounded wing confers a powerful though labored flight for
short distances, usually accompanied by a whirring noise resulting from the rapidity of the
wing-beats; birds that fly thus are almost always thickset and heavy. The long, pointed
wing gives a noiseless, airy, skimming flight, indefinitely prolonged, and accomplished with
more deliberate wing-beats ; birds of this style of wing are generally trim and elegant. These,
of course, are merely generalizations of the extremes of modes of flight, mixed and gradated
in every degree in actual bird-life. Thus the humming-bird, which has sharp, thin wings,
whirs them fastest of all birds, —so rapidly that the eye cannot follow the strokes, merely
perceiving a haze about the bird while the ear hears the buzzing. The combination of acute-
ness and concavo-convexity is a remarkably strong one, conferring a rapid, vigorous, whistling
flight, as that of a duck or pigeon, or the splendid hurtling of a falcon. An ample wing, as
one both long and broad without being pointed is called, is well displayed by such birds as
herons, ibises, and cranes; the flight may be strong and sustained, but is rather slow and
heavy. The longest-winged birds are found among the swimmers, particularly the pelagic
fainily of the petrels, and some of the whole-webbed order, as pelicans, particularly the frigate-
pelican. The last named, Tachypetes aquilus, has perhaps the longest wings for its bulk of
body of any bird whatever, as well as the shortest feet. The American vultures are likewise
of great alar expanse in proportion to their weight. The shortest wings, among birds possess-
ing perfect remiges, occur among the lower swimmers, as auks and divers, and among some
of the Gallinw. The great auk is, or was, perhaps the only flightless bird with well-formed
flight-feathers, only too small to subserve their usual purpose; though certain South American
ducks are said to be in similar predicament. In the penguins, the whole wing-structure is
degraded, and the remiges abort in scale-like feathers, the wings being reduced to fins both
112 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
in form and function. The whole of the existing Ratite have rudimentary or very imperfect
wings, as was the case with the Cretaceous Hesperornis ; but the contemporary of the latter,
Icthyornis, and the still more ancient Archeopteryx, appear both to have had excellent ones.
The disposition of the remiges in their mutual relations is very noteworthy. They have
a rigid hollow barrel of great resistant powers, considering the amount of substance, — just
like the cylindrical stem of the cereal plant; a stout, solid, highly elastic shaft; the outer web
narrower than the inner, with its barbs set at a more acute angle upon the shaft. Any one
of these stiffer outer vanes overlies the broader and more yielding inner vane of the next outer
feather, which, on receiving the impact of air from below, resists as it were with the strength of
a second shaft superimposed. Though the ‘‘ way of an eagle in the air” was a mystery to the
wise man of old, the mechanics of ordinary flight are now better understood. But the sailing
of some birds for an indefinite length of time, up as well as down, without visible motion of
the wings, and without reference to the wind, remains an enigma. The flight of the albatross
and turkey vulture, I venture to affirm, is not yet explained. The riddle of The Wing will be
read when we know how the archsaurian escaped from ilus to ether.
The number of true remiges ranges from about sixteen, as in a humming-bird, to up-
wards of fifty, as in the albatross. Their shape is quite uniform, minor details aside. They
are the stiffest, strongest, inost perfectly pennaceous of feathers, without evident hyporhachis,
if any. They are generally lanceolate, that is, tapering regularly and gradually to an obtuse
point, though not infrequently more parallel-sided, especially those of the secondary and
tertiary series. Either or both webs may be incised toward the end; that is, more or less
abruptly narrowed ; this is called emargination (see fig. 279); their ends may be transversely
or obliquely truncate, or nicked in various ways. In a few birds, apparently for purposes of
sexual ornamentation, they are developed in bizarre shapes of beauty, with evident decrease of
utility as flight-feathers. Those of the ostrich and penguin tribes share the peculiarities of the
general plumage of these extraordinary birds. Remiges are divided into three classes or series,
according to where they grow upon the limb, whether upon the hand, the fore-arm, or the
upper arm. In this distinction is involved one of the most important considerations of practical
ornithology, of which the student must make himself master. The three classes of quill-
feathers are: 1. the primaries; 2. the secondaries ; 3. the tertiaries.
The Primaries (Fig. 30, 0) are those remiges which grow upon the pinion, or hand-
and finger-bones collectively (fig. 27, Cto D). Whatever the total number of the remiges
may be, im nearly all birds with true remiges the Primaries are either NINE or TEN in number.
The humming-bird with sixteen remiges, the albatross with fifty or more, each have ten
primaries. The grebes and a few other birds are said to have eleven primaries: if this be so,
it is at any rate highly exceptional. No instance of a higher number than this is known
to me. Again, it is only among the highest Passeres tliat the number nine is found, the
Oscines having indifferently nine or ten. In a good many Oscines, rated as nine-primaried,
there are actually ten, though the outermost is so rudimentary, and even out of allignment
with the developed primaries, that it is not counted as one of them. Axnong Oscines, just this
difference of one evident and unquestionable primary more or less forms one of the best distinc-
tions between the families of that suborder. So the tenth feather in a bird’s wing, counting
from the outside, becomes a crucial test in many cases; for, if it be last primary, the bird is
one thing ; if it be first secondary, the bird is another. In such cases the necessity, therefore,
of determining exactly which it is becomes evident. Of course it is always possible to settle
the question by striking at the roots of the remiges and seeing how many are seated on the
pinion; but this generally involves some defacing of the specimen, and there is usually an
easier way of determining. Hold the wing half-spread: then, in most Oscines, the primaries
come sloping down on one side, and thé secondaries similarly on the other, to form where they
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE WINGS. 113
meet a reéntrant angle in fhe general contour of the posterior border of the wing; the feather
that occupies this notch is the one we are after, and unluckily it is sometimes last primary,
sometimes first secondary. But observe that primaries are so to speak, self-asserting, emphatic,
italicized, remiges, stiff, strong, and obstinate ; while secondaries are retiring, whispering, in
brevier, limber, weak, and yielding. Their different character is almost always shown by
something in their shape or texture which the student will soon learn to recognize, though it
cannot well be described. Let him examine fig. 30, where b marks the nine primaries of a
sparrow’s wing, and s indicates the secondaries; he will see a difference at once. The
primaries express themselves, though with diminishing emphasis, to the last one; then the
secondaries begin to tell a different tale. Among North American birds the only ones with
NINE primaries are the families Motacillide, Vireonide, Coerebide, Sylvicolide, Hirundinide,
Tanagride, Fringillide, Icteride, part of Vireonidie, and the genus Ampelis. The condition
of the first primary, whether spurious or not, is often of great help in this determination.
The first primary is called ‘‘ spurious” when it is very short — say one third, or less, as long
as the second, or longest, primary. Among Passeres, a spurious first primary only occurs in
certain ten-primaried Oscines: whence it is evident, that to find such short first primary is
equivalent to determining the presence of ten primaries, though not to find it does not prove
there are only nine; the count should be made in all cases in which the outer primary is more
than one-third as long as the next. The difference between nine primaries, and ten with the
first spurious, is excellently illustrated among the species of Vireo. Any thrush, nuthatch,
titmouse, or creeper shows a spurious primary to advantage, — large enough not to be over-
looked, small enough not to be mistaken.
The Secondaries (Fig. 30, s) are those remiges which are seated on the fore-arm (fig.
27, Bto C). They vary in number from six to forty or more. They have the peculiarity of
being attached to one of the bones of the fore-arm, the ~
ulna. Tf an ulna be examined closely, there will be
seen a row of little points showing the attachment ;
such are indicated in fig. 27, along wl, and in fig. 31. ee ee
The secondaries present no points necessary to dwell showing points of attachment of the second-
upon here, after what has been said of the primaries, aries. (Dy. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A.)
They are enormously developed in the Argus pheasant, and have curious shapes in some other
exotic birds. They are often long enough to cover the primaries completely when the wing is
closed, as in grebes; on the other hand, they are extremely short in the swifts and humming-
birds.
The Tertiaries (Fig. 30, ¢) are properly the remiges which grow upon the upper arm,
humerus. But such feathers are not very evident in most birds, and the two or three inner-
most secondaries, growing upon the very elbow, and commonly different from the rest in form
or color, pass under the name of “tertiaries.” Again, in some cases, scapular feathers
(fig. 80, scp,) are called tertiaries, especially when long or otherwise conspicuous. But
there is an evident and proper distinction. Scapulars belong to the pteryla humeralis (see
p. 87); while tertiaries, whether seated on the elbow or higher up the arm, are the innermost
remiges of the pteryla alaris. These inner remiges are often shortly called tertials ; though
the longer name is more correct, besides being conformable with the names of the other two
series of remiges. Tertiaries often afford good characters for description, in peculiarities of
their size, shape, or color. Thus it is very common among Frringillida for these feathers to be
parti-colored differently from the other remiges. In many birds they are long and ‘flowing ”;
as in the families Motacillide and Alaudida, where they reach about to the end of the
primaries when the wing is closed. Their development is similar in many Scolopacide. In
8
114 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
such cases, the feather-border of the wing pronounces the letter W quite strongly, — outer
lower angle at point of primaries; middle upper angle at reéutrance between primaries and
secondaries; inner lower angle at point of tertiaries.
The “point of the wing” is at the tip of the longest primary. It is best expressed when
the first primary is longest. Sometimes the end is so much rounded off, that the midmost
primary may be the longest one, the others being graduated on both sides of this projecting
point. In speaking of the relative lengths of remiges, we always mean the way in which their
tips fall together, not the actual total lengths of the feathers. Thus a second primary, whose
tip falls opposite the tip of the first one, is said to be of equal length, though it may actually
be longer, being seated higher up on the pinion. The development of the primaries also
furnishes one of the most important measurements of birds: for the expression ‘length of
wing,” or simply “the wing,” means the distance from the ‘bend of the wing,” or carpal
angle, to the end of the longest primary. The integument of the wing does not very often
develop anything but feathers. Occasionally
Claws and Spurs are found upon the pinion. Claws have been already noticed (p. 108).
They are properly so called, being horny growths comparable in every way to those upon the
ends of the toes, like the claws of beasts, or human nails. A spur (Lat. calear), however, is
something different, though of the same horny texture, since it dues not terminate a digital
phalanx, but is off-set from the side of the hand. It is exactly like the spur on the leg of a
fowl, which obviously is not a claw. The spur-winged guose (Plectropterus), pigeon (Didun-
culus), plovers (Chettusia, etc.), and the doubly-spurred screamer (Palamedea), afford exain-
ples of such outgrowths, of which the Jacanas (Parra) furnish the only, though a very
well-marked, illustration among North American birds. (See fig. 53 ter.)
Ill. THE TAIL.
Its Bony Basis. — Time was when birds flew about with long, lizard-like, bony and
fleshy tails, having the feathers inserted in a row on either side like the hairs of a squirrel’s.
But we have changed all that distichous arrangement since when the Archgéopteryx was
steered with such a rudder through the scenes of its Jurassic life. Now the true separate
coceygeal bones are few, genérally about nine in number, and so short and stunted that they do
not project beyond the general plumage,—in fact scarcely beyond the border of the pelvis.
Anteriorly, within the bony basin of the pelvis, there are several vertebrae, which, fusing
together and with the true sacrum, are termed urosacral or false tail-bones. To these
succeed the true caudal vertebree, movable upon each other and upon the urosacrum. The
last one of these, abruptly larger than the rest, and of peculiar shape, bears all the large
tail-feathers, which radiate from it like the blades of a fan. The true caudal vertebre col-
lectively form the coccyx (Gr. xéxkvé, kokkux, a cuckoo; from fancied resemblance of the
human tail-bones to a cuckoo’s bill); the enlarged terminal one is the vomer (Lat. vomer, a
plough-share, from its shape; not to be confused with a bone of the skull of same name) or
pygostyle (Gr. mvyn, puge, ramp, and‘cridos, stulos, a stake, pale). The pygostyle, however,
is a compound bone, consisting of several stunted coccygeal vertebre fused in one. The bones
are moved by appropriate muscles, and upon the surface is seated the eleeodochon (p. 86). The
whole bony and muscular affair is familiar to every one as the ‘‘ pope’s nose” of the Christmas
turkey; it is a bird’s real tail, of which the feathers are merely appendages. In descriptive
ornithology, however, the anatomical parts are ignored, the word ‘‘tail” having reference solely
to the feathers. These, like those of the wings, are of two sorts: the coverts or tectrices, and
the rudders or rectrices (Lat. rectrix, pl. rectrices, a ruler, guider; because they seem to,
steer the bird’s flight); corresponding exactly to the coverts and remiges of the wings. The
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE TAIL. 115
Tail-Coverts are the numerous comparatively small and weak feathers which overlie and
underlie the rectrices, covering their bases and extending a variable distance toward their
ends, contributing to the firmness and symmetry of the tail. They pass smoothly out from
the body, by gradual lengthening, there being seldom, if ever, any obvious outward distinction
between them and feathers of the rump and belly; but they belong to the pteryla caudalis
(p. 87). The natural division of the coverts is into an upper and under set (tectrices super-
tores, tectrices imferiores). The inferior coverts are the best distinguished from the general
plumage, the anus generally dividing off these ‘‘ vent-feathers,” as they are sometimes called.
It is to the bundle of under tail-coverts, behind the vent, that the term crisswm is most properly
applied. Neither set is ever entirely wanting; but one or the other, particularly the upper one,
may be very short, as in a cormorant, or duck of the genus Erismatura, exposing the quills
almost to their bases. While the upper coverts are usually shorter and fewer than the under
ones, reaching less than half-way to the end of the tail, they sometimes take on extraordinary
development and form the bird’s chiefest ornament. The gorgeous, iridescent, argus-eyed
train of the peacock consists of enormous tectrices, not rectrices; the elegant plumes of the
paradise trogon, Pharomacrus mocinno, several times longer than the bird itself, are like-
wise coverts. Occasionally, a pair of coverts lengthens and stiffens, and then resembles true
tail-feathers; as in the Ptarmigan (Lagopus). The crissal feathers are more uniform in
development; they ordinarily form a compact, definite bundle, as well shown in a duck,
where they reach about to the end of the tail. In some of the storks, they become plumes of
considerable pretensions; and in the wonderful humming-bird, Loddigesia mirabilis, the
middle pair stiffens to resemble rectrices and projetts far beyond the true tail. The
Rectrices, Rudders, or true tail-feathers, like the remiges or rowers, are usually stiff,
well-pronounced feathers, pennaceous to the very base of the-vexilla, without after-shafts, as a
rule, and with the outer web narrower than the other in most cases. They are always in
pairs ; that is, there is an equal number of feathers on the right and left half of the tail; and
their number, consequently, is an even one. The exceptions to this rule are so few and
irregular, and then only among birds with the higher numbers of rectrices, that such are
probably to be regarded as mere anomalies, from accidental arrest of a feather. They are im-
bricated over each other in this wise: the central pair are high-
est, lying with both their webs over the next feather on either
side, the inner web of one of these middle feathers indifferently
underlying or overlying that of the other; all thus successively
overlying the next outer one so that they would form a pyra-
mid were they thick instead of being so flat. The arrange-
ment is perceived at once in the accompanying diagram ;
where it will be seen, also, that spreading the tail is the diver- :
gence of a from b, while closing the tail is bringing a and 6 together under ¢. The motion
is effected by certain muscles that draw on either side upon the bases of the quills collectively ;
they are the same that pull the whole tail to one side or the other, acting like the tiller-ropes
of a boat’s rudder. The general ,
Shape of a Rectrix is shown in fig. 28. Such a feather is ordinarily straight, some-
what clubbed or oblong, widening a little, regularly and gradually toward the tip, where it is
gently rounded off. But the departures from such shape, or any that could be assumed as a
standard, are numberless, and in some cases extreme. In fact, none of a bird’s feathers are
more variable than those of the tail; it is impossible to specify all the shapes they assume.
While most are straight, some are curved — and the curvature may be to or from the middle
line of the body, in the horizontal plane, or up and down, in the vertical plane. Some shapes
116 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
have received particular names. A rectrix broad to the very tip, and there cut squarely off, is
said to be truncate ; one such cut, obliquely off is incised, especially when, as often happens, the
outline of the cut-off is concave. A linear rectrix is very narrow, with parallel sides; a lanceo-
late one is broader at the base, thence tapering regularly and gradually to the tip. A notably
pointed rectrix is said to be acute ; when the pointing is produced by abrupt centraction near the
tip, as in most woodpeckers, the feather is acuminate. A very long and slender, more or less
linear feather is called filamentous, as the lateral pair of a barn swallow or most sea swallows.
The vanes sometimes enlarge abruptly at the end, forming a spoon-shaped or spatulate feather ;
: or such a spoon may
WY \ ry result from narrowing
ANZ ee of the vanes near the
WANG abut’ ) end, or their entire ab-
yi sence, as in the ‘‘rack-
et” of a saw-bill (Mo-
motus). The vanes are
sometimes wavy as if
crimped; our Plotus is
a fine example of this.
Sometimes the vanes
are entirely loosened,
the barbs being remote
from each other, as in
the exotic genus Stipi-
twrus, and some parts
of the wonderful caudal
appendage of the male
lyre-bird (Menura su-
perba). When the rha-
chis projects beyond the
vanes, the feather is
spinose, or better, mu-
cronate (Lat. muecro, a
pricker), as excellently
shown in the chimney-
swift, Chetura (fig.
297). A pair of feathers
Fic. 32.—The Lyre-bird of Australia, Menura superba, to show the unique abruptly extending far
lyrate shape of the tail. (From Amer. Nat.) beyond the others are
‘ ealled long-exserted, after the analogous use of the term in botany. Tail-feathers also differ
much in their consistency, from the softest and weakest, not well distinguished from coverts,
to such stiff and rugged props as the woodpeckers possess. They are downy and very rudi-
mentary in a few birds, notably all the grebes, Podicipedide, which are commonly said to
have no tail. The tinamous of South America (Droma@ognathe) are also very closely
docked. The
ey
SS x
bY
Typical Number of Rectrices is twelve. This holds in the great majority of birds. It
is so uniform throughout the great group Oscines, that the rare exceptions seem perfectly
anomalous. In the other group of Passeres (Clamatores) it is usually twelve, sometimes ten.
Ten is the rule among Picarie, though many have twelve, a very few only eight, as in the
genus Crotophaga. The whole of the woodpeckers (Picide) have apparently ten ; but really
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE TAIL. 117
twelve, of which the outer one on each side is spurious, very small, and hidden between the
bases of the second and third feathers. Birds of prey (Raptores) have about twelve. In
pigeons the rule is twelve or fourteen, as in all our genera; but sixteen are found in some and
twenty in one case. In birds below these, the number increases directly; there are often or
usually more than twelve in the grouse, and there may be sixteen, eighteen, or twenty, as
among our own genera of Tetraonide. Wading birds, often having but twelve, furnish in-
stances of as many as twenty. Those swimming birds with large well-formed tails, as the
Longipennes, and some Anatide, have the fewest, as tweive, sometimes fourteen, rarely
sixteen; those with short soft tails have the most, as sixteen tv twenty-four. Among the
penguins there are thirty-two or more. The Archeopteryx appears to have had forty, —a pair
to each free caudal vertebra; and this may be considered the prototypic relation between the
bones and feathers of the tail. The
Typical Shape of the Tail, as a whole, is the fan. The modifications of form, how-
ever, which are greater and more varied than those of the wing, are susceptible of better
definition, and many-of them have received special names. Taking the simplest case, where
the rectrices are all of the same length, we have what is called the even, square, or truncate
tail. The other forms depart from this mainly by shortening or lengthening of certain
feathers. A tail nearly or quite even may have the two central feathers long-exserted, as seen
in the jaegers (Stercorarius), and tropic-birds (Phaéthon). The most frequent departure from
the even shape results from gradual shortening of successive rectrices from the middle to the
outer ones. This is called, in general, gradation or graduation (Lat. gradus, a step); such
shortening may be to any degree. More precisely, graduation means shortening of each
successive feather to the same extent, —say, each half an inch shorter than the next; but
such exactitude is not often expressed. When the feathers shorten by more and more, we
have the true rownded tail, probably the commonest form among birds; thus, the gradation
between the middle and next pair may be just appreciable, and then increase regularly to an inch
between the next and the lateral feather. The opposite gradation, by less and less shortening,
gives the wedge-shaped or cuneate (Lat. cwneus, a wedge) tail; it is well shown by the
magpie (Pica) in which, as in many other birds, the middle feathers would be called long-
exserted were the rest all as short as the outer one is. A cuneate tuil, especially if the feathers
be narrow and lanceolate, is also called acute, or pointed, as in the sprig-tailed duck (Dafila)
or sharp-tailed grouse (Pediccetes). The generic opposite of the gradated is the forked tail;
in which the lateral feathers successively increase in length from the middle to the outermost
pair. The least appreciable forking is called emargination, and a tail thus shaped is said to be
emarginate ; when it is better marked, as, for instance, an inch of forking in a tail six inches
long, the tail is truly forked or furcate (Lat. furca, a fork). But the degrees of furcation, like
those of gradation, are so insensibly varied, that qualified expressions are usual; as, ‘‘ slightly
forked,” “deeply forked.” Deep furcation is usually accompanied by more or less narrowing
or filamentous elongation of the lateral pair of rectrices, as in the barn swallows (Hirundo)
and most of the sea-swallows (Sterna). An advisable term to express such an extreme furea-
‘tion is forficate (Lat. forfex, scissors), when the depth of the fork is at least equal to the
length of the shortest feathers; it occurs among our birds in those last named, in the species
of the flycatcher genus Milwulus, and elsewhere. Double-forked and double-rownded tails
are not uncommon; they result from combination of both opposite gradations, in this way:
The middle feathers being of a certain length, the next two or three pairs progressively
increasing in length, and the rest successively decreasing, the tail is evidently forked centrally,
rounded externally, which is the double-rounded form, each half of the tail being rounded ;
it is shown in the genera Myiadestes and Anous. Now if with middle feathers as before,
the next pair or two decrease in length, and then the rest increase to the outermost, we have
118 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the double-forked, a common style among sandpipers, as if each half of the tail were forked.
But in such case, the forking is slight, merely emargination, being little more than protrusion
of the middle pair of feathers in an otherwise lightly forked tail; and in the double-rounded
form the gradation is seldom if ever great.
T should also allude to shapes of tail resulting from the relative positions of the feathers.
Prominent among these is the complicate or folded tail of the barn-yard fowl, and others of the
Phasianide, —a very familiar but not common form. It is only retained while the tail is
closed and cocked up, —for when it is lowered and spread in flight it flattens out. The oppo-
site disposition of the feathers is seen to some extent in our crow blackbirds (Quiscalus),
where the lateral feathers
slant upward from the lower-
most central pair, like the
sides of a buat from its keel;
this is the scaphoid (Gr.
oxady, a boat) or carinate
(Lat. carina, a keel) tail.
Our “boat - tailed” grackle
has been so named on this
account. One of the most
beautiful and wonderful of
Fic. 33. — Diagram of shapes of tail. adc, rounded ; aec, gradate; aic, he shapes of the tail is
cuneate-gradate; alc, cuneate; abe, double-rounded; fey, square; hg, all , P
emarginate; fneog, double-emarginate; kim, forked; kem, deeply forked; illustrated by the male of the
kbm, forficate. lyre-bird (Menura superba,
fig. 32), in which the feathers are anomalous both in shape and in texture, and the resulting
form of the whole is unique. Various shapes, which the student will readily name from the
foregoing paragraplis, are illustrated in many other figures of this work. It should be remem-
bered that, to determine the shape, the tail should be nearly closed; for spreading will ob-
viously make a square tail round, an emarginate one square, ete. I append a diagram of the
principal forms (fig. 33).
IV. THE FEET.
The Hind Limbs, in all birds, are organized for progression— all can walk, run, or hop
on land, though the power to do so is very slight in sume of the lower swimming birds, as
loons and grebes, and certain of the lower perching birds, as hummers, swifts, goatsuckers, and
kingfishers. They are specially fitted for perching on trees, bushes, and other supports requiring
to be grasped, in the great majority of birds, as throughout the Passeres, Picarie, Accipitres,
Columba, and, in fact, many water-birds ; there being few forms, mainly found among three-
toed birds, or those in which the hind toe is short, weak, and elevated, in which the extremity
of the limb has not decided grasping power. The limb becomes a paddle for swimming either
on or in the water in many cases. In not a few, as parrots and birds of prey, the foot is
serviceable as a hand. Those kinds of birds which live in trees and bushes habitually
progress, even when on level ground, in a series of hops, or rather leaps, both feet being
moved together: in all the lower birds, however, the feet move one after the other, as in ordi-
nary walking or running. The modifications of the hind limb are more numerous, more
diverse, and more important in their bearing on classification than those of either bill, wing,
or tail; their study is consequently a matter of special interest.
Their Bony Framework (fig. 34). — Beginning at the hip-joint, and ending at the
extremities of the several toes, the skeleton of the hind limb consists in the vast majority of
adult birds of twenty bones. This is the typical and nearly the average number; birds
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE FEET. 119
scarcely ever have more, and the principal lessenings of the number result from the absence
of one or two toes, or a slight reduction in the number of the joints of some toes, or absence of
the knee-cap. Of the normal twenty, fourteen are bones of the toes ; one is an incomplete
bone connecting the hind toe with the foot; one is the knee-cap, and four are the principal
bones of the thigh (1), leg (2), and foot (1). The first or uppermost is the thigh-bone or
femur (Lat. femur ; adjective, femoral), fm, from hip to knee, A to B in the figure. It is
a rather short, quite stout, cylindrical bone, enlarging above and below. Above it has a
globular head, a, standing off obliquely from the shaft, received in the acetabulum (Lat. aceta-
bulum, a kind of receptacle) or socket of the hip, and a prominent shoulder or trochanter,
which abuts against the
brim of the acetabulum.
Below, it expands into
two condyles (Gr. kévdu-
dos, a knob), for articu-
lation with both the
bones it meets at the
knee. It is the same
bone as the femur of a
quadruped or of man,
and corresponds to the
humerus of the wing.
In the knee-joint, many
or most birds have a
small ossicle, and a few
have two such bony nod-
ules, not shown in the
figure, but nearly in the
position of the letter B:
the knee-pan or knee-
cap, patella (Lat. patel-
la). The thigh is the
first. segment of the limb;
the next segment is the
leg proper, or crus (Lat.
erus, the shin; adjective,
Fie. 34.— Bones of a bird’s hind limb: from a duck, Clangula islandica, 3 nat.
crural), B to C in the
figure, or from knee to
heel. This segment is
occupied by two bones,
the tibia (Lat. tibia, a
tube, trumpet), tb, and
fibula (Lat. fibula, a
splint, clasp), fi. Of
these the tibia is the
principal, larger, inner
size; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S.A. A, hip: B, knee: C, heel or ankle-joint; D,
bases of toes. A to B, thigh or “second joint ’’; Bto C, crus, leg proper, “ drum-
stick,’ often wrongly called “ thigh”’; C to D, metatarsus, foot proper, correspond-
ing to our instep, or foot from ankle to bases of toes; in descriptive ornithology
the tarsus; often called “shank.” From D outward are the toes or digits, fm.
femur; 16, tibia, principal (inner) bone of leg; fi, fibula, lesser (outer) bone of
leg; mt, principal ti sal bone, consisting chiefly of three fused metatarsal
bones; am, accessory metatarsal, bearing 1¢, first or hind toe, with two joints; 2t,
second toe, with three joints; 3¢, third toe, with four joints; 4¢, fourth toe, with
five joints. At (there are in the embryo some small tarsal bones, not shown in
the figure, uniting in part with the tibia. which is therefore a tibio-tarsus, in part
with the metatarsus, which is therefore a tarso-metatarsus ; the ankle-joint being
therefore between two rows of tarsal bones, not, as it appears to be, directly be-
tween tibia and metatarsus.
bone, running quite to the heel; the fibula is smaller, and (with rare exceptions, as in some of
the penguins) only runs part way down the outside of the tibia as a slender pointed spike, close
pressed against or even partly fused with the shaft of the tibia.
Above, at the knee, both
bones articulate with the femur; the tibia with both the femoral condyles, the fibula only with
the outer condyle. Above, the tibia has an irregularly expanded head or cnemial process (Gr.
120 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
xvnpn, kneme, same as Lat. crus), which in some birds, as loons, runs high up in front above
the knee-joint. Below, the tibia alone forms the ankle-joint, C, by articulating with the next
bone. For this purpose it ends in an enlarged trochlear (Gr. rpoxadia), or pulley-like surface,
presenting a little forward as well as downward, above which, in many birds, there is a little
bony bridge beneath which tendons passing to the foot are confined. This finishes the leg,
consisting of thigh, A B, and leg proper, B C, bringing us to the ankle-joint at the heel, C.
Now a bird’s legs, unlike ours, are not separate from the body from the hip downward ;
but, for a variable distance, are enclosed within the general integument of the body. The
freedom of the limb is greatest among the high perching birds, and especially the Raptores,
which use the feet like hands, and least among the lowest swimmers. The range of variation,
from greatest freedom to most extensive enclosure of the limb, is from a little above B nearly to
C, as in the case of a loon, grebe, or penguin. In no bird is the knee, B, seen outside the
general contour of the plumage: it must be looked or felt for among the feathers, and in most
prepared skins will not be found at all, the femur having been removed. It is a point of little
practical consequence, though bearing upon the generalization just made. The first joint, or
bending of the limb, that appears beyond a bird’s plumage is the heel, C; and this is what,
in loose popular parlance, is called ‘‘ knee,” upon the same erroneous notions that make people
call the wrist of a horse’s fure-leg ‘‘ knee.” People also call a bird’s crus or leg proper, B to C,
the ‘‘thigh,” and disregard the true thigh altogether. This confusion is inexcusable; any one,
even without the slightest anatomical knowledge, can tell knee from heel at a glance, whatever
their respective positions relative to the body. Knee is at junction of thigh and leg proper;
it always bends forward; heel is at junction of leg with foot, and always bends backward.
This is as true of a bird, which is digitigrade, that is, walks on its toes with its heels in the
air, as it is of a man, who is plantigrade, that is, walks on the whole sole of the foot, with the
heel down to the ground. In a carver’s language, the thigh is the ‘‘second joint” (from
below) ; the leg is the ‘‘drumstick”; the rest of a fowl’s hind limb does not usually come to
table, having no flesh upon it. (See frontispiece, Th, Kn, Lg.)
Before proceeding to the next segment of the limb, I must dwell upon the ankle-joint,
situated at the heel, — the point C,— corresponding to the carpal angle or bend of the wing,
C, in fig. 27. There we found, in adult birds, two small carpal bones, or bones of the wrist
proper ; and noted the presence in the embryo of several other carpals (fig. 29), which early
fuse with the metacarpus. Just so in the ankle, there are in embryonic life several tarsal bones,
or bones of the tarsus (Lat. tarsus, the ankle) ; all of which, however, soon disappear, so that
there appears to be no tarsus, or collection of little bones between the tibia and the next
segment of the limb, the metatarsus. An upper tarsal bone, or-series of tarsal bones, fuses
with the lower end of the tibia, making this leg-bone really a tébio-tarsus ; and similarly, a
lower bone or set of bones fuses with the upper end of the metatarsus, making this bone a
tarso-metatarsus. So there are left no free bones in the ankle-joint, which thus appears to be
immediately between the leg-bone and the principal foot-bone; but which is nevertheless
really between two series of tarsal bones, the identity of which has been lost.1
1 The exact homologues of a bird’s vanishing tarsal bones are still questioned. Gegenbaur showed the so-
called epiphysis or shoe of bone at the foot of the tibia, and the similar cap of bone on the head of the principal
metatarsal bone, to be true tarsal elements. Morse went further, showing the tibial epiphysis, or upper tarsal bone
of Gegenbaur to be really two bones, which he held to correspond with the tibiale and fibulare, or astragalus and
calcaneum of mammals; these subsequently combining to form the single upper tarsal bone of Gegenbaur, and
finally becoming anchylosed with the tibia to form the bitrochlear condylar surface so characteristic of the tibia ot
Aves. The distal tarsal ossicle he believed to be the centrale of reptiles. Wyman discovered the so-called ** process ot
the astragalus” to have a distinct ossification, and Morse interpreted it as the intermedium of reptiles. Later
views, however, as of Huxley and Parker, limit the tibial epiphysis to the astragalus alone of mammals. If these
opinions be correct, other tarsal elements (more than one) are to be looked for in the epiphysis of the metatarsus.
Whatever the final determination of these obscure points may be, it is certain that, as said in the text above, the
lower end of a bird’s tibia and the upper end of a bird’s metatarsus include true tarsal elements, just as the upper
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE FEET. 121
The next segment of the limb, C to D, or the foot proper, is represented by the principal
metatarsal bone, mt. This corresponds to the human instep or arch of the foot, nearly from
the ankle-joint quite to the roots of the toes. The metatarsal bone, like the metacarpal of
the hand, which it represents in the foot, is a compound one. Besides including the evanes-
cent tarsal element or elements already specified, it consists of three metatarsal bones con-
solidated in one, just as the metacarpal is tripartite. Among recent birds, the three are
partly distinct only in the penguins; but in all, excepting ostriches, the original distinction is
indicated by three prongs or stumps at the lower end of the bone, forming as many articular
surfaces for the three anterior toes. The other toe most birds possess, the hind toe,-is hinged
upon the metatarsus in a different way, by means of a small separate metatarsal bone, quite
imperfect; this is the accessory metatarsal, am. It is situated near the lower end toward the
inner side of the principal metatarsal bone, and is of various shapes and sizes; it has no true
jointing with the latter, but is simply pressed close upon it, much as the fibula is applied to’ tle
tibia, or partly soldered with it. Above, it is defective; below, it bears a good facet for articu-
lation with the hind toe. &" In spite of anatomical proprieties, the metatarsal part of a bird’s
foot — from heel to base of toes —from C to D, is in ordinary descriptive ornithology invariably
called “‘ The Tarsus” ; a wrong name, but one so firmly established that it would be finical
and futile to attempt to substitute the correct name. In the ordinary attitude of most birds,
it is held more or less upright, and seems to be rather “leg” than a part of the ‘ foot.” It is
vulgarly called’ ‘the shank.” These points must be ingrained in the student’s mind to
prevent confusion. (See fig. 112 bis, p. 229.) es
The digits of the foot, or toes, upon which alone most birds walk or perch, consist of
certain numbers of small bones placed end to end, all jointed upon one another, andthe basal
or proximate ones of each toe separately jointed either with the principal or the accessory meta-
tarsal bone. Like those of the fingers, these bones are called phalanges (Lat. phalanx, a
rank or series) or wternodes (because coming between any two joints or nodes of ‘the toés).
The furthermost one of each almost invariably bears a nail or claw (unguwis). The phalanges:
are of various relative lengths, and of a variable number in the same or different toes. But all
these points, being matters of descriptive ornithology rather than of anatomy proper, are fully
treated beyond, as is also the special horny or leathery covering of the feet usually existing
from the point C outward. We may here glance at the
Mechanism of these Bones. — The hip is a ball-and-socket joint, permitting round-about
as well as fore-and-aft movements of the whole limb, thotgh more restricted thaw the shoulder-
joint. The knee is usually a strict ginglymus (Gr. yiyyAvupos, gigglumos, hinge) or hinge-joint,
allowing only backward and forward motion ; and so constructed that the forward movement of
the leg is never carried beyond a right line with the femur, while the backward is so extensive a
that the leg may be quite doubled under the thigh. In some birds there is a slight rotatory
motion at the knee, very evident in certain swimmers, by which the foot is thrown outward, so
that the broad webbed toes may not “interfere.” The heel or ankle-joint is a strict hinge; its
bendings are just the reverse of those of the knee; for the foot cannot pass back of a right line
with the leg, but can come forward till the toes nearly touch the front of the knee. In some.
birds the details of structure are such that, with the assistance of certain muscles, the foot is locked
upon the leg when completely straightened out, so firmly that some little muscular effort is re-:
quired to overcome the obstacle; birds with this arrangement sleep securely standing on one leg,
which is the design of the mechanism. The jointing of the toes with the prongs of the meta-.
tarsus is peculiar; for the articular surfaces are so disposed in a certain obliquity, that when
end of the metacarpus includes carpal elements; and that a. bird’s ankle-joint is not tibio-tarsal or between
leg-bone and foot-bones, a8 in mammals, but between proximal and distal series of tarsal bones, and therefore
medio-tarsal, as in reptiles.
122 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the toes are brought forwards, at right angles or’ thereabouts with the foot, they spread apart
from each other automatically in the action, and the diverging toes of the foot thus opened are
pressed upon the ground or against the water. When the toes are bent around in the opposite
direction, they automatically come together and lie in a bundle more or less parallel with oue
another, besides being each bent or flexed at their several nodes. The mechanism is best
marked in the swimmers, which, for advantageous use of their webbed toes, must present a
broad surface to the water in giving the backward stroke, and bring the foot forward with the
toes closed, presenting only an edge to the water, —all on the principle of the feathering of oars
in rowing. It is carried to an extreme in a loon, where, when the foot is closed, the digit
marked 2¢ in the figure lies below and behind 3¢. It is probably least marked in birds of
prey, which give the clutch with their talons spread. The jointings of the individual phalanges
of the toes upon one another are simple hinges, permitting motion of extension to a right line
or a little beyond in some cases, with very free flexion in the opposite direction. On the
whole, the mechanics of a bird’s foot are less peculiar than those of the wing, and quite those
of the limbs of a quadruped.
In ordinary hopping, walking, and running, and in perching as well, only the toes rest upon
or grasp the support, from D to beyond, C being more or less vertically over D. Such resting
of the toes is complete for 2 ¢, 3%, 4¢ in the figure, or for all the anterior toes; but for the hind
toe it varies according to the length and position of that digit, from complete incumbency, like
that of the front toes, to mere touching of the tip of that toe, or not even this: the hind toe
is then sure to be functionless. But many of the lower birds, such as loons and grebes, cannot
stand at all upright on their toes, resting with the heel touching the ground; and in many such
eases the tail furnishes additional support, making a tripod with the feet, as in the kangaroo.
Such birds might be called plantigrade (Lat. planta, the sole; gradus, a step) in strict
anatomical conformity with the quadrupeds so designated. The others are all digitigrade,
standing or walking on their toes alone. But no birds progress on the ends of their toes, or
toe-nails, as hoofed quodrupeds do. A bird’s ordinary walking or running is the same as ours,
so far as the ordinary mechanics of the motions are concerned ; but its so-called ‘‘ hopping” is
really leaping, both legs moving at once. Most birds, down to Colwmbe, leap when on the
ground, a mode of progression characteristic of the higher orders; but many of the more terres-
trial Passeres and Accipitres progress by ordinary walking when on the ground, as is invariably
the case with parrots, pigeons, gallinaceous birds, and all waders and swimmers.
The student need scarcely be reassured that, whatever their modifications, their relative
development, motions, and postures, the several segments of both fore and hind limbs of any
vertebrate, quadruped or biped, feathered or featherless, are fixed in one morphologically iden-
tical series, thus: 1, shoulder or hip-joint; 2, upper arm or thigh, humerus or femur; 38,
elbow or knee-joint; 4, fore-arm or leg proper, radius and ulna or tibia and fibula; 5, wrist,
bend of wing, carpus, or heel, ankle, tarsus; 6, hand proper, metacarpus, or foot proper,
metatarsus; 7, digits with their phalanges, of hand or foot, fingers or toes. 2, first segment;
4, second segment; 5, third segment (not separate in foot of bird); 6 and 7, fourth segment,
in the wing'called manus or pinion, in the leg, pes. Observe the improper naming of parts,
in the case of the hind limb, whereby 1, 2, 3, are not generally counted; 4 is called “thigh” ;
5 is called ‘“‘ knee”; 6 is called “leg” or “shank”; 7 is called “foot.” Observe also that in
descriptive ornithology 6 is ‘‘ the tarsus.”
The Plumage of the Leg and Foot varies within wide limits. In general, the leg is
feathered to the heel, C, and the rest of the limb is bare of feathers. The thigh is always
feathered, as part of the body plumage (pteryla femoralis). The crus or leg proper (thigh of
vulgar language, B to C) is feathered in nearly all the higher birds, and in swimming birds
without exception ; in the loons, the feathering even extends on the heel-joint. It is among
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE FEET. 123
the walking and especially the wading birds that the crus is most extensively denuded ;
it may be naked half-way up to the knee. A few waders,—among ours, chiefly in the
snipe family, —have the erus apparently clothed to the heel-joint; but this is due, in most if
not all cases, to the length of the feathers, for probably in none of them does the pteryla cruralis
itself extend to the joint. Crural feathers are nearly always short and inconspicuous; but
sometimes long and flowing, as in the ‘ flags” of most hawks, and in our tree-cuckoos. The
tarsus (I now and hereafter use the term in its ordinary acceptation — C to D in fig. 34; ts in
fig. 36) in the vast majority of birds is entirely naked, being provided with a horny or leathery
sheath of integument like that covering the bill. Such is its condition in the Passeres and
Pwarie (with few exceptions, as among swifts and goatsuckers) ; in the waders without ex-
ception, and in nearly all swimmers (the frigate-bird, Tachypetes, has a slight feathering).
The Raptores aud Galline furnish the most feathered tarsi. Thus, feathered tarsi is the rule
among owls (Striges); frequent, either partial or complete, in hawks and eagles, as in Aquila,
Archibuteo, Falco, Buteo, ete. All our grouse, and perhaps all true grouse, have the tarsus
more or less feathered (fig. 35). The toes themselves are feathered in a few birds, as several
of the owls, and all the ptarmigans (Lagopus). Partial feathering of the tarsus is often con-
tinued downward, to the toes or upon them, by sparse modified feathers in the form of bristles ;
as is well shown in the barn-owl (fig. 47). When incomplete, the feathering is generally want-
ing behind and
below, and it is
almost invariably
continuous above
with the crural
plumage. But in
that spirit of per-
versity in which
birds delight to
prove every rule Fig. 35. — Feathered tarsus of a grouse, Cupidonia cupido. Nat. size.
we establish by furnishing exceptions, the tarsus is sometimes partly feathered discontinuously.
A curious example of this is afforded by the bank-swallow, Cotile riparia, with its little tuft of
feathers at the base of the hind toé; and some varieties of the barm-yard fowl sprout monstrous
leggings of feathers from the side of the tarsus.
The Length of Leg, relatively to the size of the bird, is extremely variable; a thrush or
sparrow probably represents about average proportions of the limb. The shortest-legged bird
known is probably the frigate-pelican, Tachypetes ; which, though a yard long more or less,
has a tibia not half as long as the skull, and a tarsus under an inch. The leg is very short in
many Picarian birds, as hummers, swifts, goatsuckers, kingfishers, trogons, ete., in many of
which it scarcely serves at all for progression. Among Passeres, the swallows resemble swifts
in shortness of their hind limbs. It is pretty short likewise in many zygodactyle, yoke-toed or
scansorial birds, as woodpeckers, cuckoos, and parrots. In most swimming birds the limb
may also be called short, especially in its femoral and tarsal segments; while the broad-webbed
toes are comparatively longer. The leg lengthens in the lower perching birds, as many
hawks and some of the terrestrial pigeons; it is still longer among walkers proper, such as the
gallinaceous birds, and reaches its maximum among the waders, especially the larger ones,
such as cranes, herons, ibises, storks, and flamingoes ; among all of which it is correlated with
extension of the neck. Probably the longest-legged of all birds for its size is the stilt
(Himantopus). Taking the tarsus alone as an index of length of the whole limb, this is in
the frigate under one-thirty-sixth of the bird’s length; a flamingo, four feet long, has a tarsus
a foot long: a stilt, fourteen inches long, one of four inches; so that the maximun and
124 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
minimum lengths of tarsus are nearly thirty and under three per cent. of a bird’s whole
length.
The Horny Integument of the Foot requires particular attention. That part of the
limb which is devoid of feathers is covered, like the bill, by a hardened, thickened, modified
integument, varying in texture from horny to leathery. This sheath is called the podotheca
(Gr. mods, Todds, pous, podos, foot, and Onxy, theke, sheath). It is more corneous in land birds,
and in water birds more leathery ; this general distinction has but few exceptions. The perfectly
horny envelope is tight, and immovably fixed or nearly so, while the skinny styles of sheath
_are looser, and may usually be slipped about a little. The integument may differ on different
parts of the same leg, and in fact generally does so to some extent. Unlike the sheath of the
pill, the podotheca is never simple and continuous, being divided and subdivided in various
ways. The lower part of the crus, when naked, and the tarsus and toes, always have their
integument cut up into scales, plates, tubercles, and other special formations, which have
received particular names. The manner and character of such divisions are often of the
utmost consequence in classification, especially among the higher birds, since they are quite
significant of genera, families, and even some larger groups.
Fria. 38. — a, Reticulate tarsus
Fic. 37. — Scutellate of a plover. Nat. size. . b, Scutel-
Fie. 36.— Booted laminiplantar laminiplantar tarsus of a late and reticulate tarsus of a
tarsus of a robin. Nat. size. cat-bird. Nat. size. pigeon. Nat. size.
The commonest division of the podotheca is into scales or scutella (Lat. scutellum, a little
shield; pl. scwtella, not scutelle as often written) ; figs. 37, and 38, b. These are generally of
large comparative size, arranged in definite vertical series up and down the tarsus and along
the toes, and apt to be somewhat imbricated, or fixed shingle-wise, the lower edge of one
overlapping the upper edge of the next. The great majority of birds have such seutella. They
oftenest occur on the front of the tarsus (or acrotarsiwm, corresponding to our ‘ instep”), and
almost invariably on the tops of the toes (collectively called acropodiwm) ; frequerfly also. on
the sides and back of the tarsus or planta ; not so often on the crus, and rarely if ever on the
sides and under surfaces of the toes. A tarsus so disposed as to its podotheca is said to be
scutellate, —scutellate before (fig. 37), or behind, or both, as the case may be. The term is
equally applicable to the acropodium, but'is not so often used because scutellation of the upper
sides of the toes is so universal as to be taken for granted unless the contrary condition is
expressly said. The most notorious case of the Oscine podotheca (figs. 36, 37), characterizing
that great group of birds, is given beyond (next paragraph).
. Plates, or reticulations (Lat. reticulum, a web; fig. 38, a) result from the cutting up of
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE FEET. 125
the envelope in various ways by eross lines. Plates are of various shapes and sizes, and
grade usually into true scutella, from which however they are generally distinguished by being
smaller, or of irregular contour, or not in definite rows, or lacking the appearance of imbrica~
tion; but there is no positive distinction. They are oftenest hexagonal (six-sided), a form best
adapted to close packing, as shown very perfectly in the cells of the honey-bee’s comb; but
they may have fewer sides, or be polygonal (many-sided), or even circular; when crowded in
one direction and loosened in another the shape tends to be oval or even linear. A leg so fur-
nished is said to be reticulate : the reticulation may be entire, or be associated with scutellation,
as often happens (fig. 38, 0). A particular case of reticulation is called granulation (Lat.
granum, a grain): when the plates become elevated into little tubercles, roughened or not.
Such a leg is said to be granular, granulated, or rugose: it is well shown by parrots, and the
fish-hawk (Pandion). When the harder sorts of scales or plates are roughened without
obvious elevation, the leg is said to be scabrous or scarious (Lat. scabrum, a scab). But
scabrous is also said of the under surfaces of the toes, when these develop special pads, or
wart-like bulbs (called tylart) : as is well shown in the sharp-shinned and many other hawks.
The softer sorts of legs, and especially the webs of swimming birds, are often marked crosswise
or cancellated with a lattice work of lines, these however not being strong enough to produce
plates; it is more like the lines seen on our palms and finger-tips. The plates of a part of the
leg occasionally develop into actual serrations ; as witnessed along the hinder edge of a
grebe’s tarsus. When an unfeathered tarsus shows mo divisions of the podotheea in front
(along the acrotarsium), or only two or three scales close by the toes, it is said to be booted or
greaved ; and such a podotheea is holothecal (Gr. édos, holos, whole, entire, and @jxn; fig. 36).
The generic opposite is schizothecal (Gr. cxifw, I cleave), whether by scutellation or reticula-
tion or in any other way the integument may be cut up. A booted or holothecal tarsus chietly
occurs in the higher Oscines, and is supposed by many, particularly German ornithologists, to
indicate the highest type of bird structure. It is, however, found in a few water birds, as
Wilson’s stormy petrel and other species of Oceanites. It is not a common modification.
Exceptions aside, it only occurs in connection with an equally particular condition of the
sides and back of the tarsus, or planta. In almost all Oscine Passeres (Alaudide are an
exception), which constitute the great bulk of the large order Passeres, the planta is covered
with one pair of plates or amine, one on each side, meeting behind in a sharp ridge ; a condi-
tion called laminiplantar, in distinction from the opposite, scutelliplantar, state of the parts.
A holothecal podotheca only oceurs in connection with the laminiplantar condition, the combi-
nation resulting in the perfect “boot.” Among North American birds, the genus Oceanites
aside, it is exhibited by the following genera, and by these only: Turdus, Cinclus, Saxicola,
Sialia, Regulus, Cyanecula, Phylloscopus, Chamea, Myiadestes ; and even birds of these
genera, when yowng, show scutella which disappear with age by progressive fusion of the
acrotarsial podotheca. (Compare figs. 36, 37.)
The Crus, when bare of feathers below, may, like the tarsus, be scutellate or reticulate
before or behind, or both; such divisions of the crural integument being commonly seen in
long-legged wading birds. Or, again, this integument may be loose, softish, and movable, not
obviously divided, and passing directly into ordinary skin.
The Tarsus, in general, may be called subcylindrical : it is often quite cireular in cross-
section; generally thicker from before backward, and only rarely wider from one side to the
other than in the opposite direction; but such a shape as this last is exhibited by the penguins.
When the transverse thinness is noticeable, the tarsus is said to be compressed; and such
compression is very great in a loon, in which the tarsus is almost like a knife blade. Quite
cylindrical tarsi occur chiefly when there are similar scales or plates before and behind, as
126 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
happens in the larks (Alauwdide) ; they are rare among land birds, common among waders.
Those swimming birds with a very thin skinny podotheca are apt to show traces of the four-
sidedness of the metatarsal bone. The tarsus in the vast majority of land birds is seen on
close inspection to be somewhat ovate or drop-shaped on cross-section, — gently rounded in
front, more compressed laterally, and sharp-ridged behind. This results from the laminiplan-
tation described above, and is equally well exhibited by most passerine birds, whether they
have booted or anteriorly scutellate tarsi. The line of union of anterior scutella with postero-
lateral plates on the sides of the tarsus is generally in a straight vertical line, — either a mere
line of flush union, or a ridge, or oftener a groove (well seen in the crows), which may or
may not be filled in with a few small narrow plates. In the Clamatorial Passeres, represented
by our flycatchers, the tarsus is enveloped in a scroll-like podotheca of irregularly arranged
plates, the edges of the scroll meeting along the inner side of the tarsus. But the full consider-
ation of special states of the tarsal envelope, however important and interesting, would be part
of a systematic treatise on ornithology, rather than of an outline sketch like this.
The Number of Toes (individually, digiti ; collectively, podium) is fowr: there are
never more. There are two in the ostrich alone, in which both inner and hind toe are wanting.
There are three in all the other struthious birds (Rheide, Casu-
artide), excepting Apteryx, which has four. There are like-
wise three, the hind toe being suppressed, in the tinamine
genera Calodromas and Tinamotis (Drom@ognathe) ; through-
out the auk family (Aleide); in the petrel genus Pelecan-
oides; apparently in the albatrosses (Diomedeine) ; usually in
the gull genus Rissa; in the flamingo genus Phenicoparra ;
throughout the bustard family (Otidide), and among various
related forms, as Cidienemus, Esacus, Cursorius; in the
plovers (Charadriide), excepting Squatarola; and in the
Fia. 39. — Tridactyle foot of sand- bush-quails (Turnicide), excepting Pedionomus. In higher
erling, Calidris arenaria; nat. size. irds three toes are a rare anomaly, only known to occur in
three genera of woodpeckers (Picotdes, Sasia, and Tiga), and in one galbuline genus (Jaca-
maralcyon), by loss of the hind toe ; in two genera of kingfishers (Ceyx and Alcyone), by sup-
pression of the inner front tue; and in the passerine genus Cholornis, by defect of the outer
front toe. North American three-toed birds are these only: the woodpeckers of the genus
Picoides ; all auks (Alcide), and albatrosses (Diomedeine ; in these, however, there is a
rudiment of the hind toe); all plovers (Charadrtide, excepting one, Squatarola) ; the oyster-
catchers (Hematopus) ; the sanderling (Calidris, fig. 39); the stilt (Himantopus). Birds
with two toes are said to be didactyle ; with three, tridactyle ; with four, tetradactyle. In the
vast majority of cases, birds have three toes in front and one behind. Occasionally, either the
hind toe, or the outermost front toe, is versatile, that is, susceptible of being turned either
way. Such is the condition of the outer front toe in most owls (Striges), and in the fish-hawk
(Pandion). We have no case of true versatility of the hind toe among North American birds;
but several cases of its stationary somewhat lateral position, as in goatsuckers (Caprimulgide),
some of the swifts (Cypselide), the loons (Colymbide), and all the totipalmate swimmers
(Steganopodes). Nor have we any example of that rarest of all conditions (seen in some
Cypselide, and the African Coliide) in which all four toes are turned forward. The arrange-
ment of toes in pairs, two before and two behind, is quite common, being the characteristic
of scansorial birds and some others, as all the parrots and woodpeckers, cuckoos, trogons, ete.
Such arrangement is called zygodactyle or zygodactylous (Gr. (vydv, zugon, a yoke; ddxrvAos,
daktulos, a digit) ; and birds exhibiting it are said to be yoke-toed (fig. 45). In all yoke-toed
birds, excepting the trogons, it is the owter anterior toe which is reversed; in trogons, the
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE FEET. 127
inner one. In nearly every three-toed bird, all three toes are anterior; our single exception ig
in the genus Picoides, where the true hind toe is wanting, the outer anterior one being reversed
as usual in zygodactyles. No bird has more toes behind than in front. Birds’ toes, and their
respective joints, are
Numbered, in a certain definite order, as follows (see figs. 34, 36): hind toe = first toe,
lt; inner anterior toe = second tue, 2¢; middle anterior toe = third toe, 3¢; outer anterior
toe = fourth toe, 4t. Such identification of 1 ¢, 2¢, 3¢, 4 ¢ applies to the ordinary case of three
toes in front and one behind. But, obviously, it holds good for any other arrangement of the
toes, if we only know which one is changed in position, —a thing always easy to learn, as we
shall see at once. In birds with the hind toe reversed, leaving all four in front, the sane
order is evident, though then 1¢ is the inner anterior, 2¢ the next, ete. ; for it always happens,
when a hind toe turns forward, that it turns on the immer side of the foot. Similarly, in yoke-
toed birds (excepting Trogonide), it is the outer anterior which is turned backward, as above
said; then, evidently, inner hind toe =1¢; inner front toe = 2¢; outer front toe = 3¢; outer
hind toe =4¢. In Trogonide, with inner front toe reversed, the correction of the formula is
easily made. Moreover, when the number of toes decreases from four to three or two, the
digits are almost always reduced in the same order: thus, in three-toed birds, 1 ¢ is the missing
one; in the two-toed ostrich, 1¢ and 2t are gone. The only known exceptions to this general-
ization are afforded by two exotic genera of kingfishers, Ceyx and Alcyone, in which 2¢ is
defective ; and by the anomalous passerine Cholornis of China, in which 4¢ is in like case.
The rule is proven by the
Number of Phalanges, or joints, of the digits. The constancy of the joints in birds’
toes is remarkable, —it is one of the strongest expressions of the highly monomorphic character
of Aves. In all birds, excepting Procellartide, 1 t when present Las two joints (not counting,
of course, the accessory metatarsal). In all birds, 2¢ when present has three joints. In nearly
all birds, 3¢ has four joints. In nearly all birds, 4¢ has five joints. Thus, any digit has one
more joint than the number of itself. The exceptions to this regularity consist in the lessening
of the number of joints of 1 ¢ or 3¢ by one, and of 4% by one or two. So when the joints do
not run 2, 3, 4, 5, for toes 1 to 4, they run either, 1, 3, 4, 5, or 2, 8, 4, 4, or 2, 3, 3, 3. (These
statements do not regard the anomalous cases of Ceyx, Alcyone, and Cholormis — see above.)
This variability is nearly confined tu certain Picarian birds: our examples of it are in certain
genera of Cypseline, fig. 40, where the ratio is 2, 3, 3, 3,
of Caprimulgine, fig. 41, where it is 2, 3, 4, 4; and the petrel
family, with 1,3, 4,5. Such adinirable conservatism enables
) NS us to tell what toes are missing in any case, or what ones are
(Z y) out of the regular position. Thus, in Picotdes, the hind toe, y
R apparently 1#, is known to be 4 ¢, because it is five-jointed; o Wh / i]
R
=
Ss)
ee ae ee in a trogon, the inner hind toe is 2 ¢, being three-jointed ; in G
langes of Cypse- the ostrich, with only two toes, 3¢ and 4¢ are seen to be (9
line foot, 2,3,3,3. preserved, because they are respectively four- and five-jointed. iH]
(See fig. 34, where the digits and their phalanges are numbered.) Besides Y
this interesting numerical ratio, the phalanges have other inter-relations of te ee
some consequence in classification, resulting from their comparative lengths. ,ngesof Caprimul-
In some families of birds, one or more of the basal or proximal phalanges gine foot, 2, 3, 4,4.
(those next to the foot — opposed to distal, or those at the ends of the digits) of the front toes
are extremely short, being mere nodules of bone (fig. 40); in other and more frequent cases,
they are the longest of all, as in figs. 34, 41. On the whole, they generally decrease in length
from proximal to distal extremity, and the last one of any toe is quite sinall, serving merely
128 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
as a core to the claw. The difference in the lengths of the several phalanges, hike that of
* the digits themselves, makes the tues inure efficieut in grasping, since they thereby clasp more
perfectly upon an irregular object. The design and the principle are the same as seen in the
human hand, in which model instrument the digits and their joints are all of different lengths.
The Position of the Digits, other than in respect to their direction, is important. Iu
all birds the front toes are iuserted un the metatarsus on the same level, or so nearly in one
horizontal plane that the difference is not notable. The same may be said of the hind toes
when they are a pair, as in zygodactyle birds. But the hind toe, or halluz, as it is often
called, when present and single, varies remarkably in position with reference to the front toes ;
and this matter requires special notice, as it is important in classification. The insertion of
this digit varies, fron the very bottoin of the tarsus (metatarsus), where it is on a level with
the front toes, to some distance up the bone. When the hallux is flush with the bases of
the other toes, sc that its whole length is on the ground, it is said to be incwmbent. When
just so much raised that its tip only touches the ground, it is called insistent. When inserted
so high up that ‘t does nut reach the ground, it is termed remote (amotus) or elevated.
But as the precise position varies insensibly, so that the foregoing distinctions are not readily
perceived, it is practically best to recugnize only two of these three conditions, saying simply
‘hind toe elevated,” when it is inserted fairly above the rest, and ‘‘ hind toe not elevated,”
when its insertion is flush with that of the other toes. In round terms: it is characteristic of
all insessorial (Lat. insedo, I sit upon) or perching birds to have the hind toe Down; of all
other birds to have it UP (when present). The exceptions to the first of these statements are
extremely rare; among North American birds they are chiefly furnished by certain genera of
Caprimulgide, perhaps also of Cypselide, and of Cathartide. But among other Raptores
besides Cathartide, especially certain owls (Striges), and in some of the pigeons (Columbide),
the hind toe is not quite down, or is decidedly uplifted (as in Starnenas, for example). It is
elevated in all our rasorial birds (Galline); elevated in all our waders excepting the herons
and some of their allies (Herodiones), though not very markedly so in the rail family (Rallide).
It is elevated in all swimming birds, whether lobe-footed or completely or partly web-footed,
but in the totipalmate order (Steyanopodes), where the hallux is lateral in position and
webbed with the inner toe, the elevation is slight. Now since, curiously enough, the only
ones of our insessorial genera (see above) that have the hind toe up, have also little webs
between the front toes —since some Raptores are our only other insessorial birds with any
such true webbing —since herons and some of their allies are our only birds with such
‘webbing that have the hallux down—the following rule is perhaps infallible for North
American birds: Consider the hind toe up in any bird with any true webbing or lobing of the
front toes, excepting herons and some of their allies and some birds of prey. The converse
also holds almost as well; for our only birds with fully-cleft anterior toes and hind toe up, are
the rails and gallinules (Rallid@), the black-bellied plover (Squatarola helvetica), our only
four-toed plover, the turn-stone (Strepsilas interpres), the American woodcock (Philohela
minor), the European woodeock (Scolopax rusticula), Wilson’s snipe (Gallinago wilsoni), and
most of the sandpipers (Scolopacide). If the sense of this paragraph is taken in, the student
who wishes to use my artificial ‘‘key ” will seldom be puzzled to know whether to take the
toe up or down.
The Hallux has other Notable Characters. —It is free and simple, in the vast majority
of birds : in all insessorial birds, nearly all cursorial (Lat. cursor, a courser), and most natatorial
(Lat. natator, a swimmer) forms. Its length, claw included, may equal or surpass that of the
longest anterior toe; and generally exceeds that of one or two of these. It is never so long as
when incumbent ; when thus down on a level with the rest it also acquires its greatest mobility
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.—THE FEET. 129
and functional efficiency. In most Passeres it is virtually provided with a special muscle for
independent movement, so that it may be perfectly apposable to the other tves collectively,
just as our thumb may be brought against the tip of any finger. In general, it shortens as it
rises on the metatarsus; and probably in no bird in which it is truly elevated is it as long as
the shortest anterior toe. It is short, barely touching the ground, in most wading birds;
shorter still in some swimmers, as the gulls, where it is probably functionless; it is incom-
plete in one genus of gulls (Rissa), where it bears no perfect claw; it has only one phalanx
and is represented only by a short immovable claw in the petrels (Procellariide); it disappears
in the birds named in the last paragraph but two above, and in some others. It is never actu-
ally soldered with any other toe, for any noticeable distance ; but it is webbed to the base of the
inner toe in the loons (Colymbus), and to the whole length of the toe in all the Steganopodes
(fig. 52). It may also be independently webbed; that is, be provided with a separate flap or
lobe of freemembrane. This lobation of the hallux is seen in all our sea-ducks and mergansers
(Fuliguline and Mergine), and in all the truly lobe-footed birds, as coots (ulica), grebes
(Podicipedide) and phalaropes (Phalaropodide). The modes of union of the anterior toes
with one another may be finally considered under the head of the
Three leading Modifications of the Avian Foot. — Birds’ feet are modelled, on the
whole, upon one or another of three plans, furnishing as many types of structure ; which
types, though they run into one another, and each is variously modified, may readily be appre-
ciated. These plans are the perching or insessorial, the walking or wading, cwrsorial or
grallatorial, and the swimming or natatorial — in fact, so well distinguished are they, that
carinate birds have even been primarily divided into groups corresponding to these three
evidences of physiological adaptation of the structure of the Avian pes. Independently of the
number and position of the digits, the plans are pretty well indicated by the method of union
of the toes, or their entire lack of union. 1. The insessorial type. (a) In order to make a foot
the most of a hand, that is, to fit it best for that grasping function which the perching of
birds upon trees and bushes requires, it is requisite that the digits should be as free and
movable as possible, and that the hind one should be perfectly apposable to the others.
Compare the human hand, for example, with the foot, and observe the perfection secured by
the perfect freedom of the fingers and especially the appositeness of the thumb. In the most
accomplished insessorial foot, the front toes are cleft to the base, or only coherent to a very
slight extent; the hind toe is completely incumbent, and as long and flexible as the rest. Our
thrushes (Turdide) probably show as complete cleavage — i if
as is ever seen, practically as much as that of the i
human fingers; the cleft between the inner and middle
toe being to the very base, while the outer is only joined
to the middle for about the length of its own basal
joint. This is the typical passerine foot (figs. 36, 37,
42,43). There may be somewhat more cohesion of
the toes at base, as in the wrens, titmice, creepers,
vireos, ete., without, however, obscuring the true pas-
serine character. As regards this matter, the point is,
that when the toes are united at all, it is by their actual
cohesion there, not by movable webbing. Besides the pig 4s ap: pal Paani eats
typical passerine, there are several other modifications (‘The right-hand fig. is Plectrophanes lappo-
of the insessorial foot. (b) Thus a kingfisher shows ™écus, nat, size.)
what is called a syndactyle or syngnesious (Gr. ovv, sun, together ; yrnowos, gnesios, relating to
way of birth) foot (fig. 44), where the outer and middle toes cohere for most of their extent and
have a broad sole in common. It is a degradation of the insessorial foot, and not a common
9
150 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
one either; seen in those perching birds which scarcely use their feet for progression, but
simply for sitting motionless. (¢) The zygodactyle or yoke-toed modification has been suffi-
45). It was formerly made much of, as a scansorial or climbing type of foot,
and an absurd ‘‘ order”
of birds has been called
Scansores. But many
of the zygodactyle birds
do not climb, as the
cuckoos; while the most
nimble and adroit of
climbers, such as the
nuthatches and creepers,
retain a typically pas- Fic. 45.—Zygodactyle foot of a woodpecker, Hylotomus
serine foot. The scan- Pileatus, nat. size.
sorial ” is simply one modification of the insessorial plan, and has little clas-
ee eee sificatory significance, —no more than that attaching to the particular con-
fisher, nat. size. dition of the insessorial foot (d) which results from elevation or versatility of
the hind toe, as in some Cypselide and Caprimulgide. This is an abnormality which has
received no special name; it is generally associated with some little webbing of the anterior
toes at base, which is a de-
parture from the true inses-
sorial plan, or with abnorinal
reduction of the phalanges of
the third and fourth toes, as
explained above (figs. 40, 41).
(e) The raptorial is another
modification of the insessorial
foot. It is advantageous to a
bird of prey to be able to
spread the toes as widely as
possible, that the talons may
seize the prey like a set of
Fic. 46.— Raptorial foot of a hawk, Accipiter cooperi, nat. size. grappling irons; and accord-
ingly the toes are widely divergent from each other, the outer one in the owls and a few hawks
being quite versatile. In a foot of raptorial character, the toes are cleft profoundly, or, if united
at base, it is by movable
webbing; the claws are im-
meusely developed, and the
under-surfaces of the toes are
scabrous or bulbous for greater
security of the object grasped.
Any hawk or owl or old-world
vulture exhibits the raptorial
insessorial foot (figs. 46, 47).
2. The cursorial or grallato-
rial type. The gist of this
plan lies in the decrease or
Fic. 47. — Raptorial foot of an owl, Aluco flammeus, nat. size. entire loss of the grasping
function, and in the elevation, reduction in length, or loss of the hind toe; the foot is a good
foot, but nothing of a hand. The columbine birds, which are partly terrestrial, partly arboreal,
EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS.— THE FEET. 131
exhibit the transition from the perching to the gradient foot, in some reduction of the hind toe,
which is nevertheless in most cases still on the same level as the rest (fig. 38, b). In the
gallinaceous or rasorial (Lat. rasor, a scraper) birds, which are essentially terrestrial, and
noted for their habit of scratching the ground for food, the hind toe is decidedly elevated and
shortened in almost all of the families (fig. 35). Such reduction and uplifting of the hallux is
carried to an extreme in most of the waders, or gral-
latores, in many of which this toe disappears (figs.
38, a, 39). Itis scarcely practicable to recognize special
modifications of such gradient or grallatorial feet, since
they merge insensibly into one another. The herons,
which are the most arboricole of the waders, exhibit a
reversion to the insessorial type, in the length and in-
cumbency of the hallux. The mode of union of the
Fia. 48. — Semipal- % baw
mation in Ereunetes; front toes of the walkers and waders is somewhat char- Fic. 49. — Semi-
i sage . ‘ almated bases of
Talc, SIZE: acteristic. The toes are either cleft quite to the base, foos of Symphemia;
or there joined by small webs; probably never actually coherent. Such nat. size.
basal webbing of the toes is called semipalmation (‘‘half-webbing”). It is actually the
same thing that occurs in many birds of prey, in most gallinaceous birds, etc. ; the term is
mostly restricted, in descriptive ornithology, to those wading birds, or grallatores, in which it
occurs. Such basal webs generally run out to the end of the first, or along part of the second,
phalanx of the toes; usually farther between the outer and middle
than between the middle and inner toes. Such a foot is well illus-
trated by the semipalmated plover (gialites semipalmatus),
semipalmated sandpiper (Ereunetes pusillus, fig. 48), and willet
(Symphemia semipalmata, fig. 49). In a few wading birds, as the
avocet and flamingo, the webs extend to the ends of the toes.
This introduces us at once to the third main modification of the
foot, 3. The natatorial type. Here the foot is transformed into
a swimming implement, usually with much if not entire abrogation
of its function as foot or hand. Swimming birds with few ex-
ceptions are notoriously bad walkers, and few of them are perchers.
The swimming type is presented under two principal modifica-
tions: — (a.) In the palmate or ordinary webbed foot, all the front Frc. 50.— Palmate foot of a
toes are united by ample webs (fig. 50). The palmation is usually tern, Sterna forsteri; nat. size.
complete, extending to the ends of the toes; but one or both webs may be so deeply incised,
that is, cut away, that the palmation is practically reduced to semipalmation, as in terns of
the genus Hydrochelidon (fig. 51). The totipalmate is a special case of palmation, in
which all four toes are webbed; this characterizes the whole order
Steganopodes (fig. 52). (b.) In the lobate foot, a paddle results not
from connecting webs, but from a series of lobes or flaps along the
sides of the individual toes; as in the coots, grebes, phalaropes, and
sun-birds (Heliornithide). Lobation is usually associated with semi-
palmation, as is well seen in the grebes (Podicipedide). In the snipe-
like phalaropes (Phalaropodide), lobation is present as a modification
of a foot otherwise quite cursorial. The most emphatic cases of loba-
tion are those in which each joint of the toes has its own flap, with a
Fia. 51. — Incised pal-
free convex border; the membranes as a whole therefore present a scol- mation of Hydrochelidon
loped outline (figs. 53, 53 bis). Such lobes are merely a development Lanormes -mate Bie:
of certain marginal fringes or processes exhibited by many non-lobate or non-palmate birds.
‘Thus, if the foot of some of the gallinules be examined in a fresh state, the toes will be seen to
1382 ; GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
have a narrow membranous margin running the whole length. The same thing is evident in
a great many waders, and on the free borders of the inner and outer toes of web-footed birds.
: In the grouse family
(Tetraomde), mar-
ginal fringes are
very conspicuous ;
there being a great
development of hard
horny substance,
fringed into a series
of sharp teeth or
pectinations (fig.
35). These forma-
Fic. 52.—Totipalmate foot of a tions appear to be
pelican; reduced. deciduous, that is, ~
to fall off periodically, like parts of the claws of Fig. 53.— Lobate foot of a coot; reduced.
some quadrupeds (lemmings).
Claws and Spurs. — With rare anomalous exceptions, as in the case of an imperfect
hind toe, every digit terminates in a complete claw. The general shape is remarkably constant
in the class; variations being rather in degree than in kind. A cat’s claw is about the usual
shape: it is compressed, arched, acute. The great talons of a bird of prey are only an en-
largement of the typical shape ; and, in fact, they are scarcely longer, more curved, or more
acute than those of a delicate canary bird; they are simply stouter. The claws of scansorial
birds are very acute and much curved, as well as quite large. The under surface of the claw
3 is generally excavated, so that the transverse section, as
well as the lengthwise outline below, is concave, and the
under surface is bounded on either side by a sharp’edge.
One of these edges, particularly the inner edge of the middle
claw, is expanded or dilated in a great many birds; in some
Fig. 53 bis. —Lobate foot of phala- It becomes a perfect comb, having a regular series of teeth.
rope, Lobipes hyperboreus ; nat. size. This pectination (Lat. pecten, a comb), as it is called, only
oceurs on the inner edge of the middle claw. It is beautifully shown by all the true herons
(Ardeide) ; by the whip-poor-wills and night-hawks (Caprimulgide, fig. 41); by the frigate
pelican (Tachypetes); and impertectly by the barn owl (Aluco flammeus). It is supposed to
be used for freeing parts of the plumage that cannot be reached by the bill from parasites;
but this is very questionable, seeing that some of the shortest-legged birds, which cannot
possibly reach much of the plumage with the comb, possess that instrument. Claws are
more obtuse among the lower birds than in the insessorial and scansorial groups, as the
columbine and gallinaceous (rasorial) orders, and most natatorial families. Obtuseness is
generally associated with flatness or depression; for in proportion as a claw becomes less
acute, so does it lose its arcuation, as a rule. This is well illustrated by Wilson’s petrel
(Oceanites oceanicus), as compared with others of the same family. Such condition is carried
to an extreme in the grebes (Podicipedide), the claws of which birds resemble human finger-
nails. Otherwise, deviations froin curvature, without loss of acuteness, are chiefly exhibited
by the hind claw of many terrestrial Passeres, as in the whole family Alaudide (larks),
and some of the finches (Fringillide), as the species of ‘‘ long-spur” (Centrophanes). But all
the claws are straight, sharp, and prodigiously long, in birds of the genus Parra (fig.
53 ter); these jacands being enabled to run lightly over the floating leaves of aquatic plants
by so much increase in the spread of their tues that they do not ‘slump in.” Claws are
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 134
also variously carinate or ridged, sulcate or grooved. In a few cases they are rounded under.
neath, so as to be nearly circular in cross-section, as is the case with those of the fish-hawk
(Pandion). They are always horny (corneous). They take name from and are reckoned by
their respective digits: thus, 1 cl. = claw of 1t; 2 cl. = claw of 2¢, ete.
Fic. 53 ter.— Foot of Parra gymmostoma, nat. size, showing the long, straight claws. (From Pr. U. S. Nat.
Mus. The spurred wing of the same bird is also shown. See p. 114.)
Spurs (Lat. calcar, a spur) are developed on the metatarsal bones of a few birds. They
are of the nature of claws, being hard, horny modifications of the epiderm: but they have
nothing to do with the digits. They possess a bony core upon which they are supported,
like the horns of cattle. Such growths chiefiy occur in gallinaceous birds: the spurs of the
domestic fowl are a familiar case. Sometimes there are a pair of such weapons on each foot,
as in the-Pavo bicalcaratus. The only instance of their occurrence among indigenous birds of
North America is offered by the wild turkey (Meleagris gallipavo). Metatarsal spurs are
characteristic of the male sex; they are offensive weapons, and belong to the class of ‘‘ second-
ary sexual characters” (p. 90). (For wing-spurs, as shown in fig. 53 ter, see p. 114.)
§ 4.—AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.
Anatomical Structure now affords ornithologists many and the most important of the
characters used in classification. In fact, few if any of the groups above genera can be
securely established without consideration of internal parts and organs, as well of exterior
modifications of structure. Therefore, the student who really ‘‘ means business” must be on
speaking terms at least with avian anatomy. For example, none could in the least intelli-
gently understand a wing or a leg without knowing the bony framework of those members.
Yet, for me to adequately set this matter forth would be to occupy this whole volume with
anatomy ; whereas, I can only devote a few pages to the entire subject. In such embarrass-
ment, which attends any attempt to treat a great theme in a short way that shall not also be a
small way, attention must be mainly confined to those points which bear most directly upon
systematic ornithology as distinguished from pure anatomy, in order to bring forward the
structures which are more particularly concerned in the classification of birds. I wish to
give a fair account of the skeleton, as osteological characters are of the utmost importance for
the determination of natural affinities; and to continue with some notice of prominent features
of the muscular, vascular, respiratory, digestive, urogenital, and nervous systems, and
organs of the special senses, as the eye and ear. The tegumentary system has already been
treated at some length (pp. 82-91); so has the osseous system, so far as the bones of the limbs
are concerned (pp. 106-109, 118-122, 127). What further I shall have to say is designed
merely as an introduction to the rudiments of avian anatomy, and is supposed to be addressed
to beginners only.
134 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
a. OSTEOLOGY: THE Osszous SysTEM, OR SKELETON.
Osteology (Gr. daréov, osteon, a bone; Adyos, logos, a word) is a scientific description of
bone in general and of bones in particular. Bone consists of an animal basis or matrix (Lat.
matriz, « mould) hardened by deposit of earthy salts, chiefly phosphate of lime. Bone is
either preformed in the gristly substance called cartilage (Lat. cartilago, gristle), and results
from the substitution of the peculiar osseous tissue for the cartilaginous tissue, or it is formed
directly in ordinary connective tissue, such as that of most membranes or any ligaments of the
body. Bone tissue presents a peculiar microscopic structure, in which it differs from teeth, as
it does also in not being developed from mucous membrane; the substance is called ostein,
as distinguished from dentine. Though very dense and hard, bone has a copious blood-supply,
and is therefore very vascular ; the nutrient fluid penetrates every part in a system of vessels
called Haversian canals.. In the natural state bone is covered with a tough membrane called
periosteum (Gr. epi, peri, around, and éoréov), which is to bone what bark is to a tree. The
bones collectively constitute the osseous system, otherwise known as the skeleton (Gr. oxeAerdv,
dried, as bones usually are when studied). The skeleton is divided into the endoskeleton (Gr.
#6dov, endon, within), consisting of the bones inside the body ; and the exoskeleton (Gr. é&, ex,
out of), or those upon the surface of the body, of which birds have none. Certain bones
developed apart from the systematic endoskeleton, in fibrous tissue, are called scleroskeletal
(Gr. oxdnpds, scleros, hard), as the ossified tendons or leaders of a turkey’s leg, the ring of
ossicles in a bird’s eye (an ossicle is any small bone). Sesamoid (Gr. onoapn, sesame, a
kind of pea) bones, so often found in the ligaments and tendons about joints, are probably
best considered scleroskeletal. The endoskeleton is divided into bones of the axial skeleton,
so called because they lie in the axis of the body, as those of the skull, backbone, chest,
pelvis, and shoulder-girdle ; and of the appendicular skeleton, including bones of the limbs,
considered as diverging appendages of the trunk. The skeleton is jointed; bones join
either by immovable suture, or by movable articulation (Lat. articulus, a joint, dimin. of artus
a limb). In free articulations, the opposing surfaces are generally smooth, and lubricated
with a fluid called synovia. Progressive ossification often causes bones originally distinct to
codssify, that is, to fuse together; this is termed ankylosis or anchylosis ; bones so melted -
together are said to be ankylosed or anchylosed (Gr. dyxiAwois or dyytAwors, the stiffening of
joints in a bent position). Thus all the bones of a bird’s brain-box are anchylosed together,
though the box at first consists of many distinct ones ; and the determination of such osseous
elements or integers in compounded bones is a very important matter, as a clue to their
morphological composition. The names of most individual bones, chiefly derived from the
old anatomists, are arbitrary and have little scientific signification; many are fanciful and mis-
leading ; bones named since anatomy passed from the empiric stage, when it was little more
than the art of dissecting and describing, however, have as a rule better naming. The shaft
of a long bone is its continuity: the enlargements usually found at its extremities are called
condyles (Gr. xdvdudos, kondulos, a lump, knot, as of the knuckles). Points where ossification
commences in cartilage or membrane, are ossific centres, or osteoses ; valuable clues, usually,
to the elements of compound bones. But ossification of individual simple bones may begin in
more than one spot, and the several osteoses afterward grow together. This is especially the
case with the ends of bones, which often make much progress in ossification before they unite
with the shaft or main part; such caps of bone, as long as they are disunited, are called
epiphyses (Gr. émi, epi, upon; vos, phusis, growth). Protrusive parts of bones have the
general name of processes, or apophyses (Gr. dwé, apo, away from, and dicts); such have
generally no ossific centres, being mere outgrowths. But many parts of a vertebra, which are
called ‘ apophyses,” have independent ossific centres. The progress of ossification is usually
rapid and effectual.
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 7 185
The skeleton of birds is noted for the number and extent of its anehyloses, a great ten-
dency to codssification and condensation of bone-tissue resulting from the energy of the vital
activities in this hot-blooded, quick-breathing class of creatures. Birds’ bones are remarkably
hard and compact. When growing, they are solid and marrowy, but in after life more or fewer of
them become hollow and are filled with air. This pnewmaticity (Gr. mvevparixds, pneumatikos,
windy) is highly characteristic of the avian skeleton. Air penetrates the skull-bones from the
nose and ear-passages, and may permeate all of them. It gains access to the bones of the
trunk and limbs by means of air-tubes and air-sacs which connect with the air-passages in
the lungs; such sacs, sometimes of great extent, are also found in many places in the interior
of the body, beneath the skin, etc. ; sometimes the whole subcutaneous tissue is pneumatic.
The extent to which the skeleton is aérated is very variable. In many birds only the skull,
in a few the entire skeleton, is in such condition; ordinarily the greater part of the skull,
and the lesser part of the trunk and limbs, is pneumatized. The passage of air in some cases
is so free, as into the arm-bone for example, that a bird with the windpipe stopped can breathe
Fia. 54. — Ideal plan of the double-ringed body of a
vertebrate. N,neural canal; 4, hemal canal; the body
separating them is the centrum of any vertebra, bear-
ing e, an epapophysis, and y, a hypapophysis; n,n, neu-
rapophyses; d, d, diapophyses; ns, bifid neural spine;
pl, pl, pleurapophyses; h, h, hemapophyses; hs, bifid
hemal spine. Drawn by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A.,
after Owen.
for an indefinite period through a hole in the humerus.
Fia. 55. — Actual section of the body in the thoracic
region of a bird. W, neural canal; , hemal canal; c,
centrum of a dorsal vertebra; hy, hypapophysis; d,
diapophysis ; z, zygapophysis; ms, neural spine; r,
pleurapophysis, or vertebral part of a free rib, bearing
u%, wncinate process or epipleura; cr, hemapophysis
or sternal part of the same; st, section of sternum or
breast-bone (hemal spine). Designed by Dr. R. W.
Shufeldt, U.S.A.
Pneumaticity is not directly nor
necessarily related to power of flight; some birds which do not fly at all are more pneumatic .
than some of the most buoyant.
head of the respiratory system.)
(On the general pneumaticity of the body see beyond under
The Axial Skeleton (figs. 54, 55, 56) of a bird or any vertebrated animal, that is, one
having a back-bone, exhibits in cross-section two rings or hoops, one above and the other
below a central point, like the upper and lower loops of a figure 8. The upper ring is the
F
ural arch (Gr. vedpov, newron, a nerve), socalled because such a cylinder encloses a section
the cerebro-spinal axis, or principal nervous system of a vertebrate (brain and spinal cord,
136 é GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
whence arise all the nerves of the body, excepting those of the sympathetic nervous system).
The lower ring is the hemal arch (Gr. aiua, haima, blood), which similarly contains a section
of the principal blood-vessels and viscera. Fig. 55 shows such a section, made across the
thoracic or chest-region of the trunk. Here the upper ring (neural) is contracted, only sur-
rounding the slender spinal cord, while the lower ring is expanded to enclose the heart and
hereof the sixth floats; p, pelvic or sacral region of the spine, com-
(For extent of dv, see note 2, p. 138.)
‘apophyses), whereof sr is sacral; 2, one of the five uncinate processes or
and several lumbar, sacral proper, and urosacral vertebra; J, ilium; Js, ischium; P, pubis; a, acetabu-
; ¢, e/, cervical ribs, or free pleurapophyses; dv, dorsal vertebre, excepting the last one,
minus the skull, of an owl, Asio wilsonianus, life size; from nature by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A.
; 0, obturator foramen; clv, caudal or coccygeal vertebrae, whereof py is the pygostyle; s, scapula;
two of the six sternal ribs (heemapophyses), w
ohs, 08 humero-seapulare; cl, clavicle; C, coracoid; S, sternum.
Fic. 56.— Axial skeleton,
prehending one dorsal,
at, atlas; az, axis; cv, cervical vertebra
which joins the sacrum; 9, two of the six true ribs (pleur:
lum; iv, ischio-iliac foramen
epipleura; er,
lungs. Such a section, made in the region of the skull, would show the reverse; the upper
ring greatly inflated to contain the brain, the lower contracted and otherwise greatly modified
into bones of the jaws. Thus the trunk of a vertebrate is a double-barrelled tube ; one tube
above for the nervous system, the other below for the viscera at large; the partition between
the two being a jointed chain of solid bones from one end of the body to the other. These
solid bones are the centrums or bodies of vertebre, in the trunk; and in the head certain
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OSTEOLOGY. 137
bones which in some respects correspond with the centrums of vertebra. The entire chain or
series of vertebrae composes the back-bone or spinal column; with its connections (thorax and
pelvis) and anterior continuation (skull) it is the axial skeleton. The skull is considered by
some competent anatomists to consist of modified vertebrae. The skull-bones have certainly
the position and relations of parts of vertebrae; to a certain extent they resemble- vertebra, as
in being divisible into several segments, like as many vertebral segments; they are also direct-
ly in the axis of the body, enclosing a part of the cerebro-spinal nervous system above, and
portions of the visceral systems below. But supposed strict morphological correspondence of
cranial bones with vertebrae is not supported by their mode of development, and is now gen-
erally denied, the relation being considered rather analogical and physiological than homological
and morphological.
1. THE SPINAL COLUMN.
A Vertebra (so called from the flexibility of the chain of vertebra; Lat. verto, I turn)
consists. of a solid body or centrum, and more or fewer processes or apophyses, some of which
have separate ossific centres. Plate-like processes which arch upward from either side of a
centrum to enclose the neural canal are the newral arches or newrapophyses (fig. 54, n, n);
at their union in the middle line above they commonly send up a process called the neural spine
(ns). Transverse processes from the sides of the neural arch are diapophyses (Gr. 8:4, dia, across)
(figs. 54, 55,d,d). Oblique processes from the sides of the same arches, serving to lock them
together, are zygapophyses (Gr. tvyov, zugon, a yoke; fig. 55, 2); there are two on each side;
one anterior, on the front border of an arch, a pre-zygapophysis ; one posterior, on the hind
border, a post-zygapophysis. From the under-side of a centrum, in the middle line, there is often
a hypapophysis (Gr. ind, hwpo, under; fig. 55, hy). These several processes, with some others
not necessary to mention here, make with the centrum a vertebra in strictness; that is, when exist-
ing at all, they are completely consolidated with one another and with the centrum into one bone.
But certain important elements of a vertebra, developed from independent ossific centres, may or
may not anchylose therewith, in different regions of the same spinal column. These are the
pleurapophyses (Gr. wAeupdv, plewron, a rib; fig. 54 pl; fig. 55, 7). Any rib is in fact the
pleurapophysial element of a vertebra ; it may be, and in most regions of the spinal column it is,
quite small when existing at all, and anchylosed with the vertebra to which it belongs, as an
integral portion thereof. Only in the lower region of the neck, and throughout the thoracic
region, such pleurapophyses elongate, and are movably articulated with their respective verte-
bre ; they then become the “ribs” of ordinary language. Moreover, the true thoracic ribs of
birds are jointed near the middle, each thus consisting of two pieces; the upper piece is pleura-
pophysis proper: the lower is called a hamapophysis (fig. 54, h; fig. 55, er) ; it vorresponds to
a “costal cartilage ” of human anatomy. Once again: since the sternum (breast-bone) is theo-
retically, and doubtless archetypically, a solidified set of those parts of the vertebral segments
which complete the hzmal arches below, each segment of a sternum to which a hemapophysis
is articulated is called a hemal spine, being compared to a neural spine above. Aside from any
consideration of the ribs: proper and sternum, or free pleurapophyses, hemapophyses, and
hemal spines, any “vertebra” of ordinary language is the compound bone which consists of
centrum and neur-, di-, pre- and post-zyg-, pleur-, hyp- and other -apophyses, if any, and
neural spine; the latter being often called the ‘‘ spinous process.”
The Vertebre join one another, forming a continuous chain. Their centra are placed
end to end, one after another; their neural arches are also locked together by the zygapophyses,
when such articular processes are developed. Zygapophyses bear upon their free ends smooth
articular facets, the faces of which are mostly horizontal; those of the pre-zygapophyses looking
downward, and overriding the reversed faces of the post-zygapophyses. The mode of jointing
138 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
of the centra of such vertebree as are freely movable upon each other is highly characteristic
of birds, in so far as the shapes of the articular ends of the vertebral centra are concerned.
In anatomy at large, a vertebral centrum which is cupped or hollowed at both ends, is of
course bi-concave. Such a vertebra is called amphicelous (Gr. dui, amphi, on both sides;
xoios, koilos, hollowed) ; this is the rule in fishes, and obtained in some extinct Cretaceous birds,
as Ichthyornis ; it is unknown in recent birds.1_ A centrum cupped in front only.is procelous ;
one cupped only behind is opisthocelous (Gr. dmiode, opisthe, behind). Such structure neces-
sarily results in a ball-and-socket jointing of vertebree. In those vertebre of birds in which
this arrangement obtains, it is always the posterior face of a centrum which is cupped, the
anterior one being balled; such vertebrae are therefore opisthocelous. But in the freest
vertebral articulation of birds, that existing in the region of the neck, another modification
occurs. Both ends of each vertebra are saddle-shaped ; 7. e., concave if one direction, convex
in the other; a condition which may be called heterocelous (Gr. repos,. heteros, contrary).
The concavo-convexity of any one vertebra fits the reciprocal concavo-convexity of the next.
Anterior faces of heteroceelous vertebree are concave crosswise, up-and-down convex ; posterior
faces are the reverse; consequently, such vertebre are procelous in horizontal section, but in
vertical section opisthoccelous. The various physical characters of vertebra in different regions
of the body, and their connections with and relations to other parts of the body, have caused
their division into several sets, as cervical, dorsal, etc., which are best considered separately.
Cervical Vertebre (fig. 56, cv) are those of the neck: all those in front of the thorax or
chest, which do not bear free pleurapophyses in adult life, or the free pleurapophyses of which,
if any, are not in two-jointed pieces and do not reach the breast-bone; ¢. e., have no hema-
pophyses. It is advisable, in birds, to draw this line between cervical and succeeding vertebrae,
no other being equally practicable; for, on the one hand, one, two or more of the cervicals
(recognizable as such by their general conformation and free articulation) may have long free
ribs, movably articulated; and all the cervicals, excepting usually the first, or first and second,
have short pleurapophyses, auchylosed in adult life, but free in the embryo; while, on the
other hand, a vertebra, apparently dorsal by its configuration and even its anchylosis with the
dorsal series, may be entirely cervical in its pleurapophysial character.? Thus, in fig. 56, of an
owl’s trunk, the bone which is apparently first dorsal, and is so marked (dv), bears a free
styliform ‘riblet” an inch long (¢’), only it is not jointed, and does not reach the sternum ;
while the next to the last cervical has a minute but still free rib (c). In a raven’s neck before
me, the last cervical rib is about two inches long, articulating by well-defined head and shoul-
der to body and lateral process of the vertebra; the penultimate rib is about half an inch long,
with one articulation to the lateral process; while the next anterior vertebra (third from the
last) has a minute ossicle, as a free ‘‘riblet.” The rule is two such free pleurapophyses or
cervical ribs of any considerable length : sometimes one; rarely three; in the cassowary four.
Rudimeutary pleurapophyses may usually be traced up to the second cervical vertebra, as slender
1 Except to this statement, however, the oddly-massed pygostyle, which, in birds where a terminal disc
develops inferiorly, may be distinctly cupped at both ends, as it is in a raven for example.
2 The case is very puzzling; the more so because, viewing the whole series of birds, the ambiguous “ cervico-
dorsal,” or two such equivocal vertebrae, may lean in different cases in opposite directions when the whole sum of
characters is taken into account. Therefore it may be best, as already said, to make the possession of a jointed
sternum-reaching rib the criterion of the first dorsal vertebra, even though an antecedent one may have the
physical characters of a dorsal, and be anchylosed with the dorsal series. This is the view taken by Huxley, who
says: ‘‘ The first dorsal vertebra is defined as such by the union of its ribs with the sternum by means of a sternal
rib.” (Anat. Vert. Anim., 1872, p. 237.) Owen appears to regard as dorsal any of the vertebra in question which
bear free ribs. The actual uncertainty in the case, and the discrepant reckoning by different authors, prevents us
from making a satisfactory count of the numbers of the two series of vertebrae in any given case. Thus, tig 56, as
marked by Dr. Shufeldt, shows siz dorsals (dv), to which is to be added the one under p, bearing the rib sr; and
from which is to be subtracted the anterior one, bearing the rib c’, which is to be regarded as cervical, though its
physical characters are evidently those of the dorsal series.
LHE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OSTEOLOGY. 139
stylets or riblets, completely anchylosed with the neural arches in adult life, and lying parallel
with the long axes of the bones. The anchylosis of pleuropophyses distinguishes inost cervical
vertebre in another way: for from it results, on each side of the neural arch, a foramen
(Lat. foramen, a hole, pl. foramina), through which blood-vessels (vertebral artery and vein)
pass to and from the skull. The series of these foramina is called the vertebrarterial canal ;
none such exist in those posterior cervical vertebra which bear free ribs; thus, in the raven the
canal begins abruptly at the fourth from. the last cervical. But, as in Rhea for instance (and
doubtless in many other cases), the vertebrarterial canal shades visibly into the series of
foramina formed by the spaces between the head and shoulder of any rib and the side of the
vertebra to which it is attached; such being, as I suppose, the true morphology of the canal.
The cervical is the most flexible region of a bird’s spine; the articular ends of the vertebral bodies
are the most completely suddle-shaped (heteroccelous); the zygapophyses are large and flaring,
overriding each other extensively ; the largest processes are at the fore ends of the bones; the ap-
positions of the central and zygapophysial articular surfaces are collectively such, that the column
tends to bend in an S-shape or sigmoid curve. The vertebral bodies are more or less contracted
in the middle, or somewhat hour-glass-shaped; on several lower cervicals, hypapophyses are
likely to be well developed; as are neural spines toward both the beginning and end of the
series. The vertebre on the whole are large; their neural canal is also of ample calibre. The
first two cervicals are so peculiarly modified for the articulation of the skull as to have received
special names. The first one, fig. 56, at, the atlas (so called because it bears up the head, as
the giant Atlas was fabled to support the firmament), is a simple ving, apparently without a
centrum. The lower part of the ring is deeply cupped to receive the condyle of the occiput
into ball-and-socket joint. The second cervical is the axis, ax, which subserves rotary move-
ments of the skull. It has a peculiar tooth-like odontoid (Gr. ddots, éddvros, odous, odontos,
tooth ; ei8os, etdos, form) process, borne upon the anterior end of its body, fitting into the lower
part of the atlantal ring; about which pivot the atlas, bearing the head, revolves like a wheel
upon an eccentric axis. The cervicals of birds vary greatly in number; according to Huxley
there are never fewer than eight, and there may be as many as twenty-three ;. Stejneger gives
twenty-four for some of the swans. Twelve to fourteen may be about an average number.
Thoracic or Dorsal Vertebre (fig. 56, dv) extend from the cervical to or into the
pelvic region of the spine. In most animals, and in ordinary anatomical language, a “‘ dorsal”
is one which bears a distinct free rib, and is therefore truly thoracic, since ‘ ribs” are the side-
walls of the chest. But in birds, as we have seen, certain cervicals have distinct elongate
ribs ; and, as will be seen soon, long jointed pleurapophyses are usually found in that region
commonly called ‘ sacral.” The first dorsal, in birds, is arbitrarily considered to be that one
which bears the first rib which is jointed, and which reaches the sternum by its lower (hema-
pophysial) half. Five or six vertebra of birds commonly answer this description ; though the
last one which bears a long free jointed rib (which may or may not reach the sternum) is com-
inonly anchylosed with the sacrum, as sr. So few as only three heemapophysis-bearing ribs may
reach the sternum. There may also be a long free-jointed rib which “ floats” at both ends ;
4. é., is articulated neither with the sternum uor with the vertebra to which it belongs as in the
loon, for example. As the dorsal series thus shades insensibly behind into another series, the
lumbar (which has no free, nor any distinct ribs, — ribs that one would not hesitate to call
such), it is best to consider as dorsal or thoracic all those vertebra, succeeding the last
cervical (which is to be determined as explained in the last paragraph), which have distinct
jointed ribs, whatever the connection or disconnection of such pleurapophyses at either end.
On this understanding, one, sometimes two or even three ‘‘ dorsal” vertebrae anchylose with
the pelvic region of the spine. Fixity of the dorsal region being of advantage to flight, these
vertebrae are very tightly locked together; not only by the close apposition or even
140 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
auchylosis of their yodies and processes, but also, in many cases, by ossifications of the
tendons of museles of the back, and codssifications of these with the vertebra, like a set of
splints, till the consolidation of the thoracic is only surpassed by that of the pelvic region of the
spine. Dorsal vertebree also usually differ a good deal from most cervicals in having shorter
bodies, laterally compressed, producing a ridge which runs along their middle line below; in
lacking a vertebrarterial canal; in having on each side two articular facets, — one on the body
and the other on the transverse process, for the head and shoulder of a rib. They are further
distinguished, usually, by having large spinous processes, in the form of high, long, thin,
squarish plates, often or usually anchylosed together. Their transverse processes are also
very prominent laterally, thin and horizontal, and often anchylosed. More or fewer dorsals
may bear large hypapophyses; which, as in the loon, may bifureate at their ends into two
flaring plates. Such processes continue a similar series from the neck, and are in relation to
the advantageous action of the muscles (rectus colli anticus and longus colli) by which the
neck is made to straighten out from.the lower curve of its sigmoid flexure.
The “Sacrum” of a Bird (figs. 57, and 60) is commonly considered to be that large
solid mass of numerous anchylosed vertebrae in the region of the pelvis, covered in by, and
fused more or less completely with, the principal bones of the
pelvis, or haunch-bones (lia). But in this consolidation of an
extremely variable number (averaging perhaps twelve, but run-
ning up to at least twenty, eleven to thirteen being usual)
of bones are included vertebree which in other animals belong
to several different sets — dorsal, lumbar, sacral proper, and
coceygeal or caudal. We have just seen that one or two, even
three, vertebree, which are dorsal according to the definition
agreed upon, may enter into the composition of the “ sacrum,”
being firmly anchylosed therewith, and their long ribs issuing
out from underneath the ilia, as shown in fig. 56, sr. Next
_comes one bone, or a series of several (two to five or more)
bones, anchylosed together by their bodies and spinous proc-
esses, and also anchylosed with the ilia by means of stout lateral
bars of bone sent transversely outward on either side from their
respective centra to abut against the ilia. These cross-bars
correspond in general form and position with the transverse
process of the last true rib-bearing dorsal, — that process against
which the shoulder of any developed rib abuts; they are variously
considered to be, to represent, or to include rudimentary ribs;
and such difference of view may be warranted by the state of the
parts in different birds. However this may be, the bones just
described are lumbar vertebree (Lat. lumbus, the loin; where
such vertebre are situated in man and other mammals) ; which
a certainly possess abortive ribs in some cases. On successive
Fig. 67.—The “sacrum” of Jumbars the cross-bars, whatever their nature, commonly slip
jens chee ai, i lower and lower downward (belly-ward) on the vertebral bodies,
solumbar series, whereof the first till the last ones are quite down to the level of the ventral
sen ey sere Ae sea aspect of the centrum; these are also commonly the stoutest,
proper, or true sacrum, consist- most directly transverse, and. most nearly horizontal of the series
ing of five vertebra; c, the uro- 2 é au o 7
sacral series, being those caudal Of processes, abutting against the ilia a little in advance of the
vertebre, six in number, which gocket of the thigh bone. This ends a series of consolidated
anchylose with one another and : sn 7
sriviLchelsacen, “sacral” vertebrae which are termed collectively ‘‘ dorso-lumbar,”
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OSTEOLOGY. 141
-— all of them anterior to the true sacrum of a bird. The sacrum proper (fig. 57, s) consists
of those few vertebres— three, four, or five—from foramina between which issue the spinal
nerves that form the net-work called the sacral pleaus. These true sacral vertebre are ribless,
and may be recognized, in a general way, by the absence of anything like the cross-bars above
described, issuing from the vertebral centra; though their neural arches send off some small
bars or plates to fuse with the ilia. These sacrals proper are at or near the middle of the
whole sacral mass. After these come a large number — from five to ten or more — of verte-
bree which, from their following the true sacrals, though consolidated therewith aad with one
another, are considered to belong to what would be the caudal region of other animals, and
are hence called ‘ tail-sacrals,” wro-sacrals (Gr. ogpa, tail, fig. 57, c.) These continue to send
off a series of little plate-like processes from their neural arches, just as the true sacrals do;
but, in addition to these, processes are given off from the bodies of the uro-sacrals, corre-
sponding in position and relation to those which proceed from the bodies of the lumbars, and
being apparently of the same morphological character (pleurapophysial). These ‘“riblets”
are, however, quite slender, and also oblique in two directions; for instead of being trans-
verse and nearly horizontal, they trend very obliquely backward and upward; they also
shorten consecutively from before backward. The cross-bars of the latter uro-sacrals, however,
are stouter and altogether more like those of a lumbar vertebra. The appearances described
are those seen from below, or on the ventral aspect. Above, on the back of the pelvis, the
line of confluent spinous processes of the dorso-lumbars is commonly distinct, separated a little
from the flaring lips of the ilia. Such distinct formation may continue throughout the sacral
and uro-sacral regions; oftener, however, the line of. spinous process sinks, flattens, and
widens into a horizontal plate which becomes perfectly confluent with the ilia along the pos-
terior portion of their extent; such smooth, somewhat lozenge-shaped surface being quite
continuous with the superficies of the pelvis, but perforated with more or fewer pairs of inter-
vertebral foramina. — Such is the general character of a bird’s complex sacrum; the description
is taken chiefly from a raven (Corvus corax) ; the figure from the common fowl, after Parker.
The kidneys are moulded into the recesses between the sacral and uro-sacral vertebrae and in
the concavity of the ilia. The general shape of a “‘ sacrum,” viewed from below, is fusiform,
broadest across the sacral bodies proper or just in front of them, tapering toward either end;
the face of the sacrum is also flatjest about the middle, more or less ridged before and behind
from compression of the vertebral bodies. It has little if any lengthwise curvature, and that
chiefly in the uro-sacral region, where the concavity is downward. The total number of bones
may be less than twelve, or more than twenty. The extensive anchyloses in this region of
the spine are in evident adaptation to bipedal locomotion, which requires fixity hereabouts,
that the trunk may not bend upon the fulcrum represented by a line drawn through the hip-
joints, which are situated about opposite the middle of the sacral mass, as shown by the arrow,
ac, in fig. 60. (The word “sacrum,” a ‘‘saered thing,” curious in this application, is very
ancient in human anatomy, commemorating some superstitious or ritualistic notion, respecting
this part of the body.)
The Coccygeal, or Caudal Vertebrz (fig. 56, clv) proper, terminate the spinal column.
They are called “ coccygeal,” from the fancied resemblance of the human tail-bones collectively
to the beak of a cuckoo (Gr. xdxxv£, kokkux). The caudals are all the free bones situated
behind the anchylosed uro-sacrals. The series commonly begins opposite the point where the
pelvic bones end; it consists of a variable number of bones, from the twenty long slender ones
which the Arehgopteryx possessed, down to seven or fewer separate ones. The usual number
is eight without the pygostyle. They are stunted, degraded vertebree, whose chief office is to
support the tail-feathers; for the leash of nerves which emerge from the spinal canal to form
the sacral plexus by so much diminish the spinal cord that a mere thread is left to pene-
142 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
trate the tail, though the neural arches of all the coccygeals be still pervious. All may be
freely movable, as in the American Ostrich (Rhea) ; but in almost all birds only the anterior
ones are distinct and vertebra-like, the rest, to a variable number, being abortive, and melted
into that extraordinary affair called the ‘“‘ploughshare” or pygostyle (Gr. muyn, puge, the
rump; ordAos, a post), which may cunsist of no fewer than ten such metamorphosed tail-bones.
It has usually a shape suggesting the share of a plough (see fig. 56, py), but is too variable to
be concisely described. The pygostyle supports the tail-feathers ; and as these are morphologi-
cally one pair to each rectrix-bearing vertebra, the number of tail-feathers may be primarily
equal to the number of vertebre which fuse in the pygostyle. Thus the swan is said to have
ten vertebre in this mass; our wild swan (Cygnus columbianus) has twenty tail-feathers. In
this view, six should be the usual composition of the share-bone. A bird’s tail is really more
extensive and lizard-like than commonly: supposed; thus the swan, besides its ten in the
pygostyle, has seven free caudals, and ten uro-sacrals — twenty-seven post-sacral vertebra in
all (Huxley). In the raven, the free caudals are six, exclusive of the pygostyle. These all
have large flaring transverse processes and moderate spinous processes, and the latter ones are
also provided with hypapophyses, some of which are bifureate. The pygostyle in many birds
expands below into a large circular or polygonal disc. :
2. THE THORAX: RIBS AND STERNUM.
The Thorax (Gr. dopag, a coat of mail; in anat., the chest; adj. thoracic; see fig. 56) is
the bony box formed by the ribs on each side, the breast-bone below, and the back-bone above.
In birds, it is very extensive, including most or all of the abdominal as well as the thoracic
viscera, and its cavity is not partitioned off from that of the belly by a completed diaphragm, °
though a rudimentary structure of that kind is found in the class. The thorax is usually sol-
dered behind to the pelvis by union of one or more pairs of ribs with the ilia; in front it al-
ways and entirely bears the pectoral arch (see p. 145). The thorax is very movable in birds,
by reason of the great length and jointedness of the ribs.
The Ribs (Lat. costa, a rib; pl. coste@; adj. costal; see fig. 56, ¢, c’, R, er, sr, u),as said
above, are the pleurapophysial elements of vertebree, which remain small and anchylosed, or
become long and free. In the latter state only are they “ribs” in ordinary language. The
one or more cervical ribs, however elongated, and the abortive lumbar and uro-sacral ribs, are
to be excluded from the present description, and have been already considered. T'rue ribs are
those which belong to the dorsal vertebrz proper, and are jointed in themselves; that is, have
articulated hemapophyses (see p. 137), by which they may or do articulate with the sternum.
Such true ribs are fixed, when they reach from back-bone to breast-bone; floating, when either
or neither of these connections is made. Usually the last rib, though bearing a perfect hem-
apophysis, does not reach the sternum; in the loon, for example, the last rib floats at both
ends, having connection neither with vertebra nor sternum; and the two next ribs float at
their sternal ends. The perfected ribs are few, — five or six is a usual number, though nine
are hemapophysis-bearing in the loon. The last rib at least is usually ‘‘sacral;” i.e, be-
longs to a dorsal vertebra which is anchylosed with the ‘‘sacral” mass; and two or even, as in
the loon, three ribs may likewise issue out from under cover of the ilia. These “sacral ribs”
are furthermore -distinguished by being devoid of the epipleural or uncinate processes (Lat.
uncus, a hook ; fig. 56, «) with which other true ribs are furnished, forming a series of splint-
bones proceeding obliquely from one rib to shingle over the next succeeding one, and thus
inerease the stability of the thoracic side-walls. Such splints may be either articulated or an-
chylosed with their respective ribs; they have independent ossific centres. The upper (pleura-
pophysial) part of a rib, or ‘‘ vertebral rib,” when perfected, articulates with the side of the
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 143
body of a vertebra by its head or capitulum (Lat. dimin. of caput, head), and also with the
lateral process of the same vertebra by its shoulder or tuberculum (Lat. dimin. of tuber, a
swelling). In well-marked cases, the head and shoulder are quite far apart, the rib seeming
prolonged above; either of these vertebral connections may be disestablished, the other re-
maining, or both may be lost. The lower (hemapophysial) part of a rib, or ‘sternal rib,”
articulates with the side of the sternum by a simple enlargement; the ends of those sternal ribs
which thus join the sternum tend to cluster closely together at a part of the breast-bone called
its costal process (fig. 58); those which do not make the sternal connection are simply bundled
together. Commonly five or six, sometimes four, rarely only three ribs reach the sternum.
The ribs are ordinarily as slender and strict as those shown in fig. 56; but in Apteryx, for
example, their pleurapophysial parts are expansive and plate-like. They lengthen rapidly
- from before backward, both in their vertebral and their sternal moieties; these parts meet at’
angles of decreasing acuteness from before backward; but these angles, as those of the ribs
both with vertebree and sternum, incessantly increase and diminish in the respiratory move-
ments of the chest; all being in expiration more acute, and more obtuse in inspiration.
The Avian Sternum (Gr. crépvoy, sternon, the breast; fig. 56, 8) is highly specialized;
its extensive development is peculiar to the class of Birds, and its modifications are of more
importance in classification than those of any other single bone. Thereupon it becomes an
interesting object. Theoretically it is a collection of hemal spines of vertebrae. Though
such morphological character is appreciable in those animals which have a long jointed ster-
num, the segments of which, answering to pairs of ribs, develop from separate centres, there
is little or nothing in the development’or physical characters of the avian sternum to favor
this view. The great bone floors the chest and more or less of the belly, and furnishes the
main point d’appui of hoth the bony and muscular apparatus of flight, receiving important bones
of the scapular arch and giving origin to the immense pectoral muscles. (See also fig. 58.)
Birds offer two leading types of sternal structure, the ratite and the carinate, or the “ raft-
like” and the ‘“boat-like”, according as the bone is flat or keeled (Lat. ratis, a raft; adj.
ratite; in an arbitrary nom. pl., Ratite, a name of one of the leading divisions of birds: Lat. .car-
ima, a keel; adj. carinate: nom. pl. Carinate, name of another such division). 1. In all stru-
thious birds, comprehending the ostrich and its allies (and also in the Cretaceous Hesperornis),
the sternum is a flattish, or rather concavo-convex, buckler-like bone, of somewhat squarish
or rhomboidal shape, developed from a single pair of lateral centres of ossification, —a “flat
boat,” without any keel, built with reference to an important modification of ‘the shoulder-gir-
dle, and a reduced or rudimentary condition of the wings, which are unfit for flight. 2. In all
flying birds, and some which frum other than any fault of the sternum do not fly, —comprising
all remaining recent birds, or Carinate, and also the Cretaceous Ichthyornis, —the sternum
is keeled and develops from a median centre of ossification as well as from lateral paired cen-
tres; usually two of these, making five iv all. Ina few Carinate the keel is rudimentary, as
the flightless ground parrot of New Zealand, Stringops habroptilus ; or otherwise anomalous,
as in the extraordinary Opisthocomus cristatus, where it is cut away in front, and in the rail-
like Notornis, where the sternum is extremely like a lizard’s. In general, the development of
the keel is an index of wing-power, whether for flying or swimming, or both; the effectiveness
of the pectoral muscles being rather in proportion to depth of keel than to extent of the sides
of the ‘‘boat-bone;” thus, the keel is enorinous in swifts (Cypselid@) and humming-birds
(Trochilide).
Ny, The carinate sternum normally develops from five centres, having consequently as many
‘Separate pieces in early life. Two of these are lateral and iu pairs; the third is median and
single. The median ossification, which includes the keel, is the lophosteon(Gr. \dqos, lophos,
acrest; daréov, osteon, a bone). The anterior lateral piece, that with which the ribs, or some
ra
144 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
of them, articulate, is the plewrosteon (Gr. mdeupdy, pleuron, a rib); in adult life this becomes
the costal process, so prominent in Passeres (fig. 58). The posterior lateral piece is the metosteon
(Gr. werd, meta, after). From the latter are derived the pair, or two pairs, of lateral processes
which the posterior border of the sternum has in so many birds. In fine, the extent of ossifica-
tion of the lophosteon and metostea, and the mode of their codsification, determines all those
various shapes of the posterior border of the sternum which, being commonly characteristic of
genera and higher groups, are described for purposes of classification. Thus, if the lophosteon
and the metostea are completely ossified and to the same extent behind, the posterior border of
the sternurn will be transverse, and perfectly bony. Such a sternum is said to be entire. Ifthe
lophosteon is longer than the lateral pieces, the sternum will have a central pointed or rounded
projection; when such a formation is called the middle xiphoid process (Gr. Eidos, xiphos, a
sword: ei8os, eidos, form). The projection of the metostea, not infrequent, similarly gives
a pair of external lateral xiphoid processes. But such processes oftener result merely from de-
fects of coésification between the elements of the sternum. Thus, there is often a deep notch
in the posterior border of the sternum between the lophosteon and the metosteon of each side;
the sternum is then said to be single-notched or single-emarginute (one pair of notches, one on
each side; fig. 58). This conformation prevails throughout the great group Passeres, possibly
without exception; it is therefore highly characteristic of that order, though a great many other
birds also have it. In the natural state, the notch is filled in with membrane. Such a notch
may also be converted into a ‘‘fontanelle” or fenestra (Lat. fenestra, a window), which is simply
a hole in the bone, the metostea having grown to the lophosteon at their extremities, but left an
opening between. Such a sternum is called fenestrate, more exactly uni-fenestrate (Lat. unus,
one; one window on each side). Now, the parts remaining as before, let either each half of
the lophosteon, or each metosteon, be notched or fenestrate ; obviously then, such a sternum is
double-notched or bi-fenestrate, having four notches, or holes, two on each side, — two notches,
or two holes; or notched and fenestrate, having a notch and a hole on each side. The latter
is very frequent: when occurring, the hole is generally nearest the middle line, the notch ex-
terior. Irregularity of ossification, converting a hole into a notch, and conversely, may in any
case result in lack of symmetry; but this is a mere individual peculiarity. When there are
two notches on each side, as in fig. 56, the sternum has evidently a median and two lateral back-
ward extensions, which are then called respectively the middle, internal lateral, and external
lateral xiphoid processes. Notching of the lophosteon in the middle line, at least to any extent,
must be very rare, if indeed it ever occurs. The extreme case of emargination of the sternum is
afforded by the Galline, and is highly characteristic of that group. Here the lophosteon is
extremely narrow, and fissured deeply away from the metostea, which latter are deeply forked ;
the arrangement giving rise to two very long slender lateral processes on each side (figs. 1 and 2,
p- 48). The sternum of the tinamou, a dromeognathous bird, is still more deeply emargi-
nated, but the extremely long and slender lateral processes, which enclose an oval contour, are
simple, not forked.
In a very few birds there are centres of ossification additional to those above described.
In Turniz, there are said by Parker to be a pair of centres between the pleurostea, which he
names coracostea, because related to the part of the sternum with which the coracoids (see
p- 146) unite. The same authority describes for Dicholophus a posterior median cartilagi-
nous flap having a separate centre, named wrosteon (Gr. odpa, owra, tail). In various birds the
sternum is eked out in the middle line behind by cartilage which has no ossification.
The sternum, especially of the higher birds, develops in the middle line in front a beak-
like process called the rostrum or manubrium (Lat. manubrium, a handle) ; its size and shape
vary ; itis well-marked in Passerine birds (fig. 58); and may be bifurcate at the end and run
down the front of the keel some way, as in the raven. The fore border of the sternum is
generally greatly convex from side to side, and then, in those birds which have prominent
=
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 145
pleurostea, produced in angular costal processes. This border is also thickened, and presents
on each side a well-marked, smooth-faced groove, in which the expanded feet of the coracoid
bones are instepped and firmly articulated. These deep grooves commonly meet in the middle;
are occasionally continuous from one side to the other; sometimes each crosses jo the other
side a little way. The costal processes on each side also have thickened edges, with a series
of articular facets for the ribs, which gives this border a fluted .
or serrate profile. Generally the fore half, or rather less, of the
side border of the sternum is thus articular; and it is only such
costiferous (rib-bearing) extent of sternum which corresponds to the
whole body of the bone in a mammal, all the rest*being “‘ xiphoid.”
The singular carinate sternum of Notornis, and the ratite bone of
Apteryx, are concave crosswise along the front border, and bear the
coracoids far apart, at the summits of antero-lateral projections.
A sternum is generally concavo-convex in each direction,
bellying downward; somewhat rectangular, it may be long and
narrow, or short, broad, and squarish. It is commonly longer than
broad, with convex front border, a median beak, which is often
forked, prominent antero-lateral corners, pinched-in sides (bulg-
ing in tinamou) and indeterminate hind border. The keel
usually drops down lowest in front, sloping or curving gently up to
the general level behind, with a concave (rarely protuberant)
so . : Fig. 58.— Typical passerine
vertical border, and pronounced apex, to which the clavicles may sternum, pectoral arches, and
p ‘ H c sternal ends of ribs: from the
or may not be anchylosed, as they are in a pelican for instance. In TAU Tundiua qilpeasarlis: Tat.
Opisthocomus, the clavicles anchylose with the manubrium of size; Dr. R.W. Shufeldt, U.S.A.
the sternum. The external surface, both of body and keel, is Sterum single-notched, with
. ii Bcc i ‘ prominent costal processes and
ridged in places, indicating lines of attachment of the different pec- forked manubrium; five ribs
toral muscles. In a few birds, notably swans and cranes, the keel ae sternum, one rib “float:
is expanded and hollowed out to receive folds of the windpipe inits ~~
interior (see figs. 99, 100).— But the numberless modifications of the sternum in details of
configuration belong to systematic ornithology, not to rudimentary anatomy.
8. THE PECTORAL ARCH.
The Pectoral Arch (Lat. pectus, the breast; figs. 1, 2, 56, 58, 59) is that. bony structure
by which the wings are borne upon the axial skeleton. It is to the fore limb what the pelvic
arch is to the hind limb; but is disconnected from the back-bone and united with the breast-
bone, whereas the reverse arrangement obtains in the pelvic, which is fused with the sacral
‘region of the spine. Each pectoral arch of birds consists (chiefly) of three bones: the scapula
and coracoid, forming the shoulder-girdle proper, or scapular arch ; and the accessory clavicles,
or right and left half of the clavicular arch. There is also at the shoulder-joint of most birds
an insignificant sesamoid ossicle, called scapula accessoria or os humero-scapulare (fig. 56, ohs) ;
and in many a rudiment of a bone called procoracoid, which occurs in reptiles, but in birds is
united with the clavicle. From the ribs, the scapula; from the sternum, the coracoid; from
its fellow, the clavicle, converges to meet each of the two other bones at the point of the
shoulder. The lengthwise scapular arches of opposite sides are distinct from each other ; the
clavicular arch is crosswise, and nearly always completed on the middle line of the body; by
which union of the clavicles the whole pectoral arch is coaptated. The coracoid bears the
shoulder firmly away from the breast; the scapula steadies the shoulder against the ribs; the
clavicles keep the shoulders apart from each other. The scapular arch is always present and
complete ; the clavicular is sometimes defective or wanting. There are two leading styles of
10
146 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
scapular arch, corresponding to the ratite and carinate sternum. (1) In Ratite the axes of the
coracoid and scapula are nearly coincident (for the most part in a continuous right line) ‘and
anchylosed together ; the clavicles are usually wanting, or defective; and the eoracoids are in-
stepped on the sternum far apart. (2) In all Carimate, the axes of the coracoid and scapula
form an acute or scarcely obtuse angle (fig. 56, sgic); normally these bones are not anchylosed;
perfect clavicles are present, &nchylosed with each other, but free from the other bones ; and the
coracoids are instepped close together. Decided exceptions to these conditions, as in Notornis,
are anomalous ; though incompletion of the clavicles repeatedly occurs, as noted below.
The Coracoid (Gr. kdpaé, horax, a cro; «ides, eidos, form: the corresponding bone of
the human subject, which is the stunted ‘‘ coracoid process of the scapula,” being likened to a
crow’s beak ; no applicability in the present case ;
figs. 56, ¢c, 59, c) is a stout, straight, cylindric bone,
expanded at each end, extending forward, outward,
and upward from the fore border of the sternum
to the shoulder. Its foot is flattened and splayed
to fit in the articular groove of fore border of
the sternum already described; it often overlaps
that of its fellow on the median line; is narrower
and remote from its fellow in Ratite. The head
of the bone, irregularly expanded, articulates or
anchyloses with the end of the scapula, and also
usually with the clavicle. It bears externally a
smooth demi-facet, which represents the share it
takes in forming the glenoid (Gr. yAnvn, glene, a
shallow pit; fig. 59, gl) cavity, which is the socket
of the humerus. This articular expansion is the
glenoid process of the coracoid: the clavicular
process is that by which the bone unites with the
clavicle. The relation between the heads of the
three bones (each uniting with the other two) is
such that a pulley-hole is formed, through which
plays the tendon of the pectoral muscle which ele-
vates the wing. The coracoid is a very constant
and characteristic bone of birds.
Fia. 59.— Right pectoral arch of a bird, Pedie-
cetes phasiomellus, nat. size, outside view; Dr. R. The Scapula (Lat. scapula, the shoulder-
W. Shufeldt, U.S.A. 8, scapula; c, coracoid; gl, ‘ igi ‘ ‘
glenoid, the cavity for head of humerus; cl, clavicle ; blade; figs. 56, 59, s) merits in birds its name of
he, hypocleidium. Jn situ, the right end of the fig- ‘‘ blade-bone,” being usually a long, thin, narrow,
anpeshouad fit nye Mouloy peat $6: sabre-like bone, which rests upon the ribs— usu-
ally not far from parallel with the spinal column, and near it; but in Ratite otherwise.
It seldom gains much width, and is quite thin and flat in most of its length; but it has a
thickened head or handle, expanding outwards into a glenoid process which unites with that
of the coracvid to complete the glenoid cavity, and dilated inward to form-an acromial (Gr.
dkpduov, akromion, point of the shoulder) process for articulation with the clavicle (as it-does in
man), when that bone exists. The other end is usually sharp-pointed, but may be obtuse, or
even clubbed, as in a woodpecker. The scapula is broadest and most plate-like in the pen-
guins, in which birds all the bones of the flipper-like wing are singularly flattened. In Apteryx
it reaches in length over only a couple of ribs; in most birds, over most of the thorax; and
in some its point overreaches the pelvis.
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 147
The Clavicles, or Furculum (Lat. clavicula, a little key: furculum, a little fork ;
figs. 56, 59, cl), or the clavicular arch, are the pair of bones which when united together form
the object well known as the ‘‘ merry-thought” or ‘‘ wish-bone,” corresponding to the human
“ collar-bones.” They lie in front of the breast, across the middle line of the body like a V
or U; the upper ends uniting as a rule both with scapula and coracoid. For this purpose, in
most birds, the ends are expanded more or less; such expansion is called the epicleidiwm (Gr.
ént, ept, upon; KAediov, kleidion, the collar-bone) ; in Passerine birds it is said to ossify separ-
ately, and is considered by Parker to represent the procoracoid of reptiles. At the point of
union below, the bones often develop a process (well shown in the domestic fowl) called the hypo-
cleidium (Gr. ind, hypo, under ; fig. 59, he), supposed to represent the imierclavicle of reptiles.
The clavicles are as a rule present, perfect, anchylosed together, articulated at the shoulder; ina
few birds anchylosed there; in several, there and
with the keel of the sternum; in Opisthocomus there
and with the manubrium of the sternum. In various
birds, chiefly Picarian and Psittacine, they are de-
fective, not meeting each other. They are wanting
in Struthio, Rhea, Apteryx, and some Psittacide.
Besides curving toward each other, the clavicles
have usually a fore-and-aft curvature, convex for-
ward. In general, the strength of the clavicles,
the firmness of their connections, and the openness
of the V or U, are indications of the volitorial or
natatorial power of the wings. The end of the fur-
culum is hollowed for a fold of the windpipe in the
crested pintado (Owen).
A
4. THE PELVIC ARCH.
The Pelvis (Lat. pelvis, a basin, fig. 60), is
that posterior part of the trunk which receives the
uro-genital, and lower portion of the digestive, vis-
cera. It consists of the ‘‘sacral” vertebrae on the
middle dorsal line, flanked on each side by the bones
of the pelvic arch, which supports the hind limb.
In vertebrates generally the pelvic basin is com-
pleted on the ventral aspect by union (symphysis ;
Gr. avy, sun, together; vous, growth) of the bones
from opposite sides. Excepting only Struthio, which
has a pubic symphysis; and Rhea, which has an
ischiac symphysis just below the sacral vertebra,
the pelvis of a bird is entirely open below and
behind; each pelvic arch anchylosing firmly with
the sacral vertebree to form a roof over the viscera
above named. This sacro-iliac anchylosis is com-
monly coextensive with the confiuence of the many
Fie. 60. — Pelvis of a heron (Ardea herodias),
nat. size, viewed from below; from nature by Dr.
vertebree which make the ‘‘sacrum” of ordinary R.W.Shufeldt, U.S.A. dl, dorso-lumbar vertebre
toe ; to and including the last one, sc; below sc, for the
language, that is, from the first dorso-lumbar to the oitentofthe large black spaces(oppositethearrow)
last uro-sacral. The whole roof-like affair looks are the true sacral vertebra; us, urosacral verte-
i 2 ; 3 dat bree (opposite the five oval black spaces; JZ, ilium;
something like a keeless sternum inverted. The 7, ‘ischium; P, pubis; 0b, obturator foramen,
pelvic arch of each side consists of three bones, tiwm, The arrow flies into the acetabulum.
148 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
ischium, and pubis, which have independent ossific centres, but become firmly consolidated
together to form the haunch-bone or os innominatum. “Each of these bones unites with the
other two, somewhere near the middle of the whole affair, at a ring-like structure called the
acetabulum (Lat., a vinegar-cruet, fig. 56, a; fig. 60, arrow ac), which all three consequently
contribute to the formation of, and which is the socket for the head of the thigh-bone (femur,
p- 119). When free ribs issue from under cover of the pelvis, they are commonly anchylosed
with the ilia; and all the abortive pleurapophyses of the lumbar and uro-sacral vertebrae have
likewise iliac anchylosis, as explained in treating of the sacrum (p. 140). Asa whole, the pelvis
varies like the sternum in relative length, breadth, and degree of convexity ; and especially in
the configuration of its posterior border; but few zodlogical characters are derived from this
structure. ,
Viewed from below, the pelvis is seen to be much hollowed or excavated for the lodgment
- of the kidneys, and cross-cut into compartments by the sacral rafters; the series of sacral
bodies forming a ridge-pole along the middle line. Above, the series of sacral spinous pro--
cesses represent the ridge-pole; anteriorly, the somewhat spoon-shaped iliac bones are
applied, concavity outward, to the dorso-lumbars ; posteriorly, in the middle line, is a more or
less flattened horizontal expansion, and laterally are the more expanded sides of the ischiac roof,
finished along the eaves and behind by the slender pubic bone, which commonly projects
backward, and inclines tuward its fellow of the opposite side. The most prominent formation
of the side wall of the pelvis is the thick-lipped smooth articular ring, the acetabulum, con-
verted in the natural state into a cup by a membrane.
The postero-superior segment of the rim is promi-
nent, to form the antitrochanter (Gr. avri, anti,
against ; tpoxayrnp, trochanter of the femur) against
which the shoulder of the femur abuts when the
head is in the ring.
Fic. 61. — Pelvis of young grouse, showing
three distinct bones. IZ, Zs, P. ilium, ischium, f 3
pubis, In front of former a dorsal vertebra pro- It is normal to recent Carinate birds to have
trudes. (Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A.) the ischium fused with the ilium, however distinct the
pubis may remain; but to Cretaceous birds (even the carinate Ichthyornis), and the existing
Ratite, to have both ischium and pubis distinct in most of their extent.
The Ilium (Lat. ium, haunch-bone; pl. ila ; adj. iliac ; figs. 56, I; 60, 61, Ii) is the
median, most anterior and longest of the haunch-bones, and the only one which extends in ad-
vance of the acetabulum. Such anterior prolongation of this bone is the specialty of the avian
pelvis: it commonly overlies one or more ribs, and is often overreached by the end of the scapula.
It is longest and narrowest and flattest in some of the lower swimmers; the reverse among the
highest birds. Its relations and connections have been sufficiently indicated. The bone is
almost always separated from its fellow by the sacrum, though the approximation may be
very close over the back of the pelvis, along the middle line.
The Ischium (Gr. ioyiov, ischion, the haunch-bone; pl. ischia ; adj. ischiadic, ischiatic,
better ischiac; figs. 56, 60, 61, Zs) lies entirely post-acetabular, or behind the socket which it
contributes to form, and composes most of the side-wall of the pelvis thence to the end. It is
generally a thin, plate-like bone. Among Cretaceous birds and existing Ratite it only unites
with the ilium at and just behind the acetabulum, whence a deep ilio-ischiac fissure between
the two exists, as in the young grouse, fig. 61; but in ordinary adult birds this fissure is con-
verted into a fenestra or window of large size, just behind the acetabulum, by union of the two
bones behind it. This vacuity, whether a notch or a hole, corresponds to the ‘ sacro-sciatic
notch” of human anatomy (fig. 56, in). The ischia of opposite sides are distinct, except in
Rhea.
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 149
The Pubis (Lat. pubis, bone of the front of the human pelvis where the hair ‘grows at
puberty ; pl. pubes ; adj. pubic; figs. 56, 60, 61 P), beginning at its share of the acetabular ring,
is a long slender bone which runs along the lower border of the ischium, sometimes for a short
distance only, often for the whole length of the ischium, and usually projecting behind; more
or less perfectly parallel with, applied to, or united with, the inferior ischiac border. When
separate, a long deep fissure results; when united at the end, a long narrow foramen is
formed ; when incompletely united in any part of its ischiac continuity, a fissure and a foramen,
in the ostrich two foramina, result. All these conditions occur; in any case, such ischio-pubic
interval corresponds to the obturator foramen (fig. 56, 0; fig. 60, 00) of human anatomy ; it is
greatest in Cretaceous birds and existing Ratite. The free ends of the pubes may be more or
less expanded. In the ostrich only there is a pubic symphysis of the ends of the bones; in the
same bird a separate ossicle, situated upon the lower border of the pubes, and called epipubic,
is considered to represent a ‘‘ marsupial” bone (Garrod). In various birds, among them our
ground cuckoo, Geococcyx californianus, the pubis projects a little forward, under the ace-
tabulum: this prominence is the propubis. Separation of the pubes is supposed to be for
amplification of the pelvic strait to facilitate the passage of the large chalky eggs birds lay.
5. THE SKULL.
The Skull of a Bird is a poem in bone— its architecture is the ‘‘ frozen music” of
morphology; in its mutely eloquent lines may be traced the rhythmic rhymes of the myriad
amebiform animals which constructed the noble edifice when they sang together.1 The poésy
(noinots, poiesis, a making) of the subject has been translated with conspicuous zeal and success
by Mr. W. K. Parker; its zodlogical moral has been similarly pointed by Professor Huxley ;
and the young ornithologist who would not be hopelessly unfashionable must be able to whistle
some bars of the cranial song —'the pterygo-palatine bar at least.
The rapid progress of ossification soon obliterates most of the original landmarks of the
skull, fusing the distinct territories of bone in one great indistinguishable area. Thus the
brain-box of almost any mature bird is apparently a single solid bone, and most parts of the
jaw-scaffolding similarly run together. Aside from the bones of the tongue, which are collec-
tively separate from those of the skull proper ; and of the compound lower jaw, which is freely
articulated with the rest of the skull; only two or three other bones of the skull, as a rule, are
permanently and perfectly free at both ends. These are the quadrate bones— the anvil-shaped
pieces by which the lower jaw is slung tothe skull; the pterygoids, articulating the palate with
the quadrate; and sometimes the vomer. Traces only of the bones of the face and jaws are
usually found; but even such vestiges disappear, as a rule, from among the bones of the
brain-box. It is necessary to any intelligent understanding of the construction of a bird’s skull,
to learn somewhat of its mode of development in the embryonic stage; this being the only clue
to the individual bones of which it is composed, and so to any correct idea of its morphology.
One theory is, that the skull consists of four modified vertebree ; and the principal bones have
been nained and described by some in terms indicating the elements of a theoretical vertebra.
It is true that the skull is segmented, or may be segmented off, like a chain of several
vertebree; that it continues the vertebral axis forward; that it has a basis cranii like a series of
vertebral centrums, above which rises a segmented neural arch enclosing the great nervous
mass, and below which depends a set of bones enclosing visceral parts like a hemal arch.
The hindmost cranial ‘segment, the occipital bone, resembles a vertebra in many physical
characters, and even in mode of development. But if the serial homology of the skull with
1 Bone-tissue chiefly consists of the aggregated skeletons of Osteamebe — a kind of uni-cellular protozoan
animals which inhabit in myriads the bodies of nearly all the Vertebrata, possessing the faculty of feeding upon
phosphate of lime and other earthy matters they find in the blood, and afterward excreting them in the form of
multiradiate exoskeletons of their own, collectively forming the whole skeleton of their host.
150 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the back«bone be real and true, it is so obscured by the extraordinay modifications: to which
the vertebral elements have been subjected that the fact of such homology cannot be demon-
strated; and to interpret the skull as something super-imposed upon, and morphologically
different from the spinal column, is perfectly warranted if not required by the known facts of
its constructive development. This is the view taken by the rulers of to-day’s science. As
already said (p. 137) the relation between cranial and vertebral parts is rather the analogy of
adaptive modification than a true homology of structure.
Before proceeding to describe the mature skull, it will be best to consider its mode of
development. In this I shall closely follow Parker, often using the words of that master, and
illustrating the early stages of the embryo with figures borrowed from the same safe source.
In the fewest words possible, I wish to convey an idea of the embryonic skull up to Parker’s
‘third stage,” at which it begins to ossify. Here, however, I will first insert a figure, kindly
drawn for me by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of the U.S. Army, which shows most of the cranial
bones, and will give the student a preliminary notion of the ‘lay of the land.” I advise him
to contemplate this picture till he has learned the names printed on it by heart, and can apply
them to the identification of the parts of the real skull he should have in hand at the same time.
He may also meditate on fig. 63.
Feterotats, composing,
Fig. 62. — Skull of common fowl, enlarged; from nature by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A. The names of bones
and some other parts are printed, requiring no explanation; but observe the following points: The distinction of
none of the bones composing the brain-case (the upper back expanded part) can be found in a mature skull. The
brain is contained between the occipital, sphenoidals, sguamosals, parietals and part of frontal; the ethmoidals
belong to the same group of cranial bones proper. All other bones, excepting the three otic ear-bones, are bones
of the face and jaws. The lower jaw, of five bones, is drawn detached; it articulates by the black surface marked
articular with the prominence just above—the guadrate bone. Observe that from this quadrate a series of bones
— quadrato-jugal, jugal, maxillary — makes a slender rod running to the premaziliary ; this is the zygoma, or
jugal bar. Observe from the quadrate also another series, composed of pterygoid and palatine bones, to the pre-
maxillary; this is the pterygo-palatine bar ; it slides along a median fixed axis of the skull, the rostrum, which
bears the loose vomer at its end. The under mandible, quadrate, pterygoid, and vomer are the only movable bones
of this skull. But when the quadrate rocks back and forth, as it does by its upper joint, ita lower end pulls and
pushes upon the upper mandible, by means of the jugal and pterygo-palatine bars, setting the whole scaffolding of
the upper jaw in motion. This motion hinges upon the elasticity of the bones of the forehead, at the thin place just
where the reference-lines from the words ‘ lacrymal ” and ‘‘ mesethmoid”’ cross each other., The dark oval space
behind the quadrate is the external orifice of the ear; the parts in it to which the three reference-lines go are
diagrammatic, not actual representations ; thus, the quadrate articulates with a large pro-otic as well as with
the sqguamosal. The great excavation at the middle of the figure, containing the circlet_ of unshaded bones, is the
left orbital cavity, orbit, or socket of the eye. The mesethmoid includes most of the background of this cavity, shaded
diagonally. The upper one of the two processes of bone extending into it from behind is the post-frontal or sphe-
notice process ; the under one (just overthe quadrate) is the sguamosal process. A bone not shown, the presphenoid,
lies just in front of the oval black space over the end of basisphenoid. This black oval is the optic foramen,
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 151
through which the nerve of sight passes from the brain-cavity to the eye. The black dot a little behind the optic
foramen is the orifice of exit of a part of the trifacial nerve. The black mark under the letters ‘‘on’’ of the word
“frontal” is the olfactory foramen, where the nerve of smell emerges from the brain-box to go to the nose. The
nasal cavity is the blank space behind nasal and covered by that bone, and in the oval blank before it. The parts
of the beak covered by horn are only premazillary, nasal, and dentary. The condyle articulates with the first
cervical vertebra; just above it, not shown, is the foramen magnum, or great hole through which the spinal medulla,
or main nervous cord, passes from the skull into the spinal column. The basioccipital is hidden, excepting its
condyle; so is much of the basisphenoid. The prolongation forward of the basisphenoid, marked “ rostrum,” and
bearing the vomer at its end, is the parasphenoid, as tar as its thickened under border is concerned. Between the
fore end of the pterygoid and the basisphenoidal rostrum, is the site of the basipterygoid process, by which the
bones concerned articulate by smooth facets; further forward, the palatines ride freely upon the parasphenoidal
rostrum. In any Passerine bird, the vomer would be thick in front, and forked behind, riding like the palatine
upon the rostrum. The palatine seems to run into the maxillary inghis view; but it continues on to premaxillary.
The mazillo-palatine is an important bone which cannot be seen in the figure because it extends horizontally into
the paper from the maxillary about where the reference line “ maxillary’ goes to that bone. The general line
from the condyle to the end of the vomer is the cranial ais, basis cranii, or base of the cranium. This skull is
widest across the post-frontal; next most so across the bulge of the jugal bar.
Fig. 63.— Skull of a duck ( Clangula istandica), nat. size; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S.A. a, premaxillary bone;
5, partly ossified internasal septum; 0’, pervious part of nostril; c, end of premaxillary, perforated for numerous
branches of second division of the fifth cranial nerve; d, dentary bone of under mandible; e, groove for nerves, etc. ;
f,avacuity between dentary and other pieces of the mandible; g, articular surface; h, recurved<‘angle of the jaw ;”’
i, occipital protuberance; j, vacuity in supraoccipital bone; k, muscular impression on back of skull; / is over the
black ear-cavity; m, post-frontal process; 2, quadrate bone; o, pterygoid; p, palatine; g, quadrato-jugal; 7,
jugal; s, maxillary ; ¢, fronto-parietal dome of the brain-cavity; u, the lacrymal bone, immense in a duck, nearly
completing rim of the orbit by approaching m; v, vomer; w, supra-orbital depression for the nasal gland
(see p. 157); x, cranio-facial hinge; y, optic foramen; 2, etc., interorbital vacuities.
Development of the Fowl’s Skull (figs. 64 to 69).—In the chick’s head cartilage is
formed along the floor of the skull by the fifth day of incubation. This cartilaginous basilar
plate is formed on each side of th notochord, fig 64, ¢ (Gr. vérov, noton, back ; yop8h, chorde, a
chord), a rod-like structure, the primordial axis of the body, around which, along the spinal
column, the bodies of the vertebra are formed, and which runs in the middle line of the floor
of the skull as far as the pituitary space, pts. The basilar plate is the parachordal (Gr. mapa,
para, by the side of) cartilage. In this, at the earliest stage, are already planted certain parts
of the ear, the cochlea, cl, (Lat. cochlea, a snail-shell), and the horizontal one of the three semi-
circular canals, hsc. Opposite the end of the notochord, the border of the parachordal plate
is notched, 5; this notch afterward forms the foramen ovale, for the passage of parts of the
Jifth or trifacial nerve. Near the middle line, posteriorly, the plate is perforated for the
passage of the twelfth or hypoglossal nerve, g. At each lateral corner is the separate quadrate
cartilage, to form the quadrate bone. Anteriorly, the plate connects by a strap or bridge
of cartilage, the lingula, Ig (Lat. lingula, a little tongue) with the trabecule, tr (Lat. trabe-
cula, a little beam), which enclose the pituitary space, pts (Lat. pitwita, mucus: no applica-
bility here). In front of this pituitary interval the trabecule come together to form an wmter-
152 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
nasal plate, which is so arched over downward as to disappear from this view, as seen in
fig. 65, where fn is the fronto-nasal process, and ” is the future external nostril. After
uniting in the inter-nasal plate, the fore ends of the trabecule separate and become free ; their
free ends are the under extremities of this first visceral arch (first and only pre-oral arch).
The same chick’s head, now viewed from below, fig. 65, shows the squarish aperture, m,
of the future mouth ; the three post-oral arches, with their respective cartilaginous bars, out
of which are to be formed the bones of the jaws and tongue. 1, 2, 3, are the corresponding
visceral clefts, between the arches; the first of these is to be modelled into the ear-
passages (outer and middle ear and eustachian tube) ; the others will disappear. The quadrate
cartilage, g, is the same that was seen in fig. 64; it is already nearly in position, between the
hind ends of the scaffolding of the upper and under jaw. The curved subocular or maxillo-
palatine bar, map, developed in the first post-oral arch, already indicates anteriorly palatine,
pa, and posteriorly, pterygoid, pg, parts; it will form the bones so named, and others of the
Fic. 65.—Same as fig. 64, but seen from below.
evl, anterior cerebral vesicle; e, eye; m, mouth ; pits,
pituitary space; jn, fronto-nasal plate; ér, ends of the
trabecule, free again after their union and bent strong-
ly from the original axis of the trabecule; n, exter-
nal nostril; map, subocular bar of cartilage, or ptery-
go-palatine rod, to form pa, palatine, and pg, pterygoid
Fic. 64. — Skull of chick, fifth day of incubation,
9 diameters, Seen from above, the membranous roof
of the skull and the brain removed. evi, anterior cere-
bral vesicle ; e, eye; ¢, notochord, running through the
middle of the basilar plate or parachordal cartilage, in
which are already visible the rudimentary ear-parts, cl,
the cochlea, hac, the horizontal semicircular canal ; pts,
the pituitary space, bounded by fr, the trabeculz,
which come together before it to form the fronto-nasal
plate, fn, in fig. 65; lg, lingula or bridge connecting
trabecule with parachordal cartilage ; 5, notch after-
ward becoming foramen ovale for passage of parts of
the fifth (trifacial) nerve ; 9, foramen for hypoglossal
nerve; q, separate cartilage forming the future quad-
tate bone. (After Parker, in Ency. Brit.)
bone, and other parts of the upper jaw, as the maxil-
lary, jugal and quadrato-jugal; g, quadrate cartilage,
same as seen in fig. 64; mk, meckelian cartilage, to form
lower jaw; these parts are in the first post-oral visceral
arch; ch, cerato-byal, and bh, basihyal, of second post-
oral arch; cbr, cerato-branchial, ebr, epi-branchial,
bbr, basi-branchial, of third post-oral arch; the darts
of the second and third arch all going into the yoid
bone. 1, 2, 3, 1st, 2d, 8d visceral clefts, whereof vue 1st
is to be modified into the ear-passages, and the others
are to be obliterated. (After Parker.)
upper jaw. This subocular bar is an antero-superior part of the first post-oral arch, of which
gq and mk are a postero-inferior portion; the cleft of the future mouth is to lie between them.
The lower jaw bone, or mandible, is entirely developed from mk, its several bones developing
around this rod of cartilage, the meckelian cartilage ; it is to become movably articulated with
the bone, the quadrate, into which q will be transformed. Thus the postero-inferior part of
the first post-oral arch (second of the whole series of arches) begins in two pieces, one of which
is to become the suspensorium, or suspender of the mandible, and the other the mandible
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 153
itself. The rest of the pieces belong to the second and third post-oral arches, and all
together make up the very composite hyoid bone, or bone of the tongue (figs. 72, 73,74). The
pieces ch and bh are in the second arch, and form respectively the ceratohyal and basihyal
bones; the pieces cbr, ebr, and bbr are in the third arch, and form respectively the cerato-
branchial, epibranchial and basibranchial bones. These pieces of the third arch have already
outgrown those of the second arch, and they will form the greatest part of the hyoid bone.
In the second stage, after the fifth day of incubation, but before any ossification has
begun, a vertical section shows the appearances represented in fig. 66. The parachordal and
trabecular cartilages are applied to, each other unconformably, the latter rising high between
second and third cerebral vesicles to form the posterior pituitary wall, pel, in which the axial
skeleton properly ends. There are other changes in the parachordal cartilages. The inter-
nasal plate, formed by the union of the trabeculee in front of the pituitary space, has become a
vertical median wall between the olfactory and optic chambers of the right and left sides (pn
and eth, to ps and alc). This partition, besides forming finally the interorbital septum which
divides the right and left orbits, will undergo further notable changes in direction, and will
develop lateral plates and processes, which
will make up the nasal labyrinth and the
partition between the cavity of the nose
and that of the eye, when any exists. Such
lateral developments of the ethmoid plate
are the aliethmoid, aliseptal, and alinasal.
This plate extends backward in mid-line
to the optic foramen, 2, ending in the ante-
rior clinoid wall, asc, separated from the
(parachordal) posterior clinoid wall by the
original pituitary space, now the opening
through which the carotid arteries, ic, enter
the brain cavity. Besides ethmoidal parts
proper, the plate develops at what will be
the end of the upper beak a prenasal carti-
lage, pn, to become the axis of the beak.
The mouth is become already better formed,
the axis of its cavity pointing more forward
than downward; and great changes are
undergoing in parts of the ear at the back
corner of the mouth. The quadrate and
meckelian cartilages are assuming much of
their true form. The quadrate develops
an orbital process, which extends free into
the orbit, and an otic process which articu-
lates with the auditory sac and parts of
the exoccipital cartilage. The relations at
Fic. 66.— Head of a chick, second stage, after five days
of incubation, section in profile; x 6diameters. cvl, cv2, cv3,
first, second, and third cerebral vesicles; 1, place of the
first nerve, the olfactory; 2, place of second nerve, the
optic; tc, internal carotid artery, running into skull at what
was originally the pituitary space, now an opening bounded
in front by the anterior, acl, behind by the posterior, pcl,
clinoid walls; nc, notochord; oc, occipital condyle, thence
to pel being the original parachordal cartilage, here seen in
profile; eo, exoccipital; eth, ethmoid, with ps, its presphe-
noid region posteriorly, and pn, pre-nasal part; this whole
plate afterward developing into parts of the nose and the
partition between the eyes; pa, palatine; pg, pterygoid
region; pa and pg reference lines are in the chick’s mouth; mk
meckelian cartilage (lower jaw); ch and bh, ceratohyal and
basihyal parts of the hyoid or tongue bone. (After Parker.)
this stage have not been made out in the fowl, but are figured and described from the corre-
sponding stage of the European house martin (Chelidon urbica). In fig. 67, mk is the cut
stump of the meckelian cartilage, of which ar is the articular part; q is the quadrate, of which
a backward process is seen articulating with teo, the tympanic wing of the exoccipital. Just
below and behind this otic process of the quadrate, exactly where in riper embryos is the
Senestra ovalis in which is fitted the foot of the stapes or stirrup-bone of the middle ear, there
appears a trowel-shaped projection of cartilage, the handle of which is continuous with the
substance of the ear-capsule; the sickle-shaped piece behind which is the tympanic wing of
154
the exoccipital (teo).
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
This irowel of cartilage is the upper anterior segment of the hyoidean
(second post-oral) arch, being to that arch what the pterygo-palatine bar is to the mandibular
(first post-oral) arch. Several parts of this stapedial cartilage are recognized, as named in the
SSE
est\
Fic. 67.—The post-oral arches of the
house martin, at middle of period of incuba-
tion, lateral view, x 14 diameters. mk, stump
of meckelian or mandibular rod, its articular
part, ar, already shapen; g, quadrate bone, or
suspensorium of lower jaw, with a free anterior
orbital process and long posterior otic process
articulating with the ear-capsule, of which Zeo,
tympanic wing of occipital, is a part; mst,
est, sst, ist, sth, parts of the suspensorium of
the third post-oral arch, not completed to chy;
mst, medio-stapedial, to come away from Zeo,
bringing a piece with it, the true stapes or co-
lumella auris; the oval base of the stapes fit-
ting into the future fenestra ovalis, or oval
window looking into the cochlea; sst, supra-sta-
pedial ; est, extra-stapedial; ist, infra-stapedial,
which will unite with sth, the stylo-hyal ;
chy and bhy, cerato-hyal and basi-hyal, distal
parts of the same arch; bbr, br 1, br 2, basi-
branchial, epi-branchial and cerato-branchial
pieces of the third arch, composing the rest of
the hyoid bone; zg, tongue. (After Parker.)
fine print under the figure. If the connections of the
second post-oral arch were completed, as those of the
first are, the tongue bone would be slung to the skull
as the lower jaw is; but they are uot, the tract rep-
resented by the dot-line from the stylo-hyal, sth, to
the cerato-hyal, chy, being, like ist, above sth, only
soft connective tissue. This defect of connection is
made up for by the great development of the hyoidean
parts of the third post-oral arch, br 1 and br 2, which
retain the tongue-bone in position, without however
articulating it with the skull. The hand of the trowel
of cartilage soon segments itself off from the ear-cap-
sule, bringing away with it a small oval piece of the
periotic wall, which piece is the true stapes, and the
oval space in which it fits is the fenestra ovalis leading
into the inmost ear (the cochlea). The broad part of
the trowel-blade is the extra-stapedial part, on which
the membrana tympani, or ear-drum, will be stretched.
The stylo-hyal, sth, will join the extra-stapedial
plate, and the afterward chondrified band of union will
be the infra-stapedial, ist. (Figs. 71, st, and 83.)
Returning p ed
now to the
a! Ax.)
chick’s head,
which we left
to examine
the intricate
ear-parts at
the proximal Fic. 68. —Skull of chick, second stage, in
profile, brain and membranes removed to
end of the second post-oral arch, we see by fig. 68
how rapidly the parts are shaping themselves at the
end of this second stage of development. This figure
shows the cartilaginous skull, in which no trace of
ossification has appeared, excepting in the under
mandible. The brain and membranous parts of the
cranium have been removed. The roof of the skull
never becomes cartilaginous, bone there growing di-
rectly from the membrane; and the whole of the chon-
dro-cranium, as shown in the figure, is one continuous
cartilaginous structure (like the whole skull of an
adult shark or skate), excepting the parts of the post-
oral arches, which are separate. The auditory cap-
sule is environed by occipital cartilage, eo, stretching
over the back of the skull, and by wing-like growths
(alisphenoids, as) which wall most of the brain-box
in front.
froin the tract of the conjoined trabecule.
show cartilaginous formations, x 4 diameters.
eth, ethmoid, forming median nose-parts and
inter-orbital septum; developing lateral parts,
as ale, aliethmoid, als, aliseptum, aln, alinasal,
pp, partition between nose and eye; pn, pre-
nasal cartilage; ps, presphenoidal part of mid-
ethmoid; 2, optic foramen; as, alisphenoid,
walling brain-box in front; p/, post-frontal,
bounding orbit behind; pa, pg, palatine and
pterygoid; g, quadrate; so, supra-occipital;
eo, ex-occipital; oc, occipital condyle, borne
upon basi-occipital, and showing nc, remains
of notochord; these occipitals bound the fora-
men magnum, and eo expands laterally to form
a tympanic wing, circumscribing the external
auditory orifice behind and below; hse, psec,
horizontal and posterior vertical semicircular
canals of ear; jr, st, fenestra rotunda and
fenestra ovalis, leading into inner ear, lat-
ter closed by foot of the stapes; mk, ch, bh,
bor, cbr, ebr, parts of jaw and tongue, as nam-
ed in figs. 65, 66 and 67. (After Parker.)
The high orbito-nasal septum is a continuous vertical plate of cartilage, upgrowing
Lateral developments of this ethmoidal wall, in
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. —
front, are divided into several recognizable parts, ale,
als, aln, the latter being the external nostril; pp isa
transverse partition between the orbital and nasal cham-
bers. The nasal cartilages ultimately become much
convoluted to form the nasal labyrinth, among the con-
volutions of which will be the superior and inferior tur-
binal cartilages, in addition to those already noted.
The ethmoidal wall ends behind at ps, the presphe-
noidal region, where the brain case begins; below and
behind, it is deeply notched for the optic foramen, 2.
The pituitary space forms a circular foramen, through
which the carotid arteries enter. The site of the orbit
of the eye is bounded behind and below by the post-
frontal process of the alisphenoid wing, pf of as. The
pterygo-palatine rod is seen along the under border of
the skull, pg and pa. The quadrate, q, has acquired
nearly its shape, and the rest of the mandibular and
hyoidean parts are clearly displayed, mk, etc. The
proximal hyvidean element, st, is freed from the peri-
otic cartilage, leaving the fenestra ovalis (see last para-
graph). Below the general outline, pa to oc, is not
shown a mat of soft tissue, in which are to be devel-
oped the basitemporal and parasphenoid bones which
underfloor the whole skull, — the former making a plat
between the ears, fig. 69, bt, the latter forming the thick-
ened under edge of the rostrum of the skull rbs.
At the third stage, about the middle of the second
week of incubation, the cartilaginous parts already
described are neatly finished, and the skull is beginning
to ossify. The occipital parts are well formed; the
condyle is perfect; the foramen magnum is cireum-
scribed by the ex- and supra-occipitals, eo and so, fig.
69. Investing bones, formed in membrane without pre-
vious cartilage, are becoming apparent. The basitem-
poral, bt, and parasphenoid, rls, are engrafting upon
the base of the skull. The prenasal cartilage, pn, now
at its fullest growth, is beginning to decline; on each
side of it is formed a three-forked bone, the premaxil-
lary, pz, having superiorly nasal, and laterally palatal
and dentary processes. This bone is to grow to great
size, forming most of the upper beak, and starving out
the maxillary, which in mammals is the principal bone
of the upper jaw. The palatal, pa, and pterygoid, pg,
bones are ossified, and the quadrate, q, is ossifying.
Between the premaxillary and the quadrate are the
bones forming the zygoma, or jugal bar, developed in
the outer part of the maxillo-palatine bar of the earlier
embryo. They are the weak mamillary, mx, with its
ingrowing process, the mamillo-palatine bone, mxp;
next the jugal, j; then the quadrato-jugal, qj; the
155
OSTE OLOGY.
Seo.
Say
Fie. 69.—Skull of chick, third stage,
viewed from below, x 63 diameters. pn,
prenasal cartilage, running behind into the
septum nasi ; on each side of it the premax-
illary, px, of which the (inner) palatal and
(outer) dentary processes are seen (the upper
nasal process hidden); mz, the maxillary,
developing inner process, the maxillo-pala-
tine, mxp ; pa, the palatal, well-formed, ar-
ticulating behind with rbs, the sphenoidal
rostrum, its thickened under border, the
parasphenoid ; this will bear the vomer at its
end when that bone is developed; j, jugal,
joining mz and qj, the quadrato-jugal, join-
ing j and g, the quadrate ; mz to g, the
jugal bar’ or zygoma; pg, the pterygoid,
making with pa the pterygo-palatine bar,
joining g and pz ; bt, the basitemporal, great
mat of bone from ear to ear, underflooring
the skull proper, as rbs, a similar formation,
does further forward; ic, outer end of carotid
canal, to run between the bt plate and true
floor of skull, and enter brain cavity at origi-
nal site of pituitary fossa (figs. 64, 66, ic); ty,
tympanic cavity —external opening of ear;
as, alisphenoid, bounding much of brain-
box anteriorly, and orbital cavity posteri-
orly; psc, posterior semicircular canal of ear,
in opisthotic bone, which will unite with the
spreading co, exoccipital, which will reach
the condyle shown in the middle line, above
the foramen magnum, jm, completed above
by so, supra-occipital; 8, foramen lacerum
posterius, exit of pneumogastric, glosso-pha-
ryngeal and spinal accessory nerve; 9, exit
of hypoglossal nerve, in basi-occipital. (After
Parker.)
156 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
whole forming an outer lateral rod from quadrate to premaxillary, like a duplicate of the
pterygo-palatine rod from the same to the same.
Among occurrences of later stages are to be noted the development in membrane in the
middle line below of the vomer, borne upon the end of the rostrum; the roofing in of the
whole skull by the parietal, squamosal, frontal and nasal bones; the completion of the periotic
bones as the prodtic, epiotic and opisthotic, which form the otie capsule ; the development of
lacrymal bones, bounding the orbits of the eyes in frout. Absorption of the middle wall of
cartilage between the nasal and orbital cavities nicks off the nose parts from those of the orbit
(fig. 70, between ntb and eth); and certain changes in the orbital septum develop the orbito-
sphenoids. Very nearly all the bones of a bird’s skull having thus been accounted for, we may
next consider them in their adult condition. Reference should now be made to figs. 62,
63, 70, 71.
The Occipital Bone (fig. 62, 70, 71) forms the back part of the floor of the skull, and lower
part. of the back wall of the skull; neither its boundaries nor its composition is visible in
adult skulls. It is formed by the basioccipital, bo, below in the middle line; the supra-occipitat
80, above in the middle line; the exoccipital, eo, on either side. These bound the foramen
magnum (fig. 69, fm), where the nerve mass makes its exit from the cavity of the cranium into
the tube of the spinal column. At the lower part of the foramen is the protuberant occipital
condyle (figs. 68, 71, 0c), borne chiefly upon the basioccipital, but to the formation of which the
exoccipitals also contribute; the latter flare widely on each side, into the tympanic wings, which
bound the external auditory meatus behind. The true basioccipital is mostly covered by the
underlying secondary bone, the basitemporal (69, 70, bt), which extends from one tympanic
cavity to the other, and more or less forward in thc middle line to the sphenoidal rostrum.
Openings to be observed in the occipital region, besides the great foramen, are those for the
hypoglossal nerve, 9, near the condyle ; for the parts of the vagus nerve, 8, more laterally, and
the carotid canal, ic: also, above the foramen magnum, openings for veins, sometimes of great
size, as in fig. 63, j. ,
The Parietals (figs. 62, and 70, p, 71). — Proceeding up over the brain-box, the next
bones are a pair of parietals, between the occipital behind, the frontal before, and the squa~
mosal beside ; but their limits are rarely if ever to be seen in adult skulls. They are relatively
small in birds; simply squarish plates, bounded as said, coming together in the midline.
The Frontals (fig. 62, and 70, f, 71), originally paired, soon fuse together, and with sur-
rounding bones of the skull, though maintaining some distinction from those of the nose and jaw.
These roof over much of the brain cavity, close in much of it in front, and form the roof and
eaves of the great orbital sockets. Anteriorly in the middle of the forehead line the feet of the
nasal process of the premaxillary are implanted upon the frontal, usually distinctly ; more
laterally, the nasal bones are articulated or anchylosed; this fronto-naso-premaxillary suture
forming the fronto-facial hinge, (fig. 63, #) by the elasticity or articulation of which the upper
jaw moves upon the skull, when acted on by the palatal and jugal bars. In the midst of the fore-
head the two halves of the frontal sometimes separate, as they do in the fowl, allowing a little
of the mesethmoid to come to the front. In the middle line, underneath, the frontals fuse with
whatever extent there may be of the mesethmoid which forms the lengthwise inter-orbital
septum, and often a crosswise partition between the orbital and nasal cavities. To the antero-
external corners of the frontal are articulated or anchylosed the lacrymals. The post-frontal
sprocess,! morphologically the post-frontal or sphenotic bone, bounds the rim of the orbit behind ;
1 There is apparently some ambiguity in the use of the term “ post-frontal” process by different authors. It
would appear that this process, bounding the rim of the orbit behind, may be a projection of the frontal bone, and’
therefore strictly a post-frontal process. Or that, as said by Owen for Rhea, it may be a separate bone, and there-
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OSTEOLOGY. 157
it is usually quite prominent. The frontal rim of the orbit in many birds shows a crescentic
depression (very strong in a loon and many other water birds; fig. 63, w), for lodgment of the
supra-orbital gland, the secretion of which lubricates the nasal passages. The cerebral plate of
the frontal is often imperfectly ossified, showing large ‘‘ windows” besides the regular openings
for the exit of nerves which are always found at the back of the orbit. View from above, the
frontal is vaulted and expanded behind, over the brain cavity, then pinched more or less, some-
times extremely narrow over the orbits, then usually somewhat expanded again at the fronto-
facial suture. The extent of the.frontal between the orbits and face, in the lacrymal region,
is very great in the duck family, as seen in fig. 63.
The Squamosal (Lat. syuama, a scale; figs. 70, 71, sq.) bounds the brain-box laterally,
between occipital, parietal, frontal and sphenoidal bones, its distinction from all of these being
obliterated in adult life. It is situated near the lower back lateral corner of the skull, forming
some part of the cranial wall just over the ear-opening, and a strong eaves for that orifice. It
is firmly united also to the bones of the ear proper, and receives the larger share of the free
articulation which the quadrate has with the skull. It often develops a strong forward-down-
ward spur, the squaniosal process (fig. 62), looking like a duplicate post-frontal process ;
between these two is the crotaphyte depression, corresponding to the ‘‘ temporal fossa” of man,
in which lie the muscles which close the jaws. It scarcely or not enters iuto the orbit, the
adjacent part of the orbit, being alisphenoidal.
The Periotic Bones (Gr. mepi, peri, about; ods, drds, ows, ots, the ear; fig. 70) are
those that form the petrogal bone (Lat. petrosus, rocky, from their hardness), or bony periotic
capsule, containing the essential organ of hearing. When united with each other and with the
squamosal, they form the very composite and illogical bone called “temporal” in human anat-
omy. There are three of these otic bones, — an anterior, the pro-otic; a posterior and inferior,
the opisthotie (Gr. émaGe, opisthe, beliind) and a superior and external, the epiotic. They can
only be studied in young skulls, upon careful dissection ; they do not appear upon the outside
of the skull at all, excepting a small piece of the opisthotic, which there fuses indistinguishably
with the exoccipital. But somewhat of these bones are seen on looking into the cavity of the
outer ear, and if the fenestra ovalis can be recognized, it determines a part of the boundary
between the prodtic and opisthotic bones, while the fenestra rotunda lies wholly in the latter.
The cavity of the periotic bone is hollowed for the labyrinth of the internal ear, including the
cochlea, which contains the essential nervous organs of hearing, and the three semicircular canals
—so much of them as does not invade surrounding bones. In the young fowl’s skull viewed
internally (fig. 70), Parker figures a very large prodtic portion (po) of the periotic, perforated
by the internal auditory meatus (7) for the entrance from the brain of the auditory nerve ; below
and behind the prodtic a small opisthotic (op), in relation with the exoccipital, upon the surface
of which it also appears, outside (fig. 69, at psc), and with which it blends; avery small epiotic
centre (ep), between the proétic and supraoccipital; and the anterior semicircular canal (asc)
embedded in the latter. In Dr. Shufeldt’s figure the otic elements are merely noted diagram-
matically. According to Huxley’s generalization, the epiotic is in special relation with the pos-
terior semicircular canal; the prodtic with the anterior vertical canal, between which and the
foramen ovale (5) for the lower divisions of the trifacial nerve it lies. That part on which the
inner foot of the quadrate is implanted is prodtic. Below the drooping eaves of the squamosal,
before the flaring wing of the exoccipital, and behind the quadrate bone, is the always decided
and considerable cavity of the ear, bounded pretty sharply by the squamosal and exoccipital rim,
fore properly a post-frontal bone. Or, again, that it may have nothing to do with the frontal bone, but belong to
the alisphenoid, as a process of the latter or a separate ossification; in which case it would be properly the sphe-
notice. In no event has it anything to do with the sguamosat process lettered as such in fig. 62.
158
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
sloping with less distinction in front toward the orbital cavity. In this auditory hollow may be
seen several openings: the meatus or proper ear-passage, through which, in one direction, a
Fia. 70. — Ripe chick’s skull, longitudinal section, viewed
inside, x 3 diameters; after Parker. In the mandible are seen:
mk, remains of meckelian rod; d, dentary bone; sp, splenial;
@, angular ; sw, surangular; ar, articular; iap, internal articu-
lar process; pap, posterior articular process. In the skull: pn,
the original prenasal cartilage, upon which is moulded the pre-
maxillary, pz, with its nasal process, npx, and dentary process,
dpx ; sn,septo-nasal cartilage, in which is seen nn, nasal nerve;
ntb, nasal turbinal ; the reference line crosses the cranio-facial
suture, the face parts and cranial parts being nearly separated
here by the nick seen in the original cartilaginous plate; eth,
ethmoid; pe, perpendicular plate of ethmoid, which will spread
nearly throughout the dotted cartilaginous tract in which it lies,
to form nearly all the interorbital septum; transverse thicken-
ing (in some birds) below the reference line eth will form the
pre-frontal, or orbito-nasal septum; io/, inter-orbital foramen ;
ps, pre-sphenoidal region, just above which is the orbito-sphe-
noidal region ; 2, optic foramen; as, alisphenoid, with 5, foramen
for divisions of the 5th(trifacial) nerve ; 7, frontal ; sg, squamosal ;
Pp, parietal; so, superoccipital ; asc, anterior semicircular canal;
sc, a sinus (venous canal); ep, epiotic; co, exoccipital; op, opis-
thotic ; po, proétic, with 7, meatus auditorius internus, for en-
trance of 7th nerve; 8, foramen for vagus nerve; bo, basioccipi-
tal; bt, basitemporal ; ic, canal (in original pituitary space ;
fig. 66 ic) by which carotid artery enters brain cavity ; ap, basi-
pterygoid process; ap to rbs, rostrum of the skull, being the
parasphenoid bone underflooring the basisphenoid and future
perpendicular plate of ethmoid. (‘he scaffolding cf the upper
jaw not shown, excepting px, &c.)
bristle may be passed to emerge at or near
the middle line of the base of the skull,
about the root of the basisphenoidal ros-
trum. Such a passage is through the first
visceral cleft of the early embryo, modi-
fied into, meatus auditorius and eustachian
tube, which latter communicates with the
back part of the mouth. Besides the other
ear-passages proper, may be found other
openings of air-passages leading into the
interior diploie tissue of bones of the
skull, and especially into the lower jaw
bone. The ear-parts are immensely de-
veloped in owls, in many species of
which they are unsymmetrical, that is,
not sized and shaped alike on right and
left sides of the head.
The Sphenoid (Gr. o@qv, sphen, a
wedge; cidos, eidos, form; figs. 62, 70,
71) is a compound bone, not easy to un-
derstand as it occurs in birds, as much
of it is hidden from the outside, some of
it is very slightly developed, and all of it
is completely consolidated with surround-
ing bones in the adult. It is wedged
into the very midst of the cranial bones
proper, with its body in the middle line
below, next in front of the basioccipital,
and its wings spread on either side in the
orbital cavity. A sphenoid consists es-
sentially of the basisphenoid, or main
part of the bone (fig. 62); the alisphe-
noids or ‘‘ wings,” on either side (figs. 70,
7], as); the obscure presphenoid, (ps) in
the middle line in front of and above the
main body; and the small orbito-sphe-
noids, which are in fact the wings of the
presphenoid. The body is usually covered
in by the underflogring of the basitem-
poral; it is a flat triangular plate, pro-
duced more or less forward in the middle
line as the basisphenoidal rostrum, or
beak of the skull. This rostrum is an
important thing. It forms, in fact, the
central axis of the base of the skull;
with the mesethmoid plate the inferior
border of the interorbital septum, usually
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OSTEOLOGY. 159
thickened by the underflooring of the parasphenoid (fig. 70, rbs). The rostrum often bears
ou each side a basipterygoid process (ap), — a smooth facet with which the pterygoid artic-
ulates. These processes may be very
strong, and far back on the basisphenoid
body, when the pterygoids articulate with
them near their own posterior ends, as
in the struthious birds and tinamous (fig.
75, btp) ; or they may be further along
on the rostrum, and the pterygoids then
articulate near or at their fore-ends. The
rostrum may.be produced far forward,
beyond the maxillo-palatines and vomer
even, as in an ostrich; or it may bear the
vomer at its end; or may be embraced
by forks of the vomer ; the palatines may
glide along it, or be remote from it on
either side. In any event, whatever its
production, whatever part may be eth-
moidal, or basisphenoidal, or parasphe-
noidal thickening, pterygo-faceting, etc.,
this ‘‘ beak” of the basisphenoid is
always in the axis of the base of the
skull, and at the bottom of the inter-
orbital plate; it may be horizontal, or
obliquely ascending forward; and the
variety of its relations with the pterygo-
palatine and vomerine mechanism fur
nishes important zodlogical characters,
as we shall see when we come to treat.
of palatal structure particularly. Just at
the base of the beak, where it widens
into the main body of the bone, may
commonly be seen, coming from between
the sphenoidal body and the lip of the
basitemporal underflooring, the orifices
of the eustachian tubes, and often also
the anterior ends of the carotid canal.
If a bristle, passed into a questionable
foramen here, comes out of the ear, it
Fic. 71. — Ripe chick’s skull, in profile, x 8 diameters; after
Parker. px, premaxillary; aln, ali-nasal cartilage ; en, septo-
nasal; n, nasal bone; /, lacrymal; pe, perpendicular plate of
ethmoid, as in fig. 70; ps, presphenoidal region; qs, alisphe-
noid; /, frontal; p, parietal; sg, squamosal; so, superoccipital;
€0, exoccipital; oc, occipital condyle; st, the cross-like object,
the stapes, whose foot fits fenestra ovalis, see fig. 83; g, quad-
rate; pg, pterygoid; gj, quadrato-jugal; j, jugal; pa, palatine;
mz, maxillary. In the mandible: d, dentary; su, surangular;
a, angular; ar, articular; iap, internal angular process; pap,
posterior angular process. 2, optic foramen; 5, foramen ovale,
for inferior divisions of the 5th nerve. (Compare fig. 70.)
has gone through the eustachian tube; if it comes out below the ear, on the floor of the skull,
outside, it has run in the carotid canal. The extent of the alisphenoids (figs. 70, 71, as) can-
not be detertnined in old skulls. They lie at the back lower border of the orbital cavity, clos-
ing in most of the brain box that is not foreclosed by the frontal bone. You will always find
at the back of the orbit, close to the mid-line, and rather low down, the very large optic fora-
mina (any figs., 2); alisphenoid should not extend in front of these orifices. A little below and
behind the optic foramina, and much more laterally, not far from the quadrate itself, is a con-
siderable foramen, quite donstant, for transmission of the inferior divisions of the fifth (trigeminal
or trifacial) nerve. This is the foramen ovale (any figs., 5); it is either in the alisphenoid, or
between that bone and the prodtic; it must not be mistaken for one of the several smaller holes,
usually seen close about the optic foramen, which’ transmit the nerves (oculo-motor, pathetic.
160 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
and abducent) which move the muscles of the eyeball; these holes being collectively about
equivalent to the foramen lacerwm anterius of human anatomy. Parts about the optic foramen,
before and above, are presphenoidal (figs. 70, 71, ps) and orbito-sphenoidal ; but they are
obseure to all but the embryologist, and practically furnish no zodlogical characters.
The Ethmoid (Gr. 70ué6s, ethmos, a sieve; froin the way it is perforated in the human
species; fig. 62) is the bune of the mid-line of the skull, in front of the sphenoidal elements and
below the frontal; it is in special relation with the olfactory nervous apparatus, or sense of
smell. This is not an easy bone to ‘‘ get the hang of” in birds. Referring to figs. 66, 68, eth,
the student will see in the early embryo a high thin plate of cartilage, the mesethmoid cartilage,
which is developing lateral processes to form the convoluted walls of the nasal passages. By
the uprising and forth-growing of the prenasal cartilage, the mesethmoidal plate is tilted back-
ward, as it were, under the frontal. Next, by absorption of tissue just opposite the future
ceranio-facial suture, the plate is nicked apart, the portion in front of the nick elaborating
the nasal chambers, which usually remain cartilaginous, and the portion behind this nick
becoming the permanent plate, fig. 70, eth, pe, to which the name mesethmoid or mid-ethmoid
is more strictly applicable. Practically, a bird’s ethmoid is chiefly the inter-orbital septum, in
vertical mid-line between the orbits, with such flange-like processes or lateral plates as may be
developed to form an orbito-nasal septum separating the eye-socket from the nose-chamber.
In general, the permanent ethmoidal plate becomes nearly coincident with this orbital wall, and
pretty well cut off from the osseous or cartilaginous developments, when any, in the nasal eavi-
ties. It is then fairly under cover of the frontal, with which, as with the sphenoidal elements
posteriorly, it becomes completely. fused. "When this inter-orbital septum is fully developed, it
completely divides the right and left orbital cavities, and its lower horizontal border, fused
with the basisphenoidal rostrum, may like the latter be thickened by bearing its share of the
parasphenoidal splint. Oftener, however, this lower border slopes upward and forward, from the
sphenoidal base to the roof of the skull about the site of the cranio-facial suture; aud usually
the septum is incomplete, having a membranous fenestra somewhere near its middle (fig. 70,
tof). Along the upper border of the mesethmoid plate, or just in the crease between it and
the overarching frontal may usually be seen a long groove, which, beginning behind at the
olfactory foramen of the brain-box, conducts the thence-issuing olfactory nerve to the nasal
chambers. Sometimes there is another such groove, from a similar foramen near by in the
sphenoidal parts, which similarly traces the course of the ophthalmic (first) division of the tri-
facial nerve. Occasionally, as in the fowls, the two halves of the frontal bone separate a little
at the extreme forehead, allowing the mesethmoid plate there to come up flush with the outer
surface of the skull.
In some birds, as the low ostrich, for example, the original mesethmoidal cartilage-plate
does not nick apart into orbital and nasal moieties, but ossifies as a continuous sheet of bone,
dividing right and left halves of the skull far towards the point of the beak (see fig. 75, beyond
Rito Pmz). A nasal septum, separated from the orbital septum, may persist to ossify ; form-
ing, as in the raven, a vertical plate separate from all surroundings, and liable to be mistaken
for a free vomer (see fig. 79, where the reference line v goes to it, instead of to the truncate
vomer) ; or, as in many birds, a plate variously anchylosed with its surroundings. But these
formations, as well as the various turbinal (Lat. turbo, a whorl) scrolls and whorls formed in
this part of the skull, belong rather to the organ of smell than to the skull proper.
The Cranial Bones proper are all those thus far described, excepting the nasal ossifica-
tions just noted, which belong to the first pre-oral arch; and the stapedial parts of the ear,
which belong to the hyoidean apparatus (second post-oral arch). Intermediate in some
respects between the proper cranial bones and
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OSTEOLOGY. 161
The Facial Bones proper is the Vomer. — By “facial bones,” as distinguished from
‘cranial ” bones, is meant the entire bony scaffolding of the upper and lower jaws, and of the
tongue, —parts developed in the pre-oral or maxillary, and first, second, and third post-oral, or
mandibular, hyoidean proper, and branchial, arches.
The Vomer (Lat. vomer, a ploughshare ; figs. 62, 63, 75 to 80, v) is considered, by those
who hold the vertebral theory of the skull, to be the body of the foremost (fourth from behind
— the basioccipital, basisphenoid, and presphenoid being the other three) cranial vertebra. So
far from having any such morphological significance, it is one of the late secondary bones,
developed, if at all, apart from the general make-up of the skull, as a special superaddition
underlying the ethmoidal region, as the parasphenoid and basitemporal underlie the skull further
back. Its character is extremely variable in‘ the class of birds, though usually constant in the
several natural divisions of the class, — a fact which confers high zodlogical value upon this
anomalous bone. E sea ood a of RP ead ae Bag Paes Fo Ss PpoBeegega sg =
ace a SOE a a o 5's ois WEE Zo @ a 6 Ea see 8 3s &
—a23 2:30 & aseepowdo ae a HooYP BUSA Rog kE oW
€ . 2.2 50 | on 3 2 ie as 3
SHSSPEBSASHS4easPSSt rss sre iaeses Ass hSPeESVsds
cochlea; the several
mouths of the separate or uniting semicircular canals; opening into tympanum by fenestra ova-
In the
lis; conducting to meatus auditorius internus by the course of the auditory nerve.
eagle, if its irregularities of contour were smoothed out, it would about hold a pea.
Tn the language of human anatomy, the three semicircular canals are the (a) anterior or
superior vertical, the (b) posterior or inferior vertical, and the (¢) external or horizontal; and
the planes of their respective loops are approximately mutually perpendicular, in the three
190 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
planes of any cubical figure. In birds these terms do not apply so well to the situation of the
tanals with reference to the axes of the body, nor to the direction of the loops; neither is
mutual perpendicularity so nearly exhibited. The whole set is tilted over backward to some
degree, so that the (a) ‘‘anterior” (though still superior) loops back beyond either of the others;
the (0) ‘‘ posterior” loops behind and below the (c) horizontal, which tilts down backward ;
the verticality of the planes of (a) and (6) is better kept. The canals may be better known
as the (a) superior (vertical), and (6) inferior (vertical), and (¢) internal (horizontal). What-
ever its inclination backward, there is no mistaking (a), much the longest of the three, looping
high up over the rest, exceeding the petrosal and bedded in the occipital, the upper limb and
loop of the arch bas-relieved upon the inner surface of the skull (fig. 70, asc). It makes much
more than a semicircle —rather a horse-shoe. The inferior vertical (b) loops lowest of all,
though little if any.of it reaches further backward than the great loop of (a); it is the second in
size; in shape it is quite circular, —rather more than a half-cirele. Its upper limb joins the
lower limb of (a), as in man, and the two open by one orifice in the vestibule; but it is not
simple union, for the two limbs, before forming a common tube, twine half-round each other
(like two fingers of one hand crossed). The loop of (0) reaches very near the back of the skull
(outside). The canal (c) is the smallest, and, as it were, set within the loop of (6), though its
plane is nearly the opposite of the plane of (b); and the cavities of (6) and (c) intereommuni-
cate at or near the point of their greatest convexity, farthest from the vestibule. This decus-
sation of (b) and (c), like the twining inosculation of (a) and (0), is well known. It may not
be so generally understood that there is (in the eagle if not in birds generally) a third extra-
vestibular: communication of the canals. My sections show this perfectly. The great loop of
(a), sweeping past the decussating-place of (b) and (¢), is thrown into a cavity common to all
three. Bristles threaded either way through each of the three canals can all three be seen
in contact, crossiug each other through this curious extra-vestibular chamber, which may be
named the trivia, or “three-way” place. (The arrangement I make out does not agree well
with the figure of the owl’s labyrinth given by Owen, Anat. Vert., ii, 184. The trivia is at
the place where, in fig. 84 or 85, the three membramous canals cross one another. It does not
follow, however, that these contained membranous canals intercommunicate, and it appears
from Ibsen’s figures that they do not. Study of these admirable illustrations, with the
explanations given under them, should make the details perfectly clear to the reader.)
All that precedes relates to the bony labyrinth, —the scrolled cavity of the periotic bone.
The membranous labyrinth is a sac lying loosely in the hollow of the bone, and shaped just like
it, lining the hollow of the vestibule and tubes of the semicircular canals. Withdrawn intact,
it would be a perfect “‘ cast” of the labyrinth. Originally, this sac is also continuous with one
in the cavity of the cochlea, called the membranous cochlea, which afterward becomes shut off
from the main sac. This shut-off cochlear part lies between the scala tympani below and the
scala vestibuli above ; its interior is the scala media. If demonstrable in birds, it must be quite
as rudimentary as the other scale. The membraue is not attached to the bony walls of the
labyrinth, but is separated by a space containing fluid, the perilymph, which also occupies the
scala vestibuli and scala tympani. A similar fluid, the endolymph, is contained in the cavity of
the membranous labyrinth, and scala media of the cochlea; in it are found concretions, or oto-
hiths, of the same character as the great ‘‘ear-stones” so conspicuous in many fishes. This
lymph has a wonderful office —that of equilibration, enabling the animal to preserve its
equilibrium. The labyrinth and its contained fluid may be likened to the glass tubes filled
with water and a bubble of air, by a combination of which a surveyor, for example, is enabled
to adjust his theodolite true to the horizontal. Somehow a bird knows how the fluid stands in
the self-registering levelling-tubes, and adjusts itself accordingly. Observations made on
pigeons show that ‘‘ when the membranous canals are divided, very remarkable disturbances
of equilibrium ensue, which vary in character according to the seat of the lesion. When the
THE ANATOMY OF .BIRDS.— NEUROLOGY. 191
horizontal canals are divided rapid movements of the head from side to side, in a horizontal
plane, take place, along with oscillation of the eyeballs, and the animal tends to spin round on
a vertical axis. When the posterior or inferior vertical canals are divided, the head is moved
rapidly backwards and forwards, and the animal tends to execute a backward somersault, head
over heels. When the superior vertical canals are divided, the head is moved rapidly forwards
and backwards, and the animal tends to execute a forward somersault, heels over head. Com-
bined section of the various canals causes the most bizarre contortions of the head and body.”
(Ferrier, Funct. of the Brain, 1876, p. 57.) Injury of the canals does not cause loss of hearing,
nor does loss of equilibrium follow destruction of the cochlea. T'wo diverse though intimately
connected functions are thus presided over by the acoustic nerve, — audition and equilibration.
Senses of Taste and Touch: Gustation and Taction.— The hands of birds being
hidden in the feathers which envelop the whole body — their feet and lips, and usually much
if not all of the tongue, being sheathed in horn, these faculties would appear to be enjoyed in but
small degree. While it is difficult to judge how much appreciation of the sapid qualities of sub-
stances birds may be capable of, we must not be hasty in supposing their sense of taste to be
much abrogated. One who has had the toothache, or teeth ‘‘set on edge” by acids, or pain-
fully affected by hot or cold drinks, may judge how sensitive to impressions an extremely dense
tissue can be. Persons of defective hearing may be assisted to a kind of audition by an instru-
ment applied to the teeth; and it is not easy to define the ways in-which sensory functions may
be vicariously performed or replaced. Birds are circumspect and discriminative, even dainty, in
their choice of food, in which they are doubtless guided to some extent by the gustatory
sensations they experience. As, however, only some human beings make these an end instead
of a natural and proper means to an end, the selection of food by birds may be chiefly upon
intuitions of what is wholesome. Such purely gustatory sense as they possess is presided over
by the branches of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve which go to the back part of the tongue and
mouth. Though the chorda tympani nerve exists, there is no lingual (gustatory) branch of the
third division of the fifth cranial nerve. Yet the latter, which goes in mammals to the anterior
part of the tongue, is less effectually gustatory than the glosso-pharyngeal ; as we know by the
fact that the sensation of taste is not completely experienced until the sapid substance passes to
the back of the mouth. Gustation is likewise connected with olfaction; the full effect of
nauseous substances for example, being not realizeu if the nose is held. From these alternative
considerations, each one may estimate for himself how much birds know of sapidity ; remember-
ing also, how soft, thick, and fleshy are the tongue and associate parts in some birds, as parrots
and ducks, in comparison with birds whose mouths are quite horny.
The beak is doubtless the principal tactile instrument; nor does its hardness in most birds
preclude great sensitiveness ; as witness the case of the teeth, above instanced. Sensation is
here governed by the branches of the fifth nerve. In some birds, in which also the terminal
filaments of this nerve are largest and most numerous, the bill acquires exquisite sensibility.
Such is its state in the snipe family, in most members of which, as the woodcock, true snipe, and
sandpipers, the hill is a very delicate nervous probe. The Apteryx also feels in the mud for
its food, enjoying moreover the unusual privilege of having its nose at the end of its long
exploration. Ducks dabble in the water to sift out proper food between the “ strainers” with
which the sides of their beaks are provided; and the ends of the maxillary and mandibular bones
themselves are full of holes, indicating the abundance of the nervous supply (fig. 638).
The senses of birds and other animals are commonly reckoned as five —a number which
may be defensively increased — as by a sixth, the muscular sense, which gives consciousness
of strain or resistance, apart from purely tactile impressions; and perhaps a seventh, the
faculty of equilibration, which has a physical mechanism of its own, at least as distinct and
complete as that of hearing. The ordinary ‘‘ five senses” are curiously graded. Taction con-
192 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
notes qualities of matter in bulk, as density, roughness, temperature, etc. Gustation, matter
dissolved in water — fluidic. Olfaction, matter diffused in air — aeriformed. Audition, atmos-
pheric air in undulation. Véston, an ethereal substance in undulation. All animals are proba~
bly also susceptible of biogenation, which is the affection resulting from the influence of biogen ;
a substance consisting of self-conscious force in combination with the minimum of matter
required for its manifestation.?
c. MyoLoay: THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM.
Muscular Tissue consists of more or fewer amebiform animals; separate colonies of which
creatures, isolated in various parts of the body, compose the individual different muscles. They
are enveloped in fibrous tissue, the sheets of which are called fascie, and the ends of which,
usually attached to bones by direct continuity with the periosteal covering of the latter, form
tendons and ligaments. The muscle-animals belong to a genus which may be termed
Myameba, differing from other genera of the amcebiforms which compose the body of a bird
less in their physical character of being elongated and spindle-shaped, or even filiform, than in
their physiclogical character of contractility. Under appropriate stimulus, as the passage of a
current of electricity, or the wave of biogen-substance which constitutes a ‘nerve-impulse,”
Myamebe shorten and thicken, tending towards a state of tonic contraction which, if completed
and long sustained, would cause them to become encysted as spherical bodies; but extreme con-
traction is never long continied. By alternate contraction and relaxation all the motions of the
body in bulk are effected. The capacity of, or tendency to, contraction is called the tonicity of
muscular fibre. The simultaneous contraction of any colony of Myamebe pulls upon the attach-
ment of the muscle at each of its ends ; in some cases approximating both ends; oftener moving
the part to which one end is attached, the other being fixed. The action of a muscle is upon
the simplest mechanical principles, — nothing more or less than pulling upon a part, as by a
rope, the line of traction being exactly in the line of contraction of the muscle; though it is
often ingeniously changed by the passage of tendons around a corner of bone, or through a loop of
fibrous tissue, as if through a pulley. Such movements as those of a turtle protruding its head,
or a bird thrusting its beak forward, where muscle seems to push, are fallacious; when analyzed,
the motion is invariably resolved into simple pulling. The swelling up of a muscle in contract-
ing must indeed impinge upon neighboring parts and shove them aside; but that is an extrinsic
result. Muscles contract most powerfully under resistance to their turgescence : what is effected
by the fascize which bind them down ; — what the athlete seeks to increase by bandaging his
swelling biceps. There are two species of Myameba. M. striata is the ordinary striped fibre
of voluntary motion, and also of some motion not under control of the will, as that of the heart.
This species is usually of a rich red color (pale pink in many birds of the grouse family), and is
the ordinary “‘ flesh” of the body. The other species, M. levis, composes the pale or colorless
smooth fibre of the involuntary muscles, as those of the intestines, the gullet, ete. A species of
contractile tissue commonly referred to the genus Desmameba (indifferent connective-tissue
cells) is very near Myameba levis ; example, maminalian dartos. The movements of erectile
organs, as the neat combs over the eyes of grouse, or the turkey’s caruncles, are not in any sense
myamebic, but depend mechanically upon influx of blood.
The Muscular System of Aves can only be touched upon; it is impossible in my limits
to even name all the muscles, much jess describe them. I can only note the leading peculiarities,
and present a figure in which the principal muscles are named.
1 The reader who may be interested to inquire further in this direction is referred to a publication entitled : —
Biogen: A Speculation on the Origin and Nature of Life. Abridged from a paper on the “ Possibilities of Proto-
plasm,” read before the Philosophical Society of Washington, May 6, 1882. By Dr. Elliott Coues, etc. Washing-
ton, Judd & Detweiler. 8vo, pp. 27. Second ed., Boston, Estes & Lauriat, 1884,
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — MYOLOGY. 193
The subcutaneous sheet of muscle (of which the human ‘ muscles of expression” and
platysma myoides are segregations) is broken up in birds into a countless number of little slips
which agitate the feathers collectively, and especially the great quills of the wings and tail.
There are estimated to be 12,000 in a goose. The prime peculiarity of birds’ musculation is the
enormous development of the pectorales, or breast muscles, which operate the wings. The
great pectoral, p. major or p. primus, arises from the sternal keel, when that special bony sep-
tum between the fellow-pectorals exists, and from more or less of the body of the sternum, pass-
ing directly to the great pectoral or outer ridge of the humerus, near the upper end of that bone.
Its origin may even exceed the limits of the sternum, invading the clavicle, etc. ; it may unite
with its fellow. It is the depressor of the humerus, giving the downward stroke of the wing.
The next pectoral, p. secundus or p. medius, arises froin much or most of the sternum not oecu-
pied by the first, under cover of which it lies; it passes also the humerus, but by an interesting
way it has of running through a pulley at the shoulder it elevates that bone, giving the upward
wing-stroke. A third pectoral, p. tertius or p. minimus, arising from sternum, and often con-
tiguous parts of the coracoid bone, passes directly to the humerus, supplementing the action of
the first. A fourth muscle in many birds acts upon the humerus from the sternum or coracoid,
particularly the latter. These four differ greatly in their relative development. Such extent of
the sternum and pectoral muscles correspondingly reduces that of the belly-walls, and the
abdominal muscles are consequently scanty. Fixity of the spinal column in the dorsal region
diminishes the musculation of that part, the spinal muscles being much better developed in
the cervical region; where, in cases of some of the long-necked birds, there are curious con-
trivances for the mechanical advantage of the musele in flexing and extending this mobile part
of the body. Muscles of the hyoidean apparatus acquire a sgular development in woodpeckers.
The lower jaw is depressed particularly by muscle inserted into the end of the mandible; the
upper is elevated by particular muscles operating the pterygoid and quadrate bones. Temporal,
masseteric, and ordinary pterygoid muscles close the jaws. They are unsymmetrical in Lowia.
The diaphragm, the musculo-membranous partition which in mammals divides the thoracic
from the abdominal cavity, is only represented in birds in a rudimentary condition. Macegillivray
has figured that of the rook as consisting of three fleshy slips, v, v, v, passing from as many
ribs, 4, 5, 6, to the pleural sac of the lungs, ¢, ¢, in fig. 101, p. 206. It is best developed in the
Apteryx.
The remarkable specialization of both limbs, — the former for flight, the latter for the
perfectly bipedal locomotion which only birds besides man enjoy, — results in corresponding
peculiarities of the muscular mechanism. Muscles beyond the shoulder are greatly reduced in
number and complexity from an ordinary quadrupedal standard; those of the legs are rather
increased, and their configuration, relative size, and to some extent their relations are so much
changed, that great difficulty is experienced in identifying them with the corresponding muscles of
quadrupeds. The result is, great confusion in their nomenclature, which is still shifting, though
much has been done of late to give it precision. Attention has recently been called by Garrod
to the classificatory value of certain muscles of the limbs. The tensor patagti, that musele or
muscles which may have elastic tendons, and by which the folds of skin in the angles of the
wing bones are regulated, may have different characters in different groups of birds. It has
long been known that particular muscles of the hind limb are in direct and important relation
to the prehensile power of the toes, and consequently co-ordinated with the insessorial or the
reverse character of the foot. In the highest birds, Passeres, the foot grasps with great
facility, owing to the distinctness or individuality uf the flexor longus haillucis, or bender of the
hind toe. The ambiens (Lat. ambiens, going around) is a muscle of which Garrod has even
inade so much as to divide all birds into two primary groups according to whether they possess
it or not. The ambiens arises from the pelvis about the acetabulum, and passes along the inner
side of the thigh ; its tendon runs over the convexity of the knee to the outer side, and ends by
13
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
194
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THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— ANGEIOLOGY. 195
connecting with the flexor digitorum perforatus, — one of the muscles which bend the toes col-
lectively. When this arrangement obtains, the result is that when a bird goes to roost, and
squats on its perch, the toes automatically clasp the perch by the strain upon the ambiens that
ensues as soon as the leg is bent upon the thigh, and the tarsus upon the leg, the weight of the
bird thus holding it fast upon its perch. The effect is as if an elastic cord were tied to the hip
joint, thence directed over the front of the knee and back of the heel and so on to the ends of the
toes. Obviously, such a cord would be strained when the limb is bent, relaxed when the limb is
straightened out. The reader may observe a corresponding effect of the muscular arrangement
of his forearm by throwing the hand as far back as possible; the fingers tend to close by the
strain on the flexors in passing over what is a convexity of the wrist when the hand is in that
position. Passeres have no ambiens, the perfection of their feet in other respects answering all
purposes. Birds having it are termed homalogonatous or ‘‘ normally-kneed” (Gr. éuadés, homalos,
from 6pés, homos, like, even, etc.; ydvu, yovaros, gonu, gonatos, knee); those wanting it are called
anomalogonatous, ‘‘ abnormally-kneed.” The distinction prevails with much applicability to
various large groups of birds, and does good duty in diagnosis when duly connected with other
characters ; but surely should not give name to primary groups founded upon it! Other
muscles of the leg much used by the same sagacious and zealous anatomist are the femoro-
caudal, accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory semitendinosus. The whole five
of these muscles ‘‘ vary ; any one or more than one may be absent in different birds; ... the con-
stancy of the peculiarities in the different individuals of each species, or the species of each
genus, aud very generally in the genera of each family, makes it evident to any one working at
the subject that much respecting the affinities of the different families of birds is to be learnt
from the study of their myology, in connection with the peculiarities of their other soft parts ;
and that these features will, in the long run, lead to a more correct classification than one based
on the skeleton alone, becomes almost equally certain.” (Garrod, P. Z. S., 1873, p. 630.) I
quote in justice of this author, a modern Macgillivray in sincerity and love of truth; and very
generally, in constructing my characters of the higher groups of birds in the body of this work,
I shall be as glad to use the myological formule of Garrod, as I am here to pay this slight
tribute to his memory.
d. ANGEIOLOGY: THE VASCULAR OR CIRCULATORY SYSTEMS. ‘
Blood and Lymph gre the two media by the circulation of which throughout the body
the various amoeboid anipials which compose the tissues are fed, their waste repaired, and their
dead parts removed. Each species of Ameba has the faculty of selecting from the constituents
of blood and lymph its appropriate food; and of converting such nourishment into its own
proper substance. Refuse matters are either drained off by the kidneys and voided as excrement,
or swept by the current of blood into the lungs and there cremated. The stream of lymph is a
feeder to the blood, and when the mingled currents are no longer distinguishable has become
blood. The machinery of cireulation is two sets of vessels — the hematic, or vascular system
proper, consisting of the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries for the blood-circulation ; and the
lymphatic, consisting of lymph-hearts and vessels, for the flow of lymph. The fymphetics,
converging from all parts of the body, and especially from the intestines, end in vessels which
pour the lymph into the veins of the neck. The heart is the central organ of the blood-circu-
lation, by which that fluid is pumped into all parts of the body through the arteries or efferent
vessels ; straining through the network of capillaries, it returns to the heart through the vems,
or afferent vessels. The set of efferent vessels is the arterial system ; that of afferent vessels is.
the venous system. The blood in arteries excepting the pulmonary is bright red; that in
veins excepting the pulmonary is dark red. The change from bright to dark occurs in the
capillaries of the system at lasge ; the change from dark to bright only in the capillaries of the
lungs and air-sacs. The systemic blood circulation is completely separated from the pulmonic
196 GENERAL. ORNITHOLOGY.
i
in all animals in which, as in birds, the right and left sides of the heart are separated from each
other; such circulation is said to be double ; that is, arterial and venous blood only mingle in
the capillaries, whether of the lungs or others, and therefore at the periphery of the vascular
system: the heart being the centre of that system. Blood, in all or some of its constituents,
permeates absolutely every tissue of the body. Those tissues whose capillaries are large enough
for the passage of all the constituents of blood are said to be vascular; those which only feed by
sucking up certain constituents of the blood, and have no demonstrable capillaries, are called
non-vascular. But nutrient fluid penetrates the densest tissue, as the dentine of teeth; no
permanent tissues are really non-vascular, or they would soon die; as do feathers, which require
to be renewed once a year or oftener.
Lymph and the lymphatics are noticed further on. Blood consists of water in which
several ingredients are dissolved, aud certain solid bodies are suspended. Its water is salted,
albuminated, fibrinated, and corpuseulated. The proportions, which vary in different birds and
at different times in the same bird, are in round numbers: water 80, fibrine and corpuscles 15,
albumen and salts 5=100 parts. Withdrawn from the body and allowed to settle, blood sepa-
rates into two parts, serum and coagulum. The serum is the clear yellowish salty albuminous
water; the clot is the fibrine, in the meshes of which are mired the corpuscles, reddening the
whole mass. The plasma, plasm or plastic material of the blood, is its substance dissolved
in water; that is to say, minus the solid corpuscles. These latter interesting little bodies are a
myriad of minute animals, which swim in the life-current, and are named Hematameba
eruentata. They have been supposed to be of two species; but the so-called white blood
corpuscles, or leucocytes, indistinguishable from lymph corpuscles, are simply the forma-
tive stages of the red blood-dises. In its early colorless stage, the Haematameba is a
nucleated mass of protoplasm (protoplasm is the indifferent substance out of which all animal
tissue is derived), of no determinate size or shape, exhibiting active ameboid movements.
Later in the life of the minute creature, it passes into a sort of encysted state, in which it red-
dens and acquires definite dimensions and configuration. In birds, these ‘ blood-dises” are
flat, elliptical, and nucleated, that is, containing a kernel; they average in the long diameter
z7sa in the short sy45, of an inch. Thus they differ decidedly from the flat, circular, non-
nucleated, red blood-dises of Mammalia, which latter are supposed to be rather free nuclei than
perfected Hematamebe. The red color of blood is entirely due to the presence of these
unicellular animals. The energy of respiration, and corresponding activity of circulation in
birds, make them hematothermal, or hot-blooded; the pulse is quickest, the blood hottest,
and richest in organic matter, in these of all animals.
The Heart is a hollow muscular organ, at the physiological centre of the hematic vas-
eular system. Its muscle presents the principal exception to the rule, that the contractility of
Myameba striata (see p. 192) is subject to voluntary control. It is the most industrious organ
of the body, never ceasing its rhythmic systole and diastole, or contraction and dilatation, from
the moment of the first pulsation in the contractile vesicle which begins it, to that when the
‘muffled drum” gives the last beat of the ‘funeral march to the grave.” The arteries are
the elastic thick-walled branching tubes which leave the heart on their way to the body at
large; their pulsations, over which the vaso-motor nervous system presides, are isochronous
with the heart-beats, and arterial blood thus flows in jets. The veins are the vessels converg-
ing from all parts; thin-walled, less elastic, with more equable current. The capillaries are
the communicating vessels, of such size as just to permit the Hematamebas to pass through ;
their network represents the terminations of arteries and the commencements of veins. The
heart in adult birds is completely double ; 1. ¢., the right and left sides are perfectly separated.
Tt is also completely four-chambered ; 7. e., there is an auricle and a ventricle on each side,
which eummunicate; in embryonic life the two auricles communicate by the foramen ovale,
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.—ANGEIOLOGY. 197
which then closes. Arteries proceed from the strong muscular ventricles ; veins are received by
the weaker auricles. The course of the blood is: From the body excepting the lungs it comes,
dark and heavy with products of decomposition, through the caval veins into the right auricle ;
from right auricle through the auriculo-ventricular opening into right ventricle ; from right ven-
tricle through the pulmonary arteries to the lungs; in the capillaries of which it is relieved of
its burden. There decarbonized and oxygenized, the bright red aerated blood returns through
the pulmonary veins to the left auricle ; through the corresponding auriculo-ventricular open-
ing to the left ventricle, which pumps it out through the aorta and other arteries to the
capillaries, and so to the veins and heart again. Thus the pulmonary arteries convey black
blood, the pulmonary veins red blood ; the reverse of the usual course. Before lungs come into
play, in the egg, the blood is purified in the allantois, an embryonic organ which then sustains
a respiratory function. Besides the pulmonary there is another special circulatory arrange-
ment, the hepatic portal system of veins, by which blood coming from the chylopoetic viscera
(stomach, intestines, ete., which make chyle in the process of digestion), strains through the
liver before reaching the heart. There is no renal portal system in birds.
The heart of birds is not peculiar in its conical shape, but is more median in position than
inmammals. There being no completed diaphragm, the pericardial sac which holds it is received
in a recess between lobes of the liver. The right ventricle is much thinner-walled than the
left; the auricles have less of the elongation which has caused their name (‘little ears” of the
heart) in mammals. The right auriculo-ventricular valve, which prevents regurgitation of
blood, instead of being thin and membranous, is a thick fleshy flap which during the ventricular
systole applies itself closely to the walls of the cavity. The pulmonary artery and the aorta are
each provided at their origination with the ordinary three crescentic or ‘‘ semilunar” valves, as
in mammals. The pulmonary artery arises single, forking for each lung. The pulmonary
veins are two. The systemic veins, or vene cave, bringing blood from the body at large, are
three — two pre-caval, from head and upper extremities, one post-caval, from trunk and lower
extremities. The aorta, almost immediately at the root of that great trunk, figs. 90-95, h,
divides into three primary branches; right, r¢, and left, k, innominate arteries, conveying
blood to the neck, head and upper extremities; and main aortic, a, which curves over to the
right (left in mammals) and supplies the rest of the body. More precise statement is, perhaps,
that the aortic root, h, first gives off/the left innominate, #, then at once divides into right
innominate, ri, and main aortic trunk, a, (right). It represents the fourth primitive aortic
arch of the embryo. On the whole, the avian heart is a great improvement on that of most
reptiles, though nearly resembling that of Crocodilia ; it is substantially as in any mammal,
though differing in its fleshy right auriculo-ventricular valve, two instead of one pre-caval vein,
tight instead of left aortic arch, and mode of origin of the primary aortic branches.
The zodlogical interest of the avian blood-vessels centres in the carotid arteries, which,
with the vertebral arteries, supply the neck and head. The carotids may be single or double;
and other details of their disposition correspond well with certain families and orders of birds.
They are the first branches of the innominates. In most birds, there is but one carotid, the
left; in a few, one, formed by early union of two; in many, two, long distinct. The arrange-
ment will be perceived by the diagrams taken from Garrod’s adinirable paper (P. Z. S., 1873,
p. 457). In nearly the words of this author: 1. In what may be termed the typical arrange-
ment (though it is not the usual one), two carotids, of equal size or nearly so, run up the front
of the neck, converging till they meet in the middle line, and so continue up to the head, on the
front of the bodies of the cervical vertebre, in the hypapophysial canal. Birds with this
arrangement Garrod calls aves bicarotidine normales (fig. 90). 2. In most birds, the carotid
branch of the right innominate being not developed, only the left, of larger size, traverses the
hypapophysial canal; but it bifurcates before reaching the head, thus producing two carotids,
distributed as if there had been two all the way up. Such birds are said to have a left carotid,
198 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
and are termed aves levo-carotidine (fig. 91). 3. In certain parrots only, with two carotids,
the right is as in (1), but the left runs superficially along the neck with the jugular vein and
pneumogastric nerve; such birds are aves bicarotidine abnormales (fig. 92). 4. Two carotids,
arising normally, unite almost immediately, and the single trunk runs to near the head, just as
if there were two as in (1); then it bifurcates, as in birds with left carotid only (2). Such birds
are termed aves conjuncto-carotiding. Special cases of (4) are: in the bittern, the two roots
are of nearly equal size (fig. 93); in the flamingo, the left is very small (fig. 94); in a cockatoo,
the right is very small (fig. 95). Parrots display all four of the arrangements; the cases of the
bittern and flamingo are unique. The question is thus for nearly all birds narrowed to whether -
there be two normal carotids (1), or the left only (2). Observations upon three hundred genera
show two in one hundred and ninety-three, in one hundred and seven the left only; but the
* y
Fie. 93. Fie. 94. Fie, 95.
Fies. 90-95. — Diagrams of carotid arteries of birds: h, root of aorta; a, arch of aorta, to the right side ; li, left
innominate; 7i, right innominate ; Js, left subclavian ; rs, right subclavian; Ic, left carotid; rc, right carotid. (1)
Fig. 90. Aves bicarotidine normales, with two carotids, both alike. (2) Fig. 91. Aves levo-carotidine, with left
carotid only. (8) Fig. 92. Aves bicarotidine abnormales, certain parrots, with two carotids, not alike. (4, 5, 6)
Aves conjuncto-carotidine, with two carotids, which speedily unite in one. (4) Fig. 93, bittern, both alike. (5)
Fig. 94, flamingo, left very small, (6) Fig. 95, cockatoo, right very smajl. (Copied by Shufeldt from Garrod.)
numerical proportion of Passerine genera makes (2) the most frequent arrangement. There is
but one carotid in all Passeres as far as known; in most Cypselide ; in Trogonide, Meropide,
Upupide, Rhamphastide, some Psittaci, the Turnicide, Megapodide, Podicipedide, Alcida,
Rheide, Apterygide. Thus in Passeres, Columbe, Accipitres, Gralle, and Anseres, the
carotid arrangement is an ordimal character, all but the first named of these great groups
having two. The character separates most of the families of ‘‘ Picarian” birds, and also dis-
tinguishes the families Phenicopteride, Megapodide, Cracide, Turnicide, Podicipedide, and
family groups of the Ratite, from among one another. It is apparently only a generic charac-
ter in Psittact, and in Cypselide, Ardeide and Alcide.
Reaching the skull, the carotids burrow in the bone, between the basitemporal plate and
the true floor of the skull, and enter the cranial cavity by the ‘sella turcica” (the original
pituitary space) ; their anastomosis furnishes a sort of ‘ circle of Willis.” (Figs. 66, 69, 70, ic.)
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.—PNEUMATOLOGY. 199
Both limbs of birds have a prime peculiarity of their arteries as compared with mammals.
In the fore limb, the blood supply being chiefly absorbed by the immense pectoral muscles,
vessels which in mammals are small axillary branches appear like the main continuation of the
subclavian trunk, and the brachial arteries are correspondingly reduced. In the leg, the main
source of supply is the great ischiac artery, the femoral being small. This ischiac artery cor-
responds to the twig which in man accompanies the great sciatic nerve (comes nervi ischiatict) ;
and the rare human anomaly of a posterior main vessel of the thigh is therefore a reversion
(atavism) to the avian rule. There is no single proper renal artery to-the kidney.
The Lymphatics of birds consist chiefly of-a deep set accompanying the main blood-
vessels, forming various plexus, —nodes, ‘‘glands,” or ‘lymph-hearts” in their course. Su-
perficial lymphatics, so prominent in mammals, are little developed, though lymphatic glands
are found in the arm-pit and groin of some birds. These are the systemic vessels; a special
set, the lacteals, arise by numberless twigs in the course of the small intestine, uniting and re-
uniting to form at length two (not one as in mammals) main tubes, which lie along either side
of the spinal column. These are the thoracic ducts; which terminal trunks of the whole lym-
phatic system empty into the right and left jugular veins at the root of the neck. The contents
of the vessels differ correspondingly. Pure lymph is a pale, limpid, albuminous fluid, contain-
ing when maturely elaborated a number of irregular amoeboid bodies, indistinguishable from
the white formative corpuscles of the blood (p. 196). It is strained out of the tissues at large,
being that material, not yet effete, which is still fit for feeding the blood. The lacteals contain
chyle, —the other kind of lymph, drained off by the mucous membrane of the intestine from the
prepared food in that tube; an albuminous fluid, milky or cloudy from the abundance of oil-
globules, which, after mingling with the systemic lymph, is poured directly into the current of
the blood, in the manner above said. Since the lacteals do not appear to begin with open
mouths, the chyle must soak into them through the lining membrane of the intestines; and
as this consists of a layer of ameeba-like animals, through whose bodies the chyle passes, it is
quite true to say that the whole organism is nourished upon the excrement of amebas.
t
é. PNEUMATOLOGY: THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
The Organs of Respiration provide for the ventilation of the body. Since the respira-
tory process is also calorific, they likewise furnish a heating apparatus. They consist essen-
tially of air-passages and air-spaces connected with lung-tissue, being therefore pulmonary
organs. No other animals are so thoroughly permeated as birds with the atmospheric medium
in which they live; in no others are the respiratory functions so energetic and effectual. The
lung may be likened to a blast-furnace for the combustion of decayed animal matter; purifica-
tion of the blood and warming of the body being two inseparable results obtained. Dark
blood flowing to the lungs, heavy with effete carbonaceous matters, is there relieved of its bur-
den and aérated by the action of oxygen; the products of combustion being exhaled in the
form of carbonic dioxide and water. Aside from the proper lung-tissue, the capillary substance
of the immense air-sacs tends to the same result. There is likewise, in birds, a lesser system
of ventilation, by which air is admitted to cranial bones through the eustachian tubes; but
this is unconnected with the proper respiratory office. Pulmonary tissue consists chiefly of a
wonderful net (a rete mirabile) of capillaries, interlacing in every direction, bound together and
supported by fine connective tissue, and invested with membrane so delicate that their walls
seem naked, their exposure to the air being thus very thorough. Air gains such intimacy
with the capillaries through the larynx, trachea (fig. 101, 0), and bronchial tubes (r, 1), these
being the primary air-passages. But all thé bronchial tubes do not subdivide into the ultimate
air-cells; some large ones run through the lung, pierce its surface (as at , w, fig. 101), and end
200 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
in that system of enormous air-spaces for which the respiratory system of birds is so remarkably
distinguished, —like a heap of soap-bubbles, blown up en masse from a bowl of fluid; the extra-
pulmonary air-spaces being the larger superficial bubbles, the minute vesicles of lung-tissue
proper being little bubbles just formed. In this way air penetrates even the hollow skeleton of
most birds (p. 135).
The Lungs of Birds (fig. 10], ¢, t), notwithstanding their heated energy of respiration,
are anatomically more like those of reptiles than of mammals. They are not shut by a dia-
phragm in a special division of the great thoracic-abdominal cavity of the body, but extend from
the apex of the chest as far as the kidneys, in the pelvic region. They are not divided into lobes,
as in mammals, nor do they as in that class float freely in the chest by their mooring at their
roots; nor, again, are they completely invested by a serous membrane forming a closed pleural .
cavity. They are fixed in the dorsal region of the general cavity, covered in front with pleura,
with which slips of the rudimentary diaphragm (v, v, v) are connected; but on the dorsal surface
are accurately moulded to the intercostal spaces, showing the impressions of the ribs and verte-
bree, —just as the lobulated kidneys are stamped with the sacral inequalities of surface. They
are, as usual, two, right and left; their ‘‘ roots” are the bronchi (1, 1°), the pulmonary arteries
and veins, nerves, and connective tissue.
The Pneumatocysts. — A bird is literally inflated with these great membranous recepta-
cles of air, and draws a remarkably ‘long breath,” —all through the trunk of the body, in
several pretty definite compartments; in many, or most, or all, of the bones; in many inter-
muscular spaces; in some birds also throughout the cellular tissue immediately beneath the
skin. They vary so much in extent and disposition as tu be not easily described except either
in the most general terms already used, or with particularity of detail for different species. Ac-
cording to Owen, however, the usual disposition is: An imter-clavicular air-space, quite con-
stant: this, with its cervical prolongations, furnishes the great ‘‘ air-drums” of our pinnated
grouse and cock-of-the-plains. Anterior thoracic, about the roots of the lungs. Lateral tho-
racic, prolonged to axillary, and to spaces and pagsages in the wings, including the hollow
humerus. Large hepatic or posterior thoracic, about the lower part uf the lung and the liver.
Abdominal, right and left, of great size, from the lower part of the lung where the longest bron-
chial tubes open very freely; extending to pelvic and inguinal compartments, whence femoral
sacs, the hollow of the femur, ete. The subcutaneous cells are enormously developed in the
pelican and gannet; the extensive areolar tissue being thoroughly pneumatic, and furnished
with an arrangement of the cutaneous muscle (panniculus carnosus) whereby, apparently, the
air may be rapidly and forcibly expelled by compression. A similar muscle develops in some
birds in connection with the interclavicular air-space. (For pneumaticity of the skeleton, see
p- 135.)
The purpose of this extensive respiratory apparatus is thus dwelt upon by the great ‘‘New-
ton of Anatomy” just cited: ‘‘The extension from the lungs of ‘continuous air-receptacles
throughout the body is subservient to the function of respiration, not only by a change in ‘the
blood of the pulmonary circulation effected by the air of the receptacles on its repassage through
the bronchial tubes; but also, and more especially, by the change which the blood undergoes
in the capillaries of the systemic circulation which are in contact with the air-receptacles.
The free outlet to the air by the bronchial tubes does not, therefore, afford an argument against
the use of the air-cells as subsidiary respiratory organs, but rather supports that opinion, since
the inlet of atmospheric oxygenated air to be diffused over the body must be equally free. A
second use may be ascribed to the air-cells as aiding mechanically the action of respiration in
birds. During the act of inspiration the sternum is depressed [lowered from the back-bone in
horizontal position of a bird], the angle between the vertebral and sternal ribs made less acute,
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— PNEUMATOLOGY. 201
and the thoracic cavity proportionally enlarged; the air then rushes into the lungs and tho-
racie receptacles, while those of the abdomen become flaccid; when the sternum is raised or
approximated towards the spine, part of the air is expelled from the lungs and thoracic cells
through the trachea, and part driven into the abdominal receptacles, which are thus alternately
enlarged and diminished with those of the thorax. “Hence the lungs, notwithstanding their
fixed condition, are subject to due compression through the medium of the contiguous air-
receptacles, and are affected equally and regularly by every motion of the sternum and ribs.
A third use, and perhaps the one which is most closely related to the peculiar exigencies of the
bird, is that of rendering the whole body specifically lighter; this must necessarily follow from
the desiccation of the marrow and other fluids in those spaces which are occupied by the air-
cells, and by the rarification of the contained air from the heat of the body. ... A fourth use
of the air-receptacles relates to the mechanical assistance which they afford to the muscles of
the wings. This was suggested by observing that an inflation of the air-cells in the gigantic
crane (Ciconia argala) was followed by an extension of the wings, as the air found its way
along the brachial and anti-brachial cells. In large birds, therefore, which, like the argala [or
our wood ibis, Tantalus loculator], hover with a sailing motion for a long-continued period in
the upper regions of the air, the muscular exertion of keeping the wings outstretched will be
lessened by the tendency of the distended air-cells to maintain that condition. It is not meant
to advance this as other than a secondary and probably partial service of the air-cells. In the
same light may be regarded the use assigned to them by Hunter, of contributing to sustain the
song of birds and to impart to it tone and strength. It is no argument against this function
that the air-cells exist in birds which are not provided with the mechanism necessary to pro-
duce tuneful notes; since it was not pretended that this was the exclusive and only office of the
air-cells.” (Owen, Anat. Vert., ii, 1866, p. 216.)
Though nothing like them exists in mammals, it must not be inferred that these air-
pouches are unique in birds. The general pulmonary mechanism is reptile-like, and the or-
nithic development is simply a logical extreme of arrangements found in reptiles and lower
vertebrates, — even to the swim-bladder of a fish, which is morphologically and homologically
pulmonary, though fishes’ gills are functionally, and therefore analogically, their lungs; i. e.,
their respiratory apparatus.
The Trachea (Gv. rpaxeia, tracheia, rough) or “‘ asper-artery”
answers perfectly to its English name, wind-pipe. It is the tube
which conveys air to and from the lungs (fig. 101, 1, 0 tog). It
commences at the root of the tongue by a chink in the floor of the
mouth (fig. 101, 3, ¢), runs down the neck in front between the
gullet and the skin, and ends below by forking into right and left
bronchus (fig. 101, 1,7, 17). It is composed of a series of very
numerous gristly or bony rings connected together by elastic
membrane. Lengthening and shortening, effected by muscles
to be presently noted, is permitted by a very ingenious and in-
teresting construction of these rings, which will be clearly under-
stood with the help of the figures (96, a, b, 97 1,2) borrowed from
Macgillivray’s admirable account. When contracted, the rings :
look like an alternating series of lateral half-hoops, as in fig. ee ee ee
96, a; when stretched to the utmost, as in fig. 96, 6 they are chea, contracted to the utmost,
clearly seen to be annular, or completely circular. The curious bs catacte ailaing en ae
bevelling of the right and left sides of each ring alternately is stretched to two inches, the rings
shown in, fig. 97, 1,2; and fig. 97, 1, 2, represents the same two evidently complete, with inter-
aan t : b vening membrane. (After Mac-
rings put together.: The principle by which any two rings slip _ gillivray.)
202 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
partly over each other on alternate sides is something like that upon which a cooper fastens
the ends of any one barrel-hoop without any nailing or tying. The rings are in some birds
perfectly cartilaginous: in most they become
osseous. The trachea is moved by lateral
muscles, which not only shorten the tube by
approximating the rings, but also drag the
whole structure backward, by their atcach-
ment to the clavicle and sternum. The strip,
Fig. 97.—1, 2, left hand, two tracheal rings, sepa- OF two strips, of muscle lying upon each side
ees in fig. nel me 1, 2, ee ee same put of the trachea, is the contractor trachee (fig.
ss halal male .. 101, 1, ss, ss); the most anterior, when there
are two, as soon as it leaves the tube to go to the clavicle, becomes the cleido-trachealis, or
cleido-hyotd, fig. 101, 1, f, f; the other is similarly the sterno-trachealis. The latter may be a
direct continuation of the contractor, as in fig. 101, 1, the loose strips under g, or apparently
arise separately from the side of the lower end of the tube, as in fig. 101,16, e. (Other muscles
are to be described with the larynx superior and inferior.) The trachea is long in birds, pro-
portionate to the extension of the neck; it is very flexuous, following with ease the bends of
the neck in which it lies so loosely. Its cross section is oval or circular; but all that relates
to the configuration and course of the pipe requires special description, —so variable is the
organ in different birds. It is subject to dilatations and contractions in any part of its extent,
and to deviations from its usual direct course to the lungs. Minor modifications must be
passed over. The most remarkable expansions of the lower part of the tube occur in many
sea-ducks and mergansers (Fuliguline and Merging), and some other birds; several lower rings
of the trachea being enormously enlarged and welded together into a great bony and mem-
branous box, of wholly irregular, unsymmetrical contour. Such a structure, represented in
figs. 3 and 98, is termed a tracheal tympanum, or laby-
rinth. Tt is not a part of the voice-organ proper, but
may act as a reverberatory chamber to increase the vol-
ume of the sound, without however modulating it. Being
chiefly developed in the male, it is a kind of secondary
sexual organ. The vagaries of the wind-pipe are still
more remarkable. Very generally, in cranes and swans,
the trachea enters the keel of the sternum, which is exca-
vated to receive it, and where it forms one or more coils
before emerging to pass to the lungs. This curious wind-
ing is carried to an extreme in our Grus americana, the
whooping crane, in which the wind-pipe is about as long
as the whole bird, and about half of it — over two feet of
it!—is coiled away in the breast-bone (fig. 99). The
same thing occurs in G. canadensis to a less extent (fig.
acme cect Mgt ie Bsa 100). Ina Guinea-fowl, Guttera cristata, a loop of the
islandica, seen from behind, nat. size, Dr. trachea is received in a cup formed by the apex of the
R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A. clavicles. In various birds, as some of the curassows (Cra-
cide), the capercaillie (Tetrao wrogallus), a goose, Anseranas semipalmata, and the female of the
curious snipe, Rhynchea australis, the trachea folds between the pectoral muscles and the skin.
The Larynx (the Gr. name, Adpuyé, larugx) is the peculiarly modified upper end of the
trachea (fig. 101, 1, and 3 to 12). In mammals it is a complicated voice-organ, containing the
vocal chords and other consonantal apparatus; in birds the construction is simpler, as the
larynx merely modulates the sound already produced in the luwer end of the tube. It lies in
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— PNEUMATOLOGY. 208
Fig. 100. — Coiling of the windpipe in the sternum of Grus canadensis; reduced. (From Amer. Nat.)
204 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the floor of the mouth, at the root of the tongue, between the forks of the hyoid bone, resting
upon the uro-hyal. Besides its attachments of mucous and other membrane, it is connected
with the hyoid bone by a pair of thyro-hyoid muscles (8, 11), and usually with the rest of the
trachea by prolongations of the sterno- and cleido-tracheales. It is usually a small, simple,
conical ‘‘ mouth-piece” of the pipe (4, a), without the dilatation which renders the corresponding
structure —the ‘‘ Adam’s apple,” — so conspicuous in the human throat. Below, it communi-
eates directly with the pipe: above, it opens into the mouth by the glottidean fissure, or rima
glottidis (3, c), a median lengthwise chink, which opens and shuts as its sides diverge or close
together, and which is further defended in front bya folding of the mucous membrane of the
mouth, constituting a rudiment of that curious trap-door arrangement which, when fully
developed, is called the epiglottis (8, d, e). Exclusive of two broken upper rings of the tra-
chea (6, g), the cartilages (or oftener bones, —for they generally ossify) of the larynx are five.
One is a large single median and inferior piece, the thyroid, or shield-piece (4, 6, 7, a),
forming the most substantial part of the structure. It is somewhat triangular or oblong, run-
ning to an obtuse end in front ; and with sides and posterior angles which curl upward behind.
To its lateral posterior corner is attached on each side the small ‘‘horns” or cornicula laryngis
(5, 6,7, 6). There is a small median upper posterior piece, supposed to represent all there is
of the cricoid (5, 7, ¢), which in man makes a ring around the larynx below the thyroid. To
the cricoid, as to a base, are attached a pair of straight slender arytenoids (6, 7, d), projecting
forward along the upper surface of the larynx: these form the rima glottidis, — the fissure of the
glottis being between them. ‘The arytenoids are attached in front by slender ligaments to the
end of the thyroid (5, the little slips between d and e), and they are supplemented by carti-
laginous edges (6, f, f) ; but there are no true vocal chords. Besides the extrinsic thyro-hyoid
muscles, which pass from the larynx to the tongue-bone, the laryngeal parts are operated by
intrinsic muscles, the sum of the motion given by which is the opening and shutting of the
glottis by drawing apart or pulling together the arytenoids. Four pairs of such muscles are
described for some birds. As named and figured by Macgillivray for the rook, there are: the
thyro-arytenoids, which are the openers of the glottis (9, 22); the oblique arytenoids (19, 3,3) ;
the thyro-cricoids (11, 44); and the posterior thyro-cricoids (11 and 12, 6,5),
The Syrinx (Gr. cvpuyé, surigx, a pipe) or Lower Larynx is the voice-organ of birds; in
most respects a more complicated structure than the larynx proper, and one so differently
constructed in different birds that it affords characters of great significance in classification.
The highest group of Passeres, for example, is signalized by the elaboration of this musical’
organ, the marvellously adroit fingering of the keys of which by the little muscular performers
sends through the tracheal sounding-pipe the tuneful messages of bird’s highest estate. A few
degraded or disgraced birds, as the ostrich and the American vultures, have no bucolic organ at
all, the trachea forking as simply as possible. Others, as the common fowl, have a fair syrinx,
but no muscles whatever to modulate their pastoral lays. Others have one, two, or three pairs
of intrinsic muscles; to which may or may not be added a sterno-tracheal with syringeal attach-
ment. It is not so much the bulk or mere fleshiness of the syrinx that indicates musical abil-
ity; but the distinctness of the several muscles, and the mode of their insertion, which result in
endless combinations of rotating and rocking movements of the parts, whereby an infinite modu-
lation of the musical tones becomes possible. In Oscines, there are normally five or six pairs
of muscles, without counting the extrinsic sterno-tracheales; and the gist of the arrangement,
in these melodious Passeres, is the attachment of the muscles to the ends of the upper bronchial
half-rings, as far as the third one. As Professor Owen remarks with appreciative feeling, ‘the
manifold ways in which the several parts of the complex vocal organ in Cantores may be
affected, each of the principal bony half-rings, as one or the other end may be pulled, being
made to perform a slight rotatory motion, are incaleulable; but their effects are delightfully
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— PNEUMATOLOGY. 205
appreciable by the rapt listener to the singularly varied kind and quality of notes trilled forth
in the stillness of gloom by the nightingale.” ;
I should be able to make the plan of the syrinx clear to the student with the assistance of
Macgillivray’s beautiful figures. These are drawn from the rook, — a corvine croaker, indeed,
but one whose syrinx is in good order, though he has never learned to play. As the modifica-
tions affect principally the soft parts covering and moving the music-box, one description of the
latter is applicable to most birds. The last lower ring, or piece composed of several fused rings,
of the trachea, at its bifurcation into bronchi, is enlarged or otherwise modified (fig. 101, 18,
aba), and crossed below from front to back by a bony bar, the pessulus (18, at b; 15, a), or
bolt-bar, which, dividing it into lateral halves (as at 14), forms thus two lateral openings
instead of one median tube, —the beginnings of each bronchial tube. A membranous plate,
strengthened by cartilage, rises vertically into the tracheal tube, furming a sepiwm, or median
partition, between the orifices of each bronchus. The free curved upper margin of this septum,
extending of course, from front to back of the orifice, is called the semilunar membrane; being
the edge of a partition common to both bronchi, it forms, in fact, the inner lip of each bronchial
orifice ; that is to say, the inner rima glotiidis syringis, or lip of the syringeal mouth-piece.
This membrane vibrates with the column of air, and is, in fact, one of the “vocal chords.”
Now the bronchial rings which succeed are not annular, circumscribing the bronchial tube,
but are half-rings (15, b, b), or ares of circles to be completed by membrane, which forms more
or less (scarcely or not half) of the circumference of the tube; this membranous part, termed
the internal tympaniform membrane (35, c to ¢), being on the side of the bronchus which faces
its fellow, while the hard bronchial half-rings complete the rest of the cylinder. The mem-
brane is attached to the pessulus above. This accounts for the whole bronchial tube and its
vocal septum from its fellow. Now the concavity of the upper two or three bronchial half-
rings, on the outer wall of the tube, but in its interior, is the place where is developed a certain
fold of the mucous membrane, projecting into the tube opposite the septum, and forming the
outer lip of the syringeal glottis; for this membranous fold, like the semilunar membrane, is
set quivering in vocalization. The upper tracheal rings which enter into this arrangement
are enlarged and otherwise modified. Thus are formed two ‘‘ vocal chords,” upon the vibrations
of which the harmonious or discordant notes of the bird depend. The cords are struck by the
hand of air indeed, but endless musical variations result from the play of the muscles in increas-
ing or diminishing and variously combining the tension of the several parts of the instrument.
In giving four pairs of intrinsic syringeal muscles (anterior external, ‘anterior internal, inter-
mediate, and posterior, besides the extrinsic sterno-tracheales), as figured in 16, a, b, ¢, d and e,
Macgillivray is said to have understated the full oscine number, which is five or six. In the raven,
Owen describes five, without counting the sterno-trachealis: broncho-trachealis anticus, anterior
external; broncho-trachealis posticus, posterior external; broncho-trachealis brevis, posterior
internal; bronchialis anticus, anterior internal; and bronchialis posticus. The general arrange-
ment, however, is fairly indicated by Macgillivray in !6, where on the side of the syrinx, the mus-
cles are seen to diverge from the tracheal lateral line to go to ends of the bronchial semi-rings.
The student will understand that my description is particular only as regards the oscine
syrinx; that in birds at large every possible modification, almost, of lower tracheal and upper
bronchial rings occurs, and with various musculation, or with none. The non-oscine rule for
the muscles is, one on each side, if any; and insertion into mid-parts, not ends, of the bronchial
half-rings. The latter character chiefly distinguishes the non-oscine syrinx when it has sev-
eral muscles. As to situations of the syrinx, three have been recognized : the ordinary broncho-
tracheal, in formation of which both bronchi and trachea take part; the tracheal, only known
to oceur in some American Passeres, as in Thamnophilus and Opetiorhynchus, situated wholly
in the trachea, the lower part of which is extensively membranous ; and the bronchial, wholly
in the bronchi, as in Crotophaga and Steatornis.
206 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
Fia. 101.— Respiratory and vocal organs of the Rook, Corvus frugilégus, an Oscine Passerine bird; nat. size,
after Macgillivray. 1. a, tongue; b, basi-branchial, commonly called uro-hyal; c, c, horns of hyoid bone; d, d,
genio-hyoid muscles; e¢, e, stylo-hyoid muscles; /,f, cleido-hyoid muscles; g, h, i, esophagus; j, proventriculus;.
or secretory stomach; k, gizzard, or gigerium, the muscular stomach; /, m, n,n, intestine, duodenum to rectum ;
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— PNEUMATOLOGY. 207
0, p, trachea, or windpipe; q, inferior larynx, or syrinx; r,7, right and left bronchus: ss, ss, contractor muscles
of trachea; ¢, ¢, lungs, with u, w, apertures communicating with thoracic air-cells ; v, v, v, three pairs of muscular
slips answering to arudimentary diaphragm; 1, 2,3, 4,5,6,7, a8 many ribs. — 2. Hyoid bone; a, glosso-hyal, tipped
with cartilage, its posterior horns being cerato-hyals proper; 0, basi-hyal; c, basi-branchial proper, commonly
ealled uro-hyal; d, d, cerato-branchials proper, commonly called apo-hyals ; e, e, epibranchials proper, commonly
called cerato-hyals, tipped with cartilage, 7, . —3. Glottis, or opening of trachea in the mouth; a, base of tongue;
6, b, horns of hyoid bone ; c, rima glottidis, cleft or chink of the glottis; d,a triangular vacuity ; e, an elastic liga-
ment; d and e represent an epiglottis ; f f, a papillose surface. —4, Larynx viewed from before (below); a, thy-
roid bone or cartilage.—5. Larynx viewed from behind (above); a, thyroid bone; 6, 6, its appendages; c, cricoid;
d, d, arytenoids; e, e, anterior border of thyroid, to which d, d are connected by two arytenoid ligaments. —6.
Larynx viewed from right side; a, thyroid; b, appendage ; c, cricoid; d, arytenoid; 7/, cartilage attached to ary-
tenoid; g,a tracheal ring. —7. Larynx viewed from behind; a, thyroid; 0, b, its appendages; c, cricoid; d, d, ary-
tenoids. — 8, 9,10, 11,12, Muscles of the larynx; 1,1 (fig. 8), thyro-hyoids; 2, 2 (fig. 9), thyro-arytenoids, or openers
of the glottis; 3,3 (fig. 10), oblique arytenoids; 4, 4 (fig. 11), thyro-cricoids; 5,5 (figs. 11 and 12), posterior thyro-
cricoids. — 13. Bifurcation of trachea; aba, last entire tracheal ring. —14. Last entire tracheal ring, viewed from
below, crossed by the pessulus.—15. Bifurcation of trachea, and bronchi, viewed from below; a, pessulus, the
bolt-bar, or “ bone of divarication ”; 0, 6, next succeeding ttacheal half-rings. —16. a, b, c, d, inferior laryngeal
or syringeal muscles, not well made out in this figure; see text. But the typical oscine arrangement (acromyo-
dian) is perceived, inasmuch as anterior (a) and postérior (d) intrinsic muscular masses go to ends of the first
tracheal half-ring, at b and ¢; the extrinsic slip ¢ passing to sternum ; compare fig. 1, at g. —17. Trachea, etc., of .
the nightingale, nat. size. (Compare figs. 3, 67, 72, 78, 74.)
The Song of Birds unlocks the great secret of Genesis to those who can hear the key-
note. It is the closest approach, in animate nature, to the ringing of the hydrogen bells in the
physics of light. The musical instrument figured (101, 1”) is the identical pipe the ‘ great god
Pan ” first fashioned for a legacy to all time, as so sweetly said by Mrs. Browning : —
“He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
From the deep cool bed of the river.
The limpid water turbidly ran,
And the broken lilies a-dying lay,
And the dragon-fly had fled away,
Ere he brought it out of the river.
“«This is the way,’ laughed the great god Pan,
(Laughed while he sate by the river!)
The only way since gods began
x To make sweet music, they could succeed.’
Then dropping his mouth to a hole in the reed,
Co He blew in power by the river
“Sweet, sweet, sweet, O Pan,
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great good Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.”
But the sad sequel, felt by Keats, when poor Psyche has seen and known, and Eros has
found his wings : —
“So did he feel who pulled the boughs aside,
That we might look into a forest wide,
To catch a glimpse of Fauns, and Dryades
Coming with softest rustle through the trees;
And garlands woven of flowers wild and sweet,
Upheld on ivory wrists, or sporting feet:
Telling us how fair trembling Syrinz fled
Arcadian Pan, with such a fearful dread.
Poor Nymph, — poor Pan, — how he did weep to find
Naught but a lovely sighing of the wind
Along the reedy stream! a half heard strain
Full of sweet desolation, balmy pain.”
The blessed blue-bird, ‘bearing the sky upon her back,” is burthened with the same
“light load of song” —
208
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
Have you listened to the carol of the bluebird in the spring?
Has her gush of molten melody been not poured forth in vain?
Ah! then the pulse has quickened, and a sigh, perhaps, has risen,
From the breast the bluebird’s music stirs to thoughts that lack expression —
So tender, so tumultuous are the fancies thus aroused.
The bluebird’s song breathes gladness — breathes the sweet and solemn triumph
Love feels when all love’s passion melts in its own fruition.
Exquisitely subtile are the chords the bluebird touches —
Chords that quiver now in ecstasy, now thrill in fond expectancy,
Now die in dreams of all that might have been.
Hers is language to interpret, and translate in accents rhythmic,
All the yearning of young love to claim his own —
Of young love that trembles on the threshold of the passions,
And shrinks before the images his ardor calls to life.
Thus to the maiden musing come thronging thoughts unbidden,
When she hears this speaking echo of the hopes that glow within;
And the tell-tale blushes redden to the rose-tint on the bosom
Of the bird that dares to breathe her secret joy.
Thus to the youth impetuous, whose life is set to music —
Let love but laugh and beckon from afar —
Fulfilment sends a greeting in the soft voluptuous languor
That steals upon the senses if the bluebird’s song be heard —
This song of wondrous gladness, ever bubbling, welling, gushing,
From a fountain full of promise, inexhaustible, divine !
Sweeter far these liquid accents when the buds of hope are blighted,
And the tree of knowledge bears its bitter fruit;
When memory sits brooding on the ashes of her birthright,
And sackcloth shrouds a heart that once was young;
For a silver chord is quickened where was greedy, silent sorrow —
Responding to a sympathetic touch:
The bird sings true and tender, with a precious burden laden,
With the tidings of a love that never dies.
So in the timid spring-time, when the world wears wreaths of roses,
Ring clear the joyous melodies of hope!
So in the summer season, when the wine of pleasure reddens,
Ring passionate the triumphs of the heart!
So in the sad, still autumn, when life bends beneath its burden,
When what might have been has never come to pass,
Rings once again this music on the crushed and wounded spirit,
Bringing light where all was dark and drear before:
All is not lost if the music that the bluebird bears be heeded,
For her mission is to tell us love is God.
Though it is a fact that “‘the Chenomorphe are not provided with intrinsic syringeal
muscles,” there may be much truth in treatises de cantu Cyeni morituri which have appeared
from time to time, and to the number of which I may be pardoned for adding : —
How sadly sweet, how soft and low
Is the music born of pain —
How mournful sounds the ebb and flow,
What measured beats, what throb and throe,
In the wild swan’s dying strain!
The archer, Death, and the twanging bow,
And the fateful shaft on-sped,
All state and grace and pride laid low,
Disordered plumes and crimson flow —
For the white swan’s heart has bled.
But hear the mournful cry that rings
On the startled air of night!
As a spirit form in the darkness wings
Its way unseen, the wild swan sings
His psalm of life and light.
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. —SPLANCHNOLOGY. 209
e
How sadly sweet the solemn strain —
The dirge of the dying swan!
That wondrous music, child of pain,
That requiem, sounding once again ~
And a bird’s soul passes on.
jf. SPLANCHNOLOGY: THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
The Alimentary Canal, or digestive tract, is a tube which passes through the body
from mouth to anus, conveying food, the nutritious qualities of which are drawn off by the lac-
teals in transitu and .assimilated, the refuse being voided. This is digestion. The canal is
really a tube within a tube, being contained in the cavity below the bodies of the vertebra,
formed by the series of hemat arches (p. 135). Birds are fast livers, their digestive operations,
like the processes of respiration and circulation, being very active and effectual; they require
proportionally great quantities of food. The voracity of the cormorant is proverbial, but it is
probably not greater than that of the ethereal nightingale. Birds as a class are omnivorous ;
many species are as nearly omnivorous as any animals can well be; but the majority are either
vegetarian or flesh-feeding. Very many birds feed upon fruits, hard or soft; but even these,
when in the nest, are nourished for the most part upon the bodies of insects ; and it may be truly
said, that the great majority of birds are insectivorous. Birds seem to be the great controlling
agency in the economy of nature, of the increase of insect life ; agriculture would be difficult if not
impracticable without them, and their econoinic value is simply incalculable. Insectivorous
birds cannot be much interfered with, without destroying one of the most important and conse-
quential of nature’s many beautiful adjustments. The bird cries perpetual ‘‘ échec!” to the
insect. Even those birds which are mainly flesh-eaters, as the hawks and owls, are similarly
beneficial, for the creatures they chiefly prey upon are the small rodents so fateful to husbandry.
The carrion-eaters contribute largely to make tropical regions habitable to man. Various
tribes of birds feed almost exelusively upon fish; and these sometimes reach the dignity of
diplomatic and other political interests of wnankind: nations have gone to war over the dung
of such birds, guano-beds being to some of the South American powers a large item of their
revenue. Chili and Peru have been fighting lately, and the United States have been wrang-
ling, over the excrements of the alimentary canal of sea-birds. This tube, in general, is
shortest, simplest, and most direct in the flesh- and fish-eaters, the nature of whose food assim-
ilates already more nearly to the substance of their bodies than does that of the vegetarians.
The tube is modified in different portions of its extent, for the prehension, retention, saturation,
maceration, and comminution of food, and the mixture with it of other solvent fluids than those
secreted by the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal itself. Hence arise the various
modifications of its length, dilatation here, contraction there; the presence in its lining mem-
brane of numerous follicles ; and the annexation of various glandular organs. Being always
longer than the body, the tube is necessarily coiled away in certain places; this folding taking
place chiefly in the intestinal part of the tract. Modifications of structure make recognizable
parts, as the mouth, gullet, crop, stomach, gizzard, intestine, cloaca, anus. Annex organs
are the salivary glands, the liver, and the pancreas, all of which pour their secretions into the’
canal. This tube also receives the terminations of other systems of organs: the auditory organ
of special sense; the respiratory system, which is at first a mere bud or off-set from the
digestive ; the urinary and the generative, which, though originally distinct, primitively and
permanently open into the lower bowel. ” The intestine is also continuous with the cavity of the
umbilical vesicle of the embryo, a primitive structure which disappears as the chick matures;
and with that of the allantois, another embryotic organ which begins by budding from the intes-
tinal cavity. Its connection with the system of blood-vessels is direct through the lacteals and
thoracic ducts (p. 199). Its operations are automatic and spontaneous, of the ‘‘reflex” order;
14
210 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
that is, excited by the presence of food, — having work to do making it work, so to speak. Its
innervation is chiefly by the pneumogastric and sympathetic nerves; and digestion is the most
purely vegetative function, dealing with the raw materials of nutrition and consequently of the
growth and repair of the whole body. The active factors in this transaction are several spe-
cies or varieties of small creatures, called Einteramebe; they are all derived by descent with
modification from the hypoblastic cells of the early embryo. Those of the canal itself form
all the mucous epithelium of that structure, with its various secretory crypts, follicles, and villi;
similar creatures, perhaps of different genera, form the lining of the salivary, hepatic, and pan-
creatic glands. Blood-vessels, in intimate connection with the digestive organs, form that
special venous arrangement by which the blood coming from that part of the intestinal tract
where chyle is made is collected in a portal system and sent through the liver, —in the embryo
a sort of ‘‘ great dismal swamp” which interrupts the ordinary current. The tube within the
tube is fixed not only at its ends, but by various membranous connections, among them the
mesenteries. We will notice the several departments of the alimentary canal, and its annexes;
reference should be made to the colored frontispiece, and to fig. 101, where most parts of the
digestive system are shown.
The Mouth and Tongue.— The most anterior of the special cavities in which the tube
is divided, and the ‘‘manual” organ it contains. The mouth in general corresponds to the
shape of the jaws, already sufficiently noted (pp. 100, 162). The
anterior part is much hardened, like the beak; in fact, this hard-
ness of the buccal cavity, and the absence, or very slight distinc-
tion, of a “soft palate,” are among the peculiarities of a bird’s
mouth. There is consequently little distinction, if any, between
mouth proper and fauces, or pharynx, which is the posterior part,
leading directly into the gullet. Besides this communication the
mouth receives the terminations of four special cavities. 1. The
posterior nares, on the roof of the mouth posteriorly, generally a
median slit, leading into the nasal chambers. 2. The generally
single and median and more posterior opening of the eustachian
tubes, which lead into the tympanum, and are the remains of the
first post-oral visceral cleft of the early embryo. 3. The glottis (fig.
101, 3, c), a slit at the base of the tongue, the opening of the wind-
pipe, and so of the whole respiratory system, which is defended by
a rudimentary trap-door, the epiglottis, if any. 4. One or several
pairs of orifices, the openings of the ducts of the salivary glands.
These structures, corresponding to the parotid, submaxillary, and
sublingual glands of mammals, vary extremely in their develop-
ment. In woodpeckers, for example, and some Raptores, elaborate
special salivary glands occur, having a glomerate structure, and
é a special ‘‘stenonine” duct. In many other birds, similarly com-
Fic 102,—Gular pouch of. pound but less elaborate submaxillary glands pour their secretion
bustard; copied by Shufeldt . ‘
from Garrod. a, tongue; 6, into the mouth by a series of pores. In most birds, however, the
the pouch, opening under a, galivary glands are small, simple, and less distinct from various
hanging in front ofc, the tra- % ei a
chea, behind which is the Other sets of mucous erypts which open into the mouth. In the
esophagus, d, with its crop, e. great bustard (Otis tarda; ‘fig. 102) there is a singular buccal struc-
ture; a great: pouch opening’ beneath the tongue, susceptible of distension during those amatory
antics termed the ‘‘ showing-off” of the creature. It is in fact an air-sac, but not of the kind
already considered (p. 200), having no connection with the respiratory system. The narial,
eustachian and glottidean apertures are commonly defended by retrorse papilla ; and other such
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — SPLANCHNOLOGY. 211
processes of mucous membrane, knobbed or acute, may occur elsewhere in lines and patches.
The roof of the mouth is nearly all “‘ hard palate,” as already said; its soft floor is the mucuus
membrane and skin between the jaws, with muscular or other intervening structures. The
principal flooring muscle is the mylo-hyoid; the genio-hyoid (fig. 101, 1, d) is another, which
passes, like the first, from the mandibular to the hyoid bone; a third is the stylo-hyoid (e).
The floor in some cases forms a pouch, which, as in the case of the pelican, is of great extent
and susceptible of enormous dilatation (fig. 501).
The handler of the mouth, or lingual organ, is the tongue, which answers the same pur-
pose as in other creatures: it is tactile, to some extent gustatory, sometimes prehensile, nearly
always manipulatory. In some birds, as the pelican and ibis, and also the kingfisher, it is
very slightly developed, — scarcely more than a pad at the bottom of the mouth, enjoying the
most limited motion or other function. In some birds, as the parrot and duck tribes, and also
the flamingo, the tongue is large, thick, and fleshy, quite filling the mouth. In the first-
named of these, it is dexterously manipulatory ; the morsel of food is managed between the
tongue and upper beak ; the tactile certainly and perhaps the gustatory sense is highly devel-
oped; and the fleshiness of the tongue may affect that power of articulate speech for which
some parrots are justly noted. In the Lamellirostres just mentioned the tongue has lateral
processes corresponding to the denticulations of the beak, and the under surface is horny at the
end, like a human finger-nail. In the woodpeckers (figs. 73, 74) the tongue itself (glosso-hyal
part of the hyoid) is reduced to a slight horny and spiny tip of the lingual apparatus; but other
parts of that mechanism are so extraordinarily developed that the ‘‘tongue” appears as a
lumbriciform (worm-like), spear-headed organ usually capable of great protrusion from the
mouth, and therefore acting as a prehensile instrument, being bedewed for that purpose with
tenacious saliva from the great salivary glands; while it is actuated in protrusion and retraction
by specially developed muscles. In the snipe and many of the long slender-billed waders, the
tongue is similarly slender, but not protrusible. The long narrow tongue of the toucans (Rham-
phastidg) is beset with slender processes, so that it seems feathery. The tongue of the hum-
ming-bird is very singular, —delicately thready, yet double-barrelled, two tubes placed
side by side, serving as siphons to extract the nectar of flowers. These and other
interesting extremes aside, the ordinary style of a bird’s tongue is flat, narrow, more or less
sagittate or lanceolate, and tipped or sheathed in horn, commonly with lateral backward pro-
cesses like the barbs of an arrow head, —the whole glossal structure upborne pretty distinctly
upon the end of the basihyal bone. (See fig. 101, where !, a, is such an ordinary tongue, and
2, a-f, is its whole skeleton.) Such horny tongues are commonly bifid at the extreme tip
or there variously lacerate, or laciniate, or thready, — and even the fleshy tongue of some
parrots, as the lories, is brushy at the end. The bony foundation of the tongue is the com-
posite hyoid bone, already often mentioned (see p. 167); the free lingual part proper is based
upon the glosso-hyal and its terminal cartilage ; the roots curve more or less extensively about
the base or more of the skull. The tongue is moved by some intrinsic muscles, as well as by
those extrinsic ones by which it is connected to the skull, jaw, and windpipe (fig. 101, 1 and 8).
The Csophagus. — After comminution, if any, by the beak, and insalivation in the
mouth, food passes directly through the pharynx into the esophagus or gullet, —a musculo-
membranous tube connecting mouth with stomach (fig. 101, 1, g, 4,2). This is composed (besides
its mucous membrane) of circularly disposed constrictor fibres, and longitudinal contractor fibres,
of Myameba, of the pale, smooth species (Jf. levis). It has generally a pretty straight course,
but may be diverted to one side or the other ; and, in particular, is subject to various dilatations
and contractions, permanent or temporary, aside from the mere distension caused by the pas-
sage of food. When the floor of the mouth is wide and loose, the gullet partakes of the same
character above; the extreme case is afforded -by the pelicans, especially P. fuscus. But the
212 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
gullet of many small birds, as various genera of Fringillide and Corvide, is much more disten-
sible than is commonly supposed, and may be found crammed with seeds which there find rest-
ing-place for some time. The fish-eating birds, as herons, cormorants, loons, and others, have
also capacious gullets. The Australian bustard, Hupodotis australis, has an esophagus capa-
ble of such extraordinary distension that it hangs down in front of the breast when inflated
with air, as it is in the amatory display in which that species is wont to indulge. Aside from
mere distensibility of transient character, the esophagus of many birds becomes modified
anatomically into a special pouch, — the crop or craw, ingluvies, where the food is detained to
be macerated in a special secretion before passing on to the true stomach. Such definite crops
occur in birds of prey, which gorge such masses of food in their irregular voracious banquets
that it cannot all be received into the stomach at once; and likewise throughout the orders of
Columbine and Gallinaceous birds, which habitually feed upon seeds and other fruits so hard
that they are advantageously macerated as a preliminary to true digestion. The common fowl
furnishes a good illustration of a large, definite, single and median crop; in pigeons it is a pair
of lateral dilatations (see frontisp.). In these latter birds, when they are rearing their young,
the secretion of the ingluvies, always copious, becoines still more so, and of a milky character in
consequence of the activity of the altered mucous surface; it is regurgitated into the mouths of
the young, along with the macerated grains. ‘This phenomenon is the nearest approach in
the class of Birds to the characteristic mammary function of a higher class; and the analogy
of the ‘pigeon’s milk’ to the lacteal secretion of the Mammalia has not escaped popular notice.”
Various other birds also feed their young by regurgitation of elaborated food; and very many
similarly reject indigestible portions of their ingesta. Such vomiting is best known to be the
wont of birds of prey, which habitually throw up the hair, feathers and bones of their victims,
made up into the boluses called “‘ castings”; but the practice is far from, being confined tu these
flesh-eaters. The extreme case of emesis offered by birds is witnessed in the horn-bills
(Bucerotide) which have been known to throw up the coat of their stomach without discom-
fort, — what a blessing it would be to some old topers if they could do the same, and grow
another with equal ease! In fact, in consequence of the capacity and directness of the gullet,
vomiting is very easy to birds, and with some it is a means of self-defence, — very effectual
for instance in the cases of our vultures (Cathartides). Fish-eating birds, as herons, gulls, |
petrels, habitually vomit when wounded or otherwise molested.
The Proventriculus. — The tube just considered ends below in a special tract, variously
dilated or not, but always peculiar in the presence of certain gastric follicles which secrete the
digestive fluid proper. The ‘stomach ” of a bird, in fact, is compound, consisting of a glandular
or digestive portion, and a muscular or grinding part. The former is the proventriculus;
whatever its size or shape, or whatever its magnitude in comparison with the grist-mill, it is
reeognized by the presence in its inucous surface of these gastric follicles, secreting the peptic
fluid which chymifies the food. The follicles are perhaps always large enough for this part of
the tube to be recognized by the naked eye, —the mucous membrane having here a thickened,
velvety, vascular appearance. The glands are of various sizes and shapes, — usually simply
tubular, sometimes clubbed or conical, or variously racemose (like a bunch of grapes). They
are disposed in a zone around the tube, or in patches upon part of its surface, —in the darter
(Plotus), very singularly in a separate lateral compartment looking like a crop. Details of the
grouping of these solvent glands are interminable. Whatever its anatomical variations, and
however like the end of the cesophagus it may simply appear to be, this ventriculus glandulosus
is the bird’s proper stomach (fig. 101, 1, J).
The Gizzard.— Mixed with the salivary, ingluvial, proventricular and other secretions of
the mucous surface, and already chymified, the food of birds next passes directly into the giz-
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— SPLANCHNOLOGY. 213
zard, gigerium, or muscular division of the stomach, sometimes called the ventriculus bulbosus.
The two are sometimes separated by a tract, sometimes immediately consequent. In the mus-
cular gizzard, the food-grist is ground fine. To this end, the walls of “he cavity become devel-
oped into a more or less powerful muscular apparatus, and the mucous membrane changes to a
tough, thick, horny, occasionally even bony, lining; this callous cuticular lining being often
very loosely attached, and even deciduous in some cases. The muscular arrangement is chiefly
in two great masses, called the lateral muscles, converging to a central tendon; between them
intermediate fibres may form a more or less distinct muscular belly. In the most powerful
gizzards, the muscular tissue is very dense and dark-colored; the tendons brilliantly glistening,
and the contained ‘ millstones” extremely callous. Such a gizzard is well displayed by the
common fowl or the goose. The opposite extreme is afforded by the carnivorous and espe-
cially the piscivorous birds, whose soft food requires little trituration, —it is all a matter of
degree. How readily this part of the canal responds to the regimen of the bird, is witnessed in
our cock-of-the-plains (Centrocercus wrophasianus), —a bird whose gizzard is so slightly mus-
cular as to appear like a membranous bag, though its gallinaceous relatives have extremely
strong grinders. Its food is chiefly the buds and leaves of the wild sage (Artemisia), and grass-
hoppers. Increased muscularity of the gizzard has even been artificially produced. Birds
whose grist is heavy habitually swallow gravel, that these small stones may mechanically aid
in the grinding process. The action is so energetic, that in ‘‘auscultating” a fowl when the
mill is in full blast, the noise of the grinding can be distinctly heard. The pebbles, in fact,
have a function which leaves ‘hens’ teeth” not entirely mythical. The kind of motion
impressed upon the opposing pads of cuticle is alternating, —a rubbing back and forth to a
slight extent. Peculiar dispositions of the callous surfaces are found in some pigeons, with
corresponding peculiarity of the cross-section of the gizzard. In some of the cuckoos a matting
of impacted hairs of lepidopterous insects has been mistaken for a coat of the gizzard itself. In
the darter, which has a pyloric division or compartment of the gizzard, this is nearly filled with
amass of matted hairs, a peculiar modification of the epithelial lining, serving to guard the
pyloric orifice. Folds of the lining membrane form a pyloric valve in many birds. The pylo-
rus, or the pyloric orifice, is that opening by which food leaves the gizzard for the intestines ;
the orifice of entrance from the esophagus is the cardiac. The two are always near together,
and sometimes adjoining. (In fig. 101, 1, & is on the central tendon of the moderately muscular
gizzard; the cardiac orifice is between j and &, and pylorus between / and k.)
The Intestine continues the alimentary canal to the cloaca. Any difference in the
length of the whole tract, relatively to that of the bird, is chiefly produced by the foldings of
the intestine, especially in the upper portion of its course. The extremes of proportionate
length are perhaps not ascertained; but known to be from less than 2:1, to more than 8:1,
In birds there is little or no distinction between ‘‘small” and “large” intestine, as to the calibre
of the tube, nor is the latter succulated as in mammals. The former is considered to extend
from the pylorus to the ceca (structures to be presently noticed). Above the ceca the intes-
tine commonly receives its foldings and windings; below them it usually proceeds more
directly, or quite straight, to the cloaca, forming literally a ‘‘rectum”; but in the ostrich this
ultra-ceecal tract is longer than the rest, and convoluted. The cis-ceecal portion is convention-
ally divided into duodenum, jejunum, and ileum; there is, however, no positive anatomical
distinction of these parts in any animal with which I am acquainted. In birds, a “‘ duodenum”
is perhaps as distinct as ever; it forms the most constant duplication of the intestine, the pan-
creas being lodged in this duodenal fold (fig. 101, 1, 2, m,n). The course of the intestine is
otherwise very various in different birds. The upper end, near the pylorus, receives the hepatic
ducts; and food is chylified after impregnation with the biliary and pancreatic fluids ; a process
furthered by the proper secretions of the intestinal follicles. The chyle is drawn off by the
214 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
lacteals already described (p. 199), and the unassimilable refuse of the food becomes excremen.
titious.
Czca (Lat. cecus, blind; in the nom. pl. ceca; sing. ceowm).— The “ blind guts,” so
called because they end in culs-de-sac, are of two kinds.' One is the wmbilical cecum, or
vitelline caecum, a rudimentary, or rather vestigial, structure, the remains of the open duct by
which the cavity of the umbilical vesicle (an embryonic organ) communicated with that of the
intestinal tract. It is ordinarily not to be noted at all; but it is said by Owen to have been
found half an inch long in the gallinule, an inch in the bay ibis, and dilated ‘into a sac an inch
in diameter in the Apteryx. The structures ordinarily called ceca, or ceca coli, for they are
usually paired, are pouches or diverticula which set off from the intestine proper at the junc-
tion of the ileum with colon; but there is nothing in the intestine itself to mark this point, so
that when cxea are absent, as frequently happens, no distinction of ileum from colon or rectum
is appreciable. No part of the intestinal tract is so variable as the czcal; so that presence or
absence of these appendages furnishes zoélogical characters now-a-days taken very commonly
into account in framing genera and families. There are no ceca, as in the turkey-
buzzard and some pigeons; there is a single small cecum in herons. From a condition of
extremely small size, like little buds upon the intestine, caeca are found to elongate to extraor-
dinary dimensions; and the large specimens are frequently saccate or clubbed, with slender
roots. In geese and swans the ceca are a foot long, more or less; in some grouse, they are
said to be a yard long. In the ostrich, the mucous membrane is thrown into a spiral fold.
However developed, the physiology of these intestinal appendages is, the detention of food until
all its nutritive qualities are absorbed, and increase of the absorbent surface.
The Clea/ca (fig. 101, 1%) or ‘‘ sewer,” very well named, is the termination of the bowel,
—an oval or globular enlargement of the rectum, of sufficient capacity at least to contain the
completely shelled egg. For, not as in placental mammals, the uro-genital and digestive or-
gans are behind-hand in their evolution, and do not entirely lose connection with each other.
Nor is there in birds any distinct bladder; but a cavity, originally that of the allantois of the.
embryo, persists in common with that of the intestines, and is the cloaca. Such incomplete
distinction between the two as there may be, by a folding of mucous membrane or partial com-
partment of the whole, results in cloaca proper and wrogenital sinus, in which latter are the
papillose orifices of the wreters, one on each side, from the kidneys; and of the single oviduct
(@) or paired sperm-ducts (4), from ovary or testes. The urine of birds not being liquid
requires no more of a bladder than the sinus furnishes. The same cavity contains the penis of
those birds, as the ostrich and drake, which are provided with an organ of copulation. A
peculiar anal gland, the bursa fabrici (see frontisp.), also opens into the cloaca. Refuse of
digestion, the renal excretion, the spermatic secretion, and the product of conception, are dis-
charged by a single anal orifice, the two former en masse.
Being intimately related to dietetic regimen, and so to the habits of birds, the alimen-
tary canal varies greatly, — even more than my slight sketch shows, —and consequently affords
good zodélogical characters in the details of its construction. But of all the anatomical systems,
this is the one most variable as a matter of physiological adaptation (see p. 67). Its char-
acters, even when they seem weighty, are therefore peculiarly liable to be fallacious as indices
of natural affinities, and must be applied with discreet caution to morphological classification.
Such are commonly only of generic significance. Thus in pigeons the ceca and even the gall-
bladder may be present or absent in neighboring genera.
Alimentary Annexes. — Some of these, as the salivary glands, have been noticed already.
The two most important bodies connected with the digestive tract, and properly considered
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OOLOGY. 215
adjuncts, are the pancreas and the liver. The former is that kind of lobulated salivary gland
which in mammals is called the ‘‘sweetbread.” It lies in the duodenal loop, along which its
loosely aggregated lobes extend. Its ducts, formed by the successive union of smaller efferent
tubes, are two or three in number; they pierce the intestine a little below its commencement
at the pylorus, and pour into the canal the pancreatic juice, which has the property of emul-
sionizing fat. The lwer is a well-known glandular organ of very special structure and func-
tion, secreting the fluid called bile, also received into the intestine. It is of moderate size in
birds, and deeply divided into two principal (right and left) lobes: in some birds there is also a
smaller lobe; and one of the large lobes may also be divided. The lobes dispart above to
receive between them the apex of the heart; they are held in place by pleuro-peritoneal folds
contributing to form the thoracic-abdominal air-cells. The viscus receives venous blood from
the extensive portal system of birds; two hepatic veins then conduct it to the post-caval. The
emunctory ducts, carrying off the bile, are two or three in number. One at least goes directly
to the intestine, and another to the gall-bladder, when that cyst exists; in which case there is
a separate cystic duct from the bladder to the intestine, no ductus communis choledochus, or
duct common to the hepatic substance and its cyst, being formed in birds. Two hepatic ducts
may coexist with a cystic duct, making three to the intestine, all separate; two is the rule
when there is no gall-bladder. These emunctories commonly enter the intestine some distance
apart, and after the pancreatic ducts. The gall-bladder is generally present, frequently absent ;
it may occur or not in closely related genera of birds.
g. O6LoGY: THE Uro-GENITAL ORGANS.
The Urinary and Generative Organs may be conveniently considered together, not
only on account of their close anatomical relations, but because their physiological functions,
totally diverse in adult life, are primitively related in the most intimate manner. For it is a
singular fact that the mean office of straining urine out of the system is at first sustained by a
structure (wolffian body), in closest connection with which, in the female, actually as a part of
which, in the male, are later developed those organs (ovary and testis) whose exalted office
is creative; for these permanent genital glands procreate the microscopic creatures called
Dynamamebe, the marriage of which results in the reproduction of a complex organism like
the male or female parent. (See figs. 103, 104, and following.)
The Wolffian Bodies, or primordial kidneys, are a pair of tubular structures which
appear very early in the progress of development of the embryo, beneath the spinal column, in
front of the fore end of the future kidneys; with each of them is developed a duct, the wolffian
duct, which carries their excretion into the cavity of the allantois (the future cloaca). Upon
the appearance of the true kidneys, the transitory wolffian bodies and ducts lose their urinary
function; they ultimately disappear from the female, for the most part, leaving only a trace of
their former existence in certain vestigial structures (parovaria, etc.) ; in the male, likewise,
they atrophy, but not to the same extent; for a portion of the bodies persists as an accessory
(epididymal) portion of the testicle, and their ducts persist as the sperm-ducts, or vasa deferen-
tia. Meanwhile, in closest connection with the wolffian bodies, appears a pair of organs, the
genitul glands, fora while exactly alike. Ifthe new creature is to become female, the genttai
gland develops to a certain complexity of tissue and becomes the ovary ; while a certain duct,
the miillerian duct, developed coincidently to connect such ovary with the cloaca, becomes
the oviduct. In birds usually only one ovary and oviduct (the left) becomes functional. If
the new creature is to become male, the same genital gland develops to a higher degree of
complexity, acquires a tubular structure, and becomes the testicle; it connects with remains of
the wolffian body, and the wolffian duct becomes the permanent sperm-duct, conveying the
216 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
product of the male function to the cloaca, just as the oviduct conveys the product of the female
function to the same sewerage. Thus the testicle of the male and the ovary of the female are
homologous, in fact primitively identical organs, upon which sexual difference is impressed by
the greater complexity of structure acquired if the sex is to be male; a female being, anatomi-
cally aud physiologically, simply an imperfect male, arrested at one stage of her physical
progress tu male perfection of structure; and the whole nature of the female bears out the same
relation of inferiority. But the oviduct of the female, and the sperm-duct of the male, though
physiologically identical, having the same function of conveying the products of generation
from the genital gland to the light of day, are not anatomically the same; for in the case of the
female, whose wolffian duct has disappeared, the miillerian is the oviduct; in the case of the
male, in which no miillerian duct appears, the wolffian is the sperm-duct. The two are analo-
gous, not homologous (a good illustration — see p. 68). But it must be further observed that
while the sperm-duct conveys only the masculine essence from centre to periphery, the oviduct
conveys the feminine material from centre to periphery, and also the male essence in the opposite
‘direction ; for, apon coitus, which is direct in all birds, the spermatozoa, deposited in the cloaca
of the female, find their way up through her oviduct to the ovary, there to accomplish impreg-
nation of the ovarian ova, the fecund product then passing down by the same avenue. All that
relates to the mysteries of generation, —both the structure and function of the reproductive
organs, and the maturation of the product of conception, is properly Odlogy (Gr. ddv, oon, an
egg); though the term is vulgarly used to signify merely a description of the chalky substance
in which the egg of a bird is finally invested. The anatomy of the egg is Hmbryology. An
egg, or ovum, is simply the product of conception up to the time that product acquires an inde-
pendent existence; while still connected with the female tissue of the ovary, and before or after
it amalgamates with the male element, itis an ovarian ovum ;
more or less incompletely matured, it is an embryo or fetus, —
the former term being commonly applied
to the unhatched young of birds. The
only difference between the “egg” of a
‘‘ viviparous” mammal and that of an
“‘oviparous” bird, is in the albuminous
and cretaceous envelopes of the latter,
and its speedy expulsion from the body
of the female to be hatched outside, with-
out anatomical connection with the moth-
er after the hard shell is formed ; whereas,
in most mammals, the ovum is retained
in a dilated part of the miillerian duct
(uterus or womb) until it ‘‘ hatches” ; but
mammal and bird alike ‘‘lay eggs,” the
Fre. 103.—Uro-genital essential germinative part of which is Fig. 104, — Uro-genital organs
organs ofmaleembryobird; identical. Appreciation of these facts, offemaleembryo bird; from Owen,
from Owen, after Miiller. dentic P P bi lati : f he after Miiller. a, kidneys; b, wolf-
a, kidneys: 6, “ae ec, and a proper idea of the relations of the gan bodies; ce, genital gland, to
wolffian bodies; d;\ their mature sexual organs to the wolffian become ovary; d,adronals; ¢, ure-
ducts, to be sperm-ducts; e ; d di ters; 7, wolffian ducts, to disap-
e, genital glands, to become bodies is necessary to any understanding jpoar; g, miillerian ducts, to become
testicles; 7, adrenals. of the parts and processes concerned in oviducts.
reproduction.t We have here to consider the permanent as distinguished from the transitory
kidneys, and may then recur to the subject of generation.
1 The matter may be further illustrated by the two figures borrowed from Owen (after Miller). In both figs., ‘
the large dark masses, a, are the permanent kidneys, whose ducts, d in fig. 103, e in fig. 104, are the ureters, empty-
ing into the cloaca. In fig. 103, male, c is the wolffian body, whose duct, d, persists as the sperm-duct, conveying
x
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.—OOLOGY. 217
The Kidneys (Lat. renes, Engl. reins, adj. renal ; figs. 103, 104, a; 105, x) differ'much
from those of mammals in physical characters, though identical in function, —that of straining
off from the blood certain deleterious substances in the form of urea; whence they are sometimes
called emulgent organs. Their office of purification is analogous to that of the lungs, which
decarbonize the blood, and to some extent vicarious, as is that of excretory orgaus in general.
As the lungs are closely bound down to the thoracic region of the trunk, so are the kidneys
impacted in the pelvic region, being moulded to the sacral inequalities of surface (p. 141).
They are paired, but sometimes connected across the median line by renal tissue; they have no
special renal artery, but derive their blood from various sources; and blood from them takes
part in the hepatic portal system, no reniportal beg accomplished. They have little or noth-
ing of the particular mammalian configuration which has made ‘ kidney-shaped” a common
descriptive term; being elongated, somewhat parallel-sided and rectangular, flattened bodies,
lobated into a few large compartments, and lobulated into many lesser divisions; their figure
depends much upon that of the pelvis. They are very dark-colored, rather soft, easily lacerable,
and appear to the naked eye to be of a granular substance, without dis-
tinction of ‘‘ cortical” and ‘‘ medullary” portions. Nor is there any
‘‘ pelvis” of the kidneys in which the uriniferous tubules empty together
by numerous ducts as into a common basin. Each ureter (figs. 103, 0;
104, €; 105, y), or exeretory duct, is formed by reiterated reunion of the
tubuli wrinifert, after the manner of a pancreatic duct; each ureter passes
down behind the rectum and opens into the lower back part of the cloaca,
—imuch like a mammalian ureter into the base of the bladder. The
original cavity of the allantois remains to furnish no more of a urinary
bladder than some special dilatation of the cloaca represents; but this
rudimentary bladder, as distinguished from the uro-genital sinus in which
the ureters terminate alongside the sperm-ducts, is well marked in some
birds ; being in the ostrich, for example, a considerable enlargement of
the cloaca between the termination of the rectum proper and the uro-
genital compartment of the sewer. The renal excretion is not watery
as in mammals, but semi-solid, and voided with the faces, of which it
forms part.
The kidneys are capped by a pair of small yellowish bodies, the
supra-renal capsules oy adrenals (figs. 103, f; 104, 105, d), the nature
of which is undetermined. They are chiefly interesting to the practical
ornithologist in their liability to be mistaken for testes in examining Fic. 105.— Uro-gen-
. ital organs of the domes-
specimens for sex (see p. 45). ee Whee Ou,
a, testis; b, epididymis;
Male Organs of Generation.— The testis (Lat. testis, pl. testes, Satan eeid a4
a witness; fig. 105, a) or testicle has been already sufficiently noticed as cloaca; x, kidney; y,
to its general appearance and position (p. 46). As said above, it is the Ureter. ‘
essential male organ, consisting of the primitive indifferent genital gland (fig. 103, e) in its
highest state of development as a tubular secretory organ, connected with the remains of
the wolffian body as a part of its efferent structure (epididymis ; fig. 105, b) and with the
original wolffian duct as its vas deferens (figs. 103, d; 105, ¢), or efferent duct, by which the
semen is conveyed to the cloaca. The original glands normally remain paired, and both
are usually functionally developed to corresponding size, shape, and activity; they remain
in their embryonic situation in front of the upper part of the kidneys; and such difference
semen from e, the testis. In fig. 104, 6 is the wolffian body, whose duct, /, disappears ; and g is the millerian duct,
becoming the oviduct, to convey the egg from c, the ovary. Thus e, fig. 103, and c, fig. 104, are the homologous
genital glands, becoming either testis or ovary: but the sperm-duct, d, fig. 103, is not the oviduct, g, fig. 104.
218 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
of appearance as they present under different circumstances is mainly seasonal. For birds,
as a rule, procreate only at particular times of the year, rarely having more than one or
two broods of young: the functional activity and quiescence of the testes correspond, as the
enormous swelling of the gland during the breeding season is one of the peculiarities of the
bird’s organ. This may be related to the absence, in birds, of specially formed vesicule semi-
nales, or seminal.reservoirs; though certain contortions and dilatations of the sperm-ducts
which are to be observed may imperfectly answer to detain the secretion until circumstances
render it available. The passage of the sperm-duct is along the face of the kidneys, generally
in company with the ureters; the opening is by a papilla upon the surface of the uro-genital
sinus. These papillose terminations of the sperm-ducts are erectile to a degree, and answer the
purpose of paired penes in those birds which are not provided with better-formed copulatory
parts. In coitu, the cloacal chambers containing the orifices of the genital ducts are opened,
and the more or less protruded papillae come in contact or close juxtaposition. In cases in
which a penis or two penes are developed, the urethral passage is a groove, never a tube,
though cavernous and even muscular tissue may be developed; and in any case of such an
intromittent apparatus, it has cloacal invagination when not operative (see p. 680). These
organs, in all their variety, are of the sauropsidan, not mammalian, type; though in some
respects the structure approaches that seen in the non-placental mammals. No prostate or
cowperian glands exist in birds.
The sole office of the testis, or odphoron masculinum, is the secretion of semen, associate
structures being simply accessory, for the conveyance of that vital substance and its transfer-
ence to the opposite sex. The seminal fluid itself is merely the vehicle of transport of the
spermatozoa, in which their activity may be freely exercised in their intuitive struggles to gain
access to their mates in the ovary. It is literally a ‘sea of life” in which the minute creatures
swim in shoals to their destiny, — and their fate in any case is death. If they successfully
buffet the waves of fate they find a watery grave in the ovum at last; if that haven be not
reached they simply perish in mid-ocean. The spermatozoa, or seminal animalcules, or male
Dynamamebe (figs. 106, 107), are the exact counterparts of ovarian ova, in so far as they are
single-celled animals of a very low grade of organi-
zation; but their activity and intelligence is marvel-
lous, and still more so is the mysterious attribute
with which they are endowed of assimilating their
protoplasmic substance with that of the ovum; with
the result that the thus fecundated ovum is capable
of procreating itself by fission for a period until a
mass of similar creatures is engendered; from which
Fig. 106.— Spermatozoa mags is then speedily evolved the complex body of Psi ihe
of domestic cock, greatly ‘ a i
magnified; from Owen, after the Bird. The corresponding female Dynamamebe oy eee ae
Wagner and Leuckart. (ovarian ova) are simple spherical animaleules, phys- wagner and Leuck-
ically indistinguishable from an ordinary encysted Ameba ; but the sperma- art.
tozoa are remarkably distinguished in appearance, furnishing probably the best marked case of
sexual characters to be found among the Protozoa, to which class of animals they belong. The
spermatozoa resemble flagellate infusoria or ciliated endothelium cells, though they each have
but a single whip. They are of extremely minute size, much smaller than their females, and
filamentous; more or less thickened and sometimes wavy at their nucleated heads, whence pro-
, trudes an excessively delicate thready tail, endowed with great vibratory energy. They may be
likened to diminutive attenuated tadpoles, which swim by lashing the tail in the seminal fluid.
Under the microscope shoals of these curious creatures may be seen swimming in the sea, nosing
about in search of the ovum, butting their. heads in wrong places, backing out and trying again
in another direction; with such success that out of myriads a score or so may gain their end. It
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OOLOGY. 219
will be seen that they have a long journey to accomplish; for, libérated in the cloaca of the
female, they have to swim through the whole length of the oviduct to the ovary. Besides
such physical difference between the male and female Dynamamebe as I have indicated, they
differ in their place and mode of birth; and in this difference lies the very gist of sex. The
original indifferent genital gland above described, arrested, as said, at a certain stage of de-
velopment and therefore female—the ovary— produces its eggs from its surface-cells, which
subside into the ovarian tissue, and are quietly packed away there as ovarian ova, ready to
ripen and awaken to impregnation in due course. The same gland, further developed into a
testis, gives active birth to the spermatozoa in the tubules of its complicated interior tissue. In
the former case, the superficial cells slowly ovulate ; in the latter, the cells lining the interior
speedily spermate ; in a word, the testis is as literally viviparous as is the ovary oviparous, —
and these conditions are certainly no insignificant indices of relative development in the scale of
being. The spermatozoa appear in some animals to be set free in myriads from the walls of the
seminal tubules whence they directly issue; in birds, they are described as appearing coiled or
otherwise packed in delicate sperm-cells, which speedily rupture and discharge the creatures in
the current of the seminal fluid, where they take up the course and display the energetic actions
above noted. Either case has its parallel among ordinary Protozoans; the former correspond-
ing to the process of budding or gemmation, the latter to that of interior fission and discharge
of numerous progeny by rupture of the envelope. The final conjugation of spermatic filaments
with ovarian ova is simple fusion, such as any ordinary sexless amceboid animal may practise to
blend its protoplasmic substance with that of another. But there is this difference, that in the
case of Dynamamebda it is a true sexual congress, usually polyandrous, and still more of a
one-sided affair in that the female Dynamameba is at the time in a more or less quiescent,
encysted state.
Female Organs of Generation. — The connection between the male and female organs
of generation is naturally so close that in what has preceded it has been scarcely possible to
speak of the former without reference to the female counterparts. I have thus far endeavored
to state clearly the nature of the originally sexless genital gland; the difference in the same
gland when afterward sexed male or female; and the character of the spermatic offspring of
the male gland. In reading: that lesson the novitiate in such Eleusinian mysteries must not
mistake the language I have used to describe the male Dynamameba, or spermatozodn, as
applicable to anything in the development of the female Dynamameba, or ovum, into the
chick ; for all said thus far only relates to the bringing of the spermatozodn into contact with
the ovum, preliminary to the initial step of the ovum in its course of development. It is this
female Dynamameba — this primitive ovarian ovum, the germ of the chick, which corresponds
to and is the counterpart of the male Dynamameba, on meeting and mingling with which
fecundation is accomplished; the impregnated ovum being then empowered to take up its
marvellous march. Conjugation of the opposite Dynamamebe occurs either in the ovary or
upper part of the oviduct, — most probably the former. One or several spermatozoa — usually
more than one-— accomplishing their journey up the oviduct, and finding their affinity,
insinuate themselves into the substance of the ovum, and die there, dissolved in amorous pain;
that is to say, they melt into the substance of the ovum. The now fertile result, consisting of
the mingled protoplasm of the opposite amcebas, is to all appearance precisely the same as the
original infecund ovum — yet there is all the difference in the world, as the result shows.
The general character of the ovary of a bird has been already indicated (p. 46). The
principal superficial difference in appearance when the ovary is in functional activity, from the
corresponding organ of a mammal, is that the ova develop to such a size, in ripening in the
ovary before leaving it for the oviduct, that the organ looks like a bunch of grapes, — very
large and conspicuous. The oviduct is the musculo-membranous tube (modified miilerian
‘220 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
duct) which conveys the ripened ovum, and in its passage provides it with a quantity of white
albumen, and finally a chalk shell. A bird’s oviduct is the strict morphological homologue
(p. 68) of a mammal’s fallopian tube, uterus and vagina, ~~
more accurately, of one fallopian tube, one half of a uterus,
and one half of a vagina; for the uterus and vagina of a
mammal result from the union of both millerian ducts;
whereas in a bird only one—the left usually=is normally
developed. Functionally, the oviduct is also analogous (p.
68) to the mammalian uterus, inasmuch as it transmits the
‘product of conception, and detains it for a while, in the initial
‘stage of its germination, as we shall see in the sequel; though
all but the very first steps in the development of the chick
are taken during incubation, the egg having so hastily left
its uterine matrix. These structures —- ovary and oviduct,
fig. 108,— are most conveniently described as we trace the
course of the ovum from its origination to its maturity. This
record differs considerably from the corresponding course of
events in a mammal, inasmuch as the ovum of a bird, though
primitively identical with that of any other animal, acquires
special albuminous and cretaceous envelopes which the mam-
malian ovum, developed in the body of the parent, does not
require. The process is termed ovulation. Ovulation, which
is the formation of an egg in the bird, must not be confounded
with germination, which is the formation of a bird in the egg.
The former can be accomplished by the virgin bird, which
may lay eggs scarcely differing in appearance from those which
have been fecundated, but germination in which is of course
impossible. The course of ovulation, and afterward of germi-
nation, is now to be traced.
Fie. 108. — Female otgans of do-
mestic fowl, in activity ; from Owen,
after Carus. a, 6, c,d, mass of ova-
rian ova, in all stages of develop-
ment; 5, a ripe one; ¢, its stigma,
where the ovisac or calyx ruptures;
d, a ruptured empty calyx, to be ab-
sorbed; e, infundibulum, or funnel-
shaped orifice of the oviduct; 7, next
portion of oviduct; g, follicular part
of oviduct ; m, mesomeiry, membrane
steadying the oviduct; the reference-
line, m, crosses the constricted part or
isthmus of the oviduct; these parts
secrete the white of the egg; %, shell-
forming or uterine part of oviduct,
in ‘which is a completed egg, i; 4,
lowest or vaginal part of oviduct,
opening into uro-genital sinus of the
cloaca, 7 ; 0, anus.
Ovulation. — The ovum begins as a microscopic point in
the ovary, the stroma or tissue of which is packed with these
“incipient eggs. It is primitively just like any other female
Dynamameba, from that of a sponge up to that of a woman,
—a naked simple cell, capable of exhibiting active ameboid
movements.
It consists of a finely granular protoplasm, the
vitellus, or yelk, enclosed in a delicate structureless cell-wall, the vitelline membrane, called
the zona pellucida from its appearance under the microscope. Imbedded in the vitellus is a
nucleus, or kernel, the germinal vesicle; in this is a nucleolus, or inner kernel, the germinal
spot. The ovum occupies a tiny space in the ovary, the cellular walls of which constitute an
ovisac, or graafian follicle. Now if such an ovum as this were mammalian, it would, without
material change, burst the ovisac, be received into the fallopian tube and conveyed to the
uterus; where, supposing it already fertilized, the whole of its contents would develop into the
body of the embryo. It would therefore be holoblastic (Gr. édos, holos, the whole; Sdaorikds,
blastikos, germinative). It is different with a bird or other “ oviparous” animal, the egg of
which has to hatch outside the body; for provision must be made for the nourishment of the
developing chick, thus separated from the tissues of its mother. Such provision is made by
the accumulation about the ovum of a great quantity of granular protoplasmic substance, which
forms nearly all the large yellow ball called in ordinary language “the yelk” of an ege. None
of this adventitious substance goes to form the embryo ; it is what the embryo feeds on during
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.-- QOLOGY. 221
its formation. A bird’s egg is therefore meroblastic (Gr. pepos, meros, a part, and Bxaorixds),
and we must carefully discriminate between the great mass of' yellow food-yelk, as it may be
called, and a small quantity of “‘ white yelk,” the true germ-yelk, which alone is transformed. into
the body of the chick, The latter forms the cicatricle, vulgarly called the “tread”; that small
disc, visible in most birds’ eggs to the naked eye, which appears
upon the surface of the great yellow ball, floating in a pale thin
yelk which penetrates the denser and yellower food-yelk by a
cord of its own substance leading to a central cavity, the false
yelk-cavity, around which the food-yelk is deposited in a series
of concentrie layers like a set of .onion-skins The whole mass
is surrounded by a delicate structureless yelk-skin, called the
otielline membrane (whether this be the original vitelline mem-
brane of the Dynamameba or not; i. e., whether the food-yelk
has accumulated inside or outside the original zona pellucida).
All this enormous accumulation, effecting what is called a meto-
ane er: Rene Fie. 109. —Meroblastic ovum
vum or after-egg, to distinguish it from the protovum, or primitive (yelk) of domestic fowl, nat. size,
; ( OU tthé.o pf : . in section; after Haeckel. a, the
state of the egg, goes the ovary, and in the ovisac of each thin velkseliin, encioeing the. yal:
ovum ; with the ripening of the ovum, the ovisacs become dis- low food-yelk, which is deposited
tended to a corresponding size, and the whole ovary acquires im concentric layers, c, d; }, the
eee vers i cicatricle or tread with its nu-
the familiar bunch-of-grapes appearance. With such maturation cleus, whence passes a cord of.
of the fruit, the connection with the rest of the ovary lengthens White yelk (here represented in
. 5 2 : 5 black) to the central cavity, d/.
into a stalk, or pedicel, by which the ripe ovum hangs to its
stock, like any fruit upon its stem, ready to burst its skin and fall into the open mouth of the
oviduct. Such rupture of the graafian follicle (ovisac), in its now distended state known as
the capsule or calyx, occurs along a line where the numerous blood-vessels which ramify
upon its surface appear to be wanting, called the stigma: this is rent; the ovum slips out of
its calyx, like the substance of a grape pinched out of its skin, and falls into the oviduct.
After this discharge, the empty calyx collapses, shrivels, and ultimately disappears by ab-
sorption. (See expl. of fig. 108).
The ovum thus acquires the full size of its yelk in the ovary, — becoming, as in the case of
the hen, a yellow sphere an inch in diameter.!_ Notwithstanding its enormous distension with
food-yelk, it is still morphologically a simple cell, affording the maximum dimension of any
known protozoan or single-celled animal. Entering the oviduct, the germ-yelk part of the
whole mass is fertilized by spermatozoa, unless this process has before occurred in the ovary,
and in its passage through that tube the yelk-ball becomes invested successively with the
mass of transparent albumen known as the ‘‘ white” of the egg, and finally by the chalk shell
-= both secreted by the mucous membrane lining the oviduct.
During its functional activity, the left oviduct (there being usually only this one) becomes.
highly developed, both as to its muscular walls, which. by their contractility embrace the ovum
closely and squeeze it along, and as to its mucous secretory surface. It is supported by perito-
neal folds forming a mesometry, like the mesentery of the intestines; its whole structure and
office are quite like those of a length of intestine. The upper end of the singularly serpentine
oviduct is dilated into an infundibulum, or funnel-like mouth, corresponding to the fimbriated
extremity of the mammalian fallopian tube, and constituting a morsus diaboli, or ‘‘ devil’s grip,”
1 How great this is can only be appreciated by comparison. The human egg, on escaping from the graafian
follicle, is said to be from x}, to x45 of an inch in diameter. Taking it-at 745, there-would be 40,000 in a square inch,
and in a cubic inch 8,000,000. The largest bird’s egg known, that of the Z/pyornis, is said to have a content of
about a gross.of hen’s eggs—144.. Supposing the yelk of the 2pyornis. egg to bear the usual proportion to the
other contents of the shell, and allowing for the difference in bulk between a sphere and a cube of equal diameters,
there would still be somewhere about a billion human eggs in one Zpyornis egg-yelk, — roundly, a mass of them
equal to that of the germs of‘more than one-half of the present population of the globe.
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
which gets hold of the ovum to drag it down to the common lot of mortals from its high ovarian
birth. The infundibulum receives from the mesentery a delicate tunic of unstriped muscular
fibres, which are so disposed as to dilate that orifice for the reception of the ovum ; and during
the venereal orgasm the mouth of the tube is supposed to seize upon the ripest egg. The
actual anatomy of the arrangement, and the whole operation, is strangely suggestive of one of
the oldest myths respecting the serpent which bore the egg of the world in its jaws. The
mucous lining of the oviduct consists of a layer of ciliated epithelium; the membrane has a
different character in successive portions of its extent. Above, when the tube is not distended
with its burthén, the lining is thrown into lengthwise folds, which lower down become spirally
disposed, and then longitudinal again before they cease. This rugous portion of the tube is
beset with mucous follicles, which secrete ‘“‘the white.” The oviduct, after contracting at a
point called the isthmus, enlarges to a calibre sufficient to accommodate the egg in its shell;
for this is the shell-forming part, homologous with the mammalian uterus (a sinister semi-uterus
at least), lined with large villi, and beset with the follicles whose secretions calcify the egg-shell,
and decorate it with pigment. The rest of the tube is vaginal, being merely the passage-way
by which the perfected ovum is discharged into the cloaca, to be expelled per anum. The
muscular walls of the oviduct consist of both circular and longitudinal unstriped fibres, like
those of intestine, — the latter especially in upper portions and at the infundibulum, the former
more conspicuously below, where they form a sort of os tince at the bottom of the calcific
portion, and a kind of sphincter vagine at the end of the tube. A recognizable clitoris is
developed in many birds. ?
The deposition of the white and of the shell
remains to be noticed. The first deposit upon
the yelk-ball consists of a layer of dense and
somewhat tenacious albumen, called the chala-
ziferous membrane (Gr. xdhafa, chalaza, a tu-
bercle, and Lat. fero, I bear). As the egg is
urged along by the peristaltic action of the
tube, it acquires a rotation about the axis of the
tube; the successive layers of soft albumen it
receives are deposited somewhat spirally; and
the chalaziferous membrane is drawn out into
Fig. 110. —Hen’s egg, nat. size, in section; from
Owen, after A. Thompson. 4, cicatricle or “tread,”
with its nucleus, of white germ-yelk, floating on surface
of pale thin nutritive yelk, leading to central yelk-
cavity, x; a, the yellow yelk-ball, deposited in the suc-
cessive layers, forming a set of halones, and enveloped
in the chalaziferous membrane which is spun out at
opposite poles into the twisted strings, chalaze, c, c;
b, b/, successive investments of softer white albumen;
d, membrana putaminis, the ‘soft shell” or egg-pod,
between layers of which at the great end of the egg is
threads at opposite poles of the egg. These
threads, which become twisted in opposite direc-
tions during the rotation of the egg, are called
chalaze ; they are the “strings,” rather un-
pleasantly evident in a soft boiled egg, but serve
the important office of mooring and steadying the
yelk in the sea of white by adhesions eventually
contracted with the membrane which immedi-
PIU Sheree etteanell ately lines the shell. They are also intrusted
with the duty of ballasting, or keeping the yelk right side up. For there is a “right side”
to the yelk-ball, being that on which floats the cicatricle, or ‘‘tread.” This side is also the
lightest, the white yelk being less dense than the yellow; and the chalaze are attached a little
below the central axis. The result is, that if a fresh egg be slowly rotated on its long axis,
the tread will rise by turning of the yelk-ball in the opposite direction, till, held by the twisting
of the chalaze, it can go no farther; when, the rotation being continued, the tread is carried
under and up again on the other side, resuming its superior position as before. After all the
spiral layers of soft white are laid on, a final covering of dense albumen is deposited at the
isthmie part of the oviduct. This forms a tough tunic called the membrana putuminis (Lat.
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS. — OOLOGY. 223
putamen, a peel, rind), or “‘egg-pod”; it is the final euvelope of such a ‘soft-shelled egg”
as a hen drops when deprived of the lime required to enable her to secrete a hard shell. In
the uterine dilatation of the oviduct a thick white fluid charged with earthy matter is exuded ;
this condenses upon the egg-pod and forms the shell. The composition of this earth is chiefly
carbonate of lime (common chalk), with some carbonate of magnesia, and phosphates of both
of these bases —thus like that of bone as to ingredients, but: in very different proportions. The
shell does not simply overlie the pod in a distinct sheet, but is intimately coherent, the micro-
scopic crystals or other particles of the earthy matter being deposited in the matted fibrous
texture of the pod. The connection is most intimate in fresh eggs; after a while, layers of the
pod separate at the butt of the egg, forming the large air-space which every one has noticed in
that situation. The shell being very porous, readily admits air. The air space enlarges during
incubation, and the pod becomes more and more distinct from the shell, which latter also
increases in porosity and fragility towards “full term.” The rough or smooth appearance of an
egg-shell, the pores which may be visible to the naked eye, and other physical characters, are
due to the impression made upon it by the lining membrane of the ‘‘ uterus.” The superficial
deposit of chalk is so heavy, in some cases, as those of cormorants, etc., that it may be scraped
off without interfering with the texturally firm shell-substance underlying. All the coloration
of egg-shells, which frequently makes them pretty objects, is simply the deposit of pigment
granules in or upon the shell. Such deposit may be perfectly uniform, as it is in the bluish-
green egg of a robin, for instance, but it is oftener spotty — either upon a white or a whole-
colored ground. The browns and neutral tints are the usual colors, particularly a bright
reddish-brown ; the same, lying in instead of upon the shell, gives the grays, ‘‘ lilacs,” and
“‘lavenders” so well known. In ptarmigan, the pigment is so heavily deposited that the
egg comes out pasty on the surface; a sign of “fresh paint!” one must not disregard if he
would not spoil the decoration.
Oviposition. — The energy and rapidity with which the processes involved in the manu-
facture of so complex a product as a bird’s egg is now seen to be are extraordinary. A domestic
fowl may lay an egg every day for an indefinite period. It is difficult to say how quickly an
egg may ripen in the ovary; for, during the activity of that organ, several or many are to be
found in all stages of immaturity, and the date of the initial impulse cannot well be determined.
As there is probably but one egg at a time in the oviduct, the whole process of finishing off the
yelk-ball with its chalaziform, soft albuminous, putaminous, and calcareous envelopes may go
on in twenty-four hours, most of which time is consumed in the shell-formation. The number
of eggs matured by the human female is or should be thirteen annually; thisis no large number
for many of the gallinaceous and anatine birds to deposit in about as many days. But a
probable average number is five or six. Defeat of the procreative instinct from any accident is
commonly a stimulation to renewed endeavors to reproduce ; and very many birds rear two or
three broods annually, though one clutch of eggs is the rule. Many, such as auks, petrels, and
penguins, lay a single egg. Two eggs is the rule in humming-birds and pigeons. Three is
normal to gulls and terns, though these often have but two. Four is the rule among the
small waders of the limicoline groups. Some of the small Oscines lay over the average,
having eight or ten; among these, the European sparrow, Passer domesticus, is probably the
most prolific. The parasitic cuckoos are said to lay the relatively smallest eggs; that of the
Apertyz is said to be the largest, weighing one fourth as much as the bird. The usual
shape of an egg has given'us the common names oval, ovate, and ovoidal, for the well-known
figure. Some, as those of owls, woodpeckers, kingfishers, and others, more or less nearly
approach a spherical shape. Eggs of grebes, herons, Totipalmate birds and various others
are rather elliptical, or equal-ended, and narrow in proportion to their length. Eggs of the:
limicoline group are generally pyriform, — very broad at one end and narrow at the other. But
224 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
the eggs of all birds vary more in size and shape than some of the devotees of theoretical odlogy
admit in their practice. The variation so well known in any breed of domestic fowl is scarcely
above a normal rate. The short diameter, corresponding to the calibre of the oviduct, is less
variable than the long axis; for when the quantity of food-yelk and white, upon which the
difference in bulk depends, varies with the vigor of the individual, the scantiness or redundancy.
is expressed by the shortening or lengthening of the whole mass. The egg traverses the
passage small end foremost, like a round wedge, with obvious reference to ease of parturition
by more gradual dilatation of the outlet.
Germination. — Leaving now all the accessory parts of an egg, let us confine attention
to the germ-yelk, or ‘* tread,” which is alone concerned in the germinative process. Recurring
to the female Dynamameba, consisting of granular protoplasm (vitellus) included in its cell-
wall (vitelline membrane) and including its nucleus and nucleolus (germinal vesicle and germi-
nal spot), we will trace it up to the time it begins to take shape as an embryochick. At first,
as I have observed before, it is like any other amcba; the first step of development is prob-
ably a retrograde one; for if there ensues, when the spermatozoa melt into the ovum, the
result affirmed for mammalian ova, the original germinal vesicle and germinal spot disappear,
and the whole con-
tent of the ovum
proper is simply a
homugeneous mass
of granular proto-
plasm. In this ret~
rograde step, the or-
ganism, at the low-
est possible round
of the ladder of
evolution, is called
a monerula. The
germinal _ vesicle
and spot, however,
are speedily recon-
structed, and the
ovum looks pre-
cisely as it did be-
Fic. 111. — Segmentation of the vitellus by disenidal cleavage, diagrammatic, x about fore. But observe
10 times, after Haeckel. Only the ‘‘tread,” cicatricle, or germ-yelk (figs. 109, 0, 110, 4)is that the actual dif-
represented, as no other part of the whole yelk-ball undergoes the process. 4, separation .
into 2; B, into 4; C, into 16, by 8 radial and 1 concentric furrow; D, into many parts, by ference is enormous;
16 radial and about 4 concentric furrows; £, 64 radial and about 6 concentric furrows; for it now consists
F, the whole tread broken up into a mulberry-mass (morula) of cells. of the blended sub-
stance of the original ovum and of the spermatozoa; and in this duplex or bisexed state,
before any further step is taken, the creature is called a cytuwla,—the parent cell of the entire
future organism. In the former state it could reproduce nothing, not even itself; for it is the
strange physiological law of a Dynamameba that it cannot reproduce like an ordinary cell,
but must evolve an entire organism, like both of those two whose vital forces it concentrates,
summarizes, and embodies, — or nothing,
The first change in the parent-cell is that by which it becomes broken up into a mass of
cells, each of which is just like itself. This process is called segmentation of the vitellus; each
one of the numerous resulting cells is called a cleavage-cell. The nucleus of the parent-cell
divides into two; each attracts its half of the yelk; the halves furrow apart and there are now
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.—OOLOGY. 225
two cleavage-cells in place of the one parent-cell. A furrow at right angles to the first, and
redivision of the nuclei, results in fowr cleavage-cells, Radiating furrows intermediate to the
first two bisect the four cells, and would render eight cells, were not these simultaneously
doubled by a circular furrow which cleaves each, with the result of sixteen cleavage-cells. So
the subdivision goes on until the parent-cell becomes a mass of cells. This particular kind of
cleavage, by radiating and concentric furrowing, is called discoidal, and the resulting heap of
little cells assumes the figure of a thin, flat, circular disc. Segmentation of the vitellus, in
whatever manner it may go on, results in a mulberry-like mass of cleavage-cells; and the
original cytula has become what is called a morula. This process and result are clearly shown
in fig. 111, A-F.
The morula or mnlberry-massed germ of which the ‘‘tread” of a bird’s egg at this mo-
ment consists increases by multiplication of cells, and the disc is lifted a little away from the
mass of yellow food-yelk upon which it rests, like a watch-crystal from the face of a watch.
This disposition of the greatly multiplied cells in a layer and their coherence forms of course
a membrane, —the blastodermic mem-
brane, or blastoderm, fig. 112, B, b.
4
: TREE n
The cavity between the blastoderm nn )
and the mass of food-yelk is called the H l
cleavage cavity, s. At the stage when 6 noe
um
the blastodermic membrane and cleav-
age-cavity are formed, the germ is
called a blastula, or germ-vesicle,1 and
the process by which the morula be-
eomes a blastula is called blastulation.
Next, from the thickened rim, w, of
the watch-crystal-like blastula a layer
of large entoderm cells, fig. 112, C, 4,
separates, and grows tuward the centre:
feats er.
eicisee
ll
SEE més,
KT
when it gets there, of course the origi-
nal cleavage-cavity, 8, is shut off from
the surface of the food-yelk; a second
crystal having grown under the first
one. The second adheres to the first,
obliterating the original cleavage-cav-
ity; the germ is now obviously two-
layered ; the rising of the inner layer
to meet the outer results in a cavity
between itself and the food-yelk, D, d.
This cavity exactly resembles the
mT Eee
Fie. 112. — Further development of hen’s egg; after Haeckel:
A, the mulberry mass of cleavage cells, b, same as seen on top in
fig. 111, #, here viewed in profile in section, resting upon 7, the
simply-shaded part of the figure, to represent conventionally the
mass of fond-yelk. A, morula stage (as before); B, blastula
stage, the mass of cells, b, forming the blastoderm, uplifted from
the food-yelk, leaving the cleavage-cavity, s; w, the thickened
rim of the germ-disc; C, the blastula in process of inversion, by
which a layer of entoderm-cells, i, growing from periphery to
centre, will apply itself to the layer of exoderm-cells, e, obliterat-
ing the cleavage-cavity, s; D, the disc-gastrula completed, by
union of entoderm, i, with exoderm, e, leaving the primitive
intestinal cavity, d, which is quite similar in appearance to the
cleavage cavity, s, but morphologically quite different.
original cleavage-cavity, but it is a very different thing, being the primitive intestinal cavity.
The blastula, or germ-vesicle, has become converted into a gastrula, by the invaginating
process just described, known as gastrulation. The gastrula of a bird has the circular dis-’
coidal form which causes it to be termed a discogastrula. This process of forming a single
blastodermie layer, with a cleavage-cavity (blastula, or true germ-vesicle), then two blasto-
dermie layers, with obliteration of the cleavage-cavity and substitution of a primitive intestinal
eavity (gastrula), is common to all.animals which consist of more than single cells, under vari-
ous modifications and disguises; the process described is that occurring in meroblastic eggs
which have a discoidal cleavage and form a discogastrula.?
1 Not to be confounded with the original ‘‘ germinal vesicle ’”’ of the parent-cell, which long since disappeared
2 The so-called “ germ-vesicle” of the holoblastic mammalian egg is subsequent to gastrulation, not prior
and is therefore not 2 blastula proper.
15
226 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
What we have got now is a tread or germ consisting of a circular concavo-convex disc of
two layers of blastoderm, resting by its rim upon the great yelldw ball of food-yelk, from which
it is separated by a cavity, as a watch-crystal from itsface. All these changes, up to comple-
tion of gastrulation, may go on before the egg ts laid, the tread of a perfectly fresh egg being
already a multicellular discogastrula. Since the earlier stages of the embryo (cytula, morula,
blastula, and gastrula) are actually accomplished while the egg is still in the body of the parent,
the analogy of the oviduct to uterus, etc., as well as its strict homology to the parts of a
milerian duct so named, is not so fanciful as some appear to think. The outer of the two
blastodermic layers is the ectoderm or epiblast, C or D, e; the inner is the endoderm or hypo-
blast, i. By multiplication of cells between the two arises the mesoblast. The mesoblastie
layer of cells subsequently splits into two, of which the outer is the somatopleura, or body
layer, the inner the splanchnopleura or visceral layer. The two-layered germ has then become
four-layered. Up to the time of formation of four layers, the cells are all alike, or only differ
slightly in size, color, or consistency. Now, however, ensues that marvellous process by which
the indifferent cells of the blastodermic layers are to become differentiated in form and special-
ized in function,—a sort of division-of-labor system in the infant colony of cells, by which some
are to learn to move, others to digest, others to procreate, others to think and feel, with corre-
sponding modifications of form by which are generated the Osteamebe, Myamebe, Neur-
amebe,— the bone-cells, muscle-cells, nerve-cells, and all others of the complex organism
which is in a few days to come into being from such simple beginnings. This of course opens
up the whole field of embryology, which we cannot here enter upon. I will only add, that from
the epiblast is derived the integument, and its inversions, as those of the eye and ear, and the
brain and spinal chord. From the hypoblast is derived the lining of the alimentary canal and of
its annexes and offsets, as liver, lungs, etc. The rest of the embryo comes from the mesoblast,
and most of it from the somatopleural layer. The fissure between the two layers of the
mesoblast becomes the great pleuro-peritoneal cavity.
Tn explaining the early embryo, I have closely followed the great German morphologist,
Haeckel; and the illustrations are from the same high source.
Incubation. — To induce the wonderful metamorphoses just hinted at, it is only necessary
to keep a bird’s egg at a pretty even temperature of about 100° F. Nearly all birds secure
this result by the process of incubation. In many cases the sun’s rays relieve the parent of
some part of the duty. In a few, the heat evolved from vegetable ferment or decomposition is
utilized for the same purpose. This seems to be the case to some extent with grebes; but
these incubate. ‘The exception to the rule of incubation is given by the Megapodial birds
of the Australasian Islands. A huge mound of decaying vegetable matter is raised; the eggs
are deposited vertically in a circle at a certain depth, near the summit, and the chick is devel-
oped with the aid of the heat of fermentation. The large size of the egg relates to affording
a supply of material sufficing for an unusually advanced state of development of the chick at
exclusion ; whereby it has strength to force its way to the surface of the hatching-mound,
with wings and feathers sufficiently developed to enable it to take a short flight to the nearest
branch of an overshadowing tree” (Owen). The period of incubation has been ascertained
with precision for few birds; it is known to range from ten days (perhaps less), as in case of
the wren, to fifty or sixty for the ostrich. The female is usually the sitter. Frequently both
sexes incubate in turn; such unnatural care for the young by the male is termed double monog-
amy. In most or all Ratite, in the family Phalaropodide, and some other Limicoline genera,
the male incubates. Most birds attend to their own eggs; many cuckoos (Cuculide) and the
species of Molothrus, are parasitical, laying in the nests of other birds, which are thus forced to
become foster-parents of alien offspring, generally to the destruction of their own. This seems
to result from some peculiarity of the egg-laying process, which does not permit several eggs
THE ANATOMY OF BIRDS.— OOLOGY. 227
to be incubated and hatched simultaneously. It is not so unusual among American cuckoos
as generally supposed. The degree of development to which birds attain in the egg has been
already discussed (p. 88). They break the shell by pecking at it, and struggling; for the
former operation the bill is often tempered at the tip by a hard knob which is afterward ab-
sorbed. The necessity of providing a receptacle for eggs, in which they may be incubated,
results in nidification or nest-building ; and the extraordinary taste and ability many birds dis-
play in this matter, as well as the wide range of their habitudes, furnishes one of the most
delightful departments of ornithology, called caliology (Gr. xadid, kalia, a bird’s nest; see
p- 54, note). Many birds burrow in the ground; others in trees; the most beautiful and
elaborate nests are furnished by various members of the Oscines, the weaver-birds of Africa.
(Ploceide) probably taking the lead. The male sometimes constructs his own ‘‘nest” apart
from that in which the female incubates. ‘‘ Certain conirostral Cantores still practise in the
undisturbed wilds of Australia the formation of marriage-bowers distinct from the later-formed
nesting-place. The satin bower-bird (Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus), and the pink-necked
bower-bird (Chlamydodera maculata), are remarkable for their construction on the ground of
avenues, over-arched by long twigs or grass-stems, the entry and exit of which are adorned by
pearly shells, bright-colored feathers, bleached bones, and other decorative materials, which are
brought in profusion by the male, and variously arranged to attract, as it would seem, the
female by the show of a handsome establishment” (Owen). The extraordinary nests of the
Crotophaga, used in common by a colony of the birds, are noted at p. 471. “‘ Edible birds’-
nests,” constructed by swifts of the genus Collocalia, consist chiefly of inspissated saliva.
Perhaps the most remarkable of all the receptacles of eggs is that which the penguin makes of
its own body, the egg being carried in a sort of pouch formed by the integument of the belly,
‘something like that of a’marsupial mammal.
§ 5. DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE ARTIFICIAL KEYS.
These “Keys” differ from natural analyses in being wholly arbitrary and artificial.
They are an attempt to take the student bya ‘‘ short cut” to the name and position in the orni-
thological system of any specimen of a North American bird he may have in hand and desire to
identify. The plan has been much used in Botany, though seldom if ever employed for a
whole Fauna, before the original edition of this work. It will serve a good purpose, rightly
used; but it must be remembered there is no ‘‘royal road to learning”; nobody can be
smuggled into sound ‘erudition, either. Nor must too much be expected of me here; I can
take the student nowhere until he has learned the difference between the head and the tail of
a bird, at any rate. That is what the preceding pages undertake to teach; but, until such
technicalities have been mastered, progress in ornithology is out of the question.
The original ‘‘ Key to the Genera” proved scarcely so satisfactory as I hoped it would be.
It undertook too much, to conduct the student at once down to the intricacies of the very
many modern genera, not all of which cau by any possibility be characterized intelligibly in
a line of type. I have probably simplified and expedited matters by preparing on the same
plan Keys to the Orders and Sub-orders, and to the Families. Then in the body of the
work, under each head, further analyses are given when such seems to be required, — of
families under their orders or sub-orders, of genera under their families, and of species under
their genera. These ulterior analyses are for the most part rather natural than artificial,
though I never hesitate to seize upon any character that may furnish the desired clue to identi-
fication.
The artificial Keys immediately following will take the student to the families, with refer-
ence to the page of the work where such groups come; on turning to which, further analyses
228 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY...
will be found, generally down to species and even varieties. They are to be used as follows
(after the preceding lessons have been learned) : —
We have in hand a bird we do not know, and the name of which we wish to ascertain.
Suppose it to be that common species which builds the nest of mud upon the bough of the
apple-tree and lays greenish-blue eggs. To what family does it belong ?
The Key opens with an arbitrary division of our birds according to the number and
position of their toes. Our specimen, we see, has four toes, three in front, one behind. It
therefore comes under IV. Going to IV., we read:
Hind toe — inserted above the level of the rest, etc.
—not inserted above the level of the rest. .. . (Go to B.)
Our specimen has the hind toe not inserted above the level of the rest. Going to B, we find
five alternatives. Our bird presents no one of the special characters of the first four alterna-
tives, and this determined takes us tog. There we find:
(g) Primaries —10 ; the 1st (never spurious), etc.
—10; the 1st (spurious or), etc. . . . (Go to z)
— 9; the lst (never spurious), etc.
In this case the bird has obviously a spurious first primary, not nearly two-thirds as long as
the longest. Going to 7;—
(i) Tarsus — ‘‘ booted ” ; wings—shorter than, etc.
— longer than tail; tail — double rounded.
—not double rounded. . . . . TURDIDS, p. 240.
Thus (provided we have taken the trouble to inform ourselves what ‘“ spurious first pri-
mary” and ‘‘ booted tarsus” mean), the key conducts to a family, by presenting in suecession
certain alternatives, on meeting with each of which, we have only to determine which one of
the two or more sets of characters agrees with those afforded by our specimen. There will
not, it is believed, be any trouble in determining whether a given character is so, or is not so,
since only the most tangible, definite, and obvious features have been selected in framing the
key. After each determination, either the name of a family is encountered, or else a reference-
letter leads on to some new alternative, until by a’ gradual process of elimination the proper
family is reached. After a few trials, with specimens representing different groups, the process
will be shortened, for the main divisions will have heen learned; still the student must be
careful how he strikes in anywhere except at the beginning, for a false start will soon set him
hopelessly adrift. The key has been tested so thoroughly that there is little danger of his
running off the track except through carelessness, or misconception of technical terms; but
there is no excuse for the former, and the latter may be obviated by the Glossary at the end of
the book, and cspecially the foregoing General Ornithology, § 3, which should be consulted
when any doubt arises. Time spent upon the preliminary lessons will be time saved in
the end.
At page 240, as indicated, the family Turdid@ is fully characterized, and its sub-families
and genera are analysed. The bird in hand should answer all the characters of the tamily and
those of one of the sub-families, Turding, and one of the genera, Turdus. The analysis of
the species of Twrdus should show the specimen to be Turdus migratorius, the Robin. Under
the head of that species, No. 1 of the Juist, will be found a fair description and various other
particulars.
If there be any difficulty in going at once to the family, the student may try the key to
the orders and sub-orders, and get on the track in that way.
Directions for measurement have already been given (p. 24). In comparing measure-
ments made with those given in the Synopsis, absolute agreement must not be expected;
individual specimens vary too much for this. It will generally he satisfactory, if the discre-
DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE KEYS. 229
paney is not beyond certain bounds. A variation of, say, five per cent. may be safely allowed
on birds not larger than a robin: from this size up to that of a crow or hawk, ten per cent. ;
for larger birds even more. Some birds vary up to twenty or twenty-five per cent., in their
total length at least. So if I say of a sparrow for instance, ‘length six inches,” and the
specimen is found to be anywhere between five and three-fourths and six and one-fourth, it
will be quite near enough. But the relative proportions of the different parts of a bird are
much niore constant, and here less discrepancy is allowable. Thus ‘tarsus longer than the
middle toe,” or the reverse, is often a matter of much less than a quarter of an inch; and as it
is upon just such nice points as this that a great many of the generic analyses rest, the neces-
sity of the utmost accuracy in measuring, for the use of the keys, becomes obvious. When I
find it necessary to use the qualification ‘ about” (as, ‘‘ bill about = tarsus”) I probably never
mean to indicate a difference of more than five per cent. of the length of the part in’ question.
It may be well to call attention to the fact, that most persons unaccustomed to handling
birds are liable to be deceived in attempting to estimate a given dimension; they generally
make it out less than measurement shows it to be. This seems to be an optical effect con-
nected with the solidarity of the object, as is well illustrated in drawing plates of birds, which,
when made exactly of life-size, always look larger than the original, on account of the flatness
of the paper. The ruler or tape-line, therefore, should always be used, and particularly in
those cases where analyses in the key rest upon dimensions. It is hardly necessary to add,
that in taking, approximately, the total length from a prepared specimen, regard should be
had for the ‘‘ make-up” of the skin. A little practice will enable one to determine pretty
accurately how much a skin is stretched or shrunken, and to make the due allowance in either
case. a
The measurements used in this work are all in English inches and decimals.
There are probably no signs or abbreviations not self-explanatory or not already explained
in “ Field Ornithology.” ;
Fia. 112-bis. — Diagram of corresponding segments of hind limbs of man, horse, and bird. The lines 1-11 are
isotomes, cutting the limbs into morphologically equal parts, or isomeres.
230 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE ORDERS AND SUBORDERS.
Page
I. ToxEs 3; 2infront,ibehind .... oe 0 ee 0 ww tw « Piciformes of PIcARLE 444
Ii. Tors 3; 3in front. Toes — cleft or decilpalniate’ . ee ee ew we ww we he 6LEMICOLE 596
— palmate. Nostrils — tubular . se 6 6 «© © «© « 6 . . LONGIPENNES 732
—nottubular . ...... =... »PYGOPODES 787
1. Tors 4; 2in front, 2 behind. Bill — cered and hooked. . . oe ee 6 © ee ee ~. PSITTACI 494
— neither cered nor hooked. “Tail feathers — 8 or 10
Cuculiformes of PICARIE 444
—12 Piciformes of PicaRia 444
Iv. Toes 4; 3in front, 1 behind.
Eoeai-eaynituctyle cesar eee ee ee ww we wo © Cuculiformes of PICARLA 444
— totipalmate (all four full-webbed) . see ee ew ww et ow ee + 6. STEGANOPODES 718
—palmate. Bill — curved up 4 eee tee we we we ww + 6 LIMICOLE 596
— not curved up — lamellate . + + + « «© «© + © » +» LAMELLIROSTRES 677
— not lamellate. Hallux—lobate . . . . . PYGOPODES 787
—notlobate. . LoNnGIPENNES 732
—lobate. Tail— rudimentary. . se 6 ee ee + + + + 6» P¥GOPODES 787 .
— perfect. — A horny frontal ‘shield se 8» « © © + «© « » ALECTORIDES 665
—Nofrontalshield. . .. + oe + ee / . . LImtcona 596
— semipalmate; joined by evident movable basal web (go to A).
— cleft to the base or there immovably coherent (go to B).
A. Hind toe — elevated. Tibis — feathered below. Nostrils— perforate. . . Cathartides of RAPTORES 496
— imperforate. Gape — reaching below eye
Cypseliformes of PICARIAE 444
— not reaching below eye
GALLINZ 671
— naked below. Nostrils— perforate... .. . . . . ALECTORIDES 665
— imperforate. Tarsi — scutellate in front
LIMICOLE 596
—reticulate. Head — bald
HERODIONES 647
— feathered
LIMICcOLa 596
— not elevated. Tibie — naked below . . + + @ + + « » « » HERODIONES 647
— feathered below. Bill —cered ‘and hooked . . . . . RAprorEs 496
—notcered. Nasal— membrane soft CoLUMBz 661
—sealehard . GALLINa 671
B. Hind toe — elevated. Gape— reaching beloweye. . . . » Cypseliformes of Pioartz 444
— not below eye. 1st primary _ petianginats orabout=2d . . LimicoLz 596
— not emarginate and shorter than 2d
ALECTORIDES 665
— not elevated. Nostrils — opening beneath soft swollen membrane .... . COLUMB 561
— otherwise. Bill—ceredand hooked .. . . . « RAPTORES 496
— otherwise. Secondaries — only six
Cypseliformes of PicaRLa 444
— more than six (go to a).
a. Primaries — 10; 1st more than 3 as long asthe longest . . . .. =. =. . . Clamatores of
— 10; 1st not $ as long as the longest 2 ang as Oscines PASSERES 238
agi ee eee 5 os o
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 231
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES.
Page
TOES 3,—2.1N FRONT, 1 BEHIND...» 1 1 wu we ee wt we ot oh tw et ow « PWOWDE M7
TOES 3,—3 IN FRONT. (Goto II.)
TOES 4,—2 IN FRONT, 2 BEHIND. (Go to ITT.)
TOES 4, -—3 IN FRONT, 1 BEHIND. (Go to IV.)
II. [Tors 3, — 3 1n Front.]
Toes — completely webbed. Nostrils — tubular (Albatrosses) . . se 8 6 6 » « . » PROCELLARIIDZ 773
— not tubular (Auks, &c.) . . . P . . ALcrpz 797
— incompletely or not webbed. Legs — about as long as wings. Bil subulate (Stilt) REOURVIROSTRIDE 609
— much shorter than wings (go to a).
(a) Tarsus — scutellate in front, about as long as bill (Sanderling) . . . . . .SCOLOPACIDA 614
— reticulate in front — shorter than red chisel-like bill (Oyster-catener). H2Z=MATOPODIDZ 606
— longer than bill(Plovers) . . . ee CHARADRIID 597
III. [Tors 4,— 2 i FRONT, 2 BEHIND.|
Bill — cered and strongly hooked. Tarsus granulated (Parrot) . . So ay ids ee Ve PsiTTacipz 496
— not cered; inner hind toe — 3-jointed; Plumage iridescent (Trogon) . are 7 TROGONID2® 468
— 2-jointed ; — tail of — 8 or 10 soft feathers (Cuckoos, &e.) . . CUOCULIDE 470
— 12 (apparently only 10) rigid acuminate feathers
(Woodpeckers). . . . PIcIDz& 477
[Tors 4,— 3 in Fronz, 1 BEHIND.]
HIND TOE — INSERTED ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE REST (AND ALWAYS SHORTER THAN THE SHORTEST
FRONT TOE). (Go to A.)
— NOT INSERTED ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE REST (AND GENERALLY BUT NOT ALWAYS NOT
SHORTER THAN THE SHORTEST FRONT TOE). (Go to B.)
[The hind toe elevated.]
Feet — TOTIPALMATE (all 4 toes webbed ; hind toe semi-lateral and barely elevated). (Go to A.)
— PALMATE (3,front toes full-webbed, hind toe well up, simple or lobed or connected by slight webbing to
base only of inner toe). (Go to B.)
— LOBATE (3 front toes partly webbed or not, and conspicuously bordered with plain or scalloped mem-
branes ; hind toe free, and simple or lobed). (Go to C.)
— SEMIPALMATE (2, or 3, front toes webbed at base only by small yet evident membrane ; hind toe well up,
simple). (Goto D.)
— SIMPLE (front toes with no evident membranes ; hind toe well up, simple). (Go to E.)
(A.) Tarsus — feathered, partly ; tail deeply forked; bill epignathous (Frigate-bird). . . . TACHYPETID 730
— naked; bill — > tail, hooked at tip, furnished with enormous pouch (Pelicans) PELECANIDZ 721
— < tail; throat — feathered; middle tail feathers filamentous (Tropic-birds)
PHAETHONTIDZ 731
— naked; tail— pointed, soft; tomia subserrate(Gannets) SULIDZ 720
— rounded, stiff; bill — paragnathous (Anhinga)
PLoTIpz 729
— epignathous (Cormorants)
PHALACROCORACID: 723
232 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
Page
(B.) Bill — curved up, extremely slender and acute (Avocet). . ... . . . . . » RECURVIROSTRIDZ 609
— bent abruptly down, very stout, lamellate (Flamingo) . . +. + « « « PHGNICOPTERIDE 678
—lamellate; mostly membranous, with nail at end (Swans, Geese, Ducks, &.) . . . . ANATID 679
— not lamellate; nostrils — tubular; hind toe very small (Petrels) . . . .:. . PROCELLARIID 773
— not tubular; hind toe — free, not lobed (Gulls and Terns). . Laripat 733
— not ink, lobed (Loons). . . . . COLYMBIDA 789
(C.) Tail — rudimentary; lores naked (Grebes). . . soe ee « « + « « PODICIPEDIDZE 792
— perfect; forehead — covered with a horny shield (Coots) oe ee ew ww ew we 6. RALLIDE 669
— feathered (Phalaropes). . . . . . » «PHALAROPODIDE 612
(D.) Mid-claw — pectinate; 4th toe 4-jointed ; plumage lax (Gostenekers) . - +e « «© «© CAPRMIULGIDE ‘447
— not pectinate; hind toe — versatile; plumage compact (Swifts) . . . . . . CYPSELIDE 455
— not versatile; head — naked (go to b).
— feathered (go to c).
(b.) Nostrils — imperforate; naked leg and foot shorter than tail (Turkey). . . . MELEAGRIDIDZ 5676
— perforate; naked leg and foot — shorter than tail (Turkey-buzzards) . CATHARTIDZ 657
— longer than tail (Cranes) . . . . . GRUIDE 666
(e.) Nostrils — feathered, or scaled, in deep fossa of stout hard bill. . . . . TETRAONIDE 576
— not feathered nor scaled, in groove of softish bill; tarsus — reticulate (Plover)
CHARADRIIDE 597
— scutellate in front (Snipe, &c.)
(E.) Wing—spurred. .. . . « » PARRIDZ 669
— not spurred ; forehead. - covered with a horny shield (Gallinules) . «i... . + . RALLIDE 669
— feathered; length —2feetor more . . . . . ARAMIDZ 667
— under 2 feet; 1st primary — attenuate ( Woodcock). . . SCOLOPACIDE 614
— not attenuate — much shorter than 2d (Rails)
RALLIDZ 669
— about equal to 2d (Snipe, &c.) ScoLoPaAcIDz 614
or HAMATOPODIDE 606
B. [The hind toe not elevated.]
\TOES SYNDACTYLOUS; tibiz~ naked below; bill straight, acute (Kingfishers) . . . . . . . ALCEDINIDZ 468
TIBLZ NAKED BELOW. (Go to d.)
NOSTRILS OPENING BENEATH SOFT SWOLLEN MEMBRANE. (Go to e.)
BILL HOOKED AND FURNISHED WITH A CERE. (Go to f.)
BIRDS WITHOUT THE ABOVE CHARACTERS. (Go tog.)
(d.) Middle claw — pectinate (Herons) . . . soe ee we we ew ww +). ARDEIDE 654
— simple; tarsus — scutellate in front (Tbises) . ao . . IBIDIDE 648
— reticulate; bill — flat, apoon-sliaped (Spoonbill) . PLATALEIDZ 651
— not flat, stout nee (Wood Ibis) Crconrmp= 652
(e.) Bird over 18 inches long, greenish (TexanGuan). .....4... +o. + « » CRACIDZ 572
Birds under 18 inches long (Pigeons) . . . . .COLUMBIDZ 562
(f.) Kyes — lateral, not surrounded by a disc; nostrils im ‘the ce cere 5 ( Hawks, Eagles, &c.) . FALCONID 519
or PANDIONID 556
— anterior; face more or less disc-like ; nostrils at edge of cere (Owls); middle claw — simple
STRIGIDZ 502
— jagged
ALUCONIDZ 500
(g-) PRIMARIES — 10; the 1st (never spurious) always more than § as long as longest (go to h).
—10; the 1st (spurious or) at most not 3 as long as longest (go to i).
— 9; the 1st (never spurious) of variable length (go to k).
(h.) Tail — 12-feathered ; tarsal envelope irregular (Flycatchers) es » » . .TYRANNIDE 428
— 10-feathered; secondaries — only 6; bill subulate (Humming-birds) . . « TROOHILIDE 458
— more than 6; bill small, very short (Swifts) . . CYPSELIDA 455
(i.) Tarsus — “booted”; wings — shorter than tail, both much rounded; plumage very sick CHAMIDE 262
— longer than tail; tail—double-rounded. . . » + « AMPELIDZ 325
— not double-rounded (Thrushes, &c.) TURDIDE 240
—acutellate; nostrils — concealed ; bill — strongly epignathous, toothed and notched (Shrikes)
LANIIDz 336
— paragnathous;— over 7 inches long (Crows and
Jays) CoRvIDz 414
—not7 inches; bill — nearly = head
(Nuthatches) Sirrmpz 269
— scarcely or not
4 = head (Tits) Parma 263
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 233
Page
= exposed; length — over 9 inches; color brown or blue . CoRvip@ 414
— 7-8 inches; crested; 6 glossy black AMPELIDA 325
—4}-6} inches; bill distinctly hooked; tail soft,
; without black VIREONIDE 329
—4}-5} inches; bill slender, curved, tail stiff, acute
‘CERTHIDE 272
— Birds without these characters; rictus — bristled
TURDIDZ 240
: — unbristled
TROGLODYTIDE 278
(k.) Tarsus — scutelliplantar; hind claw straight (Larks). ...... . . . . . ALAUDIDE 280
—laminiplantar; bill — metagnathous, both mandibles falcate, 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 54-64 VIREONIDZ 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).
‘ @.) 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) HIRUNDINID&E 319
(m.) Longest secondary nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind claw (usually) little
curved, nearly twice as long as middle claw (Titlarks) . oe a a ee «© MOTAOCILLIDZE 283
Longest secondary not nearly reaching end of primaries in closed wing; hind claw well curved,
not nearly twice as long as middle claw (Warblers, &c.) . Cai:REBID# 317, or SYLVICOLIDZ 287
(n.) Bill usually thick, stout, and with evident angulation of the commissure. . . . . IcTERIDH 399
or! FRINGILLID 339
1 Note. — These two families cannot be concisely distinguished. IcrERIDz contains the blackbirds, orioles,
meadow starlings, bobolinks, and cowbirds. FRINGILLID#, our largest family, includes all kinds of grosbeaks,
buntings, linnets, finches, and sparrows.
oA a a nee
a Fa a eg
. f
Man Bat Horse H wy
Fia. 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.
234 ' GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY.
TABULAR VIEW OF THE GROUPS HIGHER THAN GENERA
ADOPTED IN THIS WORK FOR THE
CLASSIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS.
Subclass CARINATZ: Carinate Birds.
ORDERS (18). SuBORDERS (20). FaMILizs (63). SuBFAMILIES (77).
=
. Turdine,
. Miminze.
. Cincline.
I. PASSERES. 1
se . 2.
eke ee APRS we wee De CS SO ee aw we =e & of e Samicolne,
6
6
OscLNES ee Ss 1. Turdide .
. Regulinee.
6: aie dos eh Se Je. oes < Bic lires e teee . Polioptilinz,
ee ae . . oe | 2. Chameide (?) . ‘ 5 Se eae aS
ie eh Jah Foren ap 0? ke oe ee 3. Paride ..... | T. Paring.
oe eee . oe . . 4. Sittide ..... oo. iin asl a Jo ag eee
os Sw o. ae es 5. Certhiide. ... .- 8, Certhiin.
ae ne Woe Bens 3 ie ae 6. Troglodytide . . . 9. Campylorhynching.
Oooh, ees a ee ie fel ae oa: S80 Gee Dan oe Nae eee ee we ew es | 10. Troglodytins.
ree ee) eee KOE SA Wah “GY et es Gs. 1. dlaudide. . . . . | 11. Calandriting.
Pee ee ae a eee ee oe a ea oe ee ww ss | 12, Alauding. q
agi ee ee AS AS - +e es + | 8. Motaciliide. . . . | 13, Motacillina, ;
es Se, ede . . ee ee BY aE Nae aero eS ce we fie et we ce ce es i |, Aig
ar ae wee ew ew we ew | 9 Sylvicolide. . . . | 15. Sylvicoline,
. oi te . Sep sees, . ee Fae Ne ee Ghee 16. Icteriinz.
a clas cat la ogg ste ys Il cot Naa tah wept es a be) AS ee ae. atti Gee 17. Setophaginz.
oe Rw aw | ea ee es le a 0s Coprebidwis. ss a fee Sa ae om
. oe eee oe ee we oe we | cL Tanagride.... a te Se ee ae
ve Be ey os Set Se eee ee ee we «| «dD. Hirundinide ... . . ee Bw
. eee ew fw ww ee ww oe we | 18. Ampelide (?) . . . | 18. Ampelina.
eo 8 i Ra 2 ee eee wee ie 19. Ptilogonatine.
Pa : eee we we we we + | 20. Myiadestine.
@ ta Son Gee eh cee see ee ow ow oe ws | dA Vireonide . . fe Mae te 28 cae
oe eo © © | WS Laniide. . . . . | 21. Laniine.
. 2 ee . « | 16. Fringillide. . . . a Ba PES. isk oth gab Se
oP ag eee « ss | 17, Icteride . . . . . | 22. Ageleine.
ex fer Tia Sarge Sasa be See Hal Pe TR a eye aah i Ye SOE . . | 23. Sturnellins.
‘s eo fe © 6 ee © © ws | OF, Fetering.
. ope oe ~ eee a ee ew we ee & | BR Qilecatind,
we ee we he ee ew ee ew ew | 18 Corvide . . . . . | 26. Corvine.
woe ee we ew we | 19 Sturnide. . . . . | 28. Sturnine.
soe ee ew ee ew | 2 CLAMATORES . . 20. Tyramnide . . . . | 29. Tyranniney,
Il. PICARLH(?) . . 3. CYPSELIFORMES. . | 21. Caprimulgide . . . | 30. Caprimulginag,
EP dite, ee soe ee ew we es | 22, Cypselide ... . | 81 Cypselina.
» » « | 32, Cheturina,
.
oa ae ie ee 28, Trochilide . . . . | 33. Trochilinz.
. . - + « « | 4 CUCULIFORMES ?. 24. Trogonide.. . . . | 34. Trogonine.
as ih Joh wee ew Lee ee ee we oe | 25, Alcedinide . . . . | 36, Alcedinineg.
jag te Ge Ley ee Sy Yess tous it ae 7 26. Cuculide. . . . . | 36. Crotophagine.
CeCe et ee ‘ o 6 © « + o «© » @ « | 37, Saurotherine.
Ye ee 7 2 BSS eo » fee ee ew © e + « | 88. Coceygine.
. » . » | & PICIFORMES » Oe Pade. 6 a we & atta
CLASSIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS.
235
Orpers (18).
SuBORDERS (20).
Famiuiss (63).
SuBFaMILigs (77).
Ill. PSITTACL . « +
IV. RAPTORES. .
V. COLUMBAS
VI. GALLINE .. .
VI. LIMICOLE . .
. oe ee
IX. ALECTORIDES
XI STEGAN PODES
XIL. LONGIPENNES .
XII. PYGOPODES
6. STRIGES. ...
8. CATHARTIDES. .
9, PERISTERZE.
10. PERISTEROPODES
11, ALECTOROPODES.
Carey ae ee .
oe ee
42. Ipmes. . 2.1...
13, PELARGI .
ee 8
.14, HERopM. ...
15. GRUIFORMES .
16. RALLIFORMES .
o.
17. ODONTOGLOSSZ . .
18. ANSERES. . .
19. GAVIE ...
7. ACOIPITRES. . ..
. Falconide
. Psittacide .
. Aluconide .
. Strigide .
. Pandionide.
» Cathartide .
Columbide .
Cracide .
. Ardeide .
. Gruide ..
. Aramide .
. Parride .
. Rallide .
Sulide .
eee
. Pelecamide . .
. Phalacrocoracide. .
. Plotide
. Tachypetide
. Phatthontide .
, Laride
. Meleagridide .
. Letraonide .
. Charadriide .
, Hematopodide
. Recurvirostride .
. Phalaropodide
. Scolopacide .
. Ibidide
. Plataleide .
. Ciconiide
. Phenicopteride .
. Anatide .
ee
. Colymbide .
. Podicipedide .
Aloide «
. Procellariide .
76, Phaleridinz.
39. Aring.
40. Striginse?
41. Bubonins?
42. Circins.
43, Milvine.
44, Accipitrinse.
45. Falconinze.
46. Polyborinz.
47. Buteoninz.
48. Columbinz.
49, Zenaidinse,
50. Starnenadine.
51. Penelopina.
52, Tetraonine.
58, Odontophorina,
64. Charadriinz,
55. Aphrizinz ?
56. Hematopodinz.
57. Strepsilains.
58. Tantaline,
59. Ciconiinz.
60. Ardeinz,
61, Botauring.
62. Rallinee.
63. Gallinuline.
64. Fulicing.
65, Cygnine.
66. Anserinz.
67. Anatine.
68. Fuligulinz.
69. Merginz.
70. Lestridinz.
71, Larine.
72, Sterninz,
73. Rhynchoping.
74. Diomedeing.
75. Procellariins.
77. Alcina,
18 ORDERS.
20 SuBORDERs.
63 FamMIigs.
77 SUBFAMILIES.
EXPLANATION OF COLORED FRONTISPIECE.
ANATOMY OF PIGEON, 9, & Nat. Size.
The breast-bone and entire front walls of body removed ; the viscera drawn to the right.
A, A, skin of neck turned aside. —a, opening of bursa fabricii into cloaca. —B, brain
removed from skull and turned hind part before (p. 176). — Bp, brachial plexus (p. 177). —
b, opening of oviduct into cloaca (p. 219). —C, crop, with left C’, and right C”, lateral dila-
tations (p. 212). —e, opening of left ureter into cloaca (p. 214). — ca, czca coli, point where
small intestines pass into colon (p. 214).— D, D, duodenal loop of intestine, enfolding pan-
creas (p. 218).— E, esophagus, gullet (p. 211). — Er, right ear-opening.—e, left cerebral
hemisphere. — f, optic nerve (p. 176). — G, gizzard; letter on central tendon (p. 212). — g
left optic lobe (p. 176). — H, heart (p. 196); the unlettered orange-red arteries from it are the
short right and long left innominate, latter dividing into left carotid and left subclavian (both
eut short), former dividing into right carotid (the long ascending vessel) and right subclavia
just over the letters ‘‘Ty”; main aortic arch (right) not shown (pp. 197, 198); the unlet-
tered bright-blue vessels are the pulmonary arteries. — Hy, hyoid arch (p. 167). --h, cerebel-
lum (p. 176). —hd, hepatic ducts entering duodenum from liver (p. 215). — i, termination
of rectum in cloaca (p. 214). — J, esophagus between crop and proventriculus. — Kn, knee
(p. 120). — k, k, k, three lobes of kidney, lying in pelvis p, ureter w passing down upon
them to ¢ (p. 217). — LL, liver, right and left lobes, receiving apex of heart between them
(p. 215). — Lg, leg (p. 120). —Lau, left lung (see p. 200; compare fig. 101).—M, M’, M”,
M', stumps of cut pectoral muscles (p. 193). —m, entrance into lung of left bronchial tube.
N, N, skinned neck. —n, spigelian lobe of liver. —O, left ovary, inactive (p. 220, fig. 108)
od, left oviduct, passing down with ureter to b.—P, pelvis partly exposed (p. 147).— Pe,
pancreas, lying in duodenal fold of intestine (p. 215).— Pr, proventriculus or true stomach,
between cesophagus and gizzard (p. 212).—p, medulla oblongata, connecting brain with
spinal cord (p. 175). —Q, coils of intestine, coming down from D’, behind G, passing ca to i
(p. 213). —R, cut ends of several ribs. —r, r’, two openings leading from lung’ to not shown
air-sacs (p. 200, fig. 101, u, «).—S, spleen. —Sr is placed over the syrinx; the fleshy bands
on each side of the letters are the intrinsic syringeal muscles; the narrower bands diverging
from trachea between Sr and Tr are extrinsic muscles (p. 204, fig. 101, 16, a-e). — Th,
thigh (p. 120). — Tr, trachea or wind-pipe (p. 201).— Ty, a gland. —t, intermediate mus-
cle of the gizzard. —U or V, remains of skull broken open to remove brain. —v, v/, vw’,
three pancreatic ducts entering intestine (p. 215). — w, ureter, see k, above.— Drawn and
colored from nature by Dr. R. W. SHure tpt, U. 8. A.
Part III.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS
OF
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS.
CLASS AVES: BIRDS.
HIS CLASS OF ANIMALS, while sharply distinguished from Mammals, is so closely
related to Reptiles, that the presence of feathers in the former, and their absence
from the latter, is the most obvious if not the only positive character by which the two classes
are separable.
Though the species of birds are numerous (some 10,000 are known), the structural diver-
sity of the Class is comparatively so slight, that the characters upon which the primary divisions
are based seem insignificant in view of those upon which the major groups of Mammals or
Reptiles may be founded. ‘With strict regard for equivalency of taxonomic groups, based on
morphological considerations, the conventional ‘‘ class” of Birds is searcely or not of higher
value than an order of Reptiles, with which Birds are associated under the name SAvuROP-
sipA. But it is not proven that a given structural character may not have classificatory value
in one case, different from that which may properly be attributed to it in another; so that,
though the most diverse birds may be more alike than are extremes among Lizards for
example, we may still continue to speak of a class Aves, to be primarily divided into sub-classes
or orders.
All known Birds, living and extinct, are divisible into the following primary groups,
which may be termed sub-classes : : ‘
I. Saurur#. — Birds with teeth. Vertebre biconcave (amphicelous). Sternum
keeled. Wings small, with separate metacarpals. Tail longer than body, its
vertebree not pygostyled, its feathers arranged in distichous series. (One species,
Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the Jurassic of Europe. Fig. 14.)
II. Ovponrorormaz.— Birds with teeth, implanted in sockets. Vertebree biconcave.
Wings large, with anchylosed metacarpals. Sternum keeled. Tail short.
(Typified by the genus Ichthyornis, from the Cretaceous of North America.
Fig. 16.)
238 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. ~ CARINATZ — PASSERES.
Il. Oponrorca. — Birds with teeth, implanted in grooves. Vertebre saddle-shaped
(heterocelous). Wings rudimentary, wanting metacarpals. Sternum without
keel. Tail short. (Typified by the genus Hesperornis, from the Cretaceous of
North America. Fig. 15.)
IV. Ratira.— Birds without teeth. Vertebre (some) saddle-shaped. Wings rudi-
mentary, or at most unfit for flight, with anchylosed metacarpals. Sternum
without keel (as in Odontolce, fig. 15). Tail short. (Embracing the extinct
Moas, and the living Ostriches, Cassowaries, Emeus, and Kiwis.)
V. Carinars.— Birds without teeth. Vertebrae (some) saddle-shaped. Wings devel-
oped, with rare exceptions fit for flight, with anchylosed metacarpals. Sternum
keeled. Tail short (as to its vertebree, which are pygostyled). (Embracing all
living birds excepting the Ratite).
V. AVES CARINATA: ORDINARY BIRDS.
The essential characters of this group, which includes all living birds excepting the
ostriches and their allies (ratite or struthious birds), are the absence of teeth, the saddle-shaped
faces of the best-developed vertebree, and the keeled breast-bone (fig. 56), in combination with
the perfection of wing-structure in adaptation to aerial (or aquatic) flight. The metacarpals and
three metatarsals are anchylosed (figs. 27, 34); the scapula and coracoid meet at less than a
right angle (very rarely more), and the furculuin is usually perfect (fig. 59). (In the flightless
parrot of New Zealand (Stringops habroptilus), the sternal keel is rudimentary.) The caudal
vertebrae are few, and the last few (pygostyle, fig. 56) are peculiarly modified to support the
tail-feathers in fan-like array. There is normally extensive post-acetabular anchylosis of the
pelvic bones, which are normally separate there in the other groups (compare figs. 56 and 15).
The division of Carinate birds has always exercised the judgment and ingenuity of orni-
thologists ; no system that has been proposed has been universally adopted, and few if any of
the major groups can be considered established and perfectly defined. The orders of Carinate,
therefore, are still provisional. But a great assemblage of birds have been ascertained to
agree (with few exceptions) in possessing certain characters, upon the combination of which
may be based an
I.— Order PASSERES: Insessores, or Perchers Proper.
The feet are perfectly adapted for grasping by the length and low insertion of the hind toe,
great power of apposing which to the front toes, and great mobility of which, are secured by
separation of its principal muscle (flexor longus hallucis) from that which bends the other toes
collectively (Hexor profundus digitorum). The hind toe is always present, perfectly incumbent,
and never turned forwards or even sideways; its claw is as long as, or longer than, the claw
of the middle toe. The feet are never zygodactyle, nor syndactyle, nor semipalmate, nor
palmate; the front toes are usually immovably joined to each other at base, for a part, or
the whole, of the basal joints. No one of the front toes is ever versatile. The joints of the
toes are always 2, 3, 4, 5, counting from the first (hinder one) to the fourth (outer front one).
The toes are always four in number (excepting Cholornis). (Figs. 36, 37, 42, 43.) Various
as are the shapes of the wings, these nembers agree in having the great row of coverts not more
than half as long as the secondaries; the primaries either nine or ten in number, and the second~
aries more than six. (Fig. 30.) The tail, extremely variable in shape, has twelve rectrices
(with certain anomalous exceptions). The bill is too variable in form to furnish characters of
groups higher than families; but its covering is always hard and horny, in part or wholly, —
never extensively membranous, as in many wading and swimming birds, nor softly tumid, as in
CHARACTERS OF PASSERES. 239
pigeons, nor cered, as in parrots and birds of prey. The nostrils do not openly communicate
with each other. The oil-gland (p. 86) is nude, and of a characteristic shape. Besides these
external characters, which the student may readily examine without dissection, there are some
more important anatomical ones. The sternum (with few exceptions) is cast in a particular
mould, being manubriated, with prominent costal processes, and having each side of the poste-
rior border single-notched (neither entire, nor deeply nor doubly notched, nor fenestrate; fig. -
58). The bony palate has a peculiar structure, called egithognathous (fig. 79). There is but
one carotid artery, the left (fig. 91). The cceca coli are present, though small. There is a
peculiarity in the method of insertion of the tensor patagii brevis. Besides possessing the pecul-
iarity of the flexors of the toes, already mentioned, Passeres are anomalogonatous (p. 195);
that is, the ambiens muscle is absent, as is the accessory femoro-caudal; the femoro-caudal and
- semitendinosus are present, as is usually also the accessory semitendinosus.
Physiologically, the nature of Passeres is altricial and psilopeedic (p. 88) ; that is, the young
are hatched weak and naked, and require to be fed for some time in the nest by the parents.
They represent the highest grade of physiological development, as well as the most perfect
physical organization of the class of birds. Their nervous irritability is great, codrdinate with
the rapidity of their respiration and circulation; they consume the most oxygen, and live the
fastest, of all birds. They habitually reside above the earth, in the air that surrounds it, among
the plants that with them adorn it; not on the ground, nor on “the waters under the earth.”
Pas’seres were named by Cuvier in 1798 as an order of birds; the name is simply the
plural of the Lat. passer, a sparrow. But the group as established by him included many
forms which were first properly excluded by the celebrated Nitzsch, who in 1829 limited the
group as now accepted. Besides being one of the best defined, it is by far the largest group
of its grade iu ornithology. For example, of the 888 birds enumerated as North American in
the Check List, no fewer than 394 are Passeres; as are more than half of all known birds.
‘Passeres are primarily divisible into two groups, commonly called sub-orders, mainly
according to the structure of the vocal organ, — the lower larynx, or syrinx. In one of these
groups, the musical apparatus is highly developed, with several distinct pairs of intrinsic mus-
cles, inserted into the ends of the upper three half-rings of the bronchial tubes. In the other,
the voice-organ is less complex, with less specialized muscles inserted into the middle portions
of the upper bronchial half-rings. The former arrangement is termed acromyodian, the latter
mesomyodian: and the birds which exhibit this difference of structure are respectively called
Passeres acromyodi and Passeres mesomyodi, or Oscines and Clamatores. (See p. 205, fig. 101.)
Associated with the acromyodian or oscine type of syrinx is a peculiar condition of the
tarsal envelope. In nearly all Oscines, the tarsus is covered on each side with a horny plate,
nearly or quite undivided, meeting its fellow in a sharp ridge behind. This condition of the
tarsus is called bilaminate, and the birds showing it are laminiplantar (figs. 37, 42, 43). In
some cases the fusion of the tarsal envelope proceeds so far that the front of the tarsus likewise
presents a nearly or quite undivided surface, the whole tarsus being then encased in a ‘‘ boot,”
as itis called. A ‘ booted” tarsus may be said to be trilaminate (fig. 36). The principal ex-
ception to the association of a bilaminate or trilaminate tarsus with an acromyodian syrinx is
afforded by the Alaudide, which have the tarsus scutellate and blunt behind; and, with very
few exceptions, no bird which is not acromyodian has a bilaminate tarsus. A third important
feature characterizes Oscines, as a rule. This is the reduction in length of the first primary,
which never equals the longest primary in length, is rarely over two-thirds as long as the
longest, is so short as to be called spurious, or is quite rudimentary and apparently wanting,
leaving apparently only nine primaries (fig. 30).
Associated with the mesomyodian or clamatorial type of syrinx is seen (with few excep-
tions) the opposite condition of the tarsus, the sides and back of which, as well as the front, are
covered with variously arranged scutella, so that there is no sharp undivided ridge behind.
240 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
In such cases there are also ten fully developed primaries, the first of which, if not equalling o.
being itself the longest, is at least two-thirds as long. (See p. 428, fig. 279.)
These combinations of characters may be contrasted for the purpose of dividing the great
group Passeres into two sections, conventionally denominated sub-orders.
1. SusorRDER PASSERES ACROMYODI, OR OSCINES: Srneina Brrps.
Syrinx with four or five distinct pairs of intrineis muscles, inserted at the ends of the three
upper bronchial half-rings, representing the acromyodian type of voice-organ, and constituting
a highly complex and effective musical apparatus. Side of tarsus covered with a horny plate
meeting its fellow in a sharp ridge behind ; front of tarsus also sometimes laminate. Prima-
ries ten, with the first short or spurious, or apparently only nine.
Here belong all the North American families of Passeres, with the single exception of the
Tyrannide, or Flyeatchers, which are clamatorial (mesomyodian). The only North American
exceptions to the diagnosis given are afforded by the Alaudide, or Larks, and certain Troglo-
dytide, which, with an oscine syrinx and wing-structure, do not have a bilaminate tarsus. Of
our 394 Passerine species, no fewer than 363 are Oscine. The name is the Lat. os/cen, in n.
pl. os'cines, divining-birds — those whose notes were regarded as augural.
It is a question, which one of the numerous Oscine families should be placed at the head
of the series. Largely, perhaps, through the influence of those ornithologists who hold that
fusion of the tarsal envelope into one continuous plate indicates the acme of bird-structure, the
place of honor has of late been usually assigned to the thrushes. But only a part of the
thrushes themselves show this character ; on which account, probably, the rest were associated
by Cabanis with the wrens. It seems to me most probable that this character, though unques-
tionably of high import, should be taken as of less value than the reduction of the number of
primaries from ten to nine; and I am at present inclined to believe that eventually some Oscine
family with only nine primaries — as the finches or tanagers— will take the leading position.
Here, however, I follow usage in the sequence of the North American families of Oscines, as
follows: — Turdide, Chameide, Parida, Sittide, Certhiide, Troglodytide, Alaudide, Mota-
cillide, Sylwicolide, Tanagride, Hirundinide, Ampelide, Vireonide, Lamiide, Fringillide,
Icteride, Corvide, Sturnide.
1. Family TURDID: Thrushes, etc.
The essential character of this great group of
Oscines is, booted tarsi and ten primaries, the 1st
spurious. But such expression requires qualification,
for the Turdide do not show this combination with-
out exception, and birds of some other families do
possess it. Though it be as natural as any other
Oscine family of equal extent and variety, and equally
close relationships with other groups, it is in the
nature of the case insusceptible of perfect definition
in concise terms. The North American representa-
tives, however, may readily be circumscribed in a man-
ner enabling the student to assure himself of the family
} to which they belong. Besides the true Thrushes, the
ee peg AN ei uzopean Redwing family as at present constituted includes the Mocking
(Turdus iliacus) and Fieldfare (T. pilaris). Thrushes, Dippers, Blue-birds, Kinglets and Gnat-
From Dixon. catchers, with stray representatives of certain Old
World forms. the Chats and Sylvines, sometimes held to represent separate families (Sazxico-
TURDIDZE — TURDINZ:: THRUSHES. 241
lide and Sylviide), between which and Turdide, however, no line whatever can be drawn.
The vast assemblage of Old World Warblers are in fact much more thoroughly Thrush-like
than are our Mimina, for example; and the Turdide would be much more homogeneous and
easy to characterize ifthe Mock-birds and Gnat-catchers, with scutellate tarsi and not strict’-
spurious lst primary, were to be excluded. The relationships of the Mimine with the Wrer:
are really so close, that they have often been associated with the Troglodytide, to which the,
would probably be best assigned after all. The position of Polioptila is dncertain 5 but it
cannot well go with Paride, and does not seem to be very different from some of the Sylvine
forms now brought under Turdide.
The North American members of the Turdide offer collectively the following characters : —
Wing of ten primaries, of which the lst is spurious or quite short— attaining functional
size only in Mimine and Polioptiline. Wing more or less elongate and pointed, longer than
the tail (shorter and more rounded in Polioptila and most Mimine). Inner secondaries never
long and flowing as in Motacillide. Bill never stout and conical, nor with angulated commis-
sure, nor flattened with gape reaching under the eyes; usually slender, straight or little curved,
more or less compressed, subulate and acute, usually notched at end of upper mandible (but
the nick frequently *
obsolete, and whole
bill attaining ex-
traordinary charac-
ters in Harporhyn-
chus). Nostrils oval
or roundish, rarely
linear, exposed in
conspicuous nasal
fossee; nearly or
quite reached or
overreached by the .
frontal feathers, but
never concealed by A
a dense ue AS iB FE: 4,—Skulls of Turdid d Syl lid fter Shufeldt. A, Or
. a I@, 114.—Skulls of Turdide and Sylvicolide, nat. size; after Shufeldt. A, Oro-
Paride and Sittide. scoptes montanus; B, Sialia mexicana, C, Cinclus mexicanus; D, Siurus nevius.
Rictus bristled or Observe likeness between A and B, at points marked ¢, c/, J, //; and between C and D,
with _bristle-tipped at points marked b, b,/ d, d/.
feathers, except in Cinclus. Tarsus normally booted, the anterior scutella, excepting a few
below, being fused in a continuous plate, — not so in Mimine and Polioptiline. On the sides
and behind, tarsus strictly laminiplantar (compare Alaudide and some Troglodytide). Tarsus
usually also long and slender; never decidedly shorter than the middle toe and claw, often
decidedly longer. Anterior toes deeply cleft, the inner to its very base, the outer adherent to
the middle for only the length of its basal joint (compare Troglodytide). Hind claw never
lengthened and straightened as usual in Motacillide. Tail feathers twelve; tail normally
inuch shorter than the wings, sometimes about equal, only decidedly longer in some Mimine;
never cuneate, nor deeply forked, nor doubly rounded.
Any North American bird showing booted tarsi, ten primaries, the Ist spurious, — and
not double-rounded tail—is one of the Turdide. The group thus constituted is divisible
into several sub-families, which may be analyzed as follows with reference to the North Amer-
ican genera : —
ANALYSIS OF SUBFAMILIES.
Turpine: Typical Thrushes. Tarsi booted. Rictus bristly. Nostrils oval, exposed.
Bill straight, shorter than head. First quill strictly spurious; 2d between 4th and 6th. Tail
16
242 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
shorter than wings. Tarsus little if any longer than the middle toe and claw. Of medium
size. Cosmopolitan. One genus — Turdus.
Muwina:: Mocking Thrushes. Tarsal scutella usually distinct. Bill variable, sometimes
attaining extraordinary length and curvature. Rictus bristly. Nostrils oval, exposed. Wings
short and rounded; 1st quill not strictly spurious, at least one-half as long as 2d, which is
shorter than 6th. Tail equalling or much longer than wings. Of medium and largest size.
Peculiar to America. An aberrant group, related to the Troglodytide. Three genera, —
Oroscoptes (fig. 114, A), Mimus, Harporhynchus.
Cinctinz: Dippers. Tarsi booted. Bill shorter than head.. Nostrils linear, exposed,
but overreached by feathers. No bristles whatever about rictus. Wings short, but still longer
than the very short square tail, with strictly spurious Ist primary. Form stout. Plumage
dense. Habits aquatic. Cosmopolitan. One genus— Cinclus (fig. 114, C).
SaxicoLinz: Chats, etc. Tarsi booted. Bill small, much shorter than head. Rictus
bristly. Nostrils oval. Wings pointed, exceeding the short, square or emarginate tail. Tar-
sus usually much longer than the middie toe and claw (not in Sialia). Of small size and
slender form, and for the most part terrestrial; but scarcely distinguished from Turdine
proper. Chiefly Old World. Three genera, — Sasicola, Cyanecula, and Stalia (fig. 114, B).
Recutinz: Kinglets. Tarsi booted (scutella rarely appreciable). Bill much as in
Turding, but small and weak. Nostrils exposed, or overhung by tiny feathers. Wings
pointed, with strictly spurious 1st primary, longer than the even or emarginate tail. Tarsi
longer than middle toe and claw. Very small; under six inches. Greenish, often with flaming
crest. Chiefly Old World. Two genera, — Phylloscopus and Regulus.
PoLiopTininz: Gnat-catchers. Tarsi scutellate. Bill very slender, but widened and
flattened at base, with acute notched and hooked tip. Rictus strongly bristled. Nostrils
entirely exposed. First primary not strictly spurious, half as long as the 2d. Very small;
under six inches. Coloration bluish, black and white. Peculiar to America. One genus—
Polioptila.
Artificial Key to the Genera.
Tarsi distinctly scutellate (if not, crissum reddish). Wings not longer than tail.
Length under 6 inches. Colors bluish, black and white @ soe ee ee e@ «© 6 Polioptila 11
Length over 6 inches.
Bill about as long as head or much longer. Tail decidedly longer than wings. Harporhynchus 4
Bill shorter than head.
Wings and tail of about equal lengths. Ashy, spotted below bess - . Oroscoptes 2
Wings rather shorter than tail. Ashy, adults plain below; orcap black . . . . Mimus 8
Tarsi booted (anterior scutella at most indistinct).
Length 5 inches or less. Colors greenish and yellowish.
A flame-colored crest . is lat Be . i Oe . - . . . Regulus 10
No colored crest . . . fe tat 8 +... . Phylloscopus 9
Length over 5 inches.
No bristles about bill. Wholecolored. Aquatic 7 aes F . » Cinelus 7
Rictus bristled.
Tarsus much longer than middle toe and claw.
Blue on throat, reddish on tail si enh. See Og + . Cyanecula 8
No blue or reddish. Tail black and white... . oo % . « Sazicola 6
Tarsus little if any longer than middle toe and claw.
Coloration chiefly blue; bill and teet black... . ay Bae . . . Sialia 6
No blue. Bill and feet not black. . . 7 - + +. Turdus 1
Oss. — In determining character of tarsus, whether booted or paritahiaté, it is acvematy to examine adult birds;
for the fusion of the anterior scutella is progressive, and only accomplished perfectly at maturity. Andin general,
in using artificial keys to genera and species, the student must agree with the author in understanding that speci-
mens fairly illustrating normal adult characters are in hand.
TURDID& — TURDINZ:: TYPICAL THRUSHES. 243
{. Subfamily TURDINA: Typical Thrushes.
edo With the tarsus, in the adult, “‘ booted” or
! : enveloped in a continuous plate, formed by fusion
of all the tarsal scutella excepting two or three
just above the base of the toes (fig. 36). Toes
deeply cleft,—the inner to the very base, the
outer coherent with the middle only for the length
of its basal joint. Wings more or less pointed,
longer than the tail; lst primary spurious, and
very short; 2d longer than 6th. Bill moderate,
shorter than the head, straight, more or less sub-
ulate, little depressed at base, with bristly rictus.
Fic. 115.— A typical Thrush, the European Nostrils oval, nearly or quite reached by the
Mlsckbird (ewiels mows): Brom Dixons frontal feathers. (Fig. 116.) Tail-feathers
widening somewhat toward their ends; tail as a whole somewhat fan-shaped ; neither decidedly
forked at the end, nor much graduated. Upwards of one hundred and fifty species are now
usually assigned to the Turdine, most of them referable to the single genus Twrdus and its
subdivisions. They are nearly cosmopolitan, and have a great development in the warmer
parts of Aierica, where they are mainly represented by types closely allied to Turdus proper ;
more aberrant forms, constituting very distinct genera, occur in the Old World. We have
but one genus in North America, of which the robin is the most familiar, as it is a very
characteristic, example; a species of Catharus, however, occurs very near if not actually
over our Mexican border. The thrushes are diffused over all the woodland parts of cur
country, and are all strictly migratory insectivorous birds, though feeding also upon berries and
other soft fruits. Though not truly gregarious, some, as the robin for instance, often collect in
troops at favorite feeding places, or migrate in companies. They build rather rude nests,
often plastered with mud, never pensile, but saddled on a bough or fixed on a fork, or set
on the ground; and lay from four to six green or blue eggs, sometimes plain, sometimes
spotted. All are vocal; and some, like the wood thrush, are exquisitely melodious.
These birds may be taken in illustration of a character which runs through other of the
groups of Turdide besides the Turdine proper. The young, in their first feathering, which
is worn but a short time, are curiously speckled and streaked, in a manner quite different
from the adults. This feature is well shown by a young robin, or blue-bird, as described
beyond. °
TUR/DUS. (Lat. twrdus, a thrush.) Turusues. The characters of the typical and single
genus represented in North America are in effect the same as those of the subfamily already
given. The several species fall in three subgenera, which may be thus analyzed : —
Merula, — Sexes similar. Bill notched near end, little widened at base. Tarsi little longer
than middle toe and claw. Beneath mostly unicolor, with streaked throat. Large; stout.
(Type, Turdus merula ; includes our robins.)
Hesperocichla. — Sexes dissimilar. Bill unnotched. Male with a black pectoral collar. Other-
wise like Merula. (Type, and only species, Turdus naevius.)
Turdus. — Sexes similar. Bill notched near end, much widened and depressed at base. Tarsi
decidedly longer than middle toe and claw. Beneath spotted. Of small stature, and rather
slender form.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Neither spotted nor banded below, but throat streaked, (Robins. )
Upper parts slate-colored ; breast chestnut.
Outer tail-feather with white tipping. (Eastern) . . Bee Whores ne . migratorius 1
Outer tail-feather without decided white tipping. (Western. * ee ey een + « + propinguus 2
Upper parts grayish-ash ; breast yellowish-buff. (Cape St. Lucas.) nes & : see .conginis 3
1.
3.
244 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Streaked below on white ground, with reddish sides, (European.) ...... - Fae ee Oe iliacus 4
Banded crosswise, not spotted, below ; upper parts slate-colored. (Western.) . . se ew oo. neeviNs 5
Spotted below ‘on white or tawny ground, or on both.
Upper parts not of uniform color. -
Upper parts tawny, shading to olive onrump. (Wood Thrush, eastern). . . . . mustelinus 6
Upper parts olive, shading to rufous on rump.
Of medium size. (Hermit Thrush, eastern.) - a) id. Oe ap ee eR a - + » nanus 10
Of largest size. (Hermit Thrush, Rocky Mts.) a3 se ee « © Guduboni 9
Of smallest size. (Hermit Thrush, Pacific coast.) . . . . ss ae we unalasce 8
Upper parts of uniform color throughout.
Upper parts tawny : spots below few, pale, — confined to buff jugulum: no buff
eye-ring. (Tawny Thrush, eastern.) . . ra ors Juscescens 7
Upper parts russet olive; under parts as before; no 6 buff eyeing: (Tawny Thrush,
western.) . é . . « . Salicicola 7
Upper parts russet olive; spots below a invading wits bteasts a buff eye-
ring. (Western Olive-backed Thrush.) . p 5 . ustulatus 11
Upper parts dark pure olive ; spots below as Stites a buff epee: (Eastern Olive-
backed Thrush.) 5 Beh aay a6 « Swainsoni 13
Upper parts dark pure clive: spots below as atonal no hatievectnie: " astern.) . « alicia 12
T. migrato/rius. (Lat. migratorius, migratory; migrator, a wanderer. Figs. 36, 58, 116.)
Rosin. 4, in summer: Upper parts slate-color, with a shade of olive. Head black, the eye-
lids and a spot before the eye white, and the throat streaked with white. Quills of the wings
dusky, edged with hoary ash, and with the color of the back. Tail blackish, the outer
feather usually tipped with white. Under parts, to the vent, including the under wing-coverts,
chestnut. Under tail-coverts and tibiz white,
showing incre or less plumbeous. Bill yellow,
often with a dusky tip. Mouth yellow. Eyes
dark brown. Feet blackish, the soles yellow-
ish. Length about 10.00; extent 16.00; wing
5.00-5.50; tail 4.00-4.50; bill 0.80; tarsus, or
middle toe and claw, 1.25. 9, in summer:
Similar, but the colors duller; upper parts
rather olivaceous-gray ; chestnut of the under
parts paler, the feathers skirted with gray or
Fig. 116. — Robin, nat. size. (Ad. nat.del.E.C.) white; head and tail less blackish ; throat with
more white. Bill much clouded with dusky. @¢, in winter, and young: Similar to the adult
Q, but receding somewhat farther from the ¢ in summer by the duller colors, the paleness
and restriction of the chestnut, with its extensive skirting with white, lack of distinction of the
color of the head from that of the back, tendency of the white spot before the eye to run into
a superciliary streak, and dark color of most of the bill. Very young birds have the back
speckled, each feather being whitish centrally, with a dusky tip; and the cinnamon of the
under parts is spotted with blackish. The greater coverts are tipped with white or rufous,
frequently persistent, as are also some similar markings on the lesser coverts. N. Am. at
large; an abundant and familiar bird, migratory, but breeding anywhere in its range. Nest
in trees, usually saddled on a horizontal bough, composed largely of mud; eggs 4-6, about
1.18 x 0.80, uniform greenish-blue, normally unspotted.
T. m. propin/quus? (Lat. propingwus, neighboring; as related to the last.) ALLIED
Rosin. Quite like 7. migratorius; averaging slightly larger; wing up to 5.60; tail up
to 4.70, not so blackish as that of 7. migratorius, the outer feather without white, or
merely a narrow edging. A scarcely distinguished race, of the Rocky Mt. region and
westward.
T. confi‘nis. (Lat. confinis, allied or related; as to 7. migratorius.) St. Lucas Rosin.
Upper parts, including sides of head and neck, uniform grayish-ash, with slight olive shade,
searcely darker on the head; chin and throat white, streaked with ashy-brown ; breast, sides,
4.
TURDIDZ-— TURDINZ: THRUSHES. 245
and lining of wings pale yellowish-buff, belly white, flanks ashy. A distinct white super-
ciliary stripe; lower eyelid white. Feathers of jugulum and sides with ashy tips; greater
wing-coverts tipped with whitish; bill yellowish, upper mandible and tip of lower tinged
with dusky; feet pale brown. Wing 5.10; tail 4.10; tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw
1.07. Lower California ; resembling a young robin, but quite distinct.
T. ilvacus. (Lat. dliacus, relating to the flanks, which are red. Fig. 113.) Rep-wincEep
Turusa. Upper parts hair-brown with an olive shade, darker on the head, paler on the
rump. Wing-quills deep brown; coverts and inner secondaries tipped with whitish. Tail
dark brown, the outer feather usually white-tipped. Lore blackish; eyelids and superciliary
stripe whitish; auriculars streaked with light and dark brown. Throat yellowish-white,
streaked with brownish-black; breast and belly grayish-white; lower tail-coverts whitish,
streaked with brown. Sides and uuder wing-coverts light red. Bill brownish-black, basal
half of lower mandible orange-yellow; iris brown; feet flesh-colored. Sexes alike. Length
8.50; extent 14.00; wing 4.50; tail 3.50; bill 0.75; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 1.15.
A European species, only N. American as occurring in Greenland. The upper parts are
almost exactly like a robin’s; the lower whitish, streaked with dusky, the sides of the body
and lining of the wings bright chestnut.
T. ne/vius. (Lat. nevius, spotted, varied; nevus, a birth-mark. Fig. 117.) Variep
TurusH. Orecon Rosin. ¢, in summer: Entire upper parts dark slate-color, varying in
shade from a blackish to a plumbeous slate, in less perfect specimens with a slight olive tinge ;
wings and tail blackish, with more or less of plumbeous or olive shade, according to the age of
the quills; wing-coverts, greater and
lesser, tipped with orange-brown form-
ing two cross-bars, and quills edged in
two or three places with the same;
quills also white at base on the inner
webs, this marking not visible from the
outside; one or several of the lateral
tail-feathers tipped with white. A
broad black collar across the breast,
mounting on the side of the neck and
head. Stripe behind the eye, lower
eyelid, and under parts orange-brown,
gradually giving way to white on the
lower belly; vent and crissum mixed
white, orange-brown, and plumbeous.
Bill black ; feet and claws dull yellow-
ish. Length 9.50-10.00; extent about
16.00; wing 5.00; tail 3.75; bill 0.80;
tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 1.25. Fie. 117. — Varied Thrush (Turdus nevius), nat. size. (Ad.
Q, in summer: Upper parts olivaceous- ats Sele ))
plumbeous (almost exactly the shade of the common robin in winter); wings and tail scarcely
darker; the pectoral collar narrow, like the back in color; other under parts like those of
the g, but duller, paler, and rather rusty than orange-brown, with more white on the lower
belly. Markings of head, tail, and wings exactly as in the male. Young: Like the adult ?.
Upper parts in many cases with a decided umber-brown wash. No speckled stage, like that
of the very young robin, has been observed, though August specimens have been examined.
In the young @, the black pectoral bar is at first indicated by interrupted blackish crescents
on individual feathers. Young 9 9 sometimes show scarcely a trace of the collar. At
all ages, the markings of the head and wings are much the same. Pacific coast region, Alaska
%.
Ta.
246 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
to Mexico, abundant, migratory; accidental in Mass., N. J., and Long Island. A beautiful
and very distinct species, representing the subgenus Hesperocichla (Gy. éomepos, hesperos, Lat.
vesperus, western, and xixda, kichla, a thrush). Nest in bushes, of twigs, grasses, mosses,
and lichens ; eggs 1.12 X 0.80, light greenish-blue, speckled with dark brown.
T. musteli/nus. (Lat. mustelinus, weasel-like; i.e., tawny in color; mustela, a weasel.
Fig. 118.) Woop Turusu. ¢ 9, adult: Upper parts, including the surface of the closed
wings, tawny-brown, purest and deepest on the head, shading insensibly into olivaceous on the
rump and tail. Below, pure white, faintly tinged on the breast with buff, and everywhere,
except on the throat, middle of belly, and crissum, marked with numerous large, well-defined,
rounded or subtriangular blackish spots. Inner webs
and ends of quills fuscous, with a white or buffy
edging toward the base. Greater under wing-coverts
inostly white. Auriculars sharply streaked with
dusky and white. Bill blackish-brown, with flesh-
colored or yellowish base. Feet like this part of the
bill. Length 7.50-8.00; extent about 13.00; wing
4.00-4.25 ; tail 3.00-3.25 ; bill 0.75; tarsus 1.25;
middle toe and claw less. Young: Speckled or
streaked above with pale yellowish or whitish, espe-
Fic. 118. — Wood Thrush (7. mustelinus), cially noticeable as triangular spots on the wing-
nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) coverts. But these speedily disappear, when a
plumage scarcely different from that of the adult is assumed. The most strongly marked
species of the subgenus. In TJ. unalasce, the only other one showing both tawny and
olive on the upper parts, the position of the two colors is reversed, the tawny occupying the
rump, the olive the head. In no other species are the spots below so large, sharp, numerous,
and generally dispersed. Eastern U. 8., N. to New England only; a famous vocalist, common
in low damp_woods and thickets; migratory; breeds throughout its range; nest in bushes
and low trees, of leaves, grasses, etc., and mud; eggs usually 4-5, plain greenish-blue like
those of the robin, but smaller: 1.08 0.70.
T. fusces‘cens, (Lat. fuscescens, less than fuscus, dark.) Wutson’s THRUSH. VEERY.
&¢@ : Upper parts reddish-brown, with slight olive shade; no contrast of color between
back and tail; quills and tail-feathers darker and purer brown, the former with white or
buff spaces at the concealed bases of the inner webs (as usual in this subgenus). No orbi-
tal light ring around the eye; auriculars only obsoletely streaky. Below, white; the sides
shaded with hoary-gray or pale grayish-olive; the jugulum buff-colored, contrasting strongly
with the white of the breast, and marked with a few small brown arrow-heads, the chin and
middle line of throat, however, nearly white and immaculate. A few obsolete grayish-olive
spots in the white of the breast; but otherwise the markings confined to the buff area. Bill
dark above, mostly pale below, like the feet. @, Length 7.25-7.50; extent about 12.00;
wing 4.00-4.25; tail 3.00-3.25 ; bill 0.60; tarsus 1.20. 9, smaller; average of both sexes:
length 7.35; extent 11.75; wing 3.90; tail 2.85; tarsus 1.12. Chiefly eastern U.S., but N.
to Canada; common, migratory, nesting in northerly parts of its range. Nest on ground or
near it, of leaves, grasses, ete, but no mud; eggs 4-5, greenish-blue like those of the wood
thrush, normally unspotted, 0.90 x 0.60. A delightful songster, like others of the genus,
found in thick woods and swamps; of shy and retiring habits.
. £. salici/cola. (Lat. saliz, a willow; colo, I cultivate.) Wi1tLtow Tawny Turusa. Like
T. fuscescens, but averaging larger, the upper parts less decidedly tawny, the jugulum less
distinctly buff. Wing 3.80-4.25, av. 4.02; tail 2.95-3.40, av. 3.20; Dill 0.55-0.60; tarsus,
av. 1.17; middle toe without claw, av. 0.69. A slight form recently described by Mr. Ridgway,
inhabiting the lower willowy portions of the Rocky Mt. region, U. 8. This variety is clearly
8.
9.
10.
TURDIDZA —TURDINZ: THRUSHES. 247
referable to 7. fuscescens; but it bears an extraordinary resemblance to T. ustulatus, in: the
Tusset-olive color of the upper parts, and only slightly buff tinge of the jugulum. It is dis-
tinguished from ustulatus by lack of the buff orbital ring so characteristic of ustulatus and
swainsont, and other characters by which fuscescens differs, notably the few if any spots in the
white breast back of the buff area, and pale hoary gray instead of sordid olive-gray shading of
the sides. The nest and eggs are presumably like those of fuscescens, not like those of ustu-
latus or swainsont. (Not in Check List, 1882.)
T. unalas'ce. (Named from the island of Unalaska.) Waxstern Hermir Toruse. In
color absolutely like No. 10; in size slightly less on an average; length scarcely 7.00; wing
3.30: tail 2.50; tarsus 1.15. Pacific coast region of N. A.
T. u. au'duboni. (To J. J. Audubon.) Aupuson’s Hermit Turuss. In color absolutely
like No. 10; in size larger on an average; length about 7.75; wing 4.20; tail 3.30; tarsus
1.30. Southern Rocky Mt. region. A better marked variety than the last.
T.u.na/‘nus. (Gr. vdvos, Lat. nanus, a dwarf.) EasteRN Hermit Tarusu. ¢ 9, in
summer: Upper parts olivaceous, with a brownish cast, and therefore not so pure as in
swaimsont; this color changing on the rump and upper tail-coverts into the rufous of the tail,
in decided contrast with the back. Under parts white, shaded with grayish-olive on the sides ;
the breast, jugulum, and sides of the neck more or less strongly tinged with yellowish, and
marked with numerous large, angular, dusky spots, which extend back of the yellowish-tinted
parts. Throat immaculate. A yellowish orbital ring, Bill brownish-black, most of the under
mandible livid whitish; mouth yellow, eyes brown; legs pale brownish. , length 7.00-
7.25; extent 11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-3.75 ; tail 2.75-3.00. 9, smaller; length 6.75-7.00;
extent 10.75-11.25; wing 3.25-3.50. Averages of both sexes are: length 7.00; extent 11.25 ;
wing 3.50; tail 2.75; farsus 1.15. The dimensions thus overlap those of both unalasce anA
audubom, and no positive discrimination is possible; the differences, when any, being u
averages, not of extremes either way. g 9, in winter: The olivaceous of the upper parts
assumes a more rufous cast, much like that of ustulatus, and the yellowish wash of the under
parts and sides of the head and neck is more strongly pronounced. But the most rufous speci-
mens are readily distinguished from fuscescens by the strong contrast between the color of the
tail and other upper parts. Very young: Most of the upper parts marked with pale yellowish
longitudinal streaks, with clubbed extremities, and dusky specks at the end; while the feathers
of the belly and flanks are often skirted with dusky in addition te the numerous blackish spots
of the rest of the under parts. N. Am. at large, but chiefly the Eastern Province; abundant;
migratory, and found in all woodland, but breeds only northerly, from Massachusetts and cor-
responding latitudes to the Arctic regions ; winters in the Southern States. Nest and eggs not
distinguishable from those of the Veery (No. 7).
T. ustula‘tus. (Lat. wstwlatus, scorched, singed; referring to the warm russet coloration.)
OREGON OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH. Quite like 7. swainsont
proper, No. 18, in uniformity of the color of the whole upper parts, presence of a buff orbital
ring, and general character of the shading and spotting of the under parts; but olive of the
upper parts not pure, having a decided rufous tinge, resulting in a russet-olive of exactly the
shade of that of the upper parts of the Western variety of fuscescens (salicicola) ; from which
it is distinguished by the buff orbital ring, and very different shading and marking of the
under parts (compare No. 7a); there being, as in swainsont proper, much olive-gray spotting
of the white breast back of the buff area, and much shading of the same olive-gray on the sides.
Size of swainsont. Nest in bushes, and eggs spotted, as in the latter. Pacific coast region
of the U. S., abundant.
T. u. alicia. (To Miss Alice Kennicott, sister of Robert Kennicott.) GRAY-CHEEKED
TurusH. Similar to swainsoni in uniformity and purity of the olive of the upper parts, whick
is as dark and pure (no tendency to the rufous of ustulatus) ; but the sides of the head lack-
13.
248 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
ing the yellowish or buffy suffusion seen in swainsoni, being thus like the back, or merely
grayer; no buff ring around eye; breast slightly if at all tinged with yellowish. Rather larger
than swainsoni, about equalling mustelinus: length 7.50-8.00; extent 12.50-13.50; wing
4.00-4.25 ; tail 3.00-3.25; bill over 0.50; average dimensions about the maxima of swainsont.
Distribution and nesting the same, but breeding range more northerly(?). A well-marked
variety, perhaps a distinct species. (A local race has been described as smaller, with the bill
usually slenderer; Catskill and White Mts.; T. alicia bicknelli Ridgw.)
T. u. swain/soni. (To Win. Swainson, an English naturalist.) OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH.
& @: Above, clear olivaceous, of exactly the same shade over all the upper parts; below,
white, strongly shaded with olive-gray on the sides and flanks, the throat, breast, and sides
of the neck and head strongly tinged with yellowish, the fore parts, excepting the throat,
marked with numerous large, broad, dusky spots, which extend backward on the breast and
belly, there rather paler, and more like the olivaceous of the upper parts. Edges of eyelids
yellowish, forming a strong buff orbital ring; lores the same. Mouth yellow; bill blackish,
the basal half of lower mandible pale; iris dark brown; feet pale ashy-brown. Length of
6, 7.00-7.50; extent 12.00-12.50; wing 3.75-4.00; tail 2.75-3.00; bill 0.50; tarsus 1.10.
Q averaging smaller; length 6.75; extent 11.50-12.00, ete. North America, N. to high
latitudes, W. to the Rocky Mts., common; migratory ; breeds from New England northward.
Nest in bushes and low trees, thus in situation like that of the wood thrush, but no mud
in its composition ; eggs unlike those of mustelinus, fuscescens, and the varieties of wnalasce,
in being freely speckled with different shades of brown on a greenish-blue ground; size 0.90 x
0.66; number 4-5.
2. Subfamily MIMINAZE: Mocking Thrushes.
Aberrant Turdide, departing
from the prime characteristic ‘of
the family in having the tarsi scu-
tellate in front (the scutella soime-
times fusing, however, as in the
eatbird), and the lst primary,
though. short, hardly to be called
spurious. Wings short and round-
ed (for this family), about equal
to the tail only in Oroscoptes ; 2d
primary shorter than the 6th.
Tail large and rounded or much
graduated, usually decidedly longer
than the wings. Tarsus about
equal to the middle toe and ciaw ;
feet stout, in adaptation to soine-
what terrestrial life. Bill various
@ in form, usually longer or at least
more curved than in the true
thrushes;.in Harporhynchus at-
taining extraordinary length and curvature. Birds much like overgrown wrens (with which
they have been associated by some) ; distinguished chiefly by greater size, different nostrils
and rictal bristles, and more deeply-cleft toes. As a group they are rather southern, hardly
passing beyond the United States; few species reaching even the Middle States, and the max-
imum development being in Central and South America. They are peculiar to America,
where they are represented by Oroscoptes, Mimus, Harporhynchus, and five or six related
Fig. 119. — Mocking-bird, about 4 nat. size. (After Wilson.)
14.
TURDIDA — MIMINA: MOCKING THRUSHES. 249
genera, with upward of forty recorded species, two-thirds of which are certainly genuine.
About one-half of these fall in Mimus alone; of Harporhynchus, nearly all the species occur
in the United States. In their general habits they resemble wrens as much as thrushes,
habitually residing in shrubbery near the ground, relying for concealment as much upon the
nature of their,resorts as upon their own activity and vigilance. They are all melodious, and
some, like the immortal mocking-bird, are as famous for their powers of mimicry as for the
brilliant execution of their proper songs. In compensation for this great gift of music, perhaps
that they may not grow too proud, they are plainly clad, grays and browns being the prevail-
ing colors. The nest is generally built with little art, in a bush, and the eggs, two to six in
number, are blue or green, plain or speckled.
Analysis of Genera.
Smallest: bill shortest ; wings about equal to tail. Adults speckled below .. .... +. Oroscoptes 2
Medium : bill moderate; wings a little shorter than tail. Adults plain below. ... . . -Mimus 3
Largest : bill immoderate ; wings much shorter than tail. Plain or spotted below . . . Harporhynchus 4
OROSCOP'TES. (Gr. épos, ores, a mountain, and oxamrys, scoptes, a mimic). MOUNTAIN
Mockers. Wings and tail of equal lengths, the former more pointed than in other genera of
Mimme, with the 1st quill not half as long as the 2d, which is between the 6th and 7th;
the 3d, 4th, and 5th about equal to one another, and forming the point of the wing. Tail
nearly even, its feathers but slightly graduated. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw,
anteriorly distinctly scutellate. Bill much shorter than head, not curved, with obsolete notch
near the end. Rictal bristles well developed, the longest reachiug beyond the nostrils.
O. montanus is the only known species.
O. monta‘nus. (Lat. montanus, of a mountain.) Mountain MOocxkInG-Birp. Sac
THRASHER. ¢ Q, in summer: Above, grayish or brownish-ash, the feathers with ob-
soletely darker centres. Below, whitish, more or less tinged with pale buffy-brown, every-
where marked with triangular dusky spots, largest and most crowded across the breast, small
and sparse, sometimes wanting, on the throat, lower belly, and crissum. Wings fuscous,
with much whitish edging on all the quills, and two white bands formed by the tips of the
greater and median coverts. Tail like the wings ;, the outer feather edged and broadly tipped,
and all the rest, excepting usually the middle pair, tipped with white in decreasing amount.
Bill and feet black or blackish, the former often with pale base. Length about 8.00; wing
and tail, each, about 4.00; tarsus 1.12; bill 0.75. Young: Dull brownish above, conspic-
uously streaked with dusky; the markings below streaky and diffuse. Plains to the Pacific,
U.8.; also Texas and Lower California; an interesting species, resembling an undersized
young mocking-bird, abundant in the sage-brush of the W. Nest on ground or in low bushes ;
eggs usually 4, 1.00 X 0.72, light greenish-blue, heavily marked with brown and neutral tint.
. MIMUS. (Lat. mimus, a mimic.) Mockine-pirps. Bill much shorter than head, scarcely
curved as a whole, but with gently-curved commissure, notched near the end. Rictal vibrisse
well developed. Tail rather longer than wings, rounded, the lateral feathers being considerably
graduated. Wings rounded. (Tarsal scutella
sometimes obsolete.) Tarsi longer than the mid-
dle toe and claw. Of this genus there are two
well marked sections (represented by the mock-
ing-bird and cat-bird respectively), which may
be distinguished by color: —
Mimus. — Above ashy-brown, below white;
lateral tail-feathers and bases of primaries white.
(Tarsal scutella always distinct.) Fia. 120. —Catbird, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.)
Galeoscoptes. — Blackish-ash, scarcely paler below; crown and tail black, unvaried;
erissum rufous. (Tarsal scutella sometimes obsolete.)
15.
16
250 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
M. polyglotitus. (Lat. polyglottus, many-tongued; from Gr. modvs, polus, many, and yAérra,
glotta, tongue. Fig. 119.) Mocxine-sirp. ¢, adult: Upper parts ashy-gray; lower parts
soiled white. Wings blackish-brown, the primaries, with the exception of the first, marked
with a large white space at the base, restricted on the outer quills usually to half or less of
these feathers, but occupying nearly all of the inner quills. The shorter white spaces show as
a conspicuous spot when the wing is closed, the longer inner ones being hidden by the second-
aries. The coverts are also tipped and sometimes edged with white; and there may be much
edging or tipping, or both, of the quills themselves. Outer tail-feathers white; next two
pair white, except on the outer web; uext pair usually white toward the end, and the rest
sometimes tipped with white. Bill and feet black, the former often pale at the base below ;
soles dull yellowish. Length about 10.00, but ranging from 9.50 to 11.00; extent about
14.00 (13.00 to 15.00); wing 4.00-4.50; tail 4.50-5.00; bill 0.75; tarsus 1.25. 9, adult:
Similar, but the colors less clear and pure; above rather brownish than grayish-ash, below
sometimes quite brownish-white, at least on the breast. Tail and wings with less white than
as above described. But the gradation in these features is by imperceptible degrees, so that
there is no infallible color-mark of sex. In general, the clearer and purer are the colors, and
the more white there is on the wings and tail, the more likely is the bird to be a ¢ and prove
a good singer. The @ is also smaller than the ¢ on an average, being generally under and
rarely over 10 inches in length, with extent of wings usually less than 14.00; the wing little
if any over 4.00, the tail about 4.50. Young: Above decidedly brown, and below speckled
with dusky. U.S. from Atlantic to Pacific, southerly; rarely N. to New England, and not
common N. of 38°, though known to reach 42°; thronging the groves of the South Atlantic
and Gulf States. Nest in bushes and low trees, bulky and inartistic, of twigs, grasses, leaves,
etc.; eggs 4-6, measuring on an average 1.00 x 0.75, bluish-green, heavily speckled and
freckled with several brownish shades. Two or three broods are generally reared each season,
which in the South extends from March to August. When taken from the nest, the ‘ prince
of musicians” becomes a contented captive, and has been known to live many years in con-
finement. Naturally an accomplished songster, he proves an apt scholar, susceptible of improve-
ment by education to an astonishing degree; but there is a great difference with individual
birds in this respect. ,
M. carolinensis. (Of Carolina: Carolus, Charles IX., of France.) (Figs. 37,120.) Catr-
BIRD. ¢ 9: Slate-gray, paler and more grayish-plumbeous below; crown of head, tail, bill,
and feet black. Quills of the wing blackish, edged with the body-color. Under tail-coverts
rich dark chestnut or mahogany-color. Length 8.50-9.00; extent 11.00 or more; wing 3.50-
3.75; tail 4.00; bill 0.66; tarsus 1.00-1.10. Young: Of a more sooty color above, with little
or no distinction of a black cap, and comparatively paler below, where the color has a soiled
brownish cast. Crissum dull rufous. U.S. and adjoining British Provinces. West to the
Rocky Mts., and even Washington Terr., but chiefly Eastern; migratory, but resident in the
Southern States, and breeds throughout its range ;. nest of sticks, leaves, bark, etc., in bushes ;
eggs 4-6, deep greenish-blue, not spotted. An abundant and familiar inhabitant of our
groves and briery tracts, remarkable for its harsh cry, like the mewing of a cat (whence its
name), but also possessed, like all its tribe, of eminent vocal ability.
HARPORHYN'CHUS. (Gr. dpm, harpe, a sickle; pvyxos, rhygchos, beak; i. e., bow-
billed.) TurasHers. Bill of indeterminate size and shape, ranging from one extreme, in
which it is straight and shorter than the head, to the other, in which it exceeds the head
in length and is bent like a bow (see figs. 121-125). Feet large and strong, indicating terres-
trial habits; tarsus strongly scutellate anteriorly, about equalling or slightly exceeding in
length the middle toe with its claw. Wings and tail rounded, the latter decidedly longer
than the former. Rictus with well developed bristles. Viewing only the extreme shapes of
the bill, as in H. rufus and H. crissalis, it would not seem consistent with the minute subdivis-
TURDIDA — MIMINZ: MOCKING THRUSHES. 251
ions which now obtain in ornithology to place all the species in one genus; but the gradation
of form is so gentle that it seems impossible to dismember the group without violence. The
areuation of the bill proceeds pari passw with its elongation; the shortest bills being the
straightest, and conversely. There is also a curious correlation of color with shape of bill;
the short-billed species being the most richly colored and heavily spotted, while the bow-
billed ones are very plain, sometimes with no spots whatever on the under parts. Our nine
forms of the genus are with one exception South- -western, focusing in Arizona, where occur
four species, two of them not known elsewhere; two others are confined to California; two
to the Mexican border, leaving only one generally distributed. They furnish the following
Analysis af Species and Varieties.
Bill not longer than head (0.87-1.12), little or not curved. Breast spotted.
Bill 1.00, quite straight. Above rich rusty-red ; below whitish, heavily spotted and streaked with
dark brown, Eastern... » . rufus 17
Bill 1.12, slightly curved. Above dark reddish-brown, below whitish, heavily spotted and streaked
with blackish. Texas .. . . « longirostris 18
Bill 1.12, curved. Above ashy- ray, below whitish, ‘preast with rout spots of the color of the back.
Mexican border and Arizona. . . ; curvirostris or palmeri 19, 20
Bill 0.87, scarcely curved. Above eraviehe enews below ‘brownish-white, breast alone with arrow-
heads of the color of the back. Arizona. : . bendirii 12
’ Bill 1.12, curved. Above sibs below whitish, with profuse distinct “ blackish-brown spots.
Lower California . . . . ce : : ‘ - cinereus 22
Bill longer than head (1.50), avennte: Breast not spotted, c
Dark oily olive-brown, below paler, belly and crissum rufescent. Coast of California . redivivus 23
Pale ash, paler still below, lower belly and crissum brownish-yellow. Arizona ~ + . « becontii 24
Brownish-ash, paler below, crissum chestnut in marked contrast. aa New Mexico, and
California. ..... ote . . « . . erissalis 25
1%. H. ru/fus. (Lat. rufus, rufous, reddish. ». Fig. 191.9 Paeasame 1 Brown Turusu. & 9: Upper
18.
parts uniform rich rust-red, with a bronzy lustre. Concealed portions of quills fuscous.
Greater and median wing-coverts blackish near the end, then conspicuously tipped with white.
Bastard quills like the coverts. Tail :
like the back, the lateral feathers with
paler ends. Under parts white, more
or less strongly tinged, especially on
the breast, flanks, and crissum, with
tawny or pale cinnamon-brown, the
breast and sides marked with a profu- ¢
sion of well-defined spots of dark
brown, oval in front, becoming more
linear posteriorly. Throat immaculate,
bordered with a necklace of spots; ”
middle of the belly and under tail-
coverts likewise unspotted. Bill quite
straight, black, with yellow base of the l
lower mandible ; feet pale; iris yellow Fic. 121.— Thrasher, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.)
or orange. Length about 1] inches; extent 12.50-14.00; wing 3.75-4.25 ; tail 5.00 or more;
bill 1.00; tarsus 1.25. Eastern U. S. chiefly, but N. to adjoining British Provinces and W.
to the Rocky Mts.; migratory, but breeds throughout its range, and winters in the Southern
States. A delightful songster, abundant in thickets and shrubbery. Nest in bushes (some-
times on ground), bulky and rude, of sticks, leaves, bark, roots, etc.; eggs 4-5, sometimes 6,
1.05 < 0.80, whitish or greenish, profusely speckled with brown.
H, r. longiros'tris. (Lat. longus, long, and rostris, from rostrum, beak; i. e., long-billed.)
Taxas THRASHER. Similar to H. rufus; upper parts dark reddish-brown, instead of rich
foxy-red; under parts white, with little if any tawny tinge, the spots large, very numerous,
19.
20.
21.
252 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
and blackish instead of brown; ends of the rectrices scarcely or not lighter than the rest of these
feathers ; bill almost entirely dark-colored. Besides these points of coloration, there is a decided.
difference in the shape of the bill. In A. rufus, the bill is quite straight, and only just about.
an inch long; the gonys is straight, and makes an angle with the slightly concave lower.
outline of the mandibular rami. In H. longirostris, the bill is rather over an inch long, and
somewhat curved; the outline of the gonys is a little concave, making with the ramus one con-,
tinuous curve from base to tip of the bill. Size of H. rufus. Texas and Mexico.
H. curviros'tris. (Lat. curvus, curved, and rostris; bow-billed.) CURVE-BILLED THRASHER.*
& 9: Above, uniform ashy-gray (exactly the color of a mocking-bird), the wings and tail
darker and purer brown. Below, dull whitish, tinged with ochraceous, especially on the
flanks and crissum, and marked
with rounded spots of the color of
the back, most numerous and blend-
ed on the breast. Throat quite’
white, immaculate, without maxil-
lary stripes; lower belly and cris-
sum mostly free from spots. No
decided markings on the side of the
head. Ends of greater and median
Fie. 122. —Bow-billed Thrasher, nat. size; bill a little too Wing-coverts white, forming two de-
thick. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) cided cross-bars; tail-feathers dis-
tinetly tipped with white. Bill black, over an inch long, curved, stout; feet dark brown.
Length of $ about 11.00; wing 4.25-4.50 ; tail 4.50-5.00; bill 1.12; tarsus 1.25; middle toe
and claw 1.383. 9 averaging rather smaller. Mexico, reaching the U. 8. border of Texas.
H. c. pal/meri, (To Edw. Palmer. Fig. 122.) Bow-sintep THRASHER. Above, grayish-
brown, nearly uniform; wing-coverts and quills with slight whitish edging, the edge of the
wing itself white; tail-feathers with slight whitish tips; below, a paler shade of the color of
the upper parts, the throat quite whitish, the crissum slightly rufescent, the breast and belly
with obscure dark gray spots on the grayish-white ground; no obvious maxillary streaks,
but vague speckling on the cheeks; bill black; feet blackish-brown. Length 10.75; bill
1.12; wing 4.25; tail 5.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.30. 9 smaller; wing 3.75;
tail 4.50; tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw 1.12; bill barely 1.00. Although the differences
from the typical form are not easy to express, they are readily appreciable on comparison of
specimens. The upper parts are quite similar; but the under parts, instead of being whitish,
with decided spotting of the color of the back, are grayish, tinged with rusty, especially
behind, and the spotting is nebulous. The white on the ends of the wing-coverts and tail-
feathers is reduced to a minimum or en-
tirely suppressed. The bill is slenderer
and apparently more curved. Arizona,
common, in desert regions. Nest in cac-
tus, mezquite and other bushes; eggs
usually 3, 1.10 0.80, pale greenish-blue
profusely dotted with reddish-brown.
H. bendi'rii. (To Capt. Chas. Bendire,
U.S.A. Fig. 123.) Arizona THRASHER.
a 9: Bill shorter than head, compara- Fie. 123.— Arizona Thrasher, nat. size, (Ad. nat, del. E. C.)
tively stout at base, very acute at tip, the culmen quite convex, the gonys just appreciably
concave. Tarsus a little longer than the middle toe and claw. 8d and 4th primaries about
equal and longest, 5th and 6th successively slightly shorter, 2d equal to 7th, 1st equal to penul-
timate secondary in the closed wing. Entire upper parts, including upper surfaces of wings
22.
23.
TURDIDA — MIMINZA: MOCKING THRUSHES. 258
and tail, uniform dull pale grayish-brown, with narrow, faintly-rusty edges of the wing-
coverts and inner quills, and equally obscure whitish tipping of the tail-feathers. No max-
illary nor auricular streaks; no markings about the head ‘except slight speckling on the
cheeks. Under parts brownish-white, palest (nearly white) on the belly and throat, more
decidedly rusty-brownish on the sides, flanks, and crissum, the breast alone marked with
numerous small arrow-head spots of the color of the back. Bill light-colored at base
below. g@: Length about 9.25; wing 4.00; tail 4.25; bill 0.87; along gape 1.12; tarsus.
1.25; middle toe and claw 1.12. 9 rather smaller; wing, 3.75, ete. Arizona, less common
than palmeri, with which it is associated. Nest in bushes; eggs 2-3, about 1.00 x 0.73,
elliptical rather than oval, whitish, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown.
H. cinereus. (Lat. cinereus, ashy; cinis, cimeris, ashes. Fig. 124.) St. Lucas: THRASHER. ¢
Q: Upper parts uniform ashy-brown; wings and tail similar, but rather purer and darker
brown, the furmer crossed with two white
bars formed by the tips of the coverts, the
latter tipped with white. Below, dull white,
often tinged with rusty, especially behind,
and thickly marked with small, sharp, tri-
angular spots of dark brown or blackish.
These spots are all perfectly distinct, cover-
ing the lower parts excepting the throat,
lower belly, and erissum; becoming smaller
anteriorly, they run up each side of the throat
in a maxillary series bounding the immacu-
late area. Sides of head finely speckled,
and auriculars streaked; bill black, lighten- x
ing at base below, little longer than that of Fig. 124. — St, Lucas Thrasher, nat, size. (Ad nat.
H. rufus, though decidedly curved. Length el. E.C.)
of # about 10.00; wing 4.00; tail 4.50; bill 1.12; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.25.
Q averaging rather smaller. Young: Upper parts strongly tinged with rusty-brown, this
color also edging the wings and tipping the tail. The resemblance of this species to the
mountain mocking-bird (Oroscoptes montanus) is striking. It is distinguished from any others.
of the U. 8. by the sharpness of the spotting underneath, which equals that of H. rufus itself,
the small and strictly triangular character of the spots, together with the grayish-brown of the
upper parts, and inferior dimensions. Lower California, common. Nest a slight shallow structure
of twigs in cactus and other bushes; eggs 1.12 X 0.77, greenish-white, profusely speckled.
H. redivi'vus. (Lat. redivivus, re-
vived; the long-lost species having
been rediscovered and so named.
Fig. 125.) CALIFORNIA THRASHER.
&: No spots anywhere; wings and
tail without decided barring or tip-
ping. Bill as long as the head or
longer, bow-shaped, black. Wings
very much shorter than the tail. ”
Above, dark oily olive-brown, the Fie. 125. — California Thrasher, nat. size. (Ad, nat, del. E. C.)
wings and tail similar, but rather purer brown. Below, a paler shade of the color of the
upper parts, the belly and crissum strongly rusty- brown, the throat definitely whitish in marked
contrast, and not bordered by decided maxillary streaks. Cheeks and auriculars blackish-
brown, with sharp whitish shaft streaks. Length 11.50; wing 4.00 or rather less; tail 5.00 or
more; bill (chord of culmen) nearly or quite 1.50; tarsus 1.35; middle toe and claw about
254 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
the same. similar, rather smaller. Coast region of California, abundant in dense chaparral;
nest a rude platform of twigs, roots, grasses, leaves, etc., in bushes; eggs 2-3, 1.15 x 0.85,
bluish-green, with olive and russet-brown spots.
24. H.r. lecon’tii. (To Dr. John L. Le Conte, the entomologist.) Yuma THRASHER. This
form, with size and proportions the same as those of redivivus proper, differs very notably in
the pallor of all the coloration, being in fact a bleached desert race. Excepting the slight
snaxillary streaks, there are no decided markings anywhere; and the change from the pale
ash of the general under parts to the brownish-yellow of the lower belly and crissum is very
gradual. Valley of the Gila and Lower Colorado; very rare.
deep; eggs 2, 1.15 X0.77, pale greenish, dotted with reddish.
Nest in bush, bulky, loose,
25. H. crissa/lis. (Lat. crissalis, relating to the crissum, or under tail-coverts. Fig. 126.) CRIssaL
Fie. 126.—Crissal Thrasher, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
in marked contrast with the surrounding parts.
THRASHER. (@: Brownish-ash,
with a faint olive shade, the
wings and tail purer and darker
fuscous, without white edging or
tipping. Below, a paler shade
of the color of the upper parts.
Throat and side of the lower jaw
white, with sharp black maxil-
lary streaks. Cheeks and au-
riculars speckled with whitish.
Under tail-coverts rich chestnut,
Bill black, at the maximum of length, slen-
derness, and curvature; feet blackish. Length about 12.00; wing 4.00-4.25; tail 5.50-6.00;
its lateral feathers 1.50 shorter than the central ones; bill 1.50; tarsus 1.33; middle toe
and claw 1.25. This fine species is distinguished by the strongly chestnut under tail-coverts,
the contrast being as great as that seen in the cat-bird.
The sharp black maxillary streaks are
also a strong character. The bill is extremely slender, the tail at a maximum of length, and
the feet are notably smaller than those of H. redivivus.
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and
California in the Colorado Valley, common in chaparral; nest in bushes near the ground, of
twigs lined with vegetable fibres; eggs usually 2, emerald green, unspotted.
3. Subfamily CINCLINA:: Dippers.
Fic. 127. —European Dipper, C. aguaticus,
(From Dixon.)
Wing of 10 primaries, the
1st of which is spurious, and,
like the others, falcate; 2d
primary entering into the
point of wing ; wing short,
stiff, rounded, and concavo-
convex. Tail still shorter
.than the wing, soft, square,
of 12 broad, rounded feathers,
almost hidden by the coverts,
which reach nearly or quite
to the end, the under being
especially long and full. Tarsi
booted, about as long as the
middle toe and claw. Lateral
toes equal in length. Claws
all strongly curved. Bill
30.
TURDIDZ — CINCLINZ: DIPPERS. 255
shorter than head, slender and compressed throughout, higher than broad at the nostrils, about
straight, but seeming to be slightly recurved, owing to a sort of upward tilting of the superior
mandible; culmen at first slightly concave, then convex; commissure slightly sinuous, to cor-
respond with the culmen, notched near the end; gonys convex. Nostrils linear, opening
beneath a large scale partly covered with feathers. No rictal vibrissee, nor any trace of bristles
or bristle-tipped feathers about the nostrils. Plumage soft, lustreless, remarkably full and
compact, water-proof. Body stout, thick-set. Habits aquatic. A small but remarkable
group, in which the characters shared by the Turdine, Saxicoline, and Sylviine are modified
in adaptation to the singular aquatic life the species lead. There is only one genus, with
about 12 species, inhabiting clear mountain streams of most parts of the world, chiefly the
Northern Hemisphere; easily flying wnder water, and spending much of their time in that
element, where their food, of various aquatic animal substances, is gleaned.
CIN'CLUS. (Gr. kiykAos, kigklos, Lat. cinclus, a kind of bird. Figs. 114, 127, 128.) Dip-
PERS. Characters those of the subfamily, as above given.
Fia. 128. — American Dipper, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E, C.)
C. mexica/nus. (Lat. mexicanus, Mexican. Fig. 128.) AmERICAN DIPPER, or WATER
OuzEL. 9, adult, in summer: Slaty-plumbeous, paler below, inclining on the head to
sooty-brown. Quills and tail-feathers fuscous. Eyelids usually white. Bill black; feet
yellowish. Length 6.00-7.00; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail about 2.25 ; bill 0.60;
tarsus 1.12; middle toe and claw rather less. Individuals vary much in size. $9, in
winter, and most immature specimens, are still paler below, all the feathers of the under parts
being skirted with whitish. The quills of the wing are also tipped with white. The Dill is
yellowish at the base. Young: Below, whitish, more or less so according to age, frequently
tinged with pale cinnamon-brown ; whole under parts sometimes overlaid with the whitish ends
of the feathers, shaded with rufous posteriorly; throat usually nearly white ; bill mostly yellow ;
white tipping of the wing-feathers at a maximum; in some cases the tail-feathers similarly
marked. Mountains of Western N. A., from Alaska to Mexico; a sprightly and engaging resi-
dent of clear mountain streams, usually observed flitting among the rocks; has a fine song.
Nest a pretty ball of green moss lined with grasses, with a hole at the side, hidden in the rift
of a rock, or other nook close to the water: eggs about 5, 1.04 « 0.70, pure white, unmarked.
256 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
4. Subfamily SAXICOLINZ: Stone.chats and Blue-birds.
Chiefly Old World; repre-
sented in North America by
two European species and the
familiar Blue-birds; author,
assign different limits to the
group, and frequently trans-
pose the genera. As usually
constituted, it contains up-
wards of 100 species, com-
monly referred to about 12
genera. Like many othe
groups of Passeres, it ha
never been defined with pre-
cision, being known conven-
tionally by the birds orni-
thologists put in it. The
following birds have booted
tarsi; oval nostrils; bristled
rictus; rather short, square or
emarginate tail ; long, pointed
wings, with very short spuri-
ous lst quill; tarsns not shorter (except in Sialia much longer) than iniddle toe and claw;
pill much shorter than head, straight and acute.
Fig. 129, — Wheat-ear. (From Dixon.)
Analysis of Genera.
Bill slender. Tarsus much longer than middle toe and claw. Point of wing formed by 2d-4th quills.
Lateral toes of equal lengths. Form slender. Noblue. Terrestrial. . . . Sasicola 6
Bill very slender. Tarsus much longer than middle toe and claw. Point of wing ‘formed by 3d-5th quills.
Lateral toes of unequal lengths. Form slender. Throat intense blue and chestnut; tail with chestnut
Cyanecula 8
Bill stouter. Tarsus not longer than middle toe and claw. Point of wing formed by 2d-4th quills. Lateral
toes of unequal lengths. Blue the chief color. Form stouter. Arboricole . ..... . . Sialia 7
6. SAXICOLA. (Lat. saxum, a rock; colo, I inhabit. Fig. 130.) Sronz-cuars. Bill shorter
than head, slender, straight, depressed at base, com
pressed at end, notched. Wings long, pointed, the tij
formed by the 2d-4th quills, the 1st spurious, scarcely
or not one-fourth as long as the 2d. Tail much
shorter than wing, square. Tarsi booted, but with 4
scutella below in front; long and slender, much ex-
ceeding the middle toe and claw; lateral toes of about
equal lengths, very short, the tips of their claws not
reaching the base of the middle claw; claws little
curved ; feet thus adapted to terrestrial habits. A large
Fie. 130.— Generic details of Saxicola. and widely distributed Old World genus, of some 30
species, inhabiting Europe, Asia, and especially Africa.
26. S. enan’the. (Gr. olvav6y, oinanthe, name of a bird, from oivn, oine, the grape, and dvOos,
anthos, a flower. Fig. 129.) Srong-cHat. WHEAT-EAR. Adult ¢: Ashy-gray; forehead,
superciliary line and under parts white, latter often brownish-tinted ; upper tail-coverts white ;
wings and tail black, latter with most of the feathers white for half or more of their length ;
line from nostril to eye, and broad band on side of head, black; bill and feet black. @ more
brownish-gray, the black cheek-stripe replaced by brown. Young without the stripe, above
TURDIDA — SAXICOLINA: BLUE-BIRDS. 257
olive-brown, superciliary line, edges uf wings and tail, and all under parts, cinnamon-brown ;
tail black and white as in the adult. Length of ¢ 6.75; extent 12.50; wing 3.75; tail 2.50;
tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 0.75. 9 smaller: length 6.50; extent 11.50, ete. Atlantic
coast, from Europe via Greenland; also North Pacific and Arctic coast, from Asia. Common
in Greenland, and probably also breeds in Labrador. Nest in holes in the ground or rocks,
crevices of stone walls, etc.; eggs 4-7, 0.87-0.60, greenish-blue, without spots.
7. SIA/LIA. (Gr. ouadis, sialis, a kind of bird.) Biun-Birps. Primaries 10, the 1st spurious
and very short. Wings pointed, the tip formed by the 2d, 3d, and 4th quills. Tail much
shorter than wings, emarginate. Bill about half as long as head or less, straight, stout, wider
than deep at base, compressed beyond nostrils, notched near tip, the culmen at first straight,
then gently, convex to the end, gonys slightly convex and ascending, commissure slightly
curved throughout. Nostrils overhung and nearly concealed by projecting bristly feathers ;
lores and chin likewise bristly. Gape ample, the rictus cleft to below the eyes, furnished
with a moderately developed set of bristles reaching about opposite the nostrils. Feet short,
though rather stout, adapted exclusively for perching (in Saxicola the structure of the feet
indicates terrestrial habits). Tarsus not longer than the middle toe; lateral toes of unequal
lengths ; claws all strongly curved. Blue is the principal color of this beautiful genus, which
contains three species. They are strictly arboricole; frequent the skirts of woods, coppices,
“ waysides, and weedy fields; nest in holes, and lay whole-colored eggs; readily become semi-
domesticated, like the swallow, house wren, and house sparrow ; feed upon insects and berries;
and have a melodious warbling song. Polygamy is sometimes practised by them, contrary to
the rule among Oscines. Blue-birds are peculiar to America, and appear to have no exact
representatives in the other hemisphere.
Analysis of Species.
é Rich sky-blue, uniform on back ; throat and breast chestnut, belly white . . » «es Stalig 27
é Rich sky-blue, including throat ; middle of back and breast chestnut, ae whitish . + + + mexicana 28
é Light blue, paler below, fading to white on belly; nochestnut. . i . » « « aretica 29+
27. S.si/alis. (Gr. ctadis, sialis,a kind of bird. Fig. 131.) Eastern BLUE-BIRD. WILSoN’s
Buus-Birp. 4, in full plumage: Rich azure-blue, the ends of the wing-quills blackish ;
throat, breast, and sides of the body chestnut; belly and
crissum white or bluish-white. The blue sometimes ex-
tends around the head on the sides and often fore part of
the chin, so that the chestnut is cut off from the bill.
Length 6.50-7.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing 3.75-4.00;
tail 2.75-8.00; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.70. @, in winter, or
when not full-plumaged: Blue of the upper parts inter-
rupted by reddish-brown edging of the feathers, or obscured
by a general brownish wash. White of belly more ex-
tended; tone of the other “under parts paler. In many
Eastern specimens, the reddish-brown skirting of the
feathers blends into a dorsal patch; when this is accom- ‘ig
panied by more than ordinary extension of blue on the Fi. 131.—Blue-bird, nat. size. (Ad
throat they closely resemble S. mewicana. 9, in full nat. del. B.C.)
plumage: Blue mixed and obscured with dull reddish-brown; becoming bright and pure on
the rump, tail, and wings. Under parts paler and more rusty-brown, with more abdominal
white than in the male. Little smaller thar g. Young, newly fledged: Brown, becoming
blue on the wings and tail, the back sharply marked with shaft-lines of whitisl Nearly
all the under parts closely and uniformly freckled with white and brownish. A white ring
round the eye; inner secondaries edged with brown. From this stage, in which the sexes are
indistinguishable, to the perfectly adult condition, the bird changes by insensible degrees.
17
28.
29.
31.
258 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Eastern U. S. and Canada, abundant and familiar, almost domestic; W. often to the Rocky
Mts. Migratory, but breeds throughout its range; winters in the Southern States and beyond,
whence it comes as one of the early harbingers of spring, or during mild winter weather,
bringing its bit of blue sky with cheery, voluble song. Nest in natural or artificial hollows
of trees, posts, or bird-boxes, loosely constructed of the most miscellaneous materials; eggs
4-6, pale bluish, occasionally whitish, unmarked, 0.80 x0.60; two or three broods in one
season.
S. mexica/na. (Lat. mexicana, of Mexico.) WESTERN BLUE-BIRD. MbrxicaN BLUE-BIRD.
@, adult: Rich azure-blue, including the head and neck all around. A patch of purplish-
chestnut on the middle of the back; breast and sides rich chestnut; belly and vent dull blue
or bluish-gray. Bill and feet black. Size of the last species. 9, and young: Changes
of plumage coincident with those of the Eastern blue-bird. Immature birds may usually be
recognized by some difference in color between the middle of the back and the other upper
parts, and between the color of the throat and of the breast; but birds in the streaky stage
could not be determined if the locality were unknown. In some adult males, the dorsal patch
is restricted, or broken into two scapular patches with continuous blue between; the chestnut
of the breast sometimes divides, permitting connection of the blue of the throat and belly.
Specimens with little trace of the dorsal patch are scarcely distinguished from those of S. sialis
in which there is much blue on the throat, — the grayish-blue of the belly, instead of white,
being a principal character. U. 8. and Mexico, from Eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mts.
to the Pacific; N. to Vancouver; E. occasionally to the Mississippi. Abundant in the West;
habits, nest, and eggs identical with those of S. sialis.
S. arc/tica. (Lat. arctica, arctic; arctos, a bear; i. e., near the constellation so-named.)
Arctic BLUEBIRD. Rocky Mountain BLvue-pirp. 4, in perfect plumage: Above
azure-blue, lighter than in the two foregoing, and with a faint greenish hue; below, paler and
more decidedly greenish-blue, fading insensibly into white on the belly and under tail-voverts.
Ends of wing-quills dusky; bill and feet black. Larger; length 7.00 or more; extent 13.00
or more; wing 4.50; tail 3.00. 9: Nearly uniform rufous-gray, lighter and more decidedly
tufous below, brightening into blue on rump, tail, and wings, fading into white on belly and
crissum; a whitish eye-ring. Young: Changes parallel with those of the other species.
Birds in the streaky stage may be known by superior size, and greenish shade on the wings
and tail. N. America from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, chiefly in high open regions, abun-
dant; resident southerly, migratory further North. Habits those of the others; nesting the
same, but eggs larger, about 0.92 x 0.70.
. CYANE/CULA. ( A diminutive form of Gr. kvaveos, Lat. cyaneus, blue; as we should say,
“ bluet.”) BuvueE-THROATS. Bill much shorter than head, slender, compressed throughout,
acute at tip, with obsolete notch (quite as in Saxicola, but more compressed and slenderer).
Feet, as in Saxicola, long and slender; tarsus much longer than the middle toe and claw;
‘lateral toes of unequal lengths, the outer longer, but the tip of its claw still falling short of
the base of the middle claw ; claws little curved, the hinder fully as long as its digit. Wings
long and pointed (less so than in Saxicola), the point formed by the 3d, 4th, and 5th quills;
2d about equal to the 6th; 1st spurious, abaut one-third as long as the longest. Tail of mod-
erate length, slightly rounded. Tail particolored with chestnut; throat and breast with azure-
blue and chestnut. The species were formerly included in Ruticilla, an Old World genus very
closely related to Sawicola; they form the connecting link between Sazicoline proper and
Sylowne, placed by some authors in one, by others in the other group. The relationships with
Saxicola are certainly very close.
C. sue/cica, (Lat. suecica, Swedish.) BLUE-THROATED RepsTarT. REb-sPOTTED BLUE-
THROAT. Entire upper parts dark brown with a shade of olive (about the color of a tit-
lark, Anthus ludovicianus), the feathers of the crown with darker centres; rump and upper
32.
10.
33.
LURDIDZ — REGULINZ!: KINGLETS. 259
tail-coverts rather lighter, and mixed with bright chestnut-red. Wings like the back, with
slightly paler edgings of the feathers. Middle tail-feathers like back, or rather darker, the rest
blackish, with the basal half or more of their length bright chestnut-red, or orange-brown.
Lores dusky; a whitish superciliary line. Chin, throat, and forebreast rich ultramarine blue,
enclosing a bright chestnut throat-patch; the blue bordered behind by black, this again by
chestnut mixed with white. Rest of under parts white, washed on the sides, lining of wings
and under tail-coverts with pale fulvous. Bill and feet black. 9 and young similar, the
throat-markings imperfect. Length 5.75-6.00; wing 3.00; tail 2.25-2.50; bill 0.50; tarsus
1.00; middle toe and claw 0.75. Alaska; a beautiful and interesting bird, widely distributed
in the Old World.
5. Subfamily REGULINA:: Kinglets and Wood-Wrens.
The two genera to be here noticed are most readily distinguished by the simple colors of
Phylloscopus, contrasted with the elegant colored crest of Regulus ; both genera include very
diminutive birds not over five inches long.
- PHYLLO'SCOPUS. (Gr. @vAAov, phullon, a leaf; oxomds, skopos, a watchman; as these
birds peer about in the foliage.) Woop-Wrens, Bill shorter than head, slender, straight,
depressed at base, compressed and notched at tip; nostrils exposed, though reached by the
frontal feathers. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, booted or sometimes indistinctly
scutellate; wings pointed, longer than tail; point formed by 3d and 4th quills; 5th much
shorter, and 6th shorter still, 2d between 5th and 6th; spurious 1st primary very short, exposed
less than 0.50. Tail about even. Size diminutive and coloration simple. Includes numerous
(about 25) Old World species, one of them occurring in Alaska.
P. borea/lis. (Lat. borealis, northern; boreas, the north-wind.) KrnnicoTt’s WARBLER.
Above, olive-green, clear, continuous, and nearly uniform, but rather brighter on the rump;
quills and tail-feathers fuscous, edged externally with yellowish-green; a long yellowish super-
ciliary stripe ; under parts yellowish-white, the lining of wings and the flanks yellow; wings
crossed with two yellowish bars, that across ends of greater coverts conspicuets, the other
indistinct; bill dark brown, pale below; feet and eyes brown. Length 4.75; extent 6.00;
wing 2.25-2.50; tail 1.75-2.00; tarsus 0.70; middle toe and claw 0.55. Europe, Asia, and,
in America, Alaska.
REGULUS. (Lat. regulus, diminutive of rex, a king; kinglet.) Kincuets. Tarsus booted,
very slender, longer than the middle toe and claw. Lateral toes nearly equal to each other.
First quill of the wing spurious, its exposed portion less than half as long as the second.
Wings pointed, longer than the tail, which is emarginate, with acuminate feathers. Bill
shorter than the head, straight, slender, and typically Sylviine, not hooked at the end, well
bristled at rictus, with the nostrils overshadowed by tiny feathers. Coloration vlivaceous,
paler or whitish below, with red, black, or yellow, or all three of these colors, on the head of
the adult. There are about ten species, of Europe, Asia, and America. They are elegant and
dainty little creatures, among the very smallest of our birds excepting the Hummers. They
inhabit woodland, are very agile and sprightly, insectivorous, migratory, and highly musical.
R. calen/dula. (Lat. calendula, a glowing little thing.) RuBy-crownep Kineter. ¢ 9,
adult: Upper parts greenish-olive, becoming more yellowish on the rump; wings and tail
dusky, strongly edged with yellowish ; whole under parts dull yellowish-white, or yellowish-
or greenish-gray (very variable in tone); wings crossed with two whitish bars, and inner sec-
ondaries edged with the same. Edges of eyelids, lores, and extreme forehead, hoary whitish.
A rich scarlet patch, partially concealed, on the crown. This beautiful ornament is apparently
not gained until the second year, and there is a question whether it is ever present in the
female. Bill and feet black. Length 4.10-4.50; extent 6.66-7.33; wing 2.00-2.33; tail
1.75 ; bill 0.25; tarsus 0.75. Young for the first year (and 9 ?): Quite like the adult, but
34.
350
260 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
wanting the scarlet patch. In a newly fledged specimen the wings and tail are as strongly
edged with yellowish as in the adult; but the general plumage of the upper parts is rather
olive-gray than olive-green, and the under parts are sordid whitish. The bill is light colored
at the base, and the toes appear to have been yellowish. N. America at large, breeding far
north and in mountains of the West, wintering in the Southern States and beyond. An exqui-
site little creature, famous for vocal power, abundant in wooded regions. Nest a large mass
of matted hair, feathers, moss, straws, etc., placed on the bough of a tree; eggs unknown.
R. satra’pa. (Gr. carpdmns, Lat. satrapes, a ruler; alluding to the bird’s golden crown. Fig.
132.) GOLDEN-CRESTED KiInGLET. , adult: Upper parts olive-green, more or less bright,
sometimes rather olive-ashy, always brightest on
the rump; under parts dull ashy-white, or yel-
lowish-white. Wings and tail dusky, strongly
edged with yellowish, the inner wing-quills with
whitish. On the secondaries, this yellowish edg-
ing stops abruptly in advance of the ends of the
coverts, leaving a pure blackish interval in ad-
vance of the white tips of the greater coverts:
this, and the similar tips of the. median coverts,
form two white bars across the wings; inner
webs of the quills and tail-feathers edged with
white. Superciliary line and extreme forehead
hoary-whitish. Crown black, enclosing a large
space, the middle of which is flame-colored, bor-
dered with pure yellow. The black reaches
across the forehead; but behind, the yellow and
Fig. 132.—Golden-crested Kinglet. (After Audubon.) fame-eolor reach the general olive of the upper
parts. Or, the top of the head may be described as a central bed of fiame-color, bounded in
front and on the sides with clear yellow, this similarly bounded by black, this again in the
same manner by hoary-whitish. Smaller than R. calendula ; overlying nasal plumes larger.
Length 4.00; extent 6.50-7.00; wing 2.00-2.12; tail 1.67. 9, adult; and young: Similar
to the adult g, but the central field of the crown entirely yellow, enclosed in black (no flame-
color). N. America, at large; another exquisite, abundant in woodland aud shrubbery, breed-
ing from N. New England northward, wintering in most of the U.S. Nest a ball of
moss, hair, feathers, ete., about 4.50 inches in diameter, on low bough of a tree,
preferably evergreen ; eggs 6-10, white, fully speckled ; size 0.50 x 0.40.
R, s. oliva/ceus? (Lat. olivaceus, olivaceous; oliva, an olive.) WHESTERN
GOLDEN-CRESTED Kinexet. A slight variety, said to be of livelier color-
ation. Pacific coast
region.
6. Subfam. POLIOPTILINA: Gnat-catchers.
A small group of one
genus and about a dozen,
chiefly Central and South
American, species ; peculiar
to America. Polioptila has
been sometimes associated
with the Paride, but differs
decidedly and is apparently
: me Sylviine. Characters those
fig. 133.—Blue-gray Gnat-catcher, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. B.C.) of the single genus.
11.
36.
37.
38.
TURDIDZ —POLIOPTILINZE: GNAT-CATCHERS. 261
POLIOP'TILA. (Gr. rodtés, polios, hoary ; mridov, ptilon, a feather; the primaries being
edged with whitish.) Gnat-catcumrs. Tarsi scutellate. Toes very short, the lateral only
about half as long as the tarsus; outer a little longer than the inner. First quill spuri-
ous, about half as long as the second. Wings rounded, not longer than the graduated tail, the
feathers of which widen toward their rounded ends. Bill shorter than head, straight, broad
and depressed at base, rapidly narrowing to the very slender terminal portion, distinctly
notched and hooked at the end—thus Muscicapine in character. ictus with well-developed
bristles. Nostrils entirely exposed. Coloration without bright tints; bluish-ash, paler or
white below; tail black and white. Delicate little woodland birds, peculiar to America, not
over 5 inches long; migratory, insectivorous, very active and sprightly, with sharp squeaking
notes.
Analysis of Species. ;
¢@ Forehead and line over eye black ; outer tail-feather white oosa os - + + caerulea 36
df Whole crown black ; outer web of outer tail-feather only edged with white 3 . « . melanura 37
¢ Line over eye black ; outer web of outer tail-feather white . é ‘ . plumbea 38
P. coerulea. (Lat. coerulea, cerulean, blue. Figs. 133, 134, b.) BLUE-GRAY GNAT-
CATCHER. , adult: Grayish-blue, bluer on the crown, hoary on the rump, the forehead
black, continuous with a black superciliary line. Edges of eyelids white, and above these a
slight whitish stripe bordering the black exteriorly. Below white, with a faint plumbeous
shade on the breast. Wings dark brown, the outer webs, especially of the inner quills, edged
with hoary, and the inner webs of most bor-
dered with white. Tail jet-black, the outer
feather entirely or mostly white, the next one
about half white, the third one tipped with
white. Bill and feet black. Length 4.50-
5.00; extent 6.25-7.00 ; wing 2.00-2.20; tail
about the same. @: Likethe ¢, but duller
and more grayish-blue above; the head like
the back, and without any black. Bill usually
in part light-colored. U.S. from Atlantic to
Pacific, N. to Massachusetts ; breeds through-
out its range, and winters on the southern ,
border and southward; abundant in woodland. TS, tae Sc, tind oe Ponta melee BEE:
Nest a model of bird-architecture, compact- caerulea ; ce, tail of P. melanura; d, of P. plumbea; all
walled and contracted at the brim, elegantly ™* *°
stuccoed with lichens, fixed to slender twigs at a varying height from 10 to 50 or 60 feet; eggs
4-5, about 0.60 X 0.45, whitish, fully speckled with reddish and umber-brown and lilac.
P. melanwra. (Gr. péAas, melas, black; ovpa, owra, tail. Fig. 134, a,¢.) BLACK-CAPPED
GwaT-CATCHER. @: Like P. coerulea, but whole top of head black. White of tail reduced
to a minimum ; outer web of the outer feather only edged with white, instead of wholly white;
tip of the inner web, with tip of the next feather, white for a very slight space ; no white on
the third feather. Size of the foregoing; tarsi rather longer, — about 0.70. 9 : No black on
the head; distinguished from 9 caerulea only by less white on the tail. Texas to South and
Lower California.
P. plum/bea. (Lat. plumbeus, plumbeous, lead-colored. Fig. 134, d.) PLUMBEOUS GNAT-
CATCHER. 4, adult: Upper parts like those of P. cerulea, but duller and more grayish ; no
black on forehead; a short black stripe over eye, and below this a white one. Outer tail-
feather with the whole outer web and tip white (like the second feather of P. cerulea) ; next
two feathers tipped with white. Size of P. cerulea. 9: Like the @; the upper parts still
duller, and frequently with a decided brownish shade; no black over eye; thus only distin-
guished from 9 cerulea by less white on the tail. Valley of the Gila and Colorado.
12.
39.
39a.
262 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
Obs. According to Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Club, vi, 1881, p. 101, the two foregoing are adult (No. 37) and young
(No. 38) of the same species, which is plwmbea, Bd., Pr. Phila. Acad., 1854, p. 118; B. N. A., 1858, p. 382, and authors;
melanura, Lawr., Ann. Lyc. N. Y., vi, 1856, p. 168, but not of authors referring to the Californian bird ; also, atri-
capilla, Lawr., Ann. Lyc. N. Y., v, 1851, p. 124; Cass., Ill., 1854, pl. 27, but not of Swainson. Brewster describes
the Californian bird as a new species, as follows:—P. caLirorNIcA. California Black-capped Gnat-catcher.
¢: Ascompared with P. plumbea, upper parts decidedly plumbeous instead of bluish ; throat, breast, and sides dull
ashy instead of ashy-white; lower belly and crissum fulvous or even pale chestnut ; light edging of the tail-feathers
confined to outer pair, with sometimes slight tipping of next pair (as in my fig. 134, c.); lining of wings pearly-ash,
not white; secondaries and tertials edged with light brown. No pure white anywhere; general aspect of under
parts nearly as dark as those of a cat-bird. Whole crown glossy black. Length 4.50; extent 6.10; wing 1.84; tail
1.80; tarsus 0.73; bill 0.50. 9: Similar, but no black on crown; belly and crissum pale chestnut; outer webs of
second pair of rectrices edged with white. California; being the melanura of authors referring to California birds,
but not of Lawr., 1856.
2. Family CHAMACSIDA: Wren-tits.
Recently framed for a single species, much like a titmouse in general appearance, but
with the tarsus not evidently seutellate in front ; rounded wings much shorter than the gradu-
ated tail; lores bristly, and plumage extraordinarily soft and lax. With the general habits of
wrens, with which the species was formerly associated. The position and valuation of the
group are still uncertain; probably to be determined upon anatomical characters. I have
little doubt that Chamea will yet be found referable to some other recognized family of birds,
and suspect that it might be assigned to the Old World Timeliide, with at least as much
propriety as some other American groups, which have lately been relegated to that ill-assorted
assemblage. :
CHAMAIA. (Gr. xapnai, chamai, on the ground.) WREN-TITS. Form and general aspect
combining features of wrens and titmice. Plumage extraordinarily lax, soft, and full. Color-
ation simple. Tarsal scutella obsolete, or faintly indicated, at least outside. Toes coherent at
base for about half the length of the proximal joint of the middle one. Soles widened and
padded, much as in Paride. Primaries 10, the 6th longest, the 3d equal to the longest sec-
ondaries, the 1st about three-fifths as long as the longest; wing thus extremely rounded, and
much shorter than the tail (about two-thirds as long). Tail very long, constituting more
than half the entire length of the bird, extremely graduated, with soft, narrow feathers, widen-
ing somewhat toward their tips, rounded at the end, the lateral pair not two-thirds as long as
the middle. Bill much shorter than head, very deep at the base, straight, stout, compressed-
conical, not notched, with ridged and very convex culmen, but nearly straight commissure
and gonys; naked, sealed, linear nostrils, and strongly bristled gape. Frontal feathers reaching
nasal fossze, but no ruff concealing the nostrils as in Paride.
C. fascia/ta. (Lat. fasciata, striped; fascis, a bundle of faggots.) Wren-tir. Adult:
Dark brown with an olive shade, the top of the head clearer and somewhat streaky, the wings
and tail purer brown, obscurely fasciated with numerous cross-bars; below, dull cinnamon-
brown, paler on belly, shaded with olive-brown on the sides and crissum, the throat and
breast obscurely streaked with dusky; bill and feet brown; iris white. Length about 6.00;
wing 2.25-2.50; tail 3.25-3.50, much graduated, the lateral feathers being an inch or more
shorter than the middle ones; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.90-1.00; middle toe and claw 0.75. First
primary nearly an-inch shorter than the longest one. California coast region. A remarkable
bird, resembling no other, common in shrubbery; nest in bushes; eggs plain greenish-blue, .
0.70 X 0.52.
C. f. hen/shawi. (To H. W. Henshaw.) Hexsnaw’s WREN-TIT. Much lighter and duller
colored; above, grayish-ash with slight olive shade (about the color of a Lophophanes); below,
searcely rufescent upon a soiled whitish ground, shaded on the sides with the color of the back;
bill and feet smaller. Interior of California, and probably adjoining regions; seems to be
a well-marked form. (Not in the Check List, 1882; see Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. v.,
1882, p. 13.)
PARIDA)— PARINZ: TITMICE. 263
3. Family PARIDA: Titmice, or Chickadees.
Ours are all small (under 7 inches
long) birds, at once distinguished
by having ten primaries, the 1st
much shorter than the 2d; wings
barely or not longer than the tail ;
tail-feathers not stiff nor acuminate ;
tarsi scutellate, longer than the mid-
dle toe; anterior toes much soldered
at base; nostrils concealed by dense
tufts, and bill compressed, stout,
straight, unnotched, and much
shorter than the head ; — characters
that readily marked them off from
all their allies, as wrens, creepers,
etc. Really, they are hard to dis-
tinguish, technically, from jays;
but all our jays are much over 7
inches long.
They are distributed over North
America, but the crested species are
rather southern, and all but one of
' them western. Most of them are
hardy birds, enduring the rigors of
Fig. 135.— European Greater Titmouse, Parus major. (From Dixon.) winter without inconvenience, and,
as a consequence, none of them are properly migratory. They are musical, after a fashion of
their own, chirping a quaint ditty; are active, restless, and very heedless of man’s presence ;
and eat everything. Some of the western species build astonishingly large and curiously
shaped nests, pensile, like a bottle or purse with a hole in one side, as represented in fig. 140 ;
others live in knot-holes, and similar snuggeries that they usually dig out for themselves.
They are very prolific, laying numerous eggs, and raising more than one brood a season; the
young closely resemble the parents, and there are no obvious seasonal or sexual changes of
plumage. All but one of our species are plainly clad; still they have a ‘pleasing look, with
their trim form and the tasteful colors of the head.
7. Subfamily PARINAE: True Titmice.
Exclusive of certain aberrant forms, usually allowed to constitute a separate subfamily, and
sometimes altogether removed from Paride, the titmice compose a natural and pretty well
defined group, to which the foregoing diagnosis and remarks are particularly applicable, and
agree in the following characters: — Bill very short and stout, straight, compressed-conoid in
shape, not notched nor with decurved tip, its under as well as upper outline convex. Rictus
without true bristles, but base of the bill covered with tufts of bristly feathers directed forward,
entirely concealing the nostrils. Feet stout; tarsi distinctly scutellate, longer than the middle
toe ; toes rather short, the anterior soldered together at the base for most of the length of the
basal joint of the middle one. Hind toe with an enlarged pad beneath, forming, .with the con-
solidated bases of the anterior toes, a broad firm sole. Wing with ten primaries, of which the
first is very short or spurious, scarcely or not half as long as the second; wing as a whole
rounded, scarcely or not longer than the tail, which latter is rounded or graduated, and com-
posed of twelve narrow soft feathers, with rounded or somewhat truncated tips. Plumage
13.
40.
41.
264 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
long, soft, and loose, without bright colors or well-marked changes according to sex, age, or
season (excepting Auriparus).
There may be about seventy-five good species of the Parine, thus restricted, most of
them falling in the genus Parus, or in its immediate neighborhood. With few exceptions
they are birds of the northern hemisphere, abounding in Europe, Asia, and North America.
The larger proportion of the genera and species inhabit the Old World. All those of the New
World oecur within our limits.
Analysis of Genera.
Crested.
Wings and tail rounded, of about equal lengths. Noredoryellow. ........ Lophophanes 13
Not crested.
Wings and tail rounded, of about equal lengths. Noredoryellow ..... » . . . Parus 14
Wings rounded, shorter than the graduated tail Noredoryellow ..... Psaltriparus 15
Wings pointed, longer than the even tail. Head yellow ; bend of wingred . . . + Auriparus 16
LOPHO/PHANES. (Gr. Acdos, lophos, a crest; paive, phaino, I appear.) CRESTED TrT-
mice. Head crested. Wings and tail rounded, of about equal lengths, and about as long as
the body. Bill conoid-compressed, with upper and under outlines both convex. No yellow on
head nor red on wing. Plumage lax, much the same in both sexes at all ages and seasons.
Average size of the species at a maximum for Paring. Nests excavated in trees; eggs spotted.
Analysis of Spevies.
Frontlet black ; sides washed with rusty. Eastern . . . ‘ F Sei ee a . bicolor 40
Crest like rest of upper parts ; norusty on sides. Southwestern . if. ei i . inornatus 41
Crest entirely black; rusty on sides. Texan. . . . . ‘ «oe ee + a . atrocristatus 42
Head with several black stripes ; no rusty on sides. Southwestern .........- wollweberi 43
L. bicolor. (Lat. bis, twice; color, color. Fig. 136.) Turrep Tirmousn. @ 9, adult:
Entire upper parts ashy, the’ back usually with a slight
olivaceous shade, the wings and tail rather purer and darker
plumbeous, the latter sometimes showing obsolete transverse
bars. Sides of the head and entire under parts dull whitish,
washed with chestnut-brown on the sides. A black frontlet
at the base of.the crest. Bill plumbeous-blackish ; feet plum-
beous. Length 6.00-6.50 inches; extent 9.75-10.75; wing
and tail 3.00-3.25; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.80; middle toe and
claw 0.75. Q smaller than g. Young: The crest less devel-
oped; little if any trace of the black frontlet; sides scarcely
washed with rusty. Eastern U.S&., rather southerly; scarcely
N. to New England; resident, abundant in woodland and
i ae re ee shrubbery. Nest in holes; eggs 6 or 8, 0.75 x 0.56, white,
nat. size. (Ad nat. del. B.C.) | dotted with reddish-brown and lilac.
L. inorna/tus. (Lat. in, as signifying negation, and ornatus, adorned ; orno, I ornament.)
Puan Trrmouse. @ 9, adult: Entire upper parts dull leaden-gray, with a slight olive
shade; the wings and tail rather purer and darker. Below, dull ashy-whitish, without any
rusty wash on the sides. No black on the head. Extreme forehead and sides of the head
obscurely speckled with whitish. No decided markings anywhere. In size rather less than
L. bicolor; length usually under 6.00 ; wing and tail under 3.00. Young quite like the adults,
which closely resemble the young of L. bicolor; but in the latter there are traces at least of the
reddish of the sides or black of the frontlet, or both; the general coloration is purer, with more
distinction between the upper and under parts, and the size is rather greater. The speckled
appearance of the sides of the head and lores of L. inornatus is peculiar. Southwestern United
States, abundant, resident. The typical form Californian; a rather larger, stouter-billed form,
lighter leaden-gray with scarcely any olive shade, from Utah, Arizona, etc., is L. ¢. griseus,
Ridgw., Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus., v., 1882, p. 344.
42.
43.
14.
44,
PARIDHA —PARINZA: TITMICE. 265
L. atrocrista'tus. (Lat. atro, with black, ecristatus, crested; crista, a crest.) BLACK-CRESTED
Titmouse. ¢ @, adult: Plumbeous, with a shade of olive, the wings and tail rather darker
and purer, edged with the color of the back, or a more hoary shade of thesame. Beneath, dull
ashy-whitish, especially on the breast, the abdomen whiter, the sides chestnut-brown as in L.
bicolor, Extreme forehead and lores whitish; entire crest glossy black. Bill blackish-plum-
beous; feet plumbeous.. Small: length about 5.00; wing and tail 2.75. Valley of the Rio
Grande. Nest in natural cavities of trees, usually including cast snake-skins among its materi-
als; eggs 0.75 x 0.58, white, spotted with reddish-brown in fine dots over the general surface,
boldly blotched at large end, but not distinguishable from those of L. bicolor.
L. wollweb’eri. (To one Wollweber. Fig. 137.) Briptep Tirmouse. ¢ 9, adult:
Upper parts olivaceous-ash, wings and tail darker, edged with the color of the back, or even a
brighter tint, sometimes nearly as yellowish as in Regulus. Under
parts sordid ashy-white. Crest black, with a central field like the
back. Whole throat black, as in species of Parus. A black line
runs behind the eye and curves down over the auriculars, distin-
guished from the black of the crest and throat by the white of
the side of the head and white superciliary stripe; a half-collar
of black on the nape, descending on the sides of the neck, there
separated from the black crescent of the auriculars by a white cres-
cent, which latter is continuous with the white of the superciliary
line ; considerable whitish speckling in the black of the forehead ric. ior = Baalea
and lores. Bill blackish-plumbeous; feet plumbeous. Smallest: mouse, nat. size. (Mex. B.
length 5.00 or less; wing or tail 2.40-2.65; bill 0.33; tarsus 0.60- Survey.)
0.70. Young: Chin narrowly or imperfectly black, and some of the above described head-
markings obscure or incomplete. The singularly variegated markings of the head of this
species at once distinguish it. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, abundant, going
in troops, in woods and shrubbery.
PA/RUS. (Lat. parus, a titmouse.) TypicaL Tirmicz. CHICKADEES. Head not crested.
Wings and tail rounded, of approximately equal lengths, and about as long as the body. Bill
typically parine (see foregoing characters). No bright colors (in any North American species).
Head in most species with black. Plumage lax and dull, without decided changes with age,
sex, or season. Size medium in the family. Nest excavated. Eggs spotted.
Analysis of Species.
Species definitely black-capped and black-throated.
A white superciliary stripe . mE a. G Bh Vie pak? Ao cian ates fen eo ee, We maa .montanus 48
No white superciliary stripe.
Tail not shorter than wing ; feathers of both with much hoary-whitish edging.
Larger ; tail at maximum length, coloration most hoary. Missouri Region and Rocky
Mts. ict le ae ~ . . . 8eptentrionalis 45
Smaller ; tail moderate ; coloration less hoary. astern soe ee ws . Gtricapillus 44
Size of No. 44; coloration darker. Pacific Region +. « « « . occidentalis 46
Tail shorter than wings ; whitish edgings of wings and tail obsolete.
Rather smaller than No. 44. South Atlantic States. . Fe . carolinensis 47
Rather smaller than No. 44 ; coloration very dark. Mexican border + + « meridionalis 879
Species brown-capped, or crown quite like back, and blackish throat.
Cap hair-brown; back little different.
White confined to side of head. Eastern and Arctic. . . ..... =... « hudsonicus 49
White spreading over sides of neck. Arctic is Sab NS oa Jan, eh AY SE eo Fe .cinctus 52
Cap dark wood-brown ; back chestnut.
Back and sides rich chestnut alike. Pacific, northerly. . .....4.4.. . Tufescens 50
Back chestnut, but sides only washed with rusty. Pacific, southerly. . ... . . neglectus 61
P. atricapil/lus. (Lat. ater, black; capillus, hair. Fig. 138.) Buack-cappED TITMOUSE.
CHICKADEE. Crown and nape, with chin and throat, black, separated by white sides of the
head. Upper parts brownish-ash, with slight olive tinge, and a rusty wash on rump. Under
45.
46.
4%.
879.
48.
266 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. ;
parts more or less purely white or whitish, shaded on the sides with a brownish or rusty wash.
Wings aud tail like upper parts, the feathers moderately edged with hoary-white. Average
dimensions: length 5.25; extent 8.00; wing and tail,
each, 2.50; tarsus 0.70. Extremes: length 4.75-5.50;
extent 7.50-8.50; wing and tail 2.35-2.65; tarsus 0.65-
0.75. Eastern N. Am., from the Middle States northward,
very abundant, well-known by its familiar habits and pecu-
liar notes. Nest in holes of trees, stumps, or fences, natural
or excavated by the bird, made of grasses, mosses, hair, fur,
feathers, ete. ; eggs 6-8, 0.58 X 0.47, white, fully sprinkled
with reddish-brown dots and spots.
P. a. septentriona'lis. (Lat. septentrionalis, northern ;
septentriones, the constellation of seven stars, the dipper.)
LonG-TAILED CHICKADEE. Similar to P. atricapillus;
averaging larger, and especially longer-tailed, the tail
rather exceeding the wing in length. Coloration clear and
pure; wings and tail very strongly edged, especially on
the secondaries and outer tail-feathers, with hoary-white,
which usually passes entirely around their tips. Cap pure
black and very extensive on the nape; black of throat
reaching Breast; sides of head and neck snowy-white.
Bill and feet dark plumbeous. Average dimensions about Fic. 138. — Black-capped Chickadee,
the maxima of P. atricapillus: length 5.25-5.50; extent teduced. (Adnat. del. E. C.)
8.50; wing 2.50-2.75 ; tail 2.60-2.80, sometimes 3.00. This style reaches its extreme devel-
opment in the region of the Upper Missouri and Rocky Mts., there apparently to the exclusion
of P. atricapillus proper. :
P. a, occidenta/lis. (Lat. occidentalis, western; occido, I fall; i. e., where the sun sets.)
WESTERN CHICKADEE. Similar to P. atricapillus; of the same average size; presenting
the opposite extreme from P. septentrionals in minimum edging of wing- and tail-feathers
with hoary, heavy brownish wash of sides, and general dark sordid coloration. U.S., Pacific
coast region.
P. carolinensis. (Lat. of Carolina.) Carox~ina CHICKADEE. Averaging smaller than P.
atricapillus, with relatively as well as absolutely shorter tail, which is rather shorter than the
wings ; wings and tail very little edged with whitish. Average dimensions about at the minima of
P. atricapillus. Length about 4.50; wing 2.50; tail 2.25. South Atlantic and Gulf States;
N. to Washington and Southern Illinois. Nesting like P. atricapillus; eggs similar, rather
smaller.
P. meridiona/lis. (Lat. meridionalis, southern.) MExIcAN CHICKADEE. Differs decidedly
from P. atricapillus in having the under parts merely a paler shade of the ashy of the upper,
instead of white, without any brownish wash on sides; wing-coverts and tail lacking any
hoary edging, though the wing-quills have a slight grayish-
white edging. Thus quite like P. montanus in color, but no
white superciliary stripe. Length 4.80-5.20; extent 8.00-
8.70; wing 2.67-2.90; tail 2.40-2.67. Mexico, recently ascer-
tained to occur in Arizona. (Numbered among addenda in
the Check List, 1882.)
P. monta/nus. (Lat. montanus, of mountains. Fig. 139.)
MounTaIN CHICKADEE. Upper parts ashy-gray, with scarcely
a shade, and only on the rump, of the ochraceous seen in most nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
other species; under parts similarly grayish-white, without a rusty tinge, the middle of the
50.
51.
49.
49a.
52
15.
PARIDHA —PARINA: TITMICE. 267
belly nearly white, the rest more heavily shaded. Wings and tail with comparatively little
whitish edging —the tail at least with no more than that of P. carolinensis. Sides of the
head and neck white; top of the head, and the throat, black. A conspicuous white super--
ciliary stripe in the black cap, usually meeting its fellow across the forehead. Length about
5.00; extent 8.30; wing 2.50-2.75; tail rather less; bill 0.38; tarsus 0.66. U.S., from
Eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, chiefly in alpine regions.
P. rufes'cens, (Lat. rufescens, rufous, reddish.) CHESTNUT-BACKED TiTMoUSE. Crown
and nape dark wood-brown, becoming sooty along the sides, separated from the sooty-black of
the throat by a large white area extending back on the sides of the neck. Entire back and
sides of body rich dark chestnut, contrasting strongly with the brown of the head. Breast
and central line of under parts, with lining of the wings, whitish. Wing- and tail-coverts
more or less washed with rusty-brown. Quills and tail-feathers scarcely or slightly edged
with whitish. Bill black; feet dark; iris brown. Young with throat brown, like crown,
instead of sooty. Length 4.75; extent 7.50; wing 2.30; tail about 2.00. A strongly
marked species, with. chestnut back and sides contrasting with dark brown cap and sooty throat.
Pacific coast region of the U. 8., northerly, and corresponding portions of British America.
P. r. neglec'tus? (Lat. neglectus, neglected, i. e., not chosen; nec, not, and lego, I gather,
choose.) Quite similar: crown, throat, and back the same, but sides not extensively chestnut,
being simply washed with rusty-brown. Coast region of California.
P. hudson‘icus. (Lat. hudsonicus, of Hudson’s Bay; after Henry Hudson, the navigator.)
Hupsonian Tirmouse. Crown, nape, and upper parts generally clear hair-brown, or ashy-
brown with a slight olive shade, the coloration quite the same on back and crown, and contin-
uous, being not separated by any whitish nuchal interval. Throat quite black, in restricted
area, not extending backward on sides of neck ; separated from the brown crown by silky
white on the side of the head, this white not reaching back of the auriculars to the sides of the
nape. Sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts washed with dull chestnut or rusty-brown ; other
under parts whitish. Quills and tail-feathers lead-color, as in other titmice, scarcely or slightly
edged with whitish. Little or no concealed white on rump. Bill black; feet dark. Size of
P. atricapillus, or ratherless. Wing 2.50; tail rather less. New England and British America
generally ; Nevada to Alaska. Common in coniferous woods.
P. h. evu'ra, nobis. Alaskan specimens are larger, the tail nearly 3.00; thus corresponding
with P. atricapillus septentrionalis, and being quite the size of P. cinctus, from which dis-
tinguished by retaining precisely the coloration of P. hudsonicus. Alaska.
P. cinc/tus. (Lat. cinctus, girdled; cingo, I bind about.) Srper1an Trrmouse. In general,
sinilar to P. hudsonicus, but quite distinct. Throat sooty-blackish ; crown and nape dark
hair-brown, bordered laterally with dusky, quite appreciably different in tone from the brighter
brownish of the back, from which also separated to some extent by whitish of the cervix.
Sides of head and neck pure white, in a large area widening behind, this white of opposite
sides nearly meeting across the cervix. Back ashy overlaid with flaxen-brown, the rump light
brown with much concealed white. Under parts whitish centrally from the black throat, but
heavily washed on the sides, flanks, and crissum, sometimes quite across the belly, with light
brownish. Wings and tail slate-color, as usual in the genus, with much whitish edging,
especially on the secondaries. Bill plumbeous-blackish; feet plumbeous. Wing 2.60; tail
rather more. A large stylish chickadee, lately ascertained to inhabit Arctic America, especially
Alaska, as well as boreal regions of Asia and Europe.
PSALTRI'PARUS. (Gr. Wadrpia, Lat. psaltria, a lutist; and parus, a tit.) BusH-TITSs.
Dwarfs among pygmies! 3.75-4.25 long; wing 2.00 or less, tail 2.00 or more. Ashy or
olive-gray, paler or whitish below ; neither crown nor throat black; no bright colors. Head
not crested; wings rounded, shorter than the long narrow graduated tail, which exceeds the
length of the body. Nest large, woven, pensile, with lateral entrance (fig. 140). Eggs 6-9,
53.
54.
55.
268 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES.
white, unmarked. The three species are western; they are notable for their diminutive size,
scarcely equalling a Polioptila in bulk.
Analysis of Species.
Crown brown, unlike back; no black on sideofhead. .. . soe eee ew ee wo minimus 53
Crown like back ; no black on sideofhead. . . . ae a ee ee ee ae
Crown ash, unlike back ; a black stripe on side of head ie hap ike he te eR AG! e. 8 . .melanotis 55
P. min/imus. (Lat. minimus, least, smallest.) Least BusH-TIr. P @ : Dull lead-color,
frequently with a brown-
ish or olivaceous shade,
the top of the head ab-
ruptly darker — clove-
brown or hair-brown.
Below sordid whitish, or
brownish-white. Wings
and tail dusky, with
slight hoary edgings.
Bill and feet black.
Length 4.00 or less;
wing scarcely or not
2.00; tail 2.00 or more;
bill 0.25; tarsus 0.60.
Young birds do not dif-
fer materially. There is
considerable variation in
the precise shade of the
body, but the brown cap
always differs in color
from the rest of the up-
per parts. Pacific coast
region of the U. 8.
P. plum’beus. (Lat.
plumbeus, lead-colored.)
PiumsBsous Busu-tir.
692: Clear plumbeous,
with little or no olive
or brownish shade; top
of head not different
from the back; sides
of head pale brownish.
Under parts as in P.
mmimus, but clearer.
Tail longer than wings.
Eyes yellow or dark brown. Length about 4.25; wing 1.88-2.12; tail 2.25-2.50; bill
0.25; tarsus 0.60. Very closely related to P. minimus ; but specimens are readily distin-
guishable. Total length greater, owing to elongation of the tail, which sometimes exceeds
the wings by 0.50. General coloration clearer and purer; crown not different in color from the
back, but cheeks brownish in obvious contrast. Southern Rocky Mt. region, from Wyoming
and Nevada southward; common in Arizona.
P. melano'tis. (Gr. pédas, melas, gen. yédavos, melanos, black; ods, ous, gen. drds, otos, ear.)
BLACK-EARED BUSH-TIT. &, adult: Sides of head broadly black with greenish lustre, the
Fic. 140, — Least: Bush-tit and nest, about 3 nat. size. (Ad nat. del. H. W.
Elliott.)
16.
56.
SITTIDA : NUTHATCHES. 269
bands meeting narrowly across the chin, and nearly meeting on the nape. Crown and nape
clear ash. Back hair-brown. Wings and tail fuscous, with narrow pale ashy edgings of the
feathers ; outer webs and tips of outer tail-feathers, and inner webs of many wing-feathers,
whitish. Below, white, pure on throat and sides of neck, thence passing through lavender-
gray to rusty-brownish on flanks and crissum. Bill and feet black; iris brown. Q unknown:
probably not different. Young quite similar, having glossy black on the head before they are
fully feathered, but the black does not at first meet on the chin. Length about 4.00; wing
1.90; tail 2.25; bill 0.25, compressed, with very convex culmen and nearly straight under out-
line; tarsus 0.60; middle toe and claw 0.45. A neat little tom-thumb, native of Mexico,
N. to Arizona and probably farther, rare; I have seen but three specimens.
AURI/PARUS. (Lat. auri, of gold, and parus, a tit; from the yellowhead.) Gotp-tTrrs. Head
not crested. Wings pointed, the 2d quill being little shorter than the 3d; the 1st spurious.
Tail little rounded, decidedly shorter than the wings. Bill not typically parine — extremely
acute, with straight or slightly concave under outline, and barely convex culmen, thus resem-
bling that of a Helminthophaga ; longer and slenderer than usual in Parine ; nostrils scarcely
coucealed by the imperfect ruff. Tarsi relatively shorter than in the preceding genera.
Bright colors on head (yellow) and wing (red). Plumage comparatively compact; sexes
alike, but young very different from the adult. Size very small. General form sylvicoline.
Nest globular, woven. Eggs spotted. One species.
A. fla'viceps. (Lat. flaviceps, yellow-head.) Goup-Tit. & 9: Upper parts ashy; under
parts whitish ; wings and tail dusky, with hoary edging. Whole head rich yellow. Lesser
wing-coverts chestnut-red. Bill dark plumbeous; feet plumbeous. Length 4.00-4.25;
wing 1.80-2:00; tail 1.75-2.25. Young without red on wing or yellow on head; thus obscure
objects, known, however, by their generic characters. Adults vary in having the yellow
heightened to orange, or dull and greenish; the red sometimes hematitic; and the shade of
the ashy clear and pure, or dull and brownish. Valley of the Rio Grande and Colorado, and
Lower California ; abundant in chaparral, building in bushes a great globular nest of twigs,
lined with down and feathers; eggs 4-6, pale bluish speckled with brown, 0.60 X 0.45.
4. Family SITTIDZ: Nuthatches.
Bill subeylindrical, tapering, compressed, slender, acute, nearly or about as long as the
head, culmen and commissure about straight, gonys long, convex, ascending (giving a sort of
recurved look to a really straight bill). Nostrils rounded, concealed by bristly tufts. Wings
long, pointed, with 10 primaries, the Ist very short or spurious; tail much shorter than wings,
broad, soft, nearly even; tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw, scutellate in front; toes
all long, with large, much curved, compressed claws ; 1st tue and claw about equal to the 3d ;
2d and 4th toes very unequal in length. Plumage compact; body flattened ; tongue horny,
acute, barbed. Nuthatches are amongst the most nimble and adroit of creepers ; they scramble
about and hang in every conceivable attitude, head downwards as often as otherwise. This is
done, too, without any help from the tail, — the whole tarsus being often applied to the sup-
port. They are chiefly insectivorous, but feed also on hard fruits; and get their English name
from their habit of sticking nuts and seeds in cracks in bark, and hammering away with the
bill till they break the shell. They are very active and restless little birds, quite sociable,
often going in troops, which keep up a continual noise ; lay 4-6 white, spotted eggs, in hollows
of trees. The family, as conventionally framed, is a small one, of less than thirty species,
among them a single remarkable Madagascar form (Hypositta), a genus peculiar to Australia
(Sitiella), and another confined to New Zealand (Acanthisitta) : but some of these (especially
Acanthisitta) may not be Sitt#de at all, and in any event the family is chiefly represented by
the genus Sitta, with some fifteen species of Europe, Asia, and North America.
270 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
17. SITTA. (Lat. sitta, Gr. cirra, name of a bird. Fig. 141.) Typrcan NurHatTcuEs.
Characters practically those given under head of the family.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
White below, the crissum washed with rusty-brown ; cap glossy black, without stripes.
Bill stouter, 0.18-0.20 deep at base Inner secondaries boldly variegated with black. Eastern
i carolinensis BT
Bill slenderer, 0.12-0.16 deep at base. Inner secondaries scarcely variegated with blackish. Western
aculeata 58
Rusty-brown. below ; cap glossy black with white stripes, or color of the back i Fe canadensis 59
Rusty-brown or brownish-white below ; cap brown, unlike back, without stripes.
Crown clear hair-brown ; a white spot on nape ; middle tail-feathers plain, Southeastern . pusilla 60
Crown dull brownish, with darker border ; little or no white on nape ; middle tail-feathers with
black. Southwestern ‘ % 3 Ope p's -pygmea 6
Fic. 141.* European Nuthatch, Sitta cesia (resembling S. pusilla), nearly nat. size. (From Brehm.)
57. S. carolinen’sis, (Lat. of Carolina. Fig. 142.) Carotina NUTHATCH. WHITE-BELLIED
NutuatcH. ¢@, adult: Upper parts, central tail-
feathers, and much edging of the wings, clear ashy-
blue; whole crown, nape, and back of the neck, glossy
black. Under parts, including sides of neck and head
to above eyes, dull white, more or less marked on the
flanks and crissum with rusty-brown. Wings and their
coverts blackish, much edged as already said, and with
an oblique bar of white on the outer webs of the pri-
maries towards their ends; concealed bases of primaries
white; under wing-coverts mostly blackish; bold bluish
Fig. 142, —Carolina Nuthatch, nat. size. i 2 : . :
(Ad nat. del. E, C.) : and black variegation of the inner secondaries. Tail,
58.
59.
60
61.
SITTIDA: NUTHATCHES. 271
excepting the two middle feathers, black, each feather marked with white in increasing amount,
the outer web of the lateral feather being mostly white. Bill blackish-plumbeous, pale at
the base below. Feet dark brown. Iris brown. Length 5.50-6.00; extent 10.50-11.00;
wing 3.50; tail 1.75; bill about 0.66 long, 0.18-0.20 deep at base. 9: Similar; black of
head imperfect, mixed or overlaid with the color of the back, or altogether restricted to the
nape. Eastern U. §. and British Provinces, resident, abundant in woodland, where its curious
quank, quank, quank may often be heard as the nimble bird hops up and down the tree-trunks.
Nest in holes, often excavated by the birds with infinite labor, lined with fur, feathers, grasses,
ete.; eggs numerous, 0.80 X 0.60, white, profusely speckled with reddish and lilac.
S.c. aculea/ta. (Lat. aculeata, sharpened ; referring to the slender bill.) SLENDER-BILLED
Nuruatcn. Like the last; bill slenderer, 0.12-0.16 deep at base. Inner secondaries svarcely :
or not variegated with blackish, and general tone of coloration duller. Woodland of Middle
and Western provinces of the U. 8., common, replacing No. 57.
S. canaden’sis. (Lat. of Canada, an Iroquois word. Fig. 143.) REp-BELLIED NUTHATCH.
CanapA Nuruatou. 4, adult: Upper parts leaden-blue (brighter than in S. carolinensis),
the central tail-feathers the same; wings fuscous, with slight
ashy edgings and concealed white bases of the primaries.
Entire under parts rusty-brown, very variable in shade, from
tich fulvous to brownish-white, usually palest on the throat,
deepest on the sides and crissum; tail-feathers, except the
middle pair, black, the lateral marked with white. Whole top :
and side of head and neck glossy black, that of the side appear- Fic. 143.—Canada Nuthatch,
ing as a broad bar through the eye from bill to side of neck, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
cut off from that of the crown by a long white superciliary stripe, which meets its fellow across
the forehead. Bill dark plumbeous, paler below ; feet plumbeous-brown. Length 4.50-4.75;
extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2.60; tail 1.50; bill0.50. 9: Crown like the back; lateral stripe
on the head merely blackish. The under parts average paler than those of the g, but there
is no constancy about this. Young birds resemble the 9. Temperate N. Am., common, in
woodland; habits like those of No. 57; eggs similar, smaller, 0.65 X 0.54.
S. pusilla. (Lat. pusilla, puerile, petty. Fig. 144.) BRowN-HEADED Nutuaton. ¢ 9:
No black cap or white stripe on head. Upper parts dull ashy-blue; under parts sordid or
muddy whitish. Cap clear hair-brown. A decided spot of _
white on the middle of the nape, in the brown cap, which on
the sides of the head includes the eyes, and is bordered with
dusky. Middle tail-feathers like back, without black, and with
little or no white. Small: length scarcely 4.00; extent about
8.00; wing 2.50; tail 1.25; tarsus 0.60; bill about 0.50.
South Atlantic and Gulf States; N. to Virginia and Ohio.
Habits of the other species: eggs 0.60 x 0.50, very heavily
speckled with dark reddish-brown. Fig. 144, — Brown-headed Nut-
S. pygmz/a. (Gr. TUyEn, pugme, the fist ; Lat. pygmaeus, a hatch, nat. size, (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
pygmy, fistling, or tom-thumb.) Pyemy Nuruatcu. ¢ 9: Upper parts ashy-blue, and
wings with slight if any markings (as in canadensis), though some outer primaries may be
narrowly edged with white. Whole top of head, nape, and sides of head to below eyes, olive-
brown, the lateral borders of this patch blackish; an obsolete whitish patch on the nape.
Central tail-feathers like the back, but with a long white spot, and their outer webs black
at base; other tail-feathers blackish, with white marks, and often also tipped with the color of
the back. Entire under parts ranging from muddy-white to smoky-brown or rich rusty, nearly
or quite as intense as in S. canadensis; flanks and crissum shaded with a dull wash of the
color of the back. Bill and feet dark plumbeous, the former paler at base below. Iris black.
272 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Size of the last. Young: Differs much as the ? of canadensis does from the ¢, in having the
top of the head like the back. U.S. from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, abundant, chiefly in
pine woods; N. to Vancouver. Eggs 6-7, white, profusely speckled with reddish, 0.62 x 0.50.
5. Family CERTHIIDA: Creepers.
A very small, well-marked group, of about a dozen species, and four or five genera, which
fall in two sections, commonly called subfamilies; one of these, Zichodromine, is represented
by the well-known European Wall Creeper, Tichodroma muraria, and several (chiefly Aus-
tralian) species of the genus Climacteris; while the genus Certhia, with five or six species or
varieties, and certain allied genera (all but one Old World) constitute the
A ~ on
FIG. 145.— Common Brown Creeper, Certhia familiaris, nearly nat. size. (From Brehm.)
8. Subfamily CERTHIINA:: Typical Creepers.
Our species may be known on sight, among North American Oscines, by its rigid, acums-
nate tail-feathers, like a woodpecker’s. Besides: — bill about equal in length to head, ex-
tremely slender, sharp, and decurved; nostrils exposed; no rictal bristles; tarsus scutellate,
shorter than 3d toe and claw, which is connate for the whole of the 1st joint with both 2d and
4th toe; lateral toes of unequal lengths, Ist toe shorter than its claw; claws all much curved
and very sharp; wing 10-primaried, the 1st primary very short, not one-half the 2d, which is
less than the 3d; point of wing formed by 3d, 4th, and 5th quills; tail rounded, equal to or
longer than wing, of 12 stout, elastic, curved, acuminate feathers. Restless, active, little forest
birds that make a living by picking bugs out of cracks in bark. In scrambling about they use
the tail as woodpeckers do, and never hang head downwards, like the nuthatches. Lay numer-
ous white, speckled eggs in knotholes; are not regularly migratory; have slight seasonal or
sexual changes of plumage ; are chiefly insectivorous, and not noted for musical ability.
18.
62.
62a.
TROGLODYTIDZA: WRENS. 273
CER'THIA. (Lat. certhius, a creeper. Fig. 146.) Characters as above. The stock-form
of this genus varies according to locality. European varieties sometimes recognized are C. coste
and C. britannica, The N. Am. bird, which is in-
separable from the European, has been called C.
rufa, fusca, and americana, for Eastern specimens,
C. montana for those from the Rocky Mt. region,
and C. occidentalis for those from the Pacific coast
region. The Mexican form, C. mexicana, differs
more appreciably, as below given.
C. familia'ris. (Lat. familiaris, from familia,
family; domestic, home-like. Fig. 145.) Brown
CreePer. ¢ 9: Upper parts dark brown, chang- _—‘Fic. 146. —Head, foot, and tail-feather of Cer-
ing to rusty-brown on the rump, everywhere ‘4 nat. size. (Ad nat, del. E. C.)
streaked with ashy-white. An obscure whitish superciliary stripe. Under parts dull whitish,
sometimes tinged with rusty on the flanks and crissum. Wing-coverts and quills tipped with
white, the inner secondaries also with white shaft-lines, which, with the tips, contrast with the
blackish of their outer webs. Wings also twice crossed with white or tawny-white, the ante-
rior bar broad aud occupying both webs of the feathers, the other only on the outer webs near
their ends. Tail grayish-brown, darker along the shaft and at the ends of the feathers, some-
times showing shsolete transverse bars. Bill blackish above, mostly flesh-colored or yellowish
below; feet brown; iris dark brown. Length of # 5.25-5.75; extent 7.50-8.00; wing 2.50 ;
more or less; tail usually a little longer than the wing, sometimes not so, 2.50 to nearly 3.00;
tarsus about 0.60; bill 0.65-0.75 ; 9 averaging smaller than g. Temperate N. Am., in wood-
land, abundant, generally seen winding spirally up the trunks and larger branches of trees.
C.£. mexica‘na. (Lat. of Mexico.) Mexican Crerper. Differs in lacking light tips of the
primary coverts, and general richer coloration, the brown more rusty; rump bright chestnut ;
under parts grayish. Mexico, to S. W. border of the U.S. (Not in Check List, 1882; since
ascertained to inhabit Arizona.)
6. Family TROGLODYTID: Wrens.
Embracing a number of forms assembled in
considerable variety, and difficult to detine with
precision. Closely related to the last three fami-
lies ; known from these by non-acuminate tail-
feathers and exposed nostrils. Very intimately
resembling, in particular, the mocking group of
thrushes— those with scutellate tarsi and not.
strictly spurious lst primary; but all our wrens
are smaller than any of the Mimine, and other-
wise distinguished by less deeply cleft toes — as
stated on p. 248; ‘‘the inner toe is united by half
= its basal joint to the middle toe, sometimes by
Fig. 147. —European Wren. (From Dixon.) the whole of this joint; and the second joint of
the outer toe enters wholly or partially into this union, instead of the basal only.” Nostrils
narrowly or broadly oval, exposed, overhung by a scale; bill moderately or very slender,
straight or slightly decurved, from half as long to about as long as the head, unnotched
in all our genera; no evident rictal bristles; wings short, more or less rounded, with 10
primaries, the 1st short, but not strictly spurious; tail of variable length, much or little
rounded, of broad or narrow feathers, often held over the back. ‘Tarsi scutellate, sometimes
behind as well as in front.
18
274 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Excepting some Old World forms of doubtful affinity, and the species of Anorthwra proper,
the Troglodytide are confined to America; and if thus restricted are susceptible of better
definition. About one hundred species or varieties are recognized, usually referred to about
sixteen genera, most of which belong to tropical America, where the group reaches its maxi-
mum development, — over twenty species of Campylorhynchus being described, for instance.
Of North American genera, Campylorhynchus, Catherpes and Salpinctes are confined to the
West, and represent a section distinguished by the breadth of the tail-feathers, which widen
toward the end. Species of all our other genera are common and familiar eastern birds, much
alike in disposition, manners, and habits; the house wren typifies these. They are sprightly,
fearless, and impudent little creatures, apt to show bad temper when they fancy themselves
aggrieved by cats or people, or anything else that is big and unpleasant to them; they quarrel
a good deal, and are particularly spiteful towards martins and swallows, whose homes they
often invade and occupy. Their song is bright and hearty, and they are fond of their own
music; when disturbed at it they make a great ado with noisy scolding. Part of them live in
reedy swamps and marshes, where they hang astonishingly big globular nests, with a little hole
in one side, on tufts of rushes, and lay six or eight dark colored eggs; the others nest any-
where, in shrubbery, knotholes, hollow stumps, and other odd nooks. Nearly all are migratory;
one is stationary ; one comes to us in the fall from the north, the rest in spring from the south.
Insectivorous, and very prolific, laying several sets of eggs each season. Plainly colored, the
browns being the usual colors; no red, blue, yellow, or green in any of our species.
Analysis of Subfamilies, Genera, and Species.
CAMPYLORHYNCHINSE. Feet not strictly laminiplantar, the lateral plates divided, or not perfectly fused in one.
Tail broad, fan-shaped, the individual feathers widening toward the end.
Very large; length about 8 inches. Tarsus decidedly scutellate behind. Lateral toes of equal lengths.
Above streaked with white, below spotted with black. .. . Cee . » Campylorhynchus
Black and white bars of tail chiefly on outer webs of the feathers . . .C, brunneicapillus 63
Black and white bars of tail chiefly on both webs of the feathers . . . 3” @ C. affinis 64
Smaller, about 6.00long. Tarsus scutellate behind. Lateral toes of unequal lengths | ‘
Salpinctes (S. obsoletus) 65
Smaller, about 5.50 long. Tarsus scarcely scutellate behind. Lateral toes of unequal lengths
Catherpes (C. mexicanus) 66, 67
TROGLODYTIN#&. Feet strictly laminiplantar, as usual in Oscines. Tail thin, with narrow parallel-edged
feathers. Wings and tail more or less completely barred cross-wise.
Large. Upper parts uniform in color, without streaks or bars; rump with concealed white spots. Belly
unmarked ; aconspicuous superciliary stripe.
Tail shorter or not longer than the wing, all the feathers brown, distinctly barred
Thryothorus (T. ludovicianus) 68, 69, 70
Tail decidedly longer than the wing, blackish, not fully barred on all the feathers
Thryothorus (T. bewicki) 71, 72, °%
Small. Upper parts not uniform, the back being more or less distinctly Larred cross-wise; wings, tail,
and flanks fully barred.
Tail about equal to the wing, the outstretched feet reaching scarcely or not beyond its end
Troglodytes (T'. domesticus) 174, 76
Tail decidedly shorter than the wing, the outstretched feet reaching far beyond its end
Anorthura (A. troglodytes) 76, 77, 7
Small. Upper parts not uniform, the back being streaked length-wise ; flanks scarcely or not barred.
Bill about 3 as long as head; crown plain; streaks of back confined to interscapular region
Telmatodytes (T. palustris) 79, ga
Bill scarcely or not 4 as long as head; crown streaked, like the whole back
Cistothorus (C. stellaris) 84
9. Subfamily CAMPYLORHYNCHINZ:: Fan.tailed Wrens.
For characters of this group and analysis of its genera, see above.
19, CAMPYLORHYN'CHUS. (Gr. caymidos, kampulos, bent; piyyos, rhugchos, beak.) Cac-
Tus Wrens. Of largest size in this family; length about 8.00 inches. Tarsus scutellate
behind. Lateral toes of equal lengths. Wings and tail of about equal lengths. Tail broad,
63.
64.
20.
65.
TROGLODYTIDA — CAMPYLORHYNCHINZ!: FAN-TAILED WRENS. 2715
with wide feathers. Tarsus a little longer than the middle toe and claw. Upper parts with
sharp white streaks on a brown ground; under parts boldly spotted with black on a white
ground; tail-feathers barred with black and white.
C. brunneicapil/lus. (Lat. brunneus, brown; capillus, hair.) BrowN-HEADED CACTUS
Wren. 4g, adult: Back grayish-brown, marked with black and white, each feather having
a central white field several times indented with black. Whole crown of head and nape rich
dark wood-brown, immaculate. A long white superciliary stripe from nostril to nape. Beneath,
nearly pure white anteriorly, gradually shading’ behind into decided cinnamon-brown — the
throat and fore part of the breast marked with large, crowded, rounded black spots, the rest of
the under parts with small, sparse, oval or linear black spots, again enlarging on the crissum.
Wings darker and more fuscous-brown than the back; all the quills with a series of numerous
white or whitish indentations along the edge of both webs. Central tail-feathers like the
wings, with numerous more or less incomplete blackish bars; other tail-feathers blackish, the
outer with several broad white bars on both webs; the rest with usually only a single com-
plete white bar near the end. Bill dark plumbeous, paler below; iris orange. Length near
8.00; wing 3.50; tail rather longer; bill 0.80; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 0.90. 9,
adult: Quite like the g, but the spots on the throat and breast rather smaller, therefore less
crowded, and less strongly contrasting with the sparse speckling of the rest of the under parts.
Young: Similar to the adult on the upper parts, but the throat whitish with little speckling;
scarcely any spots on the rest of the under parts, which are, however, as decidedly cinnamon as
those of the adults. Southwestern U. S.,—’Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah
and Nevada, and portions of California; common in eactus and chaparral, building a large
purse-shaped nest in bushes; eggs about 6, 1.00 x 0.68, white, uniformly and minutely dotted
with salmon-color. (If not C. brunneicapiilus Lafr., this will stand as C, couesi Sharpe, Cat.
Br. Mus., vi, 1882, p. 196.)
C. affiinis. (Lat. affinis, affined, allied; ad, and finis.) St. Lucas Cactus Wren. Sim-
ilar to the last. Cap reddish-brown, lighter instead of darker than the back. Markings of
back very conspicuous, in strong streaks of black and white, these two colors bordering each
other with little or no indentation. Under parts nearly white, the black spots, though con-
spicuous, not enlarged and crowded on the breast, but more regularly distributed. All the
lateral tail-feathers, instead of only the outer ones, crossed on both webs with numerous com-
plete white bars. The variations with sex and age correspond with those of C. brunneicapillus.
Lower California. Nest and eggs as before. (According to Sharpe, 1. ¢., this is C. brun-
neicapillus Lafr.)
SALPINC'TES. (Gr. cadnvykris, salpightes, a trumpeter.) Rock Wrens. Bill about as long
as head, slender, compressed, straight at base, then
slightly decurved, acute at tip, faintly notched.
Nostrils conspicuous, scaled, in a large fossa. Wing
longer than tail; exposed portion of lst primary
about half as long as 2d, which is decidedly shorter
than 3d. Tail rounded, of 12 broad plane feathers,
with rounded or subtruncate ends. Feet small and
weak; tarsus longer than middle toe, scutellate pos-
teriorly. Hind toe and claw shorter than middle
one; lateral toes of unequal lengths, the outer
longest, both very short, the tips of their claws del. E.C.)
falling short-of base of middle claw. Only one species known.
S. obsole’tus. (Lat. obsoletus, unaccustomed; ob, and soleo, Iam wont; hence obsolete, effaced,
the coloration being dull and diffuse. Fig. 148.) Rock Wren. ¢ Q, adult: Upper parts
pale brownish-gray, minutely dotted with blackish and whitish points together, and usually
21.
66.
67.
276 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
showing obsolete wavy bars of dusky. Rump cinnamon-brown; a whitish superciliary line.
Beneath, soiled white, shading behind into pale cinnamon, the throat and breast obsoletely
streaked, and the under tail-coverts barred, with dusky. Quills of the wings rather darker than
the back, with similar markings on the outer webs. Middle tail-feathers like the back, with
many dark bars of equal width with the lighter ones; lateral tail-feathers similarly marked on
the outer webs, plain on the inner webs, with a broad subterminal black bar on both webs, and
cinnamon-brown tips, the latter usually marbled with dusky ; outer feathers with several black-
ish and cinnamon bars ou both webs. Bill and feet dark horn color, the former paler at base
below. Length 5.50-6.00; wing 2.60-2.80; tail 2.20-2.40 ; bill 0.66-0.75 ; tarsus 0.75-0.80.
Most of the markings blended and diffuse. Shade of upper parts variable, from dull grayish to
amore plumbeous shade, often with a faint pinkish tinge. Specimens in worn and faded plu-
mage may fail to show the peculiar dotting with black and whitish ; but in these the cross-
wise dusky undulation, as well as the streaks on the breast, are commonly more distinct than
in fresher-feathered examples. The rufous tinge of the under parts is very variable in shade ;
that of the ramp, however, being always well marked. Western U. 8., E. to lowa; common,
haunting rocky places, where it is conspicuous by its restlessness and loud notes; nest of any
rubbish in a rocky nook ; eggs numerous, 5-8, of crystalline whiteness, sparsely sprinkled with
reddish-brown dots, 0.75 X 0.62.
CATHERPES. (Gr. xadepmijs, katherpes, a creeper; xard, kata, down, éprw, herpo, I creep.)
CaNon Wrens. Bill singularly attenuate, about as long as head, nearly straight in all its
outlines, with such direction of its axis that the bill as a whole appears continuous with the
line of the forehead. Tarsus not longer than middle toe and claw, with tendency to subdivision
of the lateral tarsal plate. Lateral toes of unequal lengths, the outer longest. Wings and
tail as in Salpinctes, and general features, even to system of coloration, inuch the same as in
that genus. One known species, with several varieties. :
C. mexica/nus. MEXICAN CaXNon Wren. Similar to the form next described; much darker
colored both above and below, with sharper contrast of the white throat; the white speckling
mostly restricted to the back and wings; the black tail-bars broader and more regular, and the
light markings of the wings mere indentations instead of complete bars. Bill straight, more
abruptly decurved at extreme tip. Feet stouter, dark brown. Size greater; length about
6.00; wing 2.80; tail 2.40; bill nearly 1.00 long, only about 0.12 deep at base. Specimens
vary much in sharpness and extensiveness of the speckling of the upper parts. In best-marked
cases, the spots quite white, almost lengthened into streaks, each one completely set in black ;
other examples, small, sparse and restricted, these specimens also showing wavy transverse in
bars of blackish. Mexico, to Texan border.
C. m. consper’sus. (Lat. conspersus, speckled.) SpEcKLED CaNon Wren. ¢ Q, adult:
Upper parts brown, paler and grayer anteriorly, behind shading insensibly into rich rufous,
everywhere dotted with small dusky and whitish spots. Tail clear cinnamon-brown, crossed
with numerous very narrow and mostly zigzag black bars. Wing-quills dark brown, the outer
webs of the primaries and both webs of the inner secondaries barred with the color of the back.
Chin, throat, and fore breast, with lower half of the side of the head and neck, pure white,
shading behind through ochraceous-brown into rich deep ferruginous, and posteriorly obsoletely
waved with dusky and whitish. Bill slate-colored, paler and more livid below; feet black ;
iris brown. Length about 5.50; extent 7.50; wing 2.30; tail 2.12; tarsus 0.60; bill 0.80.
Throughout New Mexico and Arizona, and portions of Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and
California; N. to at least 40°. A remarkable bird, famous for its ringing notes, inhabiting
cafions and other rocky places. Nesting and eggs like those of the rock wren; eggs 5 or
more, 0.75 X 0.55, crystal white, fairly sprinkled and blotched with reddish-brown.
. C. m. punctula/tus. (Lat. punctulatus, dotted.) Dorrep CANoN Wren. Smaller than
either of the foregoing : length about 5.00; wing 2.10; tail 1.90; bill 0.75. Coloration inter-
22.
68.
69.
70.
71.
TROGLODYTIDA — TROGLODYTINZ: TRUE WRENS. 277°
mediate ; upper parts most like those of C. conspersus, and wings completely barred as in that
species ; but under parts posteriorly dusky ferruginous (dark mahogany color), and tail-bars
broad, firm, and regular, as in mexicanus proper. Coast region of California. The type speci-
men, the only one I have seen, for some years in my cabinet and now No. 82,715, Mus. S. L,
seems to be recognizably distinct ; but all the forms of the genus intergrade. (Not in Check
List, 1882 ; since described by Ridgway, Pr. Nat. Mus., v., 1882, p. 343.)
10. Subfamily TROGLODYTINA: True Wrens.
See characters and analysis of this group un p. 274.
THRYOTHO/RUS. (Gr. Optov, thruon, a reed, and Oodpos, thouros, leaping.) Reep WRENS.
Of largest size in this subfamily; length 5.50-6.00. Back uniform in color, without streaks or
bars; wings and tail more or less barred crosswise; belly unmarked; a long superciliary stripe ;
rump with concealed white spots. Eggs colored.
Tail not longer than wings, like back in color, and barred, in Thryothorus proper. . . . . Nos, 68, 69, 70
Tail longer than wings, blackish, not fully barred, in Thryomanes.. . .. . 1... wus 71, 72, 78
T. ludovicia‘nus. (Lat. Ludovicianus, Louisiana; of Ludovicus, Louis XIV., of France.
Fig. 149.) Great CaRoLiInA WREN. Upper parts uniform reddish-brown, brightest on the
rump, where are concealed whitish spots; a
long whitish superciliary line, usually bordered
with dusky streaks ; upper surfaces of wings
and tail like back, barred with dusky, the outer
edges of the primaries and lateral tail-feathers
showing whitish spots. Below, rusty or muddy
whitish, clearest anteriorly, deepening behind,
the under tail-coverts reddish-brown barred
with blackish. Wing-coverts usually with dusky
and whitish tips. Feet livid flesh-colored.
Length 6.00; extent nearly 7.50; wing 2.40;
tail 2.25; bill 0.65; tarsus 0.75. Eastern
UJ. §., southerly; N. regularly to the Middle
States, rarely to Massachusetts; resident as far
north at least as Washington. A common and
well-known inhabitant of shrubbery, with a
loud ringing song; shy and secretive. Nest in
any nook about out-buildings, or in shrubbery,
when in the latter usually roofed over, of the
most miscellaneous materials; eggs 6-7, white,
profusely speckled and blotched with shades of Fic. 149. —Great Carolina Wren, reduced. (From
reddish, brown, and purplish; 0.72 x 0.60. Nuttall, after Audubon.)
T.1. miamien’sis. (Of the Miami River, Florida.) Fuorrpan Wren. Similar: larger,
stouter, and more deeply-colored, especially below, where nearly uniform rusty-brown. Wing
2.75; tail 2.60; bill 0.90; tarsus 0.95. Florida; a local race.
T.1. berlan/dieri. (To Dr. Louis Berlandier.) TExan Wren. Similar: smaller; length
5.25 ; wing 2.25; tail 2.12. Coloration darker than in typical ludovicianus, especially below;
flanks as well as crissum barred with dusky; tail-bars broken up into irregular nebulation.
Valley of the Rio Grande; a local race.
T. be'wicki. (To Thomas Bewick.) Brwicx’s WrReEN. Above, dark grayish-brown;
below, ashy-white, with a brownish wash on the flanks. Rump with concealed whitish spots.
A long whitish superciliary stripe from nostrils to nape. Under tail-coverts dark-barred; two
middle tail-feathers like back, with numerous fine black bars; others black with whitish
12.
73.
23.
74.
15.
24.
76.
278 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
markings on the outer webs and tips. Length about 5.50; extent 6.75; wing 2.00-2.12;
tail 2.35; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.75. Eastern U.S8., southerly, N. to the Middle States and
Minnesota. Not very common in the Atlantic States, but so abundant as to replace the house
wren in some parts of the interior. Nest in holes in trees, stumps, fences, etc.; eggs white,
finely dotted and spotted, resembling those of Catherpes or Salpinctes.
T. b. leucogas/ter. (Gr. Aeveds, leukos, white; yaornp, gaster, belly.) WHITE-BELLIED
Wren. Above, uniform clear ashy-brown; below, clear ashy-white; pure white on the
middle parts. A long, strong, white superciliary stripe; auriculars speckled with white. Con-
cealed white spots on the rump. Quills of the wings fuscous, the inner feathers very obsoletely
waved with the color of the back. Two middle tail-feathers closely barred with pure dark ash
and black; others black, with irregular white or ashy-white tips, the outer web of the exterior
feather barred with white. Length 5.50-5.75 inches; extent 6.75; wing 2.00-2.33; tail
2.25-2.50 ; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.75. Southwestern U. 8.; a well-marked geographical race.
T. b. spilu'rus? (Gr. omidos, spilos, spotted; odpa, owra, tail.) SPECKLED-TAILED WREN.
Similar to No. 71, and scarcely distinguishable ; bill said to be longer, 0.60. Pacific Coast.
TROGLODYTES. (Gr. tpwyAodurns, troglodutes, a cave-dweller.) Housz— WRENS. Of
small size; no decided superciliary line. Upper parts not uniform in color, the back more or
less distinctly barred crosswise ; wings, tail, and flanks fully barred crosswise; tail about equal
to wing in length, the outstretched feet scarcely or not reaching beyond its end. Eggs colored.
T. domes'ticus. (Lat. domesticus, domestic; domus, a house.) Eastern Housr WREN.
Brown, brighter behind; below rusty-brown, or grayish-brown, or even grayish-white ; every-
where waved with darker shade, very plainly on wings, tail, flanks, and under tail-coverts; breast
apt to be darker than either throat or belly; bill shorter than head, about 0.50; wings and tail
nearly equal, about 2.00, but ranging from 1.90 to 2.10; total length 4.50-5.25, averaging about
4.90; extent about 6.75. Exposed portion of 1st primary about one-half as long as longest
primary. Eastern U.S., N. to Canada, W. to Dakota; very abundant anywhere in shrubbery,
gardens, and about dwellings, where its active, sprightly, and fearless demeanor, together with
its hearty trilling song, bring it into friendly notoriety. Nest of any trash in a hole of a build-
ing, fence, tree, or stump; eggs 6-9, 0.65 X 0.55, profusely and uniformly studded with minute
points of brown, often rendering an almost uniform color; two or three broods each season.
Resident in the South, migratory farther north.
T. d. park/mani. (To Dr. Geo. Parkman, of Boston.) Wrstern HouszE Wren. Brown
above, little brighter on rump, nearly everywhere waved with dusky, strongest on wings and
tail, but usually appreciable on the whole back. Below brownish-white, nearly white on belly,
obscurely variegated with darker markings, which, on the flanks and crissum, become stronger
bars, alternating with brown and whitish ones. Bill blackish above, pale below ; feet brown.
Length 5.00-5.25 ; extent 6.75; wing and tail about 2.10. Exposed portion of 1st primary
about one-half as long as 2d primary. Western U. §., from the Plains to the Pacific, abun-
dant, there replacing T. domesticus, to which it is so similar; but on an average paler and
grayer, with rather longer wings and tail.
ANORTHU/RA. (Gr. dv, an, signifying negation; d6p6és, orthos, straight; odpa, oura, tail.
Fig. 147.) Winter Wrens. Like Troglodytes proper, but tail decidedly shorter than wings,
the outstretched feet reaching far beyond its end. Eggs colored.
A. troglo/dytes hiema/lis. (Lat. hiemalis, wintry; hiems, winter. Fig. 150.) WINTER WREN.
Above brown, darker before, brighter behind, most of back, together with tail and inner wing-
quills, banded with dusky, the markings obsolete on the back, where usually accompanied by
whitish specks, strongest on the wings and tail. Outer webs of several primaries regularly
barred with brownish-white, in marked contrast with the other bars of the wings. An incon-
spicuous whitish superciliary line. Below brownish, paler or whitish anteriorly, the belly,
flanks, and crissum heavily waved with dusky and whitish bars. Bill slender, straight, decidedly
1%.
78.
25.
79.
80.
TROGLODYTIDZA— TROGLODYTINZ: TRUE WRENS. 279
shorter than the head. Tail much shorter than the wings. Length 3.90-4.10; extent 6.00-
6.50; wing 1.75; tail 1.25; bill 0.40; tarsus, middle toe, and claw together, about 1.12.
N. Am. at large, common, migratory, breed-
ing from New England and corresponding
latitudes northward, wintering in the U. S.,
the strict representative of the European
wren. Nest of twigs, moss, lichens, hair,
feathers, ete., usually in a stump or log
close to the ground; eggs 5-8, 0.65 x 0.48,
pure white, minutely dotted with reddish-
brown and purplish. A sly, secretive little
bird, less often seen than other wrens no less
comimon; voice strong and highly musical.
A. t. paci/ficus? (Lat. pacificus, pacific, Fre. 150.— Winter Wren, little reduced. (Baird’s
peace-making; pax and facio; alluding to “sure of 4. alascensis.)
“the stilly sea.”) WESTERN WINTER WreEN. Like the last; darker, in lack of the
whitish specks of the upper parts, and whitish bars on outer webs of the primaries; but
very slightly distinguished. Pacific Coast region.
A. t. alascen’sis. (Of Alaska.). ALASKAN WINTER WReEN. Like the common species in
form and coloration; larger; size of a house wren; wing 2.00-2.20; tail 1.50; tarsus 0.75;
tarsus, middle toe, and claw together 1.40; bill 0.65. Culmen, gape, and gonys almost per-
fectly straight, latter slightly ascending. Aleutian and Pribylov Islands, Alaska. Well dis-
tinguished from the common form, and nearer the Japanese A. fumigatus.
TELMATODYTES. (Gr. rédpa, telma, a swamp; durys, dutes, an inhabitant.) MARsH
Wrens. Small. Upper parts not uniform; back streaked lengthwise with white in a black
patch ; flanks scarcely or not barred; crown plain; bill about two-thirds as long as head.
Eggs dark.
T. palus'tris. (Lat. palustris, marshy ; palus, a marsh. Fig. 151.) Lone-BittED Marsu
Wren. Above clear brown, unbarred, the middle of the back with a large black patch sharply
streaked with white (these white stripes sometimes de-
ficient). Crown of head usually darker than the back,
often quite blackish, and continuoug with the black inter-
scapular patch. A dull white superciliary line. Wings
fuscous, the inner secondaries blackish on the outer webs,
often barred or indented with light brown. Tail evenly
barred with fuscous and the color of the back. Under
parts white, usually quite pure onthe belly and middle
line of the breast and throat, but much shaded with
Fig. 151. —Long-billed Marsh Wren, brown on the sides, flanks, and crissum. Bill blackish
Mats size,. (dinate dels BiG)” above, pale below; feet brown. Length about 5.00;
extent 6.50; wing 1.75-2.00; tail about the same; Dill 0.50 or more; tarsus 0.66-0.75.
Temperate N. Am.; Greenland. Breeds throughout its range, and winters in the Southern
States; an abundant bird, colonizing reedy swamps and marshes in large numbers, its great
globular nests of plaited rushes, with a hole in the side, being affixed to the swaying herbage ;
eggs 6-10, 0.58 x 0.45, very dark-colored, being so thickly dotted with chocolate-brown as to
appear almost uniformly of this color.
T. p. paludi/cola? (Lat. paludicola, a marsh-inhabiter; palus and colo, I cultivate.) TuLE
Marsa Wren. Scarcely recognizable as distinct; bill said to be shorter, and tail and its
coverts more distinctly barred. Pacific Coast.
ze.
81.
280 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
CISTOTHO’RUS. (Gr. kicros, kistos, a shrub; Oovpos, thowros, leaping.) MarsH WRENS.
Like Telmatodytes; whole back and crown streaked with white. Bill scarcely or not one-half
as long as head. Eggs white.
C. stella/ris. (Lat. stellaris, starry; i.e., speckled. Fig. 152.) SHoRT-BILLED Marse WREN.
Upper parts brown, the crown and most of the back blackish, streaked with white. Below,
whitish, shaded with clear brown across the breast and along:
the sides, and especially on the flanks and crissum, the latter
more or less indistinctly barred with dusky (often inappreci-
able). A whitish line over the eye. Wings and tail marked
as in the last species. Upper tail-coverts decidedly barred.
Bill blackish above, whitish below, extremely sinall, scarcely
half as long as the head; feet brown. Length 4.50; extent
y 5.75-6.00; wing and tail each about 1.75; bill 0.35-0.40;
Fic. 152.— Short-billed Marsh tarsus, middle toe, and claw together, about 1.12. The streak-
Wren, nat. size. (Ad nat.del.E.C.) ing of the head and that of the back are usually separated
by a plain nuchal interval; but these are as often run together, the whole bird above being
streaked with whitish and blackish upon a brown ground. The wings, tail, and entire under
parts are much like those of T. palustris, from which the species is distinguished by the mark-
ings of the upper parts and extremely short bill. Chiefly Eastern U. 8. and adjoining British
Provinces; W. to Utah. Migratory; winters in the Southern States. Frequents marshy
places like T. palustris, but is not common. Nesting different, and eggs white.
7. Family ALAUDID: Larks.
A rather small group, well defined by the character of the feet, in adaptation to terrestrial
life. The subcylindrical tarsi are seutellate and blunt behind as in front, with.a deep groove
along the inner side, and a slight one, or none, on the outer face. That is to say, there is an
anomalous structure of the tarsal envelope; the tarsus being covered with two series of scu-
tella, one lapping around in front, the other around behind, the two meeting along a groove on
the inner face of the tarsus, which is consequently blunt behind as well as in front. There is a
simple suture of the two series of plates on the outer face of the tarsus ; the individual plates
of each series alternate. Other characters (shared by some Motacillide) are the very long,
straight, hind claw, which equals or exceeds its digit in length ; the long, pointed wings, with
the 1st primary spurious or apparently wanting, and the inner secondaries (‘ tertiaries”)
lengthened and flowing. The nostrils are usually concealed by dense tufts of antrorse feathers.
The shape of the bill is not diagnostic, being sometimes short, stout and conic, much as in
some Fringillide, while in other cases it is slenderer, and more like that of insectivorous
Passeres. The family is composed, nominally, of a hundred species; with the exception of one
genus and two or three species or varieties, it is confined to the Old World. Its systematic
position is open to question; some place it at the end of the Oscine series, or remove it from
Oscines altogether, on account of the peculiarities of the podotheca; authors generally place it
near the Fringillide, from the resemblance of the bill of some species to that of some finches;
but it has many relationships with Motacillide, and, in the arrangement of this work, I find no
better place for it than here, though it has no special affinity with the preceding families.
Moreover, the fact that it appears to have indifferently 9 or 10 primaries may indicate a natural
position between the sets of families in which number of primaries is among the diagnostic
features. The musical apparatus is certainly well developed, as testified by the eminent vocal
powers of the celebrated sky-lark of Europe. The unpractised reader must be careful not to
confound the larks proper with certain birds loosely called ‘‘larks”; thus the titlarks, or pipits,
though sharing the lengthened, straightened hind claw and elongated inner wing-quills of
ALAUDIDZA — CALANDRITINZ: SHORE LARKS. 281
Alaudide, belong to an entirely different family, the Motacillide ; while the American field-
lark is one of the Icteride, much further removed.
According to shape of bill, structure of nostrils, and apparent number of primaries, the
family may be divided into two subfamilies, thé Alaudine, typified by the celebrated sky-lark
of Europe, and the Calandritine, of which the well-known horned lark is a typical representa-
: tive. Both of these occur in North America ;
the Alauda, however, only as a straggler from
Europe.
CALANDRITIN&, without evident spurious lst primary,
the primaries apparently only 9.
ALAUDINZ, with spurious 1st primary, the primaries
therefore evidently 10.
11. Subfamily CALANDRITINA :
Shore Larks.
Represented in America by the single genus
ae Eremophila, of which there are nominally ten,
Fic. 153. — Shore Lark, much reduced. (From Ten- Teally four or five species, one of which occurs
ney, after Baird.) in North America.
27. EREMO'PHILA. (Gr. épjpos, eremos, a desert; psdéo, phileo, I love.) Hornep Larxs.
Primaries apparently only 9 (no obvious spurious Ist primary). Point of the wing formed
by the first 3 developed primaries. Inner secondaries elongated. Tail of medium length,
nearly even, the middle pair of feathers different in shape and color from the rest. Bill com-
pressed-conoid, acute, shorter than head. Nostrils completely concealed by dense tufts of
antrorse feathers. Head not crested, but a peculiar tuft of feathers over each ear, somewhat
like the so-called “‘ horns” of some owls. Feet of ordinary alaudine characters, as already
given. Coloration peculiar in the presence of yellowish tints and strong black bars on the
head and breast. The birds of this genus frequent open places, are strictly terrestrial in habits,
and never hop when on the ground, like most Passeres ; they are migratory in most localities,
and gregarious, except when breeding; nest on the ground, and lay 4-5 speckled eggs; sing
sweetly in the spring time.
82. E. alpes/tris. (Lat. alpestris, alpine. Figs. 153, 154.) Horwep or SHore Larn. ¢ 9,
adult, in breeding plumage: Upper parts in general pinkish-brown, this pinkish or vinaceous
or liliaceous tint brightest onthe nape, lesser wing-
coverts, and tail-coverts, the rest of the upper parts
being duller and more grayish-brown, boldly variegated
with dark brown streaks; middle pair of tail-feathers
and several of the inner secondaries rufous-brown, with
darker centres. Under parts, from the breast backward,
white; the sides strongly washed with the color of the
upper parts, and mottling of same across the lower part
of the breast. A large, distinct, shield-shaped black
area on the breast. Tail-feathers, except the middle
pair, black, the outermost edged with whitish. Wing-
quills, except the innermost, plain fuscous, the outer
web of the lst primary whitish. Lesser wing-coverts Fig. 154. — Shore Lark, nat. size, (Ad
usually tipped with grayish-white. Top of head like Hah deh Be)
nape; bar across front of vertex, thence extended along sides of crown, and produced into a
tuft or ‘‘ horn, ” black ; front and line over eye, also somewhat produced to form part of the
tuft, white or yellowish ; a broad bar from nostrils along the lores, thence curving below the
eye and widening as it descends in front of the auriculars, black ; rest of the sides of the head
282 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
and whole throat white or sulphury-yellow. Bill plumbeous-blackish, bluish-plumbeous at
base below (sometimes there yellowish) ; feet and claws black; iris brown. Length of @,
7.00-7.50 ; extent. 13.00-14.00; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.75-3.00; bill, from extreme base of
culmen, 0.40-0.50; tarsus 0.88-0.90; middle toe and claw rather less; hind claw about 0.50,
usually longer than its digit, but very variable. 9 commonly smaller than the ¢;. length
6.75-7.25 ; extent 12.75-13.25; wing about 4.00, ete. g 9, adult, in winter: As usually
seen in most of the United States in the fall, winter, and early spring, differ from the above in
more sordid coloration of the upper parts, which may be simply grayish-brown, heavily streaked
with dusky, even on the crown, with little or none of the ‘‘ pinkish” tints ; and in lack or re-
striction of the black markings of the head and breast, or their being veiled with whitish tips
of the individual feathers ; nevertheless, the sulphury tinge of the white parts about the head is
usually very conspicuous. Fledglings have the upper parts dusky, mixed with some yellowish-
brown, and sprinkled all over with whitish or light tawny dots, each feather having a terminal
speck. Most of the wing- and tail-feathers have rusty, tawny, or whitish edging and tipping.
The under parts are white, mottled with the colors of the upper parts along the sides and across
the back ; no traces of definite black markings about the head and breast, nor any yellow
tinge. Bill and feet pale or yellowish. This peculiar speckled stage is of brief duration; with
an early autumnal change, a dress, little if at ail different from that of the adults in winter, is
acquired. Nesting begins very early in April, or ever in March, sometimes before the snow is
gone, and frequently other broods are reared through: the summer; nest of grasses, etc., sunken
in the ground; eggs very variable in tone, but always profusely and heavily marked with
brownish-gray or dark stone-gray upon a grayish or greenish-white ground; in some cases
the whole surface nearly uniform. Northern hemisphere at large; in America, chiefly north-
ern and eastern parts, breeding from the Northern States northward, common in flocks in the
U.S. in winter; chiefly replaced in the West by the following varieties.
83. E. a. leucole/ma. (Gr. Aevxds, lewkos, white; Acids, latmos, throat.) WESTERN SHORE
Lark. Size of the foregoing. General coloration extremely pale — brownish-gray, the
peculiar pinkish tint of certain parts sharing the geueral pallor. Black markings on head and
breast much restricted in extent, and white surroundings correspondingly increased — thus, the
plack post-frontal bar scarcely or not broader than the white of the forehead. No yellow about
head, excepting usually a slight tinge on the chin. Changes of plumage parallel with those
already given; even the nestlings show the same decided pallor. Prairies of Western U. &.,
breeding everywhere north of about 40°; very abundant.
84, E.a. chrysola/ma. (Gr. xpiceos, chruseos, golden; Aarpds, laimos, throat.) SouTH-weEst-
ERN SHoRE Lark. Smaller than the foregoing: g@ with the wing scarcely or not 4.00, and
other dimensions tv correspond; a very small
specimen, probably 9, has the wing only 3.50;
in another, marked @, it is 3.75. The ‘ pink-
ish” tinge intensified into cimnamon-brown, and
pervading nearly all the upper parts; yellow of
head intensified ; black markings very heavy, —
the black on the crown widened to oceupy more
than half the cap, reducing the white frontlet to
a mere trace. Southwestern U. S. and Mexico,
breeding mostly south of 40°; abundant.
12. Subfamily ALAUDINA: Sky-Larks.
ARN Represented in America by one species, a
Fig. 155.-- Sky-Lark, reduced. (From Dixon.) gtraggler from the Old World. Fig. 155.
28, ALAU/DA. (Lat. alauda, a lark; supposed Celtic al, high, and aud, song.) Sxy-LaRKs.
85.
MOTACILLIDZ: WAGTAILS AND PIPITS. 283
Primaries 10, the spurious 1st primary minnte but evident. Head suberested, but without
lateral ear-tufts. Wings long, pointed, the tip formed by the first 3 developed primaries ;
inner secondaries long and flowing. Tail emarginate, little more than half as long as wing.
‘Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw. Lateral toes of unequal lengths. Sexes alike. Nest on
the ground. Eggs 4-5, thickly speckled.
A. arven’sis. (Lat. arvensis, relating to arable land; arvum, a ploughed field.) Sxy Lark.
Upper parts grayish-brown, the feathers with darker centres; under parts whitish, tinged
with buff across breast and along sides, and there streaked with dusky; a pale superciliary
line ; wings with much whitish edging; outer tail-feather mostly white, the next one or two
with white borders. Length of @ 7.50; extent 14.75; wing about 4.00; tail 2.50; bill
0.50; tarsus or middle toe and claw 1.00; hind toe 0.45, its claw up to nearly 1.00. 9
smaller. This celebrated bird, whose music so often inspires the poet, occurs asa straggler
from Europe in Greenland, and also, it is said, in Bermuda and Alaska. It has also been im-
ported and turned out in this country, where it may perhaps become naturalized.
8. Family MOTACILLIDA:: Wagtails and Pipits.
ss Bill shorter than the head, very
: : slender, straight, acute, notched at
tip. Nostrils not concealed by
feathers, which however reach into
the nasal fosse. ictus not nota
bly bristled. Primaries 9, of which
the lst is about as long as the 2d,
and the first 3, 4, or 5, form the
point; inner secondaries enlarged,
the longest one nearly or quite
equalling the primaries in the closed
wing. Tail lengthened, averaging
about equal to the wing. Feet
long and slender ; tarsus scutellate,
usually longer than the middle toe
and claw; inner toe cleft to the
very base, but basal joint of outer
toe soldered with the middle one;
hind toe bearing a long and little
curved claw (except in Motacilla
proper). A pretty well-defined
= group of one hundred, chiefly Old
= === World, species, which may be
Fic. 156. — Upper, White Wagtail; lower, Yellow Wagtail. termed terrestrial Sylvias, all liv-
(From Dixop.) ing mostly on the ground, where
they run with facility, never -hopping like most Oscines. They are usually gregarious; are
insectivorous and migratory. They have gained their name from the characteristic habit of
moving the tail with a peculiar see-saw motion, as if they were using it to balance themselves
upon unsteady footing. They may be distinguished from all the foregoing birds, except
Alaudide, by having only 9 primaries; from all the following Oscines, by having long flowing
jumer secondaries; and from Alaudide, with which they agree in this respect, as well as in
usually. having a lengthened, straightish hind claw, by having the tarsal envelope as in
Oscines generally, slender bill, and exposed nostrils. Two subfamilies are generally recog-.
nized, though the distinctions are searcely more than generic.
284 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Analysis af Subfamilies and Genera.
MOTACILLINE. Point of wing formed by first 3 primaries. Tail longer or not obviously shorter than wings, with
narrow tapering feathers. Hind claw variable in length and curvature. Coloration black and white, or
Bone 86S
yellow and greenish.
Tail decidedly longer than wings, doubly Snr Hind claw of ordinary length and curvature.
Colors black, ashy, and white, in masses . . . . Motacilla 29
Tail, if anything, shorter than wings, sis even. "Hind wae lenethaned and straightened. Colors
yellow and green, in masses . . . « » Budytes 30
ANTHINZE. Point of wing formed by first 4 or 5 primaries. ” Tail decidedly shorter than wings, its feathers not
tapering. Hind claw lengthened and straightened. Coloration brownish, the under parts streaked, upper
usually also variegated.
Tarsus not shorter (rather longer) than hind toe and claw. Tail moderately shorter than wing, the
outstretched feet not reaching beyonditsend .... 5 . .Anthus 31
Tarsus shorter than hind toe and claw. Tail only about two-thirds as long as wing, the outstretched
feet reaching beyonditsend. .......+..4 is BAS Capo . . Neocorys 32
13. Subfamily MOTACILLINA: Wagtails.
Represented in America by two species; in the Old World by nearly fifty species or vari-
eties, chiefly belonging to the genus Motacilla and its subdivisions or immediate allies, of
which Budytes is one, furming a perfect connecting link between Motacilla proper and the
Anthine.
29, MOTACIL/LA. (Lat. mota-cilla, wag-tail; name of some small bird.) WHITE WaGTaILs.
Tail much longer than wings, of 12 narrow, weak, tapering or almost linear feathers. First
3 primaries about equal and longest; longest secondary (when full grown) about reaching
their ends when the wing is closed; these flowing secondaries narrow and tapering. Tarsi long
and slender; lateral toes of about equal lengths; hind claw not particularly lengthened or
straightened ; with its,digit much shorter than the tarsus. Form remarkably lithe and slender;
coloration black, ashy, and white, in large masses.
86. M. al/ba. (Lat. alba, white. Fig. 156.) Wirt Waerar. , in summer: Head black,
with a broad mask of white across forehead and along sides; the black extending on the fore-
breast ; wings blackish, with much white edging and tipping of the quills and greater coverts ;
tail black, the two lateral feathers on each side mostly white; back and sides ashy; lower
parts mostly white; bill and feet black. In winter the black more restricted, that on the fore
breast forming a crescent spot. Q similar, the black still more restricted, in part replaced by
gray. Young, gray above, grayish-white below, with a gray or blackish crescent on the
fore neck. Length about 7.25; wing 3.25; tail 3.75; tarsus 0.90; hind toe and claw 0. 60;
pill 0.50. A species of wide distribution in Hareps and Asia, occasional in Greenland.
86a. M. ocula/ris. (Lat. ocularis, ocular.) Sipertan WacrTaiu. Larger, and with a black eye-
stripe in the white mask. Occurs at Plover Bay, East Siberia, and may be expected across
Behring’s Straits. (Not in the Check List, 1882; since found in California.)
30. BUDYTES. (Gr. Bovdurns, boudutes, some small bird.) Ye~Low WactTam. Characters of
Motacilla ; tail shorter, not exceeding the wing in length ; hind claw lengthened and straightish;
hind toe and claw nearly as long as the tarsus. Coloration chiefly yellow and greenish.
87. B. fla/vus? (Lat. flavus, yellow. Figs. 157,156.) Yentow WacGtain. BLUE-HEADED
Quaxke-TaIL. Adult: Above, yellowish-green; below, rich
yellow, shaded with greenish on the sides, and bleaching on
the chin. Top and sides of head bluish-gray, enclosing a long
white superciliary stripe; a dusky stripe from corner of mouth
through eye to ear-coverts. Quills of the wing dusky, the
lesser coverts edged with the color of the back; median and
greater coverts showing whitish wing-bars, and inner second-
aries edged with the same. Tail dusky, the middle feathers
Fic. 157. — Yellow Wagtail ;
nearly nat. size. (After Baird.) edged with the color of the back; the outer two on each side
31.
8s.
MOTACILLIDA — ANTHINZ: PIPITS, OR TITLARKS. 285
mostly white. Bill and feet black. Length about 6.50; wing 3.00; tail about 2.75; bill 0.50;
tarsus 0.90; hind toe and claw 0.65. A protean species of extensive dispersion in Europe and
Asia, occurring abundantly in Alaska; there 1s some uncertainty to what form the American
bird strictly belongs.. It is that with the whole side of the head, below the white stripe, slaty-
blackish, and some dusky markings un breast; doubtless some Asiatic sub-species (taivanus
Swinh. ?)
14. Subfamily ANTHINA: Pipits, or Titlarks.
In these, the tail is shorter than the wings,
and composed of broader feathers retaining their
width to near the end; 4 or 5 primaries usually
form the point of the wing; the tarsi are rela-
tively shorter, usually about equal to the middle
toe; the lateral toes are longer, the points of
their claws reaching beyond the base of the mid-
dle claw; the hind claw is always lengthened
: and straightened (as in the figure beyond given
pres aa of Anthus ludovicianus) ; and the coloration is
eS “niggled,” that is to say, broken up in streaks
Fie. 158. — Meadow Pipit. (From Dixon.) and spots. The species of Anthine make up
nearly or about half the family; they are chiefly referable to the genus Anthus, of which,
however, there are several subdivisions. In typical Anthus, the wing is longer than the tail,
and its point is formed by the outer 4 primaries, the 5th being abruptly shorter; the hind
claw is nearly straight, and nearly or quite equals its digit in length. Neocorys only differs in
having the feet larger and tail shorter. In certain 8. Am. forms, Pediocorys and Notiocorys,
the wing is more rounded, and 4 or even 5 primaries enter into the tip of the wing; in
several European subgenera only 3 primaries are abruptly longer than the succeeding ones.
Our Anthus is strictly congeneric with the European A. spinoletta, type of the genus. About
fifty species (among them six or eight Central and South American ones) are ascribed to
Anthine. They are terrestrial and more or less gregarious birds, migratory and insectivorous.
AN’THUS. (Gr. dv6os, anthos, Lat. anthus, a kind of bird.) Puiprrs. Bill shorter than head,
about as wide as high at base, compressed in most of its extent, acute at tip, where distinctly
notched; culmen slightly concave between base and terminal convexity ; rictus slightly bristled.
Wings longer than tail, tipped by the first 4 primaries, 5th abruptly shorter. Tarsi not
shorter or rather longer than the hind toe and claw; inner lateral toe rather longer than the
outer, or the two about equal. Tail extending beyond the end of the outstretched feet.
Markings of upper parts distinct, and shade of under parts greenishin. . .....4... pratensis 88
Markings of upper parts obscure, and shade of under partsbuffyin . ..... . » ludovicianus 89
A. praten’sis. (Lat. pratensis, relating to pratum, a neadow. Fig. 158.) Mrapow Pirit.
Upper parts pale greenish-brown, distinctly marked with blackish-brown centres of the feath-
ers; wing-quills and coverts clove-brown, edged with greenish-gray. Tail-feathers dark
brown, edged with the greenish shade of the back, the outer one obliquely white for nearly half
its length, and others with white at the end. Cheeks olivaceous, speckled with dusky. Under
parts brownish-white with a tinge of green, marked on the breast and sides with brownish-
black streaks running forward as a maxillary chain; chin, belly, and under tail-coverts un-
marked. Bill dusky above and at end, the rest livid fests color; feet obscure flesh-color ; iris
blackish. Length about 6.00; extent 9.50; wing 3.00; tail 2.50; Dill 0.50; tarsus 0.75.
Europe; North American as occurring in Gresaland, and also, it is tai, in Kiciea. I have
seen Alaskan Pipits, certainly not ludovicianus, and apparently pratensis; but too young and
in too bad condition to furnish decisive characters.
NOS NW Sie Nolo
89.
32.
90.
286 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
A. ludovicia‘nus. (Lat. of Louisiana; Ludovieus, Louis. Fig. 159.) Louistana Pipi.
AMERICAN TITLARK. Brown Lark. Waaeraiu. Upper parts dark brown with an olive
shade, most of the feathers with dusky centres, giving an obscure
streaky or nebulous appearance; eyelids, superciliary line, and all
\ © under parts brownish-white, or pale buffy or ochrey brown, very
variable in shade from muddy white to rich buff, the breast and sides
of the body and neck thickly streaked with dusky; wings and tail
blackish, the inner secondaries pale-edged, and 1-3 outer tail-feathers
white wholly or in part. Bill blackish; pale at base below; feet brown.
Length 6.25-6.75, sometimes 7.00; extent 10.25-11.00; wing 3.25-
3.50; tail 2.75-3.00; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.90. N. Am., everywhere ;
an abundant and well-known bird of fields and plains ; migratory; in
Fig. 159.—Titlark, nat. the U.S. seen chiefly in flocks in fall, winter, and early spring;
size. (Ad nat.del.E.C.) reeds in high latitudes, and in the Rocky Mts. above timber line
as far south as Colorado; lays 4-6 very dark-colored eggs, 0.80 x 0.60, in a mossy or grassy
nest on the ground; voice querulous, gait tremulous, flight vacillating.
NEO/CORYS. (Gr. véos, neos, new; képus, korus, a helmet, and hence applied to a kind of
crested lark.) Sky Pipirs. Characters of Anthus, from which little distinguished by the
shorter and more nearly even tail and larger feet, which when outstretched reach beyond the
end of the tail; tarsus shorter than hind toe and claw. Colors clearer and markings more dis-
tinct than in Anthus ludovicianus ; more as in some European species of Anthus.
N. spra/guii. (To Isaac Sprague, of Mass.) SpraGun’s Pipir. Muissourt TIruarK.
Above, variegated with numerous streaks of dark brown and gray, in largest pattern on the
back, smallest on the nape, the gray constituting the edging of the feathers. Below, dull whit-
ish, more or less brownish-shaded across the breast and along the sides; the breast sharply
streaked, the sides less distinctly so, with dusky; a more or less evident series of maxillary
spots. Quills dark grayish-brown; the inner ones, and the wing-coverts, edged with grayish-
white, corresponding to the pattern of the back. Middle tail-feathers like the back; next ones
blackish-brown, the two outer pair wholly or mostly pure white, the 3d pair from the outside
usually touched with white near the end. With reduction of the gray edgings of the feathers
of the upper parts by wearing away in summer, the bird becomes darker above, with narrower
and sharper variegation, and the pectoral streaks are fainter. Bill blackish above; below,
like the feet, pale flesh-color; iris black. After the fall moult the colors again become pure;
the streaking of the upper parts is strong and sharp, and the under parts acquire a ruddy-brown
shade. Young: Edgings of the feathers of the upper parts buffy, giving a rich complexion to
the plumage; feathers of back with pure white edging, forming conspicuous semicircular mark-
ings; greater wing-coverts and long inner secondaries broadly tipped with white, and prima-
ries broadly edged and tipped with white or buff. Ear-coverts buffy-brown, forming a more
couspicuous patch than in the adult. Under parts strongly tinged, except on throat and middle
of belly, with buffy-brown, the pectoral and lateral streaks large and diffused. Sexes indistin-
guishable; 9 rather smaller than g. Length 6.25-6.75, rarely 7.00; extent 10.00-11.00,
generally about 10.50, rarely 11.50; wing 3.00-3.30; tail 2.25-2.40; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.80-
0.90; middle toe and claw 0.90; hind toe and claw nearly 1.00, the claw alone about 0.50.
Central portions of the U. 8., and adjoining British Provinces, from the eastern edge of the
high central plains to the Rocky Mts., from the valleys of the Red River of the North and
of the Saskatchewan to Texas; breeding in profusion in Dakota and Montana; nest on the
ground, of fine dried grasses, sometimes arched over; eggs 4-5, 0.90 X 0.60, grayish-white
minutely flecked with darker, giving a purplish cast. General habits and manners of titlarks;
but soaring flight when singing, and the song itself, having all the qualities which have made
the European skylark famous, and being no less worthy of celebration in poetry.
SYLVICOLIDZ): AMERICAN WARBLERS. 287
9. Family SYLVICOLIDA:: American Warblers.
Primaries, nine; rec-
trices, twelve; tarsi scu-
tellate ; inner secondaries
not enlarged, nor hind toe
lengthened and _straight-
ened, as in the two pre-
ceding families; bill with-
out a lobe or tooth near
the middle of the com-
missure, as in Pyranga ;
not strongly toothed and
hooked at end, as in La-
nius and Vireo (which
may have ten primaries),
nor greatly flattened with
gape reaching to eyes, as in
: My Hirundinide, nor strictly
Fic. 160. — Black-throated Green Warbler, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) conical with angulated
commissure, as in Fringillide. The family presents such a number of minor modifications
of form, that it seems impossible to characterize it, except negatively ; in fact, it has never been
satisfactorily defined. But doubtless the student will be able to assure himself that his speci-
men is a sylvicoline, by its not showing the peculiarities of our other nine-primaried Oscines.
All the sylvicolas are small birds; excepting Icteria, and perhaps a species of Siurus, not
one is over six inches long, and they hardly average over five. With few exceptions they
are beautifully clothed in variegated colors; but the sexes are generally unlike, and the changes
of plumage, with age and season of the year, are usually strongly marked, so that different
specimens of the same species may bear to each other but little resemblance ; this of course
renders careful discrimination necessary. The usual shape of the bill may be called conoid-
elongate (something like a slender minié bullet in miniature), but the variations in precise
shape are endless. The rictus is usually bristled; the bristles sometimes have an extraordi-
nary development, and are sometimes wanting. The wings are longer than the tail, except
in Geothlypis, Icteria, and one or two exotic genera; neither the wing nor tail ever presents
striking forms; the head is never crested. The feet have no special peculiarities, though
they show some slight modifications corresponding to somewhat terrestrial, or more strictly
arboricole, habits. The nidification is endlessly varied, more or less artistic or artless nests
being built in trees, bushes, holes, or on the ground. Musical proficiency might be expected
from the agreeably suggestive name of the family, but as a rule the “warbler’s” singing is
rather “‘ quaint and curious” than very skilfully modulated or highly melodious, —to which
statement, however, there is signal exception to be taken, as in the case of the Stwri. Some of
the warblers have the habits of titmice or wrens; others of creepers or nuthatches; the Siurt
closely resemble the titlarks in some respects, and have even been placed in the Motacillide ;
while the Setophagine simulate the Tyrannide (of a different suborder) so perfectly that they
used to be classed with these clamatorial flycatchers. The warblers grade so perfectly toward
the tanagers that they have all been made a subfamily of Tanagride (where possibly they
belong). The affinity of some of them with the Cerebidw, or honey-creepers of the tropics, is
so close that the dividing line has not beer drawn. The position of Icteria and its two asso-
ciate exotic genera, Granatellus and Teretristis, is open to question; perhaps they come nearer
Vireonide. It is probable that final critical study will result in a remapping of the whole
288 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
group; meanwhile, the very diversity of forms included in it enables us to mark off sections
with ease.
This is the second largest family of North American birds, the Fringilhde alone surpass-
ing it in number of species. If not exactly ‘‘ representative,” in a technical sense, of the Old
World Sylviine, it may be considered to replace that family in America, having much the
same 76le in bird-economy ; both families abound in species and individuals; they are small,
migratory, insectivorous, and everywhere take prominent part in the make-up of the bird-fauna.
There are upward of a hundred species of Sylvicolide, distributed over the whole of North and
Middle America, and much of South America. The centre of abundance of the Setophagine,
or flyeatching warblers, is in the warmer parts of America; comparatively few species reach
the United States, and only two or three are extensively dispersed in this country. On the
other hand, the Sylvicoline are more particularly birds of North America; very few of the
species are confined to Middle or South America; and Dendreca, the leading type of this group,
is the largest, most beautiful, and most attractive genus of North American birds, preéminentiy
characteristic of this country. The warblers have we always with us, all in their own good
time; they come out of the South, pass on, return, and are away again, their appearance and
withdrawal scarcely less than a inystery; many stay with us all summer long, and some brave
the winters in our midst. Some of these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel
true to the meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past ‘like a thief in the night,” stoop-
ing at day-break from their lofty flights to rest and recruit for the next stage of the journey.
Others pass inore leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration, gleaning as they
go; the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead the way for the weaker females and the
yearlings. ‘With tireless industry do the warblers befriend the human race; their unconscious
zeal plays due part in the nice adjustment of Nature’s forces, helping to bring about that bal-
ance of vegetable and insect life without which agriculture would be in vain. They visit the
orchard when the apple and pear, the peach, plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel
carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but never faltering in their
good work. They peer into the crevices of the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very
heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly insignificant,
collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed,
would bring his eare to nought. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the
tallest trees; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled boughs of the forest kings;
some peep from the thicket, the coppice, the impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny
water-courses, playing at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still descend to
the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and affected turning of the head this
way and that, their delicate flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with
which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers everywhere in their season ;
we shall find them a continual surprise; all mood and circumstance is theirs.
As at present constituted, the Sylvicolide, comprising upwards of a hundred good species,
may be divided into three subfamilies, the characters of which, given more at length beyond,
may here be shortly contrasted : —
Analysis of Subfamilies.
Sylvicoline. -- Wings longer than tail (except in Geothlypis) ; bill conical, slender; commissure slightly
curved, with short bristles or none. Size moderate.
Icteriine. — Wings shorter than tail ; bill compressed, high, very stout ; commissure much curved, with-
out any bristles ; size very large.
Setophagine. — Wings longer than tail; bill broad, flattened ; commissure slightly curved, with bristles
reaching far beyond the nostrils.
Artificial Key to the Genera of Sylvicolida.
Length 7.00 inches or more. . dle th ie Be Se oe 2 ¢ Jee eR Oe Be e y Teter as
Length 5.50 inches or more and tail-feathers plain . . 6. 6 6 6 ee ee et o + « ww ew ss Siurus 40
Length under 5.50 or tail-feathers not plain,
SYLVICOLIDZA!— SYLVICOLINZ:: TRUE WARBLERS. 289
Wing shorter than tail, or equal and head ashy . . eee ee we ew tw + Geothlypis 42
Wing longer than tail, or equal and head not ashy
Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw . bah had ee ier ae Be Se Mh is Giga Se » . Mniotilta 33
Tarsus not shorter than middle toe and claw.
Rictal bristles evidently reaching far beyond nostrils.
Tail black and orange, or black and white, ordarkand yellow .... . .. . Selophaga 46
Tail ashy edged with white, and head with red aw RRR RR Se Ne 4
Tail greenish, unmarked, or with white blotches . . Myiodioctes 44
Rictal bristles evidently not reaching far beyond nostrils, or not evident at all.
Tail-feathers all unmarked.
Bill at least 0.50 inches long, very acute ; 4 black stripes on head, ornone . Helmintherus 36
Bill not 0.50 inches long.
Wing over 2.50 inches ; bill not acute; bright yellow below, or head ashy . Oporornis 41
Wing not over 2.50 inches ; bill very acute ; no bristles . . . . Helminthophila 37
Tail-feathers blotched with white, or yellow on inner webs.
Rictal bristles not evident.
Bill not 0.50 inch long; whole fore parts not yellow ... . Helminthophila 37
Bill at least 0.50 inch lung ; whole fore parts yellow ..... . Protonotaria 35
Rictal bristles very evident.
Back blue with gold spot, throat and legs yellow woe ee wee. Parula 34
Head orange-brown with black bar through eye. . i 1G . Peucedramus 38
Coloration otherwise . ae ee ren fate Sg piitl ss . Dendreca 39
Diagnostics or Characteristics of some of the Genera of Sylvicolidx.
Genera Mniotilta, Parula, and Peucedramus are creeping warblers, with certain slight modifications of the
feet, enabling them to scramble about the trees much like creepers or nuthatches.
Genera Geothlypis and Oporornis are ground warblers, with the feet modified in adaptation to terrestrial
life. Genus Siwrus is similar in this respect; the species wadk on the ground, and act in some respects like Mota-
cillines. ;
Genera Protonotaria, Helmintherus, and Helminthophila are ‘‘ worm-eating” warblers (the old genus Ver-
mivora), with slight rictal bristles or none.
Genera Setophaga, Cardellina, and Myiodioctes are fly-catching warblers, with strongly bristled bill and
muscicapine habits, in some respects like species of Tyrannide.
Genus Icteria is isolated by its peculiarities of form and habits, and great size for this family.
Genus Dendreca comprehends the wood warblers par excellence, —the largest genus, with over twenty
species.
‘Bm :— Peculiarly stout, high, and compressed in Jcteria ;— Sattish, and strongly bristled in Setophaga,
Cardellina and Myiodioctes ;— large, with straightish outlines, scarcely or not bristled, and very acute in Pro-
tonotaria and Helmintherus ;— small, unbristled, and very acute in Helminthophila.
FEET : — Tarsus longest, slenderest, and usually pale-tinted in the ground warblers ; — shortest in the creep-
ing warblers, with relatively longest toes.
Wines :— Shorter than the tail in Icteria and species of Geothlypis ; — about equal to the tail in species of
Geothlypis, Siurus, Setophaga, and Cardellina ;— usually decidedly longer than the tail,
TaIL:— The feathers (some or all) blotched with white in the following: Mniotilta. Parula, Protonotaria,
species of Helminthophila, all Dendrece excepting D. estiva, Peucedramus, one Myiodioctes, one Setophaga.
The feathers plain olivaceous, or otherwise like the back, unmarked, in species of Helminthophila, in Helmintherus,
Oporornis, Geothlypis, Siurus, Icteria, species of Myiodioctes, Cardellina; yellow and dark in one Setophaga and
one Dendreca.
15. Subfamily SYLVICOLINAE: True Warblers.
Bill conoid-elongate, shorter than head, about as high as, or rather higher than wide oppo-
site the nostrils, not hooked, and with but a slight notch, if any, at tip: commissure straight
or slightly curved; a few rictal bristles, reaching little, if any, beyond the nostrils, or none.
Wings pointed, usually longer than the narrow, nearly even tail.
This beautiful group, which comprehends the great majority of the Warblers, is specially
characteristic of North America, and reaches its highest development in the eastern portions of
the continent, mainly through the preponderance of species of the largest genus, Dendreca.
All the genera and most of the species of Sylvicoling are found in this country, mainly as mi-
grants, which appear in the spring, pass the suinmer, and retire for the winter to Mexico, the
West Indies, and Central or even South America; though some pass the inclement season
within our limits, and one at Jeast is found in winter in Northern States.
19
33.
91.
92.
34,
93.
290 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
Here belong the genera Mniotilta, Parula, Protonotaria, Helmintherus, Helminthophila,
Peucedramus, Dendraca, Siurus, Oporornis, and Geothlypis.
MNIOTIL/TA. (Gr. pviov, mnion, moss, and ridAe, tillo, I pluck, or riArés, tiltos, plucked ;
conjectural application to the nest-building.) CREEPING WaRBLERS. Coloration entirely
black-and-white ; tail-feathers white-blotched. Tarsus not longer than middle toe and claw;
hind toe long, with large claw. Wings long, pointed, lst primary about as long as 2d; tail
nearly even, much shorter than wing. Bill nearly as long as head, slender, much compressed,
with concave lateral outlines, and curved culmen and gonys, slightly notched and bristled.
Only one good species.
M. varia. (Lat. varia, variegated. Fig. 161.) BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPER. 4, adult:
Black; edges of feathers of upper parts, coronal, superciliary, and maxillary stripes, tips of
greater and median wing-coverts, outer edges of inner second-
aries and inner edges of quills and tail-feathers, and spots on
inner webs of lateral tail-feathers, white; under parts mostly
Fi e white, with black streaks on sides and crissum; bill and feet
black. @ similar: less black in proportion to the white, being
mostly white below. Length 5.00-5.25; extent 8.25-8.75; wing
2.35-2.75 5 tail 2.25; bill nearly 0.50. Eastern N. Am.; N. to
the Fur Countries; W. to Dakota; migratory; breeds throughout
its range; winters from the southern border southward. A
Fig. 161. — Black-and-white 2 4
Creeper, nat. size. (Ad nat, del. common bird of woodland, thicket, and swamp, generally seen
E.C.) scrambling actively about the trunks and larger branches of the
trees, rather like a nuthatch than like a creeper, the tail not being used asa prop. Nest on
the ground, or in a stump, of bark-strips, mosses, grasses, leaves, hair, etc.; eggs 4-5, 0.70 X
0.52, white, profusely marked with reddish and other dots.
M. v. borea/lis? (Lat. borealis, northern ; boreas, the north wind.) SMALL-BILLED CREEP-
ER. Northerly specimens said to have the bill shorter and straighter.
PA'RULA. (Lat. parula, diminutive of parus, a tit.) BuLuE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLERS.
Coloration highly variegated; tail-feathers white-blotehed; back bluish, with yellowish
spot; throat yellow, with dark spot; feet pale. Size very small—under 5.00 inches. Bill
short, stoutish; the notch obsolete, the bristles slight though evident. Two very distinet
species in N. Am.
P. america/na. (Lat. of America; said to be named not for the Italian navigator, but from a
mountain in Central America?) @, in spring: Upper parts clear ashy-blue; middle of back
with a patch of greenish-yellow or brownish-golden. Lores dusky. A white spot on each
eyelid. Wings blackish, crossed on the ends of the greater and middle coverts with two broad
white bars; primaries narrowly, secondaries more broadly, edged externally with the color of
the back, internally with white. Tail like wings, with much edging of outer webs like the
back, the middle feathers mostly bluish; at least two outer feathers on each side with large,
white, squarish patches on the inner web near the end, usually third feather blotched with
white, and a white touch on fourth or even fifth feather. Chin and throat yellow, rather nar-
rowly confined, this yellow spreading over the whole breast, but much of breast spotted or
tinged with orange-brown, and jugulum showing even a decided blackish collar; coloration of
this part very variable; sometimes reddish-brown markings along the sides, much as in the
chestnut-sided warbler. Rest of under parts white. Bill above black; below whitish or flesh-
colored, drying yellowish. Legs pale. Length 4.50-4.75 ; extent 7.00-7.50; wing 2.10-2.30;
tail 1.75. 9, in spring: Like the ¢; upper parts less brightly bluish, or with slight greenish
gloss; back-patch not so well defined ; less white on tail; white wing-bands narrower; dark
or reddish tinting of the fore breast less decided or scarcely indicated ; the yellow itself more
restricted. Young: Bluish of upper parts glossed over with greenish, sometimes to such extent
94.
35.
95.
36.
96.
SYLVICOLIDA — SYLVICOLINZ: TRUE WARBLERS. 291
as to obscure the dorsal patch, which is then not very different from the rest of the upper parts.
White tail-spots smaller, generally confined to two outer feathers on each side. White wing-
bands narrower. Edging of tail and wings tinged with ‘greenish, like the back. Eyelids not
spotted with white. Yellow of fore under parts pale, with little or no indication of the dusky
across the jugulum. White of the under parts tinged with yellowish posteriorly, and fre-
quently showing brownish touches along the sides. Eastern U. 8. and British Provinces; W.
sometimes to the Rocky Mts.; migratory ; breeds in the greater part of its N. American range,
but chiefly northerly ; winters from Florida southward. An elegant, diminutive species, abun-
dant in high open woods, where it is generally observed fluttering among the smallest twigs
and terminal foliage. Nest in trees, an elaborate woven structure of mosses and lichens; eggs
4-5, 0.62 x 0.48, white with the usual sprinkling of reddish and other dots.
P. nigrilo’ra. (Lat. niger, black ; lorum, a bridle; applied to the space between eye and
bill of a bird.) Sennert’s Warsier. , adult: Upper parts of the same ashy-blue color
as in P. americana, with a dorsal patch of greenish-yellow exactly as in that species. Wings
also as in americana, dusky, with grayish-blue outer, and whitish inner, edgings, and crossed
by two conspicuous white bars across tips of greater and middle coverts. Tail as in ameri-
cana, but the white spots smaller and almost restricted to two outer feathers on each side.
Eyelids black, without white marks. Lores broadly and intensely black, this color extending
as a narrow frontal line to meet its fellow across base of culmen, and also reaching back to
invade the auriculars, on which it shades through dusky to the general bluish. Under parts
yellow as far as the middle of the belly, and a little farther on the flanks, and also spreading up
the sides of the jaw to involve part of the mandibular and malar region; on the fore breast
deepening into rich orange, but showing nothing of the orange-chestnut and blackish of P.
americana. Lower belly, flanks and crissum white. Bill black above, yellow below. Legs
undefinable light horn-color. Length about 4.50; wing 2.00-2.20; tail 1.80-1.90; bill
from nostril 0.38-0.40; tarsus 0.62-0.65; middle toe alone 0.40. Texas. Another little
exquisite, recently added to our fauna; quite distinct from, though resembling, P. americana;
coming nearer P. pitiayumi, a Mexican species. ;
PROTONOTA’RIA. (Low Lat. protonotarius, first notary, or scribe; why?) GoLpEN
Swamp WarBLERS. Bill of great size, nearly as long as head, compressed, conic, acute, with
slightly notched tip and scarcely bristled rictus. Wings pointed, unmarked, much longer than
the short, nearly even, spotted tail. Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw. One species.
P. cit/rea. (Lat. citrea, pertaining to the citron; i.e., yellow.) PRroTHoNoTARY WARBLER.
Golden-yellow, paler on the belly, changing to olivaceous on the back, thence to bluish-ashy
on the rump, wings, and tail; most of the tail-feathers largely white on the inner webs; no
other special markings; bill entirely black, very large, at least 0.50 long. Length about
5.50; extent 9.25; wing 2.75-3.00; tail 2.25; tarsus 0.75. Sexes similar. In highest
feather the yellow of the head sometimes becomes orange-red. Eastern United States, south-
erly; north casually to Maine, New Brunswick, and Ohio; regularly to’ Illinois and Kansas;
west to Indian Territory and Texas; winters extra-limital. A beautiful species, of striking
form and colors, and sedate manners, inhabiting swamps and thickets; nest in holes, or other
sheltered cavities in trees, stumps, and logs, of the most miscellaneous materials; eggs 4-5,
0.68 X 0.54, creamy white, profusely speckled.
HELMINTHE/RUS. (Gr. Apis, gen. eApvdos, helmis, helminthos, a bug; @np, an animal;
i. e., EApswOoOnpas, helminthotheras, a bug-hunter; like vermivora, worm-eating.) Worm-
EATING Swamp WaRBLERS. Bill large, conic-acute, especially high and stout at the base,
nearly or quite as long as head, unnotched and scarcely or not bristled. Wings rather pointed,
much longer than the little rounded tail. Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. Sexes
similar; tail-feathers unmarked; legs pale. Two very distinct species.
H. vermi'vorus, (Lat. vermivorus, worm-eating ; vermis, a worm, voro, I devour. Fig. 162.)
97.
37.
292 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
WorM-EATING WARBLER. Olive, below buffy, paler or whitish on the belly; head buff,
with four black stripes, two along sides of crown from bill to nape, one along each side of head
through the eye; wings and tail olivaceous, unmarked ; ‘bill
and feet pale; bill acute, unbristled, unnotched, at least
0.50. Length 5.50; extent 8.75; wing 2.75-8.00; tail
2.00-2.25. The distinctive head-stripes appear before the
bird is fully fledged. Eastern U. 8., rather southerly, but
. north regularly to the Middle States, casually to Maine;
west to Kansas, Missouri, and the Indian Territory; breeds
Fic. 162.— Worm-eating Warbler, throughout its U.S. range; winters from Florida south-
nats isize: (Ad natidel.'B.C:) ward; common in woods, shrubbery, and swamps; a bird
of rather slow and sedate movements; nest on the ground, of leaves, grasses, rootlets; eggs
4-5, crystal-white, minutely dotted with reddish-brown, 0.70 x 0.50.
H. swain/soni. (To Win. Swainson.) Swarnson’s WARBLER. Somewhat similar to the
last; no black head stripes ; no decided markings anywhere. Upper parts dark olive-brown,
nearly uniform, but browner on exposed surfaces of wings and tail, and quite clear brown on the
crown. A long light superciliary stripe. Under parts dull sordid whitish, shaded on the sides with
the color of the back. Middle tail-feathers with obsolete wavy cross-bars. Bill brown above,
pale below; feet pale. Large: length nearly 6.00; wing 2.75, pointed, tip formed by lst
-8d quills; tail 2.00, emarginate; bill of great size, 0.65 along culmen, about equalling tarsus
in length, deep at base, with straight upper mandible rising high on forehead; thus shaped
something like a meadow-lark’s. A rare and curious species, confined to the South Atlantic
States. I have seen but three specimens; the description is from Audubon’s type.
HELMINTHO'PHILA. (Gr. cApis, Apidos, helmis, helminthos, a bug; giréw, phileo, I
love.) WorM-EATING WaRBLERS. Bill slender and exceedingly acute, unnotched, unbristled
(fig. 163). Wings pointed, longer than the nearly even tail, — in
one species nearly half as long again. Tarsi longer than middle
toe and claw. Tail-feathers in some species white-blotched, in
others plain, — the furmer being otherwise of bright and variegated
colors, the latter more simply clad. Nest on the ground or quite
near it (excepting in the case of H. lucie); eggs white, spotted.
To the eight established species of the genus have lately been
added three others; but one of them is almost certainly a hybrid Hye. 163, — A, chrysoptera,
between H. pinus and Oporornis formosa, while the other two are Dat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
probably hybrids between H. pinus and H. chrysoptera. There has also been added a variety
of H. celata. These are enumerated beyond, but only the eight established species are con-
sidered in the analysis of the genus. Even with this reduction, Helminthophila is still the
second largest genus of the subfamily. It is peculiarly North Auerican, all the known
species occurring in this country, some of them not being known to occur elsewhere. The
genus may be divided according to coloration into two groups, which correspond in a general
way with geographical distribution. Three species (H H. pinus, chrysoptera, and bachmani),
exclusively eastern, are of variegated colors, the tail-feathers white-blotched as in Dendraca.
In the other five the coloration is simpler; the tail-feathers are not, or not conspicuously,
blotehed with white, and all but one of these species have a crown-patch; one of them is East-
ern, two are Western, and two of general dispersion. The natural analysis of the species, and
a shorter key to them, are subjoined; these tables should suffice to identify any adult male
specimens, but females and young, particularly of Nos. 5, 6, 7, require detailed descriptions for
their recognition. (In H. peregrina, with tail normally plain, the outer feather is sometimes
distinctly white-blotched.)
SYLVICOLIDZA — SYLVICOLIN:: TRUE WARBLEBRS. 293
Natural Analysis of Species.
I. Tail-feathers conspicuously white-blotched. Wings with white or yellow on coverts. Head or breast with
black, All exclusively Eastern.
1, Bluish-ash, below white ; crown and wing-bars yellow ; throat and stripe on side of head black
chrysoptera 10%
2. Olive-green ; wings and tail bluish- ash, former with white or yellow bars ; crown and under
parts yellow; loresblack . . . . » . . pinus 98
8. Olive-green, below yellow ; throat, breast, and. crown-patch black ; forehead yellow . bachmani 103
1. Tail-feathers inconspicuously or not blotched with white. No decided wing-markings. No black anywhere.
w. Crown without colored patch. Wings about half as long again as tail.”
4, Tail with obscure whitish spot on outer feather; under parts white or whitish; upper parts
olive-green, brighter behind, quite ashy in front. Chiefly Eastern. . ... . . peregrina 109
6. Crown with colored patch. Wings shorter.
5. Crown-patch orange-brown ; tail unmarked; upper parts olive-green, under parts greenish-
yellow, both nearly uniform. Western and incompletely Eastern . yes . eelata 107, 108
6. Crown-patch chestnut ; tail unmarked ; upper parts olive-green, growing ashy on head ; under
parts uniformly sallow: Eastern and incompletely Western . . . BAe ae rmifloapille 106
7. Crown-patch chestnut; tail unmarked; above olivaceous-ash, below whitish ; rump and under
tail-coverts bright yellow ; breast yellowish. Western. . . . virginie 105
8. Crown-patch and upper tail-coverts chestnut ; outer tail- feather with “aul white
patch ; above pale cinereous, below white. Southwestern . Sa ee ee a w ducte 104
Pass-key to the Species.
Tail-feathers white-blotched — bluish, crown yellow, throat black . . oe ee we sw Chrysoptera 102
— greenish, crown and all under parts yellow. . ..... . . . pinus 98
— greenish, crown (partly) and throat black . . . » + 4 + bachmani 103
—upper tail-coverts chestnut, crown-patch chestnut . se ee bucice 104
Tail-feathers all unmarked — upper tail-coverts — yellow; crown-patch chestnut ee OSEAN 105
—not yellow ; crown-patch—chestnut. . . 106
—orange-brown . alate. 107, 108
We —wanting. . . peregrina 109
98. H. pimus. (Lat. pimus, a pine-tree.) BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER. , adult:
Fore part of crown and entire under parts rich yellow; upper parts yellow-olive, becoming
slaty-blue on the wings and tail (system of coloration thus like that of Protonotaria). Wings
with two white or yellowish bars; tail with several large white blotches; under tail-coverts
white; eyelids bright yellow; small stripe through eye black ; bill blue-black. Female and
young not very dissimilar; duller and more olivaceous. Length about 4.75; extent 7.50;
wing 9.40-2.50; tail 2.00-2.10; tarsus 0.65; bill 0.45. Eastern United States, north to
Massachusetts and Minnesota, west to Kansas, Indian Territory, and Texas; common, migra-
tory, breeding in its United States range, wintering extralimital. Nest on the ground, eggs
4-5, 0.67 X 0.48, white, sprinkled with reddish-brown dots.
99. H. lawren’cii? (To Geo. N. Lawrence, of N. Y.) Lawrencr’s Warsier. Like H.
pinus ; but a large black patch on the throat and breast, and broad black eye-stripe, reaching
over auriculars, as in H. chrysoptera ; thus pinus X chrysoptera, and doubtless a hybrid
between the two. New Jersey; two specimens noted to date.
100. H. leucobronchia'lis? (Gr. Aevkds, leucos, white, Bpéyxos, brogchos, becoming bronchus,
throat.) WHITE-THROATED WARBLER. Like H. chrysoptera; but a black bar through the
eye as in pinus, and lacking the black breast-patch of chrysoptera, the entire under parts being
white; thus chrysoptera X pinus, and doubtless a hybrid between the two, though up to date a
dozen or more specimens have been described, from New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Michigan.
101. H. cincinnatien’sis? (Of Cincinnati, Ohio, where discovered.) CINCINNATI WARBLER.
Like H. pinus in color; bill with evident rictal bristles; no white wing-bars or tail-blotches ;
no ashy-blue on wings or tail; concealed black on crown and sides of head like the incom-
pleted black mask of Oporornis formosa, with which the bird otherwise closely agrees in color ;
thus curiously being H. pinus x O. formosa. Length 4.75; wing 2.50; tail 1.85; bill 0.44.
One specimen known, Ohio.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
294 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
H. chrysop'tera. (Gr. xpuads, chrusos, golden, and mrepév, pteron, wing.) BLUE GOLDEN-
WINGED WARBLER. 4, adult: Upper parts slaty-blue, or fine bluish-gray; crown, and large
wing-patch formed by confluent wing-bars, rich yellow; a broad stripe on side of head and
patch on chin, throat and fore-breast, black, the eye-stripe bordered above and below with
white; under parts generally, excepting the black breast-plate, white, often tinted with yellow-
ish, and shaded on the sides with ashy. Exposed surfaces of wings and tail like upper parts;
great white blotches on three lateral tail-feathers; bill black; feet dark. 9 and immature
specimens have the back more or less glossed with yellowish-olive; the yellow of the crown
obscured with greenish; the black eye-stripe and breast-plate veiled with gray tips of the
feathers, or not at all evident. Size of H. pinus. A beautiful species, common in Eastern
United States and Canada; migratory, breeding anywhere in its United States range; nest and
eggs like those of H. pinus.
H. bach’mani. (To Rev. John Bachman, of 8. C.) Bacuman’s WARBLER. ¢: Upper
parts yellowish-olive, including sides of head and neck, tinged with ashy on the hind head;
forehead and under parts bright yellow; a band on the vertex separating yellow front from
ashy occiput, and the throat and fore breast, black, this breast-plate isolated in yellow sur-
roundings. Wings dusky, glossed with the color of the back on all the exposed surface.
Two or three outer tail-feathers white-blotched. Small; length 4.50; wing 2.35; tail 2.00.
South Atlantic States, extremely rare, only kuown to occur in South Carolina, Georgia, and
Cuba. .
H. lucie. (To Miss Lucy Baird, daughter of Prof. 8. F. Baird.) Lucy’s WaRBLER.
& 9, adult: Clear ashy-gray. Beneath white, with a faint tinge of buff on the breast. A
rich chestnut patch on the crown, and upper tail-coverts of the same color. A white eye-ring.
Quills and tail-feathers edged with the color of the back or whitish. Lateral tail-feather with
an obscure whitish patch. Lining of wing white. Feet dull leaden-olive. Iris dark brown
or black. Length 4.33-4.66; extent 7.00-7.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 1.75-2.00; tarsus
0.66 ; bill 0.25-0.33. Young: Lack the chestnut of the crown, though that of the rump is
present. The throat and breast are milk-white, without the ochrey tinge of the adults; the
wing-coverts are edged with pale rufous. The chestnut upper tail-coverts, and absence of any
trace of olivaceous or yellowish coloration, distinguish this interesting species, the general
superficial aspect of which is quite like that of a Polioptila. Valley of the Colorado and Gila;
not yet known except from Arizona. The exceptional nidification of this species of the genus
(Am. Nat., vi, 1872, p. 493) has been confirmed: nest in crevice behind bark of a tree or bush,
such as a wren might select; eggs 4, not peculiar, being white dotted with reddish.
H. virgin/iz. (To Mrs. Virginia Anderson, wife of the discoverer.) ViRGINIA’s WARBLER.
&, in summer: Ashy-plumbeous, alike on the back, and top and sides of head. Below dull
whitish, the sides shaded with ashy. Lining and edge of wings white. Upper and under
tail-coverts, and isolated spot on the breast, yellow, in strong contrast with all surroundings.
A white ring round eye. Wings and tail without yellowish edgings. Crown with a chestnut
patch, asin H. ruficapilla. Length 4.75; extent 7.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 2.25. 9, in
summer: The yellow duller and slightly tinged with greenish; that of the breast, and the
chestnut of the crown, more restricted. Autumnal specimens resemble the ? ; but in both
sexes the plumbeous of the upper parts has a slight olive shade, and in birds of the year the
crown-patch may be wanting. Southern Rocky Mt. Region; north to Colorado, Nevada, and
Utah at least. Nests on the ground, like others of the genus; eggs indistinguishable from
those of allied species.
H. ruficapil'la. (Lat. rufus, rufous; capillus, hair.) NASHVILLE WARBLER. 4, in sum-
mer: Upper parts olive-green or yellowish-olive, clearer and brighter on the rump and upper
tail-coverts. Top and sides of the head and neck ashy, with a veiled chestnut patch on the
crown, and a white ring round the eye. No superciliary stripe. Lores pale. Wings and tail
107,
108.
109.
SYLVICOLIDA — SYLVICOLINZA:: TRUE WARBLERS. 295
fuscous, edged with the color of the back. Entire under parts yellow, including under wing-
coverts and edge of the wing, the sides shaded with olive. Length 4.50-4.75 ; extent 7.50;
wing 2.33-2.50; tail 1.75-2.00. 9, in summer: Similar. Head less purely ashy. Crown-
patch smaller and more hidden, if not wanting. Yellow of under parts paler, whitening on the
belly. Autumnal specimens, of both sexes, though quite as yellow below as in summer, have
the ash of the head glossed over with olivaceous, and in birds of the year the crown-patch may
be entirely wanting. This species is distinguished by the rich clear yellow of the under parts
at all seasons. In H. celata, which is next most yellow below, the color has a greenish cast ;
the head is little, if any, different from the rest of the upper parts, and the crown-patch is
orange-brown. Temperate North America, but especially the Eastern Province; west only
rarely to Utah, Nevada, and even California. A common bird, migratory in most of its U. S.
range, but breeding in New England (and farther south in alpine regions) and thence north-
ward. Nest on the ground, like the others, and eggs not peculiar.
H. cela/ta. (Lat. celata, concealed, as is the orange on the crown.) ORANGE-CROWNED
WaRBLER. ¢ 9, in summer: Upper parts olive, duller and washed with grayish toward
and on the head, brighter and more yellowish on the rump and upper tail-coverts. Beneath
greenish-white, palest on the belly and throat, more olive-shaded on the sides; the color‘not
pure, but rather streaky, and having in places a grayish cast. Wings and tail edged with the
color of the back ; lining of the wings like the belly, and inner edges of tail-feathers whitish.
Orbital ring and lores yellowish. An orange-brown patch on the crown, partially concealed,
smaller and more hidden in the ? than in the . Length 4.80-5.20; extent 7.40-7.75 ; wing
2.30-2.50. Resembling the last, and often difficult to distinguish in immature plumage; but a
general oliveness and yellowness, compared with the ashy of some parts of ruficapilla, and the
different color of the crown-patch in the two species, will usually be diagnostic. The sexes of
this species scarcely differ, and young or autumnal birds are very similar to the adults, except
the frequent or usual absence of the orange-brown crown-spot in birds of the year. The
species is well distinguished from all its allies by the color of the crown-patch. North America
at large, but especially the Western and Middle regions; rare or occasional in the Eastern
Province ; north to high latitudes in British America and Alaska; migratory; breeds in Arctic
regions and in alpine localities further south ; nest and eggs not peculiar.
H. c. lutes/cens. (Lat. lutescens, growing yellowish.) PaciFIC ORANGE-CROWNED WaAR-
BLER. Differs in being much more richly colored. It may be described simply as olive-green
above, and greenish-yellow, shaded with olive on the sides, below, without any of the qualify-
ing-terms required for precision in the case of typical celata. Pacific Coast region, Alaska to
Lower California.
H. peregrina. (Lat. peregrina, wandering, alien, foreign; i. e., migratory.) TENNESSEE
Wareiter. 4, adult: Upper parts yellowish-olive, brightest posteriorly ; on the fore parts
and head changing to pure ash, without any greenish tint whatever. No crown-patch of any
different color. Lores, eye-ring, or frequently a decided superciliary stripe, whitish. Entire
under parts dull white, scarcely or not tinged with yellowish. Wings and tail dusky, strongly
edged with the color of the back, the outer tail-feathers frequently with an obscure whitish
spot. Bill and feet dark. Length 4.50-4.75, rarely to 5.00; extent 7.50-8.00; wing about
2.75, thus long for the size of the bird, and especially in comparison with the short tail, pointed,
with little difference in length between the first three or four quills; tail only 2.00 or less, thus
remarkably short; the comparative length of wings and tail, with other characters, probably
always distinguishes the species from the foregoing. 9, adult: Quite like the g, but ashy of
the head less pure and clear, and under parts more or less tinged with greenish-yellow.
Young: Entire upper parts strongly and uniformly yellowish-olive, like the rump of the adult
&, or even brighter, this color also tinging the eye-ring and superciliary stripe. Under parts
as in the adult9, or more decidedly greenish-yellow, leaving only the belly and crissuin whit-
38.
no.
39.
296 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
ish. In this condition specimens more closely resemble some other species than when adult ;
but the short tail, long wings, and no crown-patch, should be distinctive. Chiefly Eastern
North America, but west to the Upper Missouri region and in Colorado to the Rocky Mts. ;
common, especially in the Mississippi Valley, but less so in the Atlantic States; migratory ;
breeds in New England and the northern tier of States, and thence to high latitudes in British
America; nest and eggs as in other species of the genus.
PEUCE’DRAMUS. (Gr. reven, peuke, a pine, and Spapeiy, to run.) OLIVE WARBLERS.
General aspect of Dendreca. Tongue much as in that genus, but larger, with revolute edges,
cleft tip, and laciniate fur some distance from the end. Wings elongated, half as long again
as the tail (in Dendreca but little longer than the tail), reaching, when folded, nearly to the
end of the tail. Tail emarginate. Tarsus no longer than the middle toe and claw. Hallux
little if any longer than its claw. Bill little shorter than tarsus (averaging little over half the
tarsus in Dendreca), attenuate, notably depressed, yet very little widened at base. Culmen
rather concave than convex in most of its length, the under outline almost perfectly straight
from extreme base to tip. Nasal fossee very large, with a highly developed nasal scale. Rie-
tal vibrisse few and short. Plumage without streaks. One species known.
P. oliva/ceus. (Lat. olivaceus, olivaceous in color; oliva, an olive.) OLIVE WARBLER.
&: Upper parts ashy, more or less olivaceous, changing to greenish on the nape. Head and
neck all around orange-brown or intense saffron-yellow, with a broad black bar on the side of
the head through the eye. Wings blackish, the inner webs of all the quills edged with white,
the outer webs of most of the primaries with whitish, and the outer webs of the secondaries
with greenish; most of the primaries also marked with white on the outer webs at base, form-
ing a conspicuous spot (only seen elsewhere in D. cwrulescens, which is altogether different in
other characters). Tail like the wings, with greenish edging of most of the feathers, the two
outer ones on each side mostly or wholly white. Belly and sides whitish, tinged with olive or
brownish. Basal half of under mandible light brown. Length 4.75-5.25; extent 8.25-9.00;
wing 2.75-3.10; tail 2.25-2.55; bill 0.55; tarsus 0.75. The female is described as having
the saffron color much clearer yellowish, and shaded with olive-green on the crown; the black
bar replaced by whitish, excepting a dusky patch on the auriculars. A remarkable Mexican
warbler, lately ascertained to inhabit Arizona, especially in mountainous localities; probably
also Texas and New Mexico. It has much the habits of the pine-creeper; the nest and eggs
are still unknown. é
DENDRG'CA. (Gr. devdpov, dendron, a tree, and olkéw, otkeo, I inhabit.) Woop WaRBLERS.
Bill variable in shape, usually conico-attenuate, more or less depressed at base, compressed
from the middle, notched near the tip, not showing the extreme acuteness of that of Helmin-
therus, Helminthophila, and Protonotaria. Rictus with obvious bristles, which are not evi-
dent in the true ‘‘ worm-eating” warblers. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw (it is
shorter, or not longer, in Mniotilia). Hind toe little if any longer than its claw (decidedly
longer in Mniotilta and Parula). Wings much longer than tail, pointed, 1st and 2d primaries
longest. Tail moderate, with rather broad feathers, nearly even, but varying to slightly
rounded, or with slight central emargination. Pattern of coloration indeterminate. Tail always
with white blotches (except in e@stiva and its immediate allies, where the inner webs are
yellow), never plain olivaceous. Crown never with lateral black stripes, nor under parts
uniformly streaked with blackish on a pale ground, nor back with a yellow patch, nor whole
head yellow. Length usually five or six inches; rarely under and perhaps never over these
dimensions. Nest in bushes or trees, with rare exceptions. Eggs white, spotted. It is not
easy to frame a definition of this genus covering all its modifications, yet introducing no term
inapplicable to any species; but the foregoing expressions considered collectively, however
arbitrary or trivial some of them may seem to be, will serve to distinguish any Dendraca from
its allies of other genera; and, if so, the diagnosis is exclusively pertinent to the group as con-
SYLVICOLIDA — SYLVICOLINZ:: TRUE WARBLERS. 297
veutionally accepted. The coloration of the rectrices is a good clue to this genus; for all the
species (excepting D. estiva and its exotic conspecies) have the tail-feathers always blotched
with white, —a feature only shown, among North American allies, in Mniotilta, Parula, Pro-
tonotaria, Peucedramus, and some species of Helminthophila, Myiodioctes. There is as much
uniformity in the nest and eggs of Dendreca as in those of Helminthophila. Whereas all
these nest on the ground, as far as known all the Dendrece nest in trees and bushes, with the
single exception of D. palmarum. Excepting D. castanea, the eggs are essentially similar ;
all being white, variously speckled, dotted, or blotched with shades of reddish and darker
brown, and lilac or purplish shell-spots. About thirty-five species are current, but not all of
them are well established; they all occur within our limits excepting these: pityophila
(Cuba), adelaide (Porto Rico), pharetra (Jamaica), eoa (Jamaica), aureola (Galapagoes),
capitalis (Barbadoes), and petechia (West Indies) with its several tropical forms, all like our
estiva. Of the twenty-six species which have been ascribed to North America, one, olivacea,
has since been made type of the genus Peucedramus; while of “ montana” and “‘ carbonata”
nothing is now known: leaving twenty-three species to be treated, nearly as in the original
edition of the Key, there having been but one North American accession to the genus since
1872, though two varieties (respectively of dominica and of palmarum) have meanwhile been
described. D. tigrina has been made type of a genus Perissoglossa ; but it remains to be seen
whether other warblers do not possess the same peculiarities of the tongue. The following
artificial analysis will facilitate the determination of our twenty-three established species; I
believe it to be an infallible key to the perfect male plumages, and that it will probably hold
good for spring specimens of both sexes of many species; but it will fail for nearly all autumnal
and most female specimens of (b). It is difficult if not impossible to meet the varied require-
ments of these by rigid analysis; and recourse must be had to the detailed descriptions of the
species arranged in what seems to be their natural sequence. The supplementary table of cer-
tain diagnostic marks may prove of much assistance, though it is not a complete analysis.
Analysis of perfect Spring Males.
Tail-feathers edged with yellow; head — yellow . 2 ys ee . oe. . estiva Wt
—chestnut ... ie Seats, een . . vieillots lila
Tail-feathers blotched with white ; a white spot at the base of ecnGS . . cerulescens 117
—no white spot at base of primaries. (a)
(a) Wing-bars not white. Below, white, sides chestnut-streaked, crown yellow. . . . . . pennsylvanica 124
— yellow; sides reddish-streaked, crown reddish a - . palmarum 132, 133
— black-streaked ; above, ashy. . . . . « kirtlandi 131
— olive, sedldlsligigeeliced . discolor 127
(a) Wing-bars white (sometimes fused into one large white patch). (b)
(b) Crown blue, like the back ; below white, sides and breast streaked. . . a ahs A cerulea 118
— chestnut, like the throat ; below, and sides of neck, buffy-tinged - soe ee 6 Castanea 123
—clear ash ; rump and ee parts yellow, breast and sides black-streaked a » « maculosa 125
— blackish, seit median line orange-brown, like the auriculars ; rump yellow . 2. . . . tigrina 126
— perfectly black ; throat black ; a small yellow ioral spot we ee we ew ws. Rigrescens 116
—not black; no yellow ; feet flesh-color 5 aah ee Pea Gs striata 122
—with yellow spot ; throat flame-color ; rump not yellow . ‘ soe ew ee s) Olackburne 121
—white ; rump and sides of breast yellow ...... =. . coronata 119
— yellow ; rump and sides of breast yellow . eee oe ww Gudubdoni 120
(b) Crown otherwise ; throat black; back ashy, streaked, rump ash, crown yellow . . . . occidentalis 113
— blackish, rump black, crown blackish . . .. . + chrysoparia 115
—olive; crown like back . eee SR ee we ee CORR TL
—notlikeback. ...... . . + townsendi 114
—yellow; back olive ; no black or ashy on head . oe , pinus 134
—ashy-blue; cheeks the same ; eyelidsyellow ... . . gracia 128
— black ; eyelids white » + . .dominica 129, 130
Diagnostic marks of certain Warblers in any plumage.
Wing-bars and belly yellow . : ce gk eae Se Ree Be eee Ae ee ee
‘Wings and tail dusky, edged with vollow kee ee See A we we MOMworvielll iiorilia
Wing-bars yellow, and belly pure white... 1 6 ee eo ee ee ee pennsylvanica 124
(11.
Illa.
112.
298 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PASSERES— OSCINES.
A yellow spot in front of the eye and nowhere else & x oS % . » nigrescens 116
A white spot at base of primaries (almost never wanting) . . Me tes . . . cerulescens 117
Throat definitely yellow, belly white, back with nogreenish .... . ‘aia or gracice 129, 130, or 128
Rump, sides of breast, crown and throat, more orlessyellow ...... oe ee ew ee uduboni 120
Bill extremely acute, perceptibly curved ; rump (generally) yellow. . ... ns gaat . tigrina 126
Rump, sides of breast, and crown more or less yellow ; throat white ..... +. + + coronata 119
Wing-bars white, tail-spots oblique, at end of two outer feathgrs G1) en ee ee ae ee ae pinus 134
Tail-spots at middle of nearly all the feathers, rump and belly yellow. .. ..... .. « maculosa 125
Wing-bars brownish, tail-spots square, at end of two outer feathersonly. . . . . palmarum 132, 133
Wing-bars not very conspicuous, whole under parts yellow, back with no greenish » ee es Kirtlamdi 181
Tail-spots at end of nearly all the feathers, and no definite yellow anywhere. . . . « cerulea 118
Throat, breast, and sides black or with black traces, sides of head with diffuse yellow, outeE tail-feather
white-edged externally . F . . vérens and its western allies 112, 113, 114, 115
Throat yellow or orange, crown with at least a trace of | a central yellow or orange spot, and outer tail-
feather white-edged externally . . ie ae a a ee rab te blackburne 121
Bill ordinary ; and with none of the foregoing special marks FE Scottie cate es striata or castanea 122 or 123
D. esti/va. (Lat. estiva, summery; estas, summer.) SUMMER WARBLER. SUMMER YEL-
LOW-BIRD. BLUE-EYED YELLOW WARBLER. GOLDEN WARBLER. 4, adult: Golden-
yellow; the back with a greenish tinge resulting in rich yellow-olive, the ramp more yellow-
ish; the middle of the back sometimes obsoletely streaked with darker. Crown like the under
parts, in high plumage often tinged with orange-brown. Breast and sides, and sometimes
most of the under parts, streaked with orange-brown. Quills and tail-feathers dusky, edged on
both webs with yellow, the yellow occupying most of the inner webs of the tail-feathers. Bill
plumbeous. Feet pale brown. Length 4.75-5.00; extent 7.50-7.75 ; wing 2.50; tail 2.00.
9, adult: Yellow-olive of upper parts extending on the crown; streaks below obsolete or
entirely wanting. General coloration paler. Young: Like the 9, but still duller colored.
Upper parts, including crown, pale olive, with an ochrey instead of clear yellow shade;
below ochrey-white or dull pale yellowish. Edgings of wings and tail dull yellowish. North
America, everywhere in woodland, gardens, orchards, parks, and even city streets, a beautiful,
abundant, and familiar little bird. Nests throughout its range, in fruit or shade trees, shrub-
bery and brushwood, building a neat, compact, and durable nest of soft vegetable and animal
substances felted together; eggs commonly 4-5, from 0.64 to 0.69 x 0.48 to.0.53, grayish- or
greenish-white, variously dotted and blotched with reddish-brown and lilac shades. The color
of this precious gem makes a pretty spot as it flits through the verdure of the forest or plays
amidst the rose-tinted blossoms of the fruit-orchard; and its sprightly song is one of the most
familiar sounds of bird-life during the season when the year renews its youth.
D. vieilloti bry/anti. (To L. P. Vieillot. To Dr. Henry Bryant.) CHEsTNuT-HEADED
GOLDEN WARBLER. Belonging to the ‘‘ golden warbler” group of the genus, and resembling
D. estiva in general characters. Dusky predominating over yellow on the tail-feathers ;
tarsus about 0.72. @, adult: Whole head chestnut, well defined all around against the
yellow ; edging of wing-coverts slight; rufous streaks of breast and sides few and narrow.
The continental D. vieilloti, as described by Cassin in 1860, would appear to be well dis-
tinguished among its immediate insular allies by the rufous hood which envelopes the head,
but to be very questionably divisible into the several forms noted by Ridgway in 1874. That
here given is described as the Mexican race, lately ascertained to occur at La Paz, Lower
California. The 9 is said to be indistinguishable from that of others of the golden warbler
group. The extra-limital forms are all said to differ from the N. Am. D. estiva in having
longer tarsi and less yellow on the tail-feathers. (Not in the Check List, 1882. See Hist.
N. A. Birds, i, 1874, p. 217, and Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus., iv, 1882, p. 414.)
D. vir'ens. (Lat. virens, growing green. Fig. 160.) BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER.
&, in spring: Back and crown clear yellow-olive; forehead, superciliary line, and whole sides
of head rich yellow (in very high plumage, middle of back with dusky marks, and dusky or dark
olive lines through eyes and auriculars, and even bordering the crown); chin, throat, and
113.
114.
SLYVICOLIDZA — SYLVICOLINZ): TRUE WARBLERS. 299
breast jet black, prolonged behind as streaks on the sides; other under parts white, usually
yellow-tinged; wings and tail dusky, former with two white bars and much whitish edging,
latter with outer feathers nearly all white ; bill and feet blackish. ¢ in the fall, and ? in the
spring: Similar, but the black restricted, interrupted, or veiled with yellow ; young similar to
the 9, but the black still more restricted or wanting altogether, except a few streaks along
sides. Small: Length 4.80-5.10; extent 7.60-8.00; wing 2.30-2.55; tail 2.00. Eastern
U. S. and British Provinces, west only to the edge of the Plains; migratory, abundant; breeds
from higher portions of the Middle States, and plentifully from New England northward ;
winters extralimital. This jaunty bird is one of the commonest warblers of summer in New
England, breeding in the pineries, in June. Nest in fork of a bough, usually at some elevation,
of the most miscellaneous materials; eggs 4-5, 0.67 x 0.54, white, with the usual sprinkling
or wreathing of brown and purplish markings. The nuptial song is very peculiar.
D. occidenta'lis. (Lat. occidentalis, western; where the sun sets.) WESTERN WARBLER.
Hermir WARBLER. 4, adult: Above, ashy-gray, tinged with olive, especially on the rump,
and closely streaked with black; below, white. Top and sides of head rich yellow, the former
with transverse black markings. Central line of chin, throat, and jugulum black, ending on
the breast with a sharp convex outline, contrasted with the adjoining white. Wings and tail
as in virens. Bill black. Length 4.75-5.00; extent 7.75; wing 2.50-2.75; tail 2.12-2.25 ;
tarsus 0.66-0.75 ; bill 0.40. 9, adult: Described as similar to the male, but darker gray
above, with the yellow of the head less extended, and the throat whitish, spotted with dusky.
Young: Upper parts olivaceous-ash, and the yellow of the top of the head overlaid with olive.
Sides of the head pretty clear yellow, fading gradually into the white of the throat. No black
on the throat. White of the under parts faintly brownish-tinged, and sides with obsolete
streaks. In a September specimen the dusky olive extends over all the upper parts, tinging
the ashy of the lower back, and reaching on the crown nearly to the bill, where it gradually
lightens by admixture of yellow; the sides of the head are clear yellow, soiled with- some
olivaceous; chin and throat the same, fading on the breast into the dull white of the other
under parts; sides with obsolete streaks, and a slight grayish-olive wash. There is no black
whatever about the head or throat, and the blackish streaks of the back are obsolete. The
wings are twice-barred with the conspicuous white tips of the greater and median wing-
coverts. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. S. and southward; one of the several western relatives
of D. virens.
D. town/sendi. (To J. K. Townsend.) Townsenpn’s Warsier. 4d, adult: Entire
upper parts yellowish-olive, rather darker than in virens, everywhere streaked with black,
especially on the crown, where the black usually predominates; no hidden yellow on™ the
crown. Side of the head bright yellow, enclosing a large black patch, constituted by the
loral and orbital and auricular regions, in which the yellow eyelids appear. Chin, throat,
breast, and sides part way, yellow, the jugulum black ; the sides of the breast and of the body
streaked with black. Under wing-coverts, belly, flanks, and crissum white, the two latter
slightly shaded and streaked with dusky. Wings crossed with two white bands, that of the
median coverts broadest. Wings and tail fuseous, the former with pale edgings, the latter
having two or three outer feathers largely blotched with white. Bill and feet blackish horn-
color. Length about 5.00; extent 7.50-8.00; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 2.00. 9: Like the ¢, but
the black of the jugulum mixed with yellow (and that on the sides of the head mixed with or re-
placed by olive?) Young: Shade of the upper parts slightly brownish, and the black streaks
slight, obsolete, or wanting. The dark patch on the side of the head olivaceous, like the back.
No continuous black on the jugulum. Autumnal adults show various gradations between the
characters of the old and young. Very closely related to D. virens, of which it is the western
representative. Adult males readily distinguished by the darker greenish upper parts, con-
spicuously streaked, especially on the head, with black; the black cheeks and auriculars;
115.
116.
LL.
800 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
black of jugulum not reaching anteriorly to the bill, and the surrounding yellow spreading on
the breast back of the black. Young birds not so easily discriminated; but there are usually
traces at least of the black streaks on the upper parts; there is no concealed yellow on the
crown; the yellow of the under parts, quite as bright as in the adult, extends far along the
breast, behind that part where it veils the black. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, Alaska to Guat-
emala; common. A straggler taken at Philadelphia.
D. chrysopari/a. (Gr. xpuods, chrusos, golden, and raped, pareia, cheek.) GOLDEN-CHEEK-
ED WARBLER. Prevailing color of upper parts black, usually mixed with olive-green ; sides
of head yellow, with narrow black stripe through eye; below, with the wings and tail, as in
virens; size of this species, and changes of plumage doubtless parallel; very closely related.
@, in full dress: Above, jet-black from bill to tail, anteriorly narrowing to a point on the fore-:
head, with scarcely a trace of olivaceous toward and on the rump. Entire side of head and
neck golden-yellow, reaching the bill, elsewhere enclosed in black, and enclosing a long black
stripe through eye to side of nape, nearly cutting off a superciliary stripe from the general yel-
low area, which, however, is continuous on lore and side of nape. Chin, throat, and breast
jet black, this color extending backward along the sides as heavy streaking ; narrowing ante-
riorly where sharply defined against the yellow; other under parts, including lining of wings,
white, squarely defined against the black of breast (the whole under parts thus as in virens).
Wings blackish, with two broad white cross-bars, and whitish edging of the quills, especially
the inner secondaries. Tail blackish, the outermost feather white with only a black shaft-line
clubbed at end; the next three pairs with decreasing white areas. Bill and feet black. Texas
and southward ; rare, at least in collections. Nest in upright fork, preferably of a cedar, large
for the bird, compactly felted of hark strips, fine grasses, rootlets, and slender vegetable fibres
and cobwebs, lined copiously with hair and feathers; eggs 0.75 x 0.55, white, dotted with
reddish-brown and lavender, and blotched with darker brown, laid in May.
D. nigres‘cens. (Lat. nigrescens, growing black. Fig. 164.) BLACK-THROATED GRAY WaR-
BLER. f, adult: Above, bluish-ash, the interscapular region, and usually also the upper-tail:
coverts, streaked with black. Below, from the breast, pure white, the
sides streaked with black. Entire head, with chin and throat, black ;
a sharply-defined yellow spot before the eye, a broad white stripe
behind the eye, and a long white maxillary stripe widening behind
from the corner of the bill to the side of the neck. Wings fuscous,
with much whitish edging, and crossed with two broad white bars
on the ends of the greater and median coverts. Tail like the wings,
the three lateral feathers mostly white, except on the outer webs,
Fic. 164, — Black-throated ; : : :
Gray Warbler, nat. size. (Ad the fourth with a white blotch. Bill and feet black. Size of D.
mat dels Es.) townsendi. Q: Like the male, but the black of the crown mixed
with the ashy of the back, and that of the throat veiled with white tips of the feathers. Young:
Like the 2, but the crown almost entirely like the back, and the black of the throat still more
hidden. Back not streaked. Less white on the tail. Bill not entirely black. Rocky Mts. to
the Pacific, U. S. and southward, common in woodland. Quite unlike any other species ; one
of the five Dendrece which are normally confined to the West.
D. cerules'cens. (Lat. caerulescens, growing blue; caruleus, blue.) BLACK-THROATED
BLur WaRBLER. 4, in spring: Above, uniform slaty-blue, the perfect continuity of which is
only interrupted in very high plumages, by a few black dorsal streaks ; below, pure white ;
the sides of the head to above the eyes, the chin, throat, and whole sides of the body continu-
ously jet black ; wing-bars wanting (the coverts being black, edged with blue), but a large
white spot at base of primaries: quill-feathers blackish, outwardly edged with bluish, the inner
ones mostly white on their inner webs; tail with the ordinary white blotches, the central feath-
ers edged with bluish; bill black; feet dark. Young g: Similar, but the blue glossed with
118.
119.
SYLVICOLIDZ — SYLVICOLINZA): TRUE WARBLERS. 301
olivaceous, and the black interrupted and restricted. 9 entirely different: Dull olive-greenish,
‘with faint bluish shade, below pale soiled yellowish ; but recognizable by the white spot at base
of primaries, which, though it may be reduced to a mere speck, is nearly always evident, at
least on pushing.aside the primary coverts; no other wing-markings; tail-blotches small or
obscure; feet rather pale. Size of virens. Eastern U. 8., abundant, in woodland, its range
closely coincident with that of virens. It is, however, rather a bird of brake and burn
than of high woods, at least in summer ; and nests in bushes, close to the ground. Eggs not
peculiar. A beautiful bird, the g with black, white and blue in masses, thus resembling no
other, and the olive-colored 9 as different as possible from her mate.
D. cerwlea. (Lat. ceruleus, cerulean, sky-blue.) CERULEAN WARBLER. AZURE WaR-
BLER. ¢, adult: Entire upper parts sky-blue, the middle of the back streaked with black ; the
crown usually richer and also with dark markings. Below, pure white, streaked across the
-breast and along the sides with dusky-blue — the breast-streaks inclining to form a short bar,
sometimes interrupted in the middle. Auriculars dusky; edges of eyelids and superciliary line
white. Wings blackish, much edged externally with the color of the back, the inner webs of
all the quills, the outer webs of the inner secondaries, and two broad bars across the tips of the
greater and median coverts, white. Tail black, with much exterior edging of the color of the
back, all the feathers, except the middle pair, with small, white, subterminal spots on the inner
webs. Length 4.00-4.50; wing 2.66; tail 2.00 or less. 9, adult: Quite different. Upper
parts dull greenish, with more or less grayish-blue shade, the greenish brightest and purest on
the crown. Eyelids, line over eye, and entire under parts, whitish, more or less strongly over-
east with dull greenish-yellow. Wings and tail dusky, the exterior edgings of the color of the
back ; the bars, spots, and interior edgings white, asin the g. The female is curiously sim-
ilar to the saine sex of D. cerulescens, but in the latter the tail-spots are different ; there are no
white wing-bars, but instead there is a small whitish spot at the base of the outer primaries.
The autumnal plumage of the adults is said to differ in no wise from that of the spring. Young
males are much like the adult females, but less uniformly greenish-blue above and purer white
below, with evident blackish stripes on the interscapulars and sides of the head. The young
female resembles the adult of that sex, but is still greener above, with little-or no blue, and quite
buffy-yellowish below. When in full dress this is a perfect little beauty, there being something
peculiarly tasteful and artistic in the simple contrast of the snowy-white with the delicate azure-
blue, without any “warm” color. Eastern U. S., rarely north to New England; west some-
times to the Rocky Mts. in the latitude of Colorado. One of the rarer species. Nest small
and neat, in fork of a bough 20-50 feet from the ground; eggs 4, creamy-white, heavily
blotched with reddish-brown, 0.60 x 0.47.
D. corona’ta. (Lat. coronata, crowned; corona, a crown. Fig. 165.) YELLOW-RUMPED
WarBLER. YELLOW-CROWNED WARBLER. Myrrie Birp. @, in spring: Slaty-blue,
streaked with black; below, white, breast and sides mostly
black, belly, and especially throat, pure white, immaculate ;
rump, central crown-patch, and sides of breast, sharply yellow,
there being thus four definite yellow places; sides of head
black; eyelids and superciliary line white; ordinary white
wing-bars and tail-blotches; bill and feet black. @ in winter,
and ? in summer, similar, but slate-color less pure, or quite
brownish; young birds are quite brown above, with a few
obscure streaks in the whitish of the under parts. It is im-
possible to specify the endless intermediate styles; but I never | F1G. 165.—Yellow-rumped War-
F a bler, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
saw a specimen without the yellow rump, and at least a trace
of the other yellow marks; these points therefore are diagnostic. (The only other obscure-
looking brownish warblers with yellow rump are maculosa and tigrina, when young. Resem-
120.
121.
302 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
bles auduboni, excepting in the following points:— Throat white. Breast black, mixed with
white. Sides of the head definitely pure black; edges of eyelids, and long narrow superciliary
line, white. Wings crossed with two broad white bars, which do not fuse into one white
patch, owing to narrowness or deficiency of white edging along the outer webs of the great
coverts.) One of the larger species. Length 5.30-5.75 ; extent 8.80-9.40; wing 2.75-3.00;
tail about 2.50. North America, but chiefly eastern; Alaska; Washington Territory; Cali-
fornia; Arizona; U.S. rarely in summer, but during the migrations the most abundant of all
the warblers; winters as far north as New England; seen everywhere, but is particularly
numerous in shrubbery, along hedge-rows, in flocks, with troops of sparrows, titmice, ete.
Breeds from northern New England northward; nest generally low in evergreens; eggs 4,
about 0.75 < 0.55, with the usual markings. Moult double, there being a vernal as well as
an autumnal change, the former usually effected during the spring migrations.
D. aud/uboni. (To J.J. Audubon.) AtpuBon’s WARBLER. WESTERN YELLOW-RUMP.
&, adult, in summer: Upper parts clear bluish-ash, streaked with black. A central longitudi-
nal spot on the crown, the rump, throat, and a patch on each side of the breast, rich yellow.
Sides of the head little darker than the upper parts; eyelids narrowly white, but no decided
superciliary white stripe. The ash of the upper parts extending far around the sides of the
neck. Jugulum and breast in high plumage pure black, though usually mixed with some
grayish skirting of the feathers, or invaded by white from behind, or even touched with yellow
here and there. Belly and under tail-coverts white, the sides streaked with black. Wings
blackish, with gray or white edging, especially on the inner quills; the median wing-coverts
tipped, the greater ones edged and tipped, with-white, forming a great white blotch. Tail like
the wings, the outer webs narrowly edged with gray or white, the inner webs of all the lateral
feathers with large white blotches. Bill and feet black. One of the largest species. Length,
5.50-5.75 ; extent, 8.75-9.33 ; wing, 2.75-3.00; tail, 2.25. 9, in summer: Generally similar
to the ¢. Upper parts duller and browner slate-color, with less heavy dorsal streaks; crown-
spot and other yellow parts paler; breast not continuously black, but variegated with black,
white, and the color of the back. Sides only obsvletely streaked. Eyelids scarcely white, and
cheeks hardly different from the back. White of wing-coverts mostly restricted to two bars;
white tail-spots smaller. Both sexes in autumn and winter, and young: Upper parts quite
brown, with obscure black marking. Yellow crown-spot concealed or wanting; yellow of
throat, rump, and sides of breast paler and restricted. Under parts whitish, shaded on the
sides, and usually across the breast, with a dilute tint of the color of the back, the breast and
sides obsoletely streaked with darker. White of wing-coverts obscured with brownish. North
America, from easternmost woodland of the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific; north probably to
Alaska; accidental in New England; migratory, breeding northward and in Alpine regions;
extremely abundant ; nesting in no wise peculiar.
D. black/burne. (To Mrs. Blackburn, an English lady.) BLAackBURN’s WARBLER.
PrometHEus. 4, adult, in spring: Entire upper parts, including the wings and tail, black,
the back varied with whitish, the wings with a large white speculum on the coverts and much
white edging of the coverts, the lateral tail-feathers largely white, only a shaft-line, with
clubbed extremity, being left blackish on the outer two or three pairs. Spot on fore part of
crown, eyelids, line over eye spreading into a large spot behind the auriculars, with chin,
throat, and fore breast, intense orange or flame-color. There is nothing to compare with the
exquisite hue of this Promethean torch. Sides of head black in an irregular patch, usually
confluent with the black streaks on the side of the breast, isolating the orange of the sides of
the head from that of the throat, and circumscribing the orange patch below the eye. Under
parts from the breast white, more or less tinged with orange or yellow, and whole sides streaked
with black. Bill and feet dark. Length about 5.50; extent 8.50; wing 2.75; tail 2.00. 9,
adult, in spring: Similar to the male in the pattern and distribution of the colors; upper
122,
SYLVICOLIDA — SYLVICOLINA): TRUE WARBLERS. 5038
parts brownish-olive, streaked with black; the fiery orange of the male not so intense, or
merely yellow, that on the crown obscure or obsolete. White speculum of the wing resolved
into two white bars. Sides of the head like the back, instead of black as in the male, and the
lateral streaks duller and more blended. ¢ and Q, adult, in autumn, are sufficiently similar
to the respective sexes in spring, but the coloration is toned down, the fiery colors of the male
being less intense, and the black of the back being much mixed with olivaceous, bringing
about a close resemblance to the spring female; while the female is duller still, and more im-
purely colored. Young: Early autumnal birds of the year of this species are very obscure-
looking, showing no sign of the rich coloration of the adults. Above, like the adult 9, but
still browner, with more obsolete dusky streaking. Usually an indication of the crown-spot in
a lightening of the part. Sides of the head like the crown, cutting off a superciliary stripe and
the eyelids, which are ochrey-white. Whole under parts white, tinged, especially on the throat”
and breast, with yellowish, the sides with obsolete streaking. Indication of the peculiar pat-
tern of the adults, though without their actual coloration, together with the extent of white on
the tail-feathers, will usually suffice for the determination of the species, before any orange
appears on the throat, after which there can be no difficulty. Chiefly Eastern N. Am.; W.,
however, to Utah. Abundant in mixed woodland; breeds in northerly parts of its U. 8. range
and northward; winters extralimital. .One of the later migrants in spring. Nests in bushes
and low trees; eggs not peculiar.
D. stria/ta. (Lat. striata, striped. Fig. 166.) Buack-poLrt WARBLER. 4, adult: Back,
rump, and upper tail-coverts grayish-olive, heavily streaked with black; whole crown pure
glossy black. Below, pure white; a double series of black streaks
starts from the extreme chin, and diverges to pass one on each
side to the tail, the streaks being confluent anteriorly, discrete
posteriorly. Side of head above the chain of streaks pure white,
including lower eyelid. Wings dusky, the primaries with much
greenish edging, the inner secondaries with whitish edging, the
greater and median coverts tipped with white, forming two cross-
bars. Tail like the wings, with rather small white sputs at the
ends of the inner webs of two or three outer feathers. Upper Fig. 166. — Black-poll War-
mandible brownish-black; lower mandible with the feet flesh- Dbler, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E.C.)
colored or yellowish. Length 5.25-5.75; extent 8.75-9.30; wing 2.70-2.90; tail 2.25. 9:
Entire upper parts, including the crown, greenish-olive, with dusky streaks; below, white,
much tinged with greenish-yellow, especially anteriorly, the streaks dusky and not so sharp as
those of the male, but still very evident. Bars and edgings of the wings greenish-white. Tail
as in the male. Rather smaller than the male on an average. Young: Similar to the adult
‘, but brighter and more greenish-olive above, the streakings few and chiefly confined to the
middle of the back; below, more or less completely tinged with greenish-yellow, the streakings
. obsolete, or entirely wanting. Under tail-coverts usually pure white. These attumnal birds
bear an extraordinary resemblance to those of D. castanea (though the adults are so very differ-
ent), the upper parts being, in fact, the same in both. But young castanea generally shows
traces of the chestnut, or at least a buffy shade, quite different from the clear greenish-olive of
striata, this tint being strongest on the flanks and under tail-coverts, just where striata is the
most purely white. Moreover, castanea shows no streaks below, traces at least of which are
usually observable in striata. N. Am., excepting the Western and most of the Middle Province;
N. to the Arctic ocean, Greenland, Alaska; west to Nebraska and Colorado. Winters extra-
limital. Breeds from northern New England northward. Migrates late in the spring, bringing
up the rear-guard of the Warbler hosts; when the Black-polls appear in force the collecting
season is about over! Nests low in spruce-trees and other evergreens; eggs 5, 0.72 X 0.50,
not peculiar.
123.
124.
125.
304 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
D. casta‘nea. (Lat. castanea, a chestuut, in allusion to the color.) Bay-BREASTED WaR-
BLER. , in spring: Back thickly streaked with black and grayish-olive; forehead and sides
of head black, enclosing a large deep chestnut patch ; a duller chestnut (exactly like a blue-bird’s
breast) occupies the whole chin and throat and thence extends, more or less interrupted, along
the entire sides of the body; rest of under parts ochrey or buffy whitish ; a similar buffy area
behind the ears; wing-bars and tail-spots ordinary; bill and feet blackish. @, in spring:
More olivaceous than the male, with the markings less pronounced; but always shows evident
chestnut coloration : and probably traces of it persist in all adult birds in the fall. The young,
however, so closely resemble young striata, that it is sometimes impossible to distinguish thein
with certainty. The upper parts, in fact, are of precisely the same greenish-olive, with black
streaks ; but there is generally a difference below —castanea being there tinged with ‘buffy or
ochrey, instead of the clearer pale yellowish of striata ; this shade is particularly observable on
belly, flanks, and under tail-coverts, just where striata is whitest; and moreover, castanea is
usually not streaked on the sides at all. Mature spring birds vary interminably in the extent
and intensity of the chestnut. Size of striata. Eastern N. Am., north to Hudson’s Bay, W.-
to the edge of the Plains. Winters extralimital. Migratory in most of the U.S. Breeds
from northern New England northward. Nests moderately high in conifers, building a large
nest of twigs, tree-moss, rootlets, fur, etc.; eggs 3-6, 0.70 x 0.52, blwish-green, profusely
spotted with browns and lilac.
D. pennsylva/nica. (Of ‘‘Penn’s woods”; sylva, a forest; sylvanus, sylvan. Fig. 167.)
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 4, inspring: Back streaked with black and pale yellow (some-
times ashy or whitish); whole crown pure yellow, immediately bordered with white, then
enclosed with black; sides of head and neck and whole under
parts pure white, former with an irregular black crescent before
the eye, one horn extending backward over the eye to border the
yellow crown and be dissipated on the sides of the nape, the other
reaching downward and backward to connect with a chain of pure
chestnut streaks that run the whole length of the body, the
under eyelid and auriculars being left white; wing-bands gen-
erally fused into one large patch, and, like the edging of the inner
RE a a secondaries, much tinged with yellow; tail-spots white, as usual ;
Warbler, nat, size. (Ad nat. del, bill blackish, feet brown. 9, in spring: Quite similar; colors
E.C.) less pure; black loral crescent obseure or wanting ; chestnut
streaks thinner. Young: Above, including the crown, clear yellowish-green, perfectly uniform,
or back with slight dusky touches; no distinct head-markings; below, entirely white from bill
to tail, unmarked, or else showing a trace of chestnut streaks on the sides; wing-bands clear
yellow as in the adult; this is a diagnostic feature, shared by no other species, taken in con-
nection with the continuously white under parts; bill light-colored below. Small: Length
4.80-5.10 ; extent 7.75-8.10; wing 2.30-2.50; tail 2.00. Eastern U. 8. and adjoining British
Provinces ; west only to the edge of the Plains; winters extralimital; breeds abundantly in
Middle and Northern States; nests in forks of low saplings, shrubs, and bushes; eggs 4-5, 0.68
x 0.50, with the usual markings. A pretty species chained with chestnut on snowy ground.
D. maculo'sa. (Lat. maculosa, full of spots; macula, a spot. Fig. 168.) Buack-anp-
YELLOW WARBLER. MAGNoLia. ¢@@,in spring: Back black, usually quite pure and unin-
terrupted in the $, more or less mixed with olive in the 9 ; rump yellow; upper tail-coverts
black, often skirted with olive or ashy. Whole crown of head clear ash ; sides of head black,
including a very narrow frontlet ; the eyelids and a stripe behind the eye, between the ash and
black, white. Entire under parts rich yellow, excepting the white crissum, heavily streaked
with black across the breast and along the sides, the streaks on the breast so thick as to forma
nearly continuous black border to the immaculate yellow throat. Wings fuscous, with white
126.
127,
‘ serve yellow rump, small square tail-spots on middle of feathers,
SYLVICOLIDA —SYLVICOLINZ: TRUE WARBLEBRS. 305
lining, white edging of the inner webs of all the quills, of the outer webs of the inner second-
aries, and with a large white patch formed by the tips of the median coverts and tips and outer
edges of the greater coverts. Tail blackish, with square white spots on the middle of the inner
webs of all the feathers excepting the middle pair. Bill blackish; feet dark. Length 4.75-
5.00; extent 7.00-7.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 2.00-2.25. Young: Upper parts ashy-clive,
grayer on head; rump as yellow as in the adult; no decided head-markings; a whitish ring
around eye. Below, yellow, generally pure and continuous,
sometimes partially replaced by gray; black streaks wanting,
or few and confined to the sides. Wings with two bars; tail-
spots as in the adult. While the sexes of this dainty little
species are quite similar, the young require looking after ; ob-
and extensively or completely yellow under parts. Eastern
N. Am., N. to Hudson’s Bay and Great Slave Lake, W. to en ee ee
the Rocky Mts. of Colorado; abundant, chiefly migratory in warbler, nat. size. (Ad nat. del.
the U.S.; winters extralimital; breeds from New England E-°-)
northward. Builds a small neat nest in low conifers; eggs 4-5, 0.64 « 0.48, not peculiar.
D. tigrina. (Lat. tigrina, striped like a tiger, tigris.) Caps May WARBLER. Adult @,
in spring: Back yellowish-olive, spotted with black; crown in high plumage perfectly black,
usually interrupted with olive. Rump, sides of the neck nearly meeting across the nape, sides
of head and entire under parts bright yellow; ear-patch orange-brown ; a black transocular
stripe, cutting off a yellow superciliary stripe; lower throat and whole breast and sides thickly
streaked with black; yellow of throat sometimes tinged with orange-brown ; that of belly and
under tail-coverts pale or whitish. Wing-bars fused in a large whité patch. formed by middle
coverts and outer webs of most of the greater coverts. Quills and tail-feathers blackish, edged
on outer webs with olive; tail-spots on three outer feathers near their ends, oblique, large on
outer feather, diminishing on the next successively; bill and feet blackish. The yellow patch
on the rump is conspicuous, and in high plumage that on the side of the neck is immaculate
and very bright. 9, in spring; Similar; lacking the distinctive head-markings ; under parts
paler and less streaked, tail-spots small or obscure; less white on the wing. Young: An in-
significant-looking ‘bird, resembling an overgrown ruby-crowned kinglet, without its crest ;
obscure greenish-olive above; rump yellowish; under parts yellowish-white; breast and sides
with the streaks obscure or obsolete; little or no white on wings, which are edged with yel-
lowish. Length 5.00-5.25; wing 2.75; tail 2.25. Eastern N. Am. to Hudson’s Bay, only
known W. to the Mississippi. Another exquisite, resembling the Magnolia in its yellow rump
and yellow black-striped under parts, but easily recognized at maturity by the orange-brown
ear-coveris; possessing also the charm of rarity in most parts. It is also remarkable for the
curved and very acute bill, and some anatomical peculiarities of the tongue, which have caused
it to be made type of a genus Perissoglossa. Breeds in portions of New England and north-
ward; nest low in trees; eggs not peculiar. ,
D. discolor. (Lat. discolor, parti-colored; opposed to concolor, whole-colored.) PRAIRIE
WarBLER. Yellow-olive; back with a patch of brick-red spots ; forehead, superciliary line,
two wing-bars, and entire under parts, rich yellow; a V-shaped black mark on side of head,
its upper arm running through eye, its lower arm connecting with a series of black streaks
along the whole sides of the neck and body; tail-blotches very large, occupying most of the
inner web of the outer feathers. The sexes are almost exactly alike, and the young only differ
in not being so bright and in having the dorsal patch and head-markings obscure. Small:
Length 4.75; extent 7.00-7.40; wing 2.15-2.25; tail 2.00. Eastern U.S. to Massachu-
setts; W. to Kansas; an abundant bird of the Middle and Southern States, in sparse low
woodland, cedar thickets and old fields grown up to scrub-pines; remarkable for its quaint
20
128.
129.
130.
131.
306 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
and curious song; an expert fly-catcher, constantly darting into the air in pursuit of winged
insects, like the Redstart and the species of Myiodioctes. Breeds throughout its U. 8. range;
winters in Florida and the West Indies. Nest on a bush or sapling near the ground; a small,
neat, compact structure; eggs 3-6, not peculiar. .
D. gra/ciz. (To Miss Grace D. Coues, the author’s sister.) Gracz’s WARBLER. Entire
upper parts ashy-gray, with a slaty-blue tinge; the middle of the back streaked with black,
the upper tail-coverts less conspicuously so marked; the crown with crowded black arrow-
heads, especially anteriorly and laterally, the tendency of these markings being to form a line
along the side of the crown, meeting its fellow on the forehead. A broad superciliary line of
yellow, confluent with its fellow on the extreme front, changing to white behind the eye.
Lores blackish; sides of head otherwise like the back, enclosing a crescentic yellow spot below
the eye; edges of eyelids yellow. Chin, throat, and fore breast bright yellow, bordered with
blackish streaks; the yellow of the throat separate from that under the eye or on the lores.
Under parts from the breast white, the sides shaded with the color of the back, and streaked
with black in continuation of the chain of shorter streaks along the side of the neck. Wings
dusky, with very narrow whitish edging, and crossed with two white bars along the ends of the
greater and median coverts. Tail like the wings; the lateral feather mostly white, excepting
the outer web; the next two or three with white blotches, decreasing in size. Eyes, bill, and
feet black; soles dirty yellowish. Length 4.90-5.25; extent about 8.00; wing 2.60; tail
2.25; bill under 0.50. @, in autumn: Color of the upper parts obscured with a shade of
brownish-olive, the dorsal streaks obscure. The head-markings as in summer, and the yellow
parts quite as bright. 9: Quite similar to the male, and in fact scarcely. distinguishable from
the male in autumn, though the yellow is not quite so strong. Young: The slate-gray of the
upper parts much shaded with brownish-olive, the black streaks wanting on the back, those on
the crown obsolete. Yellow much as in the adult but paler, and not bordered along the sides
of the neck with black streaks. The black lores are poorly defined. The wing-bars are gray-
ish or obsolete. The white of the under parts has an ochrey tinge, and the lateral streaks are
not so heavy in color nor so well defined. Southern Rocky Mt. Region of the U.S. and south-
ward; a beautiful species, related to dominica and adelaide ; it is abundant in the pine woods
of Arizona and New Mexico. Nesting still unknown.
D. domin‘ica. (Lat. dominicus, of St. Domingo.) YELLOW-THROATED .WARBLER. Much
like the last species, with which its changes of plumage correspond; back without black
streaks ; no yellow in the black under the eye. A white patch separating the black of the
cheeks from the bluish-ash of the neck; a long superciliary stripe, usually yellow from bill to
eye, thence white to the nape. Forehead and sides of crown usually quite black, chin and
throat rich yellow, bordered on each side by black. Rest of under parts white, the sides boldly
streaked with black. Bill black, extremely compressed, almost a little decurved, very long
(at least 0.50). Length 5.00 or more; extent 8.00; wing 2.70; tail 2.25. tail; crown ashy, chin and supere. line white . . . belli 183
— olive, chin wht., superc. line yell. . movebor. 181
—and under parts yell’sh . . huttoni 182
V. oliva/ceus. (Lat. olivaceus, olive-colored. Fig. 189.) RED-EYED GREENLET. Above,
olive-green ; crown ash, edged on each side with a blackish line, below this a white super-
ciliary line, below this
again a dusky stripe
through eye; under parts
white, faintly shaded
with greenish - yellow
along sides, and tinged
with the same on under
wing- and tail-coverts ;
wings and tail dusky, :
the feathers edged with Fic. 189.— V. olivaceus, nat. size. (From Baird.)
171.
172.
173.
274.
332 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
olive outside, with whitish inside; bill dusky above, pale below; feet leaden-blue; eyes red:
no dusky maxillary streaks; no apparent spurious quill. Little different with age, sex, or
season; young and fall birds the brightest colored, especially on the sides, crissum, and lining
of wings. Large; length 5.75-6.25 ; extent 9.75-10.75; wing 3.00-3.33 ; tail 2.33-2.50 ; bill
about 0.66; tarsus 0.75. E.N.Am.; N. to Hudson’s Bay and even Greenland; W. some-
times to Utah and Washington Territory; breeds throughout its U. S. range, and winters from
the Gulf States southward. In most places the most abundant species of the genus, in wood-
land; a voluble, tireless songster.
V. flavivi'ridis. (Lat. flavus, yellow; viridis, green. Fig. 190.) YELLOW-GREEN GREEN-
LET. Very similar to the last; more yellowish below ; under wing- and tail-coverts decidedly
yellow; sides of body decidedly greenish-yellow. Texas and southward.
Fig. 190. — V. flaviviridis, nat. size. (From Baird.) Fie. 191.— V. a. barbatulus, nat. size. (From Baird.)
V. altiloquus barba/tulus. (Lat. altus, high, loquus, speaking; barbatulus, having a little
beard. Fig. 191.) BLACK-WHISKERED GREENLET. WHIP-TOM-KELLY. Similar to oliva-
ceus ; distinguished by a narrow dusky maxillary line, or line of spots, on each side of the
chin; bill longer, 0.75-0.80; proportion of quills slightly different (see the figs.). Cuba,
Bahamas, and casually in Florida. [V. altiloquus is the West Indian stock-form. ]
V. philadel/phicus. (Gr. Piiéo, phileo, I love; ddeApds, brother. Fig. 192.) Broru-
ERLY-LOVE GREENLET. Above, dull olive-green, brightening on the rump, fading insensibly
into ashy on the crown, which is not bordered with blackish ; a dull white superciliary line ;
below, palest possible yellowish, whitening on throat and belly, slightly olive-shaded on
sides; sometimes a slight creamy or buffy shade throughout the under parts; no obvious wing-
bars; no apparent spurious quill. Length 4.80-5.10; extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2.66; tail
2.25; bill hardly or about 0.50; tarsus 0.66. Eastern N. Am., strictly; N. to Hudson’s Bay ;
a small, plainly-colored species, almost indistinguishable from giluus except by apparent absence
of a spurious quill; not very common in the Atlantic States, more so in the Mississippi Valley.
ms WE
Fra. 192. —V. philadelphicus, nat. size. (From Baird.) Fie. 193. — V. gilvus, nat. size. (From Baird.)
V. gil'vus. (Lat. gilvus, yellowish. Figs. 188, 193.) WaRBLinc GREENLET. Colors pre-
cisely as in the last species; spurious quill present and evident, + to $ as long as the 2d primary.
Length 5.50-6.00 ; extent 8.50-9.25 ; wing 2.80; tail 2.25; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.65. Eastern
N. Am. to the high central plains, breeding throughout its range; wintering extralimital; an
abundant little bird and an exquisite songster. Its voice is not strong, and many birds excel
it in brilliancy of execution ; but not one of them all can rival the tenderness and softness of
175.
176.
177.
178.
VIREONIDA); VIREOS, OR GREENLETS. 833
the liquid strains of this modest vocalist. Not born to ‘waste its sweetness on the desert |
air,” the warbling vireo forsakes the depths of the woodland for the park and orchard and
shady street, where it glides through the foliage of the tallest trees, the unseen messenger of
rest and peace to the busy, dusty, haunts of men.
V. g. swain'soni? (To Wm. Swainson. Fig. 194.) WESTERN WARBLING VIREO. “ Similar
to V. gilvus, but smaller; colors paler; bill more depressed; upper mandible almost black ;
2d quill much shorter than 6th.” Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U.S. This Western form has
been described as distinct, but the characters assigned will not be found constant. It is simply
a dull-colored race, like many other birds of this region.
As eis
Fie. 194.— V. g. swainsoni, nat, size. (From Baird.) Fia. 195. — V. flavifrons, nat. size. (From Baird.)
V. fla'vifrons. (Lat. flavus, yellow ; frons, front.) YELLOW-THROATED GREENLET. Above,
rich olive-green, crown the same or even brighter, rump insensibly shading into bluish-ash;
below, bright yellow, belly and crissum abruptly white, sides anteriorly shaded with olive,
posteriorly with plumbeous ; extreme forehead, superciliary line and ring round eye, yellow;
lores dusky; wings dusky, with the inner secondaries broadly white-edged, and two broad
white bars across tips of greater and median coverts; tail dusky, nearly all the feathers com-
pletely encircled with white edging; bill and feet dark leaden-blue; no apparent spurious quill.
Length 5.75-6.00; extent about 10.00; wing about 3.00; tail only about 2.25. A large,
stout, highly-colored species, curiously resembling Icteria virens, common in the woods of the
Eastern U. 8., and adjoining British Provinces; W. only to the edge of the plains ; winters in
Florida and southward; breeds in all its U. 8. range. Its proper name may be V. ochroleucus.
V. solita/rius. (Lat. solitarius, solitary; solus, alone. Fig. 196.) BLUE-HEADED GREEN-
Ler. SoLiTaRy GREENLET. Above, olive-green; crown and sides of head bluish-ash in
marked contrast, with a broad white line from ;
nostrils to and around (not beyond) eye, and a
dusky loral line; below, pure white, flanks
washed with olivaceous, and axillars and cris- A
sum pale yellow; wings and tail dusky, most
of the feathers edged with white or whitish, ‘th
and two conspicuous bars of the same across
tips of middle and greater coverts; bill and
feet. blackish-plumbeous; iris brown. Length
5.25-5.75; extent 8.50; wing 2.75-8.00; tail 2.25-2.33; Dill about 0.40, stout, nearly 0.20
deep at base; spurious quill 0.50-0.66 long, about + as long as 2d primary. Young and fall
specimens more brightly colored. A stoutly-built species, known at a glance by the bluish cap.
Eastern U. S. and Canada; not rare, but not so common as olivaceus, flavifrons, or novebo-
racensis ; inhabits woodland.
V. s. cas/sini. ‘(To John Cassin.) CassIn’s GREENLET. Scarcely different; said to be
duller and more brownish-olivaceous ; under parts tinged with buff or ochrey where solitarius
is pure white ; loral line and eye-ring impurely whitish. Arizona and California. (Not at all
like V. plwmbeus, with which it is geographically associated.)
Fig. 196. — V. solitarius, nat. size. (From Baird.)
4179.
180.
181.
182.
334 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES.
V. s. plum/beus. (Lat. plwmbeus, lead-colored. Fig. 197.) PLuMBEOUS GREENLET.
Leaden-gray, rather brighter and more ashy on the crown, but without marked contrast,
faintly glossed with olive on ramp; a conspicuous white line from nostril to and around eye,
and below this a dusky loral stripe ; below,
pure white, sides of neck and breast shaded
with the color of the back, flanks, axillars
and crissum with a mere trace of olivaceous,
or none; wings and tail dusky, with con-
spicuous pure white edgings and cross-bars,
Size of solitarius or larger. Length 5.75-
: 6.10; extent 9.75-10.25; wing 2.90-3.10;
Fie. 197.—V. s. plumbeus, nat. size. (From Baird.) tail 2.50; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.66; middle toe
the same; spurious quill exposed about 0.75, 4 as long as the 2d quill. Central Plains
to the Pacific, U. S., and especially Southern Rocky Mts., where it is abundant. A large stout
species, a near ally of solitarius, but nearly all the olivaceous of that species replaced by
plumbeous, and the yellowish by white, so that it is a very different-looking bird. Fall
specimens, however, are more olivaceous, and the bird evidently grades closely up to solitarius.
V. vici/nior. (Lat. vicinus, neighboring.) GRAY GREENLET. With the general appearance
of a small faded specimen of plumbeus: leaden-gray, faintly olivaceous on the rump, below
white, with hardly a trace of yellowish on the sides; wings and tail hardly edged with white ;
no markings about head except a whitish eye-ring. Length 5.75; extent 8.66; wing and tail
each 2.50; tarsus nearly 0.75 ; middle toe and claw hardly over 0.50; tip of inner claw falling
short of base of middle claw ; tail decidedly rounded; spurious quill exposed 0.75, 4 as long as
the 2d primary, which latter is not longer than the 8th. These peculiar proportions of the
original type specimen are constant, and the species is distinct from any other. It is our
plainest-colored species, resembling pluwmbeus, but more closely allied to the smaller rounder-
winged species like noveboracensis and especially pusillus ; the toes are almost abnormally
short, and the tail is as long as the wing. Arizona and New Mexico. The type-specimen
long remained unique, but others have since been found.
V. noveboracen/sis. (Lat. novus, new, Eboracum, York. Fig. 198.) WuHrIrr-rYEpD
GREENLET. Above, bright olive-green, including crown; a slight ashy gloss on the cervix,
and the rump showing yellowish when the feathers are disturbed ; below, white, the sides of
the breast and belly,
with axillars and cris-
sum, bright yellow; a
bright yellow line from
nostrils to and around
eye; lores dusky; two
broad yellowish wing-
bars; inner secondaries
widely edged with the
Fie. 198. — V. noveboracensis, nat. size. (From Baird.) same ; pill and feet
blackish-plumbeous ; eyes white. About 5 inches long; extent 8.00; wing 2.33-2.50; tail
9.25 ; spurious quill exposed 0.75, + as long as the 2d, which about equals the 8th; tarsus
about 0.75; middle toe and claw 0.50; bill nearly 0.50. A small, compact, brightly-colored
species, abundant in shrubbery and tangle of the Eastern U.8.; W. rarely to the Rocky
Mts.; rather southerly, N. only to the Connecticut Valley; noted for its sprightly manners
and emphatic voice.
V. hut/toni. (To Wm. Hutton, of Cala. Fig. 199.) Hurron’s GREENLET. Similar to the
last, but differing much as flaviviridis does from olivaceus, in having the under parts almost
182a.
183.
184.
VIREONIDZ: VIREOS, OR GREENLETS. 335
entirely yellowish. California. First quill rather less than half the 2d, which about equals
the 10th; 3d a little longer than 7th; 4th and 5th nearly equal and longest. Tail slightly
rounded, shorter than the wings. Bill very small. Above olive-green; brightest behind,
especially on rump and edging of tail; duller and more
ashy toward and on top and sides of head and neck. cal . 2
Wings with two bands on coverts, and outer edges of EY > sees
innermost secondaries rather broadly olivaceous-white;
other quills edged externally with olive-green, paler Aa
toward outer primary, internally with whitish. Lat-
eral tail-feathers edged externally with yellowish-
white. Feathers of rump with much concealed yel-
lowish-gray. Under parts pale olivaceous-yellowish,
purest behind, lightest on throat and abdomen; the breast more olivaceous, the sides still
deeper olive-green, the breast soiled with a slight buffy tinge. Axillars and crissum yellowish,
the inside of wings whitish. Loral region and narrow space around eye dull yellowish, in faint
contrast to the olive of head. Bill horn-color above, paler below; legs dusky. Length 4.70;
wing 2.40; tail 2.05. (Description from Baird.)
V. h. ste/vensi. (To F. Stephens.) StTEpHENS’ GREENLET. Like V. huttoni. Bill stout;
wings from 0.30-0.40 longer than tail. Above, grayish-ash ; the crown, vertex and sides of
head and neck nearly pure ash; the back faintly tinged with olive; the ramp and an edging on
the tail-feathers dull olive-green. Wings with two nearly confluent bands on the coverts, and
the outer edges of the inner secondaries broadly white; outer quills edged more narrowly with
the same color. Beneath brownish or smoky-white, with a mere wash of yellowish on the sides
and crissum. Upper eyelid dusky-brown; remainder of the orbital region, with the lores,
ashy-white in decided contrast with the nearly clear cinereous of the head generally. Lining
of wings white. Length 5.20; extent 8.50; wing 2.55-2.90; tail 2.25; tarsus 0.73; culmen
0.50. Arizona and New Mexico, especially in mountain ranges. Related to huttont, which
has bill less stout, wing 2.40 or less, and is olive-green above and olivaceous-yellow below,
without clear white anywhere. The differences are nearly parallel with those between belli and
Fie. 199. —V. huttoni, nat. size. (From Baird.)
. pusillus, — stevensi being grayish-ash above with no decided olive-green excepting on the rump
and tail, brownish-white below, untinged with yellowish excepting on sides and crissum, the
wing-bands pure white and nearly confluent. (Not in Check List, 1880. Description from
Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Club, vii, 1882, p. —.) ‘
V. belli. (To J. G. Bell, of New York. Fig. 200.) BrEui’s GREENLET. Olive-green,
brighter on rump, ashier on head, but without decided contrasts; head-markings almost
exactly as in gilvus; below, sulphury-yellowish, only whitish on chin and middle of belly;
inner quills edged with whitish; two
whitish wing-bands, but one more con- ~~ ;
spicuous than the other. Hardly or not a
5.00 long; wing scarcely over 2.00; tail x i
under 2.00; spurious quill about 2 the 2d, , 2
which equals or exceeds the 7th. A pretty fr =
little species, like a miniature of gilvus, but
readily distinguished from that species by Fie. 200. — V. belli, nat, size. (From Baird.)
its small size, presence of decided wing-bars, more yellowish under-parts, and different wing-
formula. Middle region of the U. S., W. to the Rocky Mts., E. to the valley of the Ohio; an
abundant species, inhabiting copses and shrubbery in open country, with much the same
sprightly ways and loud song as those of noveboracensis.
V. pusil/lus. (Lat. pusillus, puerile, petty. Fig. 201.) Least GREENLET. Olivaceous-
gray, below white, merely tinged with yellowish on the sides; head-markings obscure ; wing-
185.
336 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
bands and edgings, though evident, ;.,arrow and whitish; no decided olive or yellow anywhere.
Size of belli ; wing and tail of equal lengths, little over 2.00; bill 0.33; tarsus 0.66; middle
toe and claw 0.50; spurious quill about 4 as long as the 2d, which is intermediate between the
7th and 8th. A small, obseure-looking
species, resembling bel, but much grayer,
tail relatively longer, spurious quill longer,
and 2d primary shorter. Arizona and
Southern California, common.
V. atricapil/lus. (Lat. ater, black ; capil-
lus, hair.) BLACK-CAPPED GREENLET.
&@: Top and side of the head black, ex- Fic. 201.— V. pusilius, nat. size. (From Baird.)
cepting a white eye-ring and white loral stripe. Upper parts olivaceous ; lewer parts white,
tinged with pale greenish on the sides and flanks. Wings and tail blackish, edged with
olivaceous, the former with two dingy whitish bars across the ends of the greater and median
coverts; lining of wings yellowish. Bill black; feet dark; iris red. Length 4.75; extent
7.25; wing 2.25; tail nearly 2.00; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw 0.50; Ist
primary exposed 0.66. A specimen from Mazatlan, supposed to be a 9, is described by Baird
and Ridgway as having the black of the head replaced by dark slate color, the upper parts
duller olive, the lower somewhat buffy. The black cap of the g renders the species con-
spicuous among all its congeners. Texas and Mexico, rare; few specimens known. Nest in
trees, pensile from a forked twig as usual in the genus, but eggs white, unmarked (as far as
known ; 15 examples examined) ; size 0.65-0.75 X 0.50-0.55.
15. Family LANIIDZ: Shrikes.
Essentially characterized by the combination of
comparatively weak, strictly passerine feet with a
notched, toothed and hooked bill, the size, shape, and
strength of which recalls that of a bird of prey (fig.
202.). The family comprises about 200 recorded
species, referable to numerous genera and divisible
into three groups, not very well defined, however, of
Sy which the following typical subfamily is the only
——a one occurring in America: —
Fia. 202.— Shrikes’ Bills, nat.size. (From Baird.)
21. Subfamily LANIINAE: True Shrikes.
In this group the wing has 10 primaries and the tail 12 rectrices ; both are much rounded
and of nearly equal lengths. The rictus is furnished with strong bristles. The circular nostrils
are more or less perfectly covered and con-
cealed by dense tufts of antrorse bristly
feathers. The tarsi are scutellate in front
and on the outside—in the latter respect
deviating from a usual Oscine character.
Our shrikes wili thus be easily distinguished ;
additional features are given under head of
the genus Lanius, the only representative
of this group in America. Fra. 203. — Butcher-bird, reduced. (From Tenney,
These shrikes are bold and spirited after Wilson.)
birds, quarrelsome among themselves, and tyrannical toward weaker species; in fact, their
nature seems as highly rapacious as that of the true birds of prey. They are carnivorous,
60.
186.
LANIIDAj—LANIINA: SHRIKES. 337
feeding on insects and such small birds and quadrupeds as they can capture and overpower ;
many instances have been noted uf their dashing attacks upon cage-birds, and their reckless
pursuit of other species under circumstances that cost them their own lives. But the most
remarkable fact in the natural history of the shrikes is their singular and inexplicable habit of
impaling their prey on thorns or sharp twigs, and leaving it sticking there. This has occa-
sioned many ingenious surmises, none of which, however, are entirely satisfactory. They
build a rather rude and bulky nest of twigs, and lay 4-6 speckled eggs. They are not strictly
migratory, although our northernmost species usually retires southward in the fall. The sexes
are alike, and the young differ but little. There are only two well determined American
species, of nine that compose the genus.
LA/NIUS. (Lat. lanius, a butcher.) Gray SHrRikEs. Wing of 10 primaries, and tail of
12 rectrices, both rounded in shape, and of nearly equal lengths. Point of the wing formed by
the 3d, 4th, and 5th quills, the second not longer than the 6th, and the lst about half as long
as the 3d. Tarsus equalling or slightly exceeding in length the middle toe and claw, strongly
seutellate in front, and with the outer lateral plate usually more or less subdivided, as is unusual
among Oscines. Lateral toes of about equal lengths, their claws reaching to the base of the
middle claw ; inner toe cleft nearly to the base, the outer more extensively coherent with the
basal joint of the middle toe. Feet large and strong, but without specially ‘ raptorial”
development either of the digits or of their claws. Bill large and powerful, compressed, deep,
completely notched and toothed, and strongly hooked, presenting the full accomplishment of a
raptorial character. ictus ample and deeply cleft, and strongly bristled ; gonys short, only
about half the length of the lower mandible. Nostrils circular or nearly so, placed well forward
in the nasal fossze, more or less perfectly overhung and concealed by tufts of antrorse bristly
feathers. Body stout; neck short; head relatively large. Coloration simple, the black, white,
and bluish or grayish tints being unrelieved by red or other bright color. In the amount of
the dusky vermiculation of the under parts the species are graded from borealis (most) to excu-
bitorides (least or none), and each one is graded from young to old. In all, the general resem-
blance to a mocking-bird is striking.
Analysis of Species.
Large: length 9.00 or over. Black head-stripe broken on under eyelid and across forehead. Always waved
below with dusky 3.0 @ 6 4 aw A we a a borealis 186
Small: length under 9.00. Black head-stripe catibaaken across forehead: no white on under eyelid. Adults
unwaved below.
Lighter: much white on rump and scapulars; long white patch ou primaries . . . excubitorides 188
Darker: little white on rump and scapulars; short white patch on primaries . . . ludovicianus 187
L. borea/lis. (Lat. borealis, northern. Figs. 203, 204.) -GreatT NorTHERN SHRIKE.
BUTCHER-BIRD. ¢ 9, adult: Above, clear bluish-ash, blanching on rump and scapulars;
below, white, always vermiculated trans-
versely with fine wavy blackish lines; a
broad black bar along side of head, not
meeting its fellow across forehead, inter-
rupted by a white crescent on under eyelid,
and bordered above by hoary white that
also occupies the extreme forehead ; wings
and tail black, the former with a large
white spot near base of the primaries,
and white tips of most of the quills, the
latter with the outer web of the outer :
feather edged, and all the feathers except- Fic. 204. —Butcher-bird (Z. borealis), nat. size. (Ad
ing the middle pair broadly tipped, with 4t del. B.C.)
white, and with concealed white bases; bill and feet bluish-black ; eyes blackish. Length
22
187.
188.
338 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCLNES.
9.00-10.00 ; extent 13.50-14.50; wing 5.00-5.50; tail rather more; bill 0.75; tarsus 0.90;
middle toe and claw 0.75. Young: The colors much less pure and clear. Above, grayish-
brown, seareely or not whitening on the scapulars, tail-coverts, and forehead. The younger
the browner, sometimes almost with a rusty tinge; grayer according to age. Below brownish-
white (the younger the browner), the wavy dark markings stronger than in the adult. The
bar along the head poorly defined, merely dusky, or quite obsolete. Wings and tail brownish-
black, with less white than in the adult. Bill plumbeous-brown, flesh-colored at base below.
At a very early age, the upper parts are probably vermiculated somewhat like the lower, as
in the same stage of L. ludovicianus ; but this state I have not observed. In old age, the
dusky vermiculation of the under parts is much diminished, but I have never seen it: absent
altogether. This feature, coupled with the particular character of the head-markings and
the large size and comparatively short tarsi, will always distinguish the species from L. ludo-
vicianus or excubitorides. N. Am., northerly; breeds, however, on mountains of the Middle
States and in New England; in winter, usually extends S. to about 35°. The castle of this
“feudal baron and brigand bold” is built in a bush or low tree with a basement of sticks,
upon which is matted and felted a thick warm superstructure of bark-strips, grasses, and soft
vegetable substances: eggs 4-6, about 1.10 x 0.80, rather elliptical in shape, so profusely
speckled, scratched, and marbled with reddish, brownish, and purplish shades that the greenish-
gray ground color is scarcely perceptible.
L. ludovicianus. (Lat. ludovicianus, of Louisiana.) LoGGERHEAD SHRIKE. ¢ 9, adult:
Above, slate-colored, slightly whitish on upper tail-coverts and euds of scapulars; below,
white, sometimes a little ashy-shaded, but no wavy black lines, or gnly a few slight ones ;
white on wings and tail less extensive than in borealis or excubitorides; black bridle meeting its
fellow across forehead, not interrupted by white on lower eyelid, scarcely or not bordered above
by hoary white. Smaller: length 8.00-8.50; wing and tail each 4.00 or little more; tarsus
at least 1.00, thus relatively longer than in borealis ; bill about 0.50. Young: differing from
the adult much as young borealis does, and decidedly waved below, as in that species: but the
size and other characters are distinctive. Eastern and Southern U. &S., resident, abundant; in
it typical manifestation it is characteristic of the S. Atlantic States; but specimens more like
ludovicianus than excubitorides occur N. to New England and W. to Ohio.
C.1. excubitori‘des. (Lat. excubitor, a sentinel; Gr. eiSos, eidos, resemblance; i. e., like the
European L. excubitor.) WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE. CoMMON AMERICAN SHRIKE. ¢ 9,
adult: Leaden-gray or light slate-color, whitening on the scapulars and upper tail-coverts.
Beneath, white, slightly shaded with the French gray on the sides, but without dusky vermicu-
lation. A narrow stripe across the forehead, continuous with a broad bar along the side of the
head, embracing the eye, black, slightly, if at all, bordered with whitish. Lower eyelid not
white. Wings and tail black, with white markings, much as in the last species. Bill and feet
plumbeous-black. Length under 9.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing and tail, each, about 4.00;
bill 0.66; tarsus 1.00 or more. Young: Vermiculated below with dusky, upon a brownish
ground, about to the same extent as is seen in very old examples of L. borealis. General tone of
the upper parts less pure than in the adult; scapulars and tail-coverts not purely white; black
bar of head less firm, but as far as it goes maintaining the characters of the species. Ata
very early age, the upper parts, including the whitish of the scapulars and tail-coverts, are finely
vermiculated with dusky waves. The ends of the quills, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers often
have rusty or rufous markings. Extreme examples of excubitorides look very different from
ludovicianus proper, but the two are observed to melt into each other when many specimens
are compared, so that no specific character can be assigned. Middle and Western N. Am.
and Mexico; N. to the region of the Saskatchewan, E. to Ohio, New York, Canada and
even New England.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 339
16. Family FRINGILLIDZ: Finches, etc.
Conirostral Oscines with
9 primaries. — The largest
North American family,
comprising about one-
seventh (123: 888) of all
our birds, and the most
extensive group of its
grade in ornithology. As
ordinarily constituted, it
represents, in round num-
bers 500 current species
and 100 genera, of nearly
all parts of the world, ex-
cept Australia, but more
particularly of the northern
hemisphere and through-
out America, where the
group attains its maximum
developinent. Any one
United States locality of
average attractiveness to
birds has a bird-fauna of over 200 species; and if it be away from the sea-coast, and conse-
quently uninhabited by marine birds, about one-fourth of its species are Sylvicolide and
Fringillide together — the latter somewhat in excess of the former. It is not easy, therefore,
to give undue prominence to these two faiilies.
The Fringillide are more particularly what used to be called ‘“‘ conirostral” birds, in dis-
tinction from “ fissirostres,” as the swallows, swifts, and goatsuckers, ‘‘ tenuirostres,” as hum-
ming-birds and creepers, and ‘ dentirostres,” as warblers, vireos, and most of the preceding
families. The bill approaches nearest the ideal cone, combining strength to crush seeds, with
delicacy of touch to secure minute objects. The cone is sometimes nearly expressed, but is
more frequently turgid or conoidal, convex in most directions or, again, so contracted that some
of its outlines are concave. The nostrils are always situated high wp — nearer the culmen than
the cutting edge of the bill; they are usually exposed, but in many, chiefly boreal, genera, the
base of the bill is furnished with a ruff or two tufts of antrorse feathers more or less completely
covering the openings. The cutting edges of the bill may be slightly notched, but are usually
plain. There are usually a few inconspicuous bristles about the rictus, sometimes wanting,
sometimes highly developed, as in our grosbeaks. The wings are endlessly varied in shape,
but agree in possessing only nine developed primaries; the tail is equally variable in form, but
always has twelve rectrices. The feet show a strictly Oscine or laminiplantar podotheca,
scutellate in front, covered on each side with an undivided plate, producing a sharp ridge
behind. None of these members offer extreme phases of development in any of our species.
But the most tangible characteristic of the family is angulation of the commissure. The
commissure runs in a straight line, or with a slight curve, to or near to the base of the bill, and
is then more or less abruptly bent down at a varying angle—the cutting edge of the upper
mandible forming a reéntrance, that of the lower mandible a corresponding salience. In
familiar terms, we might say that the corners of the mouth are drawn down — that the Finches,
though very merry little birds, are literally ‘‘down in the mouth.” In the great majority of
cases this feature is unmistakable, and in the grosbeaks, for example, it is very strongly marked
j
Ad.)
kath
Fie. 205, — European Chaffinch Uringitta celebs). (After Dixon.)
340 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
indeed ; but in some of the smaller-billed forms, and especially those with slender bill, it is
hardly perceptible. On the whole, however, it is a good character, and at any rate it is the
most reliable external feature that can be found. It separates our fringilline birds pretty
trenchantly from other 9-primaried Oscines, except Icteride, and most of these may be dis-
tinguished by the characters given beyond.
Taking their characters all together, Fringillide may be defined as 9-primaried conirostral
laminiplantar oscine Passeres with axis of bill at an angle with that of skull, and nostrils
nearer culnen than cutting edge of bill.
When we come, however, to consider this great group of conirostral Oscines in its entirety,
as compared with bordering families like the Old World Ploceide, or the Icteride, and espe-
cially the Tanagride, of the New, the difficulty if not the impossibility of framing a perfect
diagnosis becomes apparent, and I am not aware that any attempts at rigid definition have
proven successful. Ornithologists are nearly agreed what birds to call fringillime, without being
so well prepared to say what “ fringilline” means. The subdivisions of the family, as might
be expected, are still conventional, and varying with every leading writer. Our species might
be thrown into several groups, but the distinctions would be more or less arbitrary and not
readily perceived. It is therefore best to waive the question, and simply collocate the genera in
orderly sequence.
The Fringillide are popularly known by several different names. Here belong all the
sparrows, with the allied birds called finches, buntings, linnets, grosbeaks and crossbills. In
the following pages I describe 123 species and subspecies, mostly well determined, and ascer-
tained to occur within our limits, referring them to 37 genera, as the custom is, although I
think this number of genera altogether too large. Two of them, Passer domesticus and P. mon-
tanus, are imported and naturalized. Species occur throughout our country, in every situation,
and many of them are among our most abundant and familiar birds. They are all granivorous
—seed-eaters, but many feed extensively on buds, fruits, and other soft vegetable substances,
as well as on insects. They are not so perfectly migratory as the exclusively insectivorous
birds, the nature of whose food requires prompt removal at the approach of cold weather ; but,
with some exceptions, they withdraw from their breeding places in the fall to spend the winter
farther south, and to return in the spring. With a few signal exceptions they are not truly
gregarious birds, though they often associate in large companies, assembled in community of
interest. The modes of nesting are too various to be here summarized. Nearly all the finches
sing, with varying ability and effect; some of them are among our most delightful vocalists.
As arule, they are plainly clad—even meanly, in comparison with some of our sylvan
beauties ; but among them are birds of elegant and striking colors. Among the highly-colored
ones, the sexes are more or less unlike, and other changes, with age and season, are strongly
marked; the reverse is the case with the rest.
The unpractised student will have more trouble in this family than elsewhere in identifying
his specimens. In the first place, the genera and species are very numerous, and so variously
interrelated that no satisfactory subfamilies have been established; they are therefore not
parcelled out in sets. Secondly, all the genera cannot be discriminated in a line of type. To
meet the difficulty, I have caused the family to be profusely illustrated with cuts of more than
average excellence, and attempted a tabular analysis of the genera, which, though necessarily
defective, will doubtless help to some extent. Speaking roundly, there are three lots of
genera: (a) Loxiine, mostly boreal birds, sexed unlike, g often red, 9 dull, no blue, colors
massed or streaky, bill usually ruffed at base, wings pointed, tail forked, feet weak; (0)
Spizelline, everywhere, mostly small streaked and spotted species, sexed alike, may be
yellowed but are never red or blue, wings, tail, and feet various; (¢) Spizinme, mostly south-
erly, sexed unlike, ¢ often red or blue, bill unruffed, wings, tail, and feet various; — but
nothing will serve to distinguish these groups unexceptionally.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 341
Analysis (partial) of Genera.
Bill metagnathous, both mandibles falcate, their points crossed. gi red, 9 dark and yellowish . Lozia
Bill enormous, nearly = tarsus, greenish-yellow. Wings black and white; tail and tibize black. (Western.)
Hesperophona
Bill parrot-like, whitish. Head conspicuously crested. gf 9 gray and sii face not black. Length
7.650 or more. (S.W.U.S.) . . . ‘ a i 4 . . . Pyrrhuloxia
Bill reddish. Head conspicuously crested. ¢ vermilion, face black. Q ae ae reddish. Length 7.50
or more. (E.andS.U.S.).... . Cardinalis
Bill with a rz, or pair of nasal tufts, of secu ssactigles: at hate of upper mandible,
Length 8.00 or more. ¢ red and gray, 9 gray and yellowish, uncrested. Bill turgid, hooked. (Boreal.)
Pinicola
—under 8.00. — Bluish-gray, below reddish-gray, crown, wings, and tail black. (Alaska.)
Pyrrhula
— White, with black on back, wings, and tail ; or washed with clear brown. (Boreal.)
$ Plectrophames
— Chocolate-brown, unstreaked, with rosy edgings ; black or clear ash on head.
(Western.) : Leucosticte
— Streaky ; no yellow; jiextensively red; 9 dark and white. Bill turgid. (E. and
W.U.S.) . . % . . Carpodacus
— Streaky, with dusky or flaxen-brown and ‘haben crown crimson. Bill acute.
(Boreal.) . . . » Lgiothus
— Streaky everywhere, no red or pure black, some yellowish. Bill acute. (N. Am.)
Chrysomitris
—Rieeniey « or not ; much yellow, wings and tail black,no red. Bill moderate. (U.S.)
Astragalinus
{Intermediate between Nos. 68 and 70] . Linota
Bill without ruff; nostrils exposed.
Hind claw lengthened, straightened. — Bill moderate; g with a colored cervical collar ; oblique white
on tail. (N.and W.N, A.) are . Centrophanes
_ Bil fii no raiean ootlaa-* ‘wransverse white on tail. (West-
ern.) . . . + « . Rhynchophanes
Hind and fore claws lengthened; all much curved ; ; inner reacting ae least 4 way to end of middle
aes — Spotted and streaked foxy or slaty sparrows, about 7.00 long. (N. Am.)
Passerella
— Black, white and chestnut, in masses. (A Western speciesof) . . . . Pipilo
Hind and fore claws not peculiar.
Length 4.50 or less. — g Black and white, 9 olivaceous and yellowish. (Texas.). . Spermophila
o Greenish blackening on head, @ greenish. (Florida.). . . Phonipara
Length 7.50 or more. — Tail longer than wings. Plain brown, etc., or black, white, and chestnut.
(U.S.) . BT AS Te Gospel wets c Pipilo
—Tail shorter than wings. ¢ breast - rose or ‘orange ; ; 9 sulphur or saftron
under wings (U.S.) ; P : . . Zamelodia
Length over 4.50, under 7.50.
Colors greenish —with yellow —on edge of wing, and —2 rufous crown-stripes. (Texas.)
Eimbernagra
— Crown chestnut, breast ashy. (West-
ern species of) . .:. . . Pipilo
—on all under parts—no head markings. (? of asouthern spe-
ciesof) . . A . Passerina
Colors not greenish, and not extensively and decidedly spotted or streaked.
Black, with great white wing-patch ; longest Pree about = longest primary.
(Western.) . . . Calamospiza
Blue, with chestnut o on ela di plain brown, 9; 3 over 6. 00 long. (U.S.) Guiraca
Blue, with red, purple, gold, white, or not, g ; brown, with white or not, 9 ; under
6.00 long. (U.S.).. . . . Passerina
Slate or ashy, red-backed or Hoty belly and 13 tail-feathers sabia. (N. Am.) Junco
Gray, throat and tail black, head with 2 white stripes, belly white. (Western.)
Amphispiza
Colors not greenish, but somewhere or everywhere spotted or streaked.
Inner secondaries lengthened, about equalling primaries in the closed wing.
A large white wing-patch. Upper parts much streaked. ( 9 of) . Calamospiza
Bend of wing chestnut ; outer tail-feather white ; no yellow anywhere. (N. Am.)
Powcetes
No white or chestnut area on wing, its edge (usually) yellowish. (N. Am.)
Tames
66
76
15
61.
189.
342 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing decidedly longer than tail.
Edge of wing and loral spot yed/ow ; breast buff; wing under 2.50. (Eastern.)
Coturniculus TT
With yellow on breast, edge of wing, over eye; black throat-patch or stripes.
(Eastern.) . . . Spiza 88
No yellow ; head striped with black, white, and chestnut ; tail black, white-tipped.
(Western.). . . . . Chondestes 85
No yellow ; ee ee throat black, 3. neeas ON . Passer 64
Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing not, or not decidedly, longer than tail.
Tail-feathers — very acute; bill—very slender. (Eastern, chiefly maritime.)
Ammodramus 78
—very stout. (Eastern, interior.) . .Coturniculus 77
—not acute ; tail—/forked. ae 6.00 or less; no yellow on wing.
(N. Am.) . 5 Ak Spizella 83
enuntied- _ “bine: edge of wing yellowish. (West-
ern.) . . . . . . Amphispiza 81
—not black, =Sireaied below, or crown
chestnut. (N.Am.). . Melospiza 179
—not streaked below. (S.
and W. U.8.). Peucea 80
or (N. Am.) Zonotrichia 84
*,* The commonest ‘‘ sparrows” of Eastern U. S., which the student will be most likely to find first, belong
to the genera Passer, Spizella, Melospiza, Zonotrichia, Passerella, Passerculus, Poceecetes, Coturniculus (these
anywhere); Ammodramus (marshes only); common but more distinguished fringillines are Carpodacus, Astra-
galinus, Chrysomitris, Passerina, Spiza, Pipilo, and Cardinalis. Winter visitors, in flocks, are Loxia, Pinicola,
Plectrophanes, Centrophanes, Zigiothus, and Junco.
HESPEROPHO'NA. (Gr. éomépa, Hesperus, place of sunset; vy, voice.) AMERICAN
HawFIncuHeEs. Bill enormously large, vaulted, nearly as wide as high at base ; culmen nearly
straight to the decurved end; commissure curved without obvious angulation ; gonys very long,
and mandibular rami short, not reaching back of
base of upper mandible; mandibles of equal thick-
ness, lower not so deep as upper; lateral outlines of
bill converging straight to tip. Nasal fosse ex-
tremely short and broad; nostrils slightly overhung
by antrorse plumule. Wings long, pointed, folding
beyond middle of tail, pointed by first two primaries,
the rest rapidly graduated; no peculiar shape of
inner primaries or outer secondaries. Tail rather
short, emarginate, with long -coverts, the under
reaching nearly to the forking. Feet small and
weak; tarsus shorter than middle toe without
claw; lateral toes of about equal lengths, their claws
reaching only to base of middle claw. Coloration
Fic. 206, — Evening Grosbeak, reduced. black, white, and yellow. Sexes dissimilar. Little
(Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) different from Old World Coccothraustes, excepting
coloration and simplicity of wing-quills.
H. vespertina. (Lat. vespertina, of Hesperus. Fic. 206.) Eventnc Grospeak. Adult
& : General color sordid yellow, oyerlaid with a sooty-olive shade, deepest on fore parts, quite
black on crown, clearest below behind. Forehead and line over eye, scapulars, and rump,
yellow. Wings and tail black; several inner secondaries and inner half of the greater coverts
white ; lining of wings black and yellow. A narrow black line around base of upper man-
dible; tibia black. Bill greenish-yellow; feet apparently dusky flesh-color. Length
7.50-8.50; wing 4.00-4.50; tail 2.50-3.00; bill 0.75 long, 0.67 deep, 0.60 broad. 9:
Brownish-ash, paler below, whitening on belly, irregularly patched or mixed with yellowish ;
white of wings imperfect, or tinged with yellow ; primaries, which are quite black in , with
62.
190.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 343
large white spaces on inner webs, and sometimes tipped with white. Adult g 9 differ in the
shade of yellow and degree of its obscuration. (Specimens from Southern Rocky Mts. said
to have less turgid bill and narrower yellow frontlet.) A bird of distinguished appearance,
whose very name suggests the far-away land of the dipping sun, and the tuneful romance
which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day; clothed in striking color-contrasts
of black, white, and gold, he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutation ; for his
sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, as night encompasses the golden hues
of sunset, while the clear white space enfolded in these tints foretells the dawn of the morrow.
Western U. S. and somewhat northward; E. in region of great lakes to N. Y. and Canada
and probably New England ; irregularly migratory; common. Nest and eggs unknown.
PINI/COLA. (Lat. pinus, a pine; colo, I cultivate.) Pinz Buxurincues. Bill short,
stout, about as high as broad, sides convex in all directions, culmen convex throughout, tip
hooked ; commissure gently curved throughout, without decided angulation ; gonys relatively
long, rami of under mandible short, former nearly straight, latter coming together in a very
broad gentle curve; commissural edge inflected. Nostrils small, round, basal, concealed by
the ruff of antrorse plumules ; nasal fossee short and broad. Wings of moderate length, tipped
by 2d-4th quills, Ist and 5th a little shorter ; 2d—5th with outer webs incised; no peculiarity’
of inner quills. Tail little shorter than wings, emarginate, its short coverts scarcely or not
reaching half-way to end. Feet small; tarsus not longer than middle toe without claw, 7-scu-
tellate in front, laminiplantar behind, but the outer of these plates commonly subdivided into 3
or 4 below! Lateral toes short, their claws scarcely surpassing base of middle one, outer
rather longer than inner; hind toe less in length than inner lateral; its claw shorter, though
stouter and more curved than the middle. Sexes
unlike; g red, 9 gray. One species.
P. enuclea/tor. (Lat. enucleator, one who shells
out. Fig. 207.) Pine Grospeax. Adult ¢:
Light carmine or rosy-red, feathers of back with
dusky centres; lower belly and under tail-coverts
gray, and, in general, the red continuous only in
highly plumaged specimens. Nasal tufts and lores
blackish. Wings blackish; primaries with narrow
white or rosy edging, inner secondaries more broadly
edged with white, ends of greater and middle coverts
white or rosy, forming conspicuous wing-bars.
Tail like wings, with narrow edgings like those
of primaries. Bill blackish, with or without paler
base below; feet blackish. Length about 8.50;
wing 4.50 or more; tail 4.00. 9: Ashy-gray,
paler below; feathers of the back with darker cen- Fic. 207.— Pine Grosbeak, reduced. (Shep-
tres, those of head, rump, aud fore parts generally parddel. Nichols sc.)
skirted with a saffron or yellowish color, very variable in extent and tint, from dull gamboge-
yellow to olive-orange, or rusty-orange, or even reddish; in some specimens crown and rump
quite bricky-red. Throat sometimes abruptly paler than surrounding parts. Rather smaller
than @. Young ¢ resembles 9. Northern portions of both hemispheres; in America, in
summer, Alaska, British America and N. border of U.8., the Rocky Mts. to Colorado, and
Sierra Nevada to Califoruia; in winter, range extended sometimes to Maryland, Ohio, Ilinois
and Kansas. Inhabits chiefly coniferous woods, in flocks when not breeding, feeding upon
the fruit of such trees. A fine musician, of amiable disposition and gentle manners, often
caged. Nest composed of a basement of twigs and rootlets, within which is a more compact
fabric of finer materials; eggs usually 4, pale greenish-blue, spotted and blotched with dark
brown surface-markings and lilac shell-spots ; 1.05 x 0.74.
63.
191.
1,192,
4!
344 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
PYR/RHULA. (Lat. pyrrhula, a bullfinch.) BULLFINCHES. Generic characters of Pinicola
as above given; the lesser hook of the bill and different style of coloration being the principal
distinction. Colors in masses of black, white or gray, and red. ,
P. cas/sini. (To John Cassin. Fig. 208.)
Cassin’s BuuirincH. Above, clear ashy-
gray; below, cinnamon-gray; rump and under
wing- and tail-coverts white; wings and tail,
crown, chin and face black ; outer tail-feathers
with a white patch, greater wing-coverts
tipped and primaries edged with whitish ; bill
black, feet dusky. Length 6.50; wing 3.50;
tail 3.25. Nulato, Alaska, only one specimen
known, marked @, but having all the charac-
ters of a 9; nearest related to P. cocet::.2 of
Asia, and originally described as a variety of
that species.
Fig. 208, — Cassin’s Bullfinch, reduced. (From Baird.)
» PASSER. (Lat. passer, a sparrow: this very species.) SpaRRows. Form stout -and
stocky. Bill very stout, shaped somewhat as in Carpodacus, but without nasal ruff. Cul-
men curved; commissure little angulated; gonys convex, ascending; lateral outlines of bill
bulging to near the end. Wing pointed; Ist, 2d, and 3d primaries nearly equal and
longest ; 4th little shorter, rest graduated; inner secondaries not elongate. Tail shorter than
wings, nearly even. Feet small; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw; lateral toes of
equal lengths, their claws not reaching to base of middle claw. Sexes unlike. g with black
and chestnut on head. Middle of back only streaked. Old World: two species naturalized in
North America.
P. domes’ticus. (Lat. domesticus, domestic. Fig. 209.) THe Sparrow. Purip Spar-
row. Hovuss Sparrow. Parasire. Tramp. Hoopium. Gamin. @, adult: Upper
parts ashy-gray; middle of back and scapulars boldly streaked with black and bay. A dark
chestnut or mahogany space behind eye, spreading on side of neck. Lesser wing-coverts deep
chestnut ; median tipped with white, forming a conspicuous wing-bar, bordering which is a
black line. Greater coverts and inner quills with central black field bordered with bay. Tail
dusky-gray, unmarked. Lower parts ashy, gray or whitish; chin and throat jet black,
spreading on the breast and lores, bordered on side of neck with white. Bill blue-black ; feet
brown. Wing about 3.00; tail 2.25. 9, adult: Above, brownish-gray; streaking of back
light ochrey-brown and black; wing-edgings light ochrey-brown, the white bar impure.
No black, mahogany, or white on head; a pale brown postocular stripe; bill blackish-
brown, yellowish at base below. Varies endlessly in the purity or dinginess of coloration.
Young ¢ at first like 9. Europe, etc. Imported about fifteen years ago, during a craze
which even affected some ornithologists, making people fancy that a granivorous conirostral
bird would rid us of insect-pests, this sturdy and invincible little bird has overrun the whole
country, and proved a nuisance without a redeeming quality. Well-informed persons
denounced the bird without avail during the years when it might have been abated, but
further protest is futile, for the sparrows have it all their own way, and can afford to laugh at
legislatures, like rats, mice, cockroaches and other parasites of the human race which we have
imported. This species, of all birds, naturally attaches itself most closely to man, and easily:
modifies its habits to suit such artificial surroundings; this ready yielding to conditions of
environment, and profiting by them, makes it one of the creatures best fitted to survive in the
struggle for existence under whatever conditions man may afford or enforce; hence it wins in
every competition with native birds, and in this country has as yet developed no counteractive
influences to restore a disturbed balance of forces, nor any check whatever upon its limitless
193,
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 345
increase. Its habits need not be noted, as they are already better known to everyone than
those of any native bird whatever. :
T. monta‘nus. (Lat. montanus, of mountains. Fig. 209.) Mountain Sparrow. Sorne-
what like the last, but smaller and otherwise different. @: Crown and nape a peculiar pur-
plish-brown. Lores, chin, and throat black, the throat-patch narrow and short, not spreading
on breast, contrasted with ashy-white on side of head and neck; ear-coverts blackish. Back
Fig. 209. — Exotic Sparrows. Lowest one, P. domesticus; next one, P. montanus; reduced, (From Brehm.)
and scapulars streaked with black and bay, the streaking reaching to the purplish: nape ;
rump and tail plain grayish-brown. Wings marked much as in P. domesticus, with a black.
and white bar across tips of median coverts, but also a narrow white bar across tips of greater
coverts. Primaries more varied with ochrey-brown on outer webs, forming a basal spot and
other edging. Below, ashy-gray, shaded on sides, flanks, and crissum with grayish-brown.
Bill blue-black ; feet brown. Wing 2.75; tail 2.50. 9 differs much as before. Europe;
naturalized about St. Louis and elsewhere. :
65.
194.
346 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
CARPO'DACUS. (Gr. xapmés, karpos, fruit; dSdxos, dakos, biting.) PuRPLE BULLFINCHES.
Bill smaller and less turgid than in Pimicola or Pyrrhula, more regularly conic and more acute;
sides convex in all directions, but with distinct ridge prolonged in a point on forehead where
not concealed by the anti, its outline moderately curved ; com-
missure decidedly angulated, about straight before and behind the
; O bend; gonys quite straight. Nasal ruff little developed, barely
concealing the slight nasal fossee, thence falling over sides of bill,
but discontinuous across culmen. Wings long and pointed, fold-
ing half-way to end of tail or farther, pointed by first 3 or 4 quills.
Tail much shorter than wings, considerably forked, with rather
narrow feathers; both sets of coverts reaching more than half.
way to end. Feet small and weak; tarsus shorter than middlc
toe; lateral toes subequal, outer rather longer than inner, their claws reaching base of middle
claw. Sexes unlike. extensively red of some shade, 9 streaky brown and white. Head
with erectile feathers, but not fairly crested. A beautiful genus, of several species of New and
Old World.
Fie. 210. — Bill of Purple
Finch, nat. size.
Analysis of Species ( #).
Bill conic-acute, with scarcely convex culmen ; edgings of wing- and tail-feathers reddish.
Large: length 6 50-7.00; bill at least 0.50 along culmen. Under tail-coverts streaked with dusky centres
of the feathers. Crimson crown well distinguished from merely reddish-brown back. (Southwestern
U. 82): : cassini 195
Medium: length 5 15-6. 25 ; bill not 0. 50 ‘along einen: Under ‘tail parents scarcely or n«.. streaked.
Crimson of crown not well distinguished from that of back. (U.S.). .. . .- . nurpureus 104
Bill conoid-obtuse, with very convex culmen. Edgings of wing- and tail-feathers whitish.
Small: length scarcely 6.00; bill about 0.40 along culmen. Front, line over eye, rump and throat red,
more or less contrasting with brown ot white of other parts.
Red pretty definitely restricted to the areas said (Southwestern U.S.) . . . .. . . Jrontalis 196
Red spreading over other parts (Californian coast). . ..... s 1 es « + Phodocolpus 197
C. purpu/reus, (Lat. purpureus, purple. Figs. 210, 211.) Purpie Frvcu (better Crim-
son Fincu.) Adult g: Rose-red, paler below, insensibly whitening on belly and crissum,
brightest anteriorly, intensified to crimson on crown, darker and more brownish-red on banks
where also streaked with dark brown. Wings and tail
dusky, the quills edged and coverts tipped with brownish-
red. lores and feathers about base of bill hoary-whitish.
Bill and feet brown, the under mandible rather paler.
Length 6.00-6.25; extent 10.00-10.60; wing 3.00-3.25 ;
tail 2.25-2.50 ; tarsus 0.62; middle toe and claw 0.87; bill
under 0.50. The shade of red is very variable, almost any-
thing but purplish — according to season, and age and
vigor of the individual. In high feather, the crown is
richer crimson than any other part, but does not form a
definite cap. The auriculars are dusky, and there is an
appreciably light rosy stripe over them. Younger f fg
have frequently a bronzy shade. @ and young: Oliva-
ceous-brown, more clearly olivaceous on rump, everywhere
streaked with dusky. Below, white, marked everywhere
except on throat, belly, and crissum with streaks and Fig, 211.— Purple Finch, g', reduced.
arrow-heads of dusky olive-brown; the latter pretty (Sheppard del. Nichols, se.)
evenly distributed on breast, former the same on sides, on the sides of neck and throat con-
fluent and gathered into a maxillary series running up to the bill, separated by a poorly-
defined whitish area from the olive-brown auriculars, over which is a whitish postocular
streak, Wings and tail as in g, but the edgings plain brown. Length 5.70-5.90; extent
195.
196.
FRINGILLIDE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 34T
9.50-10.00; wing about 3.00. Young ¢ cannot be certainly distinguished from ¢ ; in general,
duller and grayer brown, with less of the olive shade; the red first shows pale or bronzy in
slight touches. Cage-birds sometimes turn yellowish after moulting, as is the case with
various other red finches. U. 8. from Atlantic to Pacific, excepting probably the Southern
Rocky Mt. region; N. to Labrador and the Saskatchewan. Breeds from the Middle States
northward; winters in most of the U. S., particularly the M. and S. States. An engaging
bird, of bright colors and sweet song, and many amiable traits, among them its fondness for
the society of man; it comes fearlessly about our houses to build its own, which is generally
situated on a horizontal bough or fork, composed of the most miscellaneous materials, almost
any vegetable fibre being available for the flat and shallow structure; it is usually lined with
hair, and the eggs, to the number of 4 or 5, are pale dull greenish, or almost whitish, sparsely
sprinkled and scratched with blackish surface-markings and lilac shell-spots ; size about 0.85
X 0.65 ; two broods are often reared. When not breeding the birds are generally found in
flocks, and it is to be feared they do damage in the spring to the blossoms of fruit-trees.
C. cassi/ni. (To John Cassin.) Cassin’s Purpie Finou. Adult ¢: In highest plumage
duller than C. purpureus, excepting on crown. Middle of the back brown, tinged with red,
the feathers dusky-centred, gray-edged ; crown crimson, the cap not so extensive as in purpu-
reus, and quite well defined, separated by a dusky and gray interval from the color of the back.
Under tail-coverts with dusky shaft lines, usually wanting in purpureus. Larger: length
6.50~-7.00 ; extent 11.00-11.50; wing 3.50; tail 2.50; bill atleast 0.50 along culmen, usually
more, relatively less turgid than in pwrpureus. Iris brown; feet blackish-brown; bill above
dark bluish horn-color, below dusky flesh-tinted. The sexual changes are the same as in the
last species ; it is not, so easy to distinguish the 9 and young @ from those of purpureus, but
they are larger, with longer and less tumid bill, and more streaked’ on the crissum. Very
young birds have an ochraceous or light rufous suffusion, especially noticeable on the under
parts; the streaks are more numerous and diffuse. Rocky Mts. of U. 8. and westward, espe-
cially the Southern Rocky Mt. region, as Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico; N. to
British Columbia; E. to Wind River mountains; 8. to table lands of Mexico. Habits the
same as those of the purple finch; eggs not fairly distinguishable.
C. fronta/lis. (Lat. frontalis, pertaining to the front.) CRIMSON-FRONTED Fincu. Houses
Fincu. Burion. Adult ¢: Grayish-brown above, somewhat varied with darker centres and
paler edges of the feathers, and for the most part tinged with red. Below dull white, streaked
with dark brown, often tinged with red. Fore part of crown, superciliary line, rump, throat,
breast and sometimes side of head, crimson. Wings and tail dark brown, with narrow pale
edgings. Bill dusky-brown above, paler below; feet and eyes brown. Length about 6.00;
extent scarcely 10.00; wing 3.00; tail 2.50; scarcely forked; tarsus 0.67; bill 0.40, very
turgid, almost as in Pinicola or Pyrrhula. 9: Like g, but without any red; upper parts
more varied with darker centres and paler edges of the feathers, and entire under parts streaked
like belly of g. Young ¢ resembles the 9, but at an early age is browner, and’ apt to have
buffy edgings of the wings. Colors of adult ¢ as variable as those of purpwreus or more so.
In winter, the red less intense and more diffuse, and may have a rosy or purplish tint, or be
interrupted with grayish edgings of the feathers. Generally in the Colorado Valley, where the
typical form is developed, the red is restricted to the parts said, but the constant tendency is to
spread; the back and belly have usually in fact a tinge of red, and in some cases the whole
head and fore parts are thus encrimsoned. U. S., rather southerly, from the Rocky Mts. to the
interior ranges of California; Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico; abundant in
those regions, and as familiar as a swallow or chip-bird, nesting in the streets and gardens,
where its bright colors, hearty song, and sprightly ways make it a welcome visitor. The nest-
ing is like that of the purple finch in essential particulars; the eggs are smaller, paler, and of
more fugitive bluish tint, with the blackish sprinkling sparser ; size 0.68 X 0.60 to 0.75 X 0.54.
197.
66.
198.
348 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
C. f. rhodocol/pus. (Gr. fd3ov, rhodon, the rose; xédmos, kolpos, the breast.) RoseE-
BREASTED Fincn. This alleged variety resembles the last; crimson tints more diffuse.
Pacific coast region of California and southward.
LOX/IA. (Gr. Aofds, lowos, crooked.) CRross-BILLS. Bill metagnathous; both mandibles
faleate, deflected to opposite sides, their points crossed (unique among birds). Upper mandible
stout and broad at base, rapidly narrowing to the elongate, decurved, laterally deflected and
overhanging tip, its sides nearly flat, culminal ridge well marked and very convex throughout;
its base beset with a ruff of antrorse plumules concealing nostrils and nasal fosse. Lower man-
dible with gonys very long, occupying nearly all the exposed part of the bill, convex throngh-
out, the end of the mandible prolonged, curved upward and deflected to one side. Commissural
line of either mandible curved in the opposite direction from its fellow. Mouth very narrow
anteriorly, ample at base; tongue horny and concave at end; cesophagus with a large special
erop, bulging to the right side. Wings long, pointed by tips of the first three primaries, rest
rapidly graduated. Tail very short, only about $ as long as the wing, emarginate and divari-
cate, covered nearly to the forking by the coverts both above and below. Feet small; tarsus
shorter than middle toe without claw ; covered with 3 or 4 large overlapping plates, and smaller
ones above and below; the postero-lateral plates much broken up below. Lateral toes of sub-
equal lengths, tips of their claws falling opposite base of middle claw. Hind claw about equal
to its digit, longer; stouter, and more curved
than the middle one. Form stout, thick-
set; ueck short; head broad and flattened
ontop. Plumage soft and blended. Sexes
dissimilar in color. @ red, 9 brown with
olive or yellowish tinge. There are several
species of these singular finches, — finches
in which not only the horny envelope of the
beak, but the bony framework, and to some
extent the ligaments and muscles acting
upon it, are unsymmetrical. The struct-
ures concerned in what would appear to a
fool to be a deformity constitute a handy
tool for cracking nuts of some kinds and
shelling out their kernels; it acts like a
pair of cutting pliers, — pincers and scissors
in one. Our two species inbabit the nurthern parts of America, coming southward in flocks in
the fall; but they are also resident in northern and mountainous parts of the U. 8., where they
sometimes breed in winter. They are irregularly migratory according to exigencies of weather
and food-supply ; are eminently gregarious, and feed principally upon pine seeds, which they
skilfully husk out of the cones with their curious bills.
Analysis of Species.
Wings with two white bars. j rosy-red; 9 brownish-olive, streaked and spotted with dusky, the rump
saffron-yellow Wy ah ee - . leucoptera 198
Wings without bars. "Gf bricky-red. 9 as before, without wing-bars,
Bill small, about 3 of aninchlong . . Se wt Be eh a VC Te I oe . + + americana 199
Bill large, }-¢o0f aninchlong ...... Ob ae De ie Oe a ae Gk ai A ney + « mexicana 200
L, leucop’tera. (Gr. Aeukds, leukos, white ; rrepov, pteron, wing. Fig. 212.) WHITE-wINGED
Cross-Bitu. Adult ¢ : Rosy-red, sometimes carmined or even crimsoned, obscured on middle
of back, paling on lower belly and crissum, latter whitish with dusky centres of the feathers.
Scapulars black, this color sometimes meeting across lower back. Wing- and tail-feathers
black, with slight white or rosy edgings; inner secondaries and greater and middle coverts
tipped with white, forming two cross-bars, sometimes confluent in one large patch. Rather
Fic, 212. White-winged Crossbill, reduced. (After
Audubon.)
199.
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 349
larger than the next, the bill thinner and more attenuate. Q and young: Though the differ-
ences are parallel with those of ZL. americana, some peculiarity in tone of color usually serves
to distinguish the two species, independently of the white wing-marks, which exist in both
sexes at all ages. The difference is something like that between the 9 9 of Pyranga estiva
and P. rubra, in the presence of ochrey or buffy tints, instead of clear olivaceous or yellowish.
Upper parts fuscous, closely lined with an ochrey-olive or dingy ochre, the rump bright yellow-
ochre. Below, the gray overlaid with ochreous, and further varied with dark gray centres of
the feathers, tending to streaks on the flanks. The whole tone of coloration varies inter-
minably ; the under parts and rump are sometimes bright tawny yellow, or brownish-orange.
Some ¢ ¢ are brilliant carmine, some 9 Q pale orange, almost uniform. North Am.,
northerly ; Alaska; Greenland; casual in Europe. In winter 8. in most of the U. 8., in
flocks with the next, not so common. Resident in N. New England, and along whole N. tier
of States, probably breeding also in alpine U. S. localities to Pennsylvania and Colorado.
Breeds in winter and early spring, nesting like that of the next species ; eggs pale blue, dotted
chiefly at the larger end with black and lilac; 0.80 x 0.56.
L. curviros'tra america’na. (Lat. curvirostris, curve-billed. Fig. 213.) AMERICAN RED
Cross-BiLL. Adult #: Red;
wings and tail blackish, with-
out white markings. Middle
of back darker, more browu-
ish-red than elsewhere, the
feathers with dusky centres.
In the highest feather, even,
the red is scarcely continuous
except on head and rump,
where brightest; lower belly
and crissum usually gray or
pale. Though the shade of
red is never rosy or carmine
as in the last, it varies inter-
minably. It is usually tile-
red or cinnabar, heightening
in some cases to vermilion, in
others shading to brownish-
red, and often mixed not only with gray, but with olivaceous or saffron-yellowish tints.
Orange, chrome or gamboge @ gf are sometimes seen. Length about 6.00; wing 8.50; tail
2.50; bill (chord of culinen) 0.67 or less, very variable ; under mandible usually weaker than
upper. Q and young: Dull greenish-olive, much mixed with gray or dusky, brighter and
more yellowish on head and rump; below, gray, most feathers skirted with dingy yellowish,
overcasting most of the plumage. Very young are dusky, streaked with grayish-white, usually
no trace of olivaceous ; below gray, streaked with dusky; bill weak. From such state as this.
the ¢ usually passes through stages resembling the 9, being found in every possible patchy
state of mixed gray, olive and dusky-reddish ; sometimes appears to pass directly into the red
state, and the same is doubtless the case, with other species. N. Am., alpine and northerly ;
S. in most of the U.S. in winter, on the E. side usually to Pa. and Md.; resident in Maine,
in mountains 8. to Pa.; and in the Rocky and other Mts. of the West; abundant, in gentle and
unwary but timid flocks, usually including some individuals of the other species, fluttering and
ereeping about in the foliage of coniferous trees. Nesting often in winter or early spring when
snow still covers the ground; nest in forks or among twigs of a tree, founded on a mass of
twigs and bark-strips, the inside felted of finer materials, including small twigs, rootlets,
Fic. 213. — Common Crossbill, ¢ 9, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
200.
67.
201.
202.
350 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
grasses, hair, feathers, etc.; eggs 3-4, 0.75 X 0.57, pale greenish, spotted and dotted about
larger end with dark purplish-brown, with lavender shell-markings.
L. c. mexica‘na. Mrxican Cross-Bitu. Like the last; the bill larger, 0.75 or more long,
the under mandible especially more robust. Southern Rocky Mts: and southward on the table
lands of Mexico.
LEUCOSTIC'TE. (Gr. Aevukos, leukos, white; orixrn, sticte, varied. Fig.215.) Rosy FIncues.
Bill small, conic-acute, ruffed at base with antrorse plumules meeting over culmen and con-
cealing the short nasal fossee and small nostrils. Side of under mandible (in typical species)
with a sharp ridge running obliquely upward and forward. Culmen ridged between two slight
depressions parallel with itself, gently convex throughout. No obvious angulation of commis-
sural edge of upper mandible ; that of lower with decided bend; gonys straight. Wings long,
folding beyond middle of tail, tipped by first 3 primaries, 4th shorter. Tail of moderate length,
forked, its feathers rather broad, its coverts reaching about + way to end. Tarsus not shorter
than middle toe without claw ; lateral toes unequal, inner shorter, its claw not reaching base
of middle claw. Hind claw about as long as its digit, more curved and longer than middle
claw. Sexes somewhat dissimilar. Coloration peculiar; usually chocolate-brown, enriched
with rose or carmine, shaded with silvery-gray or black ; one species mostly silvery-gray. The
American representative of the Old World genus Montifringilla. Terrestrial, highly gre-
garious ; nest on ground ; eggs immaculate white. Numerous species of this very interesting
genus are scarcely stable; I present the forms that are usually recognizable. The nearest
Aimerican relative is A’giothus ; the general economy is more that of Plectrophanes.
Analysis of Species.
Under mandible ridged. Body-color chocolate-brown or darker.
No ash on head (Colorado) . . . 2 6 6 ee ee ee ee eee ni - australis 202
Ash on head confined to the top.
Coloration blackish (Colorado) . . 1. 2-1 ee ee ee ee te ee atrata 201
Coloration chocolate(W. America) ., . 2. 1 2 eee ee he te tephrocotis 203
Ash spreading on sides of head.
Smaller: wing 4.20. (W. America). . ee ee ee ee il anal ap ae . litoralis 204
Larger: wing 4.60. (Alaska) c ose ey are stk es + + 2 + griseinucha 205
Under mandible smooth.
Dusky-purplish and silvery-gray, withrosy ........ lee 5 » » @retoa 206
L. atra/ta. (Lat. atrata, blackened.) Ripa@way’s Rosy Fincu. Sexes unlike. @, in
April: Pattern of coloration and distribution of tints as in tephrocotis proper (see beyond) ;
nasal tufts white, and occiput ashy, as in that species, but the chocolate-brown of tephrocotis
replaced by black, deepest anteriorly and on under parts, sooty-brownish on the back. Bill
black (April) or yellow (September). Size of tephrocotis. 9, in April: Black of g repre-
sented by dark slate-gray, more brownish on back, the rosy markings duller and more restricted ;
size rather less. This form occurs in the mountains of Colorado and Utah. We know neither
the summer nor winter plumage of this bird; no winter plumage nor whereabouts of australis ;
nor young nor breeding plumage of tephrocotis ; -— points to be ascertained before we can decide
the status of several alleged species of the genus.
L, austra/lis. (Lat. australis, southern.) ALLEN’s Rosy Finca. Sexes unlike. , breed-
ing plumage: Rich chocolate or umber-brown, the feathers of the back with darker shaft-lines
and paler edges, those of the under parts darker and somewhat purplish-brown. Red parts of
the body heightened to intense crimson, extending farther forward than in tephrocotis, some-
times skirting all the feathers of the under parts; especially strong on the wing- and tail-coverts
and belly. No pure ash whatever on head; whole pileum black or blackish, purest anteriorly,
duller behind. Nasal tufts white. Bill and feet black. Length 6.75; wing 4.00-4.40, aver-
aging in 69 specimens 4.30; tail 2.80-3.35, average 3.10; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.75. When not
in highest feather, carmine toned down to more pink or rosy. In winter, bill yellow, changing
to black through various cloudings. 9, in summer: While generally like %, having black
203.
204.
205.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 351
bill and no ash on head, averages a little smaller, and is much duller colored; brown parts of
a grayish cast; rosy reduced or almost extinguished, chiefly traceable on rump and wing-
-coverts ; abdomen scarcely tinted, and quills and tail-feathers with whitish instead of rosy edg-
ings. Wing 4.00-4.20, averaging little over 4.00; tail 2.90-3.25, average 3.00. Colorado
and New Mexico, breeding up to 12,000 feet; a curious southerly local race of the genus.
L. tephroco'tis. (Gr. reppds, tephros, gray; ovs, dros, ous, otos, the ear. Fig. 214.) Swatn-
son’s Rosy Fixcu. Sexes similar. Adult ¢,in breeding plumage or nearly sv: Bill and feet
black. Nasal plumules white. Frontlet black; rest of pileum hoary-ash, not descending
below level of eyes and upper border of
auriculars (for when the ash invades the
sides of head to any extent, the bird
takes the first step toward litoralis, in
which the head is extensively hooded in
ash). General color, sides of head in-
cluded, chocolate or liver-brown of vary-
ing intensity, many feathers skirted with
gray or whitish, especially the inter-
seapulars, which also have dusky centres,
and inclining to blackish on chin and
throat. Hinder parts of the body above
and below, including tail-coverts, rich Fic. 214.— Rosy Finch, reduced, (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
rosy or carmine red, this color due to broad edgings of the dusky feathers of these parts.
Wings and tail blackish, the wing-coverts and primaries edged with rosy, showing nearly
continuous in the closed wing; edgings of inner secondaries rosy-white or white. Length
(average) 6.75; wing 4.00-4.45, average 4.25; tail 2.50-3.00, average 2.75; culmen 0.40-
0.50, average 0.45; tarsus 0.75-0.85, average 0.80. 9, adult: Very similar; pattern identi-
cal; tone subdued; size a little less; length 6.60; wing 4.10; tail 2.65. @9 in winter:
Bill yellow; pattern unchanged; coloration less vivid, the brown rather umber than chocolate,
the red rather rosy than carmine. Rocky Mt. region, from the Saskatchewan or beyond, through
most of the U. S. in winter; breeding limits unknown, supposed to be Northern Rocky Mts.
of U. S. and beyond. This is the central figure in the genus. It runs directly into
L. t. litora/lis. (Lat. litoralis, littoral.) Barrp’s Rosy Fincu. Like the last; the ash
spreading over the head, more or less, sometimes almost enveloping it like a hood, and even
occupying the chin in extreme cases. Size of the last. Northwest coast; in summer unknown,
in winter spreading from Kadiak S. and E. to California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado; very
abundant, in flocks mixed with tephrocotis proper.
L. griseinu/cha. (Low Lat. griseus, gray, and mucha, nape. Fig. 215.) Branpt’s Rosy
Fivcu. Like the littoral variety of tephrocotis, in having the ashy extending over the sides of
the head; this color settled in a definite hood, said to never invade
the chin. The resident form of the N. W. coast and islands, from
Kadiak W. and N. Much larger than Nos. 203-4; length 7.00
or more; wing 4.50 (4.25-4.85) ; tail 3.50 (3.15-3.90) ; culmen
0.57; tarsus 0.95. Sexes scarcely distinguishable. Bill black or
yellow according to season. Young “uniform brownish-gray,
' washed with umber; wings and tail dusky-slate, the feathers
Fie. 215, — Brandt's Rosy bordered with paler; the edges of the lesser wing-coverts and
Finch. (After Baird.) remiges very pale pinkish ; of the greater wing-coverts and tertials
pale dull ochraceous; no black or gray about head ; bill horn-color.” Nest well made of
grasses and mosses, lined with feathers, on the ground or among rocks; eggs 3-6, generally 4,
pure white, 0.97 < 0.67.
352 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PASSERES — OSCINES.
206. L. arcto'a. (Gr. dyxros, arktoios, northern.) Patias’s Rosy Fincu. Dusky-purplish ;
neck above pale yellowish; forehead and nasal feathers blackish; outer webs of quills and
wing-coverts, tail-coverts, ramp and erissuin silvery-gray, rosy-margined. (urile and Aleu-
tian Islands; Siberia. Subgenerically different from any of the foreguing.
68. AXGIOTHUS. (Gr. Alyiofos, nom. propr. Fig. 216.) Rev-potn Lixxets. Bill small,
short, straight, very acute, more or less compressed, the lateral outlines usually a little concave,
those of culmen and gonys straight ; commissure straight to the slight angulation. Base of bill
thickly beset with a ruff of antrorse plumules, concealing the small nasal fossee and round
nostrils. Wings longer than tail, pointed by first 3 primaries.
Tail rather long for this group, forked. Feet small and weak,
but tarsi longer than middle toe without claw; lateral toes of
equal lengths, their claw-tips falling beyond base of middle claw.
Hind claw much longer, stouter and more curved than the mid-
dle, exceeding its digit in length. Size small; plumage streaky
with dusky, white, and flaxen colors, crown crimson, face and
throat blackish; sexes otherwise dissimilar; @ with rosy or
carmine on breast, wanting in 9. Scarcely different from Linota
(flavirostris, etc.) the pattern of coloration being the most avail-
able distinction. Arboreal, gregarious, highly boreal finches of
circumpolar distribution, breeding in high latitudes and alpine
regions, roving south in winter in great flocks. The species are
: 3 Fig. 216. — Details of Zgio-
much involved ; we have four recognizable forms. thus (2. hornemanni, nat. size).
(From Elliot.)
Analysis of Species.
Tarsus as long as middle toe and claw. Heavily streaked below. Rump always fully streaked.
Smaller: length about 5.50; wing 3.00; bill moderate (N. Am. atlarge) . . foe % . linaria 207
Larger: length about 6.00; wing 3.25; bill immoderate (Canada, ete.) . . . » +. . . holboelli 208
Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. Lightly or scarcely streaked below. Rump of adult ¢ immacu-
late white to some extent.
Smaller: length about 5.50; wing 3.00. Bill and feet small (Brit. Am. espa U.S.). . . eailipes 210
Larger: length about 6.00; wing 3.30. Bill and feet Jarge (Greenland). . é . hornemanni 209
207. . lina/ria. (Mat. linaria, flaxen; a limnet. Fig. 217.) Common Repeat, Adult g:
Frontlet, lores, and throat-spot sooty-black. Crown crimson. Above, variegated with brown-
ish-yellow and dusky, the feathers having dark
centres and flaxen edges. Rump streaked with
dusky and white, and tinged with rosy, more or
less so according to age and season. Below,
white, the sides and crissum streaked with dusky,
the entire fore-parts colored with rose-red more
or less rich and extensive according to same cir-
cumstances. Wings and tail dusky, the feathers
edged with whitish, the middle and greater
coverts tipped with the same, forming two cross-
bars. Bill black or yellow, usually found yel-
low with dusky tip and edges. Feet blackish.
Length 5.50; extent 9.00; wing 3.00; tail
2.50; bill 0.33; tarsus 0.65; middle toe and
claw the same. Adult 9: Wanting entirely
} or having but a trace of rosy on the rump and
Fic. 217.--Common Red-poll, reduced. (Shep- under parts. Breast with a dingy yellowish wash,
pard del. Nichols se.) streaked with dusky. Slightly smaller. Young:
Like 9, butthe # soon showing rosy. Young may usually be distinguished from the adult 9 by
208.
209.
210.
69.
211.
70.
FRINGILLIDZE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 803
a general buffy suffusion, especially on fore parts; edgings of wing likewise buffy; streaks below
less sharply defined ; crimson of crown restricted, or of a coppery or bronzy tint. In worn mid-
summer plumage the bird is very dark colored, almost entirely dusky. This bright little bird
inhabits northerly parts of both hemispheres, irregularly south in winter in N. Am. to about
35°; at times abundant, but erratic. Eggs 4-5, very pale bluish, finely speckled all over with
reddish-brown, 0.65 x 0.52. Nest in low trees and bushes.
. 1. hol/boelli. (To C. Holbéll, a Danish naturalist.) HonBéLi’s Rep-pouu. Like the
last; larger; length 6.00 or more ; wing 3.25 ; tail 2.75 ; bill longer and less constricted, with
straight lateral outlines and rather curved culmen. Europe and N. Am., especially Canada and
New England.
E. hor‘nemanni. (To J. W. Hornemann. Fig. 216.) GrerntaAND Meaty RED-POLL.
Bill regularly conic, only moderately compressed and acute, as high at base as long, color
varying with season from black to yellow. Frontlet black, overlaid with hoary. A recogni-
zable light superciliary stripe, reaching to the bill. Crimson cap over nearly all the crown.
Upper parts streaked with brownish-black and white, the latter edging and tipping the feathers ;
this white nearly pure, only slightly flaxen on sides of head and neck. Wings and tail as in
other species. Rump and entire under parts from the sooty throat white, free from spots, the
rump and breast rosy. Feet large and stout; tarsus rather longer than middle toe and claw.
Length 6.00; wing 3.30; tail 2.80; bill 0.34; tarsus 0.65 ; middle toe and claw 0.58. Sexual
and seasonal changes as before; quite dark in midsummer. Greenland and N. Europe. This
large hoary northern form is resident; never known to occur in the U. 8., and most of the con-
tinental Red-polls of even Arctic N. Am. belong to the next species.
ZB, exi/lipes. (Lat. exilis, exiguous, small; pes, foot.) AMERICAN MEALY Rep-Pouu. Bill
small, short, stout at base, regularly conic, little compressed, all its outlines about straight ;
nasal plumules very heavy, sometimes reaching half-way to tip of bill. Frontlet dusky, but
the feathers tipped with hoary; an appreciable light superciliary line ; lores and throat-spot
dusky. General color of upper parts as in maria, but the dusky streaks are smaller and less
distinct, especially on the anterior parts; and the flaxen is very pale, nearly white, disappear-
ing entirely on lower back, leaving a space streaked only with dusky and white. Rump snowy-
white, rosy-tinted, immaculate. Wings and tail as in other species; under parts white, the
breast with a rosy tint, paler than in limaria of same age and season; the sides streaked with
dusky, the markings sparser and less definite than in linaria; crissum almost immaculate.
Feet very small and weak, the toes especially shorter. Length 5.50; extent 9.00; wing 3.00;
tail 2.50; tarsus 0.55; middle toe without claw 0.28 ; middle toe and claw shorter than tarsus ;
bill 0.32. Seasonal and sexual differences as before. This form inhabits the whole of boreal
America, seldom reaching the U. 8. and only along the northern tier of States.
LINO’TA. (Latinized from Fr. linotte, a linnet.) Liynets. Character of Agiothus in
form ; no crimson crown. European.
L., flaviros/tris brew'steri? (Lat. flavirostris, yellow-billed. To Wm. Brewster, of Cam-
bridge.) Brewsrer’s Linnet. With the general appearance of an immature Agiothus,
this bird will be recognized by absence of crimson on crown, no black throat-spot, a sulphur-
yellowish shade on lower back, and somewhat different proportions. Wing 3.00; tail 2.50;
tarsus 0.50. Massachusetts, one specimen known. (Agiothus flavirostris, var. brewstert,
Ridg., Am. Nat., vi, July, 1872, p. 433; Hist. N. A. B., i, 1874, p. 501. Conjectured to be
Aigiothus linaria x Chrysomitris pinus.)
CHRYSOMI'TRIS. (Gr. ypvoopirpis, chrusomitris, having a golden head-dress.) SISKINS.
Bill exceedingly acute; its lateral outlines concave by compression of the sides toward the end,
culmen and gouys about straight, commissure angulated, cutting edges inflected, no ridges on
either mandible. Nasal tufts concealing the nostrils in their short fosse. Wings long,
exceeding the short, emarginate tail; point formed by the 1-3 or 4 quills, 5 and rest rapidly
23
212.
71.
213.
354 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
shorter. Tarsus about as long as middle toe with claw; lateral toes of equal lengths, their
claws reaching base of middle claw; hind claw shorter than its digit. Everywhere thickly
streaked. Nored. Sexes alike. Habit gregarious. Nest in trees. Eggs speckled.
C. pimus. (Lat. pinus, a pine. Fig. 218.) Pine Linner. Pine Fincu. AMERICAN Sis-
KIN. ¢ 9, adult: Continuously streaked, above with dusky or dark olivaceous-brown and
flaxen or whitish, below with dusky and whitish, the whole body usually suffused with yellowish,
most evident on the rump. Wings dusky, the basal
portion of all the quills and their inner webs for some
distance sulphury-yellow, usually showing externally
as a spot just beyond the coverts, sometimes restricted
and hidden. Outer webs of the quills also narrowly
edged with yellow, separated from the basal yellow
patch by a blackish interval. Tail dusky, its basal
half yellow, and outer webs edged with yellow. Bill
and feet brown. Length about 4.75; extent 8.75;
wing 8.75; tail 1.75. Very variable in yellowness of
tone, sometimes quite bright, again plain streaky,
dusky and whitish or flaxen; but the yellow colora-
tion of the wings and tail is distinctive. Young birds
have the markings diffuse, with a general buffy-
Fic. 218, — Pine Finch, reduced. (Sheppard brownish suffusion. N. Am. at large, breeding
del. Nichols sc.) northerly, ranging in flocks in the winter through
most of the U.S., abundant. Nest high in trees, preferably conifers; eggs pale greenish,
speckled with brown; about 0.70 x 0.50. Flight undulatory; voice querulous.
ASTRAGALINUS. (Gr. dorpayadivos, astragalinos, name of some bird.) AMERICAN GOLD-
Fincues. Like Chrysomitris. Bill stouter, less acuminate, without extreme lateral com-
pression, culmen rather convex, gonys quite straight; commissure strongly angulated; upper
mandible usually showing longitudinal striz. Nasal ruff evident, though short. Wings and
tail as in Chrysomitris; feet smaller; toes shorter ; lateral digits of unequal lengths; outer claw
rather overreaching, inner not reaching, base of middle claw. Coloration massed, not streaky ;
yellow, olive, black and white, no red. Sexes unlike. Eggs white.
: Analysis of Species
o yellow (in summer) with black cap, wings and tail, the
two latter white-marked (Eastern) tristis 213
¢ gray, varied with yellow on back, breast, and wings,
with black face, wings, and tail, latter white-marked
(Western). . . . ste eee + « lawrencit 214
¢ above olive or black, or mixed with both; yellow below ;
wings and tail black, white-marked (Western).
Back olive; crown black, not below eyes; large white
tail-spots . ae ee soe 6 «psaltria 215
Back mixed olive and black; crown black; moderate
white tail-spots ...... . . arizone 216
Back and crown black, to below eyes; small white
tail-spots . . . b& - 6 mexicanus 217
od yellow, with black yellow-spaced wings and tail, and
whole head black, (Mexico, etc.). . - + notatus 218
A. tris'tis. (Lat. tristis, sad; from its note. Fig. 219.)
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. YELLOW-BIRD. THISTLE- ue
BirD. @, in summer: Rich yellow, changing to fie; S10: — Agena.
ap ; Goldfinch, g, in
whitish on the tail-coverts; a black patch on the summer, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nicholssc.)
crown; wings black, more or less edged with white; lesser wing-coverts white or yellow;
greater coverts tipped with white; tail black, every feather with a white spot; bill and feet
214.
215.
216.
217.
FRINGILLIDZE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 355
flesh-colored. In September, the black cap disappears; the general plumage changes to a
pale flaxen-brown above and whitey-brown below, with traces of the yellow, especially
about the head; wings and tail much as in summer; sexes then much alike: this con-
tinues until the following April or May. Length 4.80-5.20; extent 8.75-9.25; wing 2.75;
tail 2.00; 9 olivaceous above, including the crown; below soiled yellowish, wings and tail
dusky, whitish-edged ; rather smaller than the ¢.
Yonng like the winter 9; when very young, suf-
fused with fulvous, and the wings edged with tawny.
N. Am., especially the Eastern U. §.; an abundant
and familiar species, conspicuous by its bright
colors, and plaintive lisping notes; in the fall,
collects in large flocks, and so remains until the
breeding season; irregularly migratory, but winters
as far north as New England; feeds especially on
the seeds of the thistle and buttonwood; flies in
an undulating course. Nest small, compact, built
of downy aud other soft pliant substances, placed
in a crotch; eggs 4-6, faintly bluish-white, nor- Fic. 220. — Lawrence’s Goldfinch, reduced.
mally unmarked, 0.65 « 0.50. (Altered from Audubon.)
A. lawren’cii. (To G. N. Lawrence, of New York. Fig. 220.) LawREncr’s GOLDFINCH.
¢@, in summer: Gray, more or less tinged with yellowish, whitening on the belly and crissuin ;
rump, a large breast-patch, and much of the back rich yellow; crown, face, and chin black ;
wings black, variegated with yellow, most of the coverts being of this color, and the same
broadly edging the quills; inner secondaries edged with hoary gray; tail black, most of the
feathers with large square white spots on the inner webs and whitish edging of the outer; bill
and feet flesh-color more or less obscured. The Q resembles the 2, but there is no black on
the head, and the yellow places are not so bright; yellow of the back often wanting. ¢ 9, in
winter: The yellowish of the upper parts changed to olive-gray, but the yellow of other parts
often as bright as in summer, and the black of the g’s head the same. Size of tristis, or
rather less; an elegant species. California, Arizona, and New Mexico. General habits the
same as those of C. tristis; nest and eggs indistinguishable.
A. psal'tria. (Gr. aArpia, psaltria, a lutist. Fig. 221.) ARKANSAWGOLDFINCH. 4, adult:
Upper parts uniform olive-green, without any
black; below yellow; crown black, this not
extending below eyes; wings black, most of
the quills and the greater coverts white-tipped,
and the primaries white at base; tail black,
the outermost three pairs of feathers with a
long rectangular white spot on the inner web.
Q and young similar, but not so bright, and
no black on the head; sometimes, also, no
decided white spots on the tail. Length 4.25—
4 4.50; wing 2.30; tail 2.00. Plains to the
Fic. 221, —Arkansaw Goldfinch, reduced. (After Pacific, U. 8., southerly; N. at least to the
Audubon.) head-waters of the Platte. A pretty species,
of the same habits as the common Goldfinch ; nest aud eggs the same. Southward this form
passes directly into
A. p. arizo/ne. (Lat., of Arizona.) Arizona GoLprinca. The upper parts mixed olive
and black in about equal amounts ; thus leading directly into
A. p. mexica/nus. (Lat. Mexican. Fig. 222.) Mexican Gouprincu. The upper parts con-
218.
72.
219.
356 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
tinuously-black, and the black of the crown extending below the eyes, enclosing the olive
under eyelid. Mexican border and southward. This bird looks quite unlike typical psaltria,
but the gradation through var. arizone is perfect; and mexicana, moreover, leads directly into
var. columbiana, a Central American form in which
the tail-spots are very small or wanting. The
females of these several varieties cannot be distin-
guished with certainty.
A. nota‘tus. (Lat. notatus, noted in any way.)
BLACK-HEADED GOoLDpFINCH. 4, adult: Bright
yellow, obscured on the back, head all around glossy
black, extending on fore-breast ; wings black, with
large basal area on all the quills yellow, forming a
conspicuous patch ; tail black, basal half or more of
all the feathers but the iniddle pair yellow. Wing
2.70; tail 1.80; bill extrernely acute, much as in Fie. 292. — Mexican Goldfinch, reduced.
Carduels or Chrysomitris proper. South and Cen- (After Audubon.)
tral Am. and Mexico, a straggler in U. 8. (2 “Kentucky,” Audubon.)
PLECTRO'PHANES. (Gr. aAnxtpov, plectron, a certain instrument; gaivw, I appear;
alluding to the hind claw.) Bill very small and truly conic, well exhibiting ‘‘ emberizine” or
“bunting ” characters; i. e., strong angulation of commissure; inflected cutting edges; a
palatal knob. Culmen slightly curved; gonys perfectly straight, and very short, less in length
than width of bill; lower mandible heavier than upper. A dense nasal ruff. Wings very long
and pointed; Ist or lst and 2d quills longest, rest rapidly graduated. Tail 4 shorter than
wings, nearly square. Tarsus longer than middle toe without claw; lateral toes of subequal
lengths, and much shorter than the middle one. Claws slender and compressed, with deep
lateral grooves at base; hind claw lengthened and less curved than the rest, but not straight.
Gullet very distensible. Sexes alike. Colors very different with season; in summer ¢
entirely black and white. One species, circumpolar. ‘Terrestrial, gregarious.
P. niva/lis. (Lat. nivalis, snowy ; nix, nivis, snow. Fig. 223.) Snow Bunrine. Snow-
FLAKE. 6, in full dress: Pure white; the bill, feet, middle of back, scapulars, primaries
except at base, most inner secondaries, bastard quills, and several tail-feathers, black. Length
about 7.00 ; extent 12.50-13.00; wing 4.00-4.25 ; tail 2.50-2.75. In less perfect summer dress,
black of the back, inner secondaries and tail-
feathers varied with white. 9, in breeding
plumage: The black impure or brownish, and
most or all of the upper parts brownish-black,
varied with white. Rather smaller. Dimen-
sions of many specimens of both sexes : length
6.50-7.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing 4.00-
4.25; tail 2.50-2.75; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.80;
middle toe and claw 0.90; hind toe and claw
0.67-0.75 ; claw alone 0.33-0.44. Adults, in
winter, as generally seen in the U. S. (where
black-and-white birds are rarely if ever
Fie. 223,— Snow Bunting, in summer, reduced. found): Upper parts overcast with rich warm
(Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) chestnut-brown and grayish-brown, mixed
with the black of the back, and clouding the other upper parts which are white in summer,
becoming dusky or even blackish on the head; this brown also usually forming a patch on the
ears, a collar on the breast, edging of the inner wing- and tail-feathers, and a wash on the
flanks; but specimens vary interminably; other parts white or black as in summer; bill
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUN. TIN GS, SPARROWS, ETC. 857
yellowish, usually black-tipped, but drying reddish-brown. Fledglings: Dark ashy- gray
above, and on the fore parts below this color overlaid with brown, and streaked on the
back with dusky; below, from the breast, white; lateral tail-feathers mostly white; inner
secondaries black with brown edging. A very notable bird, inhabiting the northern hemi-
sphere, breeding in arctic regions, whence migrating south in vast flocks with the snow, as if
one with these pure crystallizations. Thousands whirl into the U.S. in the fall on the wings
of the storm, relieving by their animated presence the desolation of places exposed to the
® ‘fury of the blast. South regularly only to the Northern States, but often the roving flocks
73.
220.
reach 35°. Nest on the ground in the sphagnum and tussocks of arctic regions, of a great
quantity of grass and moss, lined profusely with feathers: eggs 4-6, very variable in size and
color, about 0.90 X 0.65, white or whitish, speckled, veined, blotched, and marbled with Beep
browns and neutral tints.
CENTRO'PHANES. (Gr. xévrpov, kentron, nail, claw; gaivo, phaino, I appear; the hind
claw lengthened and straightened.) Lonespurs. Characters of Plectrophanes; hind claw and
its digit more developed ; longer than the middle; bill relatively and absolutely larger, rather
“fringilline” than thoroughly ‘‘ emberizine,” but still with a palatal knob; no decided nasal
ruff, but antrorse plumules in nasal fosse ; a little tuft at base of rictus. Wings less acute,
the point formed by lst-3d primaries, 4th abruptly shorter; tail emarginate. Sexes very
unlike: @ with a black hood and chestnut cervical collar. Gregarious, terrestrial.
, Analysis of Adult Males.
Whole head and throat black; belly white ; bill yellow; feet black . ........ lapponicus 220
Crown black; whole under parts fawn-colored ; feet flesh-colored. . . . . 1... a. pictus 221
Crown black; throat white; belly black or mahogany; feetdark. . . ...4.4 ornatus 222
C. lappon/icus. (Lat. lapponicus, of Lapponia, Lapp-land. Figs. 43, Deuce Lapianp Lone-
spur. , in full dress (seldom seen in U. S.): g Ry:
Whole head, throat and breast jet-black, bor-
dered with bufty or whitish, which forms a
post-ocular stripe separating black of crown
from that of sides of head, sometimes contin-
ued to the bill. A broad cervical chestnut col-
lar, separated from the black cap by whitish
or buffy line and nuchal spot. Upper parts
brownish-black completely streaked with buff
or whitish edges of the feathers ; under parts
white, the sides streaked with black. Wings
dusky, with pale or brownish edgings of the
feathers, but no strong markings. Tail like
wings, with large oblique white spaces on
outer 3 feathers. Bill yellow, black-tipped.
Legs and feet black. Length about 6.50;
extent 11.25; wing 3.50-3.75; tail 2.50-2.75 ; _ Fig. 224,— Lapland Longspur, in summer, reduced.
tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw rather more; (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
hind claw about 0.50, slender, sharp, and little curved. @, adult, in winter: The black hood
overcast with brown or gray tips of the feathers, or otherwise imperfect. Chestnut collar also
overlaid with gray. Edges of secondaries and wing-coverts ruddy-brown; sides of flanks
washed with brown. White tail-spots less extensive. Yellow of bill obscured. 9, in breed-
ing plumage: Upper parts of body, wings and tail, as in g. No continuous pure black on
sides of head, chin, or throat. Cervical collar indicated, but dull and obscured. Black of
crown overlaid with gray; superciliary and postocular stripe buffy ; sides of head blackish,
overlaid with gray; throat similarly varied, but chin nearly white; on the whole, the pattern
221.
R22
358 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
of the @’s black hood clearly indicated, but interrupted and ill-defined. Sides of breast and
belly with few small sharp dark streaks, instead of heavy black stripes; other under parts as in
the @. Bill obscure yellowish, dusky-tipped; feet dark brown, not black. Rather smaller.
& 2, young, in winter, as usually seen in U. 8., without any continuous black, resemble
the adult 9 as to coloration of head and fore parts, and are like winter ¢ in other respects.
The cervical collar may be scarcely appreciable, but usually shows a trace at least ; sides often
quite brown. Fledglings: Continuously streaked on the upper and fore parts with blackish
and brownish-yellow; wings and tail broadly edged with chestnut; bill dark; feet pale. A
species of cireumpolar distribution, like the last; breeding range and winter rovings much the
same, but less commonly observed in the U. 8. South irregularly to the Middle States, Ohio,
Colorado, ete. Nesting like P. nivalis; eggs 4-6, 0.80 x 0.62, dark-colored, very heavily
mottled and clouded with chocolate-brown, through which the greenish-gray ground scarcely
appears.
C. pictus. (Lat. pictus, painted.) Parintep Lonespur. Adult ¢: Cervical collar and entire
under parts rich fawn color; crown and sides of head black, bounded below by a white line, and
interrupted by a white superciliary and auricular line and white occipital spot. Upper parts
streaked with black and brownish-yellow. Lesser and middle wing-coverts black, tipped with
white, forming conspicuous patches. One or two outer tail-feathers mostly white. No white
ontherest. Legs pale or flesh-colored. Size of lapponicus. Length 6.50; extent 11.25; wing
3.75 ; tail 2.50; tarsus 0.75 ; middle toe and claw, about the same; hind toe and claw, rather
less (C. ornatus is much less in all its dimensions). Young, and generally in winter: Bill dusky-
brown above and at tip, paler below; feet light brown (drying darker) ; toes rather darker.
Entire under parts rich yellowish-brown, or buffy (in C. ornatus never thus); paler on the chin
and throat, which, with the fore-breast, are obsoletely streaked with dusky; the tibiee white.
Tail white only onthe two or three outer feathers (in C. ornatus all the feathers, excepting some-
times the central pair, are white at the base). Upper parts much as in the adult, but the distinc-
tive head-markings wanting, or only obscurely indicated. Interior N. Am. from the region of the
Yukon, McKenzie, Saskatchewan and upper Missouri to the prairies of Illinois in winter. It
is not found in the Atlantic States, but is common on the prairies of Dakota, Montana, and
southward, associated in the fall with C. ornatus, but breeding mostly farther north. Habits
and general aspect of ornatus, but easily distinguished by larger size, buffy under parts, black
and white wing-patch, and white only on some lateral instead of all of the tail-feathers. Nest
on ground; eggs size of lapponicus, colored more like ornatus.
C. orna/tus. (Lat. ornatus, adorned), CHESTNUT-COLLARED LonG@sPuR. BLACK-SHOTL-
DERED LonespuR. WuuitTs-Taitep Lonespur. , in full dress: Cervical collar intense
chestnut. Crown black; a whitish spot on nape, and broad white superciliary stripe. Auricu-
lars black, mixed with the color of the throat; throat and most of the sides of head below eyes
rusty-white, changing to pure white which extends around sides of neck, partly bordering the
chestnut collar. Breast and belly lustrous black, often mixed with intense ferruginous or
mahogany feathers, sometimes largely overlaid with this rich sienna-color. Lining of wings
pure white. Sides of body, flanks, lower belly and under tail-coverts, white, all but the last
usually rusty-tinged. Back, rump, and scapulars brownish-black, varied with grayish-brown
edges of the feathers. Wings dark brown without decided markings, though the feathers are
pale-edged, excepting jet-black lesser coverts, with or without white tips. Tail like wings,
but two or three’ lateral feathers entirely white, and all the rest basally white in decreasing
amount: in flight, the ‘‘ white tail” is very conspicuous. Bill blackish-plumbeous ; feet dark.
Smaller than the foregoing: Length 5.75-6.00, rarely 6.25 ; extent 10.25-10.75, rarely 11.00;
wing 3.00-3.30; tail 2.00-2.30. 9, in full dress: Rather smaller; size averaging about the lesser
figures just given. Upper parts, wings, and tail as before, but lesser coverts not black ; chest-
nut collar obscured ; crown like back, separated from the back-markings by a slight rufous
74.
223.
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 359
dusky-streaked interval. Sides of head, and throat, whitish, with dusky speckling on cheeks
and ears. Under parts dull brown, fading to white on belly and crissum, the feathers some-
times with dusky streaks. Thus an obscure bird: but observe generic characters, and exten-
sively white tail. @, adult, after the fall moult: The full dress is confined to the breeding
season ; afterward, the colors are much obscured. Cervical collar and black of head and belly
veiled by gray ends of the feathers, but visible on raising the plumage. Crown like back, with
concealed black; superciliary stripe and other distinctive head-markings obliterated; bill
brownish-plumbeous. The changes in the 9 are parallel, but there is less to be altered.
Young & 9, before first moult: Whole upper parts blackish-brown, with semicircular gray
or whitish markings, and a slightly lighter cervical interval. Throat definitely white. Under
parts dull brown, heavily streaked with dusky, especially on the breast. Much light brown
edging and tipping of the quills and wing-coverts. Feet and bill pale. This stage is transi-
tory; with the first moult the young acquire the characters above described for the winter. A
beautiful species of the interior plains, British America and U. 8. and Mexico; breeds in pro-
fusion on the prairies of Dakota, Montana, and whole upper Missouri and Saskatchewan
regions, S. to Kansas or further; has occurred in New England; rarely W. of the Rocky Mts.
Breeds in June and July; nest on ground, sunken flush with surface, of a few grasses and weed-
stalks ; eggs usually 4, about 0.80 X 0.60, white clouded with purplish shell-markings, gray
the prevailing tone, this irregularly dotted and veined with sharp dark-brown surface-marks.
Young covered with whitish down. In the breeding season the birds are fond of soaring and
singing as they fly, rising to great height and letting themselves down with the wings held like
parachutes; they curiously resemble butterflies when so engaged. The white tail shows very
conspicuously. Ordinary flight wayward and vacillating ; song weak und twittering, but pleas-
ing. The birds flock as soon as young are fairly on wing, and leave the northern prairies in
October. They are associated in the breeding season with R. maccownt, and joined in October
by P. pictus and lapponicus froin the north.
RHYNCHO’PHANES. (Gr. fuyyos, rhugchos, beak, and daive, phaino, I appear; in allusion
to the turgid bill.) Lonespurs. Similar to Centrophanes, but departing in the direction of
Montifringilla (an exotie genus). Bill turgid, very stout and large in comparison; culmen rising
high on forehead, its outline almost a little concave. Hind toe and claw less developed. Hind
claw not longer than its digit, not notably straightened. Sexes dissimilar. No cervical collar.
& with black pectoral crescent and red bend of wing. Habits of Centrophanes strictly.
R. maccown'i. (To Capt. J. P. McCown, U.S. A. Fig. 225.) Buack-BrEastep Lone-
spur. Bay-wincEep Lonespur. 4, in full dress: Upper parts slate-gray, streaked with
dusky and grayish or yellowish-
brown, especially on the interscap-
ulars. No cervical collar, but a
chestnut patch on the wings, formed
by the median coverts. Crown jet-
black, bounded by a white super-
ciliary line ; sides of head whitish,
but auriculars more or less slaty.
Throat white, bounded by firm
black maxillary stripes. Breast
jet-black, in broad crescentic form,
sharply defined against the white
throat, shading behind into slaty-
blackish, becoming more and more
mixed with white on the belly and
: Fic. 225. —- Black-breasted Longspur, reduced. (Sheppard del,
sides, till posteriorly the parts are Nichols sc.)
360 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
pure white; lining of wings white. All the tail-feathers, except the middle pair, and bases
and tips of intermediate ones, white, ending squarely across both webs. Bill blackish-plum-
beous, pale at base below; feet brownish-black. Length about 6.00; extent 11.00-11.50;
wing 3.30-3.60; tail 2.25; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.67; middle toe and claw rather less. 9, in
breeding plumage: Upper parts, wings, and tail as in the ¢— coverts with at least a trace of
chestnut, and tail displaying the rectangular shape of the white area; crown like back in-
stead of black ; no black maxillary stripes, and breast-crescent slaty-gray ; throat whitish ; bill
and feet yellowish-brown, more or less obscured. The seasonal changes of plumage, as well as
the sexual differences, are parallel with those of P. ornatus; there is the same veiling of black
parts by gray, etc. Though so different from ornatus in full dress, the bird is very similar in
other conditions, age for age, and sex for sex: but larger; no trace of chestnut on nape; trace
at least on wing-coverts; and peculiar pattern of tail-feathers shown as soon as they sprout
and never lost. Very young birds have curved edgings of the feathers of the upper parts;
the under parts quite purely white, with some dusky streaks, and a buff suffusion on the breast.
Region of the upper Missouri and its tributaries; N. to the Saskatchewan ; not known W. of
the Rocky Mts.; 8. to Texas and Mexico; E. to Kansas and probably Iowa and Missouri.
Breeds in profusion on the prairies from Cvlorado northward, in parts of Dakota and in
Montana associated with P. ornatus; winters from Colorado southward. Its habits and man-
ners are the same as those of P. ornatus. It has the same soaring singing flight, and para-
chute-like descent, ‘‘ sliding down on the scale of its own music ;” nesting the same; eggs re-
sembling the paler varieties of P. ornatus; 0.80 x 0.60.
75, PASSER/CULUS. (Lat. passerculus, a little sparrow; diminutive of passer, a sparrow.)
Savanna SPARROWS. GROUND Sparrows. Bill rather slenderly conical, culmen, commissure
and gonys about straight (bill more turgid in P. rostratus and guttatus). Wings longer than
tail, point formed by outer 4 primaries, of nearly equal lengths ; inner secondaries enlarged and
flowing, reaching nearly or quite to end of primaries in the closed wing. Tail short, nearly even
or little emarginate, of narrow pointed feathers. Feet slender, pale-colored, usually reaching
when outstretched nearly or quite to end of tail; tarsus and middle toe with claw of about equal
lengths ; lateral toes of equal lengths, their claws underreaching base of ‘middle claw ; hind toe
rather longer than its claw, which has no special development. Plumage thickly streaked
everywhere above, and below on breast and sides; crown with median light line and lateral
dark ones; no decided markings on tail-feathers. In most species edge of wing yellow, and
traces at least of yellow on head; no red, blue, or greenish. Sexes alike. Embracing small
plain streaked ground sparrows of slender build, mostly with a touch of lemon-yellow on edge
of wing, long inner secondaries and pale slender legs; one species abounding in the East, others
of more special distribution.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Bill typical. Crown with median light stripe. Inner secondaries seldom quite equalling primaries. No
decided lemon-yellow on edge of wing. ap of head with two black stripes, and suffused with rich
brownish-yellow . : . « bairdi 224
Bill typical. Crown with median light stripe. Inner secondaries at full length. Edge of wing with
lemon-yellow; same shade on head, if any. Upper parts much variegated ; under white, with sharp
streaking.
Large, pale; little or no yellowish; length 6.00 or more; wing 3.25. Coast of New England princeps 22
Large, dark, with decided yellow; length about 6.00; wing 3.00. Northwest coast samdvicensis 226
Medium, of average coloration; length about 5.50; wing 2.75. N. Am. at large . . + savanna 227
Medium; pale; size of savana proper. Interior and western. . . . alaudinus 229
Small, dark; yellow very decided. Length about 5.25; wing 2.50. ‘West coast oe . « « anthinus 228
Bill enlarged, turgid, with convex culmen. Crown-stripe obsolete. No yellow on head or wing.
Larger: bill 0.50. Length 5.30; wing near 3,00, Pale brownish-gray, with obsolete streaking; the
streaks below light brown. Coast ofCalifornia . 2 0. 1 1 we te ee - rostratus 230
Smaller : bill 0.33. Length 5.00; wing 2.50. Darker, the streaks below dusky, L. Cala. . guttatus 231
224, P.bairdi. (To Prof. 8. F. Baird. Fig. 226.) Barrv’s Savanna Sparrow. $9, adult, in
breeding plumage: With a general resemblance to P. savana. Inner secondaries less elon-
225.
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 361
gated, rarely equalling the primaries in the closed wings. First 4 quills about equal and longest.
Hind toe and claw about equalling the middle toe and claw, its claw about equalling the digit.
Tail shorter than wing, lightly double-rounded (central and outer pair of feathers both a little
shorter than the intermediate ones). Top of head streaked with black and rich brownish-
yellow, or buff, the former predominating laterally, the latter chiefly as a median stripe, but
also suffusing the nape and sides of head in greater or less degree. Back varied with
brownish-black and gray, together with a little bay, the two latter colors forming the edg-
ings of the interscapulars and scapulars. Rump variegated with gray and. chestnut-brown,
different in shade from that of the back. Under parts dull white, usually with a faint
ochrey tinge on the breast, but often without; a circlet of small, sharp, sparse, dusky streaks
across the breast, continuous with others, longer and mostly lighter, along the whole sides, and
with others, again, extending up the sides of the neck into small vague maxillary and auricular
markings. When the feathers are perfectly arranged these lateral head-markings are seen to
be a post-ocular stripe just over the auriculars, a post-auricular spot, a streak starting from the
angle of the mouth, and another heavier one parallel
with and below this, running directly into the pec-
toral ones. Quills without special markings, except-
ing the elongated inner secondaries, which correspond
with the scapulars. Tail the same, slightly whitish-
edged. Upper mandible mostly dark, lower pale.
Feet flesh-colored. Length 5.10-5.85, averaging
5.67; extent 8.60-9.85, average 9.50; wing 2.75-
3.00; tail 2.00-2.25; culmen about 0.40; tarsus
about 0.75 ; middle toe and claw, and hind toe and
claw, each, rather less; 9 averages rather smaller.
Autumnal plumage: Soft, with brighter, more suf-
fused colors, in bolder pattern. Whole top and sides
of head, as well as nape and part of neck, suffused
with rich buff, in many instances as bright a golden-
brown as that on the head of Stwrus auricapillus. A
paler, rather ochraceous shade of the same also suffus- Fig. 226.—Baird’s Savanna Sparrow, re-
ing the whole fore under-parts. Pectoral and lateral ‘ced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
dusky streaks, as well as the two rows on each side of the throat, large, heavy, diffuse. Bay
and whitish edgings of the secondaries broad and conspicuous, contrasting with the black central
fields. Whitish edgings of tail-feathers the same ; and, in general, the same character is stamped
over allthe upper plumage. Newly-fledged young have each feather of the dorsal plumage con-
spicuously bordered with white, producing a set of semicircles, much as in Neocorys spraguii.
There is the saine general buffy suffusion of the head and fore parts as iu autumnal adults,
but the tint is dull and ochrey. The markings below have a short, broad, guttiform character.
When just from the nest, the edging of the secondaries and tail-feathers is of a peculiar pinkish-
rusty shade. Central Plains, U. 8.; N. to British Provinces; E. nearly to Red River of the
North; 8. to Texas, N. Mex. and Arizona; W. to the Rocky Mts., and beyond. An interesting
sparrow, long almost unknown till I found it breeding in profusion in Dakota, taking 75 speci-
mens one season. In general habits and appearance in life quite like savanna sparrows ; mix-
ing freely with these and Neocorys, Hremophila, and Plectrophanes ornatus. Song peculiar, of
two or three tinkling syllables and a trill, like zip-zip-zip-er-r-r-r. Nest on ground, a slight
structure of grasses and weed-stalks, about 4 inches across ; eggs 5, 0.80 x 0.65, white, irregu-
larly speckled and blutehed with pale and dark reddish-browns, laid in June and July.
P. prin’ceps. (Lat. princeps, chief.) Ipswich Savanna Sparrow. : General appear-
ance of a large savanna sparrow, but with a resemblance to a bay-winged bunting. Upper
226.
362 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
parts grayish-brown, with blackish rufous-edged centres of the feathers; median crown-stripe
not strong, and scarcely yellowish ; a whitish superciliary stripe, not yellow anteriorly ; ear-
coverts grayish, with a rufous tinge. Scapulars, coverts and secondaries blackish-brown,
broadly edged with rufous, brightest on the secondaries; scapulars also edged with white, and
both median and greater coverts white-tipped. Tail brownish, tipped and edged with whitish.
Whole under parts white, breast and sides of throat and body streaked, the streaks dusky-
centred, rufous-edged. Bill dark brown, base of under mandible paler; eyes and feet brown.
Length 6.30; extent 11.00; wing 3.25; tail 2.60; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.95; middle toe and
claw 1.05; hind toe and claw 0.72. (Foregoing condensed from original description of the
type, taken in winter. Following as redescribed by Ridgway.) Bill of size and shape as in
P. bairdi exactly ; inner secondaries little lengthened. Outstretched feet not reaching to end
of tail. In color almost exactly as in P. rostratus, but different in markings; above light
ashy, the dorsal feathers light sandy-brown centrally, their shafts black. Surface of wings pale
sandy-brown, the feathers darker-ceutred ; inner secondaries with whitish outer webs, and con-
spicuous black central field. Crown becoming darker brown anteriorly, where an indistinct
median line of ochrey-white ; an indistinct superciliary stripe, and conspicuous maxillary stripe
of the same, the latter beciarel above by a narrow dusky stripe; lores and cheeks like the
superciliary stripe ; auriculars like crown. Below, white, slightly ashy on flanks ; whole breast
and sides of body with narrow streaks of blackish-centred sandy-brown ; belly, erissum, and
lining of wings immaculate; throat with a few minute specks, but on cael side a bridle of
suffuse streaks. 9: wing 2.90; tail 2.40; culmen 0.50; tarsus 0.85. (Following notes taken
by me of a specimen received from Maynard; 9, Ipswich, Oct. 18, 1872: No. 73,553, Mus.
8. 1.) ‘About size of largest P. sundvicensis from Alaska. No trace of yellow on head or
wing. Upper parts even paler and grayer than extreme of P. alaudinus from the West — the
streaks of upper parts having only shaft-lines of blackish-brown, brown-edged, the edges
of the feathers finally gray; nape, rump, and upper tail-coverts gray, scarcely streaked at
all. Crown streaked like interscapulars, but in smaller pattern; divided by a median light
line. A long whitish (not yellowish) superciliary line; lore gray below this. Inner second-
aries and greater coverts blackish, broadly edged on outer webs with bay, fading to whitish at
tips; median coverts similar, but more noticeably whitish-tipped; these edgings of wing-
feathers making the strongest coloration of all the upper parts. Below, white; throat and
middle of belly only immaculate, flanks a little shaded with gray ; whole breast, sides of neck
and body, and crissum, with brown streaks, pale in comparison with those of P. savana,
and rather suffuse. On the sides of head below auriculars the stripes tend to form two chains
—a maxillary one and another above it separated by an immaculate interval. Resembles P.
rostratus in diffuse grayish coloration and lack of yellow on head or wing. Looks as a hybrid
between P. savana and Powcetes might be supposed to do.” Seems distinct, but not firmly estab-
lished as a species. Coast of New England, especially sand-hills of the Massachusetts coast ;
general range unknown; perhaps a local race. Curiously similar in some respects to the
Californian litoral form P. rostratus.
P. sandvicen’sis. (Of the Sandwich, one of the Aleutian Islands.) Similar to the ordinary
savanna sparrow: averaging in size about the maximum of the latter: length about 6.00; wing
3.00; tail 2.25; eulmen 0.45; depth of bill at base 0.25; tarsus, and middle toe and claw,
each, 0.80. Bill nearly twice as bulky as that of ordinary savana. A firm bright yellow super-
ciliary stripe from nostril to eye, thence fading over auriculars (i. e., chrysops, Pall.) Under
parts precisely as in savana; upper similar, but grayer—less rufous and more gray in the
edgings of the feathers. Such are the peculiarities of a specimen from the very spot whence
Latham and Pennant deseribe their bird; they are appreciable on laying the skin alongside a
large varying series of Eastern savana. Alaska. But it does not follow that all the Alaskan
and Aleutian savanna sparrows are like this.
R27.
229.
228.
230.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 3638
P.s.sava/na. (Spanish sabana or savana,ameadow. Fig, 227.) Common SAVANNA SPAR-
Row. ¢ 9, adult, in spring: Thickly streaked everywhere above, on sides, and across breast ;
a superciliary line, and edge of the wing, yellowish; lesser wing-coverts not chestnut; legs flesh-
color; bill rather slender and acute; tail nearly even, its outer feathers not white; longest
secondary nearly as long as the primaries in the closed wing. Above, brownish-gray, streaked
with blackish, whitish-gray and pale bay, the streaks largest on interscapulars, smallest on
cervix, the crown divided by an obscure whitish line ; sometimes an obscure yellowish suffusion
about head besides the streak over the eye. Below, white, pure or with faint buffy shade,
thickly streaked, as just stated, with dusky— the individual spots edged with brown, mostly
arrow-shaped, running in chains along the sides, and often aggregated in an obscure blotch on
the breast. Wings dusky, the coverts and
inner secondaries black-edged and tipped
with bright bay; tail-feathers rather nar-
row and pointed, dusky, not noticeably
marked. Extreme dimensions of both
sexes: Length 5.20-6.00; extent 8.50-
10.00! wing 2.40-3.00; tail 1.75-2.25 ;
tarsus 0.75-0.88 ; but such figures are rare.
Average of both sexes 5.25; extent 8.75;
wing 2.60; tail 2.00; tarsus 0.84. g usu-
ally 5.30-5.60; extent 9.00-9.50; wing
%.67-2.75; Q usually 5.00-5.30; extent
8.75-9.00; wing 2.50-2.67. Ordinarily,
bill about 0.40; tarsus, middle toe and claw
together 1.50. Fall and winter specimens
much more brightly colored than spring : =
and summer ones; the young particularly Fig. 227. Common Savanna Sparrow, reduced. (Shep-
having much ochrey or buffy suffusion, in- pard del. Nichols sc.)
stead of clean colors, more brown and bay, instead of dusky and gray. It is not easy for an un-
practised person to discriminate the small sparrows, and so variable a one as this offers' special
difficulty ; attention to the points of form as well as of color is requisite. North Amer. at large,
chiefly Eastern, very abundant everywhere in fields, on plains, by the wayside, and along the
sea-shore ; a thoroughly terrestrial bird, migratory, and in the fall somewhat gregarious. Has
an agreeable though weak song in the spring. Winters at least from Middle States southward,
and breeds at least from New England to highest latitudes. Nest sunken in ground flush
with surface, of a few grasses and weed-stalks; eggs 4-6, 0.70 x 0.50, varying interminably
in their motley coloring; usually heavily clouded and blotched with dark brown; most like
those of Poacetes, but smaller.
P.s. alaudi/nus. (Lat. alaudinus, lark-like; no applicability.) Lark Savanna SpaRRow.
So similar to the last as only to be distinguished by rather duller and paler coloration on an
average, and weaker bill, about 0.35 long by 0.20 deep at the base. If the “savanna spar-
row” be split into several races, this may possibly be allowed with the rest. Western U. S.
P. s. anthi/nus. (Lat. anthinus, pipit-like ; no applicability.) Prerr Savanna SPARROW.
A form from the Pacific marshes, especially the coast of Cala., better marked than the last.
Bill as long as in savana, but slenderer; under parts more sharply, closely, darkly and
extensively streaked. Yellow eyebrow and bend of wing quite as well marked as in savand,
and therefore contrasting with the paler and grayer alaudinus with which it is associated.
P. rostra/tus. (Lat. rostratus, beaked; rostrum, beak.) BEAKED Savanna SPARROW.
San Dreco SAVANNA SPARROW. SEA-SHORE SPARROW. With the form of a Savanna, but
the bill elongated as in Ammodramus, yet very stout and turgid, with decidedly convex
231.
76.
232.
364 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
culmen 0.50 long. No yellowish over eye or on edge of wing; no evident median stripe on
crown. Brownish-gray, obsoletely streaked with dark brown, most noticeable on crown and
middle of back; entire under parts dull white, confluently streaked with clear brown every-
where except on throat, middle of belly, and crissum. Wings and tail dusky-gray, the
rectrices with paler edges, the primaries with whitish edges, the wing-coverts and secondaries
broadly edged and tipped with grayish-bay. An obscure whitish superciliary line. Bill light
brown, under mandible paler or yellowish; legs pale. Length 5.25; wing 2.50-2.75 ; tail 2.00.
Pacifie coast, U. S., especially California ; a curious species, common, maritime, representing,
with var. anthinus, the Ammodrami in the marshes of the seashore.
P. gutta'‘tus. (Lat. guttatus, spotted; gutta, a drop.) St. Lucas Savanna Sparrow.
Bill shaped as in rostratus, relatively as stout, but smaller; culmen 0.45; depth at base 0.25.
Bird smaller: pattern of coloration the same, but tone darker; streaking of the under parts
sharper, heavier, and darker. Instead of the light brownish-gray of rostratus the upper parts
are here dark, almost olivaceous, brown, so that the dark streaking of the crown and inter-
seapulars is less noticeable. The same difference characterizes the under parts. Cape St.
Lucas.
Oss. There is a sparrow of the L. Cala. Gulf coast and islands like guttatus : larger;
wing 2.75; bill 0.50, at base 0.30 deep, thus as large as that of rostratus, but regularly conic,
with straight culmen suddenly deflected at end, and perfectly straight commissure; upper
mandible and tip of lower blackish; rest apparently yellowish. An n. sp.? P. sanctorum
N., Mus. §. L., San Benito Isl. (See Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., March, 1883, p. 538.)
POG'CETES. (Gr. én, poe, grass; olxérys, otketes, an inhabitant.) Grass SPARROWS.
Bill moderate, culmen, gonys and commissure nearly straight. Wings long, longer than tail,
tip formed by first 4 quills; inner secondaries somewhat elongate, less so than in Passerculus.
Tail emarginate, with rather broad firm feathers, not acuminate at ends. Tarsus about as long
as middle toe without claw; lateral toes of about equal lengths, their claws scarcely reaching
base of middle claw; -hind claw as usual, not longer than its digit. Plumage thickly streaked
everywhere above, on sides below and across breast; bend of wing chestnut; 1-3 outer tail
feathers white ; crown without light median stripe; no trace of yellow anywhere.
P. grami/neus. (Lat. gramineus, applied to a grass-loving bird; gramen, grass. Fig. 228.)
Grass Fincu. Bay-winerp BUNTING.
VESPER-BIRD. Above, grayish-brown,
closely and uniformly marked with dusky-
centred brown-edged streaks, and further
variegated by pale gray edging of the
feathers. Crown quite like back, though
the marking is in smaller pattern ; super-
ciliary line and eye-ring whitish. Under
parts dull white, usually noticeably buff-
tinged in the streaked areas, thickly streaked
across breast and along sides with dusky-
centred brown-edged streaks, anteriorly
tending to concentrate in lateral chains
bounding the white throat; above this
Fic. 228,—Bay-winged Bunting, reduced. (Sheppard chain a maxillary brown stripe ; auriculars
del. Nichols sc.) varied with light and dark brown. Quills
fuscous, the longer ones with grayish-white edging, the secondaries and greater and median
coverts with broad firm brown and white edges and tips ; lesser coverts bright chestnut, whence
the name “bay-winged.” Outer tail-feather largely or wholly white, next pair or two pairs
largely white in decreasing amount. Upper mandible brown; lower, and the feet, fiesh-
233.
77.
234.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 365
colored or yellowish. Length 5.75-6.25 ; extent 10.00-10.50 ; wing 2.80-3.25 ; tail 2.25-2.75.
North Amer. at large, breeding throughout its range, but partially migratory, chiefly nesting
northward, and wintering southward. A large, stout, full-chested sparrow of plain appearance,
but recognized on sight by the bay bend of the wing and white lateral tail feathers, — the latter
conspicuous as it flies. Very abundant in fields, along roadsides; terrestrial, gregarious to
some extent when not breeding. Nest sunken in the ground, bulky, thick-rimmed, deeply
cupped ; eggs 4-6, heavily colored, as in P. savana, 0.80 x 0.60; two or three broods may be
reared. One of the sweetest songsters among the sparrows.
P. g. confi/nis. (Lat. confinis, near.) WESTERN GRAss Fincn. The paler, grayer form from
the dry western regions.
COTURNI/CULUS. (Lat. coturnix, a quail; cotwrniculus, a little quail.) GRASSHOPPER
Sparrows. Bill (in passerinus and henslowi) short and stout, with curved culmen (in
lecontit slenderer and more elongate). Wings extremely short and rounded, so that the inner
secondaries reach nearly to the tip when closed, without special elongation on their part. Tail
of variable length according to species, weak, of narrow, lanceolate feathers, in one species very
tapering and acuminate. Feet stout, much as in Ammodramus. Plumage greatly-variegated ;
buffy tints conspicuous on under parts. Contains 3 remarkably distinct N. Am. species of queer
little sparrows of grass, weeds, and reeds, with another of 8. Am. (C. manimbe). They show
a greater range of variation in form than our finical modern genera usually allow, and shade
through C. lecontii into Ammodramus. The name is appropriate; C. passerinus curiously
resembles a quail in miniature.
Analysis of Species.
Tail shorter than wings; outstretched feet reaching to or beyond itsend. Bill stout, brown. Adult not evi-
dently streaked below ........ Beas . passerinus 234, 285
Tail equal to wings. Sharp maxillary, pectoral aid lateral Serb, Bill stout, brown. . . henslowi 28¢
Tail longer than wings ; outstretched feet not reaching its end. Billslender, bluish. Sharp lateral without
pectoral or maxillary streaks . . ....- ae ae eer + « lecontii 237
C. passeri/nus. (Lat. passerinus, sparrow-like. Fig. 229.) YELLOW-WINGED SPaRRow.
QuaIL SPARROW. GRASSHOPPER SrarRow. g 9, adult: Edge of oe conspicuously yel-
low; lesser wing-coverts greenish-yellow; a
yellow loral spot; short line over eye buffy-
yellow. Crown with median stripe of pale
brownish-yellow. Below, ochraceous or pale
buff or tawny, fading to whitish on belly, not
evidently streaked, though a few dark touches
may appear on sides of breast. Above, sin-
gularly variegated with black, gray, yellow-
ish-brown and a peculiar purplish-bay, in
short streaks and specks; the crown being
nearly black with sharp median brownish-
yellow stripe, the middle of the back chiefly
black with bay and brownish-yellow edgings
of the feathers, the cervical region and rump
chiefly bay and gray. When the feathers
are not disturbed, the peculiar pattern of the
cervical region separates that of the crown
and back ; the markings extend on the sides Fig. 229.— Yellow-winged Sparrow, reduced. (Shep-
of the neck, but the sides of the head are pard del. Nichols sc.)
piain, like the under parts. Wing-coverts and inner secondaries variegated in intricate pattern,
the general effect like the back. Primaries and tail-feathers plain dusky, with narrow light edg-
ings; outer tail-feathers paler, but not white. Feet flesh-colored. Small: length 4.80-5.25 ;
235.
236.
237.
366 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2 25-2.50; tail 2.00 or less, shorter than wing, outstretched feet
reaching beyond it; rounded or rather double-ruunded at end, the feathers narrow and lance-
olate. Bill very stout and full. In autumn, fresh-moulted birds are as usual richer in color,
the markings more blended and diffuse, the fore parts below and the sides rich buffy brown, in
which vague lighter and darker markings usually appear. Young: before the moult, are
whitish below, with decided dusky inaxillar} and pectoral streaks, thus resembling C. henslowi.
Eastern U. 8. and Canada, but not far north; breeds throughout its range; resident in the
Southern States, elsewhere a migrant and summer visitant. Abundant in the rank herbage of
old fields, but less frequently observed than it would be did it not hide so persistently in the
herbage ; has a peculiar chirring note, like a grasshopper’s; nests on the ground; eggs 4-5,
crystal white, flecked with reddish-brown, 0.72 x 0.64.
C. p. perpal/lidus. (Lat. perpallidus, very pale.) BLEACHED YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW.
Specimens from dry western regions are paler and grayer; less black and more slaty-gray
on the upper parts, the ochrey crown stripe and edgings of the dorsal feathers, as well as the
under parts generally, paler. ;
Cc. hen/slowi. (To Prof. J. 8. Henslow, of England.) HmnsLow’s GRASSHOPPER SPARROW.
Somewhat resembling a young C. passerinus. Under parts whitish, tinged strongly along the
whole sides, across the breast, and on the flanks and crissum with buff, all these buff parts
sharply and distinctly streaked with blackish in fine pattern; the pectoral streaks connecting
along the sides of neck with decided black maxillary stripes. The brownish-yellow shade is
very variable in extent and intensity, but it usually leaves only the throat and belly decidedly
whitish. Ground-color of head and hind neck a peculiar pale olive-gray, with a decided
greenish-yellow tinge; top of head with broad lateral blackish stripes, continued on the cervix
in much smaller pattern, divided by a greenish-brownish-yellow median stripe. The peculiar
color of the hind neck extending far around on sides of neck, and sides of head of much the
same tint; a blackish post-ocular stripe bounding the auriculars above; below and anterior to
them a black maxillary stripe starting from the angle of the mouth ; below this usually other
maxillary streaks ; dark specks often behind auriculars. Dorsal and scapular feathers with
broad black central field, then broadly chestnut, then mostly narrowly edged with whitish,
these markings in bold pattern, and contrasting with the peculiar greenish-gray cervical region
with its fine black streaks. Edge of wing yellow. Greater wing-coverts and most of the
secondaries colored to correspond with the back, the closed wing showing chiefly chestnut with
the black field of the three innermost secondaries. Tail-feathers extremely narrow and acute,
brown, the inver at least with long blackish shaft stripe, and reddish-brown on inner webs.
Bill brownish, usually quite dusky above, pale below; feet pale. Length scarcely 5.00;
extent 7.50; wing and tail, each, 2.00-2.10; bill from extreme hase of culmen 0.45 ; 0.30 deep
at base; tarsus-or middle toe and claw 0.65. Eastern U. &., strictly, N. to New England,
not very commonly; W. to Nebraska. Not abundant on the whole, nor easily observed.
Common about Washington, where it breeds, in fields and meadows; nest on the ground, in
tufts of grass. Eggs 4-5, greenish-white, profusely speckled with reddish, 0.75 « 0.57.
C. lecon'tii. (To Maj. J. Le Conte, of Philadelphia.) Lz Conrn’s GrassHOPPER SPARROW.
Le Conte’s Buntinec. ¢ 9, adult: Bill smaller and slenderer than in either of the foregoing,
dark horn-blue above, paler bluish below; iris black. Tail long, decidedly exceeding the
wings when full grown, and remarkably graduated ; lateral feathers 4—-$ inch shorter than the
central pair; all extremely narrow, tapering, and acuminate, even more so than in the sharp-
tailed finch (Ammodramus caudacutus) ; outstretched feet not reaching to its end. Wings
short and much rounded; primaries in closed wing hardly 4 inch longer than secondaries.
Length 4.90-5.10; extent 6.90-7.10; wing 1.90-2.00; tail 2.00-2.25 or a little more; bill
0.40; tarsus 0.67. No trace of yellow on bend of wing, nor any yellow loral spot. No black
maxillary or pectoral streaks; markings of under parts confined to sparse, sharp, blackish
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 367
streaks on the sides. General coloration more or less buff, according to age and season.
Crown with black lateral stripes, separated by a whitish stripe becoming ochrey on forehead.
Sides of head buff, brightest on the long broad superciliary line, enclosing slaty-gray auriculars,
which are bordered above by a black pust-ocular line, sometimes chiefly appearing as a dark speck
behind them. Cervical feathers bay, black-shafted and whitish-edged, forming a distinct inter-
val between markings of back and crown. Dorsal feathers in bold pattern, with black terminal
central field, little rufous and much whitish or buffy edging ; streaking extending ou rump and
upper tail-coverts. Wing-coverts and inner secondaries colored boldly to correspond with the
back. Under parts buffy-white, sometimes quite whitish, again much more buffy, with season,
usually quite buff with only belly whitish. Fresh moulted fall birds are often entirely deep
buff below, excepting the belly, which is white, in marked contrast. Young: Bill still smaller,
reddish-brown instead of bluish; general color buff above, whitish below, more or less buffy on
breast and sides; markings of upper parts black, without the bay and brown variegation, except
on wings and tail, which are nearly as in the adults; sparse black streaks of under parts usually
appearing across breast as well as on sides. An interesting, long-lost species, recently redis-
covered: Yellowstone R. (Audubon, 1843); Texas (Lincecum); Dakota (Cowes, 1878);
‘Illinois (Welson, 1875) ; Iowa (Newton, 1875); Minnesota (Tiffany, 1878) ; South Carolina!
(Loomis, 1881.) Approaching Ammodramus caudacutus in many respects, and inhabiting
similar resorts in the interior. Nest and eggs still unknown.
78. AMMO'DRAMUS. (Gr. duos, ammos, sand; Spapeiv, dramein, to run.) SEA-sIDE SPAR-
rows. Bill remarkably slender and lengthened for this family, with culmen decurved toward
end, gonys straight, and sometimes an
evident lobation of the cutting edge of
the upper mandible. “Wings short and
rounded, yet longer than tail; inner sec-
ondaries, though not elongate, reaching
nearly to end of primaries when wing
is closed ; point formed by 2d-4th quills.
Feet large and stout, reaching out-
stretched about to end of tail; tarsus
about equal to middle toe and claw in
length ; lateral toes of equal lengths,
very short, their claws underreaching
base of middle claw. Tail shorter or
not longer than wings, much rounded,
of narrow, stiffish, sharp-pointed feath-
ers. Embracing small streaky marsh
sparrows, especially of the sea-coast,
but not exclusively maritime, as long —- Fie 230 — Generic details of Ammodramus (4. caudacutus),
supposed; remarkable for slenderness ™*- 82 (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) .
of the bil, sharp narrow tail-feathers, and stout feet fitted for grasping slender swaying reeds.
Edge of wing bright yellow; a yellow spot or buff stripe on head; upper parts olive-gray or
quite blackish, streaky.
Analysis of Species.
Loral spot and edge of wing bright yellow.
Upper parts olive-gray obscurely streaked . 2... 1. 1 2 1 ee ee + . maritimus 238
Upper parts quite blackish «1 ww 1 ww we ee ee nigrescens 239
A long buff superciliary stripe... . ae ae ee ee a ee ee a caudacutus 240-241
238. A. mari/timus. (Lat. maritimus, maritime, coast-wise; mare, the sea. Fig. 230.) SEA-sIDE
Finca. Olive-gray, obscurely streaked on back and crown with darker and paler; below, whit-
ish, often washed with brownish, shaded on sides with color of. back, and with ill-defined dark
239.
240.
241.
368 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
streaks on breast and sides; maxillary stripes of the saine; wings and ‘tail plain dusky, with
slight olivaceous edgings; wing-coverts nd inner quills somewhat margined with brown;
edge of wing bright yellow ; a bright yellow spot on lore; and often some vague brownish and
dusky markings on side of head; bill plumbeous, or dark horn-blue ; feet dark. Length 5.75-
6.25; extent 8.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail about 2.00. Recognizable on sight by the bright
yellow edge of wing and loral spot, with little varied olive-gray upper parts. Salt marshes of
the Atlantic and Gulf coast; abundant. North to Massachusetts; breeds throughout its range,
and resident in the south, but screened from casual observation by the nature of its haunts and
habits. Nest in a tussock of grass just out of water; eggs 0.75 X 0.55, grayish-white, thickly
and pretty evenly marked.
A. m. nigres/cens. (Lat. nigrescens, growing black.) FLORIDA SEa-sipE Fincu. Like
A. maritimus; rather smaller bodied, though members not shorter, and conspicuously different
in color, being almost entirely black and
white. Upper parts sooty-black, slightly
variegated with slate-colored edgings of the
feathers, and some pale gray edgings of the in-
terscapulars. Below white, heavily streaked
with blackish everywhere excepting on the
throat and middle of belly. A bright yellow
loral spot, and bend of the wing bright yel-
low (both very conspicuous in the black
plumage). Wing-quills blackish, the inner
secondaries quite black ; all narrowly edged
with brownish. Tail black, with gray edg-
ings of the feathers, — these edgings tending
to form scallops with the black central field.
Bill and feet as in A. maritimus. A curi-
ous local race, resident in Florida.
A. caudacu'tus. (Lat. cauda, tail; acutus, 2
sharp. Fig. 231.) SHaRp-TAILeD Fincu. Fig. 281: —Sea-side Finch, reduced. (Sheppard del.
Olive-gray, sharply streaked on the back Nichols sc.)
with blackish and whitish, less so on the rump with blackish alone. Crown darker than nape,
with brownish-black streaks, tending to form lateral stripes and obscure olive-gray median line;
no yellow loral spot,. but long line over eye and sides of head rich buff or orange-brown, enclos-
ing olive-gray auriculars and a dark speck behind them, or dark post-ocular stripe over them.
Olive-gray of cervix extending around on sides of neck. Below, white; the fore parts and
sides tinged with yellowish-brown or buff of variable intensity, the breast and sides sharply
streaked with dusky. Greater coverts and inner secondaries with blackish field toward their
ends, broadly margined with rusty brown and whitish. Tail-feathers brown, with dusky shaft-
stripes and tendency to ‘‘water” with crosswise wavy bars. Bill blackish above, pale or
not below, feet brown. Coloration in spring and summer clearer and paler, in fall and in
young birds more brightly and extensively buff. Rather smaller than A. maritimus; Dill still
slenderer, and tail-feathers still narrower and more acute. Length 5.10-5.50; extent 7.50;
wing 2.25; tail 2.00; bill 0.45-0.50; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 0.75. Salt marshes of
the Atlantic and Gulf States, N. abundantly to Maine; range similar to that of A. maritimus,
but on the whole more uortherly, especially in the breeding season; nest and eggs similar and
searcely distinguishable.
A. c. nel/soni. (To E. W. Nelson, of Ilinois.) Similar to the last, but smaller, with
bill slenderer and longer; colors brighter and markings more sharply defined. Fresh marshes
of Illinois and other portions of the Mississippi Valley at large ; N. probably to Canada.
_FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 369
79. MELOSPI/ZA. (Gr. pédos, melos, song, melody, and omi{a, spiza, name of some Finch in Aris-
totle). Song Sparrows. Bill moderate, conic, without special turgidity or compression, out-
lines of culmen, commissure, gonys and sides nearly or about straight. Wings short and much
rounded, folding little beyond base of tail; 1st primary quite short; point of wing formed by 3d,
4th, and 5th, supported closely by 2d aud 6th ; inner sebondaiee not elongated. Tail long,
about equalling or rather exceeding the wings, much rounded, with firm feathers broad to their
rounded ends. Feet moderately stout; tarsus scarcely or not longer than middle toe and claw;
lateral toes slightly unequal, outer the longer, its claw scarcely or not reaching base of middle
elaw. Embracing a large number of middle-sized and large sparrows, without a trace of yellow
anywhere, and of brownish-yellow only in M. lincolni; upper parts, including crown, thickly
streaked; under parts white or ashy, thickly streaked across breast and along sides (excepting
adult M. palustris). No bright color anywhere, and no colorsin masses. The type of the genus
is the familiar and beloved song sparrow, —a
bird of constant characters in the East, but which
in the West is split into numerous geographical
races, some of them looking so different from
typical fasciata that they have been considered
as distinct species, and even placed in other gen-
era. This differentiation affects not only the
color, but the size, relative proportion of parts,
and particularly the shape of the bill; and it is
sometimes so great, as in case of M. cinerea, that
less dissimilar-looking ,birds are commonly as-
signed to different genera. Nevertheless, the
gradation is complete, and effected by impercep-
tible degrees. Some Northwestern forms of
great size and dark colors are easily discrimi-
nated, but there are U.S. birds from Atlantic to
Pacific which are uot readily told apart. The Fig. 282, — Linculu’s Sung-Sparrow reduced.
student should not be discouraged if a subject (Sheppard del. Nichols sc. ) ;
which has tried the chiefs perplexes him ; nor must he expect to find drawn on paper hard and
fast lines which do not exist in nature. The curt antithetical expressions used in constructing
the analysis of species and varieties necessarily exaggerate the case, and are only true as indi-
cating the typical style of each; plenty of specimens lie ‘‘ between the lines” as written. In
going over a large series of Western song sparrows — specimens picked to illustrate types of
style rather than connecting links, it still seems to me that distinctions have been somewhat
forced; and that, also, different degrees of variation are thrown out of proper perspective by
reducing all the forms to the same varietal plane. Thus, the differences between cinerea
and all the rest, or between rufina and fasciata, are much greater than between rufina and
guttata for instance, or between fallax and fasciata. In any outline of the genus the curves and
angles indicated by Baird in 1858 are as far as they go nicer qualifications than the dead-level
varieties later in vogue. The several degrees of likeness and unlikeness may be thrown
into true relief better by some such expressions as the following than by formal antithetical
phrases: —1. The common eastern bird slightly modified in the arid interior into the duller
colored 2. fallax. This, in the Pacific water shed, more decidedly modified by deeper
coloration, — broader black streaks in 3. heermanni, with its diminutive local race 4. samuelis,
and more ruddy shades in 5. guttata northward increasing in intensity, with increased size,
in 6. rufa. Then the remarkable 7. cinerea, insulated much further apart than any of
the others. A former American school would probably have made four ‘‘ good species.”
l. fasciata; 2. samuelis; 3. rufina; 4. cinerea. The present British school might perhaps
24
242.
243.
3870 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
handle them as 1. fasciata and fallax, with a, heermanni; 2. samuelis; 3. rufina, with u,
guttata. 4. cinerea.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Breast streaked, and with a transverse belt of brownish-yellow; tail nearly equal to wings . lincolni 242
Breast ashy, unbelted, with few streaks, or none; tail about equal to wings . . . + «palustris 243
Breast white, or brownish-white, with numerous streaks; tail usually longer than the wings, both rounded.
Thickly streaked above, on sides, and across breast . c . Jfasciata and its varieties 244-250
The streaks distinct, decidedly blackish-centred (in breeding plumage).
Tone of upper parts grayish-brown or reddish-gray. Streaked from head totail. Dorsal streaks black,
rufous, and grayish-white. Wing 2.60; tail under 3.00. EasternN.A. . . ‘ - « fasciata 244
Tone of upper parts gray. Streaks obsolete on rump. Dorsal streaks narrowly blackish and grayish-
white, with little rufous. Tail about 3.00, Southern Rocky Mt. region . - » . fallax 245
Tone of upper parts ashy-gray. Streaks obsolete on rump. Dorsal streaks proadly binck, with little
rufous and scarcely any grayish-white. Size of the first. California . . . + heermanni 248
Tone of upper parts olive-gray. Streaks on rump and upper tail-coverts. Dorsal streaks as in the
last. Very small. Wing 2.25; tail 2.50. Coast of California . xh Her - . samuelis 29
The streaks diffuse, not black-centred nor whitish-edged. Bill slender. Pacific, ¢ twise,
Tone of upper parts rufous-brown. Streaks above and below dark rufous. Medium-sized; wing 2.60;
tail under 3.00. Pacific coast, U. S. and British Columbia . . . - . guttata 6
Tone of upper parts olive-browyn. Streaks sooty. Larger; wing and tail about 3. 00. Pacific coast,
British Columbia and Alaska . . . - . rufina AT
Tone of upper parts dark cinereous. Streaking reddish-brown. ‘Largest; wing and tail 3. 25 or more
cinerea 250
M., lin/colni. (To Robert Lincoln. Fig. 232.) Lincouy’s Sone Sparrow. @, 9: Below,
white, with a broad brownish-yellow belt across breast, the sides of the body and neck, and the
crissun, washed with the same; extent and intensity of this buff very variable, often leaving
only chin, throat, and belly purely white, but a pectoral band is always evident. All the buffy
parts sharply and thickly streaked with dusky. Above, grayish-brown, with numerous sharp
black-centred, brown-edged streaks. Top of head ashy, with a pair of dark brown black-
streaked stripes; ov, say, top of head brown, streaked with black, and with median and lateral
ashy stripes. Below the superciliary ashy stripe is a narrow dark brown one, running from eye
over ear; auriculars also bounded below by an indistinct dark brown stripe, below which and
behind the auriculars the parts are suffused with buff. Wings with much rufous-brown edging
of all the quills ; inner secondaries and coverts having quite black central fields, with broad bay
edging, becoming whitish toward their ends. Tail brown, the feathers with pale edges, and
the central pair at least with dusky shaft-stripes. Bill blackish, lighter below; feet brownish.
Length 5.50-6.00; extent 7.75-8.25; wing and tail, each, about 2.50, the latter rather shorter.
There is little variation in color, except as above said. Fall specimens are usually most buffy.
Very young: Before the fall moult, birds of the year are much browner above, with consider-
able brownish-yellow streaking besides the black markings; top of head quite like back, the
ashy stripes not being established ; whole under parts brownish-yellow, merely paler on throat
and belly, dusky-streaked throughout. North Am. at large; a peculiar species, not so well
known as it might be, less numerous in the Atlantic States than in the interior and west; and
keeping very close in shrubbery. Migratory; winters in the South; breeds at least from N. Y.
and N. England to Arctic regions, and in the West S. at least to Mts. of Colorado. Nesting
like that of the song sparrow, and eggs not distinguishable with certainty.
M. palus'tris. (Lat. palustris, swampy; palus, aswamp. Fig. 233.) Swamp Sone Spar-
Row. 9, perfect plumage: Crown bright chestnut, blackening on forehead, the red cap and
black vizor as conspicuous as in a chipping sparrow; but oftener, crown with obscure median
ashy line, and streaked with black. An ashy-gray superciliary line; a dark brown postocular
stripe, bordering the auriculars; sides of head ashy, with grayish-brown auriculars, dusky
speckling on cheeks and lores, and slight dusky maxillary spots or streaks. An ashy cervical
collar separating the chestnut crown from the back, sometimes pure, oftener interrupted with
blackish streaks. The general ash’ of the sides of head and neck spreads all over the breast
244.
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 871
and under parts, fading to whitish on throat and belly; the sides, flanks, and crissum marked
with brown, and obsoletely streaked with darker brown. Back and rump brown, rather darker
than sides of body, boldly variegated with black central streaks of the feathers and their pale
brown or grayish edges. Wings so strongly edged with bright bay as to appear almost uni-
formly brownish-red when closed; but inner secondaries and greater coverts showing some
black and whitish besides the bay. Tail likewise strongly edged with bay, and usually showing
sharp black shaft lines. Thus well marked by the emphasis of black, bay, and ash. Length
5.40-5.80, usually 5.60; extent 7.50-8.00; wing and tail, each, 2.20-2.40. Varies little except
as above noted, and in extent and intensity of the ash on fore and under parts. In birds of the
first autumn, the crown may be quite blackish, with little chestnut and an ashy median stripe.
Very young birds may be conspicuous-
ly streaked below, and a few streaks
may persist on the sides of the breast.
North Amer. at large, W. to Utah, N.
to Hudson’s Bay and Labrador, but
chiefly Eastern U. 8. and Canada;
breeding at least from New England
northward, wintering entirely in the
Southern States. Abundant, but a
timid recluse of shrubbery, swamp,
and brake, and seldom seen by the pro-
fanum vulgus; a good musician, like
all the genus. Nesting and eggs like
those of the song sparrow.
M. fascia/ta. (Lat. fasciata, bundled
together ; fascis, a bundle of rods; fas-
cia, a band; whence fasciata, banded,
striped; the allusion not to the body- =
streaks, but to the obsolete bands on ———— or”
the tail-feathers. Fig. 234.) Sone Fie. 233.—Swamp Song Sparrow, reduced. (Sheppard del.
SpaRRow. SILVER-TONGUE. Below, Nichols sc.)
white, slightly shaded with brownish on the flanks and crissum; with numerous black-centred,
brown-edged streaks across breast and along sides, usually forming a pectoral blotch and
coalescing into maxillary stripes bounding the white throat; crown dull bay, with fine black
streaks, divided in the middle and bounded on either side by ashy-whitish lines; vague brown
or dusky and whitish markings on the sides of the head; a brown post-ocular stripe over the
gray auriculars, and another, not so well defined, from angle of mouth below the auriculars ;
the interscapular streaks black, with bay and ashy-white edgings; rump and cervix grayish-
brown, with merely a few bay marks ; wings with dull bay edgings, the coverts and inner quills
marked like the interscapulars; tail plain brown, with darker shaft lines, on the middle feathers
at least, and often with obsolete transverse wavy markings. Very constant in plumage, the
chief differences being in the sharpness and breadth of the markings, due in part to the wear of
the feathers. In worn midsummer plumage, the streaking is very sharp, narrow, and black,
from wearing of the rufous and whitish, especially observable below where the streaks contrast
with white, and giving the impression of heavier streaking than in fall and winter, when, in
fresher feather, the markings are softer and more suffuse, The aggregation of spots into a
blotch on the middle of the breast is usual. Bill dark brown, paler below; feet pale brown.
Length 5.90-6.50, usually 6.30; extent 8.25-9.25, usually 8.50-9.00; wing 2.40-2.75, usually
about 2.60; tail nearer 3.00. 9 averaging near the lesser dimensions, but the species re-
markably constant in size, form, and coloring. Eastern U. S. and Canada, breeding through-
245.
248.
249.
246.
RAT
250.
3872 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES.
out its range, wintering nearly throughout; one of the common winter sparrows of the Middle
States. A very abundant bird everywhere in shrubbery and tangle, garden, orchard, and park,
as well as swamp and brake. A hearty, sunny songster, whose quivering pipe is often tuned
to the most dreary scenes ; the lipid notes being one of the few snatches of bird melody that
enlivens winter. Nesting various, ina bush near the ground, ora grass tuft, or on the ground :
eges 4-6, 0.75-0.85 x 0.55-0.60, greenish or grayish-white, endlessly varied with browns, from
reddish to chocolate as surface-markings, and lavender or purplish shell-markings, either
speckled, blotched, or clouded: no general effect deseribable in few words. Two or three
broods may be reared.
M. f. fal/lax. (Lat. fallax, fallacious, deceitful: well named.) Gray Sona SPARROW.
Extremely similar; the first and least departure from fasciata, and scarcely distinguishable ;
tail rather longer; tone of upper parts paler,
grayer ; the streaks not so obviously blackish
in the centre and with less rufous; obsolete
on rump. Southern Rocky Mt. region and
Great Basin.
M. f. heer‘manni. (To Dr. A. L. Heer-
mann.) HrERMANN’s Sonc SPARROW. Sim-
ilar: tone of upper parts grayish, the streaks
numerous, broad, distinct, with little rufous
and mostly lacking pale edging, obsolete on
the rump. Size of fasciata. California.
M. f. samue'lis. (To E. Samuels.) SAMUELS’
Sone Sparrow. Similar to the last, in dis-
tinctness of the black streaks, which are not
obsolete on rump; tone of upper parts ashy-
gray. Very small, scarcely 5.00; wing 2.00;
tail 2.30. California coast.
M. £. gutta’ta. (Lat. guttata, marked with
drop-like spots.) OREGON Sone Sparrow.
Decidedly different. The streaking diffuse,
the streaks above and below dark rufous-
brown, without black centres or pale edges. : Fig 234.— Song Sparrow, reduced. (Sheppard del.
s Nichols sc. )
Coloration blended, the general tone ruddy ;
under parts extensively shaded with brownish, except on belly. About the size of fasciata,
or rather larger. Pacific coast, U. 8. and British Columbia. This form was recognized as dis-
tinct by Audubon, who wrongly called it Fringilla cinerea Gm. ; and by Nuttall, who named
it F. guttata, and compared it with the fox sparrow, from its resemblance in color tu Vasserella
alaca.
M. f. rufiina. (Lat. rufina, reddish.) Rusty Sone Sparrow. Quite like guttata; larger
and darker; tone of upper parts smoky-brown, the streaking very dark. Wing and tail about
3.00. Pacific coast, British Columbia and northward. (Combined by Baird with the last,
under name of M. rufina.)
M. cine’rea. (Lat. cinerea, ashy.) CINEREOUS Sone Sparrow. Kapi1aK Sone SPARROW.
Peculiar in size, shape, and color. Above, brownish slate-color, more rufous on wings, the
streaking broad and blended, very dark. Below, plumbeous-whitish, shaded with brown on
sides, the streaks broad, diffuse, and dark. Spring and fall plumages differ much, but the bird
may be recognized by its great size. Length about 7.00; wing 3.30; tail 3.50; bill very long,
slender for its length; culmen about 0.60; depth at base 0.30. Kadiak, Alaska; Aleutian
Islands. (Fringilla cinerea Gm. M. insignis Bd.)
80.
251.
252.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 3738
PEUCAHVA. (Gr. meveq, peuce, a pine; not well applied except to P. estivalis.) Summer
Fincues. Bill of moderate size, rather elongate-conic, upper mandible declivous toward end,
comiissure bent. Wings short and much rounded, folding little if any beyond base of tail, the
inner secondaries not elongated. Tail little or much longer than wing, much rounded, the
lateral feathers some $ an inch shorter than the middle; of weak narrowly linear feathers with
elliptically rounded ends. Feet small and weak, not reaching when outstretched nearly to end
of tail; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw; lateral toes equal, short, their claws not
nearly reaching base of middle claw. Adults scarcely or not streaked below ; crown chestnut
or (oftener) quite like back, streaked with rusty-brown, black, and gray. A superciliary and
post-ocular stripe, but usually none running under auriculars; more or less distinct black
maxillary stripes. Edge of wing yellow (in most species. These nest on the ground and lay
white eggs).
Analysis of Species (adults).
Edge of wing yellow. Crown not uniform chestnut; nochestnut on lesser wing-coverts. Maxillary stripes
slight. Nest on ground; eggs white.
Broadly marked above with rufous streaks or blotches on ashy ground, with black centres of the
streaks on middle of back. Tail-feathers plain, or only with obscure whitish area. . e@stivalis 251-253
Marked above with pale brown black-centred streaks, these black centres enlarged transversely at
their ends on the middle of back. Tail-feathers shafted and barred with blackish, the outer broadly
edged and tipped with white. . . i or cassini 254
Edge of wing not yellow. Crownchestnut. Maxillary stripes near
No chestnut on lesser wing-coverts . fa e a he id a es GS ay Peta AO ol aS ruficeps 255-256
A chestnut patch on lesser wing-coverts . . . . Soa eons . ae BP se, -carpalis 257
P. estiva/lis. (Lat. estivalis, like estivus, summery; estas, summer.) BacHmMan’s SUMMER
Fincu. Upper parts, including crown, continuously streaked with blackish, dull chestnut and
ashy-gray; no yellow about head; wing-coverts and inner secondaries marked like the back ;
edge and bend of wing yellow, as in Cotwrniculus passerinus. Below, dull brownish-ash, or
brownish-gray, whitening on the belly, deepest on sides and across breast, nowhere obviously
streaked in adult plumage. Some obscure dusky maxillary streaks, some vague dusky mark-
ings on auriculars, a slight ashy superciliary line, and very obscure median ashy line on crown.
Bill dark above, pale below; legs very pale; lateral claws falling far short of base of middle
claw; hind claw much shorter than its digit ; tarsus not longer than middle toe and claw ; tail
mouch rounded, with obscure grayish-white area ou the lateral feathers. Young have the breast
and sides evidently streaked. Length 5.75-6.20, average 5.90; extent 7.60-8.30, average 8.00;
wing 2.17-2.55, average 2.40; tail 2.25-2.68, average 2.50. South Atlantic States, strictly,
and especially a bird of pine barrens, common in suitable localities ; a fine songster. Nest on
the ground, of grasses; eggs 4, 0.75 0.60, pure white. As the first described species of the
genus, this has been used as a standard of comparison; but it is the most modified offshoot of a
genus which focusses in the Southwest and Mexico.
P. e. illinoén’sis. (Of Illinois.) In~ino1s Summer Fincn. Oak-woops Sparrow. Above,
sandy-ferruginous, indistinctly streaked with light ashy-gray, the streaks broadest on the back
and middle line of crown; interscapulars sometimes with narrow black streaks. Wings light
ferruginous, the greater coverts less reddish and edged with paler; inner secondaries dusky,
bordered at ends with pale reddish ash. Tail plain grayish-brown, with ashy edgings of the
feathers. Sides of head, neck, and body and breast quite across, dingy buff-color, deepest on
breast, paler on throat and chin; a post-ocular rusty-brown streak over the auriculars ; sides
of neck streaked with the same; an indistinct dusky streak on side of throat; belly dull white ;
crissum buff; edge of wing bright yellow; bill pale horn-color, darkest above; feet pale
brown; iris brown. Size of estivalis; wing a little longer, 2.35-2.60, average 2.50 ; tail 2.55-
3.80, average 2.70; bill thicker; black streaks of upper parts, instead of being generally dis-
tributed, few and confined to the interscapulars; breast and sides more buffy. Llinois to
Texas. (Like estivalis proper, but quite different from any of the following forms.)
253.
254.
255.
3874 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
P. x. arizo/ne. (Of Arizona.) Arizona SumMER Fincu. With a general likeness to P.
estivalis, in pattern of coloration, streaking of all upper parts, similarity of back to crown,
yellow edge of wing, and plain tail feathers; size same, wing and tail a trifle longer (as in
illindensis). Colors duller and less variegated ; maxillary stripes obscure or obsolete. Upper
parts light dull chestnut or reddish-brown, moderately streaked with plumbeous-gray, but
reddish the prevailing tone; interscapular feathers, and sometimes those of the crown, with
blackish centres; a poorly defined light superciliary stripe. Beneath, dull whitish, unstreaked,
the breast and sides with a decided ochrey-brown tinge. Wings dusky, the inner secondaries
darker and with more conspicuous rusty-brown edgings than those of the longer quills, and also
some whitish edging or tipping. Bill blackish above, pale below; legs flesh color. Young:
above, streaked with blackish and yellowish-gray, showing little reddish ; under parts more or
less streaked with dusky. Western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southward. (This is
what I meant by P. var. cassini of the orig. ed. of the Key; but true cassini is entirely differ-
ent. Var. arizone is probably identical with Zonotrichia botterit Scl.)
P. ecas/sini. (To John Cassin.) Cassin’s Summer Fincu. Belonging to the estivalis
group, with yellow edge of wing, and most resembling var. arizone; but perfectly distinct. A
peculiar character of marking raises groundless suspicion of immaturity. ¢ 9, adult: Entire
upper parts, from bill to tail, alike in pattern of coloration —a peculiarly intimate variegation
of ashy-gray, rufous-brown and blackish — the ruddy color occupying most of the feathers,
which have a blackish central field and gray edging; the blackish area on each feather, espe-
cially of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, where it is most conspicuous, being hammer-
headed, or widened toward the end of the feather. Pattern of markings smallest on the cervix.
No special head-markings, though there is a tendency toward a lateral browner band on the
side of the crown, and browner post-ocular stripe, separated by a gray interval. Variegation
of the upper parts descending on sides of neck; sides of head with some vague markings.
Innermost secondaries showing quite blackish in the general field of the upper parts, and edged
all around with a firm border of ashy-white or hoary-white. Greater and middle coverts exactly
like the inner secondaries ; primaries similar, but the edging not so clear. Edge of wing clear
yellow, and some of the least coverts tinged with this color. Tail curiously particolored ;
middle pair of feathers light grayish-brown, with a strong dusky shaft-line throwing off numer-
ous dusky cross-bars, so that these feathers seem ‘‘ watered” with lighter and darker shades.
Other tail-feathers, except the outermost pair, are dusky-brown, with pale grayish-brown
terminal spots increasing in size: from the inner feathers outward. On the outermost feather
this pale gray space is very large, and rimmed all around with white. An indistinct maxillary
stripe on each side of the chin. A number of strong well-defined dusky stripes on the flanks ;
otherwise, entire under parts unmarked, and of a dingy whitish color, clearest on the belly and
throat, more grayish on the sides and across breast. Bill brown, pale below; feet pale.
Length 6.00-6.25; extent about 8.25; wing 2.50; tail 2.75. Young: Described as very
similar, but with a few drop-shaped streaks on the jugulum and along sides; feathers of upper
parts with a more appreciable terminal border of buff. Texas to California, N. to Kansas, S.
into Mexico. Habits, nest, and eggs as in P. estivalis (eggs pure white).
P. ru‘ficeps. (Lat. ruficeps, red-headed.) RUFOUS-CROWNED SUMMER Fincu. Belonging
to a different section of the genus, without any yellow on edge of wing as in the estivalis group
and cassimi. Lesser wing-coverts not chestnut as in P. carpalis. Strong maxillary streaks.
& 9, adult: Crown bright chestnut, in perfect condition bright and continuous, blackening
on forehead, where divided by a short whitish line (whole cap thus as in Spizella socialis or
Melospiza palustris) ; crown, however, oftener streaked with olive-ash, especially along a
median dividing line, thus assimilating more nearly with colors of other upper parts. An
“obscure olive-ashy superciliary line, whitening over the lores. Back streaked with olive-ash aud
chestnut-brown, the latter sometimes distinct, as bold streaking with ashy edging of the
256.
257.
81.
FRINGILLIDZA : FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, EIC. 875
feathers, sometimes spreading almost to extinction of the ashy ; and the brown also varying in
shade from a kind of purplish-bay to light rusty-brown, apparently according to wear and tear
of the plumage. Wings and tail dusky, with varying amount of reddish-brown edgings of the
feathers. Under parts dull whitish, strongly shaded with olive-gray or olive-brown, paler on
belly, quite whitish on throat, which latter is bounded by strong black maxillary stripes. Size
of P. cassini, or rather less. Young: Crown like back ; under parts streaked with dusky,
especially the breast. California. Nest and eggs still unknown.
P. vr. boucar’di. (To Adolphe Boucard, a French collector.) Boucarp’s Summer FINcH.
From the typical Californian ruficeps the Arizona bird is said to differ in being darker, more
brownish-plumbeous than olive-ash, the dorsal streaks scarcely rufous, and with black shaft-
streaks. Few sparrows, if any, vary more than the species of Peucea, according to mere wear
of the feathers, independently of any moult, and to some extent of season. Birds of very
different aspect result, and it is not clear how the present alleged variety differs from ruficeps
proper. Ons. P. x. eremeca Brown, Texas, seems scarcely different. Peuwcea seems to be,
like Junco, Melospiza, Passerella, etc., still unstable in its specific differentiations —to be
“making species,” in fact.
P. carpa'lis. (Lat. carpalis, relating to the carpus, or wrist-joint.) Bay-wincep SUMMER
Fincu. Belonging to the section without yellow on edge of wing. Lesser wing-coverts
chestnut, forming a patch as conspicuous as in Powcetes or Awriparus. Strong black maxillary
stripes. Whole crown rufous, or dull bay, divided on forehead by a short pale stripe, and
bordered with a pale grayish-ash superciliary stripe. Cervix like crown, but mixed with ashy-
gray. Middle of back and scapulars grayish-brown, mixed with a little bay, and sharply
streaked with blackish ; lower back gray, with little or no black or brown. The general effect
of the upper parts, crown, and back, is like that of Spizella socialis. Wings and their greater
coverts dusky, with grayish-fulvous edging and tipping; primaries and tail-feathers with
whitish edging ; one or two outer tail-feathers white-tipped. Under parts white, shaded on
breast and sides with ashy, the throat pure white, bounded on each side by a sharp black
maxillary stripe, above which is another dark line from angle of mouth. Bill apparently
reddish flesh color below, dusky above; feet pale brown, the toes rather darker. Length about
6.00 ; extent 8.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 2.75, graduated about 0.50; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.67.
Less mature: Crown less different from back, being streaked with ashy, blackish, and rufous.
Very young: No chestnut on wing-coverts, and under parts streaked with dusky; thus much
like the earliest stage of Spizella socialis; after this first stage the chestnut bend of the wing is
always conspicuous. Arizona; a very distinct and curious species, lately discovered. Farther
peculiar in nesting in bushes and laying a greenish egg, all the other Peucee, as far as known
nesting on ground and laying pure white eggs. (P. ruficeps, however, is not yet known in
this particular.) Eggs 4-5, 0.72 x 0.58, June-September; nest in a fork of bush, deeply
cupped, of grasses, rootlets, and hairs.
AMPHISPIZA. (Gr. dui, amphi, on both sides; omifa, spiza, a finch: alluding to the close
relation of the genus to those about it.) Sage Sparrows. Bill moderate, conical, not peculiar.
Wings folding considerably beyond the base of the tail, without elongated inner secondaries ;
point of wing formed by 2d-5th quill, the lst between 6th and7th. Tail not shorter than wings,
of rather broad firm feathers, rounded at ends. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw; lateral
toes of unequal lengths, the outer (longer) not reaching to base of middle claw. Embracing two
Southwestern species, with rounded blackish tail not shorter than the wings, plumbeous-black
bill and feet, and few decided streaks, or none. These do not particularly resemble each other,
and might not necessarily be associated ; nor is the genus well characterized, though different
from the exotic Poospiza to which the species were formerly referred. The larger one of the
two species, A. belli, is sometimes placed in the genus Zonotrichia.
258.
259.
260.
376 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Analysis of Species.
Adult with throat black, sides not streaked, and no yellow on edge ofwing. ....... bilineata 258
Adult with throat white, sides streaked, and yellow on edge of wing.
Smaller: wing and tail under 3.00; dorsal streaks obsolete ...4.4.4.. shel i te te belli 259
Larger: wing and tail 8.00 or more; dorsal streaks distinct . . . 1. 1 ew ea nevadensis 260
A. bilinea’'ta. (Lat. bilineata, two-lined; bis, twice, linea, a line; alluding to the stripes on
the head. Fig. 235.) Buack-rHROATED Finch. BLacK-FACED SaGe SparRRow. £9,
adult: Face, chin, and throat sharply jet-black ; a strong white superciliary line, and another
bounding the black of the throat ; under eyelid white; auriculars dark slate. No yellow any-
where. Below, pure white; the sides, flanks, and crissum shaded with ashy or fulvous-
brownish, but no streaks. Above, uniform gray-
ish-brown ; clearer ash in high plumage, other-
wise browner, generally more ashy anteriorly than
behind, and shading insensibly into the black of
the face.. Wings dusky; coverts and inner quills
edged with the color of the back. Tail black,
with narrow grayish edgings; the outer feather .
sharply edged and tipped with white, and several
others similarly tipped. Bill and feet plumbe-
ous-black. Small: length about 5.50; wing
about 2.50; tail 2.75. Young: The head-mark-
ings obscure; little or no black on throat; a few
pectoral streaks. Owing to absence of black on
\ the throat, the white maxillary stripe is ill-de-
Fic. 235.— Black-throated Finch, reduced. (Shep- fined, but the other stripe is conspicuous. Back
pard del. Nichols se. ) rather brown than ashy; tail blackish, not pure
black. A jaunty little sparrow, haunting the sage-brush and chaparral of the southwest, from
Texas to California, N. to Utah and Nevada or farther, migratory northerly. An effective
songster. Nest in bushes close to the ground; eggs 4-5, 0.72 x 0.58, whitish, unmarked.
A. belli. (To J. G. Bell, of N. Y.) Bauy’s Fincu. Cairornia SaGe Sparrow. No
definite black about head, and edge of wing slightly yellowish. Forehead, line over eye, and
edges of eyelids, inconspicuously white. Below, white, more or less tinged with pale brownish,
the sides with slight sparse streaks that anteriorly become aggregated into slight maxillary
stripes cutting off from the white throat a whitish line that runs from the corner of the bill;
lores and cireum-ocular region dusky. Above, grayish-brown, ashier on head, the middle of the
back with small obscure blackish streaks; wing-coverts and inner quills with much fulvous
edging ; tail black with slight pale edgings, the outer web of the outer feather simply whitish.
Bill and feet plumbeous-blue. Length under 6.00; wing and tail under 3.00. Southern
California, resident. Nest in low bushes or on the ground; eggs greenish-blue, speckled.
A. b. nevaden’sis, Artemisia SPARROW. NEVADA SaGE Sparrow. Similar to the last
in coloration. Edge of wing, and sometimes the lesser coverts, yellowish. Above, ashy-brown,
much as in P. bilineata, clearer ash anteriorly, more brownish behind; also clearer in high
plumage, and more overcast with brown in less mature specimens; the middle of the back and
the scapulars very notably streaked with fine black lines. Below, white; the sides and some-
times, especially in fall specimens, most of the under parts shaded with pale fulvous-brown; the
sides, and sometimes the breast, with dusky streaks, which on the side of the neck tend to run
in a chain, partly distinguishing a pure white lateral stripe above them from the general
whitish of the under parts. Sides of head slaty, becoming dusky on lores; a conspicuous white
eye-ring. A short white line above lores, and another on middle of forehead. Wings and tail
as in thelast; outer feather edged and tipped with white. Bill dark bluish-plumbeous, under
82.
261.
FRINGILLIDE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, EI‘. 877
mandible sometimes yellowish. Decidedly larger than belli proper, though so little different in
color; wing and tail fully 3.00, if not more; bill 0.35; tarsus 0.75. Southern Rocky Mt.
region, N. to 40° and beyond, resident; abounding in the sage-brush deserts of Nevada,
Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Nesting as in P. belli; eggs 0.80 x 0.60, pale greenish, pro-
fusely speckled with reddish-brown and blackish-brown, with purplish shell-markings.
JUN'CO. (? Lat. juncus, a reed.) SNow SPARROws. SNow-siRvs. Bill small, strictly
conic. Wings rather long, the primaries much surpassing the short inner secondaries in the
closed wing; usually 2d, 3d, and 4th quills longest, 5th little shorter, then 1st and 6th. Tarsus
a little longer than middle toe and claw; lateral toes subequal, their claws about reaching base
of middle claw. Tail about as long as wings, slightly emarginate or about even, of rather
narrow but firm feathers, rounded oval at ends. A beautiful genus; adults unspotted,
unstreaked, the colors massed in large definite areas; belly, crissum, and 2-3 lateral tail-feathers
white ; bill whitish, or black and yellow. Length 6 or 7 inches; wing and tail about 3 inches.
Sexes subsimilar, but ¢ clearer and purer in coloration; young entirely different, quite streaky.
Nest on the ground; eggs speckled. One common Eastern species; in the West the Jwnco
stock split into numerous forms, all of which intergrade with each other, and with the Eastern
bird. Almost all late writers have taken a hand at Junco, shuffling them about in the vain
attempt to decide which are ‘‘ species” and which “ varieties.” All are either, or both, as we
may elect to consider them ; for the degree of difference between almost any two of the nearest
related ones is about the same. The distinctions between the typical styles of each are very
nice and easily perceived. The theory of hybridization advanced to account for the connecting
links. simply restates without explaining the case ; for interbreeding is just one of the conditions
of intergraded species, keeping them from positive distinctness. Upon this understanding the
recognizable styles of Jwnco may all be treated alike. Adult male birds of the several forms
afford the following
Bill flesh-color.
Blackish-ash, without reddish tints; sides ashy.
Analysis of Species or Subspecies.
No white wing-bars . ace tdk Gratis a ae A SS hiemalis 261
Twowhite wing-bars .... .«... ss. ne fee ree ae RO ae aikeni 262
(mixed characters of firstandnext. ........+4468. ae « . connectens 262a
Sooty-black on head and breast; back reddish; sides pinkish . . e “ + +. oregonus 263
(mixed characters oflastandnext. ...... bt es és +. .annectens 264
Ashy on head and breast; interscapulars alone reddish ‘ Wp ole Geb io eae: 220 caniceps 263
Bill black and yellow. :
" (mixed characters oflastand next. ........ See Buch + Wee nee salen Oe dorsalis 266
Ashy on head and breast; interscapulars and wing-coverts reddish . oe eS cimereus 267
Setting aside atkeni as a special offshoot, we have hiemalis connected with oregonus by
birds possessing pink sides and ashy back, or reddish back and ashy sides; this style may be
named connectens. Similarly, oregonus and camiceps are annexed by gray-headed red-backed
birds with pink sides; this is anmectens. And again, but more remarkably, the pink-billed
caniceps is affixed with the black-and-yellow-billed cinereus by dorsalis, which has the bill of
the latter, but otherwise resembles the former.
J. hiema/lis. (Lat. hiemalis, wintry; hiems, winter. Fig. 236.) EasTeRN SNOW-BIRD.
Back SNow-BirD. Blackish-ash, below abruptly pure white from the breast, the sides shaded
with ashy. Inthe 9, and most fall and winter specimens, the upper parts have a more grayish,
or even a decidedly brownish, cast, and the inner secondaries are edged with pale bay. @, in full
dress: The slaty-black intense on the head; belly and crissum pure white, the line between
the two transverse or convex forward; wings and tail blackish, with slightly hoary edging of
some ofthe feathers ; 2-3 lateral tail feathers pure white, wholly or in greatest part. No rusty-
brown on back or sides;.any shade on the sides ashy, not pinkish. Bill pinkish-white, or
flesh-color, usually black-tipped. Length 6.00-6.50 ; extent 9.50-10.00 ; wing 3.00-3.25; tail
rather less. These extremes uncommon; average: 6.25—9.75—3.10. 9, in summer: The
878 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
slate-color less intense, overlaid with brown (not reddish), sometimes quite brown; edging of
inner secondaries rusty-brown ; average less white on the tail; rather smaller ; average about
at the lesser of the above dimensions: sometimes only 5.75—9.25—2.75. @ 9, in winter:
Resembling the Q in summer. Young of the year: The general color rather brown than
slate, with conspicuous bay edgings of inner secondaries; bill much obscured with dusky.
The brown overcast, it should be: observed, is a general shading, not of particular areas, and
not pinkish. Young before first} moult: Entirely streaked and spotted, like most very young
sparrows. Upper parts streaked with blackish and rusty-brown, the secondaries and wing
coverts conspicuously edged with the latter. Under parts streaked or speckled with dusky
and ochrey brown, on all the fore parts and
sides, the belly and crissum soiled whitish. Bill
dusky, paler below. Eastern N. Amer., N. W.
to Alaska, W. to the Rocky Mts. and even
Utah and Washington Territories ; still chiefly
Eastern. One of our most abundant and familiar
winter birds, in flocks in the shrubbery, from
October to April. Retires to high latitudes or
altitudes to breed. Nests in mountains of the
Middle and some of the Southern States, as Vir-
ginia and North Carolina, and down to sea level
froin the limits of the Canadian fauna in Maine ;
winters anywhere in the U. S., most numerously
from Massachusetts southward; a cheery bright
little bird, coming fearlessly to the threshold
and window-sill in bad weather. Its snapping
note is better known than is the pleasant song
with which it takes leave in the spring. Nest
on the ground; eggs 4-6, white, sprinkled
Fig. 236.—Eastern Suow-Bird. (Sheppard del. with reddish and darker brown dots, about
Nichols sc.) 0.80 x 0.60.
262. J. hb. ai/keni. (ToC. E. Aiken, of Colorado.) WHITE-wINGED BLack Snow-zirp. Like
the last: the wings crossed with two white bars formed by the tips of the greater and middle
coverts ; and sometimes white edging of the inner secondaries. Rather large. Mts. of Colorado.
262a, J. h. connec'tens. (Lat. connectens, connecting ; con, with, necto, I join.) Hysrip Snow-
BIRD. Possessing in varying degree the characters of hiemalis and oregonus; rufous back of
the latter and ashy sides of the former, or, oftener, the ashy back of the former and pink sides
of the latter ; occurring wherever the breeding range of the two comes together, and elsewhere
during the migration.
263. J.h.ore/gonus. (Lat. of the Oregon River.) OrEGoN SNow-BIRD. Head and neck all round
and fore breast sooty-black, ending sharply against white with a rounded outline convex back-
ward; middle of back dull reddish-brown, and feathers of the wings much edged with the
same ; below from the fore breast abruptly white, tinged on the sides with pale reddish-brown
—a peculiar “‘ pinkish” shade. Bill white, black-tipped. In the Q and young the black is
obscured by brownish, but the typical form may always be distinguished by an evident contrast
in color between the interscapulars and head, and the fulvous or pinkish wash on ‘the sides.
The season and sexual changes of plumage are parallel with those of hiemalis. A specimen
examined by me has imperfect white wing-bars, like atkeni. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific; as
abundant there as hiemalis is with us, and thence straggling eastward; has occurred in Massa-
chusetts; N. to Alaska. In the U.S. it is less obviously migratory than hiemalis, owing to
the broken mountainous regions it inhabits.
264.
265.
266.
267.
83.
268.
FRINGILLIDG: FINCHES. BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 379
J.h, annec’tens, (Lat. annectens, annexing ; ad, to, and necto, I join.) Pinx-stipep Snow-
BIRD. Characters in general of J. caniceps (No. 265) ; differs by more abrupt definition of the
white belly from the ashy breast, and pinkish sides: by so much resembling oregonus. Southern
Rocky Mt. region, from Wyoming, and especially Colorado, to New Mexico and Arizona;
migrating latitudinally with season, but chiefly working up and down the mountains.
J. h. ca’niceps. (Lat. caniceps, gray-headed ; canus, gray.) GRAY-HEADED SNOW-BIRD.
Clear ash, purest on head, paler below, and fading gradually into white on belly; interscapulars
abruptly, definitely, chestnut or rusty-brown ; lores blackish ; bill flesh-color ; iris brown ; no
fulvous wash on sides ; no chestnut on wings in the typical form. Rather larger than hiemalis;
length about 7.00; wing over 3.00; tail about 3.00. The sexual and seasonal changes are not
so well marked as in the heavily-colored hiemalis and oregonus, but parallel as far as they go.
Very young birds are streaked, like all the rest. Rocky Mts. of the U. S., from Wyoming
southward ; Wahsatch and Uintah Mts. Five or six of the styles of Junco, including J.
hiemalis, occur together in the mountains of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
J. h. dorsa/lis. (Lat. dorsalis, pertaining to the back; dorsum, the back.) RED-BACKED
SNow-BIRD. Characters in general of J. caniceps; but with the bill black and yellow, as in
cinereus. Mountains of New Mexico and Arizona.
J. h. cinereus. (Lat. cinereus, ashy; cinis, ashes.) CINEREOUS SNOW-BIRD. MrxIcAN
SNow-BirD. Like J. camiceps. Under parts paler ash, fading sooner and nore insensibly into
white; chestnut of back intense, and spreading over the wing-coverts and inner secondaries ;
upper mandible black; lower yellow; iris yellow. Mexico to the U.S. border. Mt. Graham,
Arizona.
SPIZEL/LA. (Ital. diminutive form of Lat. spiza, from Gr.
oni{a, a finch.) Curprinc Sparrows. Embracing small
species, 5-6 inches long, with the long, broad-feathered, forked
tail about equalling (more or less) the rather pointed wings ;
with no yellowish anywhere, and no streaks on the under parts
when adult ; interscapular region distinctly streaked ; ramp plain
(except atrigularis) ; young fully streaked. Point of wing formed
by 2d to 4th or 5th quill; 1st usually between 5th and 6th. Bill
small, conic. Tarsus little if any longer than middle toe and Fic. 237. — Chippy’s head, a8
claw; lateral toes about equal. Tail-feathers widening a little ate asiife. (E. C.)
to broadly oval tips. Numerous species, Eastern and Western, inhabiting shrubbery ; three
of them familiar Eastern birds.
Analysis of Species,
Eastern and Western species with the crown of the adult chestnut.
Bill black and yellow; forehead not black; two distinct white wing-bars; dark spot on breast; large:
about 6.00long .. . » + .monticola 268
Bill and forehead black ; swing bart not conspicuous; breast siaha/santilees without spot ; length under 6.
Tail decidedly shorter than wing . . « domestica 269, 270
Bill brownish-red; forehead not black; wing- “bars. indistinct; breast busty white, without spot.
Length under 6.00 . : + + « agrestis 271
Western species, with the crown not chestnut, and streaked like the ack:
Crown divided by a median stripe, and its streaks separated from those of the back by an ashy
interval. Tail equal to wings . . - . . pallida 272
Crown not evidently divided, and atvenked continioudly with the back. "Tail hone » . . brewert 272
Western species, with the crown of the adult dark ash. Face and throat black. Tail decidedly longer
than wing . Swit at Ce ee ee ee ee we we ee ww « Ctrigularis 274
S. monti/cola. (Lat. monticola, inhabiting mountains; mons, montis, a mountain; colo, I
dwell; incola, an inhabitant.) Tree Sparrow. WINTER Cuip-pirp. Bill black above,
yellow below; legs brown; toes black. No black on forehead; crown chestnut (in winter
specimens the feathers usually skirted with gray), bordered by a erayieli- -white superciliary and
loral line; a postocular chestnut stripe over auriculars, and some vague chestnut marks on
269.
270.
271.
380 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
cheeks; sides of head and neck ptherwise ashy-gray. Below, impurely whitish, tinged with
ashy anteriorly, washed with pale brownish posteriorly, the middle of the breast with an obscure
dusky blotch. Middle of back boldly streaked with black, bay, and flaxen ; middle and greater
wing-coverts black, edged with bay and tipped with white, forming two conspicuous cross-bars ;
inner secondaries similarly variegated ; other quills and tail-feathers plain dusky, with pale or
whitish edges. Remarkably constant in coloration; sexes indistinguishable, and young very
similar, the chief variation being in the veiling of the cap with gray. There is a very early
streaky stage, however, as in other species. A handsome sparrow, the largest of the genus.
Length 5.80-6.20, usually 6.00; extent 8.75-9.75, usually 9.25; wing and tail 2.75-3.10.
Abundant in the U. 8. in winter, flocking in shrubbery; breeds in mountainous and boreal
regions, even to the Arctic coast. Infrequent or casual west of the Rocky Mts. Nest in low
bushes or on the ground, loosely constructed of bark-strips, weeds, and grasses, warmly
lined with feathers. Eggs 4-6 or even 7, pale green, minutely and regularly sprinkled with
reddish-brown spots.
S. domes’tica. (Lat. domestica, domestic. Figs. 237, 238.) Curppine Sparrow. CHIP-
BIRD ORCuHIPPY. Harr-pirp. Adult: Bill black; feet pale; crown chestnut ; extreme fore-
head black, usually divided by a pale line; a grayish-white superciliary line; below this a
blackish stripe through eye and over auriculars ;
lores dusky. Below, a variable shade of pale ash,
nearly uniform and entirely unmarked; back
streaked with black, dull bay and grayish-brown ;
inner secondaries and wing-coverts similarly vari-
egated, the tips of the greater and median coverts
forming whitish bars; rump ashy, with slight
blackish streaks or none; primaries and tail-
feathers dusky, with paler edges. Smaller:
length 5.00-5.50; extent 8.00-9.00; wing 2.66-
2.75 ; tail less, about 2.50. Sexes alike, but very
young birds quite different; the crown being
: streaked like the back, the breast and sides
Fig. 238.—Chipping-Sparrow, reduced (Shep- thickly streaked with dusky, the bill pale brown,
Pard:del,Nichols.se:) and the head lacking definite black. In this
stage, which, however, is of brief duration, it resembles some other species, but may be known
by a certain ashiness the others lack, and from the small sparrows that are streaked below
when adult, by its generic characters. North America, extremely abundant, and the most
familiar species about houses, in gardens, and elsewhere, nesting in shrubbery; nest of fine
dried grass, lined’with hair; eggs 4-5, bluish, speckled sparsely and chiefly about the larger
end with blackish-brown, with purplish shell-markings; size about 0.70 X 0.55.
8. d. arizo/nz. (Lat. of Arizona.) Arizona Curppinc Sparrow. Like an immature 8.
domestica. Paler than this species, the ashiness in great measure brown; crown grayish-brown
streaked with dusky like the back, and showing evident traces of rich chestnut, but never
becoming wholly chestnut; black frontlet lacking or obscure, and no definite ashy superciliary
line, the sides of the crown merely lighter brown ; bill brown above, pale below. Arizona, and
other portions of the Southern Rocky Mt. region. A curious form, as it were an arrested stage
of domestica. Some specimens, with the least chestnut on the head, look remarkably like
breweri, but this last is evidently smaller, without chestnut on the head, and otherwise different.
S. agres'tis. (Lat. agrestis, pertaining to fields; ager, a field.) FirmeLp Sparrow. Bill pale
reddish ; feet very pale; crown dull chestnut; auriculars and postocular stripe the same; no
decided black or whitish about head. Below, white, unmarked, but much washed with pale
brown on breast and sides; sides of head and neck with some vague brown markings; all the
1
by
272.
273.
274.
84,
FRINGILLIDE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 381
ashy parts of domestica replaced by pale brownish. Back bright bay, with black streaks and
‘some pale flaxen edgings ; inner secondaries similarly variegated ; tips of median and greater
coverts forming whitish cross-bars. Size of domestica, but more nearly the colors of monticola.
Length 5.25-5.75; extent 7.75-8.40; wing 2.30-2.50 ; tail quite as much, or more, thus not
shorter than wing, as it is in the last. Sexes alike; young for a short time streaked below, as
usual in Spizella. Eastern U.S., strictly; hardly N. throughout New England, W. only to the
edge of the Plains; migratory ; breeds usually from Virginia northward, and winters from the
same southward; very abundant in fields, copses, and hedges, in flocks when not breeding.
Nest indifferently in low bushes or on ground; eggs whitish, fully speckled with rusty-brown,
0.68 & 0.50. :
S. pal/lida. (Lat. pallida, pale.) Cuay-coLorEp Sparrow. Crown and back clay-colored
or flaxen, distinctly streaked with black, without evident bay, the dorsal streaks noticeably
separated from those of the crown, by an ashier, less streaked, cervical interval; rump brown-
ish-gray. Crown divided by a pale nedian stripe; a distinct whitish superciliary line; loral
and auricular regions decidedly brown, with a dark postocular stripe over the auriculars, and
another from the angle of the mouth, bounding the brown area inferiorly ; below this a dusky
maxillary streak ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries variegated like the back, being black with
broad flaxen-brown edging and whitish tipping. Below, white, soiled with clay-color. Bill
dusky above, pale below; feet pale. Small: Length 5.00-5.25, rarely 5.50; extent 7.40-7.75.
rarely 8.00; wing and tail, each, about 2.50. Young birds lightly streaked below. Central
region of the U. 8. into British America, Saskatchewan and Red River regions; 8. to Texas;
E. to Iowa and Illinois. Abundant; nest in bushes close to ground; eggs 3-4, pale green
sparsely speckled with rich brown ; 0.62 x 0.50. ,
S. brew'eri. (To Dr. T. M. Brewer, of Boston.) BreweEr’s Sparrow. Similar; paler and
duller, all the markings indistinct; streaks of crown and back small, numerous, not separated
by a cervical interval; no definite markings on sides of head. Upper parts grayish-brown,
with marked dorsal area of brighter brown, and continuously streaked from head to tail. Size
of the last, but tail relatively longer, exceeding the wings — about 2.66 long, thus equalling, if
it does not somewhat exceed, that of domestica, although the latter is a larger bird. South-
western U. S., especially New Mexico and Arizona; said to have occurred in Massachusetts ;
habits those of pallida; nest and eggs indistinguishable.
S. atrigula/ris. (Lat. atrigularis, black-throated; ater, black; gula, throat.) Buacxk~-
CHINNED Sparrow. 4, adult: Dark ash, fading insensibly into whitish on the belly,
deepening to black on the face and throat; intersecapulars bright bay, streaked with black ;
wing-coverts and inner secondaries variegated with the same colors ; tail blackish, with pale edg-
ings; bill coral red as in 8. agrestis; feet dark brown. A siall-bodied species, but full 6.00
long, on account of the great j
_ length of the tail (2.75-3.00),
which much exceeds the wings
(2.25-2.50; extent 7.75). The
young lack black on the face,
have the crown washed with
ashy-brown, the middle of the
back duller chestnut, and the
bill dusky above; but may be
known by the length of the tail.
: . : 3 Fig. 240.—Crown Sparrow,
throated), nat. size. (Ad nat, del. Mexico, Lower California, Ari- (white-crowned), nat. size. (Ad.
E. C.) zona. nat. del. E. C.)
Fig. 2389.— Crown Sparrow (white-
ZONOTRICH'IA. (Gr. (on, zone, a girdle, band; rpeytas, trichias, name of a bird. Figs.
239, 240.) Crown Sparrows. Embracing our largest and handsomest sparrows, 6.50 to
215.
382 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
7.50 inches long, the rounded wings and tail each 3.00 or more; the under parts with ‘very few
streaks, or none, the middle of the back streaked, the rump plain, the wings with two white
cross-bars, the head of the adults with black, and usually with white and yellow also, or both.
Bill moderate, conical, culmen and gonys just appreciably curved, commissure very little angu-
lated. Point of the wing formed usually by the 2d-4th quills, and 1st about equal to 5th;
folding decidedly beyond the inner secondaries, and to near the middle of the tail. Tail-feathers
of moderate width and consistency, rounded oval at the end; tail as a whole rounded. Tarsus
about equal to middle toe and claw; lateral toes about equal to each other. The Crown
Sparrows are peculiar to North America, where they are represented by five beautiful and per-
fectly distinct species.
Analysis of Species (adults only).
Crown black and white; no yellow on head; throat ash.
Lores black. Dorsal streaks purplish-bay; no yellowon wing .......+.-s leucophrys 276
Lores gray. Dorsal streaks purplish-bay; noyellowon wing. .......... intermedia 277
Lores gray. Dorsal streaks sooty-black; edge of wing yellowish . ...... . + gambeli 278
Crown black and white; yellow spot before eye; throat white; edge of wing yellow. ... . albicollis 275
Crown black, yellow and ash; edge of wing yellow; throatashy ... ......4.4 coronata 279
Crown, face, and throat black ; no yellow on head or wing oi ips gap BE. rae das ope te tee We querula 280
Z. albicollis. (Lat. albicollis, white-throated; albus, sites collum, neck. Fig. 241.)
WHITE-THROATED Crown SPARROW. PEABODY-BIRD. Adult ¢: Crown black, divided by
a median white stripe, bounded by a white
superciliary line, and yellow spot from
nostril to eye; below this a black stripe
through eye; below this a maxillary
black stripe bounding the definitely pure
white throat, sharply contrasted with the
dark ash of the breast and sides of the
neck and head. Edge of wing yellow.
Back continuously streaked with black,
chestnut, and fulvous-white ; rump ashy,
unmarked. Wings much edged with
bay, the white tips of the median and
greater coverts forming two conspicuous
bars ; quills and tail-feathers dusky, with
pale edges. Below, white, shaded with
| ashy-brown on sides, the ash deeper and
Fic. 241. — White-throated. Crown Sparrow, paduded. purer on the breast ; bill dark; feet pale.
(Sheppard, del. Nichols sc.) @, and immature birds, aud. specimens
as generally seen in the U. S. in fall and winter, with the black of the head replaced by brown,
the white of the throat less conspicuously contrasted with the duller ash of surrounding parts,
and frequently with obscure dusky streaks on the breast and sides ; but the species may always
be known by the yellow over the eye and on the edge of the wing (these never being imper-
ceptible), coupled with the large size and the generic characters. Length 6.50-6.90; extent
9.20-9.90; wing 2.75-3.00; tail about the same. A fine sparrow, abundant throughout
Eastern N. Am. to latitude 65° N.; W. to Dakota; breeds from the New England and
other Northern States northward; winters from the Middle States southward. Found in
all situations, but especially in shrubbery, generally in flocks, except when breeding; a
pleasing if not brilliant songster, with its limpid pea-peabody, peabody, peabody’ in cadence.
Nest on the ground, rarely in bushes; eggs 4-6, about 0.90 0.66, with the endless diversity
of tone and pattern of those of the song sparrow, from which they are only distinguished by
their greater size.
e76.
277.
278.
279.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 383
Z. leucojphrys. (Gr. Aevxds. leucos, white; édpis, ophrus, eyebrow. Fig. 242.) WuiTr-
BROWED/CRowNn SPARROW. ¢ 9, adult: Crown pure white, enclosing on either side a broad
black stipe that meets its fellow on the forehead and descends the lores to the level of the eyes,
and bounded by another narrow black stripe that starts behind the eye and curves around the
side of the hind-head, nearly meeting its fellow on the nape; edge of under eyelid white. Or,
we may say, crown black, enclosing a median white stripe and two lateral white stripes, all
confluent on the hind head. No yellow anywhere. General color a fine dark ash, paler below,
whitening insensibly on chin and belly, more brownish on the rump, changing to dull brownish
on the flanks and crissum, the middle of the back streaked with dark purplish-bay and ashy-
white. No bright bay, like that of albicollis, amywhere, except some edging on the wing-
coverts and inner secondaries; middle and greater coverts tipped with white, forming two bars.
Bill and feet reddish. Length 6.25-7.00; extent 9.20-10.20; wing and tail 2.90-3.20; usually
6.75—9.50—8.10. Young: Black of the head replaced by very rich warm brown, the white of
the head by pale brownish; the general ash has a brownish suffusion, and the back is more like
that of albicollis, being streaked with dusky
and ochrey-brown; but the two species
cannot be confounded. Very young: Be-
fore the first moult, there are indications of
the head markings as last described; but
the whole upper parts, sides of the neck
and fore under parts are streaked with
blackish and ochrey-brown or whitish.
North Amer., especially eastern and rather
northerly ; W. to the Rocky Mts., where
mixed with Z. 1. intermedia; Greenland;
Cape St. Lucas. Not neatly so abundant
in the U. S. as albicollis, but common in
many sections in winter and during the
migrations. Breeds occasionally in North-
ern New England, and plentifully in Lab-
rador, where it is one of the commonest
sparrows. Nesting the same as that of Fig. 242. — White-browed Crown Sparrow, reduced.
albicollis, and eggs undistinguishable. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
Z.1, intermedia. (Lat. intermedia, intermediate, in the middle.) INTERMEDIATE CROWN
Sparrow. Exactly like the last, but lores gray or ashy, continuous with the white stripe over
the eye, %. e., the black of the forehead does not descend to the eye. Perhaps averaging a trifle
smaller, and duller colored. Some specimens resemble leucophrys on one side of the head, and
intermedia on the other. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, mostly replacing true lewcophrys. (Z.
gambeli Bd., 1858, Coues, 1872, nec Nutt.)
Z. gam/beli. (To Wm. Gambel, of Phila.) Gampet’s Crown Sparrow. Markings of the
head much the same as in Z. 1. intermedia; body colors entirely different, and almost exactly as
in coronata, No. 279. Streaking of the back sooty-black. Edge and lining of the wing yellow,
as in coronata and albicollis. Bill in dried specimens blackish and yellow, not reddish. Size of
coronata. Pacific coast, U. 8., southerly. (Z. gambeli Nutt., 1840, nec Baird, Coues.)
Z. corona/ta, (Lat. coronata, crowned; corona, a crown.) GOLDEN CROWN SPARROW.
& 9, adult: Forehead and sides of the crown black, enclosing a dull yellow coronal patch
anteriorly, an ashy one posteriorly ; a yellow spot over eye; lores black. Edge of the wing
yellow. Above, much like albicollis, but with less bay and no whitish; two white wing-bars.
Below, including sides of head and neck, ashy, passing insensibly into whitish on the belly, and
much shaded with brownish on the flanks and crissum; thus much like leucophrys, but the
280.
85.
281.
384 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
ashy not so pure; larger than lewcophrys; length averaging 7.00; wing over 3.00. Young:
black of the crown replaced by brown; but always traces of the yellow on crown and wings.
The yellow eye-spot is small, and not always evident. Pacific coast (to the Rocky Mts. —
from Alaska to Southern California, abundant, migratory.
Z. que’rula. (Lat. querula, querulous, plaintive; queror, I complain, lament.) Hooprp
Crown Sparrow. Harris’ Sparrow. Adult @, in breeding plumage: Whole crown, face,
and throat jet-black ; sides of head pale ash; auriculars darker ash, bounded by a black line
starting behind the eye and curving around them. Under parts nearly pure white, but slightly
ashy before and faintly brownish-washed behind, the sides with a few dusky streaks, the breast
with a few black spots continued from the black throat-patch. Back nearly as in coronata,
streaked with dusky and reddish-brown. Bill coral-red; toes dark; tarsi pale. No yellow
anywhere. Very large: Length 7.00-7.75 ; extent 10.75-11.25; wing 3.25-3.50; tail 3.40-
3.60; bill 0.45 ; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw rather less. 9 similar, but with much less
black on head and throat, the hood being restricted or imperfect ; but its outline usually trace-
able. @ 9, in the fall: Bill light reddish-brown, usually obscured on ridge and at tip, and
paler at base below ; feet flesh-colored, obscured on the toes; eyes brown. Crown grayish-
black, every feather with a distinct, narrow, pale gray edge all around, producing a peculiar °
effect ; this area bounded with a light ochrey-brown superciliary and frontal line. Sides of head
like the superciliary, but the auricular patch rather darker grayish-brown, and the loral region
obscurely whitish. Chin pure white, bounded on each side by a sharp maxillary line of
blackish, with a rusty-red tinge. On the lower throat, a large, diffuse and partially discon-
tinuous blotch of this same blackish-red, cutting off the white chin from the white of the rest
of the under parts, connecting with the maxillary streaks, and stretching along the sides of the
neck and breast in a series of rich dusky-chestnut streaks. On the middle of the breast the
blotch generally runs out into the white in a sharp point, but its size and shape vary inter-
minably. The markings here described are all included in the jet-black hood and breast-plate
of the perfect spring dress; and between the two extremes every intermediate condition may be
observed at various seasons. The rest of the plumage does not differ very materially from that
of the adult ¢ in summer. This is the largest of our sparrows; a bird of imposing appear-
ance — for a sparrow. Interior U. 8. and British Provinces, especially the valley of the Missis-
sippi, Lower Missouri, and Red River of the North; scarcely W. to the Rocky Mts.? E. to
Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, and probably Illinois; 8. to Texas. It is abundant in the line of
its migration, as in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Dakota, ete., but its breeding resorts are still
unknown. I found it in Dakota at 49° coming early in September from the North.
CHONDESTES. (Gr. x6v8pos, chondros, cartilage; also grain, seeds; éSeorys, edestes, an
eater; badly formed.) Lark Sparrows. Framed for a
single species, with long pointed wings exceeding the-
long rounded tail; point of the wing formed by 2d and 3d
primaries, but Ist and 4th scarcely shorter; rest rapidly
graduated. Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw;
lateral toes short, tips of the claws not reaching base of
middle claw. Bill swollen-conic, with culmen slightly
convex, and commissure little angulated. Species large,
for a sparrow, streaked above, white below, the head and
tail parti-colored.
C. gram/mica., (Gr. ypappixds, grammicos, marked with a j
ypdppa, gramma, a line, word ; badly selected to indicate the Fig, 243. — Lark Sparrow, nat. size.
stripes of the head. Fig. 243.) Lark Sparrow. Larg (4¢2a6 del. EC.)
Fincu. & @, adult: Head variegated with chestnut, black, and white; crown chestnut,
blackening on forehead, divided by a median stripe, and bounded by superciliary stripes, of
86.
282.
283.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 385
white; a black line through eye, and another below eye, enclosing a white streak under the
eye and the chestnut auriculars; next, a sharp black maxillary stripe not quite reaching the
bill, cutting off a white stripe from the white chin and throat. A black blotch on middle of
breast. Under parts white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown ; upper parts grayish-brown,
the middle of the back with fine black streaks. Tail very long, its central feathers like the
back, the rest jet-black, broadly tipped with pure white in diminishing amount froin the lateral
pair inward, and the outer web of the outer pair entirely white. Length 6.50-7.00; wing
3.50, pointed; tail 3.00, rounded. Very young: Crown, back, and nearly all the under parts
streaked with dusky; no chestnut on head, nor are the black stripes firm; but with the first
moult the peculiar pattern of the head-markings becomes evident, and there is little variation
afterward with age, sex, or season. A beautiful species, abundant from the eastern edge of
the prairies, and even Iowa and Illinois, to the Pacific, U. 8.; occasional in Ohio, and strag-
glers have been taken in Massachusetts and about Washington. A sweet songster; breeds
throughout its range ; nest usually on the ground, of dried grass; eggs 4-7, white, with strag-
gling zigzag dark lines, as in many Icteride; size 0.75-0.85 by about 0.65.
PASSEREL'LA. (Ital. diminutive form of Lat. passer, a sparrow.) Fox SPARROWS.
Remarkable for the size of the feet and claws: Lateral toes elongated to about equal degree,
the ends of their claws reaching about half-way to the end of the middle
claw ; claws all very large; middle toe and claw about as long as the tarsus.
Wings long and pointed, folding about to the middle of the tail; point
formed by the 2d-4th quills, 1st and 5th little shorter. Tail moderate, a
little rounded or nearly even. Bill rather small, strictly conic, with straight
outlines and scarcely angulated commissure. Large handsome reddish or
slate-colored species, marked below with triangular spots and streaks of .
the color of the back. Habits terrestrial and somewhat rasorial. Nest
indifferently in trees or bushes or on the ground; eggs greenish, fully pre, o44,— Bill of
speckled. The species, if more than one, are, like those of Junco, Melospiza, ae Sparrow, nat.
and Pipilo, still imperfectly differentiated.
P. ili’aca. (Lat. iliaca, relating to the ilia, or flanks, which are conspicuously marked. Figs.
244, 245.) Eastern Fox Sparrow. ¢, 9: General color above ferrugineous or rusty-red,
purest and brightest on the rump, tail, and wings, on the other upper parts appearing in streaks
laid on an ashy ground. Below, white, variously but thickly marked except on the belly and
crissum with rusty-red —the markings anteriorly in the form of diffuse confluent blotches, on
the breast and sides consisting chiefly of sharp arrow-head spots and pointed streaks. Tips of
middle and greater wing-coverts forming two whitish bars. Upper mandible dark, lower
mostly yellow; feet pale. One of the finest singers of the family; quite unlike any other Eastern
species of sparrow. A large handsome species. Length 6.50-7.25 ; extent 10.50-11.50; wing
3.25-3.60, averaging 3.40; tail little or not over 3.00, thus decidedly shorter than the wing;
pill, along culmen, 0.40; tarsus 0.90; hind claw about 0.35. Sexes alike, and young not
particularly different after the first moult, though in an early stage much darker; back rufous-
brown with darker streaks; no wing-bars; all the under parts heavily marked. There is
much individual variation in color, independently of age, sex, or season. Eastern N. Aum. ;
W. in the U. S. regularly only to the edge of the Plains, occasionally to Colorado; but in
Alaska to the Pacific; N. to the Arctic coast. Breeds throughout the interior of British
America and in Alaska; not known to do so anywhere in the U. S. Winters from the Middle
States southward. Nest on ground or in bushes or trees; eggs pale greenish-white, thickly
speckled with rusty-brown, 0.95 x 0.70; general aspect of the egg as in Zonotrichia and
Melospiza.
P. i. unalascen’sis. (Of the Island of Unalashka.) TowNnsenp’s Fox Sparrow. @, 9
General color above dark olive-brown, overcast with a reddish-brown tinge, and the streaking
25
284.
87.
386 | SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
obsolete, —thus giving a uniform and continuous ruddy-olive tone, becoming more foxy-red on
the rump, wings, and tail. Wing-bars obsolete. Beneath, white, thickly marked, excepting
on the middle of the belly, with triangular spots of about the same dark color as the back, —
aggregated on the breast, and the entire sides of the neck and body almost like the back in
uniformity of the color, but still showing ill-defined confluent dark reddish-brown streaks on a
more olive-brown ground. Cheeks
and auriculars with some whitish
speckling. No obvious mark-
ings on wings. Bill dusky above,
apparently reddish or yellowish
below; feet reddish-brown. ‘Size:
of iliaca, but very different-look-
ing in color, and somewhat differ-
eutly proportioned ; wing aver-
aging 3.25, and tail scarcely or
not shorter; bill about 0.50;
hind claw the same, and as long
as its digit. A curious form, re-
lated to tiaca much as Melospiza
rufina is to the Eastern song spar-
row. Pacific coast region, from
Alaska to California, breeding in
SS : wer mountains and northward. (P.
Fig. 245. — Fox Sparrow, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) townsendi Aud. Auct.)
P. i. schista/cea. (Lat. schistacea, slaty ; Gr. cytords, schistos, fissile or cleft, as slate-stone
is; the allusion, however, is to the color.) SLATE-cOLORED Fox Sparrow. , 9: Gencral
color above uniform slate with a slight olive tinge, becoming dull foxy-red on the wings and
tail; the streaking of the back obsolete, but whitish wing bars sometimes indicated. Below,
white, shaded along the sides with the color of the back, but not so as to obscure the decided
markings of the parts; the under parts at large spotted and streaked with dusky-brown, usually
aggregated into a blotch on the breast. This is the connecting link between iliaca and una-
lascensis; the upper parts are nearly of the slaty-ash that forms the ground color of éliaca,
only the foxy streaks of the back are obsolete. The spotting below is correspondingly darker.
The form has, however, some peculiarities : tail decidedly longer in comparison with the wings.
Length about 7.00; wing 3.00-3.25 ; tail 3.385-3.60; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.90. Rocky Mt.
region, chiefly, but noted from Kansas to California.
P.i. megarhyn’cha. (Gr. péyas, megas, great; pryxos, rhugchos, rhynchus, beak.) LAaRGE-
BILLED Fox Sparrow. Coloration as in P. schistacea. Tail at maximum length, averaging
at the extreme of that of schistacea; claws and beak very highly developed; bill very thick, its
depth at base 0.50, rather more than its length from nostril to tip; hind claw longer than its
digit. A local race of the last, in the mountains of California and Nevada.
CALAMOSPI’ZA. (Gr. kddayos, kalamos, Lat. calamus, a reed; omifa, spiza,a finch.) Lark
Buytines. Bill large and stout at base, the culmen a little curved, the commissure well
angulated ; rictus bristly. Wing long and pointed: tip formed by the lst-4th quills, rest
rapidly graduated ; inner secondaries enlarged and flowing, one of them about reaching the
point of the wing when closed. Tail shorter than wing, nearly even. Feet stout, adapted to
terrestrial habits; tarsus about as long as iniddle toe and claw; lateral toes nearly equal to each
other, scarcely reaching the base of the middle claw; hind claw about as long as its digit, but not.
straightened. A well-marked genus, with wing-structure reminding one of Anthus or Alauda;
the turgid strongly-angulated bill resembles that of a grosbeak. Sexes very dissimilar; a
black and white.
286.
88.
287,
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, 'B UNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 387
C. bicolor. (Lat. bicolor, two-colored. Fig. 246.) Lark Bunting. WuITE-wINGED
Buackeirp.. g, in summer. Black, with a large white patch on the wings; the quills and
tail-feathers frequently marked with white; bill dark horn-blue above, paler below; feet brown.
Length 6.00-6.75 ; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50; tail 2.50-2.75 ; bill 0.50-0.55 ; tarsus,
or middle toe and claw, 0.90-1.00. Sexes unlike: 9 more resembling a sparrow. Above, gray-
ish-brown, streaked with dusky-brown, on the back the edges of the dark streaks often of a
purer brown than the general ground-color. Below, white, shaded on the sides with grayish-
brown, thickly streaked with blackish-brown everywhere excepting the throat and belly, the
streaks mostly sharp and distinct, but blended on the sides, tending to aggregate on the breast,
and run forward as a maxillary chain. A poorly-defined light superciliary stripe. Wings
dusky, with a large white or whitish speculum, much as in the ¢, but not so pure nor so
extensive ; inner secondaries edged with brown and white. ‘Tail-feathers, the middle excepted,
blackish tipped with white. Young @ like the 9, but colors more suffuse and brighter;
upper parts pure brown; under parts tinged with fulvous, the wing-markings quite fulvous ;
under surface of wing quite
blackish. In very young
birds the markings more
motley than streaky ; the bill
brownish, flesh-colored be-
low. 2 wears the black
plumage only during the
breeding season, like the
bobolink; when changing,
the characters of the two
sexes are confused. In the
form of the bill, this interest-
ing species is closely allied
to the grosbeaks; and this,
with the singularly enlarged
secondaries, as long as the
primaries in the closed wing,
renders it unmistakable .in
any plumage. A _ prairie
bird, abundant on the central plains ; N. to 49° at least, in the Missouri and Milk River region,
W. to the Rocky Mts., and southerly to the Pacific. The male has the habit of soaring and
singing on wing like a lark; nest on the ground, sunken flush with the surface, of grasses;
eggs 4-5, 0.90 X 0.65, pale bluish-green, normally unmarked, occasionally speckled.
SPI'ZA. (Gr. omi{a, spiza, a kind of finch, probably F. celebs.) Sink Buntines. Bill
much as in Calamospiza, but longer for its depth and not so strongly angulated. Wings very
long and pointed; 2d primary usualiy longest, 1st and 3d little shorter, 4th and rest rapidly
graduated; one inner secondary a little elongated, but not nearly reaching point of wing. Tail
short, nearly even, but a little emarginate. Tarsus and middle toe and claw of about equal
lengths; lateral toes of nearly equal lengths, not reaching base of middle claw; hind toe with
claw as long as the middle toe without claw.
S. america/na. (Lat. of America. Fig. 247.) Buack-THROATED Bunrinc. gf: Above,
grayish-brown, the middle of the back streaked with black, the hind neck ashy, becoming on
the crown yellowish-olive with black touches. A yellow superciliary line, and maxillary touch
of the same; eyelid white; ear-coverts ashy like the cervix; chin white; throat with a large
jet-black patch. Under parts in general white, shaded with gray on the sides, extensively
tinged with yellow on the breast and belly. Edge of wing yellow; lesser and middle coverts
Fic. 246.—Lark Bunting, ¢ 9, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
288.
89,
388 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
rich chestnut, other coverts and inner secondaries edged with paler. Bill dark horn-blue;
feet brown. Length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.50-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50, sharp-pointed ; tail
2.50-2.75, emarginate. Q. Smaller; wing under
3.00, ete.; above, like the ¢, but head and neck
plainer; below, less tinged with yellow, the black:
throat-patch wanting, replaced by sparse sharp
maxillary and pectoral streaks, the wing-coverts
not chestnut, though so indicated by rufous edg-
ings of the individual feathers. Young ¢: Larger
than the 9, but in general similar; throat-pateh
indicated by blackish feathers ; wing-coverts chest-
nut. An elegant species, of trim form, tasteful
colors and very smooth plumage, abundant in the
fertile portions of the Eastern U. S.; N. to Massa-
chusetts ; W. to Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and
in the south to Arizona; rather southerly, scarcely
reaching the N. border of the U. S. anywhere;
hee winters wholly extralimital; breeds throughout its
Fic. 247 — Black-throated Bunting, reduced. U. 8. range. Not a good vocalist; the simple
(Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) ditty sounds like chip-chip-chee, chee, chee. Nest
on the ground, or in a low bush; eggs 4-5, normally plain greenish-white, rarely speckled ;
0.80 X 0.65.
S. town/sendi. (To J. K. Townsend.) Townsenp’s Buntine. ‘Upper parts, head and
neck all round, sides of body and forepart of breast, slate-blue; back and upper surface of wings
tinged with yellowish-brown ; interscapulars streaked with black ; superciliary and maxillary
line, chin and throat and central line of under parts from breast to crissum, white; edge of
wing, and gloss on breast and middle of belly, yellow; a black spotted line from lower corner of
lower mandible down the side of the throat, connecting with a crescent of streaks in the upper
edge of the slate portion of the breast.” Pennsylvania ; one specimen known, a standing puzzle
to ornithologists, in the uncertainty whether it is a ‘‘ good species,” or merely an abnormal plu-
mage of the last, or a hybrid, possibly of S. americana 9 X gf Guiraca cerulea. While it is not
improbable that the type came from an egg laid by S. americana, even such immediate ancestry
would not forbid recognition of ‘“ specific characters ;” the solitary bird having been killed, it
represents a species which died at its birth.
ZAMELO'DIA. (Gr. 4, za, much, very ; peA@dia, melodia,
melody. Fig. 248.) Sona Grosseaxs. Bill extremely
heavy, with the lower mandible as deep as the upper or
deeper, the commissural angle strong, far in advance of the
feathered base of the bill, the rictus overhung with a few long
stiff bristles. Wing with outer 4 primaries abruptly longer
than 5th. Tail shorter than wing, even or scarcely rounded.
Feet short and stout. Embracing two large species, of beau-
tiful and striking cclors, the sexes dissimilar. @ black and
white, with carmine-red or orange-brown; 9 otherwise, but
Fic. 248. — Bill of Zamelodia (Z.
: me aoe . ludoviciana, nat. size.) (Ad. nat del.
with lining of wings yellow. Brilliant songsters; nest in F.C.)
trees and bushes; eggs spotted.
Analysis of Species.
¢@ black and white, with carmine-red on breast and under wings. 9? with lining of wings saffron-yellow.
ae ai ent Be nae ase - + + « « ludoviciana 289
reast: #9 with lining of wings and belly yellow. Western
melanocephala 290
289.
290.
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 889
Z. ludovicia/‘na. (Lat. of Louisiana. Figs. 248, 249, 255.) RosE-BREASTED SONG GROS-
BEAK. Adult ¢ with the head and neck all around and most of the upper parts black, the
rump, upper tail-coverts and under parts white, the breast and under wing-coverts exquisite
carmine or rose-red ; wings and tail black, variegated with white; bill white; feet grayish-
blue; iris brown. @ above, streaked with blackish and olive-brown or flaxen-brown, with
median white coronal and superciliary line; below, white, more or less tinged with fulvous and
streaked with dusky; wnder wing-coverts
saffron-yellow ; upper coverts and inner
quills with a white spot at end; bill brown.
Young ¢ at first resembling the 9 ; but the
rose color appears with the first full feather-
ing. Two or three years are required to
produce the perfect beauty. Sexes of same
size. Length 7.75-8.50; extent 12.00-13.00;
wing 3.90-4.25; tail 3.25; tarsus 0.90.
Eastern U. 8S. and British Provinces, N.
to Labrador and the region of the Saskatche-
wan; W. in U. S. to the Red River Valley,
and edge of the Missouri River plains ; win-
ters extralimital; breeds from the Middle
States northward. A splendid bird! Few
combine such attractions for the eye and ear.
Nest in bushes and low trees, chiefly of root-
lets and slender fibres; eggs 3-4, 1.00 x
0.75, dull greenish, fully splashed and dotted
with dark brown, laid in June. Fic. 249. — Rose-breasted Grosbeak, reduced. (Shep-
Z. melanoce/phala. (Gr. pédas, pédavos, pard del. Nichols sc.)
melas, melanos, black; kepady, kephale, head. Fig. 250.) BLACK-HEADED SonG GROSBEAK.
Adult @ with the crown, sides of head, back, wings, and tail black; the back usually varied
with whitish or cinnamon-brown, the wings spotted with white on the ends of the coverts, and
usually also towards the ends of the quills, and with a large white patch at base of primaries ;
several lateral tail-feathers with
large white spots on inner
webs near their ends. Neck all
around, rump, and under parts
rich orange-brown, changing to
bright pure yellow on the belly
and under wing-coverts; bill
and feet dark grayish - blue.
Size of the last. The 9 and
young differ much as in the last
species, but may be recognized
by the rich sulphur-yellow under
wing-coverts; the bill is shorter
HAN, aud more tumid, 0.66-0.75 along
Fic. 250. — Black-headed Grosbeak, reduced. (Shepparddel. Nichols sc.) culmen, 0.60 deep at base. 9,
adult: Under parts like those of the g, but paler, though the belly and lining of wings
are as pure yellow. Upper parts dark brown with an olive shade, varied with whitish or
brownish-white, the head blackish with white or brownish coronal and superciliary stripes.
Wings dusky, marked as in the 3, but the basal white spot on primaries restricted ; tail as in
90.
291.
91.
890 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES —OSCINES.
&, but the white spots reduced or obsolete. Bill light-colored below. In the @ the ten-
dency is to perfectly black head, back, tail, and wings, the two former pure and continuous,
the two latter boldly spotted with white as described ; but such faultless full dress is not often
seen. This stylish Western representative of the elegant rose-breast is common in suitable
woodland from the Plains to the Pacific, U. S., wintering in Mexico, breeding throughout its
U.S. range; its habits are the same; its nest and eggs are
indistinguishable.
GUIRA'CA. (Vox barb., Mex. or 8. Am. name of some
bird. Fig. 251) Brus Grospesxks. Bill with commissure
strongly angulated far beyond base, with deep under mandible
and bristly rictus as in Zamelodia, but not so swollen, the cul-
men nearly straight. Wings long and pointed, folding about
the middle of the tail; tip formed by the 2d-4th quills, Ist
little shorter, 5th rapidly graduated. Tail shorter than wings,
even. ‘Tarsus rather less than middle toe and claw; outer
lateral toe slightly longer than the inner, but scarcely reaching Fre. 251.—Bill of Guiraca, nat.
pase of middle claw. One species, large, ¢ blue, 9 brown. size. (Ad nat. del. E.C.)
G. cerwlea. (Lat. cerulea, cerulean. Fig. 252.) Biun Grospnax. Adult g: Rich dark
blue, nearly uniform, but darker or blackish across middle of back; feathers around base of bill,
wings and tail, black; middle and greater wing-coverts tipped with chestnut; bill dark horn-
blue, paler below; feet blackish. Length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.50-11.00; wing 3.30-3.60; tail
2.75-3.00 ; bill 0.60-0.67 ; tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw rather more. @ smaller, plain
warm brown above, paler and rather flaxen-brown below, sometimes whitey-brown on throat
and belly, or with slight streaks on
belly and crissum ; wings and tail fus-
cous, sometimes slightly bluish-glossed
or edged, the former with whitey-brown
crogs-bars ; billand feet brown. Young
6 at first like 9; when changing,
shows confused brown and blue; after-
ward, blue interrupted with white be-
low. U. S&., from Atlantic to Pacific,
but southerly; rarely N. to Massachu-
setts, and even Maine; winters wholly
extralimital ; breeds thronghoutits U. 8.
range. Its limit of northward migra-
tion with regularity and in any numbers
is about the latitude of Philadelphia.
Fic. 252. — Biue Grosbeak, iidaced (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) Nest in bushes, vines or other shrub-
bery, sometimes a low tree, of grasses and rootlets; eggs 4-5, averaging 0.90 X 0.65, palest
bluish, normally unspotted ; quite like those of the indigo-bird, but larger.
PASSERI'NA. (Lat. passerinus, sparrow-like: not well applied to these ‘‘ inatchless ones.”)
Painrep Fincues. Bill relatively smaller and weaker than in the last, with less conspicuous
angulation, the culmen regularly a little convex, the gonys nearly straight. Outer 4 primaries
longest ; 1st usually between 4th and 5th, the latter much shorter. Tail little shorter than wing,
about even or emarginate. Feet moderate; tarsus about equal to the middle toe and claw;
lateral toes about equal to each other, their claws falling short of base of middle claw.
Embracing several elegant finches of small size; the males of very showy hues, especially
blue, but also red, purple, yellow, and green, usually in masses; the females of simple and
tasteful greenish or brownish shades.
292.
293.
294.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, Erc. 891
Analysis of Species.
d rich blue, intense red and golden-green; 9 greenish and yellow. Southern ........ ciris 292
¢ purplish-blue, dusky and reddish. @ brown. Southwestern .........444046 versicolor 293
¢@ lazuli-blue and white, the breast brown; 9 brown and whitish. Western Sete setci » amena 294
d@ indigo-blue; 9 brown. Eastern Ay Be aed ee BORO So bo sh ‘ y aes + oe + cyamea 295
P. ci/ris. (Gr. eipis, heiris, name of a bird into which Seylla, dauphter of Nisus, was trans-
formed.) Paintep Fincu. PaIntTED BuntTinc. Nonpareiy. Popz. @, adult: Crown and
hind neck and sides of head and neck rich blue; back and scapulars beautiful golden-green ;
eyelids, rump, and entire under parts intense vermilion-red; wings dusky, glossed with green
and reddish ; tail dusky reddish. Bill dark horn-color; feet dark brown. Size of C. amena;
wing 2.75 ; tail 2.25, a little emarginate. 9: Above, plain yellowish-green, nearly uniform, this
color glossing the dusky wings and tail; below, yellowish; bill brownish, pale below; thus
quite different from the brown 9 9 of all the following species. Young @ at first like 9;
acquiring the red and blue with every possible gradation between the colors of the two sexes.
South Atlantic and Gulf States, abundant; up the coast to Carolina, and in the interior to
Tllinois; Texas and Mexico. An exquisite little creature of matchless hues, well named the
“incomparable”; a fair songster, and a favorite cage-bird in Louisiana. Nest in bushes,
hedges and low trees; eggs pearly white, speckled with reddish and purplish browns.
P. versi/color. (Lat. versicolor, various in color; verto, I turn; color, color.) PURPLE
PAINTED Fincw. Varinp Bunting. WESTERN NoNPAREIL. Prusiano. @, adult: Hind
head, throat, and fore breast brownish-red or claret-color, the former sometimes scarlet ; hind
neck and middle of back similar, but more obscured; fore-part of crown purplish-red; rump and
upper tail-coverts purplish-blue; below, from the breast, and the wings and tail, dusky, tinged
or glossed with purplish ; concealed white in feathers of side of rump; lores and cireumrostral
feathers black. Bill horn-bluish, paler below, stouter than in the other species, with very
convex culmen and concave cutting edge of upper mandible. Feet dark. The versicoloration
is difficult to describe; the general aspect is that of a purplish-dusky bird, redder or bluer here
and there. Size of the others. 9 plain brown above, whitey-brown below, like amena and
cyanea; no whitish wing-bars; no black stripe on gonys; concealed white on sides of ruayp ;
pill stout. Lower California and Mexico, N. to U.S. border, especially in the Rio Grande
Valley, where common in some localities. (Accidental in Michigan.)
P. ame’na, (Lat. amena, delightful, charming, dressy.) Lazuti Painrep Fincu. 4,
adult: Head and neck all around, entire upper parts, and lining of wings, rich azure or lapis.
lazuli blue, more or less obscured on the middle of the back; the lores black. Below, from the
blue neck, chestnut-brown, changing to white on the belly and crissum. A firm white wing-
bar across ends of the median coverts, and usually another weaker one across tips of greater
coverts. Wings and tail dusky, glossed with blue. Bill and feet bluish-black. Length 5.25-
5.50; extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2.75-3.00; tail 2.25-2.50; bill 0.37; tarsus 0.65. 9, adult:
Above, flaxen‘brown, nearly uniform, but with slightly darker centres of the feathers, and some-
times a faint bluish gloss. Below, buffy or brownish-white, most colored on the breast, palest
on throat and belly. Wings and tail fuscous, with faint bluish edgings usually, crossed with two
decided brownish-white bars, — the chief distinction from 9 cyanea. $, young: Like the 9 ;
‘ when changing, patched with brown and blue; when very young, J 9 somewhat streaky,
295.
especially on under parts. Replacing P. cyanea from the Plains to the Pacific, common in
suitable places ; habits, nest, and eggs the same.
P. cya’nea. (Lat. cyanea, Gr. xudveos, kuameos, dark blue. Fig. 253.) Inpico PainTED
Fincu. Inpico-srrp. Adult ¢: Indigo-blue, intense and constant on the head, glancing
greenish with different lights on other parts; wings and tail blackish, glossed with greenish-
blue; feathers around base of bill black ; bill dark. above, rather paler below, with a curious
black stripe along the gonys. 9: Above, plain warm brown, below whitey-hrown, obsoletely
streaky on the breast and sides; wing-coverts and inner quills pale-edged, but not whitish;
92.
296.
93.
29%.
392 "SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
no whitish wing-bars; upper mandible blackish, lower pale, with the black stripe just
mentioned, — this is a pretty constant feature, and will distinguish the species from any of our
Eastern little brown birds. Young ¢: Like the 9, but soon shows blue traces, and afterward
is blue with white variegation below.
Size of the foregoing. Eastern U. S., N.
to Maine and Canada; W. to Kansas,
Indian Territory, and Texas; winters
wholly extralimital; breeds throughout
its N. A. range. Abundant in fields and
open woodland, in summer; a well mean-
ing but rather weak vocalist, whose low
rambling strain is delivered as if the little
performer were tired or indifferent. Nest
in the crotch of a bush, large for the size
of the bird, and not at all artistic; eggs
usually 4-5, averaging 0.72 & 0.52, white
with a faint blue shade, and normally
plain, though not seldom a little speckled.
SPERMO/PHILA. (Gr. omépya, sperma, seed; didos, philos, loving.) Pyeamy FincHEs.
Bill like that of a bullfinch in miniature, short and extremely turgid ; swollen in all directions,
culmen convex nearly in the sextant of a circle; cutting edge of upper mandible very concave ;
gonys short, about straight in outline. Wings short and greatly rounded; 2d-4th quills
longest, 1st, 5th, and even 6th, little shorter, and secondaries nearly covering primaries in the
closed wing. ‘Tail rather shorter than wings, slightly rounded, with abruptly pointed tips of
the feathers. Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw, and lateral toes to each other, their claws
about reaching base of middle claw. A large C. and 8. Am. genus of pygmy finches, one of
which reaches our border; our most diminutive fringilline (but Phonipara is about the same).
S. morelet'i. (To one Morelet.) Morever’s Pyamy Fincu. Litre Srep-ratrer. :
Top and sides of head, back of neck, broad band across upper part of breast, middle of back,
wings, and tail, black ; chin, upper throat, neck nearly all around, rump, and remaining under
parts, white, the latter often tinged with pale buff; two wing-bands, and bases of all the quills,
also white, that on the secondaries hidden by the coverts, that on the primaries forming an
exposed spot; inner secondaries usually edged with white; tail-feathers sometimes with
obscurely whitish tip. Bill blue-black; feet dark. 9 olivaceous-brown above, brownish-
yellow or dull buff below ; wings with whitish bars, but no white bases of quills; bill brown;
feet dark. Length about 4.00; wing 2.00-2.10; tail 1.90; tarsus 0.60. Mexico to Texas, in
the Lower Rio Grande valley.
PHONI'PARA. (Gr. dovy, phone, sound, voice; Lat. pario, I produce: badly formed.) Grass
Quits. Bill small, acute, culmen slightly convex, commissure about straight to the angulation
at base. Wings short, rounded, 2d—5th primaries subequal and little longer than Ist, 6th, 7th.
Tail still shorter, about even. Tarsus if anything shorter than middle toe and claw; lateral
toes subequal to each other in length, scarcely reaching base of middle toe. A West Indian
genus of diminutive finches, one of which occurs in Florida.
P. ze/na, (Vox barb.; perhaps proper name.) BLAcK-raceD Grass Quit. ¢, adult:
Upper parts, including exposed surfaces of wings and tail, dull olivaceous, passing on the face,
throat, and breast, into sooty-black, fading on other under parts into olive-gray, more or less
varied with whitish; wings and tail unmarked; no decided demarcation of colors anywhere.
Bill blue-black ; feet dark brown. @Q lighter olivaceous, passing to olive-ashy where the f
is black; bill pale below; fect light brown. Length about 4.00; wing 2.00-2.10; tail 1.75.
West Indies and Florida. One of the common house finches in various West Indian Islands ;
Fic, 253, —Indigo-bird, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
94,
298.
95.
299.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 393
nest in bushes and shrubbery, large, domed, with lateral entrance; eggs 3-6, 0.65 x 0.50,
white, speckled with reddish.
PYRRHULO‘XIA. (Lat. pyrrhula + loxia; pyrrhula, a bullfinch ; loxia, a cross-bill. Gr.
muppds, purhros, red; Aogias, lowias, crooked.) BuLLFINcH CARDINALS. Bill very short and
stout, hooked almost like a parrot’s: its depth at base exceeding its length; under mandible
deeper than upper at nostrils; culmen curved almost to the quadrant of a circle ; commissure
forcibly angulated in advance of nostrils; gonys about straight. Otherwise generally like
Cardinalis. Colors grayish and red; head crested. One large species.
P. sinua/ta. (Lat. sinuata, bent, bowed, curved; sinus, a bend, bay: alluding to the bill.)
BULLFINCH CARDINAL. TEXAS CARDINAL. Conspicuously crested, and otherwise like the
common cardinal in form, but the bill extremely short and crooked. @: Ashy-brown, paler
or whitish below; the crest, face, throat, breast, and middle line of belly, with the wings and
tail, more or less perfectly crimson or carmine red; bill whitish. Length 8.00-8.50; extent
11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail 8.75-4.25. 9 similar to the g, more so than 9 Cardinalis :
red of crest, wings, and tail much the same; rather brownish-yellow below, usually with traces
of red on the breast and belly, sometimes without. Young @ like the 9. At an early age,
both sexes have the bill obscured. In this species the crest is long, but thin, consisting of a
few coronal feathers, without general elongation of the head-plumage. The shade of red is very
variable in equally adult males. In highest feather it is continuous on the under parts from
bill to tail along the median line; but it is often broken into patches on throat, belly, and
crissum. The tint is always carmine, not vermilion as usual in the common cardinal. The
intense rose-color is well displayed on spreading the wings. A singular bird, inhabiting the
U. §. near the Mexican border, from Texas to Lower California; abundant in the valley of
the Lower Rio Grande. The habits, nest, and eggs are substantially the same as those of the
common cardinal.
CARDINA'LIS. (Lat. cardinalis, pertaining to cardo,
a door-hinge; cardinal, that upon which something
hinges or depends ; hence important, principal, cardinal
point ; cardinal, a chief ecclesiastical official, wearing
the red hat; hence cardinal-red, from which color the
bird is named. Fig. 254.) CarpinaL GROSBEAKS.
Bill very large and stout, but quite conic ; culmen a little
convex ; gonys about straight ; commissure sinuate, not
abruptly angulated; lower mandible about as deep as
upper; rictus bristled. Wings very short and rounded;
usually 4th and 5th quills longest, others rapidly grad-
uated both ways, — 5th to Ist, 5th to 9th. Tail longer
than wings, rounded, of broad feathers with obliquely Fie. 254. —Head of Cardinal Grosbeak,
oval tips. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw; nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
lateral toes subequal. Size large. Head crested. Color mostly red, including bill. Sexes
subsimilar. %
C. virginia/nus. (Of Virginia; name inappropriate to Queen Elizabeth. Figs. 254, 255.)
CARDINAL GROSBEAK. CARDINAL Rep-sirp. Vireinta NIGHTINGALE. , adult: Rich
red, usually vermilion, sometimes rosy; pure and intense on crest and under parts, darker on
back, where obscured with ashy-gray, as it is also on upper surfaces of wings and tail; the
feathers of the wings fuscous on inner webs. A jet-black mask on the face, entirely surround-
ing the bill, extending on the throat. Bill coral-red; feet brown. Length 8.00-9.00; extent
11.00-12.00 ; wing 3.50-4.00 ; tail 4.25-4.75 ; bill 0.67-0.75 ; tarsus 0.90-1.00. rather less:
Ashy-brown, paler and somewhat yellowish-brown below, with traces of red; reddening much
asin the @ on crest, wings, aud tail. Young ¢: At first like 9, but soon reddening ; at an
300.
394 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
early age, bill dark. Eastern U.8., southerly, seldom N. to the Connecticut Valley; along the
Mexican border shading iuto C. v. igneus. A bird of striking appearance and brilliant vocal
powers, resident and abundant from the Middle States southward; inhabits thickets, tangle and
undergrowth of all kinds, whence issue its rich rolling whistling notes while the performer,
brightly clad as he is, often eludes observation by his shyness, vigilance, and activity. The
nest, built loosely of bark-strips, twigs, leaves, and grasses, is placed in a bush, vine, or low
z WS
\S a
™~ cn A
XA at
SATs RASS
Fic. 255. — Cardinal Grosbeak, upper; Rose-breasted Grosbeak, lower; reduced. (From Brehm.)
thick tree; the eggs are 1.00-1.10 long, 0.70-0.80 in breadth, profusely marked with browns,
from reddish to dark chocolate, with neutral tint in the shell, usually in fine dotting or mar-
bling pattern. Two or three broods are reared in the South. Like the rose-breasted grosbeak,
the cardinal is a favorite cage-bird. .
C. v.ig/ineus. (Lat. igneus, fiery.) Fiery-RED CARDINAL. Like the last; not redder, but if
anything lighter red; black mask narrowed on forehead, or so interrupted there that the red
reaches to the bill; crest inclining to light red, more like that of belly than of back. Bil!
96.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 395
tending to swell, with more decidedly curved culmen. Tail rather longer, on an average.
Valley of the Colorado and Gila, and Lower California, common.
PI'PILO. (Lat. pipilo or pipio, I pip, peep, chirp.) Towsre Buntines. Embracing
numerous species and varieties of large Fringillide, varying much in system of coloration and
details of form, and therefore not easy to characterize concisely. Excepting one species, all are
over seven inches long. Bill moderate in size, conic without extremes of turgidity or compres-
sion, but varying much in precise shape with the species. Feet large and strong, fitted for
ground work; tarsus about equalling or rather exceeding the middle toe and claw ; lateral toes
subequal, outer usually a little the longer, its claw reaching, in some cases exceeding the base
of the middle claw; the claws all stout and much curved, in some species highly developed.
Wings short and greatly rounded, about the 4th-5th primary longest, whence the quills are
rapidly graduated to 1st and 9th; lst very short. Tail long, exceeding the wings, rounded or
much graduated, of broad firm feathers with rounded ends. Large species, inhabiting shrub-
bery, and partly terrestrial. They fall in 3 sections or series. I. Black Towhees: of which the
only Eastern species is a typical example. In this, the sexes are very unlike, but the difference
is less in the Western varieties into which it runs: all the forms are black on head and upper
parts, with black, white-marked wings or tail, the back also white-marked or not; belly white,
sides chestnut. II. Brown Towhees: variously brown above, paler, etc., below, the sexes
alike. These are confined to the Southwest, where the numerous species stand in the same
relation to Fringillide that the Southwestern forms of Harporhynchus bear to Turdide. III.
Green Towhees: one small species, standing alone.
Oss. I. The black series of Pipilo offers a case nearly parallel with those of Melospiza,
Passerella and Jumnco already discussed. There is one Eastern form much more distinct from
the several Western ones than these are from one another. It is uniform black above, seldom
with a trace of white spotting on the scapulars: the ? distinctively brown where the ¢ is
black. The Western ones all have spotted scapularg and sometimes also interscapulars; and
@ 9 are blackish, much like the f g. (These furthermore shade into an olivaceous Mexican
form.) P. areticus corresponds in a way with Melospiza heermanni, Passerella schistacea, and
Junco caniceps ; P. oregonus with Melospiza guttata or rufina, Passerella wnalasce and Junco
oregonus ; P. megalonyx exactly. with Passerella megarhyncha. It might be more consistent
to treat all the black Towhees as races of one incompletely specified stock ; but it is not easy
to so far ignore the sexual distinctiveness, nor the fact that though P. erythrophthalmus has
oceasional spots on the scapulars, its intergradation is scarcely established. II. The Brown
Towhees afford one remarkably distinct species, P. abertz, to be likened to Harporhynchus
crissalis; and others incompletely separated from each other, like H. redivivus and H. lecontit.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
1. Black Towhees. Colors of the male black, white, and chestnut in definite areas,
No white on the scapulars or wing-coverts. Sexes very unlike.
Eyes red in the breeding season. Eastern U.S. atlarge . . SS de th 8 Rasaaiancaauic a 301
Eyes white in the breeding season. Florida, resident . .......-. . » » alleni 302
Scapulars and wing-cgverts with white spots; sexes more alike. Western.
Little if any white at bases of primaries ; none on outer web of outer tail-feathers except at end.
oregonus 303
White on wings and tail as in erythrophthalmus, but interscapulars streaked . 4 « G@reticus 304
Like the last; claws highly developed; sexes nearly alike. . . si . + megalonyx 305
2. Brown Towhees. Colors not definitely black, white and chestnut; no greenish: sexes alike. Southwestern.
Grayish-brown, paler below, without blackish face ; throat and crissum fulvous or rufescent.
Light; belly whitening; crissum iecceapeala biel necklace of dusky streaks . . . mesoleucus 306
Similar; more white on throat . . . . . « « albigula 307
Dark ; belly only paler ; crissum cinnamioausbrown? throat falvous, speckled. + 2 + « erissalis 3808
Qrayish-brown, paler below; face blackish ; no other decided markings . . . . . .. . . aberti 309
3. Green Towhees. Colors greenish ; sexes alike.
Crown brown, throat white, breast ashy, edge of wing yellow, etc. . ‘ » + + « « .chlorurus 310
S01.
302.
303.
304.
396 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
P. erythrophthal’mus. (Gr. épvdpos, eruthros, red; d@Oadyuds, ophthalmos, eye.) TOWHEE
Buntinc. Marsa Rosin. CHEewinx. , adult: Giossy black; belly white; sides chest-
nut; crissum fulvous-brown; primaries and inner secondaries with white touches on the outer
webs; outer tail-feather with outer web and nearly the terminal half of inner web white, the
next two or three with white spots decreasing in size; bill black; feet pale brown; iris red in
the adult, white or creamy in the young, and generally in winter specimens. Normally, the
black pure and continuous ; occasionally, white touches on wing-coverts and scapulars. White
on primaries confined to bases of outer 6, and their outer webs at about their middle; on
secondaries to outer webs of inner 2 or 3. Black feathers of throat with concealed whitish |
bases. Length 7.50-8.75 ; extent 10.00-12.00; wing 3.20-3.90 ; tail 3.35-4.00; tarsus 1.00-
1.12; but these extremes are rare; average length 8.00; extent 11.25; wing 3.75; tail 4.50.
Q: Rich warm brown where the male is black; otherwise similar, but smaller. Very young
birds are streaked brown and dusky above, below whitish tinged with brown and streaked with
dusky; but this plumage is of brief duration; sexual distinctions may be noted in birds just
from the nest, and they rapidly become much like the adults. Eastern U. 8. and British
Provinces ; N. to Canada, Minnesota and Dakota, where meeting P. arcticus; W. to Kansas,
and in Missouri River region to about 43°. Northerly perfectly migratory; winters from middle
U. 8S. southward; breeds nearly throughout its range. An abundant and familiar inhabitant of
thickets, undergrowth, and briery tracts, spending much of its time on the ground, scratching
among fallen leaves. Nest on the ground, bulky, of leaves, grasses and other fibrous material ;
eggs 4-5, 0.95 x 0.70, white, thickly speckled with reddish. The curious names ‘‘ Towhee ”
and ‘‘ Chewink” are from its cry; ‘‘ Marsh Robin” from its haunts and the chestnut of the sides.
P.e. aVleni. (To J. A. Allen, the eminent naturalist.) WHrITE-EYED TowHEE BUNTING.
Similar; smaller; less white on the wings and tail; claws longer; iris white. @, extremes:
Length 7.25-8.50; extent 9.50-11.55 ; wing 2.80-3.50 ; tail 3.25-4.00; tarsus 0.80-1.10; aver-
age length 7.90; extent 9.90; wing 3.12; tail 3.50; tail relatively longer than in Northern
specimens, producing less difference in total length than there is in length and extent of wings.
White on outer tail-feather about as much as on the next feather of P. erythrophthalmus.
Florida ; resident; a local race.
[P. macula/tus. (Lat. maculatus, spotted.) OLIvE-BLACK SPOTTED TowHEE. A Mexican
species, with extensively olivaceous coloration and streaked back, into which the following three
varieties shade imperceptibly, — oregonus being farthest removed and most like erythrophthal-
mus, arcticus and megalonyx successively nearing the Mexican stock-form. ]
P. m. ore/gonus. (To the Territory of the Oregon.) OrEGoN Towner. @: Very similar to
erythrophthalmus; quite as black, but not continuously so; wing-coverts with small rounded,
and seapulars with larger oval, white spots on the outer webs of the feathers near the end;
interscapulars sometimes also with white touches? white marks on the primaries and inner
secondaries very small or wanting, usually none at the bases of the former; white spots on tail-
feathers very small, the outer web of the outer rectrix not white except at the end. Excepting
these particulars, this form looks more like erythrophthalmus than like the typical maculatus,
in which the body-colors are olivaceous. Q dark umber-brown, but not quite blackish.
Pacific coast region, N. to British Columbia, S. to Southern California, melting eastward
into arcticus, southeastward into megalonyx.
P. m. arc’ticus. (Lat. arcticus, arctic.) Arctic TowHEE. Similar to the foregoing; less
purely and continuously black, with tendency to olivaceous on back and rump; white spots of
wing-coverts larger, those of scapulars still larger and lengthening into streaks ; interscapulars
also streaked with white; white on the quills and tail-feathers at a maximum, as in erythro-
phthalmus; usually, also, concealed white specks in the black of the throat. 9 comparatively
dark, but not quite blackish. In this form, the white on the wing-quills and tail-feathers, so
much reduced in the glossy black oregonus, is as extensive as in erythrophthalmus; but the
305.
306.
307.
30.
FRINGILLIDZ: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 397
wing-coverts, scapulars and interscapulars are fully marked with white; the black tends to
olive, at least on rump, and the 9 is not fairly brown. Central region of N. Am., from the
limit of erythrophthalmus in Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota, to that of oregonus in Oregon and
Washington ; in the 8. Rocky Mt. region melting into megalonya.
P.m. megalo’nyx. (yeyddn, megale, great; évvé, onux, claw.) SPURRED TOWHEE BUNTING.
The prevailing form in the 8. Rocky Mt. region, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Pre-
cisely like arcticus, but feet larger, with highly-developed claws; hind claw decidedly longer
than its digit ; lateral claws reaching to or beyond middle of middle claw. In this form at any
rate, the ? is hardly distinguishable in color from the ¢, being slaty-blackish with an appreci-
able olivaceous shade, thus exhibiting a decided approach to the typical Mexican stock. The
note is entirely different from that of the Eastern Towhee, being so exactly like the scolding
“mew” of a cat-bird, that I have heard persons stoutly contend that there are cat-birds in
Arizona. The general habits, nest and eggs of all these Western Towhees are substantially
the same as those of the Eastern.
[P. fus/eus. (Lat. fuscus, dark brown.) Muxican Brown TowHEE. An obscure Mexican
stock form, carelessly described by Swainson, to which the three following N. Am. birds are
probably referable as varieties. ]
P. f. mesoleu/cus, (Gr. pécos, mesos, middle ; Aeukds, leucos, white; the middle under parts
whiter than in erissalis.) Brown Towner. CaNon Towner. @, 9: Above, uniform
grayish-brown with a slight olivaceous shade; crown brown in appreciable contrast; wings
and tail like the back, unmarked, or some tail-feathers with rusty tips. Below, a paler shade
of the color of the back, whitening on the belly, tinged with fulvous and streaked with dusky
on the sides.of throat and middle of breast, washed with rich rusty-brown on the flanks and
crissum. The belly is usually quite white, contrasting with the rusty flanks and vent; the
throat is ochrey, usually immaculate and embraced necklace-wise with dusky spots in series on
each side, aggregated and blotched on the breast. Bill dusky, paler below ; feet brown, toes
usually darker than tarsus. Sexes indistinguishable. In fresh fall specimens, the tawny
suffuses nearly all the under parts except middle of belly, and the throat spots are diffused
instead of being in series. In the very early streaked stage, there is no distinction of a brown
cap; the wing-coverts are rusty-edged; and the whole under parts are dusky-streaked. Length
8.00-8.50; wing 3.60-4.00; tail 4.25-4.60. S. W. U. S., chiefly New Mexico and Arizona,
but also W. Texas, S. Colorado, Utah and Nevada, and interior of Southern California. Nest
in bushes ; eggs, as in all the Brown Towhees, specked and scratched with blackish on a pale
greenish ground. (P. fuscus of the Key, orig. ed.)
P. f. albi/gula. (Lat. albus, white; gula, throat.) WHITE-THROATED Brown TOWHEE.
Exactly like the last, but the white of the under parts extending further up the breast, the
gular spots more restricted, sparser, and better detined. Lower California. Slightly distin-
guished; but in good spring specimens the rusty is restricted to the crissum ; the ochraceous of
the throat is less extensive, paler, and mainly confined within the necklace.
P. f. crissa/lis. (Low Lat. crissalis, relating to the crisswm, the under tail-coverts, which are
highly colored.) Crissau TownEE Buntine. Cauirornia TowHee. Similar to mesoleucus;
crown like the back; rather darker above, with an olivaceous tinge, decidedly so below, the
middle of the belly scarcely or not whitening, the gular fulvous strong, and, with its dusky
streaks, definitely restricted to the throat; the flanks and crissum chestnut or deep cinnamon-
brown. Rather larger: wing 4.00; tail 5.00; 9 rather less. Coast region of California (and
northward 2), abundant. Nest in bushes, probably also on ground; eggs 3-4, 0.95 x 0.72,
pale greenish or bluish-white, fully spotted with blackish and neutral tints. This is the dark
coast form, bearing the same relation to mesoleucus that the coast Harporhynchus redivwus
bears to the paler H. lecontit of the interior. The crown is brownish, but not forming a cap
contrasting with the back; the throat is fulvous rather than ochrey ; this color of very limited
XN
309.
310.
97.
311.
398 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES.
extent, and speckled with dusky throughout; the crissum rich rusty. (It is the P. fuscus,
Cass., Il, 1854, pl. 17; Bd., 1858; but not the true fuscus of Sw.; Fringilla crissalis,
Vigors, 1839.)
P. a/berti. (To Lieut. J. W. Abert.) AxsEerT’s TOWHEE. GRAY TOWHEE. Somewhat
similar to the foregoing species of this section of the genus, but entirely distinct; a very
large, long-tailed form, with no decided markings anywhere excepting the dark face. Above,
grayish-brown, with a slight fulvous tinge; wings and tail darker and purer brown, the tail-
feathers slightly rusty-tipped. Below as above, but paler, by dilution with a peculiar pale
pinkish-brown shade (like that on the side of an Oregon snow-bird), particularly on the throat ;
erissum more cinnamon-brown ; lores and chin blackish. Bill and feet brown ; under mandible
paler than the upper. Young more rusty. There is much individual variation in shade, but
this large dingy whole-colored bird with dark face is always easily recognized. Length about
9.00; wing 3.40-3.70; tail 4.50-5.00; tarsus 1.00-1.10. New Mexico and Arizona, abundant,
especially in the valley of the Gila and Colorado, where we find it a wild and shy inhabitant of
thickets and chaparral; N. to Colorado and Utah. Nest in bushes, loose and bulky; eggs 3-4,
1.00 x 0.75, bluish-white, sparingly speckled and scrawled with blackish.
P. chloru’rus. (Gr. xAwpds, chloros, green; odpa, oura, tail.) GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE.
Buanvine’s Fincw. ¢@, 9, adult: Above, grayish-greeu, sometimes quite olive-gray, at
others bright olive-green, the exposed surfaces of the wings and tail with brighter greenish
edgings. Edge of wing and under coverts and axillaries bright yellow. Crown rich chestnut ;
forehead blackish, with a whitish loral spot on each side. Chin and throat pure white, bounded
by dusky maxillary stripes as sharply contrasted as in the white-throated sparrow with dark
surroundings. Whole breast and sides of head, neck and body fine clear ash, or slate-gray,
obscured on the flanks and crissum with brownish, fading to white on the belly; completing
the resemblance to Zonotrichia albicollis. Bill blackish-plumbeous; feet brown, toes darker.
Length about 7.00; extent 9.50; wing 2.80-3.20; tail 3.40-3.70; tarsus 0.95. Less maturn
birds have the chestnut cap veiled by gray tips of the feathers. Young: Crown like back.
Upper parts dull brown tinged with greenish in places, streaked throughout with dusky, but
wings and tail as in the adult; under parts forecasting the pattern of the adults, but dusky-
streaked throughout. This stage is brief and the birds resemble the adults after the first fall
moult. An interesting bird, of no intimate relations with any other; it has long been con-
ventionally placed in Pipilo, for want of a better location; it is not easy to see how it differs in
form from Zonotrichia or Embernagra. Southwestern U. 8., especially 8. Rocky Mts.; N. te
Wyoming and Idaho; migratory ; winters over our border. A sprightly inhabitant of shrub-
bery; nest in bush or on the ground; eggs 0.90 x 0.68, pale greenish or grayish-white, freckled
all over with bright reddish-brown, usually aggregating or wreathing at the larger end.
EMBERNA'GRA. (A villanous compound of emberiza, a bunting, and tanagra, a tan-
ager; the former is only Latinized from Old German, the latter is South American.) The
integrity of the genus is questionable. Said to contain several extralimital species not nearly
allied to ours. It is difficult to see how the following species differs more than specifically from
Pipilo chlorurus. It offers the following details of form: Bill not notable in any way. Tarsus
exceeding the middle toe and claw. Lateral toes short; outer a little longer than inner; claw
of neither reaching base of middle claw; fore claws all small and weak; hind claw about as
long as its digit. Wings very short and much rounded; 4th to 7th primaries about equal and
longest; 2d as long as 9th; 1st equalling the 3d from the innermost secondary. Tail about as
long as the wings, much rounded, the outer feathers half an inch shorter than the middle ones ;
all broad to their rounded ends. Coloration olivaceous with yellow edge of wing and incon-
spicuous head-stripes.
E. rufovirga'ta. (Lat. rufo, with rufous, virgata, striped; virga, a rod.) GREEN FincuH.
Texas Sparrow. 4, adult: Above, dull olive-green, brighter on wings and tail. Under
ICTERIDZ: AMERICAN STARLINGS; BLACKBIRDS, ETC. 399
parts shading from color of the upper through grayish-olive and olive-gray to sordid whitish,
purest on the middle of the belly. Inner webs of wing-quills fuscous ; tail the same, but more
glossed with greenish, and sometimes showing traces of crosswise watering with darker waves,
as often seen in thesong sparrow. Whole bend and lining of wing bright clear yellow. Crown
like back, with two broad stripes of dull rufous from nostrils to nape;. a similar rufous stripe
behind eye, sometimes traceable past eye to the lore, then defining a superciliary line of light
olive-gray or whitish. A whitish eye-ring. Upper mandible light brown, lower drying
yellowish ; feet pale. Length 6.25-6.75 (not 5.50, as in Baird); extent 8.50-9.00; wing
2.40-2.75 ; tail the same; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.90; middle toe and claw 0.75. @Q said to differ
immaterially, and young to lack the head-stripes. Young, first plumage: Above, mixed brown
and olive-tawny; wings brown, edged with olive, the coverts edged and tipped with tawny ;
breast like back; belly tawny. Texas, in Lower Rio Grande Valley. Inhabits shrubbery,
chaparral, and close cover of all kinds, where it is difficult to discover, owing to its quiet ways
and greenish tints. Keeps near the ground, but builds a domed nest of twigs and grasses in
bushes and low trees; two broods are reared in May-June, and Aug.Sept. Eggs 2-4, pure
white, unmarked, averaging 0.85 x 0.65, but from 0.75-0.90 by 0.60-0.70.
17. Family ICTERID.4 : American Starlings: Blackbirds, etc.
Cultrirostral Oscines with 9 prima-
ries. — A family of moderate extent,
confined to America, where it repre-
sents the Stwrnide, or Starlings of
the Old World. It consists of the
Blackbirds and Orioles, among the
former being included the Bobolinks,
Cow-birds, and Meadow “ Larks.”
It is nominally composed of 150
species, half of which may prove
valid, distributed among 50 genera
or subgenera, of which one-fourth
may be considered worthy of reten-
tion. The relationships are very close
with the Fringilkde, on the one
hand; on the other, they grade
Fie. 256.— A typical Icterus (I. bullocki). (After Audubon). — toward the Crows (Corvide). They
share with Fringilline birds the characters of angulated commissure and 9 developed pri-
maries, and this distinguishes them from all the other families whatsoever; but the distinc-
tions from the Fringillide are not easily expressed. In fact, I know of no character that
will relegate the Bobolink and Cowbird to the Icteride rather than to the Fringillide,
in the current acceptation of these terms. In general, however, the Icteride are cultrirostral
rather than, strictly controstral Oscines, having that cutting rather than crushing style of
bill seen in perfection in the crows, toward which some of the Icteride approach ; being thus
distinguished by the length, acuteness, and not strictly conical shape of the unnotched,
unbristled bill, which has a peculiar extension of the culmen on the forehead dividing the
prominent antize of close-set velvety feathers that reach to or on the nasal scale — a character
well exhibited in Stwrnella, for instance. In length, the bill usually equals if it does not exceed
the head; the tip is unnotched, the rictus unbristled, the commissure obtusely but evidently
angulated. The bill is shortest and most fringilline in Dolichonyx and Molothrus ; most acute
in the Orioles (Icterus), where it is sometimes actually decurved; most crow-like in the
98.
312.
400 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Grackles (Quiscalus). (See any figs., beyond.) Excepting the arboreal orioles, the feet are
large and strong, fitted for the more or less terrestrial life which all the species lead, walking
on the ground with ease instead of hopping like most Fringillide. No specialties of wing or
tail; former usually pointed, latter rounded, sometimes very large and fan-shaped.
Among our moderate number of species are representatives of four of the subfamilies into
which the Icterid@ are conveniently and quite naturally divisible. In most of the genera black
is the prevailing color,—either uniform and of intense metallic lustre, or contrasted with
masses of red or yellow. In Stwrnella alone the pattern is “‘niggled.” In nearly all, the sexes
are conspicuously dissimilar, the female being smaller and brownish or streaky in the iridescent
black species, greenish and yellowish in the brilliantly colored ones. All are migratory in this
country. Other details are best given under heads of the subfamilies. These groups, with
their component genera, may be analyzed as follows by the salient features more likely to
attract the attention of the student than less obvious technical characters : —
Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera.
AGELZINE. Marsh Blackbirds, Terrestrial and gregarious. Bill conic-acute, sometimes quite fringilline,
shorter or scarcely longer than head. Feet stout.
Bobolinks. Sexes unlike in summer, Black and buff, or legeanes nored. Tail-feathers very acute.
Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw. . . + + « « + « Dolichonyx 98
Cowbirds, Sexes unlike. Lustrous black ¢, brown 9; no en or yellow + + 6 « . + Molothrus 99
Blackbirds. Sexes unlike. Lustrous black 4, red on wing; streaky 9; noyellow . . Ageleus 100
Blackbirds. Sexes unlike. Lustrous black ¢, brown 9, both with yellow head . Xanthocephalus 101
STURNELLINEZ. Meadow Larks. Te:restrial and imperfectly gregarious. Bill of peculiar shape. Tail very
short. Feet large and stout.
Sexes alike. Motley-colored, extensively yellow below .. . . . . Sturnella 102
IcTERINE. Orioles. Arboreal, non-gregarious. Bill extremely acute: sounetinies Goourved: Feet weak.
Sexes unlike. :
Black, with yellow or orange or chestnut in masses, in the #; ? greenish and yellowish . Ieterus 108
QUISCALINE. Crow Blackbirds. Terrestrial and gregarious. Bill elongate, corvine. Feet stout. Color
of ¢ entirely iridescent black; 9 brown or blackish.
Bill shorter than head ; even tail shorter than wings . . 5 7 . . Scolecophagus 104
Bill not shorter than head ; graduated tail not shorter than eee oe Gr Quiscalus 105
22. Subfamily ACELAINA: Marsh Blackbirds.
Gregarious, granivorous species, more or less completely terrestrial, and chiefly palustrine,
not ordinarily conspicuous vocalists; building rather rude, not pensile, nests, laying 4-6 spotted
or curiously limned eggs. With the feet strong, fitted both for walking and for grasping
swaying reeds ; the wings more or less pointed, equalling or exceeding the tail in length; the.
pill conic-acute, shorter or little longer than the head, its cutting edges more or less inflected.
Four well-marked genera, the species of which abound in the United States, on plain and
prairie, in marsh and meadow. In the West, they swarm about the settlements, stage stations,
military posts and other detestable places.
DOLICHONYX. (Gr. dod:xés, dolichos, long; évvg, onux, claw.) Boxsotinges. Sexes
unlike, but only in the breeding season: ¢ black, buff and white; 9 brownish and yellowish.
Bill short, conic, fringilline, not nearly as long as head. Wings long and pointed, lst and 2d
quills longest, others rapidly graduated. ‘Tail stiffened, with rigid very acute feathers, almost
like a woodpecker’s, shorter than wing. Feet stout; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw ;
claws all very large. One remarkable species, though there are several others in tropical
America; noted for the peculiar changes of plumage and the ‘‘mad music” of the g; abundant
in marsh and meadow of the Eastern U. 8.
D. oryzi/vorus. (Gr. dpuga, oruza, Lat. oryza, rice; voro, I devour. Fig. 257.) BoBoxink.
MEApoW-wINK. SkuNK BLACKBIRD, Northern States. Rexrp-srrp, Middle States. Ricr-
BIRD, Southern States. @, in breeding plumage: Black; cervix buff; scapulars, rump and
upper tail-coverts ashy-white ; interscapulars streaked with black, buff, and asby ; outer quills
ICTERIDAE — AGELAIINZ): MARSH BLACKBIRDS. 401
edged with yellowish ; bill blackish-horn ; feet brown. The faultless full dress of black, white,
and buff is worn only for a brief period ; and even in spring and summer, most males are found
to have yellowish touches in the black, especially of the under parts. The ‘delirious song”
is only heard while the males are trooping their way to their breeding-grounds, and before the
midsummer change of feather. ¢ in fall, 9, and young, entirely different in color: Yellowish-
brown above, brownish-yellow below ; crown and back conspicuously, nape, rump, and sides
less broadly, streaked with black ; crown with a median and lateral light stripe; wings and
tail blackish, pale-edged ; bill brown, paler below. In this, the ordinary condition, the ¢ is
only known by superior size. Fall birds are more buffy than the spring 9. The ¢ changing
shows confused characters of both sexes (see p. 89); but in any plumage the species may be
recognized by the stiffish, extremely acute tail-feathers, in connection with its special dimensions.
@: Length 7.00-7.50; extent 11.50-12.25; wing 3.50-3.80; tail 2.75-3.00; tarsus 1.00;
middle toe and claw 1.25. 9: Length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.50-11.25 ; wing 8.25-3.50, etc.,
averaging $ an inch less in length and an inch in extent. Chiefly Eastern U. 8. and Canada;
N. to 54° in the region of the Saskatchewan, W. not ordinarily beyond the central plains, but
occurs in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. Winters wholly extralimital. In May, the
vivacious, voluble, and eccentric ‘‘ Bobo-
links” pass North, spreading over the
meadows of the Middle and Northern
States from the Atlantic to Kansas and
Dakota, perfecting its black dress, and
breeding in June and July. After the
midsummer change the ‘ Reed-bird” or
‘“Rice-bird” comes back, thronging the
marshes in immense flocks with the Black-
birds; has simply a chirping note, feeds on
the wild oats and wild rice, and becomes
extremely fat and is accounted a great
delicacy. The name ‘ortolan,” applied '
by some gunners and restaurateurs tu this =\ =a ——— a
bird, as well as to the Carolina Rail (Por- Fic. 257.— Bobolink, g, reduced. (Sheppard del.
zana carolina) is in either case a strange Nichols sc.)
misnomer, the Ortolan being a fringilline bird of Europe, Emberiza hortulana L. (Lat. hortu-
lanus, relating to a garden.) In the West Indies, where this bird retires in winter, as it does
also to Central and South America, it is called “‘ butter-bird.””. The names “ bobolink” and
“ meadow-wink ” are in imitation of its ery; ‘‘skunk blackbird” notes the resemblance in
color to the obnoxious quadruped. The migrations are performed mostly at night, when in
May and early September one may hear the mellow metallic ‘‘ chink” of the invisible passen-
gers. Nest ow the ground, artfully concealed in the grass; eggs 4-6, 0.90 x 0.65, stone-gray,
dotted, mottled, and clouded with dark browns.
, MOLO'THRUS. (Gr. pododpds, or podoSpds, vagabond, tramp, parasite.) Cowsrrps. Bill
short, stout, conic and fringilline, about # as long as head; but entirely unnotched and
unbristled, with little bent of commissure, the broad culmen running well up on the forehead,
the nostrils well in advance of the feathers. Wings long and pointed, the first 3 primaries
entering into the tip, rest rapidly graduated. Tail shorter than wings, nearly even or a little
rounded, tending to divaricate in the middle, the feathers broad and plane to their rounded ends.
Feet strong; tarsus not shorter than middle toe. ¢ black and lustrous, without red or yellow ;
Q plain black or brown. Terrestrial, but not specially palustrine ; eminently gregarious and
polygamous, or rather communistic, never mating or building nests; thus parasitic, like the Old
World euckoos; no musical ability. To the single species long notorious in the U.§., a second
26
46
313.
314,
402 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
has lately been added; there are several others in the warmer parts of America, all of the same
irregular and objectionable tendencies.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
¢, steely black with brown head.
Larger: d', wing over 4.00; tail over 3.00; 9, wing about 3.75; tailabout2.75.... + . Gter 318
Smaller: g, sizeof Q oftheforegoing .. = ....+4.. soe ee et ee «6Ob8curus 314
d; brassy black, including head; eyes red; wing near 5.00; tailmearly4.00 .....4.4. =. @neus 315
M. a/ter. (Lat. ater, black. Fig. 258.) Common Cowzirp. Cuckorp. 4, adult: Lus-
trous green-black, with steel-blue, purple, and violet iridescence. Head and neck deep wood-
brown, with some purplish lustre. Bill and feet black. Length 7.50-8.00; extent 13.50;
wing abont 4.50, at least over 4.00; tail about 3.25; bill 0.70; tarsus 1.00-1.10. 9, adult:
An obscure-looking bird, dusky grayish-brown, nearly uniform, but paler below than above,
where most of the feathers have dusky centres, and most of those of the under parts with dark
shaft lines; giving a somewhat streaky appearance. There is some gloss on the upper parts,
particularly on the wings and tail, where a slight greenish lustre is usually evident. Bill
blackish-brown, paler below; feet blackish-brown. Smaller than the ¢. Length 7.00-7.50;
wing about 3.75; tail 2.75. Young ¢ 9: Similar to the @ adult; still duller, and more
variegated ; upper parts dusky brown, the
feathers skirted with gray, producing a set
of semicircles on the back; below, pale
grayish, or even ochrey-brown, everywhere
streaked with dusky. The sexual difference
in size soon appreciable, and the black of
the ¢ soon begins to appear in patches.
Am. at large; migratory, abundant,
gregarious, polygamous, parasitic. The
singular habits of this bird, shared by others
of the genus, form one of the most inter-
esting chapters in ornithology. Like the
== European cuckoo, it builds no nest, laying
Fic. 258. — Cowbird, reduced. (Sheppard del. its eggs by stealth in the nests of various
Nichols sc.) other birds, especially warblers, vireos, and
sparrows; and it appears to constitute, furthermore, a remarkable exception to the rule of
conjugal affection and fidelity amoug birds. A wonderful provision for the perpetuation of the
species is seen in its instinctive selection of smaller birds as the foster-parents of its offspring ;
for the larger egg receives the greater share of warmth during incubation, and the lustier young
cowbird asserts its precedence in the nest; while the foster-birds, however reluctant to incu-
bate the strange egg (their devices to avoid the duty are sometimes astonishing), become assid-
uous in their care of the foundling, even to the neglect of their own young. The cowbird’s
egg is said to hatch sooner than that of most birds: this would obviously confer additional
advantage. The list of birds in whose nests cowbirds’ eggs have been found includes a large
number of finches, warblers, greenlets, flycatchers, etc. ; there seems to be really little choice.
While small species are usually victimized, this is not always the case. I have found eggs in
nests of the kingbird and towhee bunting. Inthe West, where cowbirds swarm about the ranches
and settlements, it is the rule, I almost said, to find their eggs in nests of the prairie Frin-
gillide, etc. The egg is usually single; sometimes 2, 38, even 4 are found in a nest; they
-ange from 0.80-1,00 in length, by 0.65-0.70 in breadth, and are white, fully speckled and
dashed with browns and neutral tints.
M. a. obseu‘rus. (Lat. obscwrus, dark.) Dwarr Cowsirp. Similar; smaller; @ the size
of 9 M. ater; @ under 7.00; wing 3.33; tail 2.33. The difference is strongly marked, and
ON
315.
100.
ICTERIDA — AGELAIINZE: MARSH BLACKBIRDS. 403
apparently constant. Southwestern U. S., Texas to California, the resident form, breeding
there, while 1. ater passes on, though the two are associated during the migration of the latter.
Swarming like M. ater; eggs as in that species, but smaller; only up to about 0.80 x 0.60.
M. 2/neus. (Lat. eneus or ahenius, brassy, bronzy; @s, brass.) Brass CowBIRD. BRONZzED
Cowspirp. RED-EYED Cowsirp. ¢, adult: Entire body and head black, splendidly lustrous
with bronzy reflections, the tint much like that of the back of Quiscalus eneus. This rich
brassy-black uniform over the whole bird, there being no distinction of color between the head
and body, as in M. ater. The bronze only on the ends of the feathers, the covered parts of
which are vivlet-black, with plain dusky roots. Wings and tail black, with violet, purple, and
especially green metallic lustre on the upper surfaces. Under wing- and tail-coverts chiefly
violaceous-black ; the purplish and violaceous tints most noticeable on the upper coverts of
both wings and tail, the reflections of the quill-feathers themselves being chiefly green. Bill
ebony-black. Feet black. Irisred. Length 8.00-8.50; extent about 15.00; wing 4.50-4.75 ;
tail 3.25-3.50; tarsus 1.15-1.25 ; bill 0.90 along culmen, very stout and especially deep at base,
much compressed; lateral outlines concave; under outline straight; upper gently convex
throughout; tip very acute. 9? notably smaller: wing scarcely over 4 inches; tail about 3.00;
culmen scarcely 0.75 ; tarsus 1.00. Color
not brown, as in M. ater 9, but uniformly
quite black, with considerable gloss, though
nothing like the brassy splendor of the g.
Wings and tail with greenish reflections.
Young ¢: Uniform dull black, faintly
violaceous on back and rump, greenish on
wings and tail. Early spring birds, in im-
perfect dress, are exactly like the adult 9
in color, but much larger. Mexico to the
Lower Rio Grande, abounding in some
places; a large and very handsome Cow-
bird, recently added to our fauna. Polyga-
mous and parasitic like the others, but egg
entirely different, being greenish-white,
without markings; size 0.85-0.95 in length
by 0.65-0.75 broad; average 0.90 X 0.70.
Found in nests of Icteria, Icterus, Cardi-
nalis, Milvulus, Tyrannus, ete.
AGELZ'US. (Gr. dyeAaios, agelaios, gregarious; dyéAy, a flock.) Rep-wine Marsi
BLACKBIRDS. Bill about as long as head, stout at base, where deeper than broad, upper and
under outlines on an average about straight ; commissure variously sinuate or bent ; culmen high
on forehead, where flattish and broadly parting the feathers; bill rapidly tapering to an acute
tip. Wings pointed, but 1st primary not longest ; usually 2d-4th entering point of wing. Tail
even or little rounded, of broad feathers widening a little to very obtuse ends, somewhat divari-
cate in the middle. Tarsus a little longer than the bill. Our three forms are very closely
related: the @ uniform lustrous black, with bend of wing red; 8.00-9.00 long; wing 4.50-5.00 ;
tail 3.50-4.00. The Q everywhere streaked ; above blackish-brown with pale streaks, inclin-
ing on head to form median and superciliary stripes ; below, whitish, with many sharp dusky
streaks; sides of head, throat, and bend of the wing, tinged with reddish or fulvous ; under
8.00; wing about 4.00; tail 3.25. The young @ at first like the 9, but larger, apt to have
a general buffy or fulvous suffusion, with bright bay edgings of the feathers of back, wings, and
tail, and soon showing black patches. The 9 9 are scarcely distinguishable: the gg may be
determined as follows:
del. Nichols sc.)
316.
317
318.
101.
319.
404 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Middle wing-coverts buff, bordering the bright red patch . . ...... . . pheniceus 316
Middle wing-coverts buff, but black-tipped, usually leaving red patch without puff buntiee . gubernator 317
Middle wing-coverts white, bordering the dark red patch . . «1. ew 5 ew we pe th ee tricolor 318
A, pheeni/ceus. (Gr. dowixeos, phoinikeos, Lat. pheniceus, red, of a color introduced in Greece
by the Phenicians. Fig. 259.) Buacksrrp. Marsa BLAcKBIRD. RED-WINGED BLACK-
BIRD. RED-AND-BUFF-SHOULDERED MArsH Buackpirp. ¢@: Lesser wing-coverts scarlet,
like arterial blood, broadly bordered by brownish-yellow, or brownish-white, the middle row of
coverts being entirely of this color; sometimes the greater row, likewise, are mostly similar,
producing a patch on the wing nearly as large as the red one; occasionally, there are traces of
red on the edge of the wing and below; in some specimens the bordering is almost pure white,
instead of buff. Extremes: ¢, length 8.25-9.85; extent 13.60-15.30; wing 4.35-5.00; tail
3.12-3.90; bill 0.75-1.00; average: Length 9.00; extent 14.50; wing 4.65; tail 3.60. 9,
length 7.35-8.55 ; extent 11.85-13.55; wing 3.65-4.25 ; tail 2.65-3.20; bill 0.70-0.80; aver-
age: Length 7.65; extent.12.35; wing 3.85; tail 3.00; bill 0.75. The extremes here given
not often seen. Southern-bred birds are much smaller as well as glossier. Temperate N. Am.,
but chiefly E. of the Rocky Mts.; breeding anywhere in its range, wintering from about 35°
southward. From its general dispersion in low or wet thickets or fields, swamps, and marshes,
the blackbird collects in August and September in immense flocks, thronging the extensive
tracts of wild oats and other aquatic plants in marshes and along water courses, also visiting and"
doing much damage to grain-fields. Thousands are destroyed by boys and pot-hunters, but the
hosts scarcely diminish, and every known artifice fails to protect the crops from the invasion of
the dusky hordes. At other seasons the ‘‘naize-thief” is innocuous, if not positively beneficial,
as it destroys its share of insects. Nest usually in reeds or bushes near the ground, or in a
tussock of grass, or on the ground; occasionally in small trees, vines, and shrubbery ; a bulky
structure of coarse fibrous materials, usually strips of rushes, sedges or marsh grass, lined with
finer grasses; eggs 4-6, 1.00 x 0.75, May and July, pale blue, fantastically dotted, blotched,
clouded, and scrawled over with dark or even blackish-brown, and paler or purplish shell-marks.
The usual note is a guttural chuck ; in the breeding season the “‘ creaking chorus” makes an
indescribable medley.
A. p. guberna‘tor. (Lat. gubernator, a governor, alluding to the red epaulettes, as if a sign of
rank or command.) RED-SHOULDERED Marsa Buackpirp. Lesser wing-coverts scarlet, as
before, narrowly or not at all bordered with buff, the next row having black tips for all or most
of their exposed portion, so that the brownish-yellow of their bases does not show much, if any.
Pacific Coast, U. 8. and British Columbia. Scarcely different; 9 indistinguishable from ?
pheniceus.
A. tricolor. (Lat. tricolor, three-colored; red, white, and black.) ReD-AND-WuHITE-
SHOULDERED Mars# Buacxsirp. Lesser wing-coverts dark red (like venous blood), bor-
dered with pure white. Besides this obvious distinction from pheeniceus, the bill is usually slen-
derer and the tail is less rounded; the gloss of the plumage is bluish, not greenish (appreciably-
so in the @ as well as in the 2%). Q with median wing-coverts white-edged. California and
Oregon, especially coastwise ; resident or scarcely migratory. General habits the same; nest
and eggs indistinguishable.
XANTHOCE/PHALUS. (Gr. &av60s, xanthos, yellow ; xepady, kephale, head.) YELLOw-
Herapep Buackpirps. General characters of Ageleus; claws more developed, the lateral
reaching much beyond base of the middle, Tail more nearly even, with narrower feathers.
Wings long and pointed; tip formed by outer 3 quills. Colors black, white, and yellow.
X. icteroce/phalus. (Gr. ixrepos, tkteros, Lat. icterus, yellow. Fig. 260.) YELLOW-HEADED
Buacksirp. ¢: Black, including lores and small space around eye and bill; whole head
otherwise, with the neck and breast, rich yellow, orange in high feather, the color extending
102.
ICTERIDA — STURNELLINZ: MEADOW STARLINGS. 405
interruptedly to or towards the belly; some feathers around vent, and the tibie, usually yellow
also. A large white patch on the wing, formed by the primary and many of the greater second-
ary coverts, interrupted by black of the bastard quills. Bill and feet black. Length 10.00—
11.00; extent 16.50-17.50; wing about 5.50; tail 4.50; bill 0.75-1.00; tarsus 1.25. In less
perfect dress, the yellow overcast with dusky. 9, adult: Dark brown, including back of head
and neck ; line over eye, throat and breast dull yellow, with dusky maxillary streaks; usually
there are whitish feathers in the yellow, and sometimes the same in the black of breast. No
white wing-patch. Bill dark brownish horn-color; feet blackish. Much smaller. Length
8.00-9.50; extent scarcely 14.00; wing under 5.00; tail under 4.00. Nestlings are snuffy-
brown; the sprouting wing-feathers black, already showing white; feet flesh-color. It is use-
less to pursue the endless color varia-
tions ; the species is unmistakable.
Western U. 8. and British Provinces
to 58°; E. regularly to Illinois, Iowa,
Wisconsin, etc., casually to Pennsyl-
vania, Massachusetts and Greenland ;
8. into Mexico; migratory, very abun-
dant. Its distribution is general on the
prairies, but irregular; it flocks about
ranches and settlements, and collects in
colonies to breed in marshy spots, any-
where in its general range. Nest a
light but large thick-brimmed fabric
of dried reeds and grasses, slung to
growing ones, 5-6 inches in diameter,
about as deep; eggs 3-6, 1:00-1.15
long by 0.75 broad; grayish-green,
spotted, as in Scolecophagus, with red- Fie. 260.— Yellow-headed Blackbird, reduced. (Sheppard
dish-brown, not scrawled as in Ageleus. el. Nichols se.)
A fine large species, conspicuous by its yellow head among the several blackbirds that troop
together in the West.
23. Subfamily STURNELLINAZ: Meadow Starlings.
If the marsh blackbirds, orioles, and crow blackbirds be respectively entitled to represent
subfamilies of Icteride, the meadow starlings seem to be equally entitled to such distinction ;
and I find that by making Sturnella (with Trupialis) the type of a subfamily, the Ageleine are
susceptible of better definition. The characters are included under head of the type genus.
STURNEL'LA. (Irregular dimin. of Lat. stwrnus, astarling. Fig. 261.) Mrapow Larxs.
(Name “lark” objectionable and misleading, but apparently ineradicable.) A remarkable
genus of Icteride. Bill along culmen longer than head, shorter than tarsus; depth at base
about 4 the length; outlines about straight above and below, and along commissure to the
strong bend near its base. Culmen flattened throughout, extending broad and far into feathers
of forehead ; laterally, the frontal feathers reaching the narrow scaled nostrils. Inner lateral
toe rather longer than outer, claw of neither reaching base of middle claw. Hind toe long, with
a great claw twice as large as the middle one. Feet very large and stout, reaching beyond the
end of the tail when outstretched ; eminently fitted for terrestrial locomotion. Wings short and
much rounded; little difference in lengths of 1st-5th quills; enlarged inner secondaries nearly
covering them in closed wing. ‘Tail very short, rounded, of narrow, acute feathers. Feathers
of crown stiffish, bristle-tipped. No other genus approaches Stwrnella, excepting Trupialis,
320.
321.
S22.
406 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
which is much the same, with red instead of yellow. Contains several imperfectly differentiated
conspecies, 3 of this country.
Analysis of Conspecies.
Common Characters. — Plumage highly variegated; each feather of the back blackish, with a terminal reddish-
brown area, and sharp brownish-yellow borders ; neck similar, the pattern smaller ; crown streaked with black
and brown, and witb a pale median and superciliary stripe; a blackish line behind eye; several lateral tail-feathers
white, the others, with the inner quills and wing-coverts, barred or scalloped with black, and brown or gray. Edge
of wing, spot over eye, and under parts generally, bright yellow, the sides and crissum flaxen-brown, with numer-
ous sharp blackish streaks, the breast with a large black crescent (obscure in the young).
Prevailing tone brown above: yellow of chin confined to space between forks of the jaw; wings and tail with
confluent black bars and gray scallops.
Larger; black less predominant: wing 4.500rmore. ... . a ene - + . magna 320
Smaller ; black more predominant; wing 4.50 orless . . . +. . mexicana 321
Prevailing tone gray above: anid of chin spreading on cheeks ; plies and tail with alternating black
aud gray bars . ee Se ie EO r ‘ . oe « « . » neglecta 322
S. magna. (Lat. magna, large.) Fie~tp Lark. OLp-Fretp Lark. Merapow Lark.
The colors, as above described, rich and pure, the prevailing aspect brown; black streaks
prevailing on crown; yellow of chin
usually confined between rami of
under mandible ; black bars on wings
and tail usually confluent along the
shaft of the feathers, leaving the gray
in scallops. Sexes similar: 9 duller
colored, the yellow paler. Young at
first have little if any pale yellow,
and the pectoral crescent indicated by
a few streaks. Length of ¢ 10.00-
11.00; extent about 17.00; wing 4.50
Fig. 261.— Bill and foot of Sturnelia, nat. size. (Ad nat. or more; tail 3.50; bill 1.35; tarsus
del. E. 0.) 1.40. 9: length 9.00-9.50; extent
about 15.00; wing 4.25; tail 3.00. Varies greatly in size, like Ageleus ; southern-bred birds
much smaller than northern. Eastern U. 8. and British Provinces; N. to about 54°; mixing
in the Upper Mississippi valley with neglecta, and extending to edge of the plains; everywhere
abundant in open country; winters usually from the Middle States southward; imperfectly
migratory ; partially gregarious when not breeding ; strictly terrestrial ; an agreeable vocalist.
Breeds throughout its range; nest of dried grass, on the ground, usually domed or covered in
some way in the grass-clump. Eggs 4-6, crystal white, speckled with reddish and purplish;
very variable in size, averaging about 1.10 X 0.80. Two or three broods may be reared.
S. m. mexica’na, (Lat. Mexican.) Mrxican Mrapow Lark. Very similar; the browns
intense, approaching reddish-brown ; black at a maximum; yellow very rich. Size smaller;
wing of g about 4.25; bill and feet relatively larger; bill 1.20; tarsus 1.60. Mexico to
Texas.
S. neglec'ta. (Lat. neglecta, not selected, overlooked ; as the variety long was.) WESTERN
Meavow Lark. The colors duller and paler, the prevailing aspect gray; black at a mini-
mum, not prevailing over gray on the crown; yellow of chin usually encroaching on sides of
lower jaw; black on wings and tail usually resolved into distinct bars alternating with gray
bars. Western U. 8., from Iowa, etc., to the Pacific. General habits, manners, and appear-
ance the same, but song said to be different.
ere!) y
24. Subfamily ICTERINZ: Orioles.
Non-gregarious, insectivorous and frugivorous species, strictly arboricole; of brilliant or
strikingly contrasted colors, and pleasing song; distinguished as architects, constructing elabo :
103.
323.
324.
ICTERIDZ — ICTERINZ: ORIOLES. 407
rately woven penusile nests. With the bill relatively longer, as well as slenderer and more acute
than in most of the Icteride; the feet weaker, exclusively fitted for perching. Three of our
species are migratory birds, abundant in summer; the rest merely reach our southern border
from tropical America.
IC'TERUS. (Gr. ikrepos, ikteros, Lat. icterus, yellow. ;
Fig. 262.) Orzrotes. Our single genus of the sub-
fainily: characters practically the same. Bill averaging &
as long as head (more or less); very acute, sometimes
decurved. Feet fitted for perching, not for walking;
tarsus not longer than middle toe and claw. Lateral
toes, if not of equal lengths, outer longest (the rule in
Fringillide; in Icteride the reverse). Wings usually
pointed and averaging equal to (longer or shorter than)
the rounded or graduated tail. A large and beautiful genus, the species of which vary much
in details of form, but are not easily divided otherwise than specifically. The colors are strik-
ing: the males black with orange or yellow, usually also with white; in one species, black
and chestnut. The sexes very unlike. The 9 @ of several species closely resemble one
another, though the ¢ are very different. Two Eastern species; one Western; the rest
Southwestern.
Fie. 262, — Bill of an Oriole.
Analysis of Species.
The ¢ black and chestnut: spurius, affinis.
The ¢ black and orange: galbula, bullocki, cucullatus.
The ¢ black and clear yellow : parisorum, auduboni, vulgaris.
Feathers of throat soft and normal.
¢@ black and chestnut ; ? olivaceous and yellowish. Length 7.00 orless . ... + + spurius 324, 325
¢ black and orange, or flame-color.
Tail rounded, not longer than wings.
¢ head and neck all around black; white on wingsin bars .. . - + + » .galbula 326
do crown and throat black, sides of head orange. White patch on wings . oe + + bullocki 327
Tail graduated ; outer feathers an inch shorter than middle ones; longer than wings.
of head orange, with black mask . . 1... 00. 1 we we ee ee . . eucullatus 328
¢ black and pure yellow.
¢ bead, neck, breast and back black. Sexes unlike; length about 8.00 . . +. parisorum 329
of head, neck, and breast black; body yellow, greenish on back; length about 9.00 auduboni 330
Feathers of throat elongate and lanceolate. Sexes alike. iui seh about 10.00.
¢@ Black and yellow, with white on wings .... a aha oe a - + 6 « vulgaris 323
I. vulgaris. (Lat. vulgaris, vulgar, common.) TROUPIAL. Bill acute, attenuated, elongate,
and somewhat decurved. Throat-feathers lengthened, loosened, and lanceolate. Bare space
around eye. Adult ¢ 9: Head and neck all around, fore breast, isolated dorsal area, wings
and tail, black. Rump, upper tail-coverts, cervical collar, and under parts of the breast, rich
yellow. Wings with white patch on coverts and much white edging of secondaries. Large:
length about 10.00 ; wing and tail 4.50; bill over 1.00. A common and well-known species
of Tropical America, said to have strayed to the Southern States. No late cases of so doing.
(The species would be better enumerated next after No. 330.)
I. spwrius. (Lat. spwrius, spurious; the species was formerly called “bastard Baltimore
oriole,” whence the undeserved name.) ORCHARD ORIOLE. Adult @: Black and chestnut.
Head and neck all around, fore breast and back, black. Rump and upper tail-coverts, lesser
and under wing-coverts, aud whole under-parts from the breast, chestnut or chocolate-brown.
Wings and tail black, former except as said, and some white or whitish edging of the quills
and tipping of the greater coverts, the latter forming a wing-bar ; outer tail-feathers sometimes
with a touch of chestnut. Bill and feet blue-black. Length about 7.00; extent about 10.00;
wing 3.00-3.25 ; tail nearly as long, much rounded, its graduation nearly 0.50 ; bill 0.70 along
culmen, very slender and acute, somewhat decurved ; tarsus 0.90. 9, adult: Smaller than the
325.
326.
408 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
&- Above, dull yellowish-olive, clearest on head, rump, and tail, obscured on the back.
Below, sordid yellowish. Wings plain dusky, glossed with olivaceous, with whitish edging,
much as in the ¢. An inconspicuous object, but known from other 9 orioles by its small
size and slender bill, a little curved. Young ¢: First year like 9, but larger; second year
like 9, but with a black mask on the face and throat. Afterward showing confused characters
of both sexes. Three years required to assume the full dress. Eastern U. S., strictly; rarely
N. to Maine, Canada; W. to the high central plains. Breeds throughout its U. S. range; winters
extralimital. Abundant in orchards, parks, streets, the skirts of woods, ete. The nest is one
of the most perfect examples of a woven pensile fabric, even in a group of birds distinguished
as the orioles are for the dexterity and assiduity they display in their elaborate textile rostrifac-
tures. They antedate Howe in the expedient of placing the eye of a needle at its point — that
which revolutionized hand-sewing, and made sewing-machines practicable: for their bill works
to precisely the same effect. The orchard oriole’s nest is generally more compact and homo-
geneous than the Baltimore’s, woven chiefly of slender grass-blades which cure in the sun like
good hay, long retaining some greenness, which tends to its concealment in the foliage. It is
smaller, less deep in proportion, and often not so strictly pendant from its forked twig. Eggs
smaller than the Baltimore’s, scarcely 0.85 X 0.60, and spotty rather than scrawly.
I. s. affimis. (Lat. affinis, affined, allied.) Taxas ORCHARD ORIOLE. Smaller: ¢ little
over 6.00; wing usually under 3.00. Texas: Southern race, scarcely distinguishable.
I, gal/bula. (Lat. galgula or galbula, some small yellow bird of the ancients. ‘‘ Baltimore”
is not from the city of that name, but from the title of Sir George Calvert, first baron of Balti-
more ; the colors of the bird being cho-
sen for his livery, or resembling those
of his coat-of-arms. Fig. 263.) Bat-
TIMORE ORIOLE. GOLDEN Rosin.
Firepirp. Hanenest. Adult ¢:
Black and orange. Head and neck
all round, and the back, black; rump,
upper tail-coverts, lesser and under
wing-coverts, most of the tail-feathers,
and all the under parts from the throat’
fiery orange, but of varying intensity
an itl _ according to age and season. Middle
Fig. 263, — Baltimore Oriole, reduced. (Sheppard del. tail-feathers black; wings black, the
Nichols sc.) middle and greater coverts, and inner
quills, more or less edged and tipped with white, but the white on the coverts not forming a
continuous patch ; bill and feet blue-black, or dark grayish-blue. Length 7.50-8.00; extent
11.50-12.50 ; wing 3.66; tail 8.00. Q smaller, and much paler, the black obscured by olive,
sometimes entirely wanting. Above, mixed dusky and yellowish-clive, somewhat overcast
with a gray shade. Below, dull orange, more or less mixed with whitish, and usually with
black traces on the throat. Tail and its upper coverts dull yellowish, the central feathers
usually blackish. Bill and feet lighter plumbeous than in the ¢. Young ¢ entirely without
black on throat and head, otherwise colored nearly like the 9. Below, dull orange yellow
whitening on throat, shaded with olive on sides. Above, olive, more yellowish on rump and
tail, but latter without black; middle of back obscured with dusky centres of the feathers;
wings dusky, with two white bars and white edgings of the inner quills. In some splendid
featherings, particularly from the Mississippi valley, the orange becomes intense flame-color,
and there is so much white on the wings as to approach the character of I. bullocki. U.S.
and adjoining British Provinces ; W. to the plains, and reaching toward the Rocky Mts. This
is one of our famous beauties of bird-life, noted alike for its flash of color, its assiduity in sing-
327.
ICTERIDA — ICTERINZ:: ORIOLES. 409
ing, and its skill at the loom; its elaborately fabricated and perfectly pensile nests swaying
from the tops of our shade-trees, which have one charm added when fired with such brilliancy
as the oriole brings to contrast with verdure. Eggs 4-6, nearly 1.00 x 0.65, thus rather
elongate ; ground color a shaded white, irregularly spotted, blotched, clouded and especially
scrawled with blackish-brown and other heavy surface colors, together with subdued shell-
markings.
I. bullocki. (To Wm. Bullock, of London. Fig. 256.) Butiock’s Ortotz. Adult ¢:
Similarly black and orange, the orange invading the sides of the head and neck and the fore-
head, leaving only a narrow space on the throat, the lores, and a line through the eye, black ;
a large continuous white patch on the wing, formed by the middle and greater coverts. Larger
» than the Baltimore. Length 8.00-8.50; extent 12.50-13.50; wing 4.00; tail 3.40. 9: Olive-
328.
329.
gray, below whitish, all the fore parts of the body and head tinged with yellow; the wings
dusky, with two white bars, but the tail.and its under coverts quite yellowish. 9 thus very
closely resembling the Q Baltimore, and more detailed description may be desirable. Larger:
length about 8.00; extent 12.00; wing 3.75; tail 3.25. Above olive-gray, becoming quite
gray on the rump, brightening into olive. Yellow on nape, upper tail-coverts and tail.
Forehead, superciliary line, sides of head and neck, and large space on breast, bright yellow ;
lores and throat white. Other under parts grayish-white, tinged with yellow on the under tail-
coverts. Edge and lining of wing yellow; middle coverts broadly edged and tipped with
white; greater coverts and quills less conspicuously edged. Young J at first like the 9, soon,
however, showing black and orange; in one stage with a black throat patch. Western U. S.,
in woodland, abundant, replacing the Baltimore, to which it is so eloeely allied, and with whieh
it corresponds in habits and manners.
I. cuculla/tus. (Lat. cucullatus, wearing the cuculla, a kind of hood or cowl.) Hooprp
Ortote. Adult $: Orange and black. General color orange; from rich chrome yellow to
flame-color. Middle of back (scapulars and interscapulars) black. A black mask, embracing
eyes, a narrow frontal line, and patch on chin, cheeks, and throat. Wings black, with white
edging of the quills and coverts. Tail black, some or all of the feathers usually with narrow
whitish tips. Bill and feet blue-black, the former extremely slender and somewhat decurved,
0.80; tarsus 0.90. Length 8.00; extent 10.50; wing 3.30; tail 3.50-4.00, thus longer than
wings; the feathers narrow and lanceolate, the outermost an inch or so shorter than the central
pair; such length, narrowness, and extreme graduation of the tail being a strong character.
@, adult: Above, dull grayish-olive; tail and under parts dull yellowish; wings dusky, the
quills and coverts edged with dull white. The 9 thus resembles other species, but the long
slender graduated tail and attenuated decurved bill are diagnostic. Fairly smaller than the ¢.
Young @: At first like 9, but bill pale at base below. Various intermediate states during
progress to maturity ; sometimes the black dorsal band interrupted by yellowish-gray, and the
general orange obscured with the same. A frequent condition, when the general plumage is
like that of the 9, is to have a black frontlet and gorget, like I. spurius under the same
circumstances. Southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, chiefly near the Mexican
border. Nest woven like that of other orioles, very substantial and durable ; in places where
the Spanish moss grows, it is usually made of this material, and placed in a truss of the same.
Eggs 3-4, sometimes 5, varying from 0.80 to 0.90 long by 0.60 broad, usually quite pointed at
both ends; color white, with the usual scrawling. In the Lower Rio Grande valley this is the
commonest oriole in some places.
I. pariso/rum. (To the brothers Paris.) BLacK-AND-YELLOW ORIOLE. Paris’ ORIOLE.
Adult g: Black and clear yellow. Below from the breast, rump, and upper tail-coverts,
lesser, middle and under wing-coverts, both above and below, and basal portions of all the
tail-feathers, except the central ones, clear yellow; greater wing-coverts tipped, inner quills
edged, with white. Head, neck, breast, and back, black. On the tail, the yellow occupies the
“330.
410 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
basal half of the lateral feathers, but only the extreme base of the central pair. Length 8.00;.
extent 12.00; wing 4.00; tail 3.40-3.60, moderately rounded, the lateral feathers graduated
about 0.50; bill 0.90, attenuate and slightly decurved; tarsus 1.00. Young @: The black‘
parts all overcast with grayish-olive skirting of the feathers, giving the prevailing tone on the
upper parts, but on the breast the black showing more clearly. The yellow likewise obscured
with grayish-olive, especially on the rump. Tail greenish-yellow, the middle feathers black-
ening. Wings dusky, all the quills and the greater and middle coverts broadly edged and
tipped with white. 9? resembling the last described; less white on the wings; central tail-
feathers simply fuscous like the ends of the others. Southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona
and Southern California, near the Mexican border. Not yet well known or found breeding in
the U. 8. Nesting essentially the same as that of other orioles, often in bunches of moss
or vines hanging in cactuses, quite near the ground; eggs 0.90 « 0.65, whitish, variously
blotched and dotted with purplish and blackish-browns.
I. melanoce’phalus aud/uboni, (Gr. pédas, melas, gen. pédavos, melanos, black; xeadj,
kephale, head. To J.J. Audubon.) BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE. AUDUBON’s ORIOLE. Adult ¢:
Black and clear yellow. Entire body rich gamboge-yellow, without orange or flame tint, but
shaded with greenish on back, sides, and upper tail-coverts; under tail-coverts pure yellow,
like the belly. Middle and lesser wing-coverts and lining of wings pure yellow, the former
with black bases concealed by the yellow tips. Head all around, fore neck and breast, glossy
jet-black, without any concealed yellow, except at edges of the black on the breast — the black
there thus ending ragged, different from the clean-cut border of cucullatus. Wings black, the
outer webs of the quills white-edged, especially on inner secondaries and outer primaries
toward their end; greater coverts with white spot at end of outer web. Tail black, the outer
feathers more or less edged and tipped with white. Bill and feet plumbeous-blackish, former
paler at base below. Length 9.25-9.75; extent 12.50-13.00; wing 4.00; tail rather more,
much graduated, the outer feathers 1.00 or more shorter than the middle. Bill stout, straight,
almost asin Ageleus; culmen fully 1.00. Tarsus 1.10 ; middle toe and claw thesame. Adult 9:
Quite like the ¢ ; not smaller, and little different in color, contrary to the rule in the genus
and family. Back rather more olivaceous; wings rather more edged with white; outer tail-
feather edged and tipped with whitish. The sexual characters long remained undetermined.
This fine oriole is little known: it is a large beautiful species, occurring in the U. S. only, as
far as known, in the Lower Rio Grande valley ; thence southward running into the true Mexican
melanocephalus. Said to be a magnificent songster, and a favorite cage bird. Nest half-
pensile, woven of grasses; eggs 0.95-1.00 by 0.67-0.72, white dusted with fine brown specks,
over which are stains and splashes of dark brown and lilac, with the coarse blackish hieroglyphs
usual in this genus.
25. Subfamily QUISCALINA:: Crow Blackbirds; Grackles.
Closely resembling
the Ageleine both in
% structure and in habits,
these birds are distin-
guished by the length
and attenuation of the
bill, with decidedly
curved culmen, es-
pecially towards the
end, more or less sin-
uate commissure, and
strongly inflected tomia. The bill is quite cultrirostral, and the typical Quiscali have a certain
Fig. 264. — Foot of a Quiscalus (Q. macrurus, nat, size). (From Baird.)
104.
331.
332.
ICTERIDZE — QUISCALINZ: CROW BLACKBIRDS. 411
crow-like aspect ; but they are readily distinguished by several features, besides 9 instead of 10
primaries. The feet are large and strong, and the birds spend much of their time on the
ground, where they walk or run instead of advancing by leaps. They generally build rude,
bulky nests, lay spotted or streaked eggs, and their best vocal efforts are hardly to be called
musical. The ¢ of all our species is lustrous black, with various iridescence, the 9 merely
blackish, or brown and much smaller. There is only one genus (Cassidix) besides the two
of this country: in Scolecophagus the tail is slightly rounded and shorter than the wings; in
Quiscalus the tail is graduated, and nearly equals or exceeds the wings. They are not specially
palustrine. Individuals of all the species abound, especially in the South and West; only two
are common Eastern birds.
SCOLECO’PHAGUS. (Gr. cxadyé, gen. cxa@Ankos, scolex, scolecos, a worm: gayos, phagos,
eating.) Rusty Grackies. THruso BLacKgirps. Bill shorter or not longer than head,
slender for the subfamily, and somewhat like a robin’s, for instance; culmen little convex, if
any, except at the decurved tip; gonys slightly convex; cutting edges inflexed, commissure
little sinuated. Wings pointed, decidedly longer than the nearly even tail; point formed by
the outer 4 primaries. Tail much as in Ageleus in size and shape. Tarsus rather longer than
middle toe and claw. Lateral toes short, with moderate claws, scarcely or not reaching base
of middle claw. Nest in bushes. Eggs spotty, not veiny and streaky.
Analysis af Species.
Smaller: wing under 5.00. Bill slender, thrush-like. gf greenish-black, including head. Sexes very un-
like: @ quite rusty-brown, even with chestnut ; alight lineovereye ......4.. Jerrugineus 331
Larger: wing 5.00 or more. Bill stouter, more blackbird-like. ¢ greenish-black, head more violet. 9%
subsimilar, sooty-brown , no pale superciliary stripe . : a> as ae . . cyanocephalus 332
S. ferrugi/neus. (Lat. ferrugineus, rust-colored; ferrugo, iron-rust: only applicable to 9 and
young.) Rusty Grackite. Turusn Buackpirp. Adult ¢,in summer: One lustrous black
with green metallic reflections; head not notably different froin other parts in its iridescence.
Bill and feet black. Iris creamy or lemon. (Not ordinarily seen in the U. S. in this full dress
— usually with some rusty.) Length 9.00-9.50; extent 14.00-15.00; wing under 5.00; tail
4.00 or less ; bill 0.80, only about 0.35 deep at base; tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw less.
Adult 9 in summer: Slaty-blackish, duller below, with greenish reflections chiefly on wings
and tail; nearly all the upper parts overlaid with rich rusty-brown, and under parts with a
paler shade of the same; inner secondaries brown-edged ; a whitey-brown streak over eye; iris
brown. Moderately smaller than the g. The young ¢ at first resembles the 9, but is
larger, and shows more decidedly lustrous black, especially on wings and tail. As usually
found in flocks in the U. §., in fall, winter, and early spring, young and old of both sexes
are very rusty, with light line over eye. Eastern North Amer., N. W. to Alaska; in the
U. S., W. to Dakota, Nebraska, etc., meeting and mixing in the fall with the next species.
In winter, generally dispersed over the EK. U. S.; breeds from N. New England northward.
Nesting and eggs like those of Xanthocephalus ; breeding in loose colonies, in swampy tangle ;
nest in bushes, of sticks and grasses mixed with mud, lined with fine grasses and rootlets; eggs
usually 4, about 1.05 x 0.75, but very variable; dull greenish-bluish or grayish-white, flecked
and mottled with dark brown, but with little or no line-tracery.
S. cyanoce’phalus. (Gr. xiavos, kuanos, Lat. cyanus, blue; xepadn, kephale, head.) BLusE-
HEADED GRACKLE. BREWER’S BLACKBIRD. Similar to the last, but quite a different bird.
Adult g, in summer: Very lustrous green-black, as before, but with purple and violet irides-
cence, especially on head, where the violet or steel-blue sheen contrasts with the general
greenish hue, Bill and feet black. Iris creamy or lemon. Larger: length averaging 10.00
— 9.75-10.25 ; extent 16.00 or more; wing 5.00-5.25 ; tail 4.00~4.25 ; bill 0.80, stout at base,
where about 0.40 deep — more like an abbreviated Quiscalus-bill than a thrush’s; tarsus 1.25-
1.30; middle toe and claw 1.10-1.15. 9, -adult, in summer: Blackish, with dull greenish
105.
333.
234.
412 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
shade on back, wings, and tail; more slaty-blackish below. Fore parts of body above, head
and most under parts overlaid with brownish-gray, lightest on head and throat, never rich
rusty-brown. No light superciliary line. Iris brown. There is thus much less sexual differ-
ence than in S. ferrugineus. Smaller; size about that of ¢ ferrugimeus; length 9.00-9.50;
extent 14.50-15.50; wing 4.50~-4.90, ete. Young ¢ resembling 9; soon, however, showing
more lustre, overcast with grayish (not rusty) brown, in same style as ferrugineus, but differ-
ent shade. Western U. S., and adjoining British Provinces; E. to eastern edge of the plains,
overlapping the migratory range of 8. ferrugineus; W.to the Pacific. Breeds nearly through-
out its range, in suitable places; migratory to and from extremes of its range. Nest and eggs
substantially the same as those of S. ferrugineus.
QUIS'CALUS. (Span. quisquilla, Lat. quisquillie? Vox barb., of uncertain meaning and
application. See Coues, Check List, 2d ed., p. 64.) Crow Buacksirps. Bill about as long
as head, quite cultrate and crow-like, but more attenuate and acute, with deflected cutting
edges; upper and under outlines straightish to the terminal curve of culmen, but variable;
commissure variously sinuate. Wings relatively shorter and less acute than in Scolecophagus,
usually pointed by the 2d-4th quills, 1st and 5th shorter. Tail of varying development with
the species; at its greatest, much longer than wings, at its least decidedly shorter; always
graduated, the lateral feathers 1-3 inches shorter than the middle pair, in life capable of
slanting upward on each side, so that the middle feathers make a keel below; whence the name
“boat-tail.” (Tail usually described as “longer than wings” in Quiscalus; but in most
species it is decidedly shorter.) Feet stout; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. The
é & in all the species ‘ black,” but so magnificently iridescent that little dead black is seen,
being brassy, steel-blue, violet, purple, greenish, ete. 9 subsimilar, or plain brown.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Tail decidedly shorter than wings, graduated 1.00-1.50. Sexes subsimilar.
Iridescence various — green, blue, purple, violet. g usually over12.00 ...... purpureus 335
Tridescence of back brassy; head steel-blue. gt usually over12.00 . .......s 2s ceneus 336
Tridescence greenish, neck purple. gf usually under12.00 . .......0.6+.4048 agleus 387
Tail about equal to wings, graduated about 2.50. Sexes very different. Q brown ... . major 334
Tail decidedly longer than wings, graduated 2.50-3.50. Sexes very different. Q brown . . macrurus 333
Q. macrw’rus. (Gr. paxpés, macros, long, large; odpa, owra, tail.) FAN-TAILED Crow
BLACKBIRD. TEXAS GRACKLE. Of largest size, with longest, most keeled and graduated
tail. Sexes very unlike. Bill very stout at base, tapering to the strongly deflected tip.
Adult g: Iridescence chiefly purplish and violet, more greenish posteriorly. Length about
18.00 ; extent 23.00-24.00 ; wing 7.50-8.00 ; tail about 9.00, graduated 2.50-3.50; bill 1.75,
Adult 9 : Dark brown; paler, grayish or whitish below. Length 13.00-14.00; extent 18.00-
19.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail little more. The species probably shades into the next, but pre-
sents dimensions the latter has not shown. Lower Rio Grande of Texas and southward, very
abundant, swarming in the towns, where conspicuous by its curious antics as well as great size
and numbers. Breeds in colonies, either in reedy marshes, when the nest is placed in the
rushes over water, or anywhere about the settlements in trees away from water; sometimes
there are many nests in one tree; some nests at an altitude of 30 or 40 feet. Nests built of any
trash, usually with mud. Eggs in April-May, usually 3, 1.12-1.45 by 0.82-0.95, averaging
1.25 X 0.85 ; greenish or purplish-white, clouded oftener over smaller end than at the other,
irregularly spotted, veined, and scratched with dark browns and blackish.
Q. ma‘jor. (Lat. major, greater (than Q. purpureus).) Boat-TAILED Crow BLACKBIRD.
Boat-TAILeD GRAcKLE. Jackpaw. Of large size, with long, much keeled and graduated
tail. Sexes very unlike. Bill stout at base, tapering to the deflected tip. Adult 3: Irides-
cence mostly green, becoming purple or violet chiefly on the head and neck. Length 15.50-
17.00, average 16.50; extent 21.00-23.50, average 22.50; wing and tail, each, 6.25-7.25,
335.
336.
ICTERIDZA — QUISCALINAE: CROW BLACKBIRDS. 413
average 7.00, latter rather the longer of the two; its graduation about 2.50; bill 1.50; tarsus
nearly 2.00; middle toe and claw about the same. Adult?: Astonishingly smaller than the g,
lacking entirely the great development of the tail, and easily to be mistaken for another species.
Length 12.00-13.50, average 13.00; extent 17.25-18.25, average 17.75; wing 5.25-6.00, average
5.67; tail 4.75-5.50, average 5.25. General color plain brown, only darker on wings and tail;
below brownish-gray, frequently whitening on the throat. South Atlantic and Gulf States, on
the coast, abundant; N. regularly to the Carolinas, frequently to the Middle districts, but not
to New England, as far as certainly known, though very likely in exceptional cases. This
species differs from the common crow blackbird in being strictly maritime, with the consequent
modification in food and habits; it may be seen at times wading in the water, and small fish and
crustaceans form much of its fare. Nesting and eggs as in Q. macrurus; eggs averaging
smaller, but not distinguishable with certainty.
Q. purpur'eus. (Lat. purpureus, purple. Fig. 265.) Purpte Crow Buackpirp. Com-
mon Crow BLACKBIRD. PURPLE GRACKLE. Of medium size, with moderately keeled and
graduated tail, shorter than
wings. Sexes subsimilar. Bill
usually less tapering and de-
flected at tip, but very variable.
Adult @: Iridescence very
variable with season, age, and
sexual vigor, as well as on
different parts of the body;
but always intense in healthy
adults, and at its height during
the love-ardor; variously pur-
ple, green, blue, violet, and 3h
bronzy; not the extensive Fig. 265. — Purple Grackle, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
green of the last species, nor usually the decided brassy of the next variety; wings and tail
mostly purplish ; dark purplish and steel-blue on head, neck, and breast; back more green-
ish or bronzy. Bill and feet ebony black. Iris straw-yellow. Length 12.00-13.50; ex-
tent 17.00-18.50; wing 5.00-6.00, averaging 5.60; tail 4.50-6.00, usually under 5.50; bill
1.25, very variable; tarsus 1.25 ; graduation of tail 1.00-1.50. Adult 9: Blackish, and quite
lustrous ; sufficiently similar to the ¢; length 11.00-12.00; wing about 5.00; tail about 4.50.
Birds of this character, without perfectly brassy back and steel-blue head, are the usual kind in
the Atlantic States; abundant and generally distributed, migratory and gregarious, breeding
anywhere in their range, but chiefly northerly. Nesting variable, in tree or bush, on bough orin
a hollow, at any height; sometimes in an artificial retreat, or a fish-hawk’s nest. Nest bulky,
of any trash, usually with mud; eggs of the character and with all the indescribable variability
of others of the genus; usually bluish or greenish, with purplish veining and clouding, zigzagged
and flourished with dark browns or blackish ; averaging 1.25 X 0.90 in size; 5-6 in number.
The grackles are absent from their breeding-grounds for ouly a small part of the year, when
they flock southerly, often in immense bands scouring about for food. At times they are very
injurious to the crops, but this is offset by their destruction of noxious insects. The courtships
of the males look very curious to a dispassionate observer, being carried on with the most gro-
tesque actions and ludicrous attitudes, as well as curious vocalization.
Q. p. z/neus. (Lat. @neus, brassy.) BRronzED Crow BLACKBIRD. Brass GRACKLE.
Birds from the interior U. S., especially the Mississippi valley, acquire in full plumage a
splendid iridescence of three kinds, in pretty distinct areas. Body uniform shining brassy.
Hind neck and breast chiefly steel-blue. Wings and tail chiefly violet and purple. This bril-
liant coloration is that represented by Audubon, pl. 221 of the 8vo. ed. Such birds occur
337.
414 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
from New England, Hudson’s Bay, the Saskatchewan and Rocky Mts. to Texas and the
Gulf States.
Q. p. agle'us. (Gr. dyAaios, aglaios, splendid.) FLoripa Crow BLACKBIRD. GREEN
GRACKLE. Birds resident in S. Florida are smaller than average purpureus, with relatively
longer and slenderer bill more decurved at tip; the body lustre chiefly greenish ; head and neck
chiefly violaceous steel-blue; wings and tail steel-blue, becoming violet on the coverts. Aver-
aging an inch less in length than purpwreus, and other parts in proportion, excepting the bill
and feet, which are quite as long. (@. baritus, Bd., 1858, nec auct. Q. agleus, Bd., 1866.)
18. Family CORVIDA: Crows, Jays, etc.
Cultrirostral Oscines with 10 prima-
ries. —A rather large and important
family, comprising such familiar birds
as ravens, crows, rooks, jackdaws,
magpies, jays, with their allies, and a
few diverging forms not so well known;
nearly related to the famous birds of
paradise. There are 10 primaries, of
which the lst is short, generally about
half as long as the 2d, and several
outer ones are more or less sinuate-
attenuate on the inner web toward the
end. The tail has 12 rectrices, as usual
among higher birds; it varies much
in shape, but is generally rounded —
sometimes extremely graduated, as in
the niagpie; and is not forked in any
of our forms. The tarsus has scutella
: C4 4
a Mae ee wl y woe in front, separated on one or both sides
c 7% Cae =~ from the rest of the tarsal envelope
mn ; My Gh za “eo by a groove, sometimes naked, some-
Fic. 266. —European Jackdaw (Corvus monedula.) (From tines filled in by small scales. The
Dixon.) bill is stout, about as long as the head
or shorter, tapering, rather acute, generally notched, with convex culmen; it lacks the com~
missural angulation of the Fringilide and Icteride, the deep cleavage of the Hirundinide,
the slenderness of the Certhiide, Sittide, and most small insectivorous birds. The rictus
usually has a few stiffish bristles, and there are others about the base of the bill. An essential]
character is seen in the dense covering of the nostrils with large long tufts of close-pressed
antrorse bristly feathers (excepting, among our forms, in Gymnocitta and Psilorhinus). These
last features distinguish the Corvide from all our other birds excepting Paride; the mutual
resemblance is here so close, that I cannot point out any obvious technical character of external
form to distinguish, for example, Cyanocitta from Lophophanes, or Perisoreus from Parus.
But as already remarked, size is here perfectly distinctive, all the Corvide being much larger
birds than any of the Paride.
Owing to the uniformity of color in the leading groups of the family, and an apparent
plasticity of organization in many formns, the number of species is difficult to determine, and
is very variously estimated by different writers. Mr. G. R. Gray admits upwards of 200,
which he distributes in 50 genera and subgenera; but these figures are certainly excessive.
106.
CORVIDA — CORVINZ: CROWS. 415
probably requiring reduction by at least one-third, in both cases. The Corvide have been
divided into five subfamilies; three of these are small and apparently specialized groups con-
fined to the Old World, where they are represented most largely in the Australian and Indian
regions ; the other two, constituting the great bulk of the family, are more nearly cosmopolitan.
These are the Corvine and Garruline, or crows and jays, readily distinguishable, at least so
far as our forms are concerned, by the longer pointed wings and shorter less rounded tail of the
former as contrasted with the shorter rounded wings and longer more rounded or graduated tail
of the latter.
26. Subfamily CORVINZ: Crows.
With the wings long aud pointed, much exceeding the
tail; the tip formed by the 3d, 4th, and 5th quills; 2d
much shorter, Ist only about 4 as long as 3d. The
legs stout, fitted for walking as well as perching. As
a rule, the plumage is sombre or at least unvariegated,
—blue, the characteristic color of the jays, being here
rare. The sexes are alike, and the changes of plumage
slight. Although techuically oscine, corvine birds are
highly unmasical; the voice of the larger kinds is raucous, that of the smaller strident, — witness
the croak of the raven, the “caw” of the crow, the screaming of jays. They frequent all situ-
ations, and walk firmly and easily on the ground, where jays hop. They are among the most
nearly omnivorous of birds, and as a consequence, in connection with their hardy nature, they
are rarely if ever truly,migratory. Their nesting is various, according to circumstances, but
the fabric is usually rude and bulky; the eggs, of the average oscine number, are commonly
bluish or greenish, speckled. Although not properly gregarious, as a rule, they often associate
in large numbers, drawn together by community of interest. In illustration of this may be
instanced the extensive roosting-places in the Atlantic States, comparable to the rookeries of
Europe, whither immense troops of crows resort nightly, often from great distances, recalling
the fine line of the poet, — ;
“ The blackening trains of crows to their repose.”
&
Fre. 267, — Typical Corvine bill.
Our three genera of Corvine are readily known by the black color of Corvus, the gray,
white, and black of Picicorvus, and the blue of Gymnocitta. In the latter, as in Psilorhinus
of Garruline, the nostrils are exposed, contrary to the rule in each subfamily.
COR/VUS. (Lat. corvus, a crow. Fig. 267.) Ravens. Crows. The species throughout
uniform lustrous black, including the bill and feet; nasal bristles about half as long as the bill,
which exhibits the typical cultrirostral style. Nostrils large, but entirely concealed. Wings
much longer than tail, folding about to its end. Several outer primaries sinuate-attenuate on
inner webs. Tail rounded, with broad feathers, sinuate-truncate at ends, with mucronate shafts.
Feet stout ; tarsus more or less nearly equal to middle toe and claw, roughly scutellate in front,
laminar behind, with a set of small plates between.
Analysis of Species.
Ravens, with the throat-feathers acute, lengthened, disconnected.
About 2 feet long; wing 16-18 inches; tail about 10. Bases of cervical feathers gray . . . . corax 338
Smaller; concealed bases of cervical feathers pure white (Southwestern) ... . eryptoleucus 339
Crows, with the throat-feathers oval and blended.
Length 18-20; wing 12-14; tail 7-8; bill 12-2, its height at base 3; tarsus about equal to the middle toe
and claw, longer than bill; 1st quill not longer than 10th he . frugivorus 340, 341
Small, Length 14-16; wing 10-11; tail 6-7; bill 13-2; tarsus rather longer lian’ pill or middle toe and
claw ; 1st quill longer than 10th. (Northwestern) ‘ . . caurinus 342
Small; 14-16 inches long ; wing 10-11 ; tail 6-7; tarsus akoree than middle toe and claw, longer than
bill; 1st quill not longer than 10th . . . . . 6 ewe ee ee Se «MOIS 243
338,
339.
416 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
C. covrax. (Gr. xépaé, korax, Lat. corax, a croaker— the raven. Fig. 268.) AMERICAN
Raven. Feathers of throat somewhat stiffened, lengthened, pointed, lying loose from one
another; those of neck with gray downy bases, as elsewhere on the body. Color entirely lus-
trous black, with chiefly purplish and violet burnishing. Length about 2 feet — at least over
20 inches; expanse of wings 4 or 44 feet — much over a yard. Wing about 14 feet— at least
over 15 inches. Tail about 10 inches ; its feathers graduated 1.50-2.50 inches. Bill along chord
of culmen, and tarsus, about 2.50. Varies much in size. Greenland and Labrador specimens
are of great size, with immense bill touching 3.00. The bill is usually longer and relatively less
deep in the American than in the European raven; whole bird more sturdy and robust. The
usual wing-formula is: primary 4>3=5 >2>6>1=8; but these quills grow and moult
so gradually the proportionate lengths differ much in specimens examined. The 9 is undistin-
guishable from the @, though averaging smaller. N. Amer.; but now rare in the U. S. east
of the Mississippi, and altogether wanting in most of the States ; Labrador, ranging southward,
/
Fig. 268. —Head of a very large American Raven, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E.C.)
rarely, along the coast to the Middle districts; very abundant in the West, where the sable
plume and the bleaching skeleton, the ominous croak and the Indian war-whoop, are not yet
things of the past. Wherever in the West the raven abounds, the crow seems to be sup-
planted. Nests high in trees and on cliffs, selecting the most inaccessible places. Eggs 4-8,
oftener 4-5, about 2.00 x 1.30, greenish, dotted, blotched and clouded with neutral tints, pur-
plish- and blackish-browns.
C. eryptoleu/cus. (Gr. xpumtds, kruptos, erypted or hidden; Aevkds, lewkos, white.) WHITE-
NECKED Raven. Throat-feathers as in C. corax; but bases of the feathers of neck snowy-
white. Smaller than the raven; about as large as a good-sized crow, and generally taken for
one in those regions where it occurs with the raven, the difference between them being obvious
in life; the accounts of “crows” in some regions where C. americanus does not occur being
‘based upon the presence of C. cryptoleucus. Southwestern U. S., Llano Estacado and higher
Rio Grande of Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and portions of California.
340.
341.
342.
343.
107.
CORVIDA— CORVINZE: CROWS. 417
C. frugi/vorus. (Lat. frugivorus, fruit-eating: frux, fruit; voro, [ devour.) Common AMERI-
can Crow. The common crow isa foot and a half long, or rather more; wing 12 to 14 inches;
tail 7 to 8; bill 1.75-2.00, about 0.75 high at base; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw,
rather exceeding the bill. First primary not longer than 10th. Feathers of the throat oval,
soft, and blended; no snowy-white under-plumage. The burnishing is chiefly on the wings,
tail, and back, the head being nearly dead-black. The 9 is decidedly smaller than the ¢,
and under-sized cabinet specimens are not seldom labelled ‘ ossifragus.” Fastern N. Amer.,
chiefly U. S., not ordinarily found westward in the interior, where the raveg abounds ; rare or
wanting in the Upper Missouri and Southern Rocky Mt. regions ; common, however, in some
parts of California. In settled parts of the country the crow tends to colonize, and some of its
‘“roosts” are of vast extent. Mine is on the Virginia side of the Potomac, near Washington.
Crows are always flying west over the city in the afternoon, and when as a boy I used to see
the gray of the morning, crows were flying the other way. It is doubtless the same now ; but
I oftener hear midnight migrants than see such ‘‘ early birds” these days. Nest in trees, any-
where in the woods, usually concealed with some art, though so bulky; built of sticks and
trash; eggs 4-6-7, 1.60 X 1.20, like the raven’s in color and markings, and equally variable.
(C. americanus, Auct.)
C. f. florida/nus. (Lat. of Florida.) FLoripa Crow. Represents the greater relative size of
the bill and feet shown by many resident birds of Florida and corresponding latitudes.
C. cauri‘nus. (Lat. caurus, the N. W. wind, whence cawrinus, northwestern.) NorTu-
WESTERN FisH Crow. Small: about the size of the common fish crow, but feet more as in
C. americanus, the tarsus not being shorter than the middle toe and claw, though rather less
than the bill; lst primary longer than 10th. Length 14.00-16.00; wing 10.50; tail 6.50;
bill 1.75-2.00. N. Pacific coast, Oregon to Alaska; maritime; piscivorous; voice said to he
different from that of C. frugivorus.
Cc. mari/timus. (Lat. maritimus, maritime; mare, the sea.) SOUTH-EASTERN Fis Crow.
Small. Length 14.00-16.00; wing 10.00-11.00; tail 6.00-7.00; bill 1.50; tarsus 1.60; mid-
dle toe and claw 1.75. First primary not longer than 10th; a bare space about the gape?
South Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to New England, Common; maritime, piscivorous.
Apparently a different bird from any of the foregoing, as it presents some tangible distinctions,
although constantly associated with C. frugivorus. Nest and eggs not to be distinguished
with certainty from those of the common crow, though averaging smaller. (C. ossifragus
Wils.)
PICICOR'VUS. (Com-
pounded of picus, a wood-
pecker, or pica, amagpie,
and corvus, a crow. Fig.
269.) AmeERIcAN Nut-
CRACKERS. General
characters of the Euro-
pean Nucifraga. Bill
slenderer, more acute,
with more regularly
eurved culmen and com-
missure, and straight in- Fie. 269, — Head of Picicorrus, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
stead of convex and ascending gonys ; as a whole somewhat decurved. Nostrils circular, con-
cealed by a full tuft of plumules. Wings long and pointed, folding to the end of the tail; 5th
quill longest; 4th, 3d, 6th little less; 2d much shorter, 1st not half as long as 5th. Tail little
over half as long as wing, little rounded. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw; the envelope
divided into small plates on the sides behind toward the bottom. Claws very large, strong,
27
344.
108.
345.
418 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
acute and much curved, especially that of the hind toe; the lateral reaching beyond base of the
middle claw. Coloration peculiar; gray, with black-and-white wings and tail. Habits much
the same as those of Nucifraga; alpine and sub-boreal, pinicoline, and pinivorous. One
species, confined to W. Amer.
P. columbia‘nus, (Of the Columbia River. Fig. 270.) Cuarxe’s Crow. 9, adult:
Gray, often bleaching on the head; wings glossy black, most of the secoudaries broadly tipped
with white; tail white, including
the under coverts;, the central
feathers and usually part of th«
next pair, together with the up-
per coverts, black. Bill and fect
black. Iris brown. Length
about 12.50; extent 22.00; wing
7.00-8.00; tail 4.00-5.00; tar-
sus 1.35; bill averaging 1.67 ;
feet from 1.25 to 1.75. Sexes
alike in color, but 9 smaller than
&. Young similar, but browner
ash. There is great difference
Fic. 270. —Clarke’s Crow, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) in the shade in adults, the
plumage when fresh being more glaucous-ash, wearing browner, and also bleaching in patches,
especially on head. Coniferous belt. of the West, N. to Sitka, 8. to Mexico, E. to Nebraska,
W. to the Coust Ranges ; the American representative of the European nutcracker, Nucifraga
caryocatactes ; abundant, imperfectly gregarious. A remarkable bird, wild, restless, and noisy.
sometimes congregating by thousands in the pineries of the W., roving in search of food.
Breeds high in pines, in alpine and northerly localities, concealing the nest with care; nest of
sticks as a basis, on which bark-strips, grasses, and other fibrous substances are well matted
together. Eggs 1.20 x 0.90, light grayish-green, speckled and blotched with grayish-brown
and lilac, chiefly about the larger end.
GYMNOCIT'TA. (Gr. yupvds, guinnos, naked, as the nostrils are ; kirra, kitta, ajay.) BLuE.
Crows. Bill of peculiar shape, with nearly straight culmen mounting on forehead, thus some-
what as in Sturnella, between
the prominent and somewhat
antrorse anti, which, how-
ever, do not hide the nostrils ;
slender, tapering, acute, not
notched; gonys straightish,
scarcely ascending. Nostrils
sinall, oval, entirely exposed.
Tail nearly square, much
shorter than wings. Wings
long, pointed, folding nearly
to end of tail; 4th primary }
longest, 3d and 5th scarcely Fig. 271. — Blue Crow, nat. size; culuin too convex. (Ad nat. del, E.C.)
shorter ; 2d shorter, 1st shorter still. Feet stout, indicating somewhat terrestrial habits ; tar-
sus longer than middle toe withuut claw, the envelope subdivided behind towards the bottom.
Claws all large, strong, and much curved. Color bluish, nearly uniform: sexes alike. One
species.
G. cyanoce’/phala. (Gr. xtavos, kuanos, blue; xepadn, kephale, head. Fig. 271.) BLue
Crow. ¢@: Dull blue, very variable in intensity, nearly uniform, but brightest on head, fading
109.
346.
CORVIDA — GARRULINZE: JAYS. 419
on belly; the throat with whitish streaks; wings dusky on the inner webs. Bill and feet
black. Tris brown. Length 11.00-12.00; extent. 16.50-19.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail about
4.50; bill 1.33, but from 1.25-1.50; 9 smaller, duller. Rocky Mt. regiou ; much the same
elevated distribution as the last, but apparently rather more southerly ; decidedly gregarious,
and very abundant in some places. A remarkable bird, combining the form of a crow with
the color and habits of a jay, and a peculiarly shaped bill. It roves about in noisy restless
flocks, sometimes of thousands, in search of food, which is pine seeds, especially pifiones, juni-
per berries, acorns, etc. Breeds in cvlonies ;.nest in pifion pines and other evergreens, compact
but bulky, of twigs, and fibrous bark-strips well worked together; eggs 3-4, 1.25 X 0.87,
greenish-white, profusely spotted with light brown and purplish; laid iu April.
27. Subfamily CARRULINA: Jays.
With the wings much shorter than or about
equalling the tail, both rounded; tip of the
wing furmed by the 4th-7th quills. The feet,
as well as the bill, are usually weaker than in
the true crows, and the birds are more strictly
arboricole, usually advancing by leaps when on
. the ground, to which they do not habitually re-
sort. In striking contrast to most Corvine, the
jays are usually birds of bright and varied colors,
among which blue is the most prominent; and
the head is frequently crested. The sexes are
nearly alike, and the changes of plumage do
Fig. 272. — European Jay (Garrulus glandarius). not appear to be as great as is usual among
(From Dixon.) highly-colored birds, although some differences
are frequently observable. Our well-known Blue Jay is a familiar illustration of the habits and
traits of the species in general. They are found in most parts of the world, and reach their
highest development in the warmer portions of America. With one boreal exception (Peri-
soreus), the genera of the Old and New World are entirely different.
It is proper to observe, that, while the American Corvine and Garruling, upon which the
foregoing paragraphs are mainly drawn up, are readily distinguishable, the characters given
may require modification in their application to the whole family, the different divisions of
which appear to intergrade closely. Our six genera are easily discriminated.
Analysis of Genera.
Nostrils large, naked.
Not crested, General color brown... . js ‘ soe oe ew ww + . Psilorhinus 109
Nostrils moderate, covered by feathers.
First primary attenuated, falcate: tail exceedingly long, graduated.
Not crested. Colors black, white, and iridescent ewe te "4 . carn » + . » Pica 110
First primary not attenuated. Tail moderate.
Crested. Blue: wings and tail barrel with black. . . . 1. 2s « Cyanocitta 11L
Not crested. Blue: wingsand tail unbarred . . soe ew ew we «© Aphelocoma 112
Green and yellow, with blue and Pinel on head - use hts oe es ai Xanthura 113
Gray, with slaty wings and tail . . . . + Perisoreus 114
PSILORHINUS. (Gr. Wrds, psilos, smooth, bare, bald; fis, pwes, his, hrinos, nose.)
Brown Jays. Smoxy Pies. Nostrils exposed, large, rounded. Bill stout, with very convex
culmen, curved from the base. Wings and tail of about equal lengths, both rounded. Of
large size, and smoky-brown color ; not crested.
P. mo'rio, (Lat. morio, ‘a dark brown gem.”) Brown Jay. Smoky-brown, darker on
head, fading on belly ; wings and tail with bluish gloss. Bill and feet black, sometimes yel-
110.
420 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
low. Length about 16.00; wing and tail about 8.00, the graduation of the latter about 2.00 ;
bill 1.25. Rio Grande Valley and southward.
PICA. (Lat. pica, a pie.) Maaries. Tail extremely long, when fully developed forming
more than + the total length, graduated for about 4 its own length; the feathers with rounded
ends, the middle pair at least tapering, and specially lengthened beyond the rest. Bill of ordi-
nary corvine shape; nos-
trils concealed by long na-
sal tufts. Wings short and
rounded, with very short,
narrow, faleate first pri-
mary. Feet stout; tarsus
little longer than middle
toe and claw. Head not
crested. A naked space
about eye. Plumage black,
iridescent, with masses ‘of
white; bill black or yel-
low. Sexes alike. Habits
arboreal and somewhat ter-
restrial, — very irregular,
in fact, a magpie’s general
character being none of
the best, though the ge-
neric characters are ex-
cellent.
P. rus/‘tica hudson‘ica.
(Lat. rustica, rustic, rural;
rus, ruris, the country.
Of Hudson’s Bay. Fig.
273.) Macrrie. Lustrous
black, with green, purple,
violet, and even golden
iridescence, especially on“
the tail and wings. Be-
low. from the breast to the
crissum, a scapular patch,
and a great part, of the in-
ner webs of the primary
quills, white; some whit-
ish touches on the throat;
lower back showing gray,
owing to mixture of white
' with black; bill and feet
Fic. 273, — Magpie, reduced, (From Dixon.) black; eyes blackish.
Length 15 or 20 inches, according to the development of the tail, which is a foot or less long,
extremely graduated ; extent about 2 feet; wing about 8.00, the outer primary short, slender,
and faleate ; bill 1.25; tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 1.50. Q rather smaller than ¢, but
alike in color. Arctic Amer. and U.S. from Plains to Pacific, except California ; common.
The American magpie is extremely similar to the notorious bird of Europe, and attempts to
establish specific characters have failed. It is a rather larger and “better” bird, though quite
348.
lil.
349.
750.
CORVIDA| —GARRULINA:: JAYS. 421
as mnch of a rascal. The nest is placed in thick shrubbery, as big as a bushel, bristling with
a chevaux-de-frise outside, with a lateral covered way leading to the nest within. Eggs 6-9,
1.20 to 1.40 long by 0.90 to 1.00 broad, pale drab, dotted, dashed, and blotched with purplish-
brown.
Pp. nut/talli. (To Thos. Nuttall.) YELLOw-BILLED Maaprs. Bill and ~2 space about
eye yellow. Otherwise, precisely like the last, of which it is a perpctuated accident! The
European magpie sometimes shows the same thing, and in some other spec ., like P. morio,
the bill is indifferently black or yellow. California, common.
CYANOCIT'TA. (Gr. xvavos, kuanos, blue; xirra, hitta, « jay.) CRESTED BLUE Jays.
Conspicuously crested; wings and tail blue, black-barred bill and feet black. Length 11.00-
12.00; wing or tail 5.00-6.00. Nostrils large, subcircular, but concealed. Wings and tail of
equal lengths, both rounded. Hind claw large, cqualling or exceeding its digit in length.
Theré are two species of this beautiful genus, one light blue and white, Eastern, standing
quite alone; the other dusky-bodied, Western, running into several varieties.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Purplish-blue, whitening below, with a black« lar. .. . Be ley fee Jat lane Gen lose . cristata 349
Sooty-brownish or -blackish, bluing c. body behind, wings and tail; ‘the latter black-barred.
Sooty-blackish ; littlo if any b!:.2 on forehead; none about eye; wing-coverts unbarred . . stellert 350
Sooty-blackish; but blue on forehead and above eye; wing-coverts unbarred .. . . . amnectens 351
Sooty-brownish, blue on forehead; little if any blue about eye; wing-coverts unbarred . Jrontalis 353
Sooty-brownish, the crest quite black. Bluish-white streaks on forehead and about-eye; wing-
coverts black-barred . ie UTES Be ahs Vere), oe ‘ be 6 «+ . macrolopha 352
C. cristata. (Lat. cristata, crested. Fig. 27 4) Buvz Jay. 2: " Purplish- -blue, below pale
purplish - gray, whitening on
throat, belly, and. crissum. A —
black collar across lower throat
and up the sides of the neck and
head behind the crest ;. a black
frontlet bordered with whitish. :
Wings and tail pure rich blue
with black bars, the greater
coverts, secondaries, and tail-
feathers, except the central,
broadly tipped with pure white ;
tail much rounded, the gradua-
tion over an inch. Length
11.00+12.00 ; extent 16.00-
17.50; wing and tail, each,
5.00-6.00; bill 1.25; tarsus’
1.35. Q similar, not so richly
blue: smaller. There is much
difference in size between north-
ern and southern bred birds, as in the Ageleus. Florida specimens are particularly small, the
bill relatively larger, the crest less, the white on wings and tail restricted; as worthy as
some other Floridan races to be named (C. cc. florincola, N.). Eastern N. A., especially U. S.,
but N. to Hudson’s Bay; W. to the central plains; a very abundant resident or half-migratory
bird, breeding throughout its range; a well-known character! Nest in trees and bushes, or
any odd nook, large and substantial; eggs 5-6 in number, 1.00 to 1.20 long by 0.80 to 0.90
broad, drab-colored with brown spots.
C. stel'leri. (To G. W. Steller.) Srenuer’s Jay. gf 9: Whole head, neck, and back sooty
blackish, little if any lighter on throat, and with little if any blue on forehead or about eyes ;
Fie. 274. — Blue Jay, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
351.
353
352.
422 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES.
this sooty color passing inseusibly on the rump and breast into dull blue. Wings and tail
richer blue, crossed with numerous black bars, not on the secondary coverts. Bill and feet
black. Young more fuliginous, the wing-bars faint if not wanting. Size of the Eastern jay,
or rather larger. Pacific coast region, Oregon to Alaska, E. to the Rocky Mts., where inoscu-
lating with C. s. macrolopha. This is the typical form, with little or no blue, no whitish on
head, and unbarred wing-coverts; running through annectens, frontahs, and macrolopha into
some very different Mexican forms. Habits, nest, and eggs as described under macrolophu.
C. s, annec’tens. (lat. annectens, annexing.) Buack-HEADED JAy. This nainc has been
given to specimens directly counecting stelleri and macrolopha. General tone of the former ;
quite blackish, short-erested, with plain wing-coverts; but blue frontal streaks and whitish
eye-patch of the latter. N. Rocky Mts., U. 8.
C. s. fronta’lis. (Lat. frontalis, pertaining to frons, the forehead.) BLUE-FRONTED JAY.
Strrra Jay. An offset from stelleri ; the sooty color rather brownish than blackish ; the blue
of different shade on body from the deep indigo on wings and tail; whole crest glossed with
bluish, and conspicuous blue streaks on forehead; no whitish eye-patches; wing-coverts
obsoletely or not barred. Sierras Nevadas of California.
C. s. macro‘lopha. (Gr. paxpés, makros, long ; Addos, lophos, crest. Fig. 275.) Lone-
CRESTED JAY. Better marked than the connecting links. ¢ 9: Upper parts sooty umber-
brown, with a faint blue
tinge, blackening on
head and neck all
around in decided con-
trast, passing ov ramp
and upper tail-coverts
into beautiful light co-
balt-blue; passing on
fore breast into the
same blue which occu-
pies all the under parts.
Crest black, but faced
on forehead with bluish-
white, which, when the
feathers are not dis-
turbed, runs in two parallel lines froin the nostrils upward — these colored tips of the feathers of
firmer texture than their basal portions. One or both eyelids patched with white. Chin ab-
ruptly whitish, streaky. Exposed surfaces of wings rich indigo-blue, most intense on the
inner secondaries, which, with the greater coverts, are regularly and firmly barred across both
webs with black ; the outer webs of the primaries lighter blue, more like that of the rump or
under parts. Upper surface of tail rich indigo, like the secondaries, and similarly black-barred ;
these bands most distinct towards the ends and on the outer webs of the feathers; tail viewed
from below appearing inostly blackish. Ivis dark. Bill and feet black. Length 12.00-13.00;
extent 17.00-19.00; wing 5.50-6.50; tail the same; Dill 1.12; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and
claw 1.33. Sexes quite alike, but 9 at the lesser dimensions given. Crest longer than in
northern stellert, sometimes 3.00. Young: Much more sooty; below entirely fuliginous, with
the future blue indicated by an ashy or grayish shade. Wings and tail nearly as bright blue as
in the adult, but the black bars faint or wanting. Crest shorter, not quite black, not faced with
blue, and no white about eyes. This form melts into C. diademata of Mexico, which is
bluer; and this is near the quite blue C. coronata. Rocky Mt. region, U. S., especially
southerly; a common bird of the pine belt, displaying in marked degree the notorious attributes
of its genus, or genius. Nest in trees and bushes, usually concealed with art, though bulky.
Fic. 275. — Long-crested Jay, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
112,
354.
355.
CORVIDA — GARRULINA:: JAYS. 423
eggs 5-6. 1.25 to 1.35 x 0.80 to 0.90, pale bluish-green, profusely spotted and blotched with
dark olive-brown and lighter brown.
APHELO'COMA. (Gr. dpedns, apheles, smooth, sleek; xoun, home, hair: alluding to the
lack of crest.) CrestLess BLUE Jays. Generally as in Cyanocitta. Head uncrested. Tail
longer or shorter than wings, instead of about equal, graduated (in some extralimital forms
about equal to the wing.and even). ‘Tarsus rather longer than middle toe and claw. Wings
and tail blue, without black bars, and blue the chief body-color; whitish underneath, with
(usually) or without a gray patch on the back. All Southern and Southwestern.
Analysis af Species and Varieties.
Tail longer than wings, graduated. Above blue, with gray dorsal area; belly dingy whitish; a super-
ciliary stripe, and the throat streaky.
Forehead hoary-white; superciliary stripe not well-defined. Dorsal patch well-defined. Crissum
blue, contrasting with grayish under parts. . 2... 8 ww eee ee floridana 354
Forehead blue; superciliary stripe distinct. Dorsal patch ill-defined, spreading and bluish. Crissum
bluish, but not well contrasted with dingy under parts ......2.2.. - . . woodhousit 355
Forehead blue; superciliary stripe distinct. Dorsal patch well- defined, Crissum whitish like other
MOGEOISE ah eee a Oe me a ee californica 356
Tail rather shorter than wing, wounded Bie, without definite dorsal anes, or aise or superciliary
streaks : Bete ERT ge i a et ee - » « arizone 35T
A. florida/na. (Of Florida.) FLORIDA JAY. 3 9: Blue; back with a small well- defined
gray patch not invading scapulars; belly and sides pale grayish; under tail-coverts and tibiae
blue in marked contrast ; much hoary whitish on forehead and sides of crown, but no sharp white
superciliary stripe ; gif, throat, and middle of breast vague streaky whiiah and bluish ; ear-
coverts dusky; the blue “iat seems to encircle the head and neck well defined against the gray
of back and breast. . . Bill comparatively short, very stout at the base. Length 11.00-12.50,
average 11. 75; extent 13.50-15.00, average 14.50; wing 4.00-4.75, average 4.40; tail 4.50-
5.50, average 5.00, always longer than wing; bill about 1.00. Florida (and Gulf States?),
abundant. Very local, and not authentic as occurring outside of Florida. Usual habits of
jays. Nest a flat structure, in bushes, of twigs lined with fibres. Eggs 4-5, bluish-green,
sparingly speckled, chiefly at larger end, with brown, 1.00 x 0.80.
A. f. woodhou'sii, (To 8. W. Woodhouse.) Woopnousr’s Jay. The dorsal patch dark,
glossed with blue, shading into the blue of surrounding parts; under parts rather darker than
in C. floridana, somewhat bluish-gray ; the under tail-coverts bluish but not contrasted; on
the breast the blue and gray shading into each other, the gular and pectoral streaks whitish
aud well-defined, the supereiliary lime definite white, but no hoary on forehead ; bill slenderer.
$9, adult: General color blue, rich and pure on the wings, tail, ramp, crown, back and sides
of neck, and on the breast surrounding the streaky white arca. Middle of back and scapulars
dark gray much tinged with blue, shading insensibly into the surrounding blue. Upper and
under tail-coverts blue. Under parts froin the breast gray, with blue tinge (in californica
nearly white). Chin, throat, and breast with a series of whitish blue-edged streaks, enclosed
in surrounding blue. Lores, orbits, and auriculars dusky. A series of sharp white streaks
over and behind cye. Wings and tail blue; the inner webs of most of the quills, and the tail
viewed from below, dusky. The inner secondaries and tail-feathers, closely examined, show
obsolete barring, like that which becomes pronounced in Cyanocitta, but the traces are faint,
and the feathers may be properly called plain. Iris brown ; bill and feet black. Length of 3,
about 12.00: extent 16.50; wing 5.00; tail 6.00; bill 1.12; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw
1.33. Q smaller: average 11.25; extent 15.50, ete. Young: Wings and tail as in the adult;
upper parts mostly gray : under parts grayish-white, with little or no blue on the breast, the
pectoral streaks undefined, as are those over the eye. Rocky Mt. region, from Wyoming and
Idaho southward. Habits, nest and eggs as in other species. The eggs in this genus usually
differ from those of Cyanocitta, by more greenish ground color and bolder marking, especially
356.
357.
‘113.
358.
424 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES.
at the larger end. In regions where Woodhouse’s and the Jong-crested jays occur together, the
latter lives chiefly in the pines, the former in the scrub-oak and other thickets.
A. £. californica. (Of California.) Catirornia JAy. The dorsal patch light and distinct
as in A. floridana, but the under parts, including tail-coverts and tibiee, nearly white; gular
streaks very large, aggregated, and white, causing the throat to be nearly uniform; a white
superciliary line, as in woodhousit, but no hoary on forehead ; bill slender. Thus it is seen that
each of the three forms presents a varying emphasis of common characters. $9, adult:
General color blue. Scapulars and interseapulars gray, with little if any tinge of blue; rump.
and upper tail-coverts bluish-gray, usually mixed with some white. Forehead and nasal tufts
blue like crown; a sharp white superciliary stripe over and behind eye; lores, eyelids, and
auriculars blackish. Under parts from the breast soiled white, with little or no tinge of blue
except on crissum; breast appearing as if blue, overlaid with broad white stripes, which become
continuous on throat and chin; the breast is really white, in streaks edged with blue, and with '
a surrounding of blue in which the streaks are as if framed. Iris brown; bill and feet black.
Length 12.00 or less; wing 5.00; tail 5.50; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw 1.25.
In comparison with woodhousti, differences are seen in the well-defined gray dorsal patch ; the
nearly white underparts without decidedly blue crissum ; and the broader and more continuously
white gular streaks. The general habits, nest, and epee are the same.
A, ultramari/na arizo'nx. (Lat. ultramarina, béyond the sea, name of a blue color.) Art-
ZONA JAY. Belonging to a different section of the genus, distinguished by having the tail
rather shorter than longer than the wings, the upper parts uniform blue, and no throat-streaks.
2, adult: Above, light blue, purer on head, wings, and tail than on back, where rather
dull. Beneath, sordid bluish-gray, bluest on breast, paler on throat, whitening on belly,
flanks, and crissum. Lores blackish ; orbits and auriculars dark. No superciliary stripe, nor
decided streaks on throat or breast. Bill normally black, sometimes irregularly patched with
whitish. Feet black. Length about 13.00; wing 6.25-6.75; tail 6.00-6.50, rounded, the
lateral feathers graduated about 0.50; bill 1.25, 0.40 deep at base; tarsus 1.67; middle toe and
claw 1.33. Young: Little if any blue excepting on wings and tail, being dull gray above;
below, much like the adult. Bill flesh-colored on most of under mandible. Arizona, aud
probably New Mexico; N. to about 35°. (C. sordida, Bd., 1858; Coues, 1872, may be a
variety of sordida, but it is probably guing too far to bring in ultramarins, and make both
this and arizone varieties of sordida.)
XANTHU/RA. (Gr. favos, xanthos, yellow; odpa, oura, tail.) Green Jays. No crest.
Wings short, much rounded, with lengthened inner secondaries folding nearly over the pri-
maries. Tail longer than wings, graduated. Bill short and deep, with culmen curved froin
the base. Colors green and yellow, with black and blue on head. Several tropical species of
these luxurious jays, one reaching our border.
X. luxurio/sa. (Lat. luxuriosa, luxurious. Commonly written luruosa.) Rio GRANDE
Jay. Adult g: Back and exposed surface of wings yellowish-green ; inner webs of inost of
the quills blackish edged with clear yellow; their shafts black above, yellow or whitish
below; lining of wings clear yellow. Four middle tail-feathers greenish-blue, at base little
different from back, bluing toward ends; these feathers, seen from below, quite black; other
tail-feathers all clear rich yellow, including their shafts. Under parts from the breast light
greenish-yellow, yielding to pure yellow on middle of belly. Top of head and nasal plumules
beautiful rich blue, yielding on forehead to hoary-white. Sides of head to above eyes, and
whole chin, throat, and fore-breast jet black, enclosing a large triangular patch of blue on
the side of the lower jaw, and blue touches on the eyelids. Bill and feet black. Length
11.25-12.00; extent 14.50-15.50; wing 4.50-5.00; tail 5.25-5.75; tarsus 1.50; middle toe
and claw 1.25; bill 1.00, very stout. 9 near the lesser of the dimensions given. This truly
elegant bird is abundant in some localities in the Lower Rio Grande valley. Nest in bushes
114,
359.
360.
361.
362.
CORVIDAE — GARRULINZ:: JAYS. 425
and small trees, bulky, of twigs with finer lining; eggs usually 3-4, 1.10 x 0.80, greenish-
drab, marked as usual with browns.
PERISO'REUS. (Gr. mepicapeio, perisoreuo, I heap up; probably in allusion to the
hoarding or thievish propensities of jays.) Gray Jays. Not crested. Plumage soft, full and
lax, grayish or sooty. Bill very short, not deep but wide at base; culmen little curved;
gonys ascending. Wings and tail of approximately equal lengths; latter graduated. A
cireumpolar and boreal or alpine genus, of one species in America, with several varieties.
Analysis of Varieties.
Dark hood moderate; forehead white; back brownish-gray, streaked % - . . canadensis 359
Dark hood extensive; forehead smoky ; back brownish-gray, unstreaked . . » . « fumifrons 360
Dark hood extensive ; forehead whitish; back brownish, with white shaft-lines . » . . . obscurus 861
Dark hood restricted ;. forehead extensively white; back ashy-gray, unstreaked . . . capitalis 362
P. canaden’sis. (Of Canada. Fig. 276.) Canapa Jay. WuisKry JACK. Moose.
BIRD. Gray, whitening on head, neck, and breast; a dark cap on hind head and nape, sep-
arated by a gray cervical collar from the ashy-plumbeous back ; wings and tail plumbeous,
the feathers obscurely tipped with whitish. Bill and feet black. Young: Much darker,
sooty or smoky-brown; the bleaching. progresses indefinitely with age. Length 10.00-
11.00; extent about 16.00; wing 5.25-
5.75 ; tail rather more, graduated ;. tar-
sus 1.33; bill under. 1, shaped like a
titmouse’s. Arctic “Am. into the N.
States, N. ‘W. to Alaska; breeds in
Maine and northward; resident, and
seldom seen south ofits breeding range.
The ‘ Wisskachon” (whence “ whisk-
ey John” and then ‘‘ whiskey Jack”)
is noted for the familiarity and impu-
dence with which it hangs about the
hunter’s camp to steal provisions, for
consorting with moose, and for nesting
in winter or early spring. Nest usually Y
on the bough of a spruce or other coni- Fic. 276. — Canada Jay, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nicholssc.)
fer, a large substantial structure, of twigs, grasses, mosses, and feathers; eggs 3-4, 1.20 x
0.85, yellowish-gray to pale green, finely dotted and blotched with brown and slate, or lavender,
especially about the larger end; others more uniformly and largely blotched ; variation wide,
as in other jays.
P. ec. fu’/mifrons. (Lat. fumus, smoke; frons, forehead.) ALASKAN JAY. SMUTTY-NOSED
Jay. Similar: coloration darker and dingier throughout ; white of forehead obscured or oblit-
erated by smoky-gray. Coast region of Alaska. : 7
P. ¢c. obseu'rus. (Lat. obscurus, obscure.) OREGON JAY. More different: dark hood
encroaching on crown, not well defined; upper parts umber-brownish rather than plumbeous,
the feathers with white shaft-lines; tail not distinctly tipped with whitish. Pacifie coast
region, Oregon to Sitka.
P. ¢, capita/lis. (Lat. capitalis, capital, relating to the head, caput.) Rocky MounrTain
Jay. General color ashy-plumbeous, or leaden-gray, paler below; wings and tail blackish,
with a peculiar glaucous shade, as if frosted or silvered over. The body-color giving way on
the breast and neck to whitish, established as hoary-white on the head, isolating the narrow
well-defined nuchal band of sooty-gray. No white lines on back ; tail-feathers distinctly tipped
with whitish, and much edging of the same on the wings. The clearer colors generally — back
rather bluish-gray than brownish-gray, very white head with narrow nuchal band — produce
.
426 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES.
a bird differmg visibly from the ordinary gray jay. The changes of plumage with age are
parallel. Size ata maximum. Leéngth about 12.00; extent 17.00; wing and tail, each, near.
6.00; bill 0.75; tarsus 1.80; middle toe and claw 1.00. 8. Rocky Mt. region, especially
Colorado, Wyoming, N. New Mexico and Arizona, Idaho and Montana, northward shading
into typical canadensis. The high mountains of Colorado furnish the extreme cases.
19. Family STURNIDA: Old World Starlings.
A family confined to
the Old World: difficult
to characterize, owing to
the variety of forms it
includes. Apparently
related to the Icteride,
frown which distinguished
by the presence of ten
primaries, the first short
or quite spurious. The
only fomn with which we
have here to do is the
genus Sturnus, belong-
ing to the
28. Subfamily
STURNINEA: Typical
Starlings.
STUR'NUS. (Lat. stur-
nus, a stare or starling.)
Staruincs. Bill shaped
somewhat as in Sturnella_
or Icterus, but widened
and flattened; rather
shorter than head; cul-
men and gonys about
straight, both gently
rounded in transverse
section, and at the tip;
the culmen rising high
on the forehead, dividing
prominent antie which
extend into the well-
marked nasal fosse; a
conspicuous nasal scale,
overarching the nostrils ;
tomial edges of uiandibles
Fig. 277. — The Starling. (From Dixon.) dilated, especially those
of the upper mandible; commissure obtusely angulated; sides of lower mandible extensively
denuded and somewhat excavated; feathers filling the interramal space; no bristles about the
Lill. Wings long and pointed; Ist primary spurious and very small; 2d and 3d longest,
115.
340.
.
STURNIDA: — STURNINZ: TYPICAL SIARLINGS. 427
rest rapidly graduated. Tail of 12 feathers, emarginate, little more than half as long as the
wing. Feet short; tarsus of strictly oscine podotheca, scutellate and laminiplantar, about as
long as middle toe without its claw. Lateral toes of subequal lengths, their claws falling
short of base of middle claw; hind claw about as long as its digit. Plumage metallic and
iridescent, the feathers all distinctly outlined.
S. vulga/ris. (Lat. vulgaris, vulgar, common. Fig. 277.) THe Srarwinc. Adult: Gen-
eral plumage of metallic lustre, iridescing dark green on most parts, more steel-blue on the
under parts, and violet or purplish-blue on the fure parts ; more or less variegated throughout
with pale ochraceous or whitish tips of the feathers. Wiugs and tail fuscous, the exposed
parts of the feathers somewhat frosty or silvery, with velvety-black and pale ochrey margin-
ings, the former within the latter. Bill yellowish; feet reddish. Young and in winter:
Plumage more heavily variegated throughout, with larger tawny-brown spots ou the upper
parts, and white ones below; wings and tail strongly edged with brown; Dill dark. Length
about 8.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.75; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25. Europe,
etc., one of the longest and best known of birds. Has straggled to Greenland in one known
instance.
2. SusorpeER PASSERES MESOMYODI, OR CLAMATORES:
NON-MELODIOUS OR SONGLESS PASSERES.
Mesomyodian scutelliplantar Passeres with ten fully developed primaries. — Syrinx with
fewer than four distinct pairs of intrinsic muscles inserted at the middle of the upper bronchial
half-rings, representing the mesomyodian type of voice-organ, and constituting an uncompli-
cated and ineffective musical apparatus. Side and back of tarsus, as well as the front, covered
with variously arranged scutella, so that there is no sharp undivided ridge bebind (as, e. g.,
in fig. 280, a). Ten fully developed primaries, the 1st of which, if not equalling or exceed-
ing the 2d, is at least $ as long. (See p. 240, where the Oscines are defined as acro-
myodian laminiplantar Passeres with 9 fully-developed primaries, or 10 and the lst short
or spurious. )
The essential character of this group, as distinguished from Oscines, is thus seen to be an
anatomical one, consisting in the non-development of a singing apparatus; the vocal muscles of
the lower larynx (syrinx) being small and few, or else forming simply a fleshy mass, not sepa-
rated into particular muscles; in either case inserted in a special manner into the bronchial half-
rings. This character, though subject to some uncertainty of determination, corresponds yell
with the principal external character assignable to the group, namely, a certain condition of the
tarsal envelope rarely if ever seen in the higher Passeres. If the leg of a King-bird, for exaiple,
be closely examined, it will be seen covered with a row of scutella forming cylindrical plates
continuously enveloping the tarsus like a segmented scroll, and showing on its postero-internal
face a deep groove where the edges of the envelope come together; this groove widening iuto
a naked space abuve, partially filled in behind with a row of small plates. With some minor
modifications, this scutelliplantar condition marks the Clamatorial birds, and is somethiug
tangibly different from the typical Oscine or lamiuiplantar character of the tarsus, which consists
in the presence on the sides of entire corneous laminz meeting behind in a sharp ridge. And
even when, as in the cases of the oscine Hremophila and Ampelis, there is extensive subdivision
of the laminz on the sides or behind, the arrangement does not exactly answer to the above
description. The Clamatores represent the lower Passeres, approaching the large order
Picarie (see beyond) in the steps by which they recede from Oscines, yet well separated from
the Picarian birds. The families composing the suborder, as commonly received, are few iu
number ; only one of them is represented in North America, north of Mexico.
428 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — CLAMATORES.
20. Family TYRANNIDZ: American Flycatchers.
While having a close general resemblance to some of the foregoing
insectivorous and oscine Passeres, the North American representatives of
© this. family will be instantly distinguished by the above-described condi-
tion of the tarsus ; together with the presence of 10 primaries, whereof
the lst is long or longest. From the birds of the following Picarian
order by the Passerine characters of twelve rectrices, greater wing-cov-
Fig. 278. —Bill of a &xtS uot more than half, as long as the secondaries, and hind claw not
Flycatcher (Tyrannus smaller than the middle claw.
verticalis, nat. size). This family is peculiar to America; it is one of the most extensive
and characteristic groups of its grade in the New World, the Tanagride and Trochilide alone
approaching it in these respects. There are over 400 current species, distributed among about
100 genera and subgenera. As well as I can judge at present, at least two-thirds of the species
are valid, or very strongly marked geographical races, the remainder being about equally
divided between slight varieties and mere synonyms. Only a sinall fragment of the family is
represented within our limits, giving but a vague idea of the numerous and singularly diver-
sified forms abounding in tropical America. Some of these grade so closely toward other
families, that a strict definition of the Tyrannide becomes extremely difficult ; and I ain not
prepared to offer a satisfactory diagnosis of the whole group. Our species, however, are closely
related to each other, and may readily be defined in a manner
answering the requirements of the present volume. With a
possible exception, not necessary to insist upon in this connec-
tion, they belong to the
Ys
29, Subfamily TYRANNINAZE: True Tyrant
Flycatchers,
presenting the following characters: Wing of 10 primaries,
the lst never spurious nor very short ; one or more frequently
emarginate or attenuate on the inner web near the end. Tail
of 12 rectrices, usually nearly even, sometimes deeply forficate.
Feet swall, weak, exclusively fitted for perching ; tarsus little
if any longer than middle toe and claw; anterior toes, espe-
cially the outer, extensively coherent at base. Bill very broad
and more or less depressed at base, tapering tu a fine point,
thus presenting a more or less perfectly triangular outline when
viewed from above ; tip abruptly deflected and usually plainly
notched just behind the bend; culmen smooth and rounded
transversely, straight or nearly so lengthwise, except towards
the end; commissure straight (or slightly curved) except at
the end; ygonys long, flat, not keeled. Nostrils small, circular,
strictly basal, overhung but not concealed by bristles. Mouth
capacious, its roof somewhat excavated; rictus ample and
deeply cleft ; commissural point almost beneath anterior bor-
der of eye. Rictus beset with a number of long stiff vibrisse,
sometimes reaching nearly to end of bill; generally shorter.
Fie. 219. — Emargination of pri- and flaring outward on each side; other bristles or bristle-
maries in Tyrannine. a, Milvulus _, : : i aye
forficatus ;-b. Tyrannus carolinensis; tipped feathers about base of bill. Bill very light, giving a
ce, Tyrannus verticalia; d. Tyran- resonant sound in dried specimens when tapped, and on being
ij ; all nat, size. (Ad E s
ce ees = broken open, the upper mandible will be found extensively
TYRANNIDA —TYRANNINA?: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 429
‘
hollow. These several peculiarities of the bill (to most of which Ornithium offers signal ex-
ception) are the most vbvious features of the group; and should prevent our small olivaceous
Flycatchers from being confounded even by the tyro with insectivorous Oscines, as the War-
blers and Vireos. (See figs. 278, 280.)
The structure of the bill is admirably adapted for the capture of winged insects ; the broad
and deeply fissured mandibles forin a capacious mouth, while the long bristles are of service in
entangling the creatures in a trap and restraining their struggles to escape. The shape of the
wings and tail confers the power of rapid and varied aérial evolutions necessary for the successful
pursuit of active flying insects. A little practice in field ornithology will enable one to recog-
nize the Flycatchers from their habit of perching in wait for their prey upon some prominent
outpost, in a peculiar attitude, with the wings and tail drooped and vibrating in readiness for
instant action; and of dashing into the air, eo
seizing the passing insect with » quick move- °
ment and a click of the bill, and then returning
to their stand. Although certain Oscines have
somewhat the same habit, these pursue insects
from place to place, instead of perching in
wait at a particular spot, and their forays are
not made with such admirable élan. Depend-
ent entirely upon insect food, the Flycatchers
are necessarily migratory in our latitudes; they
appear with great regularity in spring, and
depart on the approach of cold weather in the
fall. They are distributed over temperate
North America; many of them are common
birds of the Eastern States. The voice, sus-
ceptible of little modulation, is usually harsh
and strident, though some species have no .
unmusical whistle or twitter. The sexes are
not ordinarily distinguishable (remarkable ex-
ception in Pyrocephalus), and the changes of
plumage with age and season are not ordinarily
great. The modes of nesting are too various fis ep, Gena acts oe eae
tu be collectively noted. The larger kinds of arehus; b. Sayiornis; c. Contopus; d. Empid ;
Flycatchers are unmistakable, but several of ll mat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.)
the smaller species, of the genera Sayiornis, Contopus, and especially Empidonag, look much
alike, and their discrimination becomes a matter of much tact and diligence.
To the 8 genera of Tyrannide long known to be North American have lately been added
3 from Mexico—the immense-billed Pitangus, the streaky, yellow-bellied, rufous-tailed
Myiodynastes, and the curious little ‘‘ beardless” Ornithium. The 11 may be readily discrimi-
nated by the following characters : — é
Analysis of Genera.
Bill fiattish, fully bristled and hooked as usual in Tyrannide.
One or more outer primaries attenuate at end. A flame or yellow spot on crown. (Tyranni.)
Tail deeply forficate, much longer than wings oe tee F Milvulus 118
Tail simple, not longer than wings. fei Sia eos Tyrannus 119
Outer primaries not attenuated. A yellow crown-spot.
Wings and tail extensively rufous; belly yellow; no streaks except on head » . . Pitangus 116
Tail but not wings extensively rufous; belly yellow. Streaked above and below . Myiodynastes 117
Outer primaries not attenuate. Tail moderate. No yellow spot on crown. (Tyrannule.)
Tail chestnut and dusky, in lengthwise pattern, Belly yellow; throatashy . . . . Myiarchus 120
Tail without chestnut.
Tail about equal to or little shorter than wing, slightly or not forked. Bill narrow. Tarsus
316.
364.
430 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — CLAMATORES.
.
not shorter or rather longer than middle toe and claw. Coloration black and white, cinna-
mon-brown, or olivaceous. . .... a oe ee oe 8 Sayiornis: 121
Tail decidedly shorter than wing, a little forked. Bill broad and flat. Tarsus shorter than
middle toe and claw. Olivaceous; length 6.25 or more 5 he lee ae . Contopus 122
Tail a little shorter than wing, about even. Bill flat. Tarsus not shorter or rather longer
than middle toe and claw. Coloration olivaceous and yellowish, but no red, buff or pure
brown. Length 6.25 or less— usually under6.00 . ....... Empidonax 123
Tail, etc., as in Empidonax, from which scarcely different. Coloration more brownish-
olive, buffy below. Very small . . a hee ORE BS ME ie See ie Mitrephanes 124
Tail and tarsus asin Empidonaz, Bill narrow. Hind not longer than lateral toe. Sexes
unlike. g full-crested, vermilion and pure brown, ..... .. . Pyrocephalus 126
Bill compressed, quite parine in appearance, unbristled, unnotched. General color ashy, with yellow
lining of wings. Very small: length under 5.00 . . ae oe tw we ew +e Ornithium 125
Obs. Besides the above, another genus and species doubtless occurs in Texas: MYIOZETETES TEXENSIS. Bill,
short, stout, very broad at base, with curved culmen, hooked and notched tip, and heavily-bristled rictus. Pri-
maries not emarginate; 2d, 3d, 4th longest, 5th shorter; 1st about equal to 6th. Tail shorter than wings, nearly
square. Feet small; tarsus rather less than middle toe and claw. Above, olive; wings and tail brown, with yel-
lowish edging of the quills. Under parts, including lining of wings, bright pure yellow; throat definitely white.
Top and sides of head gray, hoary on forehead and over eyes, dusky on lores and auriculars, enclosing a flame and
yellow crown-spot. Bill and feet black. Length about 7.00; wing 3.50; tail 3.00; bill 0.60; tarsus 0.75; middle
toe and claw 0.85.
PITAN'GUS. (Vox barb.; a Mexican or 8. Am. name of some bird.) DrrBy FLYcATCHERS.
Outer primaries not emarginate. An orange crown patch. Bill as long as head, exceeding the
tarsus, straight, stout, but narrow, as deep as broad at the nostrils, with ridged culmen straight
to the hooked end; gonys about straight, ascending; cominissure and also lateral outlines
perfectly straight. Nostrils rounded, nearer commissure than culmen. Wings rounded, tipped
by 3d-5th quills; 2d and 6th about equal and shorter, 1st only about equal to 9th. Tail
shorter than wings, nearly even, but somewhat double-rounded. Tarsus about as long as
middle toe and claw. Largest-bodied of any N. Am. flycatcher. Brown above, yellow
below, with black, white, and orange head ; quills and tail-feathers extensively chestnut, as in
Myjiarchus. Mexican; lately found in Texas.
P. derbia'‘nus. (To Lord Derby. Fig. 281.) Drrsy Frycarcner. Upper parts light
wood-brown, with an olive tinge; wings and tail the same, but the feathers extensively
bordered without and within with
chestnut, forming a conspicuous
continuous area on the wing-
quills in the closed wing, and on
inost of the wing and tail-feathers
more extensive than the brown
portion of the inner webs. Be-
low from the breast, including
lining of wings, clear and con-
tinuous lemon-yellow. Whole
chin and throat pure white, wid-
ening behind up under ear-cov
erts. Top and sides of head
black, a circle of white from fure-
Fig. 281. — Derby Flycatcher, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) head over eyes to nape white, the
enclosed black enclosing a lemon and orange patch. Or, middle of crown yellow and orange,
enclosed and partly concealed in black, this black enclosed in white, then the long and broad
black bar on side of head, separating the white of side of crown from that of side of throat.
The coronal feathers lengthened and erectile as in a king-bird, or more so; crown-patch of
same character but more extensive. Bill and feet black; iris hazel. Sexes alike. Length
of male about 10.50; wing about 5.00; tail about 4.00; bill 1.20; tarsus 1.00. A great
117.
365.
118.
366.
367.
PYRANNIDA — TYRANNIN.E: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 431
flycatcher of aggressive appearance, long known in Mexico, recently ascertained to occur un
the Lower Rio Grande in Texas.
MYIODYNASTES. (Gr. pvia, muia, a fly; duvacrns, dunastes, a ruler.) STRIPED Fiy-
CATCHERS. Related to Myiarchus; tail extensively chestnut, as in that genus, but no chestnut
on wings. No primaries emarginate. A yellow crown-spot. Bill shorter than head, as long
as tarsus, very turgid, much broader than high at the nostrils, lateral outlines slightly convex,
culmen nearly straight to the little hooked tip, gonys long, ascending. Rictus moderately
bristled. Wings long and pointed; 3d quill slightly longer than 2d, 4th little shorter, 5th
much shorter, lst between 5th and 6th. Tail shorter than wings, nearly even. Feet very
small, relatively as weak as in Contopus; tarsus rather shorter than middle toe and claw.
Several species of Mexico and tropical Am. flycatchers, with crown-spot, rufous tail, and the
whole plumage streaked.
M. luteiven’tris. (Lat. luteus, yellow, ventris, of venter, the belly.) SuLPHUR-BELLIED
Stripep FiycatTcuer. Entire upper parts, including the head, streaked ; the feathers with
broadly dusky centres and vlive-brown borders, finally edged slightly with yellowish-brown. A
yellow crown-spot, concealed as in the king-bird. Tail and its upper coverts rich chestnut, all
the feathers with blackish shaft stripes — on the middle feathers about half the width of either
web, on the outer narrowed to the shaft itself and a slightly clubbed end; from below, shafts
of the feathers white except. at ends. Wings blackish, the median and greater coverts and
inner quills, both externally and internally, conspicuously edged with yellowish-white ; some
rufous edgings also on lesser coverts. Under parts, including lining of wings, sulphur-yellow,
fading to white on the throat; everywhere, excepting on middle of belly and erissum, heavily
streaked with blackish, these dark stripes suffused and blended on the throat, particularly
along its sides. Lores and auriculars dusky; forehead and streak over eye whitish. Bill
blackish, pale at base below. Wing 4.40; tail 3.40; bill and tarsus 0.75; middle toe and
claw rather more. Central Am. and Mexico to Arizona, where common, and breeding in
southern parts of the territory.
MIL/VULUS. (Lat. milvulus, diminutive of milvus, a kite.) SWALLOW-TAILED Ftry-
catcuers. Tail in the adult deeply forficate, about twice as long as the wing. Outer primary
or primaries abruptly attenuate, and other characters as in Tyrannus proper (beyond). A
yellow or flaming crown-spot.
Analysis of Species.
Three or four primaries emarginate. Crown-spot yellow, in blackcap = ...... tyrannus 366
One primary emarginate. Crown-spot flaming, in ashy cap . . 3 5 . . forficatus 367
M. tyran/nus. (Lat. tyramnus, a tyrant.) ForK-TAILED FLYCATCHER. O?, adult:
Outer 3 or 4 primaries emarginate. Crown-patch yellow. Above, clear ash; below, white ;
top and sides of head black ; tail black, the outer feather white on outer web for about half its
length ; wings dusky, unmarked. Sexes alike. Young similar, but primaries not emarginate,
nor tail lengthened ; no crown-spot; wing- and tail-coverts edged with brown, Wing 4.50;
tail up to a foot long, forked 6-8 inches. A beautiful bird of tropical Am., accidental in the
U. 8. (Louisiana, Kentucky, New Jersey !)
M. forfica‘tus. (Lat. forficatus, forked like forfex, a pair of scissors. Fig. 282.) Swat-
LOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. ScIssor-TaIL. $9, adult: First primary alone emargi-
nate (fig. 279, a). Crown patch orange or scarlet. General color hoary-ash, paler or white
below ; sides at insertion of wings scarlet or bloody-red, and other parts of the body variously
tinged with the same, ora paler salmon-red. Wings blackish, with whitish edgings. Tail
black, but several of the long feathers extensively white or rosy ; these are narrow and linear,
sometimes widening somewhat in spoon-shape. Wing 4.50-5.00; extent of wings 14.50-
15.50; tail up to a foot long, usually 8.00-10.00 inches, forked 5.00-6.00. 9 averaging
119.
368.
432 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — CLAMATORES.
smaller than ¢, with the tail commonly less developed. Young: Similar; primary not
abruptly emarginate; tail undeveloped; no crown-spot, and little or no red. Lower Missis-
sippi valley and Texas; usually N. to Indian Terri-
tory and Kansas, even 8S. W. Missouri; accidental in
New Jersey and New England! A most elegant,
graceful, and showy bird, abundant in Texas, con-
spicuous by the display it inakes in opening and clos-
ing the tail, like scissor-blades ; very active, dashing
and noisy, like a king-bird, — all the large flycatchers
sharing this same impetuous, irritable disposition.
Nesting like the king-bird’s; eggs 4—5, white, boldly
blotched with reddish on the surface, and lilac shell-
spots; laid in May.
TYRAN'NUS. (Lat. tyrannus, a tyrant.) Kine Fry-
CATCHERS. Tail moderate in size and shape, rather
shorter than wing, even or little rounded, emarginate
or lightly forked. Wings long, pointed by the 2d-8d
quills, lst and 4th little if any shorter, 5th and rest
rapidly graduated. Several outer primaries abruptly
emarginate or sinuate-narrowed on inner webs towards
end. Bill stout, flattish, fully bristled, notched, and
hooked (fig. 278). Feet small and weak, the tarsus
with scales obviously lapping around. Size large:
length 8 inches or more; wing over 4. Sexes alike ;
@ sharing the flaming crown-patch ; primaries less or
not emarginate? Young lacking the crown-spot and
attenuation of primaries. Nest bulky, on a bough,
compactly woven and felted. Eggs white, boldly Fie. 282. — Swallow-tailed Flycatcher.
marked with oval or tear-shaped spots of reddigh- (Sbeppard del. Nichols sc.)
brown. Contains numerous species, 5 of N. Am., which have been divided into several named
subgenera, but are closely interrelated through various exotic species. They are the “ king-.
birds” proper.
Analysis of Species.
No olive nor decided yellow; blackish and whitish.
Only two primaries obviously emarginate. Tail about even, i cea white-tipped. Bill small,
under 1.00. (Tyrannus). . . + . » carolinensis 368
Five or six primaries emarginate. “Tail emarginate merely lighter at ond. "Bin big, 1.00 long. (Melit-
tarchus) . + « « dominicensis 369
Olivaceous, with pure yellow on belly, ashy on bend. Bill mbticrate: ‘Gaphicien: >
Tail blackish, merely cmarginate; wings dark brown.
Several outer ee gradually attenuate for a long distance. Outer web of. outer tail-feather
white... - . » verticalis 370
Several outer piinatiel abravily, emarginate for a short Aletanies: aise web of outer tail-feather
merely whitish-edged . 7 oe ee ee ee ew ww we VOCiferams 371
Tail dark brown, like the wings, cbviously: forked
Several outer primaries abruptly emarginate for a short distance . ..... . . . couchi 372
T. carolinen’sis. (Of Carolina. Fig. 283.) Kinc-pirp. Brs-martin. $9, adult:
No olive nor decided yellow. Only two outer primaries obviously emarginate (fig. 279, b).
Tail nearly even — if anything a little rounded. Blackish-ash, still darker or quite black on
head, crown with a flaming spot. Below, pure white, the breast shaded with plumbeous.
Wings dusky, with much whitish edging. Tail black, broadly and sharply tipped with’
white, the outer feather sometimes edged with the same. Bill and feet black. Young:
Lacking emargination of the primaries, and no crown-spot; very young birds show rufous
369.
370.
371.
TYRANNIDAE —-TYRANNINZE: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 433
edging of the wings and tail. Length about 8.00; extent 14.50; wing 4.50; tail 3.50,
even or slightly rounded; bill small, under an inch long. Temperate N. Am., but chiefly
E. U. 8. to Rocky Mts.; rare or casual on the Pacific slope; abundant in summer; breeds
throughout its range; winters on the southern border and
beyond. This trim and shapely ‘‘ martinet,” in severe
black and white but with fiery pompon, is familiar to all,
and equally noted for its irritability, pugnacity, and intre-
pidity, and its inveterate enmity to crows, hawks, and owls,
which it does not hesitate to attack, either in defence of its
nest or just to show its spunk. Nest a conspicuous object
in the orchard or by-the wayside, on the horizontal bough
of a tree, large, cupped, compactly woven and matted with
fibrous and disintegrated vegetable substances; eggs usu-
ally 4-5-6, 0.90 to 1.00 long by 0.72 broad, white, rosy, or
creamy, variously spotted or blotched in bold pattern with
reddish and- darker brown surface-spots and lilac shell-
markings. Destroys a thousand noxious insects for every Fic. 283.—King-bird, reduced. (From
bee it eats ! Tenney, after Wilson.)
T. dominicen’sis. (Of St. Domingo.) Gray KinG-Birp. ¢ 9, adult: Five or six outer
primaries usually emarginate. Crown-spot. as before. Grayish-plumbeous, rather darker on
head, the auriculars dusky. Below, white, shaded with ashy on breast and sides, the under
wing- and tail-coverts faintly yellowish ; wings and tail dusky, edged with whitish or yel-
fowish ; the tail-feathers merely indistinctly lighter at the extreme tip. Larger than the last :
Length about 9.00; wing 5.50; tail nearly 5.00, more or less emarginate ; bill very turgid, an
inch long. West Indies; Florida regularly; N. to Carolina rarely, to Massachusetts acci-
dentally. General appearance, habits and nesting of the king-bird.
T. vertica/lis. (Lat. verticalis, relating to the vertex, or top of head, which has a flame-patch.
Fig. 278.) ARKANSAS TYRANT FLYCATCHER. Several outer primaries gradually attenuated
for a long distance (fig. 279, c). Coloration olivaceous and yellow; belly and under wing-
and tail-coverts clear yellow ; back ashy-olive, changing to clear ash on the head, throat, and
breast, the chin whitening, the lores and auriculars dusky ; wings dark brown with whitish
edging ; tail black or blackish; bill and feet black; iris brown. Outer web of outer tail-
feather entirely white. Ash of the fore parts pale, contrasting with dusky lores and auric-
ulars, fading insensibly into white on the chin, and changing gradually to yellow on the
belly ; olive predominating over ashy on the back. Length about 9.00; extent about 16.50;
wing 5.00; tail 4.00; bill 0.75; tarsus 0.75. Young: Similar; general ash of the body
dull, with a brownish cast ; little or no olivaceous on back; tail not quite black ; yellow of
under parts pale and sulphury, even whitish ; bill light-colored at base below; no color on
crown, and primaries scarcely or not attenuate. Very young with rusty edgings, especially
on wing- and tail-coverts. Western U. S., abundant; accidental in Louisiana, New Jersey,
and Maine; E. regularly to Kansas, Iowa, etc., N. to British Provinces in Missouri and Milk
River region and westward. General traits those of the king-bird; nest similar, rather
larger, with more fluffy and less fibrous material; eggs not distinguishable with certainty.
T. voci/ferans. (Lat. vociferans, vociferous, voice-bearing ; vox, voice, and fero, I bear.)
Cassin’s TYRANT FLycaTcHer. Several outer primaries abruptly emarginate for a short
distance (fig. 279, d). Outer web of outer tail-feather barely or not edged with whitish. General
coloration as in J. verticalis; but ash of fore parts dark, little different on the lores and auricu-
lars, changing rather abruptly to white on the chin and to yellow on the belly ; ashy predomi-
nating over olive on the back. The difference is decisive on comparison. The outer primaries
are abruptly nicked and narrowed within half an inch of the end. The mere edging of the outer
28
372.
120.
373.
434 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— CLAMATORES.
tail-feather with white instead of the whole web being white is also a good character.
Changes of plumage the same as in verticalis; size the same ; bill rather stouter, about 0.85 ;
tarsus slightly longer, on an average. Southwestern U. S., and southward; N. to Wyoming
and Idaho; abundant in the Rocky Mt. region, there mostly replacing verticalis in the breeding
season. Nesting and eggs the same.
T. melanchollicus couch/i. (Gr. peAayyodixds, melagcholikos, Lat. melancholicus, melan-
choly, i. e., atrabilious ; péAas, peAavos, melas, melanos, black; xédos, cholos, gall, bile. To
Lt. D. N. Couch.) Coucw’s Frycatcner. Very similar to the last; primaries abruptly
emarginate for a short distance, as in J. vociferans, and outer web of outer tail-feather not
white; but tail dark brown, like the wings, and obviously forked (about 0.50; in vociferans
the tail quite black, slightly emarginate or nearly even) ; all its feathers with slight pale
edges, and their shafts pale on the under surface. Yellow of under parts very bright, reaching
high up on the breast; throat as well as chin extensively white. Size of the foregoing, and
changes of plumage coincident. A universally distributed South and Central Am. species,
of which a slight variety reaches over our Mexican border.
MYIAR/CHUS. (Gr. pvia, muia, a fly; dpxés, archos, a ruler. Fig. 280, a.) CRESTED
FLYCATCHERS. ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS. RUFOUS-TAILED FLycaTCcHERS. No
colored patch on the crown, but head slightly crested by lengthened erectile feathers. Pri-
maries emarginate. Olivaceous; more or less yellow below, the throat ash, the primaries
margined with chestnut, the tail-feathers the same ommostly chestnut — such coloration the
best mark of the genus. Tail nearly even, if anything rounded, about as long as wings, of
broad flat feathers with rounded ends. Wings rounded, the tip formed by 2d-4th quills
(usually), the 5th shorter, 6th and lst much shorter. Tarsus about as long as middle toe and
claw, —if any different, longer. Bill moderate, variable in shape and relative size. Next to
the characteristic rufous on wings and tail, size is a good clue to this genus among our oliva-
ceous flycatchers without colored crest; for the Myiarchi excepting M. lawrencii are much
larger than any others excepting Contopus borealis and C. pertinax. Only one Eastern
species, but four others in the southwest, requiring nice discrimination. Peculiar, all of them,
in nesting in holes, and laying eggs scratched and snarled, but chiefly scrawled lengthwise,
with dark brown, in close and intricate pattern.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Large: length 8.00 or more, Inner webs of tail-feathers largely rufous.
Rufous occupying nearly or quite all the inner webs of several lateral tail- feathers + » » .erinitus 373
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in nearly equal amount with a fuscous stripe of equal
width throughout. Billnearly or quite100 . . . .... +. ese + + « cooper 880
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in nearly equal t with : a fi stripe of
equal width throughout. Billabout 0.75 . . . . erythrocercus 374
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in greater sesaiunG: than a fuscous stripe which widens
atend. Billvery narrow . . . « cinerescens 375
Small: length 7.00 or less. Inner webs of tail- ‘feathers seacwely 6 or not eafoners Me Ge . lawrencii 376
M. crini/tus. (Lat. crimitus, haired, i. e., crested; crimis, hair. Fig. 284.) Great
CRESTED FLYCATCHER. (9, adult: Decidedly olivaceous above, a little browner on head,
where the feathers have dark centres; throat and fore breast pure dark ash; rest of under
parts bright yellow, the two colors meeting abruptly; primaries margined on both edges with
chestnut ; secondaries and coverts edged and tipped with yellowish-white; tail with all the
feathers but the central pair chestnut on the whole of the inner web (excepting perhaps a very
narrow space next the shaft); outer web of outer feathers edged with yellowish; middle
feathers, outer webs of the rest, and wings except as stated, dusky-brown. The foregoing
phrases are intended to be chiefly antithetical to those used in describing cinerescens, below,
No. 375. Other diagnostic points are: bill dark but not quite black, pale at base below ;
stout and comparatively short, hardly or not as long as tarsus, the latter perhaps never 0.90 -
880.
374.
TYRANNIDZA-— TYRANNINZE: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 435
the olive back, ash throat, and yellow belly severally pure in color; all tail-feathers but middle
pair so extensively rufous on inner webs that a mere line, if any, of fuscous persists next
the shaft (compare erythrocereus and coopert), and this fuscous line, if any, running of same
narrowness to ends of the feathers (compare cinerescens) ;
never more than a trace of rufous on outer webs. Very
young birds have rufous skirting of many feathers, in ad-
dition to the chestnut above described, but this soon dis-
appears. Large: length 8.00~-9.00; extent about 13.00;
wing and tail about 4.00 (3-80-4.20); Dill 0.75~-0.80 ;
tarsus 0.70-0.80; middle toe and claw 0.65-0.75 ; breadth
of bill at base 0.33-0.40, or about 4 the length of culmen.
Eastern U. 8., west to Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and
Texas, N. to Massachusetts; Mexico and Central Am. in
winter. An abundant bird, in woodland, of loud harsh
voice and quarrelsome disposition, noted for its habitual ..
use of cast-off snake-skins in the structure of its nest.
Nest in hollows of trees and similar retreats ; eggs unique
(outside this genus) in pattern: ground color buff or rich
clay-color, with numberless markings of purplish-chest-
nut, or purplish-chocolate, and others paler, sharp and
seratchy, mostly lengthwise, but especially at the butt
tangled up; size about 0.85 x 0.62. Breeds throughout
its U.S. range, but entirely withdraws in winter. Locally Fig. 284. —Great Crested Flycatcher,
and irregularly distributed in woodland. I a a a a
(in addenda.) M. c. coo/peri. (To Wm. Cooper.) Cooprr’s LARGE-BILLED CRESTED
Fiycatcuer. Distinguished in its extreme development from crinitus by its rather greater
size, and especially the great size of the bill, which runs from 0.80 fully up to 1.10 measured
along culmen, equalling or even exceeding in length the tarsi, which are themselves usually 0.10
longer than in crinitus. The olivaceous is usually not so pure, and the yellow not so clear ;
but the chief difference is, that the inner webs of the tail-feathers have a fuscous stripe $ to
nearly 4 the width of the feather, as in erythrocercus; from which latter it differs mainly in the
greater size, especially of the bill. Wings and tail 3.90-4.25 ; bill 0.80-1.00; tarsus 0.85-0.95 ;
Mexico and over the U.S. border; Arizona. (Tyrannula cooperi, Kaup, 1851? MM. cooperi
Bd., 1858. M. crinitus var. cooperi, Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad., 1872, p. 67.)
M. c. erythrocer/cus. (Gr. épvOpds, eruthros, reddish ; xépxos, kerkos, tail.) RuFous-TAILep
CRESTED FLYCATCHER. On comparing this bird with typical M. crinitus, it is immediately
perceived to be different. The lateral tail-feathers have a stripe of fuscous on the inner web
adjoining the shaft, this stripe equalling or exceeding the width of the whole outer web of the
respective feathers, and being about half-and-half with the rufous; whereas in crinitus there is
only the narrowest possible dusky stripe on the inner web, or none at all. This dusky stripe
is of uniform width throughout, nut enlarged at the end to oceupy most or all of the feather, as
is the case with cimerescens. The entire upper parts are darker than those of crinitus —that
is, they have a sordid brownish-olive cast, instead of the clearer and purer greenish-vlive of
crinitus. The yellow of the belly is much paler. The ash of the throat is decidedly lighter
and clearer, and it comes farther down the breast, yielding to the yellow without the interven-
tion of the oliyaceous pectoral area which is usually conspicuous in erinitus. The general
aspect of the under parts is much as in cinerescens, both the distribution and shade of the colors
being more as witnessed in the latter than as seen in erinitus. The light edgings of the wing-
feathers are also paler than those of crinstus. The bill is black, not dark brown, slenderer than
in crinitus; in size nothing like that of coopert, nor has ‘it the very constricted shape of that of
436 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — CLAMATORES.
_ eimerescens. The general body-coloration is almost exactly as in cinerescens, from which it is
375.
376.
121,
at once distinguished by the different shape of the bill and different pattern of the tail-feathers.
Agreeing very closely in colors with cooperi, it is smaller than that species, and lacks in par-
ticular the enormous development of the bill, which, in coopert, is an inch or more in length of
culmen, and proportionately broad. It is clearly neither erimitus proper, uor erinitus coopert, nor
yet cimerescens. Average length 8.75; extent about 12.75; wing 3.60-4.00; tail 3.75; bill
0.75; tarsus 0.85 ; middle toe and claw 0.75. Lower Rio Grande of Texas, and southward.
Common, breeding. Nest and eggs like those of erinitus. (DL. crinitus var. irritabilis, Coues,
Pr. Phila. Acad., 1872, p. 65, nee Tyrannus irritabilis Vieill. M. crinitus erythrocercus, Coues,
Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., iv, 1878, p. 32, and v, 1879, p. 402. M. meaicanus var. coopert,
Ridg., Pr. Nat. Mus., i, p. 188, nec coopert Bd. DM. mexicanus, Ridg., Pr. Nat. Mus., ii,
p- 14.)
M. cineres/cens. (Lat. cinerescens, ashy. Fig. 285.) ASH-THROATED CRESTED FLy-
CATCHER. 9, adult: Rather olivaceous-brown above, quite brown on the head; throat
very pale ash, sometimes almost whitish, changing
_ gradually to very pale yellow or yellowish-white on
the rest of the under parts. Primaries edged as in
4 crinitus, but secondaries and coverts edged with gray-
ish-white. Tail-feathers as in crinitus, but the rufous
of the inner webs hardly or not reaching their ends,
being cut off from the tip by widening of the fuscous
stripe (in young birds, in which the quills and tail-
feathers are more extensively rufous-edged, the last dis-
tinction does not hold). Size of erinitus, but tarsi
longer and bill slenderer; tarsi 0.80-0.90; bill 0.75-
0.85, but only 0.27-0.33 broad at the base, where only
about as wide as high, and obviously narrower than in
crinitus; though in Cape St. Lucas specimens (M.
ff pertinaz Bd.) shaped quite as in crinitus, but smaller.
Fic. 285, — Ash-thvoated Flycatcher, SOuthwestern U.8.; N. to Wyoming and Utah and
reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) Nevada; 8. through Mexico; E. and W. from Texas
to the Pacific; said to winter in the Lower Colorado valley, U.S. Though so similar to the
foregoing, it is a different bird from any of them. Nesting and eggs as in the others. (J.
mexicanus Bd., 1858, nec Kaup, 1851. Tyrannula cinerascens, Lawr., 1851. M. cinerescens
Coues, 1872.)
M. lawren'cii. (To Geo. N. Lawrence.) Lawrence’s Crestep FiycatTcHer. Similar in
color to M. crinitus, but much smaller. No chestnut on tail-feathers except a narrow border-
ing on the outer webs, and, in the young, an inner margining also. Wing-coverts and inner
secondaries as well as the primaries edged with rufous (rarely yellowish on inner secondaries) ;
pileum dark or quite blackish. Bill broad, flat, shaped much as in Contopus, about 4 its own
length wide at the nostrils. Very small: length 7.00 or less; wing and tail only 3.00-3.33 ;
bill 0.62-0.70 ; tarsus 0.65-0.75. Texas (?), Mexico, and Central Am., there running into
M. nigricapillus. : :
SAYIORNIS. (Name of Thos. Say, with Gr. dpus, ornis, a bird.) Pewir FLycarcHErs.
The 8 following species do not particularly resemble each other; most authors place them in
separate genera, and some even under different subfamilies, of Tyrannide.. The discrepancies
of form, however, are not startling, and for the purposes of this work the species may be properly
put together, as they agree in presenting a certain aspect not shown by the other N. Am.
groups. (Fig. 280, 6.) They are small species, about 7.00 or less in length. Head with a
slight crest of erectile feathers. Tarsus rather longer than middle toe and claw (the reverse
377.
378.
379.
TYRANNIDAE —TYRANNINZE: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 437
in Contopus). Bill narrower than in the other little Flycatchers, with nearly straight lateral
outlines, its width at base about 4 the length of culmen. Wing pointed by 2d-5th quills, 1st
shorter than 6th. Tail about as long as wing, emarginate, with broad feathers tending to
divaricate in the middle. One Eastern, two Western species. Nest affixed to rocks and
buildings, with mud; eggs normally white, unmarked.
Analysis of Species.
Ashy-brown, with cinnamon belly and black tail . . SMR EE ee Se i els sayi 377
Blackish, with white belly. . . . ..... me. Maw Sian Ua uae Gala art tes STE: ces nigricans 378
Olivaceous and yellowish . . 2 1 ww 1 ee te et te ee te he we et Susca 379
S. say'i. (To Thos. Say.) Say’s Pewir FrycatcHer. (9, adult: Grayish-brown, some-
times with faint olivaceous tinge, rather darker on head, where the feathers have dusky centres,
paler on throat and breast, then changing to cinnamon-brown on the rest of the under parts.
Wings dusky, lined with tawny-whitish, edged with whitish on the coverts and inner quills.
Tail perfectly black. Bill and feet black. Iris dark brown. Length about 7.00; extent 11.00;
wing 3.75-4.35 ; tail 3.25-3.50; bill 0.50-0.60, narrow and slender for a flycatcher; tarsus
0.80; middle toe and claw 0.67. Young: More extensively fulvous or paler cinnamon than the
adults, this color extending far up the breast, skirting the feathers of the back and rump, form-
ing conspicuous cross-bars and edgings on the wings, and even tipping the tail. But no bird
of our country resembles this one. Western U. S. and adjoining British Provinces, E. to
Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, ete., common in open or rocky country, where seeu singly or in
pairs ; the principal flycatcher of wnwooded regions, in weedy, brushy places, displaying the
usual activity of its tribe, and uttering a melancholy note of one syllable, or a tremulous twitter.
Nests naturally on rocks, but soon adapts itself to buildings like the Eastern Pewee. Nest of
mud, straw, moss, feathers 3 eggs 4-5, 0.80 « 0.62, white.
S. nig/ricans. (Lat. nigricans, blackening.) Buack Pewir Fiycatcuer. Sooty-brown or
blackish, deepest on head and breast; belly and other under parts pure white, abruptly defined ;
lining of wings, outer web of outer tail-feathers, and edges of inner secondaries, whitish; bill and
feet black; iris red. The coloration is curiously like that of Junco hiemalis. Length about
7.00; wing 3.50-3.75 ; tail 3.25-3.50; bill 0.50 or less,
very weak ; tarsus 0.67 ; middle toe and claw 0.60. South-
western U.S. and southward, but on the Pacific to Oregon;
chiefly in unwooded country, and especially along rocky
streams, and in cafions—I have seen it at the bottom of
the Grand Cafion of the Colorado, some 6,000 feet below
the surface of the earth! Nest of mud, ete., on rocks and
walls; eggs 0.75 x 0.56, white.
S. fus/ea. (Lat. fusca, brown. Fig. 286.) Pewit Fiy-
CATCHER. WATER PEWEE. Pewir. Pua@ss. Dull oli-
vaceous-brown, the head much darker fuscous-brown,
almost blackish, usually in marked contrast with the back ;
below, soiled whitish, or palest possible yellow, particularly
on the belly ; the sides, and the breast nearly or quite across,
shaded with grayish-brown ; wings and tail dusky, the outer
tail-feather, inner secondaries, and usually the wing-coverts,
edged with whitish; a whitish ring round the eye ; bill and
feet black. Varies greatly in shade; the foregoing is the Fic. 286.— Pewit Flycatcher, reduced,
average spring condition. As summer passes, the plumage (Sheppard del. Nichols ac.)
becomes much duller and darker brown, from wearing of the feathers; then, after the moult,
fall specimens are much brighter than in spring, the under parts being decidedly yellow, at
least on the belly. Very young birds have some feathers skirted with: rusty, particularly on
122.
380.
'
438 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — CLAMATORES.
the edges of the wing- and tail-feathers. The sexes are alike, the 9 averaging at the lesser
dimensions of the g. The species requires careful discrimination, in the hands of a novice,
from any of the little olivaceous species of the next two genera. It is larger; length 6.75-
7.25; extent 10.75-11.75 ; wing 3.00-3.50, usually 3.40; tail about the same, slightly emargi-
nate; bill 0.50 or slightly more, little depressed, not so broad for its length as is usual in
Contopus and Empidonaz, its lateral outlines straight ; tarsus equalling or slightly exceeding
the middle toe and claw, these together about 1.33 long; point of the wing formed by the 2d
to 5th quill; 2d shorter than 6th; 3d and 4th generally a little the longest; 1st shorter than
6th. Eastern U. S., and British Provinces, very abundant in open places, fields, along streams,
and almost as domestic as the barn swallow. One of the very earliest arrivals in spring, and a
late loiterer in fall; winters abundantly in the Southern States. West to Dakota, Nebraska,
ete. Its ordinary note is harsh and abrupt, unlike the drawling pe-a-wee! of Contopus virens —
sounding like pé-wit! phé'-bé, whence the name. The typical nest is affixed to the side of a
vertical rock over water, often itself moist or dripping, and composed of mud, grass, and espe-
cially moss, making a pretty object, lined with hay or feathers. The bird now builds anywhere
about houses, bridges, and other buildings ; its attachment to particular spots is so strong that
it will return year after year, and often persist in nesting under the most discouraging cireum-
stances. Eggs 4-5-6, 0.80 < 0.60, normally pure white, not seldoin sparsely dotted.
CON'TOPUS. (Gr. kévros, kontos, a pole or perch, and mods, pous, foot. Fig. 280, c.) Woop
PEWEE FiycarcHers. With the feet extremely small; tarsus shorter or not longer than the
bill, shorter than the middle toe and claw (except in pertinax); the tarsus, middle tue, and
claw together, barely or not one-third as long as the wing ; bill flattened, very broad at base ;
wings pointed, much longer than the emarginate tail, the proportions of the primaries varying
with the species. Medium-sized and rather small species, brownish-olivaceous, without any
bright colors or very decided markings ; the coronal feathers lengthened and erectile, but hardly
forming a true crest. A small group of woodland species, near Hmpidonax, but characterized,
as above described, by the feeble diminutive feet. Nest on boughs; eggs spotted.
Analysis of Species.
Species 7-8 long, with a tuft of white fluffy feathers on the flank.
Under parts streaky. Wing pointed by 2d primary, supported nearly to end by ist and 3d, 4th much
shorter. ‘ail about 3.00; wing about 4.00. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw. . . borealis 380
Under parts more smooth in color. Wing pointed by 2d, 3d, and 4th quills, lst much shorter; tail
3.50 or more; wing about 4.00, Tarsus not shorter than middle toe and claw se + « pertinax 381
Species under 7.00 long, without an evident cottony white tuft on the flank.
Tarsus, middle toe, and claw together hardly or not1.00long .. . ... 2... s virens 382, 383
C. borea/lis. (Lat. borealis, northern.) OLIVE-SIDED FLycatcuER. Dusky olivaceous-
brown, usually darker on the crown, where the feathers have blackish centres, and paler on the
sides below; chin, throat, belly, crissum, and middle line of breast, white, more or less tinged
with yellowish ; wings and tail blackish, unmarked, excepting inconspicuous grayish-brown
tips of the wing-coverts, and some whitish edging on the inner quills ; feet and upper mandible
black, lower mandible mostly yellowish. The olive-brown below has a peculiar streaky appear-
ance hardly seen in other species, and extends almost entirely across the breast. This ragged
aspect of mixed dusky-olive and whitish, together with the large white fluffy flank-tufts, is
diagnostic. Young may have the feathers, especially of the wings and tail, skirted with rufous.
Length 7.00-8.00 ; wing 3.87-4.33, averaging 4.00, very long, folding to terminal third of tail,
and remarkably pointed; 2d quill longest, supported nearly to the end by the Ist and 34d, the
4th abruptly shorter; tail about 3.00, thus about 2 the wing, emarginate; tarsus only 0.50,
shorter than bill, or than middle toe and claw ; tarsus, middle toe, and claw together only about
1.95; bill 0.67-0.75. N. Am. at large, apparently nowhere very abundant, rather common in
some New England localities, very rare in the Middle and Southern States, less so in the West.
N. even to Greenland: S. to Central America in winter. Breeds from New England north-
381.
382.
TYRANNIDA—TYRANNINZ: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 439
ward, and much further south in the West. Generally seen high on some exposed outpost ;
note querulous, but loud and harsh. Nest usually high, on a horizontal bough, rude and flat,
of twigs, rootlets, grass, moss; eggs about 4, 0.85 x 0.65, buffy or creamy-white, fully spotted
with lighter and darker reddish-browns. 2 ee q i Zee i
Fig. 325. — Ground Cuckoo, i nat. size. (From Brehm.)
Head crested ; most feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped; eyelids lashed ; whole plumage
coarse. A bare colored space around eye. Bill about as long as head, nearly straight, but with
culinen aud commissure much decurved toward end, gouys if anything a little concave. Wings
very short and concavo-convex, with long inner secondaries folding entirely over the primaries ;
4th, 5th, and succeeding primaries longer than 3d, 2d, and 1st, which rapidly shorten. Tail of
long tapering feathers, much graduated, making more than half the total length of the bird.
Feet as above. Plumage lustrous and variegated above. Sexes substantially alike. Eminently
terrestrial ; nest in bushes; eggs numerous.
427.
121.
474 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLE — CUCULIFORMES.
G. california/nus. (Of California. Figs. 324, 325.) GRouND Cuckoo. CHAPARRAL Cock.
Roap Runner. SNAKE Kiniter. Paisano. Most of the feathers of the head and neck
bristle-tipped ; a naked area around eye ; crown crested; plumage coarse. ¢ 9: Above, lus-
trous bronzy or coppery-green, changing to dark steel-blue on the head and neck, to purplish-
violet on the middle tail-feathers; everywhere except ou rump conspicuously streaked with
white, mixed with tawny on the head, neck, and wings —this white and buff streaking con-
sisting of the edges of the feathers, which are frayed out, fringe-like, producing a peculiar
effect. Breast, throat and sides of neck mixed tawny-white and black ; other under parts dull
soiled whitish. Primaries white, tipped and with oblique white space on outer webs. Lateral
tail-feathers steel-blue with green and violet reflections, their outer webs fringed part way with
white, their tips broadly white. Lower back and rump, where covered by the folded wings,
dark-colored and unmarked; under surtace of wings sooty-brown. Bare space around eye
bluish and orange. Bill dark horn-color; feet the same, the larger seales yellowish. Young
birds are very similar, the iridescence developing with the first growth of the feathers, as in a
magpie ; more white and less tawny in the streaking. Nearly two feet long ; tail 4 foot or less ;
wing 6-7 inches; tarsus 2.00; bill 1.66-2.00. Texas, New-Mexico, Arizona, California and
southward; Colorado; Arkansas River. A bird of remarkable aspect, noted for its swiftness
of foot; aided by its wings held as outriggers, it taxes the horse in a race ; feeds on fruits, rep-
tiles, insects, and land mollusks. Nest in bushes; a slight, loose structure of twigs, as if the
birds were just learning how to build. Eggs 6-8-9, white, elliptical, averaging 1.55 x 1.20.
They are laid at considerable intervals, and incubation begins as soon as a few are deposited.
The development of the chicks is rapid ; perfectly fresh eggs and newly hatched young may be
found together ; and by the time the last young are breaking the shell the others may be graded
up to half the size of the adult. The birds are sometiines domesticated, making amusing pets.
They are singular birds — cuckoos compounded of a chicken and a magpie !
38. Subfamily COCCYCINA: American Cuckoos.
Tail of ten soft feathers, much graduated,
little longer than the wings, which are
somewhat pointed, although the first and
second quills are shortened. Bill about
equalling or rather shorter than the head,
stout at base, then much compressed, curved
throughout, tapering to a rather acute tip;
nostrils basal, inferior, exposed, elliptical ;
feet comparatively small, the tarsus naked,
not longer than the toes. There are four or
five genera, and perhaps twenty species,
) of this subfamily ; one genus only is North
t
Fig. 326. — American Tree Cuckoo (Coccygus america- American, with three distinct species.
nus), reduced. (From Tenney, after Wilson.)
COC'CYGUS. (An adjectival form derived from xéxevé, a cuckoo.) TREE Cuckoos. Head
not crested; all the feathers soft. Bill as above. Wings pointed, but not longer than the
tail; inner quills not folding over much of the primaries; 3d and 4th primaries longest, 2d and
5th shorter, 1st much shorter still. Tail of soft rather tapering feathers, with very obtuse
ends; much graduated. Tibial feathers flowing; tarsi naked, shorter than middle toe. Our
species are strictly arboricole birds of lithe form, blended plumage and subdued colors; the
head is not erested; the tibial feathers are full, as in a hawk; the sexes are alike, and the
young scarcely different; the upper parts are uniform satiny olive-gray, or ‘‘ quaker-color,”
with bronzy reflections. Lay numerous plain greenish elliptical eggs, in a rude nest of twigs
CUCULIDA — COCCYGINA: AMERICAN CUCKOOS. 475
saddled on a branch or in a fork. Though not habitually parasitic, they often slip an egg in
‘other birds’ nests, or in each other’s. Oviposition is tardy or irregular; the nests usually con-
tain eggs in different stages of development, or eggs and young together. They are well-known
inhabitants of our streets and parks as well as of woodland, noted for their loud, jerky cries,
which they are supposed to utter most frequently in falling weather, whence their popular
name, ‘‘ rain-crow.” Migratory, insectivorous, and frugivorous.
Analysis 9 ecies.
Bill black and bluish. a td
White below. Wings with little or nocinnamon. Tail-feathers not broadly white-ended.
erythrophthalmus 42
Bill black and yellow. Tail-feathers broadly white-ended. zs .
White below. Wings extensively cinnamon .. . eee nae , americanus 429
Tawny below. Ears dusky ‘ : . +o. ee © . Seniculus 430
Fig. 327. — Yellow-billed Cuckoo, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
428. ‘C. erythrophthal/mus, (Gr. épvdpds, eruthros, reddish ; é6@6adyds, ophthalmos, eye.) BLACK-
BILLED Cuckoo. $ 9: Bill blackish except occasionally a.trace of yellowish, usually bluish
at base below. Above, satiny olive-gray. Below, pure white, sometimes with a faint tawny
tinge on the fore-parts. Wings with little or no rufous. Lateral tail-feathers not coutrasting
with the central, their tips for a short distance blackish, then obscurely white ; no bold contrast
of black with large white spaces. Bare circumocular space livid; edges of eyelids red. Length
11.00-12.00 ; extent about 15.50; wing 5.00-5.50; tail 6.00-6.50; bill under an inch. Very
429.
430.
476 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLE — PICIFORMES.
young birds have the feathers of the upper parts skirted with whitish; the bill and feet pale
bluish. Eastern U. 8. and Canada, west to the Rocky Mts., N. to Labrador, eommon ; rather
more northerly than C. americanus, being the commoner species in New England; said to
winter in Florida. Nest preferably in bushes, often quite near the ground; eggs1.10 x 0.80,
greenish, deeper-colored, less elliptical and smaller than those of the yellow-billed cuckoo,
though probably not to be distinguished with certainty.
C, america/nus. (Lat. American. Figs. 326, 327.) YELLOW-BILLED Cuckoo. Bill black,
extensively yellow below and on the sides of upper mandible. Feet dark plumbeous. Above,
satiny olive-gray. Below, pure white. Wings extensively cinnamvun-rufous on inner webs of
the quills. Central tail-feathers like the back; the rest black with large white tips, the outer-
most usually also edged with white. Very constant in color, the chief variation being in extent
and intensity of the cinnamon on the wings, which sometimes shows through when the wings
are closed, and even tinges the coverts. Young differ chiefly in having the white ends of the
tail-feathers less trenchant and extensive, the black not so pure; this state approaches the con-
dition of C. erythrophthalmus, but does not match it. Leugth 11.00-12.00; extent 15.50-16.50;
wing 5.50-6.00; tail about 6.00; bill a short inch; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw rather
more. U.S., rather more southerly than the last species, and chiefly Eastern; but also, Pacific
coast and Southern Rocky Mts. Nest a slight structure of twigs, leaves and catkins, on a
bough or in fork of a tree rather than in a bush; eggs 4 to 8, pale greenish, 1.25 x 0.90, laid
irregularly, mostly in June.
C. seni/culus. (Lat. seniculus, a little old man; diminutive of senex, probably alluding to the
gray on the head.) Mancrove Cuckoo. Bill muchas in the last. Above, the same quaker-
color, but more decidedly ashy-gray toward and on head. Below, pale orange-brown. Wings
suffused with the color of the belly. Auriculars dark, in contrast. Tail as in the last, but
outer feather not white-edged. Size of the others, or rather less. West Indies; Florida,
rarely. Eggs as in C. americanus.
5. SuBorpER PICIFORMES: Picirorm Brrps.
See p. 446 for characters of this suborder. It is a perfectly homogeneous group, so much
so as to be often reduced to the grade of a single family, Picide, then with Iyngine and
Picumnine as subfamilies. In palatal characters the Picifurm birds exhibit ‘a simplification
and degradation of the egithognathous structure” (Huzley), and this passerine affinity is borne
out by the common reduction of the first primary to small size or even spurious condition, leav-
ing but 9 functionally developed primaries; but the details of the construction of the bony
palate, as worked out by Parker, are so extraordinary that he has proposed to make the Pict-
formes one of the major divisions of Carinate birds (see p. 173, fig. 80). The greater secondary
coverts are likewise as short as in Passeres. The feet are highly scansorial by reversion of the
fourth toe. In typical Pict the bill is straight, hard, often strengthened by lateral ridges, and
forming an efficient chiselling instrument. The salivary glands are highly developed, and the
hyoidean apparatus is peculiar. The sternum is doubly-notched. Only the left carotid is
present ; the oil-gland is tufted, and there are no coeca. The avcessory femoro-caudal, accessory
semitendinosus and ambiens muscle are absent. The nearest relatives of the Piciform birds are
the Capitonide or Scansorial Barbets, and the Toucans (Rhamphastide) ; both of which are
so closely affined that they might come under the above head, with little modification of the
characters here assigned. Of the three families here meant to be included by the term Pict-
formes, the Old World Iyngide or Wrynecks are most unlike Woodpeckers, having a soft tail
and various other peculiarities. The Picumnide are more Woodpecker-like, but still the tail
is soft; in general superticialities they resemble Nuthatches quite curiously. Exclusion of these
two families leaves us the
PICIDE: WOODPECKERS. ATT
27. Family PICIDA: Woodpeckers.
Feet perfectly zygodactyle by reversion of the
fourth toe (in two genera the first toe wanting) ;
tail-feathers rigid, acuminate; bill a chisel. This
expression will serve for the recognition of any
woodpecker (compare diagnoses of previous Pica-
rian families). Wing of 10 primaries, the 1st
quite short or even spurious, the wing-formula
being quite as in most passerine birds —a crow
or thrush, for example. Greater row of second-
ary coverts short, as in passerine birds at large.
Tail of 12 rectrices, but the outermost pair rudi-
mentary, lying concealed at the base of the tail
Fig. 328. — European Spotted Woodpecker (Picus between the penultimate (now exterior) and next
major), reduced. (From Dixon.) pair, so that there appear to be but 10, as usual
in Picarian birds (a strong peculiarity). Tail-feathers very stiff and strong, with enlarged
elastic shafts, and acuminate at the end. Tarsi scutellate in front, on the sides and behind
variously reticulate. Toes strongly scutellate on top. The usual ratio of the toes is: Ist
(inner posterior) shortest; 2d (inner anterior) next longer; 3d (outer anterior) longer; 4th
(outer posterior) longest of all (in most typical species; in some, however, scarcely or not
equalling the 3d in length). The basal joints of the tues are abbreviated. There is a very
unusual arrangement of the flexor tendons of the toes (shared, however, among Toucans,
Scansorial Barbets, and Jacamars).
These birds have been specially studied, with more or less gratifying success, by Malherbe,
Sunrdevall and Cassin. There are nearly 250 well determined species, of all parts of the world
except Madagasear, Australia, and Polynesia. Their separation into minor groups has not been
agreed upon. our species are commouly thrown into three divisions, which, however, I shall
not present, as consideration of exotic forms shows how the genera are interrelated, and how
nice is the gradation in form between the Ivory-bill and the Flicker, which stand nearly at
extremes of the family ;the little diversity of which is thereby evident. One of our genera,
without very obvious external peculiarities, stands apart from the rest in the character of the
tongue. In ordinary Pici the “horns” of the tongue are extraordinarily produced backward,
as slender jointed bony rods curling up over the skull behind, between the skin and the bone,
to the eyes or even further; these rods are cnwrapped in highly developed, specialized muscles,
by means of which the birds thrust out the tongue sometimes several inches beyond the bill
(figs. 73, 74). Thisis not the case in Sphyropicus, where the hyoid cornua do not extend beyond
the base of the skull, and the tongue, consequently, is but little more extensible than in ordinary
birds. The tongue of Sphyropicus is beset at the end by numerous brushy filaments, instead of
the few acute barbs commonly observed in the family. The same or a similar condition of the
parts is observed in Xenopicus. In most of our species the bill is perfectly straight, wide and
stout at the base, tapering regularly to a compressed and vertically truncate tip, chisel-like, and
strengthened by sharp ridges on the side of the upper mandible — an admirable tool for cutting
into trees; and in all such, the nostrils are hidden by dense tufts of antrorse feathers. In
others, like the Flicker, the bill is smooth and barely curved; the tip is acute and the nostrils
are exposed. There is a regular gradation in form between those with the most and the least
chisel-like bills. The former are more stocky-bodied birds, with larger heads in comparison
with the coustricted neck, as any one may satisfy himself by skinning a Pileated or Hairy
Woodpecker, and trying to pull the skin over the head — an operation which may be performed
ona Flicker. The ridges of the bill, the bevelling of the end, the nasal tufts, and usually the
478 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLZ — PICIFORMES.
length of the outer hind toe, are characters which diminish or are lost together as we pass from
the Ivory-bill extreme to the Flicker end of the series. The claws are always large, strong,
sharp, and much curved; the feet do not present striking generic modifications, except in the
three-toed genus Picoides; the length of the outer hind toe is the most variable factor. The
wings are specially noteworthy, for the shortness of the coverts, in exception to the Picarian
a
is
XS “= _ Zan
7 Xk UK Sane! c 1S
Fic. 329. — Ivory-billed Woodpecker, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
rule; and the shortness of the first primary, which may fairly be called spurious; but these
points and the remarkable character of the tail have been already mentioned. This member
offers indispensable assistance in climbing, when the stiff strong quills are pressed against the
tree, and form a secure support. To this end, the muscles are highly developed, and the last
bone (vomer or pygostyle) is large and peculiar in shape. Woodpeckers rarely if ever climb
head downward, like Nuthatches, nor are the tarsi applied to their support.
149.
431.
PICIDZE: WOODPECKERS. 479
Species are abundant in all the wooded portion of this country, and wherever found are
nearly resident. For, although insectivorous, they feed principally upon dormant or at least
stationary insects, and therefore need not migrate; they are, moreover, hardy birds. They dig
insects and their larvee out of trees, and are eminently beneficial to the agriculturist and fruit-
grower. Contrary to a prevalent impression, their boring does not seem to injure fruit-trees,
which may be riddled with holes without harmful result. The number of noxious insects these
birds destroy is simply incalculable ; what little fruit some of them steal is not to be mentioned
in the same connection, and they deserve the good-will of all. The birds of the genus Sphy-
ropicus are probably an exception to most of these statements. But Woodpeckers also feed
largely upon nuts, berries, and other fruits; and those which thus vary their fare to the greatest
extent are apt to be more or less migratory, like the common Red-head for example. "Wood-
peckers nest in holes in trees, which they excavate for themselves, sometimes to a great depth,
aud lay numerous rounded pure white eggs, of which the shell has a smooth crystalline texture
like porcelain, on the chips and dust at the bottom of the hole. The voice is loud and harsh,
susceptible of little modulation. The plumage as arule presents bright colors in large areas or
in striking contrasts, and is sometimes highly lustrous. The sexes are ordinarily distinguishable
by color-markings ; the young either show sexual characters from the nest, or have special
markings of their own.
Artificial Analysis of N. A. Genera of Picide.
Toes 3 F oy Mw ht aay ua Be ca soe ee ew ee . Picoides 153
Toes 4.
Tongue not decidedly extensible.
Body entirely black; head white a Nee se ri Cen cae ee eee oe e . « Kenopicus 152
Body variegated; head not white. . . 0 a oe ee eo + « 6Sphyropicus 154
Tongue very extensible.
Conspicuously crested; much over a foot long.
Bill white; outer hind toe longer than outer front toe . ue oe - « Campephilus 149
Bill dark ; outer hind toe not longer than outer front toe. . . ay . + « Hylotomus 150:
Not crested; a foot long or less.
1 Sides of upper mandible distinctly ridged; wings spotted . ‘ . A a - Picus 151
Sides of upper mandible indistinctly or not ridged.
Back lustrous green; bellycarmine ... . . . Asyndesmus 157
Back blue-black; belly white . ...... s 4 7 » Melanerpes 156
Back black-barred; belly black-spotted . 7 se Sue ‘ é . Colaptes 158
Back black-barred; belly not spotted . ae de COP Ben By ah ie . « Centurus 155
CAMPE/PHILUS. (Gr. ‘«dumn, kampe, a caterpillar; idos, philos, loving.) Ivory-BILLs.
Of largest size, with very strict neck, conspicuously crested head and white bill; color black,
with white on wings and neck, and scarlet crest. Bill longer than head, perfectly straight,
with truncate tip, bevelled sides, with strong ridges; broader than high at the base. Gonys
very long; more than half the commissure. Nostrils concealed by large nasal tufts ; antrorse
feathers also at base of lower mandible. Outer hind toe much the longest. Wings poiuted ;
4th, 3d and 5th quills longest ; 2d much shorter; Ist very short and narrow. Tail very cuneate.
Containing the largest and most magnificent known Woodpeckers, of several species, peculiar
to America.
C. principa'lis. (Lat. principalis, principal; priceps, chief. Fig. 329.) Ivory-BILLED
Wooppecker. {9 : Glossy blue-black ; a stripe down side of neck, one at base of bill, the
seapulars, under wing-coverts, ends of secondaries and of inner primaries, the bill, and nasal
feathers white ; feet grayish-blue; iris yellow. A long pointed crest, inthe ¢ scarlet faced with
black, in the 9 black. Length 19.00-21.00; extent 30.00-33.00 ; wing 9.75-10.75 ; tail 7.00-
8.00; bill 2.50; tarsus 2.00. Varies much in size; 9 smaller than the g. A large powerful
bird of the 8. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to No. Carolina along the coast, to the Ohio River in
the interior ; common in the dark heavily wooded swamps, but very wild and wary, and difficult.
to secure. Nests high in the most inaccessible trees ; eggs about 6, 1.35 x 1.00.
150.
432,
151.
480 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLZE — PICIFORMES.
HYLO/TOMUS. (Gr. tdorépyos, hulotomos, a wood-cutter.) PILEATED WOODPECKERS.
General form as in Campephilus. Bill as in that genus, but not white, with shorter gonys
only about half as long as commissure; nasal plumes as before, but no antrorse feathers on
sides of lower mandible. Wings and tail substantially as in Campephilus. Feet peculiar:
outer posterior shorter than outer anterior toe, and tarsus shorter than inner anterior toe and
claw ; inner posterior toe very short (fig. 330). Bill dark; general color black, relieved by
white, the ¢ with a pointed scarlet crest: 9 crested, but with black only. Our single species
is the representative of the famous black woodpecker of Europe, Picus martius ; a classic bird,
by some considered the type of the Linnean genus Picus. There are several typical American
species.
H. pilea/tus. (Lat. pileatus, capped, i.e., crested; pileum, a cap.) PILEATED WOODPECKER.
General color dull black; throat, post-ocular line, a long stripe from nostrils along side of
head and neck, spreading on side of breast,
lining of wing, and a great white space at
the bases of the wing-quills, white, more
or lesstinged with sulphury-yellow. Feath-
ers of flanks and belly often skirted, and
some of the quills often tipped with the
same. @: Top of head, including the
whole crest, and a cheek-patch, scarlet.
Q: Posterior part of crest only scarlet,
Fic. 330.—Right foot of Pileated Woodpecker, nat. size. and no cheek-patch. g 9: Bill dark
(Ad. nat. del. E. C.) horn-color, paler below; feet “blackish-
plumbeous; iris yellow. Quite constant in coloration; very variable in size. Length 15.00-
19.00 inches, usually 17.00-18.00; extent 25.00-30.00, usually 26.00-28.00; wing 8.00-10.00,
usually 8.50-9.00; tail 6.00-7.00; bill 1.50-2.00! 9 averaging about 2 inches less in length
than g, and other dimensions proportionally smaller. Northern individuals averaging much
larger than southern ones. North Am. at large, common, resident anywhere in heavy timber;
but this is a very wild, wary, and solitary bird, —one which grows scarce or disappears among
the first with the clearing away of forests in advance of civilization. Nests in remote and
secluded woods and swamps, usually at a great height; the taking of eggs is something of an
exploit. The eggs measure about 1.25 X 1.00. Eggs of woodpeckers are proportioned rather
to the bird’s bulk of body than its linear dimensions; those of Campephilus and Hylotomus are
relatively smaller than a flicker’s, for instance.
PY'CUS. (Lat. picus, a woodpecker.) BLACK-AND-WHITE SPOTTED WOODPECKERS. Bill
more or less nearly equal to head in length, stout, straight, truncate at tip, bevelled toward end,
with sharp culmen and distinct lateral ridges on upper mandible; at base rather broader than
high, with large nasal tufts hiding the nostrils; culmen, commissure and gonys straight or
nearly so (fig. 833.) Feet with the outer posterior longer than outer anterior toe; inner anterior
intermediate between these. Wing long, pointed by the 4th, 3d and 5th quills; 2d decidedly
shorter (shorter than 7th, except in P. borealis) ; 1st fairly spurious. Species of medium and
small size, all black-and-white (one brown-backed), the back striped or barred, the wings with
numerous small round white spots on the quills; ¢ with red on the head.
Analysis of Species and: Varieties.
Back dark brown, neither striped nor fully barred with white . . . « stricklandi 437
Back black, not striped lengthwise, but barred crosswise with white: “ indder backs Me (as in fig. 339),
One large white space on side of head. Crown black . Binge hy Ge . » «+ . borealis 433
Two white stripes on sides of head.
Nasal feathers white; ¢ crown black, nape red, both white-spotted . . . . . . . nuttalli 435
Nasal feathers brown; g' ‘crown and nape red, both white-spotted.
Outer web of outer tail-feather entirely black-barred . . ao oie 2 fi Hh . scalaris 434
433.
434.
PICIDZE: WOODPECKERS. 481
Outer web of outer tail-feather partly black-barred . .... + « « lucasanus 436
Back black, not barred crosswise, but striped lengthwise with white: ‘‘ pole- rane ”
Outer tall-feathers wholly white. Length usually 9-10 inches.
Greater voverts and inner secondaries profusely white-spotted . . ......s villosus 438
Greater coverts and inner secondaries sparsely or not white-spotted . . ...... harrisi 439
Outer tail-feathers barred with black. Length usually 6-7 inches.
Greater coverts and inner secondaries profusely white-spotted . . . . . + 2 « » pubescens 440
Greater coverts and inner secondaries sparingly or not white-spotted. . . . . . . ga@irdneri 441
P. borea’lis. (Lat. borealis, northern ; inappropriate for a U. 8. species. Fig. 331.) Rep-
COCKADED Woopreckrr. Body spotted and crosswise banded, but not streaked. Head
black on top, with a large silky white auricular
patch embracing the eye and extending on the side
of the neck, burdered above in the # by a scarlet
stripe not meeting its fellow on the nape; nasal
feathers and those on the side of the under jaw
white; black of the crown connected across the
lores with a black stripe running from the corner of
the bill down the side of the throat and neck to be
dissipated on the side of the breast in black spots
continued less thickly along the whole side and on
the crissum; under parts otherwise soiled white.
Central tail-feathers black; others white, black-
barred. Back and wings barred with black and — yyg, 331, — Red-cockaded Woodpecker, nat. size.
white, the larger quills and many coverts with the (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
white bars resolved into paired spots. 9 lacking the red cockade. A peculiar isolated species ;
wings longer and more pointed than usual in this genus; 2d quill longer than 7th; spurious
primary very short; bill smaller than usual, decidedly shorter than head. Length 8.00-8.50;
extent 14.00-15.00; wing 4.50-4.90; tail 3.25-3.75. Pine swamps and barrens of the S.
Atlantic and Gulf States; N. to Pennsylvania. Eggs 0.95 x 0.70.
P. seala/ris. (Lat. scalaris, ladder-like ; scala, a scale, flight of stairs, etc.; alluding to the
black and white cross-bars on the back.) TrExan WoopPECKER. Entire back, from nape to
upper tail-coverts, barred across in black and white stripes of equal width ; a narrow space on
back of neck, upper tail-eoverts, and 4: middle tail-feathers, entirely black ; wing-coverts with a
round white spot at end of each feather, and a hidden spot or pair of spots further along the
feather. Primaries regularly marked with white spots in pairs on the edges of the webs, those
ou the outer webs small and angular, on the inner webs larger and more rounded; on the
secondaries these spots changing to broken bars; so that the primaries and coverts are spotted
alike, the secondaries and back barred alike. Crown black, speckled with white, in the g
extensively crimson; the feathers being black, specked with white, finally tipped with red,
which becomes continuous on the hind head, where the white specks cease. Side of head
white, with a long black stripe from bill under eye, widening behind, there joining a black
post-ocular stripe and spreading over side of neck. Nasal featherssmoky-brown. Under parts
ranging from soiled white to smoky-gray, with numerous black spots on sides, Hanks and cris-
sum ; lateral tail-feathers perfectly barred with black and'white in equal amounts. Q lacking
red on the crown. Small: length 7.00-7.50; extent 13.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail 2.75-3.00;
bill 0.66-0.87. Southwestern U. 8. and southward, abundant. It is obviously impossible, in
the cases of these profusely spotted woodpeckers, to frame a description which will meet every
case, without being too vague, or going into tedious particulars. The foregving, taken from:
Rio Grande specimens, covers the usual style of the species as found along our southern border ;
but the student must not be surprised if I fail to account for every spot of the particular speci-
men he has in hand.
31
435.
436.
437.
482 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLE — PICIFORMES.
P, s. nut/talli. (To Thos. Nuttall. Fig. 332.) Neurra.y’s Wooprecker. Similar; rather
larger; more white, this prevailing on the back over the black bars ; nape chiefly white ; nasal
, tufts white; lateral tail-feathers, especially, sparsely
or imperfectly barred. The Californian coast race,
differing decidedly in some respects, and constantly ;
but connected with general series of ladder-backs.
Barring restricted to the back proper, the hind neck
being black, succeeded anteriorly by a white space
adjoining the red, wanting in scalaris, where red
joins black. Red chiefly confined to the occiput,
the rest of the crown black, spotted with white.
Lateral tail-feathers white, not barred throughout,
having but 1-3 black bars, all beyond their mid-
dles, all but the terminal one of these broken.
White postocular stripe running into the white
nuchal area, but cut off from the white of the
shoulders. White maxillary stripe enclosed in
Fre. 332. —Nuttall’s Woodpecker, nat. size, lack as in scalaris, but this black continuous with
(From Elliot.) the cervical black patch, which is not the case in
scalaris. No smoky-brown state of the under parts observed.
P.s. lucasa/‘nus. (Uf Cape St. Lucas.) Sr. Lucas Wooprecker. A local race of scalaris.
Smoky-brown nasal tufts and style of head and back as in that species. Lateral tail-feathers
imperfectly barred and only toward end, asin nuttalli. Red of crown of ¢ broken up anteriorly.
Peculiar in disproportionate size of bill and feet :“bill 1.10; tarsus 0.75.
P. strick/landi. (To H. E. Strickland.) SrrickLanp’s WooppPEcKER. Entirely different
from any of the furegoing or following species. Adult ¢: Upper parts dark brown, immacu-
late; top of head, rump, and 4 middle tail-feathers black ; the occiput with a scarlet band.
Sides of head with white post-ocular and maxillary bands, expanded and more or less confluent
on sides of neck. Wing-quills like the back, their outer webs with a few small white spots,
the inner webs with more numerous larger white spots or broken bars. Outermiost tail-feathers
evenly barred throughout with blackish-brown and white; intermediate feathers partly so
banded, but mostly blackish. Entire under parts sordid whitish, thickly spotted with dusky ;
the markings few and somewhat linear on the throat, crowded and cordate on the breast, widen-
ing and tending to become
bars on the lower belly,
flanks, and ecrissum. Bill
and feet blackish-plumbe-
ous. Size of a small P..
villosus ; wing 4.50; tail
3.25; bill 1.12; tarsus
0.75; middle toe and claw
0.90. Q similar: no red
on nape; color of upper
parts duller, and some
feathers of middle of back
barred with white. Young:
Like adults of the respec- ea
tive sex; but top of head
brown like back, and spot- Fia. 833, — Hairy Woodpecker, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
ted with red. A Mexican species, lately ascertained to be of common occurrence in Arizona.
438.
439.
4140.
441.
152.
PICIDZ!: WOODPECKERS. 483
P. villo/sus, (Lat. villosus, hairy, shaggy, villous. Fig. 333.) Hairy: WoopPECKER. Spotted
and lengthwise streaked, but not banded. Usually 9-10 long; cuter tail-feathers wholly white.
Back black, with a long white stripe down the middle. Quills and wing-coverts with a pro-
fusion of white spots; usually 6-7 pairs on the primaries, several on all the secondaries, and
one or more on each of the coverts. Four middle tail-feathers black; next pair black and
white; next two pairs white, as stated. Under parts white. Crown and sides of head black,
with a white stripe over and behind the eye; another from the nasal feathers running below
the eye to spread on the side of the neck; a scarlet nuchal baud in the , sometimes broken
in two, wanting in the 9. Young with the crown mostly red or brouzy, or even yellowish.
Eastern N. Am., abundant. Length usually 9.00-10.00; extent 15.50-17.50 ; wing 4.50-5.00 ;
tail 3.50; bill 1.12; whole foot 1.66. Varies greatly in size, mainly according to latitude. In
the West, shades directly into P. v. harrisi, by disappearance of the spots from the coverts and
inner secondaries; the change occurs on the Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mts. One of the
common Eastern U. 8. woodpeckers, in British Am. trending westward to the Pacific in.
Alaska; but not so often noticed as the little P. pubescens, as it is less familiar, and keeps more
in the woods. Resident wherever occurring. Eggs 4-6 or 7, 1.00 x 0.75.
a. major. Northern: very large and hoary. Length up to 11.00; wing over 5.00; tail
nearly 4.00; whole foot 1.90; bill 1.50! (BP. leucomelas Bodd.)
b. medius. The ordinary bird, as above.
c. minor. Southern: very small and dark. Grading down to 8.00, thus within an inch of
the maximum of P. pubescens. (P. auduboni Sw.)
P. v.har’risi. (To Edward Harris.) Harris’ WoopPECKER. Exactly like villosus, except-
ing fewer wing-spots ; generally none on the coverts and imer quills; with specimens enough
we can see the spots disappear one by one. Generally white below, but in some regions
smoky-gray (a thing not observed in Eastern birds), such being especially the case on the
Pacific slopes, where the smoky-bellied birds also sumetimes acquire a few thin black stripes
on the sides; those from the interior being quite purely white below. Size of an average
P. villosus. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. 8.
P. pubes’cens. (Lat. pubescens, coming to puberty; i.e. hairy. Fig. 334.) Downy Woop-
PECKER. Usually 6-7 long; outer tail-feathers barred with black and white. Exactly like
P. villosus, except in thesé respects. Length 6.00-7.00 ;
extent 11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail under 3.00;
bill about 0.66; whole foot 1.25. Eastern N. Am.,
abundant in orchards, and all wooded places. Range
substantially the same as that of the hairy woodpecker,
but in most U. S. localities the more abundant of the
two; on the whole rather more southerly. This is the
little spotted bird that bores the apple-trees so persist-
ently ; but it does not appear to hurt them. There is
no such difference in the character of the plumage as
the terms ‘‘downy” and “hairy” imply. Eggs about — Fie. 334.— Downy Woodpecker, nat. size.
6, 0.85 X 0.70. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
P. p. gaird’/neri. (To Dr. Meredith Gairdner, a Scotch naturalist.) Bearing the same relation
to P. pubescens that harrisi does to P. villosus ; the wing-spots few or wanting on the inner
quills and the coverts, the belly smoky-gray iu some localities. .Rocky Mts. to the Pacific,
U. S., but much rarer than P. pubescens is in the East, and almost wanting in much of the
Rocky Mt. region, where P. harrist abounds.
XENOPI'CUS. (Gr. &ێvos, xenos, rare, foreign.) Maskep Wooppreckers. Form as in
Pieus proper. Body uniformly black. Head white. Tongue said to be but little more
extensible than in Sphyropicus (not verified by me).
442,
158.
484 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICARIA — PICIFORMES.
X. albolarva’tus. (Lat. albo, with white, larvatus, masked.) WHITE-HEADED Woop-
PECKER. Body not banded, streaked, nor spotted. Uniform black ; whole head white, in the
¢@ with a scarlet nuchal band; a large patch of white on the wing, formed by white spaces on
both webs of the primaries, divided only by their black shafts; on the secondaries commonly
resulved into a number of blotches. Bill and feet plumbevus-blackish. Iris red. 9 without
the ‘red on the nape. Length 8.75-9.50; extent 15.75-16.25 ; wing 5.00-5.25; tail 3.50.
Mountains of California, Oregon and Washington, common in pine woods. A remarkable
species, unique in coloration, and still more peculiar in the little extensibility of the tongue,
which can be pulled out scarcely an inch ; that of P. villosus, for instance, extending 2 inches
or more beyond the end of the bill.
Fic. 335. — European Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), 4 nat. size; hardly distinguishable in the
cut from P,. americanus. (From Brehm.)
PICOI'DES (Lat. picus, a woodpecker ; Gr. efdos, e:dos, resemblance. Fig. 335.) THREE-
TOED WOODPECKERS. Three-toed: the‘hallux (1st toe) absent, the 4th toe reversed as usual
in the family. Bill as in Picus proper, about as long as the head, stout, straight, with bevelled
end and lateral ridges, and nasal tufts hiding the nostrils; very broad and much depressed at
base, with the lateral ridges very low down, in most of their length close to and parallel with
commissure; nostrils very near commissure ; gonys about as long as from nostrils to end of Dill.
Wings very long and pointed; 1st quill spurious; 2d between 6th and 7th in length. Crown
with a square yellow patch in the g; sides of head striped, of body barred, with black and
white; under parts otherwise white; quills but not coverts with white spots; tail-feathers
443.
444.
' 445.
154,
PICIDZ:: WOODPECKERS. 485
unbarred, the outer white, the central black. All the species of this genus are unquestionably
modified derivatives of one cireumpolar stock ; the American seem to have become completely
differentiated from the Asiatic and European, and further divergence seems to have perfectly
separated arcticus from americanus ; but dorsalis and americanus are still linked together.
Analysis of Species.
Back uniform black . ......+ +... a is SB Bh we 7 - .areticus 443
Back with entirely interrupted lengthwise white sips SR ae eH americanus 444
Back with nearly or quite uninterrupted lengthwise white stripe .. . ad fanaa 8 . «dorsalis 445
P. are'ticus. (Lat. arcticus, arctic.) BUACK-BACKED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. Entire
upper parts glossy blue-black, with only a few white spots paired on the wing-quills. Below,
white from bill to tail, the sides, flanks, and lining of wings barred with black. A slight or
concealed white post-ocular stripe (often wanting) and a side-stripe on head from across fore-
head to neck, cut off by black from the white of the under parts. Four middle tail-feathers
black, the rest white, but the intermediate one usually touched with black. @ with a square
yellow patch on crown, wanting in 9. Bill and feet blackish-plumbeous ; iris brown. Length
9.00-10.00; extent 15.00-17.00; wing 5.00-5.50; tail 4.00; bill 1.25 or more. Northwestern
Am., S. in winter through New England and generally along the northern tier of U. S., in the
mountains of the West to about 39° in Nevada and California. Habits of ordinary Picus.
Eggs 0.92 x 0.72.
P. america/nus. (Of America.) LADDER-BACKED THREE-TOED WoOODPECKER. Upper
parts black, the middle line white, more or less completely barred across with black; the
general effect thus of a ‘‘ ladder-back.” All the primaries and secondaries with paired white
spots or bars. Four middle tail-feathers black, others white, the intermediate one usually
touched with black. Below, white from bill to tail, the sides, flanks, and lining of wings
black-barred. A white post-ocular stripe to nape, and a larger white stripe from lore to side
of neck. & with a yellow square on crown, wanting in 9 ; in both, crown seldom uniform
black. Bill and feet blackish-plumbeous; iris brown. Smaller than the last; length 8.00-
9.00 ; extent 14.00-16.00; wing 4.50-5.00; tail under 4.00; bill 1.25 or less; whole foot 1.50.
Northern N. Am., 8. tofassachusetts and along northern tier of States.
P. a. dorsa/lis. (Lat. dorsalis, relating to dorsum, the back.) PoLe-BaAcKkED THREE-
TOED WOODPECKER. In extreme case, the back with an uninterrupted white lengthwise
stripe, producing the effect of a ‘‘ pole-back,” as in P. villosus for instance; this is produced by
such increase of white on the ends of the individual feathers that their black bases do not show,
the subterminal black bars of P. hirsutus disappearing. Usually partly banded black and
white, and grading bar by bar into hirsutus. The amount of spotting on the wings is about
as in Picus harrist —on primaries and secondaries, not on coverts. Size of hirsutus. Rocky
Mt. region, U. 8., 8. to New Mexico.
SPHYROPI/CUS. (Gr. cdipa, sphura, a hammer; and Lat. picus.) Sap-suckinc Woop-
PECKERS. Bill about as long as head, not so stout and chisel-like as in the foregoing genera ;
pointed, with little bevelling at extreme end only, and lateral ridges running obliquely into the
commissure at about its middle; culmen and gonys both a little curved; nasal tufts moderate.
Wing pointed by 4th primary; 3d-and 5th nearly as long; 2d between 6th and 7th; spurious
Ist very short. Tail-feathers long-acuminate. Outer hind toe little longer than outer front
one; inner hind toe extremely short. Plumage highly variegated with yellow and red. Sexes
unlike. Tongue scarcely extensile ; the tip obtuse, brushy ; hyoid bones short. Birds of this
remarkable genus feed much upon fruits, as well as insects, and also upon soft inner bark
(cambium) ; they injure fruit-trees hy stripping off the bark, sometimes in large areas, instead
of simply boring holes. Of the several small species commonly called ‘‘sapsuckers,” they alone
deserve the name. In declaring war against woodpeckers, the agriculturist will do well to
discriminate between this somewhat injurious and the highly beneficial species.
446.
447.
448.
449.
486 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARIA —PICIFORMES.
S. va/rius. (Lat. varius, variegated. Fig. 336.) YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. ¢:
Crown crimson, bordered all around with black ; chin, throat, and breast black, enclusing a large
crimson patch on the former (in the #; in the 9 this patch white) ; sides of head with a white
line starting from the nasal feathers and dividing the black of the throat from a trans-ocular
black stripe, this separated from the black of the crown by a white post-ccular stripe ; all these
stripes frequently yellowish. Under parts dingy yellow, brownish and with sagittate dusky
marks on the sides. Back variegated with black and yellowish. Wings black with a large
oblique white bar on the coverts; the quills with numerous paired white spots on the edges
of both webs. Tail black, most of the feathers white-cdged, the inner webs of the middle pair,
and the upper coverts, mostly white. Bill
brownish; feet greenish-plumbeous; iris
brown. Young birds lack the definite
& black areas of the head and breast, and the
crimson throat-patch, these parts being
mottled gray; but in any plumage the bird
is recognized by its yellowness, different
from what is seen in any other Eastern
species, and the broad white wing-bar, to
say nothing of the generic characters.
Length 8.25-8.75 ; extent 15.00-16.00 ;
wing 4.80-5.20; tail 3.50. Eastern N.
Am., abundant in most U. 8. localities,
resident in the South, migratory northerly ;
ee N. to 61° at least; W. to Dakota; S. into
Fig. 336, — Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, nat, size. (Aq Central Am. and W. I. The hyoid bones
nat. del. E, C.) are the shortest of those of any N. Ain.
species ; the tongue is protrusible only about 4 inch beyond bill. Eggs 4-6, about 0.95 x 0.70.
S. v. nucha/lis. (Lat. nuchalis, pertaining to mucha, the nape; not classic.) Nucwat Woop-
PECKER. Like the last; with an additional band of scarlet on th@Miape (where the white is
seldom even tinged with red in S. varius) ; red throat-patch invading the surrounding black, and
¢ with this patch at least in part red; all the yellowish variegation very pale, almost white on
the belly (where varius is yellowest) ; bill slaty-black (not brownish). Size of varius. Rocky
Mt. region, U.S., abundant. In S. varius
the red rarely spreads on the nape, and the
2 seldom has any on the throat. In 8.
nuchalis this extension of red is a step
which culminates in S. ruber.
S. v. ru/ber. (Lat. ruber, red.) Rep-
BREASTED WoopPecKER. Like the last,
but whole head, neck, and breast carmine-
red, in both sexes, in which the markings
of varius are more or less completely dis-
solved, though usually traceable; gray in
the young. Size of thelast. Pacifie coast
region, U.S. A remarkable extreme, long
supposed to be perfectly distinct; now
known to intergrade in every degree with Fic. 337.— Brown-headed Woodpecker (9), nat, size.
nuchalis. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
S. thyroi/des. (Gr. Oupeoedys, thwreoeides, shield-like ; Ovpeds, thureos, a shield; efdos,
resemblance ; alluding to the black plastron of the 9. Figs. 337, 338.) BRowNn-HEADED
155.
PICIDZE: WOODPECKERS... 487
WoOoDPECKER (9). BLACK-BREASTED WOODPECKER (9). RED-THROATED WOODPECKER
(¢). Wiuiamson’s WoovPecKer (¢). Adult ¢: Glossy black, including all the tail-
feathers. Belly gamboge yellow. A narrow scarlet patch on the throat. Upper tail-coverts,
a broad oblique bar on the wing-coverts, a post-ocular stripe, a stripe from nostrils below eye
and ear, and small, in part paired, spots on the quills, white. Lining of wings, sides of body,
flanks and crissuin varied with white, leaving the black in bars and cordate spots. Bill slate-
color; feet greenish-gray; iris reddish-brown. Length 9.00-9.50; extent 16.00-17.00; wing
5.00-5.50; tail 3.75; bill 0.90; whole foot 1.67. Adult 9: Altogether different ; only upper
tail-coverts white and belly yellow as in @ ; only continuously black in « shield-shaped area,
on breast of varying extent. Otherwise, entire body, including wing-coverts, inner secondaries
and most tail-feathers, closely and regularly barred crosswise with black and white, or brownish-
white (most brownish on body, quite white on
wings and tail). Whole head uniform hair-
brown, invaded more or less with the varie-
gation of the body, sometimes with traces of ~
the post-ocular stripe of the g, and often
touched with red on the throat. Quills more
heavily white-spotted than in @, the spots
paired on all the feathers, changing to bars
on the inner ones. Two or three interme-
diate tail-feathers black, but middle and one
or-two outer pairs barred. Size of the @.
The extraordinary sexual differences long
kept thyroides and ‘‘ williamsont” apart in
the books as perfectly distinct species; espe-
cially as they begin with the first featherings, Fig. 338,—Red-throated Woodpecker (¢), nat. size
fledglings in the nest showing the opposite (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
patterns perfectly. Young g: Like adult; no red in the white throat-patch ; belly merely
yellowish ; tail varied with white. Young 9: Like adult, but whole head, neck, and breast
banded with dusky and gray, conformable with the general variegation of the budy. The best
9 @ are those with the cleanest brown head and most black breast. Though the general
effect of this beautiful woodpecker is so peculiar, in each sex, the coloration is referable to
the pattern of S. varius. In both, yellow belly, red throat (g), white upper tail-coverts,
spotted quills, varied flanks and crissum, stripes on head, black breast (only circumscribed in
9), white oblique wing-bar (only developed in $), variegation of inner web of middle tail-
feather (9 and young ¢); general variegation of back of varius repeated in 2, while gray
head of young varius is inet by brown head of 9 thyroides. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. S.,
chiefly in the pine-belt, of which it is one. of the characteristic species, like Clarke’s crow,
Steller’s jay, and other birds; abundant in favorable localities. It is strictly a Sphyropicus,
with little extensible, brushy and obtuse tongue, and feeds on juices of trees, as well as insects
and berries. Eggs not yet taken: doubtless indistinguishable from those of S. varius.
CENTU'RUS. (Gr. xévrpov, kentron, a prickle; otpd, oura, tail; but the species not sharper-
tailed than other woodpeckers.) ZEBRA WoopPecKERS. Bill about as long as head, com-
pressed, little bevelled or truncate at end, with decidedly curved culmen ; lateral ridges near
culmen, subsiding before reaching end of bill; nasal tufts moderate, partly concealing nostrils.
Outer hind toe shorter than outer anterior one. Wings and tail ordinary. Sexes alike, except
less or no red on head of 9. ‘‘ Ladder-backed;” back and wings, except larger quills, closely
banded with black and white; primaries with large white blotches near the base, and usually a
few smaller spots; below, immaculate, except sagittate black marks on the flanks and crissum ;
the belly tinged with red or yellow; 9-10 long; wing about 5.00; tail about 3.50.
450.
488 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICARLA — PICIFORMES.
Analysis of Species.
Belly reddening ; no yellow about head; g whole crown red; 9 napered ..... . - carolinus 450
Belly yéllowing; ¢ crown-spot red ; 2 no red un head.
Front and nape yellow; rump entirely white; tail almost entirely black . . .. . aurifrons 451
No yellow on head; rump and tail much barred with black and white. ..... uropygialis 452
C. caroli/nus. (Of Carolina. Fig. 339.) Rep-BELLIED WoopprcKer. Whole crown and
nape scarlet in the ¢ ; nape only so in the 9. Sides of head, and under parts, grayish-white,
usually with a yellow shade, reddening on the belly; tail black, one or two outer feathers
white-barred ; inner web of central feath-
ers white with black spots, outer web of
the same black with a white space next
the shaft for most of its length; white
predominating on the rump. Bill and feet
dusky plumbeous. Iris red. Large; length
nearer 10.00 than 9.00; extent 16.50-17.50;
wing 5.00-5.50; bill over 1.00;. 9 small-
er. Varies much in size ; Southern speci-
meus smaller than Northern. Eastern
U. §&., somewhat southerly, rarely N. to
New England, and Canada West; W. to
the Rocky Mts.; Texas; common south-
erly, where resident, less so northerly,
where migratory. Eggs 4-6, 1.00 x 0.87.
C. au'rifrons. (Lat. aurum, gold; frons,
forehead.) YELLOW-FRONTED Woop-
PECKER. Somewhat similar to the last:
belly yellowish, not reddish ; red of head
in @ confined to a crown-patch, in 9 ey
wanting. Forehead and nasal plumes UO A
golden-yellow ; nape with a golden, orange, Lt ha {
or reddish band (in both sexes, besides the Fig, 339. — Red-bellied Woodpecker, reduced. (Shep-
searlet crown-patch of the $). Ladder- Patd del. Nichols sc.)
rungs of back narrow, numerous, and distinct. Head and under parts clear ashy-gray, very
different from the smoky-gray of C. uropygialis, the belly yellowish, the flanks and crissum
whitish, varied with black. Upper tail-coverts white, not barred. Middle tail-feathers entirely
black; outermost not entirely barred; next black or only touched with white. Bill and feet
bluish-black. Iris red. Length 9.50-10.50 ; extent 16.50-17.50; wing 5.00-5.50; tail 3.25-
3.75. Q differsas said. Young ¢: Distinctively like the adult ; nearly all the crown bronzy-
red; nasal plumes not yellow; nape dull yellowish; a few thin streaks of dusky on breast.
Texas and southward ; very abundant in suitable localities on the Lower Rio Grande. Habits
not peculiar. Eggs 4-6, 1.00 x 0.80.
C. uropygia'lis. (Gr. otportyov, ouropugion, Lat. wropygium, the rump; banded in this
species, not white as in awrifrons.) GILA WoopPecKEeR. SaGuaro WooppEcKER. Head
all around and entire under parts fulvous-gray, with front and nape not notably different, the
middle of the belly yellowish, the flanks and crissum whitish with black bars and cordate spots;
middle of crown crimson in g. Back, rump, upper tail-coverts, wing-coverts, and inner quills
closely and regularly banded with black and white, latter not pure on dorsal region. Primaries
blackish, not regularly barred or spotted like the inner quills, but slightly white-tipped and
-edged, and with large white blotches at base, of irregular shapes and tending to resolve into
sets of smaller spots. Middle pair of tail-feathers black, with long white shaft-space on outer
156.
453.
454.
PICIDZ:: WOODPECKERS. 489
web, on inner web white with black bars and spots; intermediate tail-feathers black; outer-
most regularly barred with black and white; next to outermost thus barred at end only. Bill
blackish ; feet plumbeous; iris probably red. Size of the others, or rather less. without
red on head. A peculiar species, abounding in the valley of the Gila and Lower Colorado, and
southward, where it nests usually in the giant cactuses.
MELANER’PES. (Gr. péAas, melas, black; gomns, herpes, a creeper.) TRICoLOR Woop-
PECKERS. Bill about as long as head, depressed at base, compressed beyond, culmen and gonys
ridged but curved throughout, sides of upper mandible distinctly ridged but a little way, end of
bill pointed with little bevelling ; nasal tufts small, not concealing nostrils. Outer posterior -
and anterior toes of equal lengths. Wings pointed by 3d, 4th, and 5th quills; 2d shorter than
6th; 1st spurious. Plumage lustrous and “‘ broad” in coloration, with black, white, and red in
masses, little or not spotty or streaky. Sexes alike and young different, or sexes unlike and
young similar. The two species are very different, requiring no analysis of their characters.
M. erythroce'phalus. (Gr. épvOpds, eruthros, red; xepadn, kephale, head. Fig. 340.) REp-
HEADED WoODPECKER. TrRIcCOLOR. @ 9, adult: Beautifully tricolor with “the red, white,
and blue.” Back, wings and tail glossy blue-black; seconda-
ries, upper tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, under parts from
the breast, and ends of some outer tail-feathers, white. Whole
head, neck and fore breast crimson, usually black-bordered
where adjoining the white. The white of the wings and rump
is pure; that of belly usually tinged with ochraceous or red-
dish ; the white quills have black shafts. The red feathers
are stiffish and somewhat bristly in their colored portions.
The gloss is sometimes green instead of blue. Bill and feet
dusky horn-color. Iris brown. Length 8.50-9.50; extent
16.00-18.00 ; wing 5.00-5.50 ; tail 3.50 ; bill 1.00-1.12; whole
foot 1.67. 9, young: The red parts of the adult gray,
streaked with dusky; the red appears in irregular patches.
Feathers of back and wing-coverts skirted with light gray,
and mixed with concealed whitish, in bars. Primaries and
tail-feathers tipped and edged with white. White of seconda-
ries broken with black bars or spots. At a very early age,
whole under parts streaked with dusky much like the head,
but these parts whiten before the head reddens. Eastern U. S.
and British Provinces, irregularly rare or common northerly,
abounding in most U. S. localities; common N. to 49° along pecker, reduced. (Sheppard del.
Red River of the North; W. to Rocky Mts., sometimes to Nicbels se.)
Utah and California; migratory in most sections. A very familiar bird, in orchards and gar-
dens as well as in the woods, conspicuous with its gay tricolor plumage, and a great genius, no
less brilliant and versatile in character than in plumage — very accomplished, of endless re-
sources, with tricks and manners enough to fill the rest of this volume with good reading
matter! Feeds much on acorns, nuts, berries, and various fruits as well as upon insects,
and sometimes lays up a store, like the Californian Woodpecker. Nest anywhere in wood,
preferably the blasted top of a tree. Eggs 5 or 6, glassy and spheroidal as usual in the family,
1.10 to 1.15 long, 0.80 to 0.90 broad. Two broods southerly.
M. formici/vorus bairdi. (Lat. formica, an ant; voro, Idevour. ToS. F. Baird; our species
a variety of the Mexican one. Fig 341.) CaxirorntAN WoopPECKER. 9: Glossy blue-
black ; rump, bases of all the quills, edge of the wing, and under parts from the breast, white ;
sides with sparse black streaks; forehead squarely white, continuous with a stripe down in front
of the eyes and thence broadly encircling the throat, there becoming yellowish; this cuts off the
455.
157.
456.
490 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLA — PICIFORMES.
black around base of bill and on the chin completely; crown in the ¢ crimson from the white
front, in the 9 separated from the white by a black interval; frequently a few red feathers in
the black breast-patch, which is not sharply defined behind, but changes by streaks into the
white of the belly. Bill black; eyes white, often rosy, creamy, yellowish, milky, bluish, or
brown. Young not particularly differ-
ent, but have the head-markings less
defined, the red bronzy. In the 9,
the succession of white, black, and red
on the crown is very sharp and square.
In sume specimens of either sex, the
secondaries are edged and tipped with
white. The gloss is sometimes rather
green than blue. Size of the last. Bill
varies in size from 0.87 to1.12! Rocky
Mts. to the Pacific, U. 8., abundant ;
noted for its habit of sticking acorns in
4 little holes that it digs in the bark for
Fic. 341, — Californiun Woodpecker, nat. sige (Ad nat. del. the purpose; whole branches are fre-
E. C.) quently studded in this manner. Gen-
eral manners and bearing those of the common red-head. Eggs 1.10 x 0.90.
M. f. angus’tifrons. (Lat. angustus, narrow, straitened; frons, forehead.) NARROW-FRONTED
Wooprrecker. Said to have the white frontal bar narrower ; bill somewhat differently shaped ;
white bar narrower than the black one of the 9, both together less than the red. L. California.
ASYNDESMUS. (Gr. a privative, civ, sun, together ; decpds, desmos, a bond ; alluding to
the loosened texture of the feathers of certain parts.) BRISTLE-BELLIED WOODPECKERS. Bill
alinost colaptine in general aspect, but with short distinct lateral ridges as in Melanerpes; as
long as head, rather longer than tarsus, not broader than high at base, compressed and some-
what curved toward end; pointed :
with scarcely any lateral bevelling,
culmen curved and scarcely ridged ;
gonys straight. Wings of excessive
length, folding nearly to end of tail.
and peeuliar in proportion of prima-
ries: 4th quill longest, 3d and 5th
about equal and shorter than 2d.
Inner anterior claw reaching little
beyond base of outer anterior. Feath-
ers of under parts and of a nuchal eol-
lar with the fibrille of their colored
portions enlarged in calibre, bristly,
of silicious hardness, loosened and jl
disconnected, being devoid of bar- g
bicels and hooklets. Dorsal plu- Fig. 342.— Lewis’ Woodpecker, nat. size, (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
mage compact, of inteuse metallic lustre. Feathers of face soft and velvety. Sexes alike ;
young different. I do not see why my friends have snubbed this genus; it is a good one, as
genera go now.
A. torqua’tus. (Lat. torquatus, collared. Figs. 342, 343.) Lewis’ WooprecKker. COoL-
LARED WOODPECKER. ¢ 9, adult: Upper parts, including wings and tail, flanks and crissuin,
green-black with intense bronzy lustre, especially on the back — this iridescence like that of
Quiscalus eneus almost. Face dark crimson, in a patch of velvety feathers around bill and eyes
PICIDZ: WOODPECKERS. 491
A narrow distinet collar around back of neck, and breast, hoary bluish-gray, gradually brighten-
ing behind on the under parts to intense rose-red or lake, delicately pencilled in hair lines with
the hoary-gray. No white on wings or
tail, their under surfaces simply black.
Bill blackish; feet greenish-plumbeous.
Tris brown. Length 10.00-11.00; extent
20.00-22.00; wing 6.50-7.00; tail 4.50;
bill 1.20. Young: Little lustre at first,
but this soon appears, before any red.
Little or no trace of the hoary collar or
crimson mask; face sovty-black; throat
and breast mixed fuscous and gray, chang-
ing on the belly to sooty-black, tinged or
slashed here and there with red. The
hoary and lake-red are established with
the feathers that are of the bristly charac-
ter above described. A remarkable bird,
inhabiting wooded mountainous parts of
the West, especially the pine-belt, Rocky
Mts. to the Pacific, U. 8. and British Col-
umbia. It is found with Clarke’s crow : i
and Steller’s jay ; wild and wary, like our _—_ Fig. 343. — Lewis’ Woodpecker, reduced. (Sheppard del.
Hylotomus ; keeps high up in the trees, Nichols se.)
and in flying looks more like a crow than a woodpecker. Its aerial excursions are very con-
spicuous. Nest and eggs as usual; size of eggs 1.12 X 0.95. :
158. COLAP’TES. (Gr. xodamrns, kolaptes, a chisel, hammer.) GILDED WOODPECKERS. FLIcK-
ERs. Bill about as long as head, slender and weak for this fainily, without any lateral ridges or
bevelling, pointed without truncation, culmen and commissure curved, gonys nearly straight,
only about half as long as culmen, nostrils not concealed by the slight nasal tufts; culmen and
gonys, however, both ridged.
Outer posterior toe shorter
than the outer anterior ; in-
ner posterior very short.
Wings long, pointed by 3d
to 6th quills; 2d shorter
than 7th; Ist about 2 the
2d. Taillengthened. Sexes
generally alike, but distin-
guishable by positive marks
about head. Pluinage highly
variegated and very showy.
Under parts with numerous
circular black spots on a
; pale ground. A large black
pectoral crescent. Rump
snowy-white. Back, wing-
niall 4
Mj fe ¥ af y
Fig. 344. — Flicker, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) coverts and innermost quills
brown with an olive or lilac shade, and thickly barred with black; quills and tail black, ex-
cepting as below stated; red or black cheek patches in g, wanting in Q. About a foot
long ; wing about 6.00; tail 4.50. A beautiful genus, of 6 American species, 3 of N. Am.
492 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLE — PICIFORMES.
Analysis of Species.
Red moustaches in g'; no red on nape in #9; wings and tail orange-red underneath; cap lilac-brown;
throat ashy ; no yellow on belly ; back umber-brown (Western) . ... . c ei mexicanus 459
(Mixed in every degree with)
Black moustaches in g'; red nuchal crescent in g; wings and tail golden-yellow underneath; cap ashy;
throat lilac-brown; yellow on belly; back olive-brown (Eastern) . . : . auratus 457
(Not mixed with) ,
Red moustaches in g'; no red on nape in #9; wings and tail golden-yellow underneath; cap lilac-brown ;
throat ashy; yellow on belly; back umber-brown (Southwesterny ... . . ++. chrysotdes 458
Hil
i
ay
|
i
i \ Hf
WN ill eS AN RN | Ss
CORRE, HSS
nN
Fig. 345. — Golden-winged Woodpecker, 4 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
Oxs. It will be noted, how curiously these species are distinguished mainly by a different
combination of common characters. — Colaptes ayresi Aup., C. hybridus Barrp, C. aurato-
mexicanus SUNDEVALL, isa form from the Missouri and Rocky Mt. regions in which the charac-
ters of mexicanus and avratus are blended in every conceivable degree in different specimens.
Perhaps it is a hybrid, and perhaps it is a transitional form, and doubtless there arc no such
things as species in Nature. Eastern specimens of awratus sometimes show red touches in the
black maxillary patch, as is frequently the case with Kansas examples. In the West, you
457.
458.
459.
PICIDZ’: WOODPECKERS. 493
will find specimens awratus on one side of the body, meaicanus on the other, —tail gilded on
some feathers, rubricated on others, ete.
C. aura/tus. (Lat. auratus, golden, gilded. Figs. 344, 345.) GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER.
PickoN WoopPECKER. FLickerR. YUCKER. HIGH-HOLDER. Back and exposed surfaces
of wing-coverts and secondaries olive-brown with numerous black bars. Rump snowy-white;
upper tail-coverts white, mixed with black. Primaries blackish, with golden shafts, and glossed
with golden underneath, at their bases paler and more tawny yellow. Tail-feathers above black,
their shafts and under surfaces golden, blackened at ends, the outermost with a few touches of
yellow or white. Top of head, with back and sides of neck, ash, with a scarlet nuchal band (in
both sexes). Sides of head, whole chin, throat, and fore-breast lilac-brown, with broad black
cheek patches, these ‘moustaches’ wanting usually inthe 9. A broad black pectoral semi-
lune. Other under parts shading from a lighter shade of the color of the breast into creamy-
yellow, marked with numerous circular black spots. Bill and feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown.
Length 12.00-13.00; extent 18.00-21.00, usually about 20.00; wing 5.75-6.25; tail 4.50; bill
1.25-1.50; whole foot 2.88. Young similar: more red on head. Eastern North Am.; keeping
pretty straight to the upper Missouri, where, as said, adulterating with mexicanus; pure to the
Pacific in Alaska. The first deviation is the appearance of red feathers in the black maxillary
patches ; these increase till they prevail, finally to the exclusion of the black, resulting in the
wholly red patch of C. mexicanus. With this change occurs the diminution and final extinction
of the scarlet nuchal crescent; when, coincidently, we find the characteristic golden-yellow on
the wings and tail passing through an intermediate orange into the red of mexicanus, a change
accompanied with another affecting the peculiar lilac-brown of the throat and olive-brown of
the back, which become respectively ashen and purplish-gray. One of the most abundant and
best-known species of the family, in any woodland, and sometimes foraging for food in open
country far from trees; a great ant-eater. A lively bird, of sunny temperament, like its
feathers, faithful and devoted, assiduous and successful in domestic affairs, and a good house-
keeper. Eggs usually 6 or 7; under exceptional circumstances 18 to 23 have been taken from
one hole; averaging 1.10 x 0.90. Migratory northerly.
C. chrysoi/des. (Gr. xpuads, chrusos, gold; eidos, eidos, like.) GILDED WoopPECKER. Body,
wings and tail, substantially as in auratus; head as in mexicanus; @ with scarlet moustaches ;
no red on nape in either sex; crown lilac-brown; chin, throat, and fore-breast ash; sides
tinged with creamy-brown, belly with yellowish. There are, however, some specialties.
Golden of wings and tail less vivid than in auratus; tail-feathers black for about half their
length. General tone of under parts pale, without the decided tints of either of the other
species, the round blagk spots large and crowded. Top of head purer and more cinnamon
brown than in mexicanus. Smaller: wing about 5.50; tail about 4.00. Gradation between
this form and mexicanus has not yet been observed. Walley of the Colorado River, Lower
California and southward.
©. mexica/‘nus. (Of Mexico.) Rep-sHAFTED WoopprEckER. Mexican Fucker. Back,
rump, and upper suriaces of wings and tail as in C. auratus, but a different shade of color, a
faintly reddish replacing the olivaceous tinge of the ground-color. Wings and tail of the same
pattern, but the auration replaced by rubefaction. Top of head rufous (like the throat of
auratus) ; no occipital red crescent in either sex. Throat and sides of head and neck clear
ash, with scarlet maxillary patches inthe g. A black pectoral semilune. Under parts very
pale lilac-brown, fading to whitish on the belly, marked with numerous round black spots.
Bill blackish-slate ; feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown. Size of C. auratus. Western North
Am., mostly replacing the yellow flicker from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, Sitka into
Mexico. In habits a perfect counterpart of the common flicker.
494 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PSITTACY.
III. Order PSITTACI: Parrots.
Feet permanently zygodactyle
by reversion of the fourth toe,
covered with rugose granular
scales or plates; bill short, ex-
tremely stout,’ strongly epigna-
thous, and furnished with a (fre-
quently feathered) cere, as in the
birds of prey; wings and tail
variable. The parrots, including
the macaws, cockatvos, lories,
ete., form one of the inost strong-
ly marked groups of birds, as
easily recognizable by their pecu-
liar external appearance as de-
fined by technical points of strue-
ture. They were formerly in-
eluded in an ‘‘order” Scansores
on aceount of the paired toes, but
this is a comparatively trivial cir-
cunstance ; they have no special
affinity with other zygodactyle birds, and their peculiarities entitle them to rank with groups
ealled orders ju the present volume. They might not inaptly be styled frugivorous Raptores;
and in some respects they exhibit a vague analogy to the quadrumana (monkeys) among
mammals. The tongue is thick and fleshy, in some genera peculiarly brushy ; it is used to
some extent in prehension, objects being handled between the tongue and upper mandible.
The upper mandible is inuch inore freely movable than is usual in birds, being articulated in-
stead of sutnrally joined with the forehead ; and the bill is commonly used in climbing. The
bony orbits of the eyes are frequently completed by union of the lachrymal bones with postor-
bital processes, and in some genera develop a bony bridge across the temporal fossa. The
syinphysis of the lower jaw is short and obtuse. The sternum is entire or simply fenestrated
posteriorly; the furculum is weak, sometimes defective, or wanting. The principal metatarsal
bone is short and broad, and its lower extremity is modified to suit the position of the fourth
toe. The lower larynx is peculiarly constructed, with three pairs of anuscles; the ability to.
articulate human speech is.one of the most nvtorions faculties of some parrots. The plumage
shows aftershafts; the ocil-gland is wanting in certain genera; when present, it is tufted.
There are no ceca, and the gall-bladder is wanting. Though the family is so perfectly
circumscribed that no one doubts of any bird whether it be psittacine or not, parrots differ re-
markably among themselves in certain structural characters which have iu most birds a high
elassificatory value. Thus, there are three decided modifications of the carotid arteries — of
which right and left may both be present, and both running deep in the vertebrarterial canal ;
or both may be present, but the left superficial ; or only the left is developed (in Cacatua), as
usual in birds. The ambiens muscle, again, may be present and normal, present and incom-
plete, or wanting altogether. The femoro-caudal muscle, semitendinosus, and accessory semi-
tendinosus are present; the accessory femoro-caudal is absent.
The division of the Psittaci into family groups has taxed the ingenuity of ornithologists ;
for so variously interrelated are the numerous forms, that the grouping fluctuates with almost
every character or set of characters selected for use in classification. But Garrod’s admirable
anatomical investigations show that the Psittact ay be ranged in two series, according to the
Fie. 346. — Carolina Parroquet, reduced. (From Tenney, after Wilson.)
PSITTACI: PARROTS. 495
characters afforded by the carutid arteries and ambiens muscle. I. PaLaorniruip#: Carotids:
two (except in Cacatua), the left normal, and no ambiens. JI. Psirracipa: Cuarotids two,
the left superficial, the ambiens present in one series of genera, absent in others. In the sub-
family (1) Paleornithine, there is no further deviation ; in (2) Cacatwine, besides the lack of
a right carotid in Cacatua itself, the orbital ring is completely ossified, and develops a bony
process bridging in the temporal fossa; in (3) Stringopine, which includes the curious flightless
ground Parrot or owl Parrot of New Zealand (Stringops habroptilus), the furculum and sternal
keel are deficient or defective. Psittacide include (4:) the Arine, in which the ambiens muscle
=e
macy
SS P6. Sue K DAUBMARGE
Fia. 347. — Carolina Parroquet, } nat. size (From Brel, after Audubon.)
is present; (5) Pyrrhurina, in which it is absent, without further modification ; (6) Platy-
cerciné, no ambiens and no furculum; (7) Chrysotine, no ambiens, no furculum, and no oil-
gland. There are thus 7 subfamilies of 2 families of Pszttact.
‘Parrots abound in all tropical countries, but, except in Australia and New Zealand,
rarely extend into the temperate zone. The Indian and Athivpian regions are poor in parrots,
while the Australian is the richest, containing many genera and even whole fainilies peculiar
to it.” (Newron.) The highest authority, Finscu, recognizes 354 species as well deter-
‘mined, distributing them in 26 genera; 142 are American, 23 African, and 18 Asiatic; the
Moluceas and New Guinea have 88, Australia 59, and Polynesia 29.
159
460.
496 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES.
28. Family PSITTACIDZ:: Parrots.
See above. Two carotids, the left superficial. All New World Parrots belong here (but
all Psittacide are not of the New World).
a 39. Subfamily ARINAE: Parrots.
See above. Ambiens muscle, tufted oil-gland and complete furculum. Of this subfamily
the Macaws (Ara) and our species of Conurus are characteristic.
CONU/RUS. (Gr. kévos, konos, a cone; odpd, owra, tail; cuneate-tail.) PARROQUETS.
Tail lengthened, nearly equalling wings, cuneate, with tapering feathers. Face entirely
feathered excepting a slight space about the eye. Nostrils in the feathered cere. Bill very
stout, with bulging lateral outline, broadly rounded culmen, and toothed or lobed commissure.
Tarsi very short, much less than the inner anterior toe; outer anterior longer than outer pos-
terior toe. Feet granular-reticulate, becoming scutellate un the toes. Wings pointed ; in our
species the 2d and 3d primaries longest, the Ist and 4th subequal and shorter. A large genus
of tropical. America, with one U. 8. species.
C. carolinensis. (Lat.Carolinian. Figs. 346,347.) CaroLina PARROQUET. Green; head
yellow; face red; bill white; feet flesh-color; wings more or less variegated with blue and
yellow. Sexesalike. Young simply green. Length 12.50-13.50; extent 21.00-22.50; wing
7.00-8.00; tail 6.00-7.00. Southern States ; up the Mississippi Valley to the Missouri region ;
W. to Arkansas and the Indian Territory; recently Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, ete. ; formerly
strayed to Pennsylvania and New York, but of late has receded even from the Carolinas; still
abundant in Florida.’ But it would seem that if the cruel and wanton slaughter to which the
gentle creatures are subjected by idlers goes on, they must before long be exterminated. Gre-
garious, frugivorous, and granivorous ; not regularly migratory, but roving. Said to breed in
companies in hollow trees ; eggs whitish, 1.40 x 1.05, elliptical in shape, rough in texture.
IV. Order RAPTORES: Birds of Prey.
Bill epignathous, cered; and
Jeet not zygodactyle. The rapa-
cious birds (Raptores, Raptatores
or Accipitres of authors, Aéto-
morphe of Huxley) form a fairly
natural assemblage, to which this
expression furnishes a clew.
(The parrots, probably the only
other birds with strongly hooked
and truly cered bill, are yoke-
toed.) The Raptores presen‘
several osteological and other an-
atomical characters. The ster
num is ample and deep keeled,
its posterior margin doubly or
singly notched or fenestrate on
each side, or entire with central
emargination; the furculum an-
chylosed or not. Angle of man-
dible not recurved; mazxillo-
palatines united to an ossified
septum ; rostrum arched’ and
hooked ; basipterygoid processes
Fig. 348. — Death as a bird of prey. (From Michelet.)
RAPTORES: BIRDS OF PREY. 497
present or absent. Hallux always present, usually valid and insistent ; outer toe reversible in
some cases, never permanently reversed. The ambiens is present (except in Striges); all ex-
cepting Gypogeranides aud some Cathartides possess the femoro-caudal muscle, but not its
accessory, nor the semi-tendinosus nor its accessory (excepting Cathartides, which have the two
last named, and Gypogeranides, which havé ‘these and the accessory femoro-caudal). Coeca
are present (except in Cathartides), The. oil-gland. is present in all, and tufted except in
Cathartides. Aftershafts are present (usually), lacking in some Accipttres, all Striges and
Cathartides. There are two carotids; the syrinx, when developed, has but one pair of intrinsic
muscles. The nature is altricial, yet ptilopzdic, the young being downy when hatched, and
long fed by the parents in the nest. The alimentary canal varies with the families, but differs
from that of vegetarian birds, in adaptation to an exclusively animal diet. In the higher
types, the whole structure betokens strength, activity, and ferocity, carnivorous propensities
and predaceous nature. Most of the smaller, or weaker, species feed much upon insects ;
others more particularly upon reptiles, and fish ; others upon carrion; but the majority prey
upon other birds, and small mammals, captured in open warfare. To this end, the claws no
less than the beak are specially adapted, by their development in the ‘‘ talons” which we con-
stantly associate with our ideas of birds of prey. These weapons of offence and defence are
as a rule of great size, strength, crookedness, and acuteness; and also peculiar in being con-
vex on the sides, gradually narrowed to the point, and little or not excavated underneath. The
inner claw is larger than the outer, and the hinder one smaller than the middle; and all are
very flexibly jointed, so that they may be strongly bent underneath the toes, carrying to the
‘extreme the grasping power of the feet. The legs are muscular and largely free from the
body, feathered to the suffrago or beyond; when unfeathered, the tarsal envelope varies in
character. The wings are ample, and, as usual in birds below Passeres, the coverts are long
and numerous, covering three-fourths or more of the folded wing. The tail, very variable
in shape, has twelve rectrices (with rare exceptions).
Representatives of this order are found in every part of the world. They are divisible into
four primary groups, of more classificatory value than that attaching to average families in
ornithology, and therefore to be held as superfamilies or suborders. One of these, Gypogeranides,
consists of the single remarkable species Gypogeranus serpentarius, the secretary-bird or serpent-
eater of Africa; this shows a curious grallatorial analogy, being mounted on long legs like a
Crane, and has several important structural modifications. The other three are the Striges or
Owls; the Accipitres or Hawks, Eagles, etc., including the Old World Vultures; and the
Cathartides or American Vultures, — these last more different from the others collectively than
the rest are from one another. All are well represented in this country. They are recognizable
at a glance, but the following analysis will serve to place the characters of the suborders and
their respective families in strong relief.
Analysis of Suborders and Families.
Feet scarcely raptorial, with weak, blunt, lengthened, little curved or contractile claws. Hind toe ele-
vated, not more than half as long as outer toe, with small claw; middle toe lengthened ; outer toe not
versatile; front toes all webbed at base; basal joint of middle toe longer than either of the succeeding
ones. Nostrils large, perforate. Bill little raptorial, lengthened and somewhat contracted in conti-
nuity, tomia never lobed or toothed, tip blunt, little hooked. Head largely naked. Index digit with
a large claw. No lower larynx, cceca, aftershafts, or tuft of oil-gland. Ambiens present ; femoro-
caudal present or absent; semitendinosus and its accessory present . . Fi . CATHARTIDES.
Diurnal; gressorial; feed exclusively on carrion : » » . OATHARTIDA,
Feet highly raptorial, with large, strong, sharp, curved, contractile claws. "Bind toe not elevated, length-
ened, more than half as long as outer toe, with large claw; outer toe often versatile; front toes with
slight basal webbing between outer and middle, or none Nostrils small, imperforate. Bill short,
stout, very seldom contracted in its continuity, tomia often once or twice lobed or toothed, tip sharp,
much hooked. Head feathered completely or in greatest part. Lower larynx with one pair of intrinsic
muscles. Coeca present. Plumage with or without aftershafts. Ambiens present or absent. Femoro-
caudal present, Semitendinosus and its accessory absent. Asa rule, saltatorial, and kill their prey.
82
498 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES— STRIGES.
Physiognomy not peculiar; no great lateral expansion of the cranium or thickening of its walls
with diploé; eyes looking sideways; no facial disc or only an imperfect one; base of bill not
hidden by appressed feathers. Nostrils wholly in the cere. Tomia usually toothed or lobed.
No external ear-conch. Outer toe not shorter than inner, and rarely versatile. Basal joint of
middle toe longer than thenext. Feet with rare exceptions mostly or entirely naked of feathers,
scutellate or reticulate, or both; toes always bare and scaly. Sternum commonly single-
notched or -fenestrate on each side, sometimes entire, Oil-gland tufted. Plumage compact,
usually aftershafted; flight audible. Ambiens present. Diurnal : . ACCIPITRES.
Outer toe not reversible, and plumage usually aftershafted i . . . FALCONIDA.
Outer toe reversible, and plumage without aftershafts . . ah PANDIONIDZs.
Physiognomy peculiar by reason of great lateral expansion, lengthwise contraction and diploic
thickening of the often unsymmetrical cranium; eyes looking forward, surrounded with a radi-
ated disc of modified feathers, in front appressed, antrorse, hiding base of bill. Nostrils usually
at edge of the cere. Tomia never lobed or toothed. A large extérnal ear-conch often devel-
oped. Outer toe completely versatile, shorter than inner toe. Basal joint of middle toe not
longer than second, much shorter than the penultimate one. Feet usually feathery or bristly
to or on thetoes, Oil-glandnude. Plumage without aftershafts, soft and lax; flight noiseless.
Ambiens absent. Nocturnal . . i . =» « « STRIGES.
Sternum entire behind, with central erarvinations furcalum wticliylosetl Middle claw
pectinate. Facial disc complete, triangular wos » « . » ALUCONIDE.
Sternum double-notched or fenestrate; furculum free. Middle claw not pectinate. Facial
disc circular when complete ave ts : . STRIGIDE.
6. SusorperR STRIGES: NocrurnaL Birps or Prey.
Head very large, and especially broad from side to side, but shortened lengthwise, the
“face” thus formed further defined by a more or less complete “ruff,” or circlet of radiating
feathers of peculiar texture, on each side. Eyes very large, looking more or less directly for-
ward, set in « circlet of radiating bristly feathers, and overarched by a superciliary shield.
External ears extremely large, often provided with an operculum or movable flap, presenting
the nearest approach, among birds, to the ear-conch of mammals. Bill shaped much as in
ordinary Accipitres, but thickly beset at base with close-pressed antrorse bristly feathers,
and never toothed. Nostrils large, commonly opening at the edge of the cere rather than
entirely in its substance. Hallux of average length, not obviously elevated in any case; outer
toe more or less perfectly versatile (but never permanently reversed), and shorter than the
inner toe; its first three joints very short, altogether not as long as the succeeding one; basal
joint of middle toe not longer than the next. Claws all very long, much curved and extremely
sharp, that of the middle toe pectinate in some species. As a rule, the tarsi are more or less
completely feathered, and the whole foot is often thus covered. Artnong numerous osteological
characters may be mentioned the frequent want of symmetry of the skull, wide separation of the
inner and outer tablets of the brain-case by intervention of spongy diploé, the spongy maxillo-
palatines and lacrymals, which latter long persist distinct; the basipterygoid processes; the
manubriated and commonly 4-notched (if not entire) sternum ; “a peculiar structure of the tarso-
metatarsus; a particular arrangement of the bones about the shoulder-joint, and the weakness
of the furculum when not anchylosed with the sternum. The gullet is capacious but not
dilated into a special crop; the gizzard is only moderately muscular; the intestines are short
and wide; the ececa are extremely long and club-shaped. The syrinx has one pair of intrinsic
muscles. The oil-gland is nude. The ambiens is absent. The feathers have no aftershaft,
and the general plumage is very soft and blended.
The Nocturnal Birds of Prey will be immediately recognized by their peculiar physiognomy,
independently of the technical characters that mark them as a natural, sharply-defined group.
They are highly monomorphic, without extremes of aberrant form; but the ease with which
they are collectively defined is a measure of.the difficulty of their rigid subdivision, which is
not yet satisfactorily determined. Too much stress has been laid upon the trivial, although
evident, circumstance of presence or absence of the peculiar ‘‘ horns ” that many species possess.
STRIGES: NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 499
These are tufts of lengthened feathers rising over the eyes from the forehead, and commonly
called “ ear-tufts”; but they have nothing to do with the ears, and are more appropriately
named ‘plumicorns,” or feather-herns. More reliable characters may be drawn from the
structure of the external ear and facial disc, the modifications of which appear to bear directly
upon mode of life; these parts being as arule most highly developed in the more nocturnal
species ; some points of internal structure have been found correspondent. Thus, one group,
of which the barn owl, Aluco flammeus, is the type, is very distinct in the angular contour and
rai
6
oy
sae — SaaS
Fig. 349. — * Est illis Strigibus nowen ; sed nominis hujus
Causa quod horrenda stridere nocte solent.”? — Ovip, Fasti, vi. 139,
“ Screech-owls they ’re called, because with dismal ery
In darkling night from place to place they fly.”
high development of the facial disc, pectination of the middle claw, and other characters upon
which a family Aluconide may be established. Probably the rest of the suborder fall in two
subdivisions of a single family Strigide, the essential characters of which have already been
contrasted with those of Aluconide.
The nearest relatives of the Striges, outside their own order, are the Caprimulgi — the
relationship being really very close through the genus Steatornis. As is well known, owls are
eminently nocturnal birds; but to this rule there are numerous striking exceptions. This
general habit is correspondent to the modification of the eyes, the size and structure of which
‘
500 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — STRIGES.
enable the birds to see by night, and cause them to suffer from the glare of the sunlight. Most
species pass the daytime secreted in hollow trees, or dense foliage and other dusky retreats,
resuming their wonted activity after nightfall. Owing to the peculiar texture of the plumage
their flight is perfectly noiseless, like the mincing steps of a cat; and no entirely fanciful anal-
ogy has been drawn between these birds and the feline carnivora that chiefly prey stealthily in
the dark. The nest is commonly a rude affair of sticks gathered in the various places of diurnal
resort ; the eggs are several (commonly 3-6), white, subspherical. The 9, as a rule, is larger
than the J, but the sexes are alike in color; the coloration is commonly blended and diffuse,
difficult of concise description. Owls feed entirely upon animal substances, and capture their
prey alive — small quadrupeds and birds, reptiles and insects, and even fish. Like most other
Raptores, they eject from the mouth, after a meal, the bones, hair, feathers, and other indigesti-
ble substances, made up into a round pellet. They are noted for their loud outeries, so strange
and often so lugubrious, that it is no wonder traditional superstition places these dismal night-
birds in the category of things ill-omened. Besides the well-known lines which are set
beneath two of the accompanying figures, the reader may recall the owl as among the ‘ portents
weird’ which foretell the fate of the unhappy queen of Carthage, when, deserted by ‘ pious’
£neas, she resolves to die.
“Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo
Szepe queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces.” — VERG., din., iv. 462.
The hoot-owl, brooding ominous above
Her fateful house, is wearing dismal night away
With wild vociferation. Portents weird, etc.°
‘Owls are among the inost completely cosmopolitan of birds; with minor modifications
according to circumstances, their general habits are much the same the world over. A diffi-
culty of correctly estimating the number of species arises from the fact that many, especially of
the more generalized types, have a wide geographical distribution, and, as in nearly all such
cases, they split into more or less easily recognized.races, the interpretation of which is at
present a matter vf opinion rather than a settled issue. About 200 species pass current; this
number inust be reduced by one-third; out of about 50 generic names now in vogue, probably
less than one-half represent some structural peculiarity.
29. Family ALUCONID4: Barn Owls.
Two genera of Owls, Aluco and Phodilus, differ so much
from other Striges that they may properly constitute a family
apart from Strigide. The prime character is anchylosis of
the furculum with the sternum, which latter bone is entire
behind (unusual; compare fig. 56). External characters
are: facial dise and outer ear-parts highly developed, the
former not cireular, but rather triangular, the latter sym-
metrical ; middle and inner toes of about equal lengths ; inner
edge of middle claw serrate or jagged, simulating the pecti-
nation seen in Caprimulgide, to which birds these owls are
curiously related through Steatornis. The pattern of color-
ation is peculiar; the plumage is very downy; the habits
of the species are eminently nocturnal. The leading genus,
Aluco, of several species or races, is nearly cosmopolitan,
being absent only from high latitudes and some insular re
gions; the other, of one species, Phodilus badius, inhabits
portions of Eastern Asia, Ceylon, Java and Borneo. —N. B.
Adoption of the name Aluco for the Barn Owls, instead of Strix, requires the present family ta
ALUCONIDZ!: BARN OWLS. 501
be called Aluconide, instead of Strigide ; which latter name is to be applied to the succeeding
family.
160, ALU’CO. (tal. alocho, some kind of owl. Figs. 47, 351.) BARN Ow1s. To above characters
add: Wings very long, pointed, folding beyond the tail, the lst or 2d primary longest, and none
emarginate. Tail short, nearly even or emarginate, about 4 as long as the wing. Tarsus nearly
. twice as long as middle tve without claw, closely feathered, the plumage becoming scant and
NU Di i eel
Fi. 351, — Barn Owls, } nat. size. (From Brelm.)
“From yonder ivy-mantled tower,
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand’ring near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.’? — GRAY.
bristly below, like that on the nearly naked toes, and reversed in direction on the posterior
aspect ; claws extremely long and acute (see fig. 47). Bill lengthened, compressed, the cere
nearly as long as the rest of the culmen; nostrils oval; no plumicorns; eyes comparatively
small, black ; bill light-colored; plumage flagrant, not dichromatic; size medium. One North
Am. species.
425.
502 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — STRIGES,
A. flam/meus pratin/cola. (Lat. flammeus, flame-colored; pratincola, meadow-inhabiting.)
Barn Ow. Above, including upper surfaces of wings and tail, tawny, fulvous, or orange-
brown, delicately clouded or marbled with ashy and white, and dotted with blackish, sometimes
also with white ; such marking resolved, or tending to resolve, into four or five bars of dark
mottling on the wings and tail. Below, including lining of wings, varying from pure white to
tawny, ochrey, or fulvous, but usually paler than the upper parts and dotted with small but
distinct blackish specks. Face varying from white to fulvous or purplish-brown, in some shades
as if stained with claret, usually quite dark or even black. About the eyes, aud the border of the
disc, dark brown. Thus extremely variable in tone of coloration, but the patvern more constant,
while the generic characters render the bird unmistakable. Nestlings are covered with fluffy
white down. Length 15.00-17.00 ; extent about 44.00; wing 13.00-14.00; tail 6.00-7.00 ; bill
0.95; tarsus 2.75. 9 largerthan g. The superior size is the chief distinction from the Old
World A. flammeus. U.S. from Atlantic to Pacific; somewhat southerly, only known N. to
Massachusetts and corresponding latitudes; 8. into Mexico, West Indies and Central America;
abundant in wooded, settled, and especially maritime regions; usually resident. Breeds natu-
rally in hollow trees, frequently in the barn, belfry, tower, or other building ; eggs 3-6 in
number, colorless or soiled yellowish-white, about 1.75 x 1.25, nearly equal-ended, laid with
little or no preparation upon the débris of the hole, commonly bones and other refuse of the
food, which is chiefly small quadrupeds and insects.
30. Family STRIGIDA: Other Owls.
All other Striges, as far as
known, have the sternum once
or twice notched on each side
behind, and the furculum free
from that bone. The outer ear-
' parts are sometimes as highly
developed as in Aluconide, or
they may be quite small; the
facial disc varies in size and per-
fection, being largest, most cir-
cular, and most completely radi-
ating from the eye as a centre in
those species in which the ear-
conch is best developed. These
two characters would therefore
seem to go together, and they
Fia. 352. —Mobbing an ow]. (From Michelet.) are not correlated with the pres-
ence or absence of plumicorns. The inner toe is shorter than the middle, and the middle
claw is not pectinate. It may prove advisable to make these features the basis of a division
of the Strigide into two subfamilies, Strigine and Bubonine, as proposed by Mr. Sharpe ; but
I do not deein it expedient to present such arrangement on the present occasion. In the event
of such final determination, our genera Strix, Asio, and Nyctala would fall in Strigine; the
rest in Bubonine.
Analysis of Genera,
(40) StRicin«® ? Eye centric in large complete circular disc, and ear-conch larger than eye, with well
developed operculum.
Plumicorns absent ; cere short.
Ear-parts symmetrical. Large: length over 12inches. . . . mew « » erie 164
Ear-parts asymmetrical. Small: length under 12 inches. . i, . « Nyctala 167
Plumicorns present; cere longer than rest ofculmen . . . 5 Asio 163
161.
462.
STRIGIDZE: OTHER OWLS. 503
(41) BuBonrina ? Eye eccentric, nearer top than bottom of more or less incomplete disc, and ear-conch
not larger than eye, without developed operculum.
Plumicorns present, well-developed.
Very large: length over 18 inches; tail about % the ‘wing c 5 < a Mere ae . Bubo 161
Small: length under 12 inches; tailabout}the wing .......4.4.4.4.4. Scops 162
Plumicorns present, rudimentary. Very large: length over 18 inches. White . ... . Nyctea 165
Plumicorns absent.
Tarsus full-feathered.
Tail graduated. Length over 12 inches, Hawk-like...... see ee.) Surnia 166
Tail rounded. Length much under 12 inches . Ce a ee a . . . Glaucidium 168
Tarsus naked or scant-feathered.
Length under 8 inches . oa as aa te te : : ae . Micrathene 169
Length over8inches . . . 1... 1 1 ew ee te eee ee . Speotyto 170
BU'BO. (Lat. bubo, the horned owl.) Tur Great Hornep Owts. Hoot Owns. Skull
and ear-parts symmetrical (of sume size on both sides of head), the latter simply elliptical,
non-operculate, not longer than the great yellow eye, which is eccentric in the moderately devel-
oped facial disc (nearer its top than bottom). Plu-
micorns highly developed. Nostrils oval, in the
edge of the cere, which is not inflated, nor as long
as the rest of the culmen; bill robust, black, not
buried in the frontal bristles. Wings rather short,
folding short of the end of the tail, the 3d or 4th
primary longest, the first 2 or 3 emarginate near
their ends. Tail rounded, more than 4 as long as
the wing, its under coverts not reaching its end.
Feet densely feathered to the last joint of the toes,
but claws exposed. Of medium and very large size
(some of the species are nearly the largest of the
owls), and variegated, usually dark, colors ; plumage
not dichromatic. Embracing numerous species, of
all America and nearly all of the Old World ; only
one, however, in N. Am.
B. virginianmus. (Lat. virginianus, Virginian.
Fig. 353.) Grear Hornep Owxt. Hoor Owt.
Cat Own. Distinguished by its large size and con-
spicuous ear-tufts, our other species of similar stature
being tuftless or nearly so. Length nearly or about
two feet; extent 4 or 5 feet; wing 14.00-16.00
inches; tail 8.00-10.00; tarsus 2.00-2.25; culmen rug, 353, —Great Horned Owl, much reduced.
without cere 1.10-1.20. Qaveraging larger than f. (From Tenney, after Audubon. )
Plumage varying interminably, no concise description meeting all its phases. A white collar on
the throat is the most constant color-mark. On the upper parts, the under-plumage tawny, but
so overlaid with coarse mottling of blackish and white, that it shows chiefly on the head, nape,
and scapulars ; the mottling chiefly transverse, and resolving into 7 to 9 continuous or broken
bars on the wings and tail. Under parts white, indefinitely tawny-tinged, and for the most
part barred crosswise with blackish, changing on the fore breast to ragged and rather length-
wise blotches. Feathering of feet nearly plain tawny. LEar-tufts black and tawny; a dark
mark over eye; border of the facial disc black, the face white or tawny, but the feathers mostly
black-shafted. Bill and claws black ; iris yellow ; pupil always circular; when fully dilated as
large as a finger-ring, contractile to the size of a pea. Young covered at first with white down;
first plumage more uniformly tawny and lighter-colored than it becomes after the first moult,
when the white collar and other distinctive markings are assumed. This powerful bird, only
463.
162
504 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — STRIGES.
yielding to the great gray owl in stature, and to none in spirit, is a common inhabitant of
North Am. at large, representing B. ignavus of Europe. It is non-migratory ; breeds in late
winter, and early spring months (usually February or March), laying in hollows of trees or rifts
of rocks, or in a bulky nest of sticks on the branches of tall trees, often appropriating that of
a large hawk, as a Buteo. Eggs said to be 3-6, not known to me to be more than 2 in num-
ber; colorless, subspherical, about 2.25 X 1.90 in size; ,duration of incubation said to be about
three weeks. The young begin to hoot when about 4 months old. This owl preys upon
birds and quadrupeds up to the size of domestic fowls and rabbits. It is habitually abroad in
the daytime, apparently not at all inconvenienced by sunlight. Runs into the following vari-
eties, which, however, are not as strictly geographical as the names would indicate : —
B. v. are'ticus. (Lat. arcticus, northern.) Wire Hornep Own. Very pale colored, fre-
quently. quite whitish, and not distantly resembling the snowy owl. (See Swainson’s fig. in
F. B. A., pl. 30.) Boreal and alpine North Am.; such specimens occasional in Northern
U. 8. in winter, and Rocky Mt. region.
B. v. paci‘ficus. (Lat. pacificus, of the Pacific ocean.) Dusky Hornep Own. Very dark
colored, chiefly blackish and grayish, with little or no tawny. Apparently a littoral phase, sup-
posed to be more particularly de-
veloped on the Pacific coast; but
the extreme of this style, in which
the tawny is extinct; and which
has been called B. satwratus, is
from Labrador, where also occur
the darkest specimens of Gyi-
falcons. uae St
SCOPS. (Gr. oxy, Lat. scops, a
kind of owl. Fig. 354.) Lirtie
Hornep Ow.s. ScreEcH OWLS.
Like. a miniature Bubo in form
(all our species under a foot long).
Skull and ear-parts sy:nmetrical ;
latter small, simply elliptical, with
tudimentary’ opereulum; facial
disc moderately developed; plumi-
corns evident; nostrils at edge of Jag
the cere, which is not inflated,
and shorter than the rest of the
culmen. Wings rounded, but
long, about twice the length of
the short rounded tail, about to
the end of which they fold; in Fic. 354. — Screech Owl, reduced. (From Dall.)
our species the 4th and 5th primaries longest, the 1st quite short; 3 or 4 outer primaries
sinuate or emarginate on inner webs. Tarsus feathered (in our species), but toes only partly
bristly (in the S. asio group) or quite naked (as in 8. flammeola). Plumage dichromatic
in some cases; 4. €., some individuals of the same species normally mottled gray, while others
are reddish, the two phases very distinct when fully developed, but shading insensibly into
each other, and entirely independent of age, season, or sex. In normal plumage, a white or
whitish scapular stripe; lower parts with lengthwise blotches or shaft-lines and crosswise
bars or waves of blackish or dark color; upper parts with black or blackish shaft-lines on a
finely-dappled brown or gray ground (more or less obliterated in the red phase) ; facial disc
black-bordered nearly all around; wing-quills spotted or marbled on outer webs, barred on
STRIGIDZ: OTHER OWLS. 505
inner webs. Tail with light and dark bars. A large and nearly cosmopolitan genus, especially
rich in tropical ‘species; but only two are known to inhabit N. Am., one of them running
into several local races very difficult to characterize satisfactorily. /
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Toes bristly or partly feathered.' Plumicorns conspicuous . . . . «1 6 «5 «1 ww ee e810 465
Dichromatic ; red phase bright rusty. Eastern.
Medium in size: wing usually between 6.00 and 7, 00; tail about 3.50. Markings of under parts
coarse, irregular, and blotchy, usually wanting on middle of belly; of upper parts fine but
irregular, without nuchal collar. Eastern U.S. and Canada. .. . » « - asio 465
Small: wing usually 5.50-6.00; tail about 3.00. Markings as in asio, but fanhse heavier. Florida
floridanus 460
Small: size of floridanus. ’ Markings of under parts fine, regular, of upper parts coarse, but reg-
ular, with tendency to a nuchal collar. Texas. ......4.. se ew e + maccalli 468
Dichromatic; red phase rusty-brown. Northwestern...
Large: wing usually over 7.00. In the gray phase like asio, but markings of under parts finer,
more regular and continuous. Northwestern . . Fas RY sone + 1 + « « e kennicotti 466
Dichromatism not known to occur. - Western,
Medium: size of average asio. Markings of under parts thick, regular, continuous over the
whole surface; of upper parts exactly as in asio. California, . . . 4 . . bendirit 466a
Medium: éize of average asio. Markings of all parts very light, the gray pale, with much
white, especially on wings and under parts ED. “ate Ake Les, SG an ais » 2 + .maxwelle 467
Toes perfectly naked. Plumicorns short. Southwestern. . . - 2 + « 2 flammeola 471
465. S. asio. (Lat. asio, a kind of horned owl.) ae ‘Honan. Owx. ScrercH OWL.
MoTTLED OwL. REDOwL. Of medium size; length 8.00-10.00; extent about 22.00; wing
6.00-7.00, usually between these numbers ; tail 3.25-3.50. Gray or normal phase, adult f 9:
Upper parts brownish-gray in minutely dappled pattern of lighter and darker shades, every-
where finely but irregularly streaked with black or blackish shaft-lines, usually most evident
on the crown. A conspicuous oblique scapular bar formed by the white or creamy outer webs
of several seapulars, each usually touched with black at its end; a second similar bar on outer
webs of several outer wing-coverts. ‘Wing-quills dusky, the outer webs.of the primaries with
several distinct conspicuous white or buff spots; the inner webs of the primaries and both webs
of the secondaries with numerous alternating lighter and darker bars; lining of wings mostly
yellowish-white. Tail like the secondaries, but the light bars mostly ragged or dissipated in
marbling. Facial dise set in a blackish frame nearly all around; mostly finely mottled, but
the lores and chin usually whitish, immaculate. Taking white as the ground of the under
parts, this is coarsely and irregularly blotched and streaked with thick shaft-lines giving off
numberless finer curved or wavy cross-bars ; the general aspect patchy; the markings usually
wanting on the middle of the belly. Iris yellow; bill livid or slate-gray, pale horn-color at
tip ; claws blackish. From this stage the ‘ mottled owl’ passes by insensible degrees, through
wood-brown, hazel-brown, and tawny into the ‘ red owl.’ — Red or erythrismal phase: Bright
rust-red, sometimes even bronzed; most of the special markings dissipated or absorbed in the
red, continuous and uniform above, showing only traces if any of the black shaft-stripes ; below,
black stripes and blotches usually preserved, and the réd also mixed with much white. The
dark rim of the disc, and white’ scapular stripes, are usually preserved. The two phases are
distinct from the first feathering. ‘Nestlings are covered with white down. The first feather-
ing, in the normal phase, is almost everywhere closely and regularly barred or waved cross-
wise with dark gray'and pale gray or whitish. Eastern U. 8. and Canada, W. to the Rocky
Mts., on the confines of its range shading into the several varieties noted beyond; resident, and
on the whole the most abundant owl, breeding about buildings as well as in hollow trees or
stumps, and feeding on small quadrupeds, as mice and shrews; small birds, and insects ; nest a
slight structure in the hollow spleeted: for a resident ; eggs 5 or 6, white) subspherical, 1.30 to
1.40 X 1.15 to 1.20. sy tg
466. S. a. kennicot'ti. (To Robert Kennicott.) euecioune ‘ScrEEcH Ow. The larger
northern form. Length about 11.00; wing usually 7.00-7.50, but grading down in some cases
66a.
467.
468.
469.
470.
471.
506 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— RAPTORES — STRIGES.
to 6.50; tailabout 4.00. In the gray phase, very similar to asto proper, the upper parts being
in fact indistinguishable, but the markings of the under parts finer, more regular and continuous
over the whole surface ; in the ‘red’ phase dusky umber-brown, quite unlike the bright rust-
color of asio. This state was long supposed to be the only one, and characteristic of the bird ;
it occurs chiefly coastwise and far north, while the gray phase, only distinguishable from that
of asio as above said, seems to be the rule in the U. 8. In size, some New England specimens
are fully up to the average of kennicotti. West and Northwest N. Am., from Idaho to Sitka.
8. a. bendirii. (To Capt. Chas. Bendire.) Catirornia ScreEcH Ow. No red phase
Known to occur. Size of asio, and extremely like it, differing chiefly in the finer, more
numerous and continuous cross-bars of the under parts, which cross the middle of the belly as
elsewhere; the shaft-stripes also appear less blotchy. It is thus quite like the gray phase of
kennicotti, but sinaller. The plumicorns are said to be shorter. Coast region of California,
common. I have gone carefully over a series of Scops, and appreciate the points lately made
by Mr. Brewster and Mr. Ridgway. If these fine shades are to be recagnized by name, the
present seems entitled to be named with the rest.
S. a. maxwel'le. (To Mrs. M. A. Maxwell, of Boulder, Colorado, a noted huntress and
taxidermist.) CoLoRADO ScREECH OWL. Size of asio;. no red phase observed ; but, on the
contrary, the whole plumage very pale, almost as if bleached, the difference evident in nestlings
even. Upper parts pale gray, with reduced black lines; lower whiter with reduced dark shaft-
lines and cross-bars, the scapular bar very conspicuous ; much white on wing-coverts; white
spots on outer webs of several primaries running into continuous areas only indented with small
dark spaces. Mountains of Colorado, and doubtless adjoining ones ; an alpine form.
S. a. maceal/li. (To Col. Geo. A. McCall.) Trxas Screech Owx. A small southern
form; size of floridanus; gray and red phases, as in asio proper. Very similar to asio; in
the gray phase, the markings of the under parts finer, firmer, more regular and continuous, the
shaft-lines strict, not blotchy, the cross-lines sharp; the stripes of the upper parts coarse, but
regular, and the nape with a tendency to present a light nuchal collar. Texas and southward,
to Guatemala. (S. maccalli Cass., 1854, 1858; Cours, 1872; S. asio var. enano LAwR.,
Rivew., Hist. N. A. B., iii, 1874, p. 48, but not maccalh, ibid., p. 52.)
8. a. florida/‘nus. (Of Florida.) FLormpa Screech Ow. A small southern form; wing
5.50-6.00 ; tail about 3.00. Coloration as in asio; red phase frequent if not the usual one; in
its full development, the rusty makes quite firm broad cross-bars on the under parts, which is
not the rule in asio, though very evident in specimens from Southern Illinois, for example,
where the red is by far the most frequent plumage. Florida, and adjoining regions.
S. trichop’sis? (Gr. Opié, tptxds, thriz, trichos, hair, éys, opsis, aspect.) An alleged
species, or a subspecies of asio, with which I am unacquainted. Described as having the bars
of the lower surface fine, nearer together than in asio, and much more uniformly distributed ;
the general aspect being paler than in asio, with much finer vermiculations (Ridgway). Cali-
fornia, New Mexico, and southward. (S. a. maccalli, Ripaw., Hist. N. A. B., iii, 1874, p. 52;
S. trichopsis, Ripaw., Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus., 1878, p. 114; but whether of Wacier, 1832?)
8. flamme/ola. (Lat. flammeola, here signifying a little reddish thing.) FLAMMULATED
ScreecH OwL. A small species, with much the general aspect of an ungrown S. asio; but
the close feathering of the tarsus stops abruptly at the bases of the toes, which are naked, and
the plumicorns are quite short. Length 6.50-7.00 ; wing 5.25-5.50; tail 2.75; tarsus 0.90;
culmen, without cere, 0.35; middle toe, without claw, 0.55. Adult g 9: Facial disc, some-
times whole head, rusty-rufous, or light chestnut, speckled with black, on the top of the head
also with white, tending to form a superciliary stripe. Ground of under parts white, but heavily
overlaid with shaft-stripes or blotches of black giving off irregular cross-waves, on the breast
tinged with rusty-rufous here and there; tarsi white, speckled with dusky. Upper parts
minutely dappled with dark brown and hoary-gray, and with ragged dark shaft-stripes ; a con-
163.
472.
473,
STRIGIDZE: OTHER OWLS. 507
spicuous whitish scapular bar, as in S. asto. Tail like back, but with numerous narrow and
ragged cross-bars of pale rusty or whitish. Wing-quills ‘ bitten in’ on outer webs with white .
or buff, conspicuously so on several primaries, their inner webs with regular but narrow, distant
and weak bars, strengthening, however, toward the bases of the secondaries. Young birds,
like those of S. asio, tend to a uniform cross-barring of the whole plumage, but especially of
the under parts, with light and dark ; the top of the head is finely vermiculated in this manner ;
the chestnut first appears on the ear-coverts and about the eyes; but in any color-variation this
interesting little Scops, only about as large as a Glaucidiwm, is unmistakable.
A’/SIO. (Lat. asio, a kind of horned owl.) Earep OwLs. MarsH Owns. Skull and ear-
parts more or less unsymmetrical; the conch of immense size, about as long as the skull is high,
furnished with a movable operculuin for its full length. Eyes centric in the perfectly developed
facial dise. Plumicorns more or less developed. Nostrils at edge of the cere, which is some-
what inflated, and longer than the chord of culmen beyond it; bill rather weak. Wings about
twice as long as tail, pointed, 2d primary usually longest, only 1 or 2 primaries emarginate on
inner webs. Feet closely feathered to the ends of the toes. Of mediuin size; our species 12—
16 inches long. Embracing numerous species, and nearly cosmopolitan. Our long-eared owl
is decidedly different from that of Europe, Asio otus, but the short-eared has not been satisfac-
torily distinguished from the almost cosmopolitan A. accipitrinus.
Analysis of Species.
Plumicorns long, many-feathered (Asio proper). . 2. 6 1 + ee ee ee et he wilsonianus 472
Plumicorns short, few-feathered (Brachyotus) ..... - . « accipitrinus 473
A. wilsonia/nus, (To A. Wilson. Fig. 56.) AMERICAN dipucemnee OwL. Ear-tufts con-
spicuous, about as long as middle toe and claw, of 8-12 feathers. First primary only emargi-
nate on inner web. Upper ‘parts brownish-black, minutely mottled with grayish-white, and
variegated with the tawny of basal portions of the feathers which comes to the surface here
and there; the general effect dark, quite different from the tawny streaking of A. otus of
Europe. Under parts confused blackish-brown, grayish-white and tawny; on the breast
marbled in large pattern, for the rest with dusky shaft-lines throwing off dusky cross-bars
(several on each feather) on a whitish ground, and the tawny bases of the feathers showing
more or less; fect and crissum mostly immaculate, tawny or whitish. Quills blackish-brown,
regularly barred with mottled gray, and towards their bases with tawny, which latter forms a
conspicuous area on the outer webs of several primaries. Lining of wings tawny, separated
by a dusky area from the similar bases of the inner webs of the primaries. Tail like the
secondaries, dusky with gray marbled bars, and more or less tawny towards the base; but from
below presenting quite light, with numerous firm narrow dusky bars. Facial disc mostly
tawny, framed all around in a blackish border speckled with whitish, and more or less black-
ened about the eye; usually a whitish superciliary line; bristles at base of bill mixed whitish
and blackish ; plumbeous-blackish, basally tawny, edged on one side with whitish. Bill and
claws blackish ; iris yellow. Length 14.00-16.00; extent about 39.00; wing 11.00-12.00;
tail 5.50-6.50; tarsus 1.25-1.50; chord of whole culmen about 1.00. .Less variable than
many owls, and always easy to recognize. N. Am. at large, common and generally dis-
tributed, resident ; perfectly nocturnal, and thus screened from casual observation, even where
it is numerous, but often surprised in the daytime in shady resorts, as thick bushes along
streams, cafions, caves, etc. Nesting various, in a hollow tree or stump, rift of rock, on the
ground, or in deserted nests of other birds, as hawks, crows, magpies, or even herons; usually
constructed with little art, as when in a hollow or on the ground, sometimes better built in
branches of a thick tree. Food small quadrupeds, birds, and insects. Eggs white, subspherical,
1.50 to 1.60 X 1.30 to 1.40.
A. accipitrinus. (Lat. accipitrinus, hawk-like. Fig. 355.) SHortT-rARED OWL. Marsa
Ow. Ear-tufts inconspicuous, much shorter than middle toe and claw, few-feathered. First
508 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES— STRIGES.
and 2d primaries emarginate on inner webs. Above, completely variegated, chiefly in streaks,
with fulvous or tawny, and dark brown; breast much the same, but other under parts paler
ochrey, usually bleaching on the
belly, which is sparsely but sharply
streaked (never barred) with dark
brown; feet pale tawny or whitish,
usually immaculate; lining of wings
interruptedly whitish. Wing-quills
varied, mostly in large pattern, and
tail pretty regularly barred (about 5
bars) with the two colors of the
upper parts. Facial area white or
nearly so, but with a large black eye-
patch ; the disc minutely speckled
with fulvous and blackish, bordered
with white internally and usually
having a blackish patch behind the
ear; radiating feathers of the oper-
culum streaked with blackish and
fulvous. Iris bright yellow; bill
and claws dusky-bluish ; the naked
granular soles yellowish. The ear-
opening of this species is extremely
large, being two inches or more
across the longest way. Length ofa
& 14.50; extent 41.00; wing 12.00;
tail 6.00; tarsus to end of middle
claw 3.50; chord of culmen, cere
, , included, 1.12; 9 averaging larger
Fig. 355. — Short-eared Owl, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) than g. Inhabits N. Am. at large,
and most other parts of the world. It appears to be somewhat migratory with us, and is
sometimes seen in considerable flocks, especially in marshy places, which are its favorite
hunting-grounds for the small quadrupeds and other animals upon which it preys. It is a
great destroyer of shrews and field-mice, deserving on this account to be protected in the
interests of agriculture. The nest is commonly built on the ground, sometimes in an under-
ground burrow, consisting of a little hay and feathers; the eggs are 4-7 in number, dull white,
roundish, about 1.55 1.25. This owl breeds indifferently in any latitude, and is one of those
frequently abroad in the daytime.
164, STRIX. (Gr. o7piyé, strigx, Lat. strix, a screech-owl.) Gray Ow1s. Brown OwLs.
Woop Ow1s. Skull and ear-parts more or less unsymmetrical, the latter large, furnished
with a moderate operculum scarcely reaching the whole length of the opening. Head very
large, appearing as broad as the body, and perfectly smooth, there being no plumicorns : facial
dise complete and of great extent, the comparatively small eyes centric in the radiating feathers.
Nostril in edge of cere, which is shorter than rest of culmen. Bill yellow; iris yellow or
black. Tail very long, % to 3 as long as the wings. Wings much rounded; 4 to 6 primaries
sinuate on inner webs; l1st.quite short. Feathering of feet variable ; tarsus always feathered,
but toes wholly or partly feathered, or naked. A large genus of ‘earless’ owls, chiefly of the
northern hemisphere, of medium to very largest size. North America has at least three per-
fectly distinct species; the commonest one of these, 8. nebulosa, represents the European
tawny owl, S. aluco.
474.
475.
476.
STRIGIDH: OTHER OWLS. 509
Analysis of Species.
Under parts streaked on the breast, elsewhere barred. Iris yellow. Six quills sinuate.
Of immense size; length 2 feet or more; toes densely feathered. Northern ...... cinerea 474
Under parts barred on the breast, elsewhere streaked. Iris black. Five quills sinuate.
Of medium size; length about 14 feet.
Toes fully feathered. Eastern. . 2. 2. 1 ee ee et te ee » « . nebulosa 476
Toes mostly naked. Florida . . 1. 1 1 ew ee ee ee ee ee alleni 417
Under parts barred everywhere. Iris black. Five quills sinuate.
Of medium size; toes fully feathered. Western .... ... see .e-s . . occidentalis 478
S. cine/rea. (Lat. cinerea, ashy.) GREAT GRAY OWL. SPECTRAL OWL. Feet completely
feathered to the claws; bill and eyes yellow; 6 primaries cut on inner webs. Entire upper
parts dark brown, mottled with grayish-white in confused and intricate pattern, reducible in
general to dissipation of bars. Wings and tail similar, broken-barred with grayish-white
marbling. Under parts of the same dark brown and pale gray, the pattern in streaks on the
breast, in cross-bars on the belly and flanks, in spots on the feet. The great facial disc watered
with dark brown and light gray in regular rings concentric with each eye, the outermost ring
dark brown, and stronger than the rest, bounded below with a ragged white collar. Length
2 feet or more; extent about 5 feet; wing 16.00-18.00 inches; tail 11.00-12.50; culmen
1.00 without cere. An immense owl, one of the largest of all, inhabiting Arctic America,
straying irregularly south into the U. 8. in winter, even to New Jersey, Illinois, and California ;
said to be common from our northern border northward, and perhaps resident in Northern New
England. Nest in trees, of sticks, mosses, and feathers; eggs usually 3 or 4, not equal-ended
and rather small for the bird, 2.25 xX 1.80. Like others of the genus it is a wood owl; while
its prowess enables it to prey upon creatures up to the size of grouse and hares.
S. c. lappo’nica. (Lat. lapponica, of Lapland.) Lap Own. Specimens from Alaska, lighter
colored than ordinary, have been referred to the European rather than the American variety.
S. nebulo’sa. (Lat. nebulosa, clouded. Fig. 356.) Barrep OwL. Hoor Own. AMERICAN
Woop:.Ow.. ‘Toes fully feathered, nearly or quite to the claws, which are blackish; bill
yellow; iris black. Of medium size in the genus: length
18.00-20.00; extent about 44.00; wing 12.50-13.50, rounded;
tail 9.00-10.00, rounded. Markings of back and breast in
cross-bars, of belly in lengthwise stripes. Above, umber-
brown or liver-color, everywhere barred with white or tawny,
or both; breast the same; on the belly the pattern changing
abruptly to heavy dusky shaft-stripes on a white or tawny
ground; crissum the same; feet speckled with dusky ; wings
and tail like the back or rather. darker, regularly barred with
gray, light brown or tawny, some of the bars usually making
white spots at their ends, and the marking of the wing-coverts Fie. 356. — Barred Owl, reduced.
rather in spots than bars. Lining of wings tawny, with some dusky spotting. Facial disc
set in a frame of black and white specks, with blackened eye-lids, and obscurely watered
with lighter and darker colors in rings around the eye as a centre, the bristly feathers about
the bill mixed black and white, or white at base, blackened terminally. A notably large and
somewhat impressive owl of Eastern N. Am., common in woodland of the U. S., especially
southerly ; not known to range much north of the U. S., though occurring in parts of Canada,
and not reported from the: West, where apparently replaced by S. occidentalis. It is the com-
monest ‘ hooting’ owl, the strange outbursts of midnight discord which one may hear about the
farm-house or camp-fire proceeding oftener from this species than from the great horned owl ;
and it is strong enough to prey upon poultry, quail, rabbits and squirrels, as well as humbler
game. Nest in a hollow tree, or a deserted hawk’s or crow’s nest; eggs laid early in spring,
white, subspherical, about 2.00 X 1.75.
A777.
478,
165.
479.
510 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — STRIGES.
S. on. alleni. (To J. A. Allen.) Fiormpa Barrep Own. Like S. nebulosa proper, but
toes almost entirely naked. The feathering of the tarsus stops at the roots of the toes almost
as abruptly as it does in Scops flammeola, in comparison with S. asio, though a slight strip of
bristly feathers runs along the outside of the middle toe. The barring of the breast seems
to be heavier, on an average. Florida; a local race.
S. occidenta/lis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) WESTERN BARRED OWL. Toes feathered as
in S. nebulosa. Decidedly smaller than that species, and otherwise readily distinguished.
Ground-color of upper parts much the same, but the barring broken up into spotting, for the
most part; on the back and wing-coverts resulting in irregular variegation, on the head making
small round white spots. Wings, tail, and facial disk much as in S. nebulosa. Under parts
quite different, the markings being in bars everywhere, with little difference in pattern between
the belly and the breast. The latter is closely and regularly barred with brown and white, as
in 8. nebulosa, and if the barring is at all different on the belly, it is from separation of the
white bars into pairs of spots, in any event very different in appearance from the firm length-
wise stripes of S. nebulosa. The difference between the two species in this regard is comparable
to that between the k -g- and short-eared owls. The lining of the wings is fully spotted with
dusky on a tawny grund. The general brown color of the bird is on the whole warmer than
that of 8. nebulosa. Length about 16.00; wing 12.00-13.00; tail 8.00-9.00. Western U. S.,
southerly ; a very distinct species, apparently replacing the barred owl, common in parts of
California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Egg 2.00 x 1.75, yellowish-white, granular.
NYC'TEA. (Gr. vuxrcis, nukteus, Lat. nycteus,
nocturnal.) Snow Owxs. Much the same gen-
eric characters as Bubo, which see; but plumicorns
rudimentary, and generally considered wanting;
facial dise quite incomplete, and eyes not centric
to it; bill nearly buried in the frontal feathers;
feet densely clothed in long shaggy feathers which
even hide the claws; four outer quills emarginate
on inner webs; under tail-coverts reaching end of
tail, which is rounded, aud rather more than 4 as
long as the wing. One circumpolar species of
great size, and mostly white color; young covered
with sooty down.
N. seandia/ca. (Lat. scandiaca, of Scandinavia.
Fig. 357.) Snowy Own. Pure white, spotted ¥
and barred with brownish-black markings, wholly
indeterminate in size and number; but entirely
white specimens are very rare. There is often
more blackish than white; and in the darkest
birds, the markings tend to bar the plumage with
rows of spots, such pattern specially evident on the
wings and tail. A common average plumage is ya. 357.— Snowy Owl, reduced. (From Tenney,
spotted all over the upper parts, broken-barred on ter Audubon.)
the quills and tail-feathers, regularly barred on the under parts, and with white face and paws.
The face, throat, and feet are usually whitest. Bill and claws black; iris yellow. Nearly or
about two feet long; extent 4.50-5.00 feet; wing 16.00-18.00 inches; tail 9.00-10.00; culmen
1.10 without cere; tarsus 2.00; middle toe without claw 1.25. This remarkable owl, conspic-
uous in size and color, abounds in the boreal regions of both hemispheres, whence it comes
southward irregularly in winter, sometimes raiding in large numbers. With us, it is of every
winter occurrence in the Northern and Middle States, sometimes pushing its way even to the
166.
480.
STRIGIDA’: OTHER OWLS. 511
Carolinas and Texas; there being no part of the U. 8. where it may not appear at that season.
It is far fron being exclusively nocturnal, and hunts abroad in the day-time as readily as any
hawk. It has never been ascertained to breed in the U. S., though it probably does so in
Maine, as is certainly the case little further north. It is capable of enduring the rigors of
Aretie winters. The nest is usually upon the ground or rocks; the eggs are 5 to 10, laid at
intervals (as is the case with various other owls), so that the nest may contain fresh and incu-
bated eggs and young birds at once; they are equal-ended, about 2.50 x 1.90. The bird preys
upon grouse, ptarmigan, hares, and smaller game, especially the field-mice and lemmings
which swarm in the Arctic regions.
SURNIA. (Etym. of Surnia or Syrnium unknown.) Hawk Ow1s. Skull and ear-parts
much as in Bubo or Nyctea; latter non-operculate, the opening of small size; facial dise very
little developed, and eyes not centric to it; no plumicorns. Wings folding far short of end of
tail; third primary longest; first 4 emarginate on inner webs. Tail remarkably long, little
shorter than the wing, much graduated, with lanceolate feathers. Feet thickly and completely
feathered to the claws; tarsus scarcely or not longer than middle toe. Of medium size, with 2
peculiarly neat and dressy appearance, for an owl, the whole plumage being more strict than in
other members of this family. There is but one species, common to northern portions of both
hemispheres, as hawk-like in habits as in mien, though unmistakably an owl.
S. fune/rea, (Lat. funerea, funereal. Fig. 358.) American Hawk Owxz. Day Owt.
Bill and eyes yellow; claws brownish-black. Upper parts bistre-brown, darkest and almost
blackish on the head, where profusely
spotted with small round white marks,
to which succeeds a nuchal interval less
spotted or free from spots, then an area
of larger and lengthened spots ; scapulars
profusely spotted with white in large
pattern, forming a scapular bar as in
Scops; back and wing-coverts more or
less spotted with white also; primaries
and secondaries with white spots in pairs
on opposite edges of the feathers. Tail
broken-barred with white or pale gray,
usually narrowly and distinctly, on one
or both webs, and tipped with the same;
but there is great individual variation in
this respect, as may also be said of the
amount and character of the spotting of
the whole upper parts. Under parts
from the breast backward, including the
erissum, closely and regularly cross-
barred with rich reddish-brown, or even
reddish-black, upon a white ground, the
alternating bars of color usually of
about equal widths — if anything, the my
white the broadest. The lining of the Fie. 358.— Hawk Owl, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
wings shares the same character, but is more spotty; the paws are mottled with brown and
whitish, in different pattern. On the breast the regular barring gives way, the tendency being
to form a dark pectoral band on a white or spotted ground, but. this disposition is seldom per-
fected. Facial dise mostly whitish, bounded by a conspicuous blackish crescent behind the
ear. When the dark nuchal collar is perfected, a second bar curves down behind the first on
481.
167.
482.
512 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — STRIGES.
the side of the neck, separated by a whitish interval; the edges of the eyelids, many of the
loral bristles, a line just in front of the eye, and a chin-spot, are black or dusky; the lower
part of the disc below the ears has also dusky streaks. The exposed part of the bill is bright
yellow, as said, but most of that hidden by the bristles is of a dark livid color. However vari-
‘able in detail, the markings of this species are unmistakable ; those about the head are better
defined than in most owls, and quite peculiar. Length 15.00; extent 33.00; wing about
9.00; tail about 7.00; tarsus, or middle toe without claw, 1.00 or less; culmen without cere
0.75. A handsome and spirited owl, abundant in northern portions of N. Am., 8. into
northern U. 8S. in winter, frequently and regularly ; apparently resident in Maine. Like the
snowy owl, it endures the rigors of Arctic winters.. Nest usually in trees, sometimes on rocks
or stumps, of sticks, mosses, grasses, and feathers; eggs 4-7, April, May, about 1.55 & 1.25,
whitish. The food of this species seems to be chiefly field-mice and other small rodents,
hawked for in broad daylight, this owl being apparently the least nocturnal of its tribe.
S.f. wlula. (Lat. wlula, a screech owl.) EUROPEAN Hawk Ow.. Lighter-colored speci-
mens from Alaska have been considered to represent this variety, just as darker-colored ones,
from the British Islands, have been referred to the preceding variety. ;
NYOC'TALA., (Gr. vixrados, nuktalos, sleepy.) SAw-wHET Owxs. Skull and ear-parts
highly unsymmetrical, the latter of great size, and fully operculate. Head very large (as in
Strix), without plumicorns ; facial disc complete, with centric eye. Nostril at edge of the cere,
which is inflated or not. Tail from 4to $ as long as the wing, rounded. Third and 4th primaries
longest; 1st quite short; 2 or 8 emarginate on inner webs. Feet thickly and closely feathered
to the claws. In this interesting genus the ear-parts are of great size, and reach the extreme
of asymmetry, the whole skull seeming misshapen. Three species are known, all of small
size; one of circumpolar distribution, one peculiar to N. Am., the third of unknown habitat,
probably American. They are notable for the unusual degree of difference between old and
young; and our species are readily distinguished by stronger characters than are ordinarily found
between congeneric owls. The adults are uinber or chocolate-brown above, spotted with white,
below white, striped with brown; the young more uniform. Eyes yellow; bill black or
yellow.
Analysis of Species.
Larger: wing about 7.00; tail 4.50. Bill yellow; cere not tumid; nostrils presenting laterally, and
obliguelyowal. Bee. 4. 2a a ee ee eM EER ge Ow EES BS richardsoni 482
Smaller: wing 5.60; tail 2.67. Bill black; cere tumid; nostrils Presenting anteriorly, and about circular.
W588 ree ae a ee ee a ee a at xs acadica 483
N. teng/malmi rich’ardsoni. "(To P. G. Rissidsnins ai. Richardson.) Arctic AMERICAN
Saw-wHet Ow. Adult: Upper parts, including wings and tail, uniform chocolate-brown,
spotted with white ; on the top of the head the spots small and profuse, on the nape larger and
blended into a nuchal collar, on the back and wing-coverts large and sparse, but tending to
form a scapular bar, on the wing-quills and tail-feathers in pairs, at the opposite edges of the
webs, on the inner webs larger, more like bars, and more or less run together, especially on
the inner secondaries. Under parts white, thickly and confusedly streaked lengthwise with the
color of the back. Facial dise mostly white, but with blackish eyelids and loral spot, set in a
frame of dark brown speckled with white. The general tone of the brown of this species is
oftenest ruddy, nearly as in NV. acadica, but sometimes dark and pure. Young not seen by me ;
said to differ from the adult much as N. acadica does. Length 11.00-12.00; extent 24.00;
wing 7.00; tail 4.50; tarsus 1.00; middle toe without claw 0.67; culmen without cere 0.60.
Said to be distinguished from the European conspecies (fig. 359) by its darker coloration, ochrey
feet spotted with brown instead of being nearly immaculate white, and more heavily streaked
under tail-coverts. This fine species inhabits the Arctic regions, being seldom seen in the
U. 8., where only known in winter and not further south than New England, Wisconsin,
Northern Ohio, and Oregon ; though it is probably resident in Northern Maine, like the snowy
483.
STRIGIDZA): OTHER OWLS. 513
and hawk owls. The nest is said to be built in a tree; the eggs are variously stated to be from
2 to 6 in number; size 1.25 x 1.05.
N. aca/dica. (Lat. acadica, of Acadia.) AcapIAN Owl. Saw-wHet Own. Adult:
Upper parts, including wings and tail, very similar to those of the last species, but the ground
usually a ruddier brown, the spotting less extensive, the marks on the top of the head pencilled
in delicate shaft-lines instead of round spots, those of the wings and tail exactly as in A. rich-
ardsoni. Under parts white, diffusely streaked or dappled with a peculiar light brown, almost
pinkish-brown. Feet immaculate whitish, tinged with buff. Facial dise mostly white, but
blackened immediately about the eye and on the loral bristles, and pencilled with dusky on
the auriculars; set in a frame of the color of the back, touched with white points behind the
Fia. 359. — Upper, Tengmalm’s European Saw-whet Owl, very near No, 482. Lower European Sparrow Owl,
resembling No. 484. Both 4 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
ear; this frame distinct on the throat where it separates the white of the disc from a white
jugular collar, before the pectoral streaks begin. Bill black ; claws dark; eyes yellow. Young
quite different (N. albifrons): Above, ruddy chocolate-brown,, without any spots; wings and
tail more fuscous brown, marked substantially as in the adults. Below, the color of the
back extending over all the fore parts, the rest being brownish-yellow ; no streaks whatever.
Facial disc sooty-brown, with whitish eye-brow, and some white touches on the rim behind
the ear curving forward to the chin. Bill black, as before. Length 7.50-8.00; extent 17.00-
18.00; wing 5.25-5.75 ; tail 2.60-2.90; tarsus 0.75 ; bill without cere 0.50; middle toe with-
out claw 0.60. This curious little owl, the most diminutive species found in Eastern N Am.,
inhabits the U. S. from Atlantic to Pacific, and goes somewhat further North into British
America, and also S. into Mexico. Though apparently common and generally distributed, it is
38
168,
484.
485.
514 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — STRIGES.
not very well known, as it is shy and retiring, and quite nocturnal in habits. It is chiefly
noted for its shrill harsh notes, which, being likened to filing a saw, have occasioned its name.
The nest is usually made in the hollow of a tree or stump, in April; the eggs are 3-6 in number,
white, nearly globular, about 1.00 x 0.87.
GLAUCI'DIUM. (Gr. dimin. of yAavé, glaux, an owl.) GNomE OwLs. SPARROW OWLS.
Pyemy Ow1s. Size very small. Head perfectly smooth ; no plumicorns; ear-parts small,
non-operculate; facial dise very incomplete, the eye not centric. Nostril circular, opening in
the tumid cere; bill robust. “Tarsus fully and closely feathered, but toes only bristly for the
most part. Wings short and much rounded, the 4th primary longest, the 1st quite short, the
3 outer ones emarginate, and next one or two sinuate. Tail long, about 3 as long as the wing,
even or nearly so. Claws strong, much curved. A large genus of very small owls, mostly of
tropical countries. The numerous species, chiefly of warm parts of America, are in dire con-
fusion, but the only two known to inhabit N. Am. are well determined. The plumage of
many or most species is dichromatic, as in Scops, there being a red and a gray phase indepen-
dently of age, season, or sex; but the red is not known to occur in our G. gnoma. The upper
parts are marked with spots or lines; bars, or rows of spots, cross the wings and tail; the
under parts are streaked ; there is a cervical collar. Notwithstanding their slight stature, the
gnome owls are bold and predaceous, sometimes attacking birds quite as large as themselves..
They are not specially nocturnal. The eggs are laid in holes in trees, and are not peculiar in
character.
Analysis of Species.
Markings of upper parts in dots and round spots. Tail dark brown, with rows of white spots . .gnoma 484
Markings of upper parts in sharp lines. ‘ail reddish, with dark brown bars . . - ferrugineum 485-
G. gno‘ma, (Lat. gnoma, a spirit of the mines.) CALIFORNIAN GNOME OWL. 9, adult:
Tail concolor with the back, and markings of the upper parts, as well as those crossing the
wings and tail, in the form of dots or round spots, not lines or bars. Upper parts one shade of
dark brown, everywhere dotted with small circular spots of white; a collar of mixed blackish-
brown and white around the back of the neck ; breast with a band of mottled brown, separating
the white throat from the white of the rest of the under parts, which have irregular lengthwise
streaks of reddish-brown. Wings and tail dusky-brown, the feathers marked on both webs with
rows of round white spots, largest. on the inner; under wing-coverts white, crossed obliquely
by a blackish bar. Bill, cere, and feet dull greenish-yellow; soles chrome yellow; claws
black ; iris bright yellow ; mouth livid flesh-color.. Length of ¢ 7.00 or a little less; extent
14.50; wing 3.75; tail 3.00. Length of 9 7.50; extent 15.50, ete. In the 9 the upper parts
are rather lighter, with fewer larger spots, and a nearly obsolete nuchal collar; but both sexes
vary in the tint of the upper parts, which ranges from pure deep brown to pale grayish, almost
olivaceous, brown, probably according to age and season, the newer feathers being darker than
they are when old and worn. The condition of erythrism, so well known in the next species,
has not been observed in the present one, which is closely related to the sparrow owl of Europe
(G. passerinum, fig. 359). Rocky Mts. tothe Pacifie, U.S. and southward, common in wooded
regions ; an interesting little ow], crepuscular and rather diurnal than strictly nocturnal, preying
chiefly upon insects, but also upon birds and quadrupeds sometimes about as large as itself.
G. ferrugi‘neum. (Lat. ferrugineum, rusty-red.) FERRUGINEOUS GNoME OwL. $9,
adult, normal plumage: Tail entirely ferrugineous, or light chestnut-red, crossed with 7 to 9
bars of blackish-brown, — of the same width as the rufous interspaces, and both sets of mark-
ings quite regular. (These tail-marks distinguish the species in any plumage from G. gnoma.).
Entire top of the head, above the superciliary ridges, and sides of the head behind the auriculars,
olivaceous-brown, streaked witb small, distinct lines of white or fulvous-whitish ; these mark-
ings being on the forehead and most of the crown like pin-scratches in their sharpness, and
though a little less so behind the ears, everywhere retaining their narrow linear character. (In
169.
STRIGIDA): OTHER OWLS. 515
G. gnoma, the head-markings are dots and spots, not lines.) Back like the head, olivaceous-
brown, but without markings, except on the scapulars, most uf which feathers have a large.
rouud white spot on the outer web near the end, and more or fewer pairs of fulvous spots on
both webs. Color of back and head divided by an obvious cervical collar, consisting of a series
of diffuse whitish, and another of fulvous, spots, separated by a nearly continuous line of black.
Upper tail-coverts usually more or less rufescent, approximating to the color of the tail.
Remiges olivaceous-fuscous, like the back, the primaries imperfectly and indistinctly, the sec-
ondaries completely and decidedly, cross-barred with numerous rufescent bands, narrower than
the dark intervals ; besides which markings some of the primaries have an ingompleted series
of small whitish or very pale fulvous spots along the outer edge, and all have large and deep
indentations of white or whitish along the inuer web, increasing in size from the ends toward
the bases of all the feathers, and also on individual feathers from the outer primaries to the
inner secondaries, on which last they reach quite across the inner webs. Lining of wings
white, with an oblique dark bar, and another curved dark bar, the latter across the ends of the
under coverts. Under parts white, heavily streaked along the sides with the color of the back ;
this color extending quite across the breast, where, however, the feathers have dilated shaft-
lines of whitish ; chin and throat white, divided into two areas by a blackish or dark gular col-
lar, which curves across from one post-auricular region to the other. The markings all diffuse.
Auriculars dark, sharply scratched with white shaft-lines, bounded below by pure white. Eye-
brows white, pretty definitely bounded above by the color of the crown. Region inmediately
about the bill whitish, but mixed with the long, heavy, black bristles that project far beyond
the bill, which latter is greenish at base, growing dull yellowish at the end; sparsely-haired
toes somewhat like the bill; claws brownish-black ; iris lemon-yellow. Length of ¢ about
6.50; extent 14.50; wing 3.50; tail 2.50; tarsus 0.75; middle toe without claw about the
saine, its claw 0.40. 9 larger: length 7.00 or more; wing 4.00; tail nearly 3.00. Red
phase: Entire upper parts deep rufous-red, with the lighter markings of the head, ete., obsolete
or obliterated ; tail the same, with dark bars scarcely traceable. Dark cervical collar, however,
conspicuous. White of under parts tinged with yellowish or fulvous; the markings of the
under parts similar in color to the ground of the upper parts, but dullerand paler; tibiee rufous,
without markings. Guylar collar blackish. Various intermediate stages have been observed,
and the species is to be found in every degree of transition, from the slightest departure from
the normal state to the completely erythritic condition. These color-conditions are common to
both sexes. In extreme cases, the rufous becomes intense and almost uniform, a light rufous
replacing even the white of the under parts, and there being no traces left of bars on the wings
or tail. Texas to Arizona and Southern California, and southward.
MICRATHE'NE. (Gr. puxpds, mikros, small; ’Aéjn, Athene, goddess of wisdom, to whom
the owl was sacred.) ELF Owxs. Related to Glaucidium; of very diminutive size, including
the smallest known species of ow], and one of the least of all raptorial birds. Head perfectly
smooth; no plumicorns; ear-parts small, non-operculate ; facial dise incomplete, with eye not
centric. Nostril circular, opening in the tumid cere. Tarsi scarcely feathered below the suf-
frago, being almost entirely naked and bristly, like the toes; this is as in Speotyto, though
other characters are quite different. Claws remarkably small and weak; middle toe and claw
about as long as the tarsus; outer claw reaching a little beyond base of middle claw; inner
intermediate between middle and outer. Wings very long, rather more than 3 the total length
of the bird, but much rounded, the lst primary only 2 as long as the longest one; 3d and 4th
longest, 5th but little shorter, 2d about equal to 6th; the outer four sinuate on inner webs.
Tail of moderate length, 4 as long as the wing, the feathers not graduated, and broad to their
very tips. Bill small and weak, compressed at base, where hidden in dense antrorse bristly
feathers; culmen and gonys only moderately convex; lower mandible obsoletely notched.
One species known.
486.
170.
487.
516 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES— STRIGES.
M. whit/neyi. (To Prof. J. D. Whitney.) Exr Own. 4, adult: Above, light umber-
brown, thickly marked with irregular angular pale brownish dots, one on every feather, and
minutely undulated with lighter and darker color. A concealed white cervical collar, this color
occupying the middle of the feathers, which are brown at their ends and plumbeous at base.
A white scapular stripe, the outer webs of the scapulars being almost entirely of this color.
Wings like the back ; lesser coverts with two pale brownish spots on each feather; middle and
greater coverts boldly spotted with white at the end of the outer web of each feather, and with
pale brown spots near the end. Quills with 3 to 6 pale brown spots on each web, forming
broken bars, mostly passing to white on the edge of the feathers, those on a few intermediate
primaries almost white. Tail-feathers like the wing-quills, with 5 broken bars and one ter-
minal, of pale brownish whitening on the inner webs. Lining of wings white, interrupted
with dark brown. Face and region about eye white, below it barred with light and dark
brown ; bristles at base of bill black on terminal half. Chin and throat white, forming a broad
mark from side to side. General color of under parts whitish, the breast blotched and imper-
fectly barred with brown, forming toward the abdomen large patches, the sides more grayish,
the flanks plumbeous, tibise narrowly barred with light brown and dusky. Tarsal bristles
whitish ; those of the toes yellowish ; bill pale greenish ; iris bright yellow. Length 5.75-6.25 ;
extent 14.25-15.25 ; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.00-2.25; tarsus 0.80-0.90. Arizona and south-
ward; a very curious little owl, not yet well known, few specimens having been secured. The
general habits, nesting, and food, appear to be similar to those of the gnome owls.
SPEO'TYTO. (Gr. oméos, speos, a cave; Turd, tuto, a kind of owl.) Burrowine OwLs.
Q€ medinm and rather small size. Head smooth; no plumicorns ; ear-parts small, non-oper.
culate ; facial disc incom-
plete. Nostril opening in
the tumid cere. Wings of
moderate length; 2d to
4th quills longest; Ist
about equal to 5th; two
or three sinuate on inner
webs near the end. Tail
very short, only about
half as long as the wing,
even or scarcely rounded.
Tarsi extremely long,
about twice as long as
the middle toe without its
claw, very scant-feathered
in front, bare behind; toes
bristly. The long slim
Fic. 360. —Bills and feet of Speotyto, nat. size. . Lower, 9. hypogea; upper, legs are quite peculiar (fig.
S. floridana. (Ad nat. del. R. BR.) 360). A genus confined
to America, where there are several varieties of apparently a single species, of diurnal and
terrestrial habits, noted for inhabiting underground burrows.
S. cunicula‘ria hypoge’a. (Lat. cunicularia, a burrower; Gr. imdyetos, hupogeios, under-
ground. Fig. 361.) Adult $9: Above, dull grayish-brown, profusely spotted with whitish ;
the markings mostly rounded and paired on each feather, but anteriorly lengthened. Quills
with 4 to 6 whitish bars, entire or broken into cross-rows of spots; tail-feathers similarly marked.
There is much individual variation in the tone of the ground-color, and size and number of the
spots, which may also be rather ochrey than whitish. Superciliary line, chin, and throat, white,
the two latter separated by a dark brown jugular collar; auriculars brown; facial bristles black-
ACCIPITRES: DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 517
shafted. Under parts white or pale ochrey, the breast, belly, and sides barred with transverse
spots of brown, in a pretty regular manner ; legs and under tail-coverts unmarked. Lining of
wings tawny-white, dusky-spotted on the primary coverts. Sexes indistinguishable in size or
color : length 9.50; extent 23.00; wing 6.50-7.00; tail 3.00-3.25 ; tarsus 1.50-1.75; middle
toe without claw 0.80; chord of culmen without cere 0.50-0.60. Young differ in much less
spotting, or even uniform-
ity, of the body above,
and whitish under parts,
excepting the jugular col-
lar; wing- and tail-coverts
largely white. A remark-
able-owl, abounding in suit- _
able places in Western N.
Am., froin the Plains to
the Pacific, in the treeless
regions inhabited by the
‘prairie dogs,” (Cynomys
ludovicianus and C. gunni-
sont) and other burrowing
rodents, especially Spermo-
philus richardson in the = =
north, and S. beecheyi in Fig. 361. — Burrowing Owl, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.)
California. I have, found colonies in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Dakota, Montana N. to
49°, Colorado, New Mexico and California, in all cases occupying the deserted burrows of
the quadrupeds, not living in common with them as usually supposed. They also occupy the
holes made by badgers and foxes. The eggs may be laid even 6 or 8 feet from the entrance of
the burrow; they appear to vary in number up to 10; are white, subspherical, 1.30 1.10.
The species has exceptionally occurred in Massachusetts. Its food is chiefly insects and small
reptiles, birds and quadrupeds being apparently rarely taken. Wherever found, the species is
resident, being able to endure extremely cold weather.
. S. ¢. florid/ana. (Of Florida. Fig. 360.) FLormpa Burrowine Owt. Like the last;
rather smaller; wing 6.00-6.50; tail scarcely 3.00; shanks more extensively denuded, only
feathered about half way down in front; feet and bill relatively longer. Upper parts darker,
tather bistre-brown, more profusely and confusedly spotted with smaller and whiter marks;
under parts more heavily and regularly barred with darker brown. Florida, an isolated local
race, colonies of which are common in some places.
7. StBorpER ACCIPITRES: Diurnau Birps or Prey.
This large group, comprising the large majority of the order Raptores, may be most
readily defined by exclusion of the particular characters of the other suborders. There is
nothing of the grallatorial analogy shown by the singular Gypogeranides. The nostrils are
not completely pervious, nor is the hallux elevated, as in Cathartides; while other peculiarities
of the American vultures are wanting. Comparing Accipitres with Striges, we miss the peculiar
physiognomy of owls, the eyes looking laterally as in ordinary birds, and the facial dise being
absent (rudimentary in Circine) ; aftershafts are usually present, and the outer toe is not versa-
tile nor shorter than the inner one (exc. Pandionide). The external ears are moderate and
non-operculate. The eye is usually sunken beneath a much projecting superciliary shield,
conferring a decided and threatening gaze. The bill shows the raptorial type perfectly, and is
always provided with a cere im which (not at its edge as in most owls) the nostrils open; the
518 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES.
cutting edges are usually lobed, or toothed (see any figs.). The lores, with occasional excep-
tions, due to nakedness or dense soft featherings, are scantily clothed with radiating bristly
feathers, which, however, do not form, as usual in owls, a dense appressed ruff hiding the base
of the bill. Wings of 10 primaries, and tail of 12 rectrices (with rare exceptions); both
extremely variable in shape and relative and absolute lengths. The feet are usually strong and
efficient instruments of prehension and weapons of offence or defence, with widely separable
Fie. 362. —Shoulder-joint of Accipitres; after Ridgway. a, anterior end of coracoid; b, upper end of clavicle;
c, scapular process of coracoid, reaching b in the middle fig. (Falco peregrinus), but not in the left-hand fig. (Butea
borealis), nor in the right hand fig. (Pandion haliattus); d, lower end of scapula. The tigs nat. size, left side,
viewed from op,site side.
and strongly contractile toes, cleft to the base or there only united by small movable webs, and
generally scabrous underneath with wart-like pads or tylari to prevent slipping, as shown in
fig. 46. The claws are developed into large sharp curved talons. The tarsal envelope (pod-
otheca) varies ; sometimes the whole tarsus is feathered, and it is usually so in part; the horny
covering takes the form of scutella, or reticulations, or rugous granulations, and is occasionally
fused. The capacious gullet dilates into a crop; the gizzard is moderately muscular; the
ceca are extremely small. The oil-gland is tufted. The syrinx has one pair of intrinsic
muscles. The ambiens and femoro-caudal muscles are present; the accessory femoro-caudal,
seinitendinosus and its accessory are absent. There are good osteological characters: The
phalanges of the hind toe are more than half as long as those of the outer toe ; the basal joint
of the middle or outer toe is longer than the next one. There are no basipterygoid processes.
The sternum is manubriated, and when not entire behind is single-notched or fenestrate on each
side (doubly so in most owls). Huxley has called attention to a character of the shoulder-girdle,
afterward well elaborated by Mr. Ridgway (fig. 362): In certain genera, as Falco, Micrastur,
Herpetotheres, and in the Polyborine, the scapular process of the coracoid, fig. 362, ¢, is pro-
longed beneath the scapula, d, to meet the clavicle, b; which is not the case in other groups of
genera of the Falconide, nor in Pandionide. This distinction has been made the basis of a
primary division of the diurnal Accipitres into two subfamilies, Falconing and Buteonine, the
former including Polyborus aud its allies, the latter including Pandion; but some modification
of this scheme is advisable, I think. It seems to me that the primary division should be made
as on p. 498, by excluding Pandionide as a family distinct from Falconide proper, on the
ground of its many peculiarities. This being done, the character of the shoulder-joint may
properly be considered in dividing the alconide into subfamilies. Iam perfectly willing to
approximate Polyborus to Falco on this technical ground, notwithstanding the great outward
dissimilarity of these two forms; but it is unlikely that ornithologists will allow the construc-
tion of the shoulder-joint to outweigh all other characters combined.
Diurnal Birds of Prey abound in all parts of the world, holding the relation to the rest of
their class that the carnivorous beasts do to other mammals. With wany exceptions, the sexcs
are alike in color, but the female is almost invariably larger than the male. The changes of
FALCONIDZE : VULTURES, FALCONS, HAWKS, ETC. 519
plumage with age are great, and render the determination of the species perplexing — the mure
so since purely individual, and somewhat climatic, color-variations, and such special conditions
as melanism, are very frequent. The modes of nesting are various; the eggs as a rule are.
blotched, and not so nearly spherical as those of owls. The food is exclusively of an animal
nature, though endlessly varied; the refuse of the stomach is ejected in a ball by the inouth.
Fhe voice is loud and harsh.. As arule, the birds of prey are not strictly migratory, though
imany of them change their abode with much regularity. Their mode of life renders them
usually non-gregarious, excepting, however, the vultures and vulture-like hawks, which con-
gregate where carrion is plenty, quite like the American Cathartides. There are upwards of
300 species or good geographical races, justly referable to about 50 full genera, and divisible
into two families — Falconide and Pandionide.
31. Family FALCONIDA:: Vultures, Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, etc.
Characters as above, ex-
clusive of those marking the
fish-hawks, Pandionide, be-
yond. No unexceptionable
division of the family having
been proposed, and the sub-
families being still at issue, it
may be best not to materially
modify the arrangement pre-
sented in the earlier edition
of this work, further than
to separate Pandionide from
Falconide proper.
The Old World Vultures
fourm a group standing some-
what apart from the rest in
many points of superficial
structure and habits, though
so closely correspondent with
ordinary Falconide, aud es-
pecially with Buteonine, in
all essential respects, that
Fig. 363. —The Vulture’s banquet: illustrating subfamily Vudturine of | they can forin at most a sub-
family Falconide, not represented in America, (From Michelet.) family Vulturine (fi g. 363 )
They have nothing to do with the American Vultures (suborder Cathartides), with which they
have been wrongly united in a family Vultwride. They are a small group of some six genera
and about twelve species, of which the most decidedly raptorial is the bearded griffin, Gypaétus.
barbatus; other characteristically ‘‘ vulturine” forms being Vultur monachus, Otogyps auricu-
laris, Gyps fuluus, Neophron percnopterus, and Gypohierax angolensis.
The South American genera, Micrastur and Herpetotheres, are each described as being
so peculiar as to form a group of supergeneric value, comparable with those termed subfamilies
in the present work. Their relationships are with Falconine. (Ridgway.)
The North American Falconide with which we have here to do fall in several groups,
which I shall call subfamilies, without insisting upon their taxonomic rank, or raising the
question whether the family at large is divisible in this manner. These groups are six in
number: 1. Circine, harriers; 2. Milvine, kites; 3. Accipitring, hawks; 4. Falconine,
520 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES— ACCIPITRES.
falcons; 5. Polyborine, caracaras; 6. Buteonine, buzzards and eagles. If it be urged that
these groups grade into one another, it may be replied that most large groups of like grade in
ornithology do the same; and that ‘ typical’ or central genera of each of them offer practical
distinctions which have been recognized from time out of mind, in popular opinion and ver-
nacular language. Tn my recent revision of the North American Falconide, made to check
and amplify the descriptions in this work, an interesting relation between the shape of the
wings and their pattern of coloration presented itself. (a) If we take a ‘ noble’ falcon, such as a
peregrine or a lanner, we find a strong, yet sharp wing, with the second primary longest, sup-
ported nearly to the end by the first and third; the nicking of the quills confined to a few, if
occurring on more than one, and situated near the tip. Such a wing is as potent in its feathers
as in the construction of its shoulder-joint, and indicates the acme of raptorial power in its pos-
sessor, a faleon being able to dash down upon its quarry with almost incredible velocity and
violence. The markings of a falcon’s wing are no less characteristic, consisting of clean-cut, dis-
tinct spots of light color on both webs of the primaries and secondaries, throughout their whole
extent, or almost so. (b) Any true ‘hawk,’ as an Astur or Accipiter, has a rounded concavo-
convex wing, conferring a rapid, almost whirring, flight, like that of a partridge at full speed:
and such a bird captures its prey by chasing after it with wonderful impetuosity, but not at a
single plunge like a falcon. Such a wing has more primaries cut, farther from their ends, and
the markings are pretty regular and distinct bars. (c) Any ‘buzzard,’ as a Buteo, a heavy and
comparatively slow or even lumbering bird in flight, taking its prey by surprise and merely
dropping on it without special address, has many or most of the primaries cut, far from their
ends, and the tendency of the inarkings is to fuse and blend in large irregular masses of color,
the sharp markings of Falco or Accipiter being thus dissipated. Of course there are exceptions,
as well as every possible gradation, in the case ; but if one will compare the wing of Circus or
Archibuteo with that of Accipiter and Falco, he cannot fail to pereeive the point I raise. The
tail is in somewhat like case. In the most noble birds of prey it is very stiff and strong, with
almost lanceolate feathers, sharply spotted as a rule; in a hawk, longer and weaker, still
regularly barred; in a buzzard generally (there are marked exceptions) of nedium length and
strength, with the markings tending to merge in large areas of color, just as those of the
wings do.
' It may be remarked further, without special reference to what has preceded, that in large
and difficult genera, as Buteo for example, the best specific characters may be afforded by the
markings of the tail. These are usually quite different in young and old birds; but are among
a hawk’s most specific credentials, after the mature plumage is assumed, even when the rest of
the plumage varies greatly, or is subject to melanism, erythrism, ete. In fine, many hawks
are best known by their tails. Melanism in frequent in Falconide ; erythrism is not (just the
reverse of the case of Strigide). ‘The further generalization may be made, that the coloration
of the under parts of Falconide is more distinctive of species than that of the upper parts; and
that when these parts are barred crosswise in the adult they are streaked lengthwise in the
young. Sexual differences are rather in size than in color, such a case as that of Circus being
exceptional.
Analysis of Subfamilies.
Scapular process of coracoid reaching clavicle.
Upper mandible toothed, lower mandible notched . . . ea tes a ae FALCONIN 2S
Mandibles without tooth or notch. . .. . ee a aera Bh Ce Hap? ade “i POLYBORINZE
Scapular process of coracoid not reaching clavicle. é
Face with a ruff somewhat asinowls . . . oA fe ee GS ee » +. » « CIRONAD
Face without ruff.
‘Tarsus approximately equal to tibiain length; rounded wings little longer than tail AccIPITRINZ
Tarsus decidedly shorter than tibia.
Tail forked, or much shorter than the long pointed wings. . ..... ~ « . MILVINaD
Tail not forked, moderately shorter than the obtuse wings . . . .. . . . BUTEONINE
171.
489.
FALCONID4 — CIRCINA:: HARRIERS. 521
42. Subfamily CIRCINA:: Harriers.
Face surrounded with an incomplete ruff (as in most
owls) ; orifice of ear about as large as the eye, and in
some cases at least with a decided conch (fig. 364). Bill .
rather weak, not toothed or notched. Legs lengthened,
the tarsus approximately equalling the tibia in length (as
in Accipitrine). Wings and tail lengthened. Form light
and lithe; plumage loose; general organization of the
buteonine rather than of the falconine division of the
Fic. 364, — Ear-parts of Circus. (After family. Thus, the scapular process of the eoracoid is not
Maogillivray.) produced to the clavicle; there is no median ridge on
the palate anteriorly; the septum nasi is less complete than in Falco, and the nostrils are not
circular with a central tubercle. The harriers constitute a small group, of the single genus
Circus and its subdivisions (to which some add the African Polyboroides), coutaining some 15
or 20 species of various parts of the world.
CIRCUS. (Gr. kipkos, kirkos, Lat. circus, a kind of hawk ; from its circling in the air. Fig.
364.) Harriers. Bill thickly beset with many curved radiating bristles surpassing in length
the cere, which is large and tumid ; tomia lobed or festooned, but neither toothed nor notched.
Nostrils ovate-oblong, nearly horizontal. Superciliary shield promiuent. Tarsus long and
slender, scutellate before and mostly so behind, reticulate laterally ; toes slender, the middle
with its claw much shorter than the tarsus; a basal web between the vuter and middle ; all
tuberculate underneath; claws very large and sharp, much curved. Wings very long and
ample; 3d and 4th quills longest; 1st shorter than 6th ; outer 3-5 (in our species 4) emargi-
nate on inner webs; 2d-5th emarginate on outer webs. Tail very lung, about 2 as long as the
wing, nearly even or rounded, the folded wings falling short of its end. In our species, which
scarcely differs from the European C. cyaneus, the sexes are extremely unlike in color and size ;
the old @ is chiefly bluish-gray
and white; the 9 and young of
both sexes are dark brown and
reddish-brown or tawny, with
while rump; the 9 is much
larger than the g. The nest
is placed upon the ground; the
eggs are colorless or nearly so.
The harriers are among the
most ‘‘ignoble” of hawks, prey-
ing upon humble quarry, chiefly
small quadrupeds, reptiles, and
insects, for which they hunt by
quartering low over the ground
with an easy gliding flight.
They are ‘* light-weights ” in Fic. 365. — Marsh Hawk, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E, C.)
proportion to their linear dimensions, all the members being lengthened, and the wings espe-
cially ample. The plumage is also loose and fluffy, somewhat like that of owls, to which the
harriers are related in several respects.
C. cya/neus hudson‘ius. (Lat. cyaneus, blue, the color of the old ¢ ; hudsonius, of Hudson’s
Bay. Fig. 365.) American Marsu Hawk, or Harrier. Buiur Haws. Adult g: In
perfect plumage pale pearly-bluish, or bluish-ash, above, with the upper tail-coverts entirely
pure white ; but most specimens have a dusky wash obscuring the bluish, and retain traces of
522 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES.
brown or rufous. Five outer primaries mostly blackish, all of them and the secondaries with
large white basal areas on inner webs; tail-feathers banded with 5 or 6 obscure dusky bars,
the terminal one strongest and inost distinct, and marbled with white toward their bases. The
bluish cast invades the fore under parts, the rest of which are white, with sparse drop-shaped
rufous spots ; lining of wings white. From this blue-and-white state the bird is found grading
by degrees into the very different plumage of the 9 and young: Above, dark umber-brown,
everywhere more or less varied with reddish-brown or yellowish-brown, the upper tail-coverts,
however, white, forming a very conspicuous mark; under parts a variable shade of brownish-
yellow, or ochraceous, streaked with umber-brown, at least on breast and sides ; tail crossed with
6-7 blackish bars. The younger the bird the heavier the coloration, which is sometiines quite
blackish and reddish, excepting the white upper tail-coverts. ¢ 9: Iris, tarsi, and toes bright
yellow; cere yellow or yellowish; bill blackish; claws black. @: length 17.50-19.003
extent 40.00-44.00 ; wing 13.00-14.00; tail 9.00-10.00 ; tarsus 3.00 or less ; middle toe with-
out claw 1.20. 9: length 19.00-21.50; extent 45.00-50.00; wing 14.00-16.00; tail 9.50-
10.50; tarsus 3.00 or more; middle toe without claw 1.40. North Am. at large, one of the
most abundant and widely-diffused of its family, especially in meadowy and marshy places, and
easily recognized by its generic characters, in all its variation of size and color. The nest is
placed upon the ground, and rather neatly built of hay, a foot in diameter, 3 inches high ; eggs
3-6? commonly 4-5, broad and nearly equal-ended, 1.80 to 1.90 X 1.40-1.45, dull white,
with more or less greenish or bluish shade; no decided markings, but frequently small spots
and large blotches of very pale brownish on the surface, and some neutral-tint shell-spots.
No specific difference from C. cyaneus of Europe ; averagiug a little larger; old g retaining a
few rufous spots in white of under parts, and more evident barring of wings and tail.
43. Subfamily MILVINA: Kites.
No ruff or ear-conch. Loral
bristles moderate, scanty or quite
wanting, the head being then
closely and softly feathered to
the bill. Superciliary shield evi-
dent or not. Bill usually weak,
sometimes extremely slender,
the cutting edge of the upper
mandible straight to the curve,
or lobed or festooned, but not
toothed, nor the under mandible
truncate and notched. Nostrils
not vircular, nor with central
bony tubercle. Wings very
long, more or less narrowed
and pointed, with several (in
our genera 2 to 5) primaries
emarginate on inner webs. Tail
very variable in length and
shape, in our genera nearly
even or deeply forked. Fect
very small; tarsus much shorter
than tibia, approximately equal
to middle toe without claw, —
eae: ae Se
Fic, 366. — A typical Kite (Elanories for-cuus). (From Michelet.) | usually feathered above, the rest
172.
490...
173.
FALCONIDA' — MILVINZ:: KITES. 523
mostly or entirely reticulate in small pattern (with few or no large transverse scutella). The
general organization is buteonine; the scapular process of the coracoid does not meet the
clavicle, the septum nasi is incompletely ossified, and the anterior ridge of the palate is little
developed if at all; the superciliary shield fs in one or two pieces. The kites form a rather
extensive group of hawks of no great strength and less than average size, though very active,
generally of lithe and graceful shape, with long thin wings and often forked tail. They are
‘“ignoble” birds, subsisting upon small game, especially insects and reptiles. In Pernis
apivorus, the bee-eating hawk of Europe, the whole head is densely and softly feathered to the
bill. The group is less homogeneous than the others here presented, and might be, perhaps,
dismembered, or merged in Buteoning. The genera assigned differ with nearly every writer
who recognizes the group at all. The type of the group is the genus Milvus, near which
stands our Elanotdes (fig. 366), and with which it may not be improper to associate Elanus,
Ictinia, and Rostrhamus.
Analysis of Genera
Tail nearly as long as the wings, deeply forked; head closely feathered ..... - . « Elanoides 175
Tail nearly or about even.
Five outer primaries emarginate on inner webs; bill and claws extremely slender . . Rostrhamus 172
Two outer primaries emarginate; tarsus scutellate in front . . . 0. 1. 1 ew et ee Ietinia 173
—entirely reticulate. . . oe ee ee ees ee Elanus 174
ROSTRHAMUS. (Lat. rostrum, a beak ; hamus, a hook.) SICKLE-BILLED Kires. Bill
extremely long and slender, the upper mandible hooked almost into a sickle-shape, the curva-
ture also impressed to some extent upon the under mandible; cutting edges entirely without
tooth or lobe, but simply curved like the culmen; gonys straight. Cere contracted ; nostrils
narrowly oval, horizontal. Loral bristles slight. Space between bill and eye nearly naked
and colored, as if a continuation of the cere. Wings long; 3d and 4th quills longest; 5th
next; Ist shorter than 6th; outer 5 emarginate on inner webs. Tail about half as long as the
wing, slightly emarginate or nearly even. Feet small; tarsus feathered about 4 way down in
front, then scutellate, for the rest reticulate; middle toe and claw about as long as tarsus.
Inuer toe without claw shorter than outer ditto; inner toe and claw longer than ditto ; no evi-
dent webbing between either of them; soles granular, but little tuberculate. Claws very, long
and acute, but slender and comparatively little curved; inner edge of the middle one dilated
and jagged. A genus marked by the extreme hooking of the slender bill, otherwise near
Elanus; containing two or three species of the warmer parts of America.
R. socia/bilis plum’beus. (Lat. sociabilis, gregarious; plumbeus, lead-colored.) EvER-
GLADE Kitz. Adult ¢ 9 : General color blackish-plumbeous, blackening on wings and tail.
Base of tail, with longer upper coverts and all under coverts white, increasing in extent on the
tail from middle to lateral feathers ; tail also with a pale gray or whitish terminal zone. Bill
and claws black; base of bill, cere and feet bright orange, drying dingy yellow; iris red.
Length 16.00-18.00; extent about 44.00; wing 13.50-15.50; tail 6.50-7.50; bill 0.90-1.00;
tarsus 1.75-2.25 ; middle toe without claw, rather less. Young birds are much varied with
brown, yellowish, and white, but the species is unmistakable in any plumage. Florida and
the West Indies ; said to be common in the ‘‘ everglades,” and to resemble the marsh hawk in
habits; nest in a bush, eggs commonly two, whitish, irregularly spotted, blotched, or smirched
with brown, about 1.72 x 1.45. Compared with the S. Am. R. sociabilis, the Florida bird
averages larger, lighter-colored, and weaker-billed.
ICTINIA, (Gr. ixrivos, tktinos, a kite. Fig. 367.) Leap Krres. Bill rather small, but
robust, very deep and wide for its length ; tip of upper mandible much overhanging, its cutting
edge very prominently lobed, sometimes almost toothed’ like a falcon’s, sometimes irregularly
sinuate-serrate ; the nick just in front of the lobe usually permitting the median ridge of the
palate to be visible from the side; culmen very strongly arched in nearly a quadrant of a circle ;
524 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES.
gonys convex, ascending ; cere short; nostrils small, subcircular ; loral bristling slight; super-
ciliary shield sinall, in one piece. Wings of moderate length, ample ; 3d quill longest ; 2d but
little shorter; 1st quite short, about equal to 6th; outer 2 emarginate on inner web, and next 2
somewhat sinuate. Tail moderate, even or emarginate, the feathers broad to their obtusely
rounded ends. Feet short and stout; tarsus seantily feathered about 4.way down in front, then” :
scutellate, for the rest reticulate; middle toe without claw about as long as the tarsus; outer
and middle toes connected by a basal web for the whole length of the basal joint of the latter ;
inner toe without claw shorter than the outer, with claw longer, its claw being much larger
than that of the outer toe, reaching beyond base of middle claw. Soles broad, especially under
Fia. 367. —Left, Mississippi Kite, } nat. size; right, Swallow-tailed Kite, 3 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
the hind toe, which is widely margined ; claws short, stout, much curved. A genus of twe
species, confined to-temperate and tropical America ; of great volitorial power, spending much
of their tine on the wing in aérial gyrations; somewhat gregarious like other Milvine, and
preying upon the bumblest quarry, especially insects and small reptiles, often feeding from their
talons, as they sail through the air, after sweeping down upon their prey and seizing it as they
pass without staying their flight.
491. I.subceru'lea. (Lat. subcwrulea, bluish.) Mississippi Kite. Adult ¢ 9: General plumage
plumbeous or dark ashy-gray, bleaching on the head and secondaries, blackening on the tail
and wings, several primaries more (#) or less (9) suffused with chestnut-red oa the inner
174,
492.
175.
FALCONIDA — MILVINZ: KITES. 525
web or on both webs. Forehead and tips of secondaries usually silvery-whitish ; concealed
white spots on the scapulars; bases of feathers of head and under parts fleecy-white. Lores,
eyelids, and bill, including cere, black ; gape of mouth and feet, orange, the latter obscured on
the front of the tarsus, and along the tops of the toes; iris lake-red. Feet and cere drying to a
nameless dingy color. Length of ¢ about 14.00; extent 36.00; wing 10.50-11.50; tail 6.00-
6.50; tarsus 1.45; 9 about 15.00; wing 11.00-12.50; tail 6.50-7.00. Young: Head, neck
and under parts whitish, spotted with dark brown or reddish-brown, excepting on the throat
and along a superciliary line; lining of wings tawny, spotted with rusty-brown ; upper parts
blackish, most of the feathers edged with tawny-white; quills tipped with white; tail black,
with about 3 pale ashy bands, and as many rows of white spots on the inner webs. Southern
U. §., regularly N. to South Carolina, Illinois and Indian Territory, casually to Pennsylvania,
Iowa, and Wisconsin ; 5. into Mexico; replaced in Central and 8. Am. by the related but
quite distinct I. plumbea. Nest of sticks, etc., in trees; eggs ?
E'’LANUS. (Lat. elanus, a kite.) Prarni Krris. Related to the last; general form and
aspect similar. Pattern of coloration entirely different. Bill rather weak and compressed, the
tomia of the upper mandible devuid of lobe or festoon, but slightly sinuate to the overhanging
tip; gonys about straight; culmen less strongly convex than in Ictinia; nostrils subcircular,
near middle of the moderate cere. Feet very small; tarsus feathered half-way down in front,
for the rest finely reticulate, like the tops of the toes to near their ends; hind toe very short;
claws all small and little curved ; basal web between middle and outer toes slight (compare
feet of Ictinia). Wings nearly or about twice as long as tail; pointed, 2d and 3d quills longest,
1st about equal to 4th, lst and 2d emarginate on inner webs. Tail emarginate, but outer
feather shorter than the next, all the feathers broad to their obtusely-rounded ends. A small
genus of 4 or 5 species inhabiting the warmer parts of the world.
E. glau/cus. (Lat. glaucus, bluish.) BLAcK-sHOULDERED Kite. WHuHItTg-TaILep KIre.
Adult @ 9: Upper parts pale bluish-ash; most of the head, the whole tail, and entire under
parts, including lining of the wings, pure white ; lesser and middle wing-coverts black, forming
a great black area; a patch on under wing-coverts, the shafts of most tail-feathers, and a loral
spot, also black. The white of the under parts and middle tail-feathers often with a pearly
bluish cast. Bill and claws black; cere and feet yellow or orange; iris red or reddish. Length
16.00-17.00; extent 39.00-41.50; wing 12.50-13.50; tail 7.00-8.00; tarsus 1.30; middle toe
without claw about the same; Q little larger than g. Young marked with dusky and
reddish-brown, the wing-feathers white-tipped, the tail-feathers with a subterminal ashy bar.
In this species the tail is emarginate to a depth of about 0.50, the outer tail-feather also about
as much shorter than the next, which is the longest one. Southern U.S. from Atlantic to
Pacific; N. to South Carolina, [linois, Indian Territory, and Middle California; S. through
Central and most of 8. Am.; common. With habits in general like those of the last species,
this elegant kite is stronger and more predaceous, preying upon small birds and quadrupeds as
well as insects and reptiles. It nests in trees and bushes; eggs 4-6, subspherical, 1.60 x
1.45, whitish, blotched and smirched with mahogany color.
ELANOI'DES. (Lat. elanus, and Gr. efdos, eidos, resemblance.) SWALLOW-TAILED Krres.
Prominently characterized by the extremely elongated and deeply forficate tail, the length of
which nearly equals that of the wing, the narrow, acuminate lateral feathers being more than
twice as long as the middle pair when full grown. Wings also very long, thin and acute ;
2d and 3d quills forming the point; Ist about equal to 4th; Ist and 2d emarginate on inner
webs.. Feet very short, but stout; tarsus feathered about 4 way down in front, elsewhere
irregularly reticulate; toes mostly scutellate on top, but reticulate toward their bases, granular
and padded underneath ; claws short, stout, strongly arcuate, scooped out underneath, with sharp
edges, that of the middle dilated. Bill rather weak, with moderately convex culmen and small
cere; the cutting edge festooned. Nostrils oval, oblique. Head closely feathered on the sides:
493.
526 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES.
a small superorbital shield of a single bone. A beautiful genus of a single species, related to
the Old World Milvus (typical kites) and especially to Nauclerus, with which latter it has
usually been associated.
E. forfica/tus. (Lat. forficatus, deeply forked. Figs. 366, 367.) SwaLLOw-TAILED Kite.
Adult ¢ 9: Head, neck, band on rump, and entire under parts, including lining of wings, snow-
white; back, wings, and tail, glossy black, with various lustre, chiefly green and violet. Bill
bluish-black ; cere, edges of mandibles, and feet pale bluish, the latter tinged with greenish;
claws light-colored. Length about 24.00, but very variable ; extent 50.00; wing 15.50-17.50;
tail up to 14.50, cleft more than } its length; tarsus about 1.25; iniddle toe without claw
tather less. Young: Similar; less Instrous; wing- and tail-feathers white-tipped; feathers of
head and neck pencilled with delicate shaft lines of blackish. This most elegant kite, super-
lative in ease and grace of the wing, floats, soars, and dashes over the greater part of America,
and even crosses the Atlantic on its buoyant pinions. It is abundant in the Southern U. 8.,
sometimes winging its way to the Middle States, and regularly up the whole Mississippi valley,
to Minnesota and Dakota, latitude 49°. Known to nest from Wisconsin and Jowa southward.
The nest is placed on a tree, constructed of sticks, hay, moss, ete.; eggs 4-6, whitish, 1.90 X 1.50,
irregularly blotched and specked with rusty and chestnut-brown.
44. Subfamily ACCIPITRINAZ: Hawks.
General form strict, with small head, shortened wings,
and lengthened tail and legs. Tarsi approximately equal
to the tibia in length. Bill short, robust, high at base ;
toothless, but usually with a prominent festoon ; no cev-
tral tubercle in the broadly oval nostril, nor keel of palate
anteriorly. Superciliary shield prominent. Coracoid ar-
rangement as in Buteonine, into which group the present
- one grades. Wings concavo-convex, the 3d to 6th quills
longest, the lst very short and more or less bowed inward,
the outer 3 to 5 emarginate or sinuate on inner webs.
Tail quite long, square or rounded, sometimes emargi-
nate, nearly equalling the wing in length. Tarsi slender,
longer than middle. toe without claw, usually extensively
if not completely denuded of feathers, and scutellate
before and behind. This is an extensive group of
, medium-sized and small hawks, little if at all inferior in
Fie. 368.—A typical Aecipitrine. (From spirit of audacity to the true falcons, though less power-
Dixon.) fully organized and in fact conforming in anatomical
characters with the Buteonine rather than with the Falconing. In the technic of falconry,
the Accipitrine are styled ‘ignoble,” because these short-winged hawks rake after the quarry,
instead of plunging upon it like the ‘‘noble” long-winged falcons. Their flight is swift and
dashing ; they capture their prey in open chase with amazing celerity and address, always
killing for themselves and disdaining refuse. Their quarry is chiefly birds and quadrupeds.
Astur and Accipiter are the typical and principal genera, of which some 50 species (chiefly of
the former genus) are known, inhabiting most parts of the world. Our representatives of
these genera are easily discriminated, but some exotic species connect them quite closely.
Analysis of Genera.
Small and medium-sized; length 20.00 or less. Tarsus more extensively denuded, and scutellate, some-
times booted. . . ee FO Bis See Aaa clk ow est pin OY iw Shar Oa. Py |. ok Sha BY lene ae Accipiter 176
Large; length over 20 00. Tarsus lees extensively denuded, and scutellate, never booted . . . Rte? ae a ek ga, oe . Columbine
Tarsi scutellate, naked =. ww ww ee ee . Se eo a se a ar Zenaidine
Tarsi reticulate, naked . tb Se ape a Ge Rey ee eS ee ae Starnenadine
48. Subfamiiy COLUMBINA:: Typical Pigeons.
Feet small; tarsus short, not longer than the' lateral toes, scutellate in front, feathered
above. Wing pointed, of 10 primaries. ‘Tail variable in shape, of 12 rectrices. Bill typically
as described above. Arboreal. (See above for anatomical characters.)
Analysis of Genera.
Tail nearly even, much shorter than the wing, with broad obtuse feathers . . .... . Columba 192
Tail long, cuneate, equal to wings, with narrow tapering feathers th ig, ew igo Oe de Ectopistes 193
COLUM’BA. (Lat. columba, a pigeon:) Bill short and comparatively stout, about half as
long as head. Wings pointed, 2d and 3d quills longest. No black spots on scapulars. Lateral
toes of about equal lengths, with claws about as long as middle toe without ; hind toe and claw
‘
' COLUMBIDZA — COLUMBINZ:: TYPICAL PIGEONS. 565
about as long as lateral without. Contains the domestic Pigeon, C. livia, the Stock Dove,
C. enas, Ring Dove, C. aa (fig. 389), and several other Bpesies of both Hemispheres.
Analysis of Species.
A white band on nape; metallic scales of nape without borders. Tail with light teaoitctl and dark sub-
terminal bars; bill and feet yellow, former black-tipped. . . ..... . . fasciata 639
No white on head ; no metallic scales on nape; tail not banded ; bill and feet not wallow . . erythrina 640
Top of head white ; tail not banded ; metallic feathers of nape black-bordered . . . . . leucocephala 541
$39. C. fascia/ta. (Lat. fasciata, banded; alluding to the bars on the tail.) BaNnp-TaILEp
PicEoN. WHITE-cOLLARED PicEon. Adult g: Head, neck, and under parts purplish
wine-red, fading to white on belly and crissum, the nape with a distinct white half-collar, the
cervix with a patch of metallic, scaly bronze-green feathers. Rump, upper tail-coverts, lining
of wings and sides of body slaty-blue. Back and scapulars dark greenish-brown, with con-
siderable lustre, changing on the wing-coverts to slaty-blue, these feathers with light edging.
Quills blackish-brown, with pale edging along the sinuous portion of the outer webs. Tail
bluish-ash, paler beyond the middle on top and much paler below, crossed ‘at the middle by a
black bar. Bill yellow, tipped with black; feet yellow, claws black ; a red ring round eye —
these colors very conspicuous in life. A large stout species: length 16.00; extent about 27.00;
wing 8.00-8.50, puinted; tail 5.50-6.00, square; bill 0.75, stout for a pigeon; tarsus 1.00,
feathered half-way down in front; middle toe and claw 1.67. Adult 9: Back, wings, and
tail, asin ¢; metallic scales and white collar obscure or wanting. Head and under parts
much less purplish, the rich hue replaced by a rusty-brown wash on an ashy ground; yellow
of feet and bill obscured; smaller; wing 7.50; tail 4.75. Young @: Resembling the 9.
Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. £., common and of general but irregular distribution, chiefly in
woodland, and especially where acorns, upon which it largely subsists, can be procured; some-
times in flocks of great extent. Nest in trees and bushes; eggs ‘2, equal-ended, white,
glistening, 1.50X1.20.
540. C. erythrina. (Gr. épvdpivos, eruthrinos, reddish.) Rep-BILLED Picron. Adult ¢:
Head, neck, and breast dark purplish wine-red, with a slight glaucous overcast, like the bloom
on a grape; uo metallic scales on neck. Middle wing-coverts like the head. Middle of back,
and some inner wing-quills, dark olive-brown with a bronze-green gloss. Greater wing-
coverts, lining of wings, sides of body, belly, crissum, and rump, slate-colored, sometimes quite
sooty, sometimes more bluish ; tail like ramp, but more blackish. Quills of wing dark slate.
with narrow pale edging. Bill pink for basal half, rest pale horn-color; feet purplish-red,
with pale claws; eye-ring red; iris orange. Bill and feet drying an undefinable color. Bill
remarkable for forward extension of feathers on culmen, to with half an inch of tip, covering
the nasal scale. Length 18.50-14.50; extent 23.00-25.00; wing 7.50-8.00; tail about 5.00;
tarsus 0.87; middle toe and claw 1.50. 9 and young similar, duller and more dilute in color,
the wine-red and slate-color more ashy. Texas, Mexico, Lower California. A dark, richly-
colored pigeon, common. in the Valley of Lower Rio Grande and southward. Nest in trees and
bushes, of twigs, grasses, and roots, well-formed for a pigeon’s; egg single, equal-ended,
glistening white; averaging 1.541.09; laid in Apr., May.
641. C. leucoce’phala. (Gr. Aevkds, leucos, white; xepady, kephale, head.) WHITE-CROWNED
Picron. Adult g 9: Dark slaty, paler below, the quills and tail feathers darkest. , Whole
top of head pure white; hind neck above rich maroon-brown, lower down and laterally metallic
golden-green, each feather black-edged, giving the appearance of scales. Bill and feet dark
carmine or lake red, the tip of the former bluish-white; bill drying dusky with yellowish tip,
feet dingy yellowish. Iris yellow or white. Length 13.00-14.00; extent 23.00; wing 7.50;
tail 5.75. @Q only duller than g. West Indies and Florida Keys. Nest in trees and bushes,
of twigs, roots, and grasses; eggs 2, white, 1.40 X 1.05.
198. ECTOPIS'TES. (Gr. éxromorns, ektopistes, a wanderer: .very appropriate.) PAssENGER
543.
566 SYSTEMATIC: SYNOPSIS. — COLUMBZ — PERISTERZ.
Piezons. Tail long, equal to the wings, cuneate, of: 12 tapering acuminate feathers, parti-
colored. Wing acutely pointed by first 3 primaries, with black spots on the coverts. Bill
stall, with culmen less than half the head, short gonys, feathered far forward between the rami.
Tarsi short, feathered part way down in front, where scutellate, but not in one regular row of
scales. Lateral toes unequal. Sexes unlike. .
E. migrato/rius, (Lat. migratorius, migratory. Fig. 390.) Passencer P1icEon. Wutp
Piczon. Adult &: Upper parts, including head all around, slaty-blue, bright and pure on head
and rump, shaded with olivaceous-gray on the back and wings; the back and sides of the neck
glittering with golden
and violet iridescence,
the wing-coverts with
velvety-black spots.
Below, from the throat,
light purplish-chestnut,
paler behind and fad-
ing into white on the
lower belly and cris-
sum. Tibia, sides of
body, and lining of
wings like upper parts.
Quills blackish, with
rufous - white edging.
Two middle tail-feath-
ers blackish; others
fading from pearly -
bluish into white, their
extreme bases with black and chestnut spots. Bill black; feet lake red, drying an undefinable
color; iris orange; skin about eye red. Length about 17.00, but very variable, according to
development of the tail; extent 23.00-25.00; wing 8.00-8.50; tail about the same, the lateral
feathers graduated rather more than half its length ; bill 0.75 ; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw
1.25. Adult 9: Upper parts, wings and tail, as in ¢: below, iiininatelt, -gray, fading poste-
riorly. Young: Like the 9, but still duller; little or no clear slaty except on rump; plumage
varied with white crescentic edges of the feathers, especially on the back and wings; quills
edged about with rufous; most of the lateral tail-feathers gray. ‘‘ Wanders continually in
search of food throughout all parts of. N. Am. ; wonderfully abundant at times in particular
districts ;” chiefly, however, temperate N. Am., East of the R. Mts. We do not have the
“ millions” that the earlier writers speak of in the Eastern U. 8. now: but I remember one
great tlight over Washington when I was a boy: the'greatest roosts and flights we now hear
of are in the upper Mississippi Valley. Nest in trees and bushes, a slight frail platform of
twigs, so open as to leave the egg visible from below. Eggs 1 or 2, equal-ended, 1.45 & 1.05.
Fia. 390. — Passenger Pigeon. (From Tenney, after Wilson. )
49. Subfamily ZENAIDINAE: Ground Doves.
Feet larger than in Columbine. Tarsus lengthened to exceed the lateral toes, entirely
naked and scutellate in front (scarcely feathered in Scardafella). Tuail-feathers normally 12,
rarely 14 or more (Zenaidura the only North American Pigeon with more than 12). Seven
North American genera, each of a singlé species in this country.
Analysis of Genera.
Tailof14feathers ........-. em ey 6 ae wa eat AD tnd wa ee Zenaidura 195
Tail of 12 feathers.
Outer primary attenuate, bistoury-like . a de r eB « . Engyptila 193
194,
542.
COLUMBID4i — ZENAIDINZ:: GROUND DOVES. 567
Outer primary normal.
Tail longer than wing, double-rounded. . . . 2. +. + ees eee » .. . Scardafella 199
Tail about equal to wing. Tarsus not shorter than middle toeandclaw ..... Geotrygon 200
Tail shorter than wing. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw.
No blue-black spot nor metallic lustre on head orneck . . . . 1 ee oe Chamepelia 198
A blue-black spot and metallic lustre on head or neck
Black spots and no white patch on wing . . . «1 6 1 ee ee we ee es Zenaida 196
White patch and no black spotson wing . . . . 1 1 ee ew te th we Melopelia 197
ENGYPTILA,. (Gr. éyyis, eggus, narrow, straitened ; mridov, ptilon, feather ; alluding to the
outer primary.) Pin-wine Doves. First primary abruptly emarginate, attenuate and linear
near the end. Wings of moderate length; 3d and 4th primaries longest; first shorter than
7th. Tail much shorter than the wings, rounded, of 12 broad feathers. Tarsus entirely naked,
equalling or rather exceeding the middle toe and claw. Lateral toes nearly equal, the ends of
their claws reaching about opposite the base of the middle claw. Hind toe shortest of all, but
perfectly incumbent. Bill small and slender, much shorter than the head. A considerable
Fig. 391, — Details of Engyptila albifrons; head and foot nat. size; wing and tail reduced.
(Ad nat. del. R. Ridgway.)
naked space about the eye, thence extending in a narrow line to the bill. Size medium or
rather small. Body full and stout. Coloration subdued, but hind-head and neck iridescent.
No metallic spots on wings or head. Lining of wings chestnut. (Only N. Am. genus with
attenuate outer primary.)
E. al/bifrons, (Lat. albus, white; frons, forehead. Fig. 391.) WHITE-FRONTED Dove. @,
adult: Upper parts brownish-olive, with silky lustre (much as in Coccygus americanus for
example). Hind-head, nape, and back and sides of neck with coppery-purplish iridescence.
Top of the head of a bluish or glaucous “ bloom,” fading to creamy-white on the forehead. Under
parts dull white or whitish, more or less shaded with olive-brown on the sides, deepening on the
fore-breast and jugulum to pale vinaceous; belly, crissum, and chin quite purely white. Wing-
coverts and inner quills like the back, and without metallic spots; other larger remiges
slaty-blackish, with very narrow pale edging toward the end. Under wing-coverts and axilla-
ries bright chestnut. Two middle tail-feathers like the back; others slaty-black, tipped with
white in decreasing amount from the outer ones inward, the largest white tips about half an
inch in extent. [Bill black. Jeet carmine-red. Iris yellow. Bare skin around eye red and
1985.
196.
568 SYSTEMATI C SYNOPSIS. — COLUMBZA — PERISTERZA.
livid blue. Length 12.00-12.50; extent 19.00-19.50; wing 6.00-6.30; tail 4.25-4.50; bill
0.60-0.70 ; tarsus 1.25-1.35; middle toe and claw rather less. Q similar. (In printing the
Check List, the No. of this species accidentally transposed with No. 543, Ectopistes.)
ZENAIDU'RA. (Zenaida, nom. propr., and odpd, oura, tail.) Prx-ram Doves. Tail long,
about equalling wings, cuneate, of 14 narrow, tapering, obtuse-ended feathers (unique among
N. Am. Columbide). Wings pointed; 2d primary rather longest, lst and the 3d about equal
and scarcely shorter. Tarsus naked, scutellate in front, in length intermediate between middle
and lateral toes; the latter of unequal lengths, the outer shortest. Bill much shorter than
head, slender and weak, the feathers running out far between the rami. A bare cireum-orbital
space. Velvety black spots on head and wings. Lining of wings not rufous. Sexes unlike.
There is a curious mimicry of Ectopistes in form and even in color; but the technical characters
are widely different.
Z. carolinensis, (Of Carolina. Fig. 392.) Caronina Dove. Mournine Dove. WiLp Dove.
Adult 3: Upper parts, including middle tail-feathers, grayish-blue shaded with brownish-olive,
the head and neck ochrey-brown overlaid with glaucous-blue, the sides of the neck glittering
with golden and ruby iridescence; a violet-
black spot under the ear-coverts. Under parts
glaucous-purplish, changing gradually to ochra-
ceous on the belly and crissum, to bluish on
the sides and under the wings, to whitish on
the chin; the purplish tint spreading up on the
sides and front of the head to blend with the
glaucous-blue. Black spots on some of the
scapulars and wing-coverts, most of which are
colored to correspond with the back, the larger
Fic. 392. — Carolina Dove, nat. size. (Ad nat. del, Ones being rather bluish-plumbeous. Lateral
E.C.) tail-feathers plumbeous-bluish, crossed with a
black bar, the outer four on each side broadly ended with white. Bill black; angle of mouth
carmine ; iris brown; bare skin around eye livid bluish ; feet lake-red, drying dull yellowish.
Length about 12.50: extent about 18.00; wing 5.75; tail the same, the feathers graduated for
half its length; culmen 0.60; tarsus 0.80; middle toe and claw 1.00. 9, adult: A little
smaller, not purplish below, the rich color replaced by grayish-brown, like the back but paler;
‘head and neck with little of the glaucous blue shade, and less iridescent. Young: Like the 9;
but at an early age the velvety-black spots and iridescence are wanting, and the general tone
is quite gray; many feathers with whitish edging, as in the wild pigeon, with which not only
the colors but the sexual and juvenile differences are thus closely correspondent. Temperate
N. A., anywhere, the most widely and equably diffused of its tribe, abundant in most localities,
in some swarming; “millions” in Arizona, for example. Irregularly migratory, impe
gregarious; great numbers may be together, but scarcely in compact flocks. Terrestrial r
than arboreal, almost always feeding on the ground; where very numerous, they become fam
iar, like blackbirds in the West. Nest indifferently on the ground or in bushes; eggs 2, whit
equal-ended, averaging 1.12 x 0.82; 2 or even 3 broods in the South. During the ae
season, where these birds are numerous, their cooing resounds on every hand, but at othe
times they are silent.
ZENAYDA. (A proper name, that of Zénaide, cousin and wife of Prince C. L. Bonaparte.)
Love Doves. Tail rounded, shorter than wings, of 12 feathers. Wings long, pointed by
Qd and 3d quills; 1st little shorter. Bill short, slender, black. Feet as in other Zenaidine ;
tarsus intermediate in length between the middle and lateral toes; these of unequal length,
inner a little the longer. Circumorbital space little bare. Metallic iridescence on neck; blue-
black ear-spot, and others on wings. Sexes similar. (West Indian.)
545.
197.
546.
198.
547.
548,
COLUMBIDA!—ZENAIDINZ: GROUND DOVES. 569
Z, ama/bilis, (Lat. amabilis, lovely.) ZenatpA Dove. Olive-gray with a reddish tinge;
crown and under parts vinaceous-red ; sides and axillars bluish; a velvety-black auricular
spot, and others on the wing-coverts and tertiaries; secondaries tipped with white; neck with
metallic lustre; middle tail-feathers like the back, others bluish with whiter tips, a black band
‘intervening ; bill black with crimson corners of the mouth ; iris brown; feet red; claws black.
Length about 10.00; wing 6.00; tail 4.00. West Indies and Florida Keys.
MELOPELMA. (Gr. pédos, melos, melody ; wéAewa, peleia, a dove.) Wutre-wine Doves.
Tail rounded, shorter than wing, of 12 broad, rounded feathers. Wings pointed; Ist, 2d, and 3d
primaries nearly equal and longest. Bill slender and lengthened, equalling tarsus, black. A
large bare cireumorbital space. A blue-black spot below auriculars, but none on wings; neck
with metallic lustre. A great white space on wing. Feet as in other Zenaiding. Sexes alike.
M. leuco’ptera. (Gr. Acveds, leucos, white; mrepdv, pteron, wing.) WHITE-WING Dove.
Wing with a broad white bar oblique from the carpal joint to the ends of the longest coverts,
continued by white edging at and near ends of outer webs of the secondaries ; very conspicuous,
recognizable at gun-shot range. Lower back and ‘rump, some of the middle coverts, lining of
wings, and entire under parts from the breast, fine light bluish-ash. Primaries blackish with
narrow white edging. Tail, excepting two middle feathers, slaty-blue, becoming gradually
slaty-black, then broadly and squarely tipped with ashy-white. General color of back, lesser
wing-coverts, inner quills, and middle tail-feathers, olive-brown with some lustre; the tail-
feathers browner; the top of head and back of neck purplish-vinous with a slight. glaucous
shade; sides of neck iridescent with golden-green ; a violet or steel-blue spot below auriculars.
Bill black, very slender. Length 11.25-12.25; extent 19.00-20.00; wing 6.00-6.50; tail
4.00-4.50; bill 0.87; tarsus 0.87; middle toe and claw 1.25. 9 siete distinpaistinble.
In the youngest, the white wing-bar appears, though there is little or no purplish, or iri-
desvence, or blue-black below ears. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and S. Cala. and southward,
abundant in suitable localities. In the breeding season, Apr.—May, the sonorous cooing is
incessant. Nest in bushes and low trees, slight and frail, of sticks and weeds; eggs 2, white
or creamy, averaging 1.18 X0.88.
CHAMZEPELI'A. (Gr. yapuai, chamat, on the ground; wedea, peleia, adove.) DwArF DovEs.
Very small. Wings short and broad, with elongated inner secondaries, nearly overreaching
primaries in the folded wing. Tail still shorter than wing, nearly even, of 12 broad feathers.
Bill slender, about half as long as head, mostly yellow. Feet largely zenaidine; tarsus as
long as middle toe without claw. No iridescence nor blue-black spot on head; such spots on
wings. Sexes unlike, but Arcades ambo.
C. passeri/na, (Lat. passerina, sparrow-like; from the pygmy stature.) Grounp Dove.
Grayish-olive, glossed with blue on the hind head and neck, most feathers of the fore-parts
with darker edges, those of the breast with dusky centres. Forehead, sides of head and neck,
lesser wing-coverts and under parts purplish-red of variable intensity, paler or grayish on the
belly and crissum; under surface of wings orange-brown or chestnut, this color suffusing the
quills to a great extent ; upper surface of wings sprinkled with lustrous steel-blue spots. Middle
tail-feathers like the back, others plumbeous, blackening toward ends, with paler tips. Feet
yellow; bill yellow with dark tip. Diminutive: length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.00-11.00; wing
3.50, with inner secondaries nearly as long as the primaries; tail 2.75, rounded; bill 0.45;
tarsus 0.67; middle toe and claw 0.75. @Q and young differ as those of the wild pigeon and
carolina dove do, the purplish tints being replaced by gray or ‘‘ ashes of roses,” the very young
bird having whitish skirting of the feathers. Southern U. §., Atlantic to Pacific, but chiefly
coastwise; N. to the Carolinas, and accidentally to Washington, D. C.; common. Nest on
the ground or in bushes indifferently ; eggs 2, white, 0.87 0.63.
C. p. palles/cens? (Lat. pallescens, bleaching.) Scarcely different; described as paler. Cape
St. Lucas.
199.
549.
200.
570 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — COLUMBZ4i — PERISTERZ.
SCARDAFEL'LA. (Italian, signalizing the scaly appearance of the feathers, due to their
color.) SHELL Doves. Tail of peculiar shape, double-rounded, median and lateral feathers
both shorter than intermediate ones; all narrow and tapering; 12 in number. Wings as in
Chamepelia. Bill very slender, rather long, black. Feet not typically zenaidine ; tarsus very
short, slightly feathered above. No blue-black spots on head or wings; no iridescence on neck.
Size very small. Sexes similar. Remarkable genus, of 2 tropical Am. species, one reaching
our border.
S. in’ca. (Inca or yncas, a Peruvian title.) Inca Dove. Scatep Dovzs. @ 9, adult:
Above, grayish-brown with the usual olive shade, anteriorly also with a slight ‘ashes of roses”
hue; below, pale ashy-lilac, changing to ochraceous on the belly and crissum —nearly all the
plumage marked with black erescentic edges of the feathers, producing the shelly or scaly
appearance. Primaries and bastard quills intense chestnut, with blackish ends; lining of
Fig. 393. — Blue-headed Quail Dove, 4 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
wings black and chestnut ; outer secondaries blackish with chestnut central areas, gradually.
diminishing till the inner secondaries assimilate with the color of the back. Middle tail-
feathers like back ; three lateral ones basally plumbeous, then black, then broadly tipped with
white — the black running out into the white as a shaft line. 9 similar tog‘; young similar,
but with little or no ashy-rosy, and sprinkled with white on upper parts. Length about 8.00;
wing 3.75 ; tail more ; bill 0.45 ; tarsus 0.50; middle toe and claw 0.87. A very pretty little
dove, with mahogany wings upholstered in shell-figured ashes-of-roses velvet; a curious mini-
ature of the common dove in form. Mexico to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, along the
borders. Nest in bushes; eggs 2, white, 0.900.70.
GEOTRY/GON. (Gr. yéa, gea, the earth; rpvyav, trugon, a cooer.) Lustre Doves. Tail
about as lung as wings, a little rounded, of 12 broad rounded feathers, with curved shafts.
5506
201.
551.
‘COLUMBIDZA! — STARNG@INADINZ: QUAIL DOVES. 571
Wings short, rounded; 3d and 4th quills longest, 2d and 4th little shorter, Ist much shorter.
Feet strongly zenaidine; tarsus not shorter than middle toe and claw; still, scutellate in front,
and hind toe more than half as long as the middle, perfertly insistent. Bill rather long and stout ;
frontal feathers obtuse on culmen. Head and wings without blue-black spots; whole upper
parts highly lustrous. Medium size; form stocky, somewhat quail-like, but tail long. Ap-
proaching the next, but at a distance. West Indian and Tropical American.
G. marti/nica. (Of Martinique.) Key Wxst Dove. Above, vinaceous-red with highly
iridescent lustre of various tints; below, pale purplish fading to creamy; an infra-ocular stripe
‘and the throat white. Length 11.00; wing and tail about 6.00. West Indies and Key West.
Florida, where not observed of late.
50. Subfamily STARNGENADINZ: Quail Doves.
See p. 564. Hallux not perfectly insistent; short, only about half as long as the middle
toe and claw. Feet large and stout; tarsus longer than the middle toe, entirely bare of
feathers even on the joint, completely covered with small hexagonal scales. With ceca, but
without oil-gland or ambiens muscle, the reverse of the Zenaidine, of which it is a remarkable
outlying form, grading toward gallinaceous birds in structure and habits; like some partridges
even to the special head-markings. Including one isolated American genus and species, not
referable to any established Old World group.
STARNG NAS. (Starna, name of a genus of partridges; Gr. oivas, e@nas, a dove.) QUAIL
Dovss. In addition to the foregoing: Bill short, stout; frontal feathers projected in a point on
culmen. Wings short, broad, vaulted and much rounded ; first primary reduced. Tail short,
broad, nearly even. Size medium; whole form and appearance quail-like. West Indian.,
S. cyanoce’phala. (Gr. xvavés, kwanos, blue; cepady, kephale, head. Fig. 393.) Buiur-
HEADED Quaint Dove. Crown rich blue bounded by black; a white stripe under the eye,
meeting its fellow on the chin; throat black, bordered with white. General color olivaceous-~
chocolate above, purplish-red below, lighter centrally. Length 11.00; wing 5.50; tail 4.50.
West Indies and Florida Keys.
VI. Order GALLINZ: Gallinaceous Birds; Fowls.
Equivalent to the vld order Rasores, exclusive of the Pigeons —this name being derived
from the characteristic habit of scratching the ground in search of food; connecting the lower
terrestrial pigeons with the higher members of the great plover-snipe group. On the one hand,
it shades into the Columbe so perfectly that Huxley has proposed to call the two together the
‘¢ Gallo-columbine series ;” on the other hand, some of its genera show a strong plover-ward
tendency, and have even been placed in Limicole. I have already (p. 562) noted the inoscula-
tion of Galline with Columbe by means of the grouse-like Pigeons, Pterocletes ; it remains to
indicate the limits of the Galline in other directions, by referring to two remarkable groups,
one represented by Opisthocomus alone, the other consisting of the Hemipods or Turnices.
Both of these have usually been referred to Galline.
]. The wonderful Hoatzin of Guiana, Opisthocomus cristatus, is one of the most isolated
and puzzling forms in ornithology, sumetimes placed near the Musophagide, but assigned by
maturer judgment to the neighborhood of the fowls, which it resembles in many respects, as an in-
dependent order OpIsTHOCOMI, sole relict of an ancestral type. The sternum and shoulder-girdle
are anomalous ; the keel is cut away in front; the furcula anchylose with the coracoids (very
rare) and with the manubrium of the sternum (unique) ; the digestive system is scarcely less
singular ; and other characters are remarkable.
9. The bush-quails of the Old World, Turnicide, differ widely from the Gallina, re-
sembling the Grouse-pigeons and Tinamous in some respects, and related to the Plovers in
572 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. ~GALLINZ — PERISTEROPODES.
others. A singular circumstance is a lack of the extensive vertebral anchyloses usual in birds,
all the vertebrae remaining distinct. The palatal structure is curiously like that of Passeres
(egithognathous). The crop is said to be wanting in some ; as is also the hind toe, and one of
the carotids. There are some 20 current species of the principal genus, Turniz, to which Gray
adds the African Ortyxelos metffrent, and the Australian Pedionomus torquatus. Late studies
of the group have resulted in the view that it should represeut a distinct order, HEMIPODII.
Elimination of these non-conformable elements renders the Galline susceptible of much
better definition, as follows : —
Bill generally short, stout, convex, with obtuse vaulted tip, not constricted in the con-
tinuity, wholly hard and corneous except in the nasal fossa. Tomia of upper mandible over-
lapping the lower; culmen high on forehead, the frontal feathers there forming a re-entrance,
with more or less salience on either side. Nostrils scaled or feathered, in a short abrupt fossa.
Legs usually feathered to the suffrago, often to the toes, sometimes to the claws. Hallux
elevated, excepting in Cracide and Megapodide, normally shorter than the anterior toes.
Tarsus generally broadly scutellate, when not feathered. Front toes commonly webbed at
base. Claws blunt, little curved. Wings short, strong, vaulted. Rectrices commonly more
than 12 (not more in Cracide, beyond). Head and brain small in proportion to the body, as
in Pigeons. Plumage with after-shafts. Oil-gland tufted. Carotids two (except in Megapodide).
No intrinsic syringeal muscles. Sternum generally deeply doubly-notched, and furculum with
a hypocleidium. Palate schizognathous. Nasal bones schizorhinal. Sessile basipterygoid
processes present. Angle of mandible produced into a recurved process. Pectoral muscles,
three ; the second extensive ; femoro-caudal variable; accessory femoro-caudal, semi-tendinosus,
aecessory semi-tendinosus and ambiens present. Intestinal ceca extensive; gizzard muscular.
Nature precocial and ptilopzediec, typically polygamous. Chiefly terrestrial.
The order thus defined is equivalent to the Alectoromorphe of Huxley (1867), minus
Pierocletes and Hemipodii. The birds composing it fall into two series or suborders, according
to the structure of the feet and more essential characters.
10. SusorpER PERISTEROPODES: PicEon-Torp Fow.s.
Framed to accommodate the Old World Megapodide, or Mound-birds, and the American
Cracide, or Curassows.
The Mound-birds, Megapodide, as the name implies, have large feet, with little-curved
claws, and lengthened insistent hallux. They share this last feature with the Cracide
(beyond) ; and the osseous structure of these two families, except as regards pneumaticity, is
strikingly similar. Both show a modification of the sternum, the inner one of the two notches
being less instead of more than half as deep as the sternum is long, as in typical Galline.
The Megapods do not incubate,.and the young pass through the downy stage in the egg,
hatching with true feathers (p. 226). They are confined to Australia and the East Indies ;
Megapodius is the principal genus, of a dozen or more species ; there are three others, each of
a species or two.
85. Family CRACIDZA: Curassows.
This type is peculiar to America, where it may be considered to represent the Megapodide,
though differing so much in habit and general appearance. The affinities of the two are indi-
cated above, and some essential characters noted. According to the latest authority on the
family, Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, it is divisible into three subfamilies: Cracine, curassows
and hoceos, with four genera and twelve species: Oreophasine, with a single genus and
species, Oreophasis derbianus, and the ,
202.
552.
CRACIDA) — PENELOPINZ: GUANS. 573
51. Subfamily PENELOPINA:: Guans,
with seven genera and thirty-nine species, one of which reaches our border.
ORTALIS. (Gr. épranis, ortalis, a pullet.) Guans. Head crested ; its sides, and strips on the
chin, naked, but no wattles. Tarsi naked,: scutellate before and behind, with small scales
between the scutellar rows. Hind toe insistent, about 4 the middle toe. Tail graduated,
ample, fan-shaped, longer than the much rounded wings, of 12 broad, obtuse feathers. Wings
short, concavo-convex, with abbreviated outer primaries, the secondaries reaching about to the
ends of the longest primaries,when the wing is folded. Bill slender for a gallinaceous bird,
without decided frontal antize. Coloration greenish. Sexes alike. In some points of size,
shape, and general aspect, there is a curious superficial resemblance between this genus and
Geococcyx, though the two genera belong tu different orders of birds.
O. ve'tula maceal/li. (Lat. vetula, a little old woman. To Geo. A. McCall.) Trxan
Guan. CHacHataca. Dark glossy olivaceous, paler and tinged with brownish- yellow below,
plumbeous on the head; tail lustrous green, tipped with grayish-white except on the middle
pair of feathers ; bill and feet plumbeous; iris brown. Length 22.00-24.00; extent 24.00-
28.00; wing 7.50-9.00 ; tail 9.00-11.00; tarsus 2.00 or more; middle toe and claw about the
same. Q similar. Downy young: Above, mixed brown, ashy and tawny, with a black central
stripe from bill to tail; below white, ashy on the jugulum. Mexico to Texas in the Lower
Rio Grande Valley, abounding in some localities. A notable bird, unlike anything else in this
country. Easily domesticated, said to be used as a game fowl. Very noisy in the breeding
season (April), reiterating the syllables cha-cha-lac in « loud hoarse tone. Nest in bushes,
a slight structure; eggs generally 3, with a thick, granular, and very hard shell, like a
Guinea-fowl’s, oblong-oval, buff-colored or creamy-white, large for the bird, 2.385 X1.60.
1l. Susporper ALECTOROPODES: True Fow.s.
The birds of this suborder are more or less perfectly terrestrial; the legs are of mean
length, and stout; the: toes four, three in front, generally connected by basal webbing, but
sometimes free, and one behind, always short and elevated. The tibia are rarely naked below;
the tarsi often feathered, as the toes also sometimes are; but ordinarily both these are naked,
scutellate and reticulate, and often developing processes (spurs) of horny substance with a bony
core. like the horns of cattle. The bill asa rule is short, stout, convex, and obtuse; never cered,
nor extensively membranous; the base of the culmen parts prominent anti, which frequently
fill the nasal fossee; when naked the nostrils show a superincumbent scale. The head is
frequently naked, wholly or partly, and often develops remarkable fleshy processes. The
wings are short, stout, and concavo-convex, conferring power-of rapid, whirring, but unpro-
tracted, flight. The tail varies extremely; it is very small in some genera, enormously devel-
oped in others; the rectrices vary in number, but are commonly more than twelve. The
sternum without certain exception shows a peculiar conformation; the posterior notches seen
in most birds are inordinately enlarged, so that the bone, viewed vertically, seems in most of
its extent to be simply a narrow central projection, with two long backward processes on each
side, the outer commonly hammer-shaped. There are other distinctive osteological characters,
as noted above. The digestive system presents an ample special crop, a highly muscular
gizzard, and large cceca. The inferior larynx is always devoid of intrinsic muscles; the
structure of the trachea varies with genera, presenting some curious modifications. There
are after-shafts, and a circlet around the oil-gland. Alectoropodes are precocial and ptilopedic.
A part of them are polygamous—a circumstance shown in its perfection by the sultan of the :
dung-hill with his disciplined harem; and in all such, the sexes are conspicuously dissimilar.
The rest are monogamous, and the sexes of these are as a rule nearly or quite alike. The
574 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLIN4— ALECTOROPODES.
eggs are very numerous, usually laid on the ground, in a rude nest, or none. The suborder is
cosmopolitan ; but most of its groups have a special geographical distribution. Its great eco-
nomic importance is perceived in all forms of domestic poultry, and principal game-birds of
various countries; and it is unsurpassed in beauty—-some of these birds offer the most
gorgeous coloring of the class. oe
Genetically, the Fowls
are nearer than most
birds to a generalized,
old-fashioned type. They
have relations in the cu-
riously ostrich-like Tina-
mous of South America
(Tinamide or Crypturi),
the Hoatzin (Opisthoco-
mus), and other antique
relicts. Notice a quarter-
grown Turkey with this
idea in mind, and you will
hardly fail to see that
it looks like an ostrich
in miniature. Leading
types of existing Alec-
toropod Galline are the
Quail, the Grouse, the
Guinea-fowl, the Tur-
key, and the domestic
Cock. The two former
are very close to each
other, and hardly sepa-
rable as families; the
three latter are nearer
one another, and often
placed together in a fam-
ily. The families Tet-
raonide, Grouse, Quail,
and Partridges; and Me-
leagridide, Turkeys, are
indigenous to N. Am.,
aud fully treated beyond.
A word on the others will
not be misplaced here.
The Guinea-fowl, Nu-
midide, of which a spe-
cies, Numida meleagris,
is commonly seen in do-
mestication, are an African and Madagascan type. While the foregoing families are strongly
specialized, this one, like the turkey family, more closely approaches the true fowl, and
both may be only subfamilies of Phasianide. The bones of the pinion have a certain
peculiarity ; the frontal generally develops a protuberance ; there are wattles, but no spurs; the
tail is very short; the head naked. There are six or eight species of Numida, in some of
|
Wot deo
ay}. iL cf Hi
Fia. 394. — English Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus. (From Dixon.)
PHASIANIDE: PHEASANTS. 575
which the trachea is convoluted in an appendage to the furculum ; Acrylliwm vulturina, Agelas-
tes meleagrides, and Phasidus niger, are the remaining ones.
The Phasianide, or Pheasants, are a magnificent family of typical Galline, of which the
domestic fowl is a characteristic example. The feet, nasal fossze, and usually a part, if not the
whole, of the head, are naked, and often, combed, horned, or wattled. The tarsi commonly
develop spurs. The tail, with or without its coverts, sometimes has an extraordinary develop-
ment or a remarkable shape (p. 118). There are fifty or sixty species, distributed in numerous
modern genera, about
twelve of which are
well marked; they
are all indigenous to
Asia and neighbor-
ing islands, focusing
in India. In the
Peacock, Pavo cris-
tatus, the tail-coverts
form a superb train,
capable of erection
into a disk, the most
gorgeous object in
ornithology; in an
allied genus, Poly-
plectron, there are a
pair of spurs on each
leg. The Argus
Pheasant, Argusa-
nus giganteus, is dis- pS
tinguished’ by the SENS
enormous develop- t. \ gees *\\'
ment of the secon- ; .
dary quills, as well
as by the length of
the tail-feathers and
peculiarity of the
middle pair. The
combed, wattled, and
spurred bam - yard
towl, with folded tail
and flowing middle
feathers, are descend-
ants of Gallus bank-
iva, type of a small
genus. The Tragopans, Ceriornis, are an allied form with few species; the Macartneys,
Euplocomus, with a dozen species, are another near form, as are the Impeyans, Lophophorus,
with a slender aigrette on the head, like a peacock’s. The naturalized English pheasant, P.
colchicus (fig. 394), introduced into Britain prior to A. D. 1056, is the type of Phasianus, in
which the tail-feathers are very long and narrow ; in one species, P. reevesti, the tail is said
to attain a length of six feet. The Golden and Amherstian Pheasants,Chrysolophus pictus and
C. amherstie, are singularly beautiful, even for this group. The other genera are Crossoptilon
and Pucrasia.
Fig. 395.—Turkey. (From Lewis.)
208.
553.
554.
576 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— GALLIN4A — ALECTOROPODES.
36. Family MELEAGRIDIDA:: Turkeys.
Head and upper neck naked, carunculate; in our species with a dewlap and erectile pro-
cess. Tarsi naked, scutellate before and behind, spurred in the ¢. Tail broad, rounded, of
14-18 feathers. Plumage compact, lustrous; in our species with a tuft of hair-like feathers
on the breast. One genus, two species. MV. ocellatus is the very beautiful Turkey of Central
Awerica.
MELEA’GRIS. (Gr. pedcaypis, Lat. meleagris, a guinea-fowl ; transferred in ornithology to
this genus.) Turxrys. Characters of the family.
M. gallipa’vo. (Lat. gallus, a cock, pavo, a pea-fowl. Fig. 395.) Turxey. Upper tail-
coverts chestnut, with paler or whitish tips; tail-feathers tipped with brownish-yellow or
whitish ; 3-4 feet long, ete. Wild in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southward; domesti-
. cated elsewhere. The Mexican bird is the original of the domestic race; it was upon this
form, imported into Europe, that Linneeus imposed the name gallopavo (Fn. Suec. No. 198;
Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 268), which has generally been applied to the following -feral variety :
M. g. america’na. EasTERN WiLD TuRKEY. Upper tail-coverts without light tips, and ends
of tail-feathers scarcely paler. This is the ordinary wild turkey of Eastern North America;
N. to Canada, where it is said still *o occur ; extirpated in New England. NW. to the
Missouri, and SW. to Texas. The slight differences just noted seem to be remarkably con-
stant, and to be rarely if ever shown by the other form; although, as usual in domestic birds,
this last varies interminably in color.
37. Family TETRAONIDA: Grouse; Partridge; Quail.
All the remaining gallinaceous birds are very closely related, probably constituting a
single family; although the term Tetraonide is usually restricted to the true Grouse as below
defined (Tetraonine), the Partridges and Quails being erected into another family, Perdicide,
with several subfamilies. But the Grouse do not appear to differ more from the Partridges
and Quails than these do from each other, and they are all variously interrelated; so that no
violence will be offered in uniting them. One group of the Partridges (Odontophorine) is
confined to America; all the rest to the Old World. The leading forms among the latter are
Perdix, the true partridge; Coturnix, the true Quail; Francolinus, the Francolins; with
Rollulus and Caccabis. In all, perhaps a hundred species and a dozen genera. Without
attempting to fraine a family diagnosis to cover all their modifications, I will precisely define
the American forms, as two subfamilies.
Analysis of Subfamilies.
TETRAONINE. Grouse. The shank (tarsus) more or less feathered. (Plenty more characters, but this
is perfectly distinctive.)
ODONTOPHORINE. American Partridges and Quails. The shank entirely bare and scaly. (Plenty
more characters, etc.)
Oss. — The vernacular names ‘ pheasant,” ‘‘ partridge,” and ‘‘ quail,” as applied to our
game birds in different sections of the country, are the cause of endless confusion and misun-,
derstanding, which it seems hopeless to attempt to do away with. (1.) The word ‘“ pheasant”
(derived from the name of the river Phasis in Colchis) belongs to certain Old World Phasianide
(see above; and fig. 394) having no representatives in America. But early settlers of this country
applied it to the Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa wmbella — and ‘‘ pheasant” is the Ruffed Grouse called
to this day by the common people of the Middle and Southern States. (2.) ‘ Partridge” is an old
English word, specifically designating the English Perdix cinerea, then enlarged in meaning tu
cover all the family Perdicide (see beyond). In the Northern States, both the Spruce Grouse,
| Canace canadensis, and the Ruffed Grouse, are commonly called “partridge.” In the Middle
TETRAONID: — TETRAONINA:: GROUSE. OTT
and Southern States — wherever the Ruffed Grouse is called “‘ pheasant,” the Bob-white, Ortyx
virginiana, is called ‘‘ partridge.” (3.) The term ‘‘ quail” is specially applicable to the Euro-
pean Migratory or Messina Quail, Coturnix dactylisonans. But this resembles our Bob-white
not distantly, causing the latter to be called ‘‘ quail” in the sections where the Ruffed and Spruce
Grouse are called “‘ partridge ;” and in the Southwest, the species of Lophortyx, Oreortyx, and
Cyrtonyx are universally called ‘‘ quail.” The following tabular statement should bring the
matter clearly into view.
Summary of North American TerRAonIDz — Grouse, Partridge, Quail.
A. GROUSE, with feathers on shank (Tetraonine).
1. Sage Fowl: Sage Cock; Sage-Hen; Cock-of-the-Plains. Western. One species:
Centrocercus wrophastanus.
9. Sharp-tailed Grouse: Pin-tail Grouse; Prairie Hen or Prairie Chicken of the North-
west: 1 species, 2 varieties: Pediacetes phasianellus.
3. Pinnated Grouse: common Prairie Hen or Prairie Chicken of the Mississippi, Ohio,
and Lower Missouri valleys. One species ; two varieties: Cupidonia cupido.
4. Tree Grouse : Spruce Grouse ; Black Grouse ; the Northern States species improperly
called ‘‘ partridge.” One species, two varieties: Canace canadensis.
Another species of 3 varieties, confined to the West: Canace obscura.
5. Ruffed Grouse : improperly called ‘‘ partridge” in the Northern and ‘‘ pheasant” in the
Middle and Southern States. One species, Bonasa umbella, of 3 varieties.
6. Snow Grouse, or Ptarmigan. Three species of Lagopus, boreal and alpine, turning
white in winter: L. albus, L. rupestris, L. leucurus.
B. ParrripGe and QUAIL, without feathers on shank (Odontophorine).
7. The imported Messina Quail, or Migratory Quail of Europe: one species: Coturnix
dactylisonans.
8. Bob-white: called “quail” in Northern States; called ‘‘ partridge” in the Middle
and Southern States. One species: Ortyx virginiana, with 2 varieties, one in
Florida, the other in Texas. —
9. Helmet Partridges: of the Southwest, commonly called ‘‘ quail,” with a beautiful
recurved top-knot. Two species of Lophortyx: L. gambeli, L. californica, commonly
called ‘ valley quail.”
10. Arrow Partridge: with two long arrowy plumes on the head. Oue species, of Cali-
fornia: Orortyx picta, cominonly called ‘‘ mountain quail.” ,
ll. Shell Partridge: bluish-white markings, as if scaly. One species, Southwest. Caili-
pepla squamata.
12. Massena Partridge (not to be confused with the
imported Messina Quail): with a soft crest and
numberless white ‘‘eyes” on the belly. South-
west. Que species: Cyrtonyx massena.
Tn all, 26 varieties, of 16 species,.of 12 genera, of 2
subfamilies, of ] family.
52. Subfamily TETRAONINA: Crouse.
Head completely feathered, excepting, usually, a
naked strip of skin over the eye. Nasal fosse densely
feathered. T'arsi more or less perfectly feathered, the
BS ie ic bys W¥Aae feathering sometimes extending on the toes to the
fre, She, "Rea Game tat Briel Eagonie claws; the toes, when naked, with horny fringe-like
scoticus. (From Dixon.) processes. Tail variable in shape, but never folded,
387
204.
555.
578 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— GALLINZHE — ALECTOROPODES.
of 16-20 feathers. Sides of the neck frequently with lengthened or otherwise modified feathers,
or a bare distensible skin, or both.
The true Grouse are confined to the northern hemisphere, and reach their highest develop-
ment, as a group, in North America, where singularly varied forms occur. The only Old World
species are — the great Tetrao wrogallus, or Capercaillie of Europe, and its allied Asiatic species;
Lyrwrus tetriz, the “black game” of Europe, with curiously curled tail-feathers; Canace
falcipennis of Siberia, the representative of our Spruce Partridge ; Bonasa betulina of Northern
Europe and Asia, like our Ruffed Grouse ; and two or three species of Ptarmigan (Lagopus).
All the species of this subfamily néel to be referred to a single genus Tetrao—the only
generic name familiar to sportsmen and others who make no technical study of birds. But such
must not be surprised to find me discarding this well-known name, and adopting several different
ones as generic designations of our Grouse, which differ much among themselves, in points of
form and structure, and -are all widely diverse from Tetrao urogallus of Europe, type of the
genus.
Analysis of N. Am. Genera of Tetraonine.
Tail stiff, pointed, wedge-shaped, equalling or exceeding the wings, of 20 feathers; scaly and hair-like
feathers on breast. Tarsifull-feathered. Verylarge . . is - Centrocercus 205
Tail stiff, pointed, wedge-shaped, much shorter than wings, of 1s Seathvetss no istonsly peculiar feathers
onneck. Tarsifull-feathered . . . F - . . Pediacetes 206
Tail stiffish, rounded, much shorter than wing, of 18 feathers ; wing-like tufts and great bare space on
neck. Tarsiscant-feathered . . Cupidonia 207
Tail soft, rounded, about as long as ang of ‘18 feathers ‘umbrella-like tufts on neck, but no obvious
bare space. Tarsibare below .. . . . . « Bonasa 208
Tail stiffish, flat, square, shorter than wing, of 160 or 20 feathers ; no o evidently peculiar feathers or Gbeiousliy
bare space on neck. ‘Tarsi full-feathered ie ae eee 3 Canace 204
Tail, etc., as in Camace. Tarsi and toes fully feathered. White in piintes j 2 * . Lagopus 209
CA'NACE. (Lat. Canace, a proper name.) TrEeE Grouse. Buack Grouse. No obvi-
ously lengthened or otherwise peculiar feathers on neck or head. No obviously naked space on
neck: but there is a piece of skin capable of distension, especially in the Western species of
Dendragapus. A strip of bare colored skin over eye. No crest. Tarsi feathered to the toes.
Tail little shorter than wing, stiffish, nearly square, of broad, obtuse feathers, normally 16 (in
Canace proper) or 20 (in Dendragapus) in number. Of medium and large size, and dark
blended colors, inhabiting woodland, like the species of Bonasa, and quite arboreal ; northerly
and alpine. Sexes distinguishable. Eggs heavily-colored.
Analysis of Subg a, Species, and Varieties.
Tail aeeaatly of 16 feathers (exceptionally of 14 or 18, as an individual peculiarity). (Canace proper.)
Tail with broad orange-brown end, its upper coverts without white spots. Eastern . canadensis 655
Tail without orange-brown end, its upper coverts with white spots. Western . . . + Sranklint 656
Tail normally of 20 feathers (exceptionally 18 or 22 ?). (Dendragapus.) Western.
Tail black, with broad slate-colored end.
Under parts clear bluish slate color. Rocky Mts., etc., southerly . ee - « « obscura 557
Under parts sooty plumbeous, Alaska. . - . + » fuliginosa 559
Tail black, with narrow or no slate-colored end. Hotkey Mts., cee ynortherly . . . . + Pichardsoni 558
C. canaden’sis. (Of Canada. Fig. 397.) Canapa GROUSE. SPOTTED GROUSE. SPRUCE
Grouse. Spruce ‘‘ PartripGe.” Adult cock: Head smooth, but feathers susceptible of erec-
tion into a slight crest. A colored comb of naked skin over the eye, bright yellow or reddish
when fully injected. Tail slightly rounded, of 16 feathers, a scant inch broad to their very ends.
Tarsi full-feathered to the toes, which are naked, scaly, and fringed. Tail black, broadly tipped
with orange-brown ; its upper coverts without decidedly white tips. Under parts glossy black,
extensively varied with white; under tail-coverts tipped with white; sides and breast with
white bars or semicircles ; white spots bounding the throat ; white spots on lore. Upper parts
wavy — barred with black and gray, usually also with some tawny markings on the back and
wings. In full feather, the appearance is of a black bird, grayer above, spotty with white
556.
557,
558.
TETRAONIDA)—TETRAONINZ: GROUSE. 579
below, and orange tail-end. Length usually 16.00-17.00; wing 7.00; tail 5.50. Hen rather
‘smaller. No continuous black below, where white and tawny, latter particularly on breast,
nearly everywhere pretty regularly wavy-barred with blackish. Above, more like the male, but
browner. End of tail more narrowly orange.
Pullets resemble the hen. N. Am., E. of the
R. Mts., northerly, in woodland. N. nearly or
quite to the limit of trees; N. W. to Alaska.
S. into the northern tier of States, especially
Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota; casually to
Massachusetts. It is a very hardy bird, enduring
the rigors of sub-arctic winters, and not properly
migratory. Eggs numerous, 1.68 x 1.20, rather
pointed, buff-colored, dotted, spotted, and boldly
splashed with rich chestnut. Shape and pattern
of eggs more like those of ptarmigan than of the Fia. 397. — Canada Grouse, nat. size. (Ad nat.
prairie grouse. sere
C. c, frank/lini. (To Sir John Franklin.) FRANKLIN’s SPRUCE GROUSE. Size, shape, and
whole appearance of the foregoing. Tail rather longer, more nearly even, with broader feathers ;
lacking the terminal orange bar; tipped narrowly with white, its upper coverts tipped with
white, making the upper side of the tail conspicuously spotty. Rocky and Cascade Mts.,
northerly, in U. 8., and northward about sources of the Saskatchewan, Athabasca, and
McKenzie Rivers. A mere variety of C. canadensis: the variation parallel with that of C.
richardsoni as compared with C. obscwra.
C. obseu'ra. (Lat. obscwra, dark.) Dusky Grouse. BLUE GROUSE. GRAY GROUSE.
Pine Grouse. Old cock: Back and wings blackish-brown, finely waved and vermiculated
in zigzag with slate-gray, mixed with more or less ochrey-brown and some white on the secapu-
lars. Long feathers of the sides with white ends and shaft stripes; other under parts fine
bluish-gray or light slate color, varied with white, especially on the lower belly, flanks, and
vent-feathers. Cheeks black; chin and throat finely speckled with black and white. Though
the lateral feathers of the neck are smooth and simple, forming no decided tufts as in Cupidonia
or Bonasa, they are somewhat enlarged, covering a rudimentary tympanum: these feathers
with snowy white bases and black tips. Tail brownish-black, veined and marbled with gray,
and with a broad slate-gray terminal bar; of 20 feathers, broad to their very ends, the tail as
a whole slightly rounded. Bill black; iris brown-orange; comb over eye. Size very variable ;
well-grown cocks usually 20, or 22 inches, sometimes up to 2 feet long; extent of wings about
30 inches; wing 9 or 10; tail 7 or 8. Hen smaller, and more motley, lighter colored and more
extensively varied with white and tawny; but showing the distinctive slate-gray of the under
parts, and the slate bar at end of the tail. Pullets like the hen, but the upper parts with ham-
mer-headed white shaft-lines. Tail with white shaft-lines enlarged at the end, also marked on
some of the feathers with wavy blackish crossbars. Rocky and other Mts., U. §., to the Pacific.
A species of general dispersion in elevated and wooded, especially coniferous, regions of the West.
8. to New Mexico, and in the White Mts. in Arizona; in the R. Mts. northerly shading into
var. richardsoni. A large cumbrous bird, usually displaying stolidity or indifference to the
presence of man, taking to trees when disturbed, and very easily slaughtered. Eggs larger,
more elongated, and less heavily colored than those of spruce grouse and ptarmigan ; creamy-
buff, finely freckled all over with chocolate-brown, seldom with any large spots: 2.00 x 1.50.
C. o. rich/ardsoni. (To Sir John Richardson.) RicHarpson’s Dusky Grouse. Size,
shape, and whole appearance of the foregoing. Tail rather longer, more nearly even, with
broader feathers, having the terminal slate bar reduced or wanting: general color more uni-
formly darker, black of throat more extensive. Rocky Mts., northerly, U. 8. and northward.
559.
205.
560.
580 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINA— ALECTOROPODES.
A mere variety, only recognizable when fully developed ; many intermediate specimens cannot
be fairly referred to one rather than the other.
C. o. fuligino’sa. (Lat. fuliginosa, sooty.) Sooty Grouse. With the broad slate tail-
bar of obsewra proper, but colors darker than in richardsoni even. Above, blackish, minutely
freckled with gray and rusty-brown; below, dark plumbeous. The hen is more different, with
prevailing rich rusty and chestnut-brown markings. Northwest coast mountains, Oregon to
Sitka. :
CENTROCER'CUS. (Gr. xévrpov, kentron, a spine, prickle; xépxos, kerkos, tail.) Saez
Grouse. Spine-Tar, Grouse. Of great size. Tail very long, equalling or exceeding the
wings, of 20 stiffened, narrow, acuminate feathers, much graduated in length. Neck suscept-
ible of enormous distension by means of air-sacs covered with naked livid skin — not regularly
hemispherical and lateral like those of Cupidonia, but forming a great protuberance in front of
irregular contour; surmounted by a fringe of hair-like filaments, several inches long, springing
from a mass of erect white feathers; covered below with a solid set of sharp white horny
feathers, like fish-scales. (The affair is not easy to describe in few words, especially as it is
constantly changing with the wear of the feathers, and is only fully exhibited by the cock
during the amours. The anatomical arrangement for inflation is only a special exhibition of
the air-sacs of other genera, as Cupidonia and Pediccetes ; the peculiarities of the feathers
are the inherited results of habitual attrition, the birds rubbing the breast against the
ground in their love-spasms ; and, as said, the state of the parts is always changing with the
wear of the feathers. This accounts for the vague or conflicting statements of authors.)
Tarsus feathered to the toes. Digestive system remarkable for the slight muscularity of the
gizzard, which is rather a membranous paunch than a grist-mill ; the bird browses rather than
scratches for a living, feeding on wormwood and also extensively on insects. Sexes similar in
color, unlike in size and to some extent in form. One prairie species, perfectly terrestrial.
C. urophasia‘nus. (Gr. odpd, oura, tail; pacvavos, phasianos, a pheasant.) Sacre Cock.
Sace Hen. Cock or THE Puarns. Largest of American Grouse. Full grown cock 2-24
feet long; extent of wings 3 feet or more; wing and tail about a foot; weight upwards of 4
pounds. Hen a third smaller. Above, varied with black, gray, brown and buff; below,
chiefly white, with a large squarish black area on the belly. To describe the peculiar neck-
feathering of the old cock more particularly: On each side is a patch of feathers, meeting in
front, with extremely stiff bases, prolonged into hair-like filaments some three inches in length;
with the wearing away of these feathers in the peculiar actions of the bird in pairing-time,
their hard horny bases are left, forming the ‘‘fish-scales” above said. In front of these
peculiar feathers is the naked tympanum, capable of enormous inflation under amatory excite-
ment. Above them is a tuft of down-feathers, covered with a set of long soft filamentous
plumes corresponding to the ruff of Bonasa. Many breast feathers reseinble the scaly ones of
the neck, and are commonly found worn to a bristly ‘‘thread-bare” state. Scaly bases of the
feathers soiled white; the thready ends blackish; the fluffy feathers snowy-white, like wool,
the longer overlying filamentous plumes glossy black. Chin and throat blackish, speckled with
white ends of the feathers, usually presenting a definite white half-collar. Lining of wings
white. Hen: Length about 20 inches; wing 10 inches; tail 7 or 8, of same general character
as the cock’s, but softer, shorter, less cuneate, with more rapidly tapering feathers. A small
tympanam, but no obviously peculiar feathers on neck. Coloration quite like that of the cock.
Pullet: No peculiar ueck-feathers ; tail beginning to show its special form; general coloration
of the hen. Before the September moult, all the feathers of the upper parts with sharp
white hammer-headed shaft lines, and circular spotting of the feathers of the breast. Sooty
belly-patch showing with the first feathering. Chick in down altogether different from the
dingy yellow chick of Pediacetes ; below grayish-white, above gray-brown mottled with black;
bill black. This remarkable bird, quite a Roland for the Capercaillie’s Oliver, inhabits the
206.
361.
562.
TETRAONIDZ --TETRAONINZ: GROUSE. 581
sterile sage-bush plains of the West; an abundant and characteristic species of those forbidding
regions, beginning with the Eastern slopes and fovt-hills of the R. Mts., South into New
Mexico and Arizona, sparingly N. to 49° or slightly further, in the Milk River region. Not in
Dakota east of the Coteau, or in the Missouri Basin much below the Yellowstone country.
Its centre of abundance is the artemisia tracts of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho,
Eastern California, and Oregon. It straggles through the sage-bush, but I have seen packs of
hundreds in the fall. In the breeding season its sonorous hullaballoo resounds on every hand
where the birds are numerous. The flesh is edible or not, ‘‘as you like it.” The behavior
towards man varies with circumstances; sometimes the birds may almost be knocked over with
a stick, at others it is difficult to get a shot. In walking, the tail is somewhat elevated, and
swings sideways with each step. The flight is extremely vigorous, and at times greatly pro-
tracted, with wings so widely expanded that the tips of the primaries stand apart; the course
rapid and steady when the bird is once fairly on wing, accomplished with a succession of quick
energetic wing-beats, alternating with sailing with stiffly motionless wings until the impulse
is spent. From the nature of its resorts the bird is exclusively terrestrial. The egg is nar-
rower and more pointed than that of any other grouse of our country, measuring from 2.05 to
2.25 in length by 1.50-1.60 in breadth; grayish or greenish-drab color, thickly speckled with
chocolate-brown, mostly in minute dots evenly distributed, occasionally with well-defined spots
up to the size of-a split pea, tending to circular shape.
PEDIC/CETES. (Gr. redioy, pedion, a plain; ofkérys, otketes, an inhabitant.) Prn-Tarn
Grouse. Neck without obviously peculiar feathers, like those either of the pinnated or
ruffed grouse or sage cock, but with a hidden, definitely circumscribed spate on each side of
reddish, vascular, and distensible skin, constituting an undeveloped tympanum, over which
lies a lateral series of slightly enlarged feathers. Head lightly crested, the longest feathers of
the crown falling on the occiput; a crescentic naked patch over each eye of numerous orange
or chrome-yellow fringe-like processes, in several parallel curved rows. Feet full-feathered to
between the bases of the toes, with long, hair-like plumage reaching to or beyond the end of the
hind claw; toes above with one row of broad, transverse scutella, a row on each side of smaller
rounded scales, and a conspicuous fringe of horny processes; below, bossed and scabrous.
Tail much shorter than the wings, normally of 18 true rectrices, of which the central pair are
soft, parallel-edged and square-tipped, projecting an inch or two beyond the next pair; the
rest rapidly graduated, stiffish, and crisp (:naking a creaking sound when rubbed together) ;
at first about straight-edged, soon becoming club-shaped (with a constriction near the apex)
by mutual attrition. Sexes similar, but cock rather larger and darker than the hen, with more
prominent supraciliary papille. One species, of two varieties, of prairie, perfectly terrestrial.
Analysis of Varieties.
Northern Sharp-tailed Grouse. The markings black, white and dark brown, with little or no tawny;
spots on the under parts numerous, blackish, V-shaped; throat white, speckled. (Arctic America.)
phasianellus 561
Common Sharp-tailed Grouse. The markings black, white, and especially tawny ; below, the spots fewer,
brown, U-shaped; throat buff. (U.S. and adjoining British Province.) . - . . . . columbianus 562
P, phasianel/lus. (Diminutive of Lat. phasianus, a pheasant.) NORTHERN SHARP-TAILED
Grouse. As above, in comparison with the ordinary bird next described. Very dark-colored,
in blackish and white variegation, with little buff, even in the fall. The markings below
heavier, in sharper, more arrow-headed shape, quite blackish. The feet very heavily feathered,
almost like a ptarnigan’s. Interior of British America,,E. to Hudson’s Bay, N. and W. to
the Yukon, southward shading directly into the U. 8. bird, before reaching 49°. This is the
true Tetrao phasianellus —a name commonly applied to the next variety.
P. p. columbia/nus. (Of the Columbia River. Fig. 398.) Common SHARP-TAILED GROUSE.
PRAIRIE CHICKEN OF THE NortHwest. Adult $9 : Upper parts closely and pretty evenly
582 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINAI — ALECTOROPODES.
variegated with blackish-brown, reddish-brown, and grayish-brown, the pattern smallest on the
rump and lower back, where the blackish is mostly in sharp-angled stars; the reddish most con-
spicuous on the upper back, and both the lighter colors everywhere finely sprinkled with blackish.
Wing-coverts like the upper back, but with numerous conspicuous rounded white spots, one on
the end of each feather. Crown and back of neck nearly like the back, but in smaller pattern, and
the markings mostly transverse. An illy-defined white area on each side of the neck, over the
tympanum, and slight whitish stripe behind the eye. Throat fine light buff, usually immac-
ulate, but sometimes finely speckled
quite across. Under parts white, more
or less tinted with buff toward the
throat; the breast with numerous regu-
lar dark-brown U-shaped spots, one
on each feather; similar but smaller,
sharper, and fewer such spots thence
seattered over most of the under parts,
only the middle of the belly being left
unmarked. Long feathers of the sides
under the wings matching the upper
wing-coverts nearly ; under wing-cov-
erts and axillaries pure white, not
marked; flanks with bars or U-spots
of dark brown. Legs grayish-white,
unmarked. Quills of the wings fus-
cous; outer webs of the secondaries
with equidistant, squarish, white or
tawny spots, the secondaries tipped
\ and imperfectly twice or thrice barred
a " with white, and gradually becoming
Fic. 398. — Head of Sharp-tailed Grouse, nat. size. (Ad sprinkled with the varied colors of the
es aL back, so that the innermost of them are
almost precisely like the greater coverts. Four middle tail-feathers variegated, much like the
back; others white, or grayish-white, on the inner webs, the outer webs being mottled ; a few
under tail-coverts spotted, the rest white; upper tail-coverts nearly like the rump. Iris light
brown ; bill dark horn-color; part of under mandible flesh-colored; claws like bill; toes on
top light horn-color, the soles darker. Length, 18 or 20 inches; extent 24 to 80; wing
8 to 9; middle tail-feathers 4 to 6; shortest tail-feathers (outermost), about 14; tarsi,
2 inches; middle toe and claw about the same; culmen of bill about $; gape of bill 1 to 14;
depth of bill at base 4 or rather less. Pullets, before first moult: Crown bright brown, varied
with black. Sharp white shaft-lines above, which, with a black area on each feather, contrast
with the fine gray and brown mottling of the upper parts. Wing-coverts and inner quills
with whitish spots. Several inner tail-feathers with whitish shaft lines, and mottled with
blackish and brown. Lower throat and breast with numerous dark brown spots; sides
similar, the markings lengthening into streaks. Bill brown above, pale below. This lasts
till the September moult is completed. Chicks hatch dingy yellow, mottled on the crown,
back, and wings with brown and black. The Pin-tail Chicken inhabits the western portions of
Minnesota, a small part of Iowa, all-of Dakota, thence diagonally across Nebraska and Kansas
to Colorado in the Laramie and upper Platte regions ; thence westward in suitable country to
the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges; northern limit to be conventionally established aloug
the N. border of the U. 8., beyond which it shades into the true phasianellus. In fine, this is
the prairie chicken of the whole Northwest; usually occurring where C. cupido does not, the two
TETRAONIDA| — TETRAONINA: GROUSE. 583
overlap to some extent. Formerly ranged in all the prairie of Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa,
but is pushed westward by the grain-fields — the same carrying cupido along. Eggs 5-10-12-
13, in June; grayish-olive or drab-colored, uniformly dotted with brown points, rarely larger
than a pin-head; always quite different from those of cupido ; 1.60 to 1.80 long by 1.20 to 1.30
broad; average 1.75 1.25. A fine game and table bird, in all respects like cupido.
207. CUPIDONIA. (Name derived from cwpido, which see below.) Prn-neck Grousz. Neck
with a peculiar tuft on each side of loose, lengthened, acuminate feathers, like little wings.
beneath which is
a circular patch of
bare, yellow skin,
capable of great
distension, like the
half of a small or-
ange. Head with
a slight soft crest.
‘Tarsi scant-feath-
ered to the toes in
front and on sides,
bare on a strip behind; toes extensively webbed at base. Tail short, rounded, of 18 broad
stiffish feathers, with obtusely rounded ends. Sexes nearly alike in size, form, and color;
plumage below barred transversely. One species, 2 varieties, of prairie, perfectly terrestrial.
Fie. 399. — Foot of Prairie Hen, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
Analysis of Varieties.
THE COMMON BIRD. Tarsal feathers hiding the bare strip. Dark bars above black, and broad; top of
head mostly blackish de Sag sce 8k BP sar! ola 49s Sol ae, “yd St sae Ss < oe . eupido 5c.
TEXAS BIRD. Tarsi very scant-feathered, the bare strip exposed. Dark bars above brown and narrow;
top of head little blackish . : : “ F a a pallidicinctus 564
563. C. cupi/do. (The tufts on the neck likened to conventional ‘“‘cupid’s wings.” Figs. 399, 400.)
PINNATED GROUSE.
Prairie Hen. ¢ 9:
Above,variegated with
black, brown, tawny,
or ochrey, and white,
the latter especially
on the wings; below,
pretty regularly barred
with dark brown,
white, and tawny;
throat tawny, a little
speckled, or not; vent
and crissum mostly
white; quills fuscous,
with white spots or
the outer webs; tail
fuscous, with narrow
or imperfect white or
} tawny bars and tips;
Fia. 400. — Prairie Hen, (From Lewis.) sexes alike in color,
but 9 smaller, with shorter neck tufts. Length 16.00-18.00; extent about 28.00; wing
8.00-9.00; tail about 4.50; tarsus rather over, middle toe and claw rather under, 2.00; neck-
tufts 2.00-8.50 inches long. This well-known bird formerly ranged across the United States,
TR \\
hie
. oe Ws
Sede 8S
564.
208.
584 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— GALLINA — ALECTOROPODES.
in open country, from the Atlantic to the Eastern foot-hills of the R. Mts., in some latitudes,
and now abounds on the prairies, from Illinois and Wisconsin, to Middle Kansas at least, if not
found on the dryer plains westward. Its usual range includes Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Eastern
half of Minnesota, Southeastern Dakota, Middle and Eastern Kansas and Nebraska, Arkansas,
and Eastern Texas. It is creeping westward
with the grain fields. Ten years ago it mixed
with the sharp-tails about St. Paul’s, Minne-
sota, and up the Missouri to beyond Sioux
City. The line of railroad is a favorite high-
way for the birds. It has been almost ex-
tirpated in the Middle and Eastern States,
though it still occurs sparingly in isolated
localities in New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Long Island, Nantucket, and Mar-
tha’s Vineyard, etc. Its abundance, and the
excellence of its flesh, render it an object of
Fig. 401.— Head of Ruffed Grouse, nat. size. (Ad commercial importance. Though there may
Beh Sel ea be little probability of its extinction, legisla-
tion against its wanton or ill-timed destruction is a measure of obvious propriety. Eggs
averaging shorter, rounder, and smaller than those of the sharp-tail; pale greenish-gray, with
sometimes a glaucous bloom, usually unmarked, sometimes very minutely dotted with brown
C. ¢. pallidicine'ta. (Lat. pallidus, pale; cinctus, begirt.) Pate PINNATED GROUSE.
Above, the dark markings not in excess of the lighter markings, and rather brown than black ;
below, the dark bars very pale and narrow. Tarsi scant feathered, exposing the bare strip
behind. Southwestern prairies; a local race, from warmer and dryer regions.
BONA'SA. (Gr. Bévacos,
Lat. bonasus, a bison: the
“drumming” of the bird
being likened to the bel-
lowing of a bull.) Rurrep
Grouse. Head with a
full soft crest. Neck on
each side with a tuft of
numerous (15-80) broad
soft glossy-black feathers,
covering the rudimentary
tympanum. Tail about as
long as the wings, amply
rounded or fan-shaped, nor-
mally of 18 soft broad
feathers, with truncate
ends. Tarsi scantfeath-
ered, naked below, with
two or three rows of scu-
tella in front. Plumage of
blended and varied colors ;
sexes alike. Woodland species, more or less arboreal, of common occurrence in suitable places.
Analysis of Varieties.
Brown, of mixed and varied shades of reddish and gray. Eastern and Northern. . ... . umbella 565
Pale ; slaty-gray the prevailing shade, Rocky Mountain region . see we ew we . Umbelloides 566
Dark; chestnut-brown the prevailing shade. Pacific Coast region . .. es ri . sabinii 567
em A,
Mee wn sr
Fic. 402. — Ruffed Grouse. (From Lewis.)
565.
566.
567.
209.
TETRAONIDH — TETRAONIN 4: GROUSE. 585
B. umbel’la. (Lat. wnbella, an umbel, umbrella; wmbra, shade, shadow; alluding to the neck-
tufts. Figs. 401, 402.) Rurrep Grouss. ‘ Partripce;” New England. ‘ PHEASANT ;”
Middle and Southern States. ¢ 9: Above, variegated reddish- or grayish-brown, the back with
numerous, oblong, pale, black-edged spots. Below, whitish, barred with brown. Tail brown
or gray, numerously and narrowly black-barred, with a broad subterminal black zone, and
tipped with gray. The neck-ruffle of the ¢ mostly glossy black, and very full; of the 9
smaller.and more brown. The colors are endlessly varied as well as blended, and the prevailing
tone of the brown birds of the East shades insensibly into that of the Western varieties.
Length 16.00-18.00; extent 23.00; wing 7.00-8.00; tail about the same. A woodland bird,
like the species of Camace, abundantly distributed over Eastern North America; in the U. 8.
to the central plains; in Brit. Am. to Alaska. It is well known under the above names in
different sections; but it is neither a “‘ partridge” nor a ‘‘ pheasant,” being, in fine, a Ruffed
Grouse. The ‘ drumining” sound for which this bird is noted, is not vocal, as some suppose,
but is produced by rapidly beating’ the wings. Eggs very characteristic, from creamy white to
creamy buff, usually immaculate, sometimes minutely dotted or even speckled with brown; they
resemble partridge eggs also in shape, which approaches the pyriform, broad and blunt at one
end, pointed at the other; size about 1.66 X 1.20.
B. u. umbelloi/des. (Lat. wmbella, as above defined, and Gr. eiSos, eidos, resemblance.)
Gray Rurrep Grouse. A variety of the last, of very different tone of color in its extreme
development, but shading into the common Ruffed by insensible degrees in Brit. Am. When
fully manifested, as follows: Lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail slate-gray, with
little if any brown tinge; the feathers of the back and rump with light gray cordate or arrow-
headed spots narrowly bordered with black, the tail-feathers finely vermiculated with black, and
with a broad subterminal black zone. Ruffle glossy greenish-black. Under parts whitish, more
or less tinged with tawny-brown, with several broad brown cross-bars on each feather, largest
and most distinct on the long feathers of the sides, some of which have also white shaft lines ;
heavy feathers of flanks and vent mostly whitish, unmarked. Feathers of fore-neck and scap-
ulars blended with gray, rich reddish-brown, ochrey-brown, and white, in indescribable con-
fusion. Most of the wing-coverts with white shaft-lines. Hen with the ruffle less developed,
varied with brown and white. General tone more rufous than in the cock. Rocky Mt. region,
U. §., running into both the other varieties.
B. sabi/nii. (To J. Sabine.) Rep Rurrep Grousr. OREGON RuFFED GROUSE. More
nearly resembling the common ruffed grouse, but the coloration more heavily brown, — darker
and richer. More blackish to the brown, and the latter almost chestnut in well-marked cases.
Pacific coast region, Oregon +o Alaska.
LAGO’PUS. (Gr. Aayamous, lagopous, Lat. lagopus, hare-foot: the densely-feathered feet
resemble those of rabbits.) Prarmicgan. Snow Grouss. No peculiar feathers on head or
neck. Tarsi and toes densely feathered. Tail short, little rounded, normally of 14 broad
feathers, with long upper coverts, some of which resemble rectrices, the central pair of these
usually reckoned as rectrices, making 16. A naked red comb over eye. Boreal and alpine.
grouse, shaped nearly as in Canace, remarkable for the seasonal changes of plumage, becoming
in winter snow-white (excepting the British insular race). There are only five or six species,
at most, and probably fewer; we certainly have the three here given.
Analysis of Species.
Tail black at all seasons.
The summer plumage mostly rich chestnut or orange-brown, and black. In winter, no black stripe
on: head: (Billistoute so. 4. sees ee eae sa ee es albus 568
The summer plumage wholly brownish-yellow and black, except ¢ on wings and tail. In winter a black
stripe on head. Billslender . ie wer oak fy Gis. idan Yas ides an Choate Se a die rupestris 569
Tail white at all seasons.
The summer plumage ochrey-brown and black. In winter entirely white. ..... leucurus 570
568.
586 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINZ — ALECTOROPODES.
L, al/bus. (Lat. albus, white. Figs. 403, 404.) WinLow Grouse. WILLOW PTARMIGAN.
Bill very stout and convex, its depth at base as much as the distance from nasal fossa to tip ;
whole culmen 0.75; bill black at all seasons. @ @, in winter: Snow white; 14 tail-feathers’
black, white-tipped ; the middle pair (which most resemble and perhaps are true rectrices, hav-
ing'no after-shafts) together with all the coverts, one pair of which reach to end of tail, white ;
shafts of several outer wing-quills black; no black stripe on head. ¢, in summer: The head
Fie. 403. — Willow Ptarmigan, summer plumage, 4 nat. sizo. (From Brehm.)
and fore parts rich chestnut or orange-brown, more tawny-brown on back and rump; the richer
brown parts sparsely, the tawny-brown more closely, barred with black ; most of the wings and
under parts remaining white. similar, wholly colored excepting the wings, the color more
tawny than in the g, and more heavily, closely, and uniformly barred with black. Length
15.00-17.00; wing about 8.00; tail 5.50. Arctic and Northern N. Am. from ocean to ocean,
into the northernmost U. 8. Eggs very heavily colored, with bold confluent blotches of intense
burnt sienna color, upon a more or less reddish-tinted buff ground. All the eggs of birds of this
family are colorless when the shell first forms high in the oviduct, acquiring pigment as they
pass down; in the ptarmigan, where the coloring is so heavy, an egg cut from the pigment-
569.
TETRAONIDA —TETRAONINZE: GROUSE. 587
secreting part of the passage is as if covered with fresh paint, soft and sticky, which may be.
rubbed off before it “sets” on the shell. Size 1.80 « 1.20.
L. rupes'tris. (Lat. rupestris, relating to rupis, a rock; rupestrine.) Rock PTARMIGAN.
Bill slenderer for its length than that of L. albus, its depth at base less than the distance from
nasal fossa to tip; whole culmen 0.67; bill always black. @ @Q, in winter: As in L. albus,
but a black transocular stripe on side ofhead. @ 9, in summer: The whole plumage, excepting
the wings and tail, barred with blackish-brown and brownish-yellow. Rather smaller than the
Fia. 404. — Willow Ptarmigan, winter plumage, j nat. size. (From Brehm.)
foregoing. Length 14.00-15.00; wing 7.00-7.50; tail 4.50. Arctic America, not 8. to the
U. S. Eggs 13-15 or more, like those of L. albus, but darker and rather smaller; size
1.70 * 1.18. ‘The summer plumage is assumed at variable periods of the months of April,
May, and even in early June, according to the locality. The moult for the summer is usually
shown first on the head and neck, followed by the lower back, sides, breast, middle back, flanks,
and abdomen, in the order named. The abdomen and chin are the last areas to show the com-
plete moult. The parts named also assume, in the order given, the white winter plumage.
During the time of the summer plumage scarcely a single day passes that the general color of
the feathers is not modified by the appearance or loss of some feather.” (Turner.) Hence the
difficulty if not impossibility of establishing races of this species upon color, as the amount of
barring, vermiculation, or nebulation with dusky, tawny, and gray is incessantly changing in
570.
588 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINA — ALECTOROPODES.
the same individuals; and birds taken at different dates in the summer, in the same locality,
may differ from one another more than specimens frum different regions, representing several
alleged varieties, are always found to do. The American bird, in
fact, is scarcely distinguishable from the European L. mutus or alpinus. se
The Greenland bird has been called L. reinhardti by Brehm. That %
of the Aleutian Islands, LZ. mutus atkensis, Turner. The latter is :
said to have the bill and claws about 0.10 longer than usual.
L. leucu’/rus. (Gr. Aevxds, leucos, white ; odpd, owra, tail. Fig. 405.)
WHITE-TAILED Prarmican. Rocky Mountain Snow Grouse.
$9, in winter: Entirely snow-white ; bill black, rather slender, and
general size and proportions nearly as in L. rupestris. @ 9, in sum-
mer: Tail, most of the wing, and lower parts
from the breast, remaining white; rest of the
plumage minutely marked with black, white,
and tawny or grayish-brown, varying in pre-
cise character almost with every specimen; but
there is no difficulty in recognizing this white-
tailed species, of alpine distribution in West-
ern N. A. from the Arctic regions to New
Mexico (lat. 37°). In summer, inhabits the
mountain ranges from timber-line to the high-
est peaks, in winter ranging lower down.
Eggs very different from the heavily-painted
ones of DL. albus, of dull creamy complexion,
minutely dotted over the whole surface with
burnt-sienna, few of the markings exceeding
a pin’s head in size, and not thick enough Fig. 405. — White-tailed Ptarmigan; upper, in sum-
mer; lower, in winter. (From Hayden.)
to obscure the ground-color; shape purely :
ovoidal, greatest diameter near the middle; size 1.70 X 1.14; number variable, about a dozen.
53. Subfamily ODONTOPHORINA:: American Partridges and Quails.
Head completely feathered, and usually crested,
i ; the crest frequently ‘assuming a remarkable shape.
"VA Nasal fosse not filled with feathers, the nostrils
: covered with a naked scale. Tarsi and toes naked,
the latter scarcely or not fringed, the former scu-
tellate. Size smaller than in Tetraonine.
Our Partridges may be distinguished, among
Awerican Galline, by the foregoing characters, but
not from those of the Old World; and it is highly
Li 2, improbable that, as a group, they are separable fron
i 4 all the forms of the latter by any decided peculiari-
WTA BE ties. The principal supposed character, namely, a
k My wae ac | ‘ toothing of the under mandible, is very faintly
indicated in some forms, and entirely wanting in
Fie. 406,— European Partridge. (From Dixon.) others, Pending final issue, however, it is expe-
dient to recognize the group, so strictly limited geographically, if not otherwise. Several
beautiful and important genera occur within our limits, but these Partridges are most numerous
in species in Central and South America. Odontophorus is the leading genus, with perhaps
15 species; Eupsychortye and Dendrortyx are other extra-limital forms; and in all, some
nN
\
\
\y '
TETRAONIDZ —ODONTOPHORINZE: PARTRIDGES OR QUAIL. 589
forty-odd species are known. In habits, they agree more or less completely with the well
known Bob-white. Our species are apparently monogamous, and go in small flocks, called
“ coveys,” usually consisting of the members of one family; they are terrestrial, but take to the
trees on occasion; nest on the ground, laying numerous white or speckled eggs; are chiefly
granivorous, but also feed on buds, soft fruits, and insects ; and are non-migratory.
Analysis of Genera,
An inconspicuous crest, scarcely visible except in life. Tail about we as ne as the wing. Coloration
everywhere variegated. (One species) . . cel ole Oriya 210
A short, soft, full crest. Tail $ the wing Coloration ‘much the same all Oya " showing curious semi-
circular markings. (One species! . . » «+ + Callipepla 213
A long, slender, arrowy crest, two or three inches long, of two narrowly linear feathers. Tail 2 as long as
the wing. Parti-colored, but the coloration chiefly in masses. (One species). ., . . . . Orortyx 211
A long, recurved, helmet-like crest, of several imbricated plumes, enlarged at the extremity. Tail ¢ as
long as the wing. Coloration chiefly in masses. (Two species) . . . » . . « . Lophortyx 212
A short, soft, full crest. Tail scarcely 3 as long as the wing. Coloration peculiar, in round, white spots
on the under parts of the g'. (One species). . . . . ir & « Cyrtonyx 214
As all these genera have each but a single species in this country, excepting Lophortyz, the foregoing i is
nearly equivalent to a determinatiun of the species.
210. OR/TYX. (Gr. dprvé, ortux, a quail.)
Feathers of crown lengthened and erec-
tile, but hardly forming a true crest.
Tail about 2 as long as the wing.
Outstretched feet reaching beyond end
of tail. Coloration much variegated ;
a reddish-brown varied with black
and white the leading color. Eggs
white, pyriform, numerous. Fig. 407.— Bill and foot of Ortyx, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
Analysis of Varieties.
Length of #, 10 inches or rather more; extent 15 or more; wing 4.50 or more. Bill blackish-brown.
' Ground color dull pinkish-red with narrow black bars pelow ae ey . . virginiona 571
Length of ¢, scarcely 10 inches; extent under 15; wing scarcely or not 4.50. Bill set black. Ground
color dark reddish, with much broader black bars below. . = « - . floridana 572
Length etc. as in floridana. Ground color paler than in virginiana, with numerous black bars, and
i increase of ashy and tawny . se ee we ww we ww we 6bCKONA BIB
Fig. 408. — Mr. and Mrs. Bob White, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E, C.)
571. O. virginia/na, (Of Virginia. Figs. 407, 408, 409.) Virainta Partrings, or “ QuaIL.”
Bos-wuirr. ‘QuatL:” New England, wherever the Ruffed Grouse is called ‘“ partridge.”
590 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINZ4 — ALECTOROPODES.
“ PartripGe:” Southern and Middle States, wherever the Ruffed Grouse is called “‘ pheasant.”
dé: Forehead, superciliary line, and throat, white, bordered with black; crown, neck all round,
and upper part of breast, brownish-red; other under parts tawny-whitish, all with more or fewer
doubly-crescentic black bars; crissum rufous; sides broadly striped with brownish-red ; upper
parts variegated with chestnut, black, gray and tawny, the latter edging the inner quills, form-
ing a continuous line when the wing is closed. 9 : Known by having the throat buff instead of
white, less black about the fore-parts, and general coloration subdued. The reddish of this bird is
of a peculiar dull pinkish shade. The black crescents of the under parts are scarcely or not half
the width of the intervening white spaces; the bill is not jet black. Length of ¢ 10.00-10.50 ;
Fie. 409. ~ The Bob White family. (From ‘Sport with Gun and Rod;” The Century Co., N. ¥.)
extent 15.00-15.50; wing 4.50 tu nearly 5.00; tail 2.75-3.00. 9 9.50-10.00; extent 14.50-
15.00; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.50-2.75. Among the thousands of Bob-whites yearly destroyed,
albinotic or melanotic, and other abnormally colored specimens, are frequently found; but the
percentage of these cases is nothing unusual, and the sportsman must be cautioned against sup-
posing that such birds have any status, in a scientific point of view, beyond their illustration of
certain perfectly well known variations. Such specimens, however, are interesting and valuable,
and should always be preserved. Eastern United States. North to Massachusetts and slightly
beyond; Canada West; Minnesota. West to high central plains. Up the Missouri to White
River. Salt Lake Valley (introduced). The characteristic game bird of this country. Eggs
indefinitely numerous, pure white, pointed at one end and very blunt at the other, about
1.30 X 1.00.
i
TETRA ONIDZ! — ODONTOPHORINZ: PARTRIDGES OR QUAIL. 591
572. O. v. florida‘na, (Of Florida.) Fiorma Quam. Rather smaller, the J about the size of
573.
the Q virginiana, but bill relatively larger, and jet-black ; colors darker, all the black mark-
ings heavier, those of the under parts nearly as broad as the intervening white spaces. Florida,
and similar specimens in the lower Mississippi Valley; an approach to the Cuban form
(0. cubanensis). ,
O. v. texa/na. (Of Texas.) Texas Quam. Size of floridana; colors paler, the prevailing
shade rather gray than brown; upper parts much variegated with tawny. Eggs 1.20 0.93.
These two are mere climatic varieties of one species.
. OROR/TYX. (Gr. dpos, ores, a mountain ; dprvé, ortua, a quail.) Puumep Quart. Head
adorned with an arrowy crest of two slender keeled plumes, 3-4 inches long in the g when
full-developed; present in 9, shorter. Bill and feet stout; tarsus equal to the middle toe and
claw. Tail about 3 the wing, broad, rounded, with long coverts. Size large; colors massed
in large areas; sexes alike. Liggs colored. One species.
574. O. pic'ta. (Lat. picta, pictured, painted. Fig. 411.) PLumep PartTrRipGe. Mountain QuAIL
212.
of the Californians. $9, adult: Back, wings and tail
olive-brown, the inner secondaries and tertiaries bordered
with whitish or tawny, forming a lengthwise border in
single line when the wings are folded; the primaries fus-
cous, the tail-feathers fuscous, minutely marbled with
the color of the back.
Fore- parts, above
and below, slaty-
blue (above more or
less glossed with
the olive shade of
the back, below mi-
nutely marbled with
black) ; the throat
chestnut, immedi-
ately bordered lat-
erally with black,
then framed in a
firm white line,
broken through ‘the
eye, reappearing
Fic. 410.—Helmet Quail (LZ. gambeli) around base of un- Fre. 411. — Plumed Quail. (From Ten-
nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) der mandible. Ex- after Audubon. )
treme forehead whitish. The arrow-plumes black. Belly chestnut, the sides banded with
broad bars of black and white, or rufous-white; middle of the lower belly, tibia, and flanks,
whitish or rufous; crissum velvety-black, streaked with chestnut. Bill dusky, paler below;
feet brown. Length 11.00-12.00; extent 16.00-17.00; wing 5.00-5.50; tail 3.00-3.50; tarsus
1.67; middle toe and claw about the same. An elegant species, much larger and more beauti-
ful than the Bob-white, inhabiting the mountainous parts of Oregon, California and Nevada.
The relative extent of the olive and slaty parts is very variable. There is something of a
grouse in the composition of this partridge. Egg a miniature of the ruffed grouse’s, only dis-
tinguished by smaller size — 1.40 x 1.10.
LOPHOR'TYX. (Gr. Addos, lophos, a crest; dprvé, ortux, a quail.) HeLtmet QualL.
With an elegant crest, recurved helmet-wise, of several (6-10) keeled, clubbed, glossy-black,
imbricated feathers, more than an inch,long when fully developed; in the 9, smaller, of fewer
feathers. Tarsus slightly shorter than middle toe and claw. Tail about 4 as long asthe wing;
592 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINZ: — ALECTOROPODES.
outstretched feet not reaching to its end. Bulk of the Bob-white, but longer; 10.00-11.50;
wing 4.00 or more; tail 3.00 or more. Coloration chiefly in masses; sexes unlike. @ with
the chin and throat jet-black, sharply bordered with white; a white line across the vertex and
along the sides of the crown, bordered behind by black; 9 without these head-markings.
Eggs colored. Two elegant species in the U. S.
Analysis of Species.
od middle of belly orange-chestnut ; sides like back, with white stripes ; hind-head smoky-brown ; fore-
head chiefly whitish, with white loral line . . californica 575
o middle of belly jet-black; sides chestnut with white stripes; hind-head chestnut ; fore-head chiefly
Caer: ct cone ee Se . gambeli 576
black ; no white loralline . ie fee dees 2
Fig. 412. California Helmet Quail, 4 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
575. L. californica. (Lat. Californian. Fig. 412.) CALIFORNIAN PARTRIDGE. VALLEY QUAIL
of the Californians. g: With a small white line from bill to eye ; forehead whitish with black
lines; occiput smoky-brown ; nuchal and cervical feathers with very dark edging and shaft-lines,
and fine whitish speckling. General color of upper parts ashy, with strong olive-brown gloss,
the edging of the inner quills brownish-orange. Fore breast slaty-blue ; other under parts tawny,
deepening centrally into rich golden-brown or orange-chestnut, all the feathers sharply edged
with jet-black; sides olive-ashy like the back, with sharp white stripes; vent, flanks, and
crissum tawny, with dark stripes. Length 10.00-11.00; wing 4.25; tail 3.75; tarsus 1.25;
middle toe and claw rather more. Besides lacking the definite head-markings, the 9 wants
the rich sienna color of the under parts, which are whitish or tawny with black semicircles
576.
213.
577.
TETRAONIDH — ODONTOPHORINZE): PARTRIDGES OR QUAIL. 593
as inthe ¢; the breast is olive-gray. The changes of plumage are parallel with those of L.
gambeli. Lower portions of California and Oregon; E. nearly to the Colorado River; abun-
dant. A fine species, eutirely distinct from the next, but habits and manners in all respects
the saine; replaces L. gambeli westward. Eggs speckled, as in the next.
L. gam/beli. (To Wm. Gambel. Fig. 410.) GampBert’s Partripce. ARIZONA QUAIL.
¢: Without white loral line; forehead black with whitish lines; occiput chestnut ; nuchal and
cervical feathers with dark shaft lines, but few dark edgings or nove, aud no white speckling.
General color of upper parts clear ash, the edgiug of the inner quills white. Fore-breast like
the back ; other under parts whitish, the middle of the belly with a large jet-black patch; sides
rich purplish-chestnut, with sharp white stripes; vent, flanks and crissum white with dusky
streaks. Billblack; iris brown. Besides lacking the definite head-markings, the 9 wants the
black abdominal area, where the feathers are whitish with dark lengthwise touches; crest dark
brown, not recurved, and fewer-feathered than that of the cock. Top of head grayish-brown,
nearly uniform from bill to nape; throat grayish-white with slight dark pencilling. Chicks,
in the down: Bill above reddish, nearly white below; feet dull flesh-colur. Head dingy
yellowish, with a large brown spot on the vcciput, a few black, white-streaked feathers on
crown, and the crest sprouting in a week or two. Upper parts grayish-brown mottled with
black spots, and conspicuously striped with white lines. Outer webs of the sprouting quills
marked with blackish and whitish. Throat white; other under parts narrowly barred with
black and tawny-white, striped lengthwise with pure white. Sprouting’ tail-feathers like the
primaries. Pullets, quarter-grown, 6-7 inches long: Leaden-gray, becoming tawny on the
wings, which are still a little mottled as above described; below, light gray, nearly white on
throat and belly. Breast waved with light and dark gray, with traces of the white stripes.
Sides under the wings slightly fulvous or rufescent, but without definite stripes. Quills plain
dusky; tail-feathers more plumbeous, marked with blackish and whitish. A broad white
superciliary line. With the progress of the fall inoult this dress changes for one like that of
the adults, and the sexes are soon distinguishable. Eggs 1.25>1.00, pyramidal, narrow and
pointed at one end, very obtuse the other; color buff or rich creamy, dotted and spotted all
over with bright brown, splashed here and there with large blotches of the same ; number in
definite — 8-12 or more. Nest like that of any other partridge. New Mexico and Arizona,
both in mountains and valleys, very abundant; E. to Pecos and San Elizario, Texas, beyond
which replaced by the Massena partridge; W. to Colorado R. and slightly beyond; N. to
Utah; S. into Mexico. The characteristic game bird of Arizona.
CALLIPEP'LA. (Gr. caA\urémhos, kallipeplos, beautifully arrayed.) SHELL QuarL. General
character of Lophortyx, but head with a short, full, soft crest as in the Massena quail (fig. 418).
Coloration of under parts producing a shelly or scaly appearance. Sexes nearly alike. Eggs
not heavily colored. One U. 8. species.
C. squama'ta, (Lat. squamata, squamous, scale-like.) ScaLepD Partripce. BLvuE
Quaw. gg, adult: General color bluish-plumbeous, shading into olive-brown on the back
and wings and to rufous on the under parts behind the wings, with a large abdominal area of
orange-brown ; the feathers of the neck all around, and most of those of the under parts,
sharply edged with black, producing a peculiar shell-like appearance; on the breast the
feathers also with concealed reddish shaft-lines. Long feathers of the sides like the back in
color, with white brown-edged stripes or long-oval spots. On the flanks and crissum the
feathers lose the scaly appearance, becoming blended rusty-brown, with linear, sagittate, or
cordate dark spots. Inner secondaries edged with buff or whitish, affording to the folded wing
the lengthwise stripe sv characteristic of N. A. partridges. Quills plain fuscous ; tail-feathers
plumbeous. No definite stripes about the head; crest dark brown ending in pure white. |
Length 10.00-11.00 ; extent 14.50-15.50; wing 4.50; tail 3.50; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and
claw 1.04. 9 little different; head markings the same; the orange-brown of the belly
214,
578.
215.
594 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINZ — ALECTOROPODES.
reduced or wariting ; size rather less. Texas, N.M., Ariz. and southward; generally dispersed,
but far less numerous than the top-knot quails, and apparently more southern; extends along
the Rio Grande to about 100 miles from the coast. Eggs 10-12-16, rather elliptical than con-
ical, 1.25>0.98, white, minutely freckled with buff.
CYRTONYX. (Gr. xvprés, kurtos, bent, crooked; dy, onux, nail, claw.) HARLEQUIN
QuaiL. Bill very stout. Head with a full, soft, depressed occipital crest. Tail very short,
soft, almost hidden by the coverts, scarcely or not half as long as the wings. Wing-coverts
and inner quills highly developed, folding entirely over the primaries. Feet small; tarsus
rather shorter than middle toe and claw; toes short, but with remarkably developed claws. A
very distinct genus. Plumage of head of @ curiously striped; of under parts ocellated. Sexes
very unlike,
C. masse’na. (To André Massena, Prince D’Essling and Marshal of France. Fig. 413.) Mas-
SENA PARTRIDGE. (, adult: Upper parts intimately waved with black and reddish-brown
and tawny-brown, and marked with sharp buff or whitish shaft-lines ; on the wings the irregular
black variegation changing to black bars and round spots, in regular paired series on each
feather. Outer quills fuscous, their outer webs
spotted with white or buff. Under parts crowded
with innumerable round white spots on a dark
ground, several pairs on each feather; the middle
line of the breast and belly mahogany-colored,
the flanks, vent, and crissum velvety-black. Top
of head black in front, with slight white touches,
changing on the crest to brown. Sides of head
and throat fantastically striped with black and
white; a broad black throat-patch ; another on
the cheeks, across lores and alongside of crown;
a third on the ear-coverts; a fourth bordering the
white all around behind. Length about 9.00;
extent 17.00; wing 4.75; tail 2.00; tarsus 1.20:
middle toe and claw 1.60; its claw alone 0.50
Q, adult: Upper parts as in the @, but the markings of the wings less regular, more assimi
lated with the general variegation, and the tone more fulvous. No peculiar marks on head,
throat whitish or buff; general tone of the under parts pale purplish-cinnamon, with fine
mottling of black and white on each feather. Young g: Resembling the hen, but the undef
parts ochrey or whitish with black variegation. Chicks, scarcely fledged, 3-4 inches long .
Bill reddish above, whitish below; feet dull brownish. Above, light warm brown, varied
with black, boldly striped with white — each feather having a hammer-headed white shaft-
line. Some inner wing-quills like the back ; others dusky with whitish shafts, broken-barred
with buff, chiefly on outer webs. Below, buffy-white, with numberless spots of blackish paired
on each feather, sharp and circular on breast, further back widening to bars. A singular
species, very showy in full plumage, inhabiting portions ot Texas, N. M., and Ariz.; in the
latter, W. to Fort Whipple at least.
Fia. 413. — Massena Quail, ¢', nat. size. \
[Subfamily PERDICINAE: Old World Partridges and Quail.
It becomes necessary to introduce this group, in consequence of the naturalization of the
imported Migratory or Messina Quail of Enrope, I know of no characters to distinguish it
from Odontophorina, and doubt that there are any. ]
COTUR/NIX. (Lat. coturniz, a quail; from its note.) Bill smaller and much slenderer than
that ‘of’ any of the foregoing genera of Odontophorine; nasal fosse feathered, except on the
tumid nasal scale. Wings of moderate length, little vaulted and not rounded, pointed by the
TETRAONIDA — PERDICINZ: OLD WORLD QUAIL. 595
1st-3d quills, the lst not shorter than the next. First primary emarginate on inner web; 2d
and 3d sinuate on outer web. Tail extremely short and slight, not half as long as the wing,
pointed, its feathers very soft, the central pair lanceolate. Feet small; tarsus shorter than middle
toe and claw, slightly feathered above in front, with two rows of alternating large scutella in
front, two rows of smaller rounded scales meeting in a ridge behind, the sides filled in with
small plates. Size smaller than that of any of the foregoing species; pattern of coloration
soinewhat as in Ortyx ; sexes nearly alike.
579, C. dactyli/sonans. (Gr. ddxrvdos, daktulos, the finger; a metrical measure consisting of a
long and two short syllables; Lat. sonans, sounding. Fig. 414.) Mussina QuatL. Micra-
Fia. 414. —Common Quail of Europe, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
TORY QualL. Common QuaiL of Europe. Adult g 9: Upper parts variegated with buff
or whitish and black upon a mixed reddish-brown and gray ground, the most conspicuous mark-
ings being sharp lance-linear lengthwise stripes of buff or whitish over most of the upper parts,
these dashes mostly edged with black; other less prominent buff or whitish cross-bars, several
to a feather, likewise framed in black. Crown mixed brown and black, with sharp median and
lateral buff stripes. Throat white, bounded before by a dark bar curving down behind the
auriculars; behind, by a necklace of ruddy-brown, blackish, or whitish spots; chin varied with
dark marks in advance of the auricular bar. Under parts fading to whitish from the buff or
pale yellowish-brown breast, without any dark crossbars, but the long feathers of the sides and
flanks with large and conspicuous white shaft-stripes and otherwise variegated with black,
596 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
brown, and- buff. Primaries fuscous, spotted with light brown on outer webs; secondaries
similar, but the markings becoming bars on both webs. Tail-feathers brownish-black, much
varied with shaft-lines, cross-bars, and edgings of buff; crissum immaculate, like the abdomen.
Bill dark; feet pale: iris dark brown. Length about 7.00; wing 3.75; tail 1.75; tarsus 1.00;
middle toe and claw rather more. Europe, Asia, etc., recently imported and turned loose in
considerable numbers in the U. 8., as in New England; but its permanent naturalization is
stili open to question. If one will compare this bird with the bob-white he will see how very
different is the Old World quail from our Ortyz, og any other birds of this country called
“ quail;” but that it resembles Ortyx more nearly than the European partridge, Perdix cinerea,
does; so that, if we must borrow a name from any Old World birds for our species of Ortyx,
Lophortyx, Callipepla, etc., the term ‘ quail’ is rather more appropriate than ‘ partridge.’
VII. Order LIMICOLZ:: Shore-birds.
Commonly known as the great ‘‘ plover-snipe group,” from the circumstance that the
pluvialine and scolopacine birds form the bulk of the order, which is practically equivalent to
the Charadriomorphe of Huxley. The species average of small size, with rounded or de-
pressed (never extremely compressed) body, and live in open places on the ground, usually by
the water’s edge. With rare exceptions, the head is completely feathered; the general ptery-
losis is of a nearly uniform pattern. The osteological characters are shared to some extent by
certain swimining birds, as Gulls and Auks; the palate is schizognathous; the nasal bones are
normally schizorhinal; the angle of the mandible is produced into a slender hooked process ;
the maxillo-palatines are thin and scroll-like; there are prominent basipterygoid processes ;
the rostral bones are slender, often much elongated ; the sternum is usually doubly, sometimes
singly, notched behind ; the carotids are double ; the syringeal muscles not more than one pair.
The physiological nature is preecocial and ptilopeedic; the eggs, averaging four, as a rule are
laid on the ground in a rude nest or bare depression; the young hatch clothed and able to run
about. The food is insects, worms, and other small or soft animals, either picked up from the
surface, or probed for in soft sand or mud, or forced to rise by stamping with the feet on the
ground; from this latter circumstance, the birds have been named Calcatores (stampers).
With a few exceptions, the wing is long, thin, flat and pointed, with narrow stiff primaries,
rapidly graduated from Ist to 10th; secondaries in turn rapidly lengthening from without
inward, the posterior border of the wing thus showing two salient points separated by a deep
emargination. The tail, never long, is commonly quite short, and has from 12 (the usual
number) up to 20 or even 26 feathers (in oue remarkable group of Snipe). The legs are
commonly lengthened, sometimes extremely so; rarely quite short, and are usually slender ;
they are indifferently scutellate or reticulate, or both. The feathers rarely reach the suffrago.
The toes are short (as compared with the case of Herons and Rails), the anterior usually semi-
palmate, frequently cleft to the base, only palmate in Recurvirostra and only lohate in Phalaro-
podide. The hinder is always short and elevated, or absent. The length of the phalanges
of the anterior toes decreases from the basal to the penultimate. The lower part of the crus
never has feathers inserted upon it, though the leg may appear feathered to the suffrago,
owing to the length of the feathers. The bill varies much in length and contour, but is almost
always slender, contracted from the frontal region of the skull, and is as long as, or much longer
than, the head, representing the “‘ pressirostral” (pluvialine) and ‘‘ longirostral” (scolopacine)
types. Furthermore, it is generally in large part, if not entirely, covered with softish skin,
often membranous and sensitive to the very tip, and only rarely hard throughout. The nostril
is generally a slit in the membranous part, and probably never feathered.
Most. of the families of this order are well represented in this country, and will be found
fully characterized beyond. The position of Parride is in question, and it probably belongs here
rather than among the families where it is ranged (beyond). There are several outlying or
CHARADRITIDA — CHARADRIIN:: PLOVER. 597
inosculating families in the vicinity of Limicole and Alectorides, of uncertain position. The
largest of these is the Bustard family, Otidide, which connects Limicole and
Fig. 415.— A Plover, the European Lapwing, reduced. (From Dixon.)
54. Subfamily CHARADRIINZE: True Piover.
Toes generally three, the hinder absent (excepting, among our forms, Squatarola, Vanellus,
and Aphriza) ; tarsus reticulate, longer than the middle toe; toes with a basal web (cleft in
Aphriza) ; tibie naked below. Bill of moderate length, much shorter or not longer than the
head, shaped somewhat like that. of a Pigeon, with a convex horny terminal portion, con-
tracted behind this; the nasal fossee rather short and wide, filled with soft skin in which the
nostrils open as a slit, not basal, and perforate. Gape very short, reaching a little beyond base
of culmen. Wings long and pointed, reaching, when folded, to or beyond the end of the tail,
and sometimes spurred; crissal feathers long and full; tail short, generally nearly even and of
12 feathers; body plump; neck short and thick; head large, globose, sloping rapidly to the
small base of the bill, usually fully feathered. Size moderate or small.
Our species (excepting Aphriza, if really belonging here) are very closely related, and will
be readily recognized by the foregoing characters. There are in all perhaps sixty species.
The most singular of them is the Anarhynchus frontalis, in which the bill is bent sideways.
Thinornis zelandia of New Zealand, Phegornis mitchelli and Oreophilus totanirostris of Chili,
are peculiar forms. Species of Chettusia, Lobivanellus and Hoplopterus have fleshy wattles,
or a tubercle, often developed into a spine, on the wing, or both; some of these, and others,
216.
598 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
are crested. These are all near Vanellus proper, and a part of them are 4-toed. Our species
are found along the seashore, by the water’s edge in other open places, and in dry plains and
fields. They all perform extensive migrations, appearing with great regularity in the spring
and fall, and most of them breed far northward. They are all more or less gregarious, except
when breeding. They run and fly with great rapidity ; the voice is a mellow whistle; the
food is chiefly of an animal nature. The eggs are commonly four in number, speckled, very
large at one end and pointed at the other, placed with the small ends together in a slight nest
or mere depression in the ground. The sexes are generally similar, but the changes with age
and season are great.
Analysis of Genera.
Toes 4.
Head not crested.
Tarsi scutellate in front ; toes cleft to base. oe | dot Fe nd: a » + » Aphriza 221
Tarsi reticulate ; toes with basalweb. .......,.+. ~~. thle tab vie tap Sa Ge Squatarola 216
Head with a long flowing crest Be a aegesee) | a Se! Gg ah Get taeh tee Joe Sy Vanellus 220
Toes 3.
Plumage of upper parts speckled; no rings or bands of color about head or neck . . . Charadrius 217
Plumage of upper parts not speckled ; rings or bands of color about head and neck.
Tarsus not nearly twice as long as middle toe without claw . . , . igialites 218
Tarsus about twice as long as middle toe without claw. ... «ss. aes Podasocys 219
SQUATAROLA. (Ital. squatarola, name of the species. Fig. 416.) Four-TOED PLOVER.
A small but distinct hind toe, contrary to the rule in this family. Tail less than half as long as
wing. Tarsus much longer than middle toe and
claw. Tibia bare below, reticulate like the
tarsus. Basal web between outer and middle
toes. Upper plu.aage speckled, lower black or
white; no rings r bars of color about head or
neck. Legs dark-colored. Tail fully barred.
Seasonal changes of plumage very great; sexes
alike.
S. helve'tica, (Lat. Helvetica, Helvetian, Swiss.
Fig. 417.) Swiss PLover. BLACK-BELLIED
PuLover. BULL-HEAD PLOVER. WHISTLING
Fretp Puover. Ox-rYE. @ 9, in summer: :
Upper parts fretted with blackish and ashy-white, Fia. 416. — Bill and hind toe of Squatarola, nat.
the feathers being white basally, then black, size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
tipped and usually scalloped with white. Upper tail-coverts mostly white, with few dark
touches. Fore-head, line over eye and thence more broadly over side of neck, the lining of
wings, tibiee, vent and under tail-coverts, white. Sides of head to an extent embracing the
eyes, axillary plumes, and entire under parts (except as said), black. Tail closely barred with
black and white. Primaries dark brown, blackening at tips, with large basal areas and a
portion of their shafts, white. Bill and feet black. Length 11.00-12.00; wing 7.00-7.50;
tail 3.00; bill 1.00-1.25 ; tarsus 2.00; middle toe and claw 1.33; tibie bare 1.00. But such
a bird as this rarely seen inthe U.S. @ Q, old, in fall ‘and winter, as usually seen in U. 8.
Under parts white or whitish, anteriorly speckled or mottled with grayish-brown ; axillary
plumes, however, black, as before; a good color-mark of the species, in any pluinage, in com-
parison with the golden plover. Birds changing show every mixture of black and white below.
& 9, young: Similar to winter adults, but upper parts speckled with golden-yellow, as in
C. dominicus, most of the feathers having edgings of this color. Feet grayish-blue. A large
stout plover, with a little hind toe, commonly diffused over most parts of the world: in America,
breeding in Arctic regions, flocking south and north in fall and spring, preferably coastwise ;
common, but less so than C. dominicus. Eggs 4, pyriform, 1.90 to 2.30 long by 1.40 to 1.45
broad ; drab or dark brownish clay-color, very heavily marked, especially on the larger half of
CHARADRIIDA: CHARADRIINA:: PLOVER. 599
the shell, with irregular blotches of brownish-black, smaller spots being more thinly distributed
over the rest of the surface; the markings about the great end usually confluent and wreathy ;
a few pale markings in the
shell.
217. CHARA/DRIUS. (Gr.
xapadpics, charadrios, Lat.
charadrius, a plover.)
GOLDEN PLovers. Char-
acters as in Sguatarola,
but no hind toe. (This
is the type-genus of the
wholefamily. The several
species are closely related :
to our long known golden
plover have lately been
added as birds of N. A. ©
both the European species -
and the Asiatic variety ;
the former from its oceur-
rence in Greenland, the Fie. 417. — Black-bellied Plover, in summer, reduced. (From Lewis.)
latter in Alaska. U.S. birds are all C. dominicus, — the C. virginicus of most authors.)
Analysis of Species.
Lining of wings ashy.
Length 10.00-11.00 ; wing 7.00; tail3.00; tarsus 1.75 . 2. 2. 6 ee ee ee ee dominicus 581
Length 9.00-10.00; wing 6.50; tail 2.50; tarsus1.60. . WO ser tte Ge ae een Sy » + « « fulvus 582
Liningof wings'white «00 6 4 WR Oe we ee pluvialis 583
581. C.domi/nicus. (Lat. dominicus, of St. Domingo. Fig. 418.) American GOLDEN PLOVER.
FIELD PLOVER. BULL-HEAD PLoveR. BuLu-HEAD. ¢ 9, in summer: Upper parts black,
everywhere speckled with golden-yellow, and mostly also with white, the brighter color in excess.
The markings of individual feathers are a tipping and one or several paired scallops. Hind neck
léss strongly marked than crown or back. Forehead, and long stripe over eye snowy-white.
Region immediately around bill, sides of head to include eyes, and entire under parts, glossy
brownish-black. Lining of wings, and axil-
lars, sooty-gray or ashy. Tail dusky grayish-
brown, with numerous irregular pale gray bars,
and reddish-brown shafts; npper tail-coverts
and rump like back. Primaries fuscous, black-
ening at tips and whitening at bases of inner
webs, though without definite white spaces ;
shafts white for a space. Secondaries and
many of the coverts, like the primaries, plain
fuscous, without the golden and white fretwork
of the back. Bill and feet black. Length
10.00-11.00; extent 22.50; wing 7.00; tail
3.00; bill 0.90; tibiae bare 1.00; tarsus 1.75 ;
middle toe and claw 1.20. @ 9, in winter,
and young, much alike, very different from the
Fra. 418, — Golden Plover, in fall or winter, reduced. breeding dress: Upper Parts aie ws: before,
(From Nuttall,after —?) but colors not so pure and intense; and spot-
ting mostly golden, with little white if any. Front and line over eye not purely white, but
tawny, with dusky streaks. Tail lacking transverse bars, the feathers being dark grayish-
582.
583.
218.
$84
600 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLA.
brown with white or yellow edging and notching. Avxillars and lining of wings ashy-gray as
in summer ; but, as in Squatarola, the chief difference is in the under parts, which have no black,
being grayish-white, clearest on chin, belly, and crissum, the throat and sides of head streaked,
the breast and sides of neck and body mottled, with dark grayish-brown. Legs not perfectly
black. This is the state in which the golden plover is generally seen in the U. S., though
beautiful black-bellied birds may be found late in the vernal migration. N. Am. at large;
breeds in the Arctic regions; passes N. and S. in great waves, in spring and fall, affording fine
sport at the latter season. Eggs 4, similar to those of Squatarola, smaller, and usually paler
clay color, sometimes whitish ; markings of same tone and pattern; size 1.80-2.00 x.1.35-
1.40. This is the usual ‘‘field plover” of sportsmen; a well-known and highly-esteemed
game-bird.
C. d. ful/vus. (Lat. fulvus, yellowish.) AsiaTIC GOLDEN PLovER. Similar; more suffused
with yellow on head, especially along the superciliary stripe; smaller; length about 9.50;
‘wing 6.50 ; tail 2.60; tarsus 1.60 ; middle toe and claw 1.10; bill 0.95. Alaska, from Asia.
C. pluvia'lis. (Lat. pluvialis, rainy.) Europran GoLpEN PLover. Like C. dominicus,
and of same size. Lining of wings white. Greenland, from Europe.
JEGIA'LITES, (Gr. aly:adirns, a doer by the sea.) Ring Provers. A genus not easy to
define with precision, owing to the differences in details of form which the numerous species
present. Best distinguished from Charadrius by color: upper parts not speckled; lower never
extensively black. Bars or rings of color about head and neck. Sexes usually distinguishable,
though similar. Tarsus not twice as long as middle toe without claw. Plates of front of tarsus
tending to enlarge in two or three special rows, instead of uniform reticulation. We have 5
perfectly good N. American species, a variety of one of these (?), and two European estrays.
Analysis of Species (adult males).
Bill entirely black.
Rump chestnut; two black bands on throat and breast . ...... oe 6 we ee) 6OCiferus 584
Rump plain; one black band on breast. Bill stout. . we ee ee we ew we «) Wilsonius 585
Rump plain; no complete black bars on breast. Bill eionaer Be ee a Sl) see Be ag nivosus 591
Bill orange or yellow, black-tipped ; or black with orange at base.
Semipalmate; web between inner and middle toe evident, that between outer and middle reaching
to end of second joint.of middle.
Heavy black bands on head and neck; colored ring roundeye. . . + + . semipalmatus 586
No evident web between inner and middle toe; that between outer and middle only reaching to end
of first joint of middle.
Heavy black bands on head and neck; one on side of head.
Nocolored ring round eye. Wing about 5.00 * go he del ee Ae le - .«. . hiaticula 589
A colored ring round eye ; wing under 4.50 ee ee ae ee sp curonicus 590
No black band on side of bead; colored ring round eye.
Ring around neck incomplete . . . . . me fi oe Se ee o 8 B 2 Bees BT
Ring around neck complete. . a a Oe ie a Be Re GE . circumeinctus 588
#E, voci/ferus, (Lat. vociferus, voice-bearing, noisy. Fig. 419.) KinpEEzR PLover. 2 9,
adult: Above, grayish-brown, with an olive shade, und in high plumage a slight bronzy lustre.
Rump and upper tail-coverts bright-colored, very variable in tint, from tawny or orange-brown
to cinnamon-brown or chestnut. Forehead with a white band from eye to eye, more or less
prolonged as a superciliary streak, and a black band above it. A white collar around hind
neck, continuous with white of the throat. A black collar around back of neck, continuous
with a black pectoral band. Back of the latter a black pectoral belt. Thus the fore-parts are
encircled with one complete black ring, behind which is a black half-ring on breast, before
which is 2 complete white ring. A white stripe over and behind eye; a dusky stripe below
eye. Under parts entirely pure white, except the two pectoral belts. Primary quills blackish ;
a white space on the outer webs of most of them, forming an oblique series, and a longer white
space on their inner webs. Secondaries mostly white, but with black areas in increasing size
from within outward. Long inner secondaries, or tertiaries, like the back. Tail-feathers singu-
585.
CHARADRIIDH —CHARADRIINZ: PLOVER. 601
larly variegated; several inner pairs like the back, insensibly blackening towards ends, then
lightening again, and usually with rusty tips; lateral ones gainiug more and more of the bright
color of the rump, with more definite black subterminal bars, and pure white tips; outermost
pair mostly white, with the rufous shade, and several broken black bars. The effect of all this
variegation is very striking when the parts are displayed in flight. Bill black; eye black,
with a bright ring around it; legs pale. Length 9.00-10.00; extent 20.00; wing 6.00; tail 3.50-
4.00, proportionally longer and more rounded than usual in this genus; bill 0.803 tibiee bare
0.80; tarsus 1.40; middle toe and claw 1.12. @ 9, young: The black bands replaced by gray }
upper parts duller and more grayish; and when quite young the feathers of the upper parts
spotted with rusty brown; rump pale, markings of tail incomplete; but the birds speedily
acquire a plumage like that of the adults. Downy young: Above, gray with a ruddy tinge ;
a ring round top of head, aring round neck,
a stripe down back, and another on each
side of the colored area, black ; collar round
back of neck, forehead, and ends of wing-
tufts, white; tail-tuft and bill black — queer
little creatures, readily recognized. N. Am.
at large, very abundant, breeding anywhere ;
abounds in the West. Not gregarious nor
inaritime ; extensively but somewhat ir-
regularly migratory. A very noisy bird —
the curious name is derived from its shrill
two-syllabled whistle, like kil-deer! kil-
deer! Nest anywhere in the grass or
shingle near water. Eggs 4, about 1.50 X
1.12, of usual wading-bird shape; ground
varying from drab through clay-color to
creamy, marked in endless variation with
blackish-brown. Kildeers’ eggs and those of Tringoides macularius do excellent duty in boys’
and amateurs’ cabinets for those of most small waders.
48, wilso/nius. (To Alexander Wilson.) Wuison’s Piover. Adult ¢ 9: Above, pale
ashy-gray (dry-sand color), the feathers with still paler edges, the shade tending to fulvous on
the nape and hind neck. A narrow black band across vertex, not reaching to eyes, being cut
off by white of the forehead which extends backward over each eye to nape. A blackish loral
stripe, not prolonged behind eye, not meeting its fellow over base of bill, where the white fore-
head comes down to the bill. A black half-ring on the foreneck, not completed around back
of neck. White of throat passing around hind-neck as a slight collar. Under parts, excepting
the black bar, entirely white. Primaries blackish, bleaching towards bases on inner webs, the
short inner ones also with white on outer webs. Shaft of lst primary almost entirely white ;
of others brown, then a long white space, then blackening at end. Secondaries, excepting the
long inner ones, mostly white on inner webs, dark on outer. Middle and intermediate tail-
feathers like back, growing dusky toward ends, nearly all with white tips, and the outer one
or two white. No colored ring round eye. Bill entirely black ; extremely large and stout. Legs
flesh-colored ; outer toe semipalmate, inner cleft. Length 7.00-3.00; wing 4.50-5.00; tail
9.00, nearly square ; tarsus about 1.10; middle tue and claw 0.90; bill 0.90, not much shorter
than head. Young: Similar; no black on vertex or lore; a broad band of the color of the
back across the neck in front. Seacoast of 8. Atlantic and Gulf States, common; N. to the
middle districts, and rarely to New England; also on the Pacific side to California? S. in
winter into S. Am. Eggs laid on the bare shingle of the beach; usually 3, 1.22 to 1.45 long,
1.00 to 1.05 broad, pale olive-drab, more greenish in some cases, more clay-colored in others,
Fia. 419. — Kildeer Plover, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E.C.)
586.
587.
588.
602 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
thickly marked all over with blackish-brown in irregular sharply-defined spots, splashes and
fine dots. Note low, piping, and rather plaintive.
4B. semipalma’tus. (Lat. semi, half; palmatus, palmated: the species is remarkably distin-
guished by the extent of the half-webbing between the toes.) SEMIPALMATED PLOVER.
Rine Prover. Rine-neck. ¢ 9, adult: Upper parts uniform dark ashy-gray (wet-sand
color) ; under parts pure white. A broad black ring encircling the neck. In advance of this
awhite half-collar around back of neck, spreading into the white of the throat. A white
frontal bar, entirely surrounded by black: 7. e. a black coronal bar and black stripe along lore
and side of head, meeting its fellow over base of upper mandible. Primaries blackish, with
narrow white spaces reduced to a portion of the shaft alone on the outer primary ; secondaries
largely white, and greater coverts white-tipped ; tertiaries like the back. ‘Tail like back,
the feathers insensibly blackening toward their ends, most of them white-tipped, the outer-
most nearly all white. An orange ring round eye, very bright. Bill black, with orange base ;
legs yellowish. Web between outer and middle toe reaching to end of the second joint of the
latter. Length about 7.00; extent 15.00-15.50; wing 4.75-5.00 ; tail 2.25, rounded ; bill 0.50;
tarsus 0.90; middle toe and claw the same. Young: No black coronal bar, the white of fore-
head reaching bill and eyes, and prolonged over the latter; neck-ring and loral stripe gray,
not black; bill mostly black. Upper parts with slight whitish or rusty edging of the feathers.
Chick: Upper parts mottled with gray, black, and brown, in no special pattern. Collar round
neck and under parts white. N. Am. at large, the most abundant and generally diffused of the
ring-necks, especially plentiful in flocks on the beaches late in the summer and early autumn.
Breeds northward; eggs 2 to 4, like the kildeer’s; only, of course, distinguishable by much
smaller size: length 1.20 to 1.40, by 0.90 to 0.95 in breadth.
ZE, melo/dus. (Lat. melodus, melodious.) Piping PLoveR. Pate RING-NEcK. 4, adult.
Above, very pale ash, lighter than any other N. A. species. A white half-collar round back of
neck. A black ring behind this, tending to encircle the neck ; but I have seldom seen it com-
plete on the cervix, and as a matter of fact it is seldom complete on the fore-neck either; ordi-
narily a link only on each side of the neck. A black coronal bar from one eye to the other.
Forehead, sides of head, and entire under parts snowy-white, excepting the black on sides of
neck, there being no dark bars on lores or sides of head. Primaries dusky, with large white spaces,
their shafts white for a corresponding extent. Secondaries and greater coverts mostly white ;
long tertiaries like back. Upper tail-coverts and bases of tail-feathers white ; the latter black-
ening towards their ends, the outer pair or two entirely white. A colored ring round eye. Bill
yellow, the end beyond the nasal fossee black — very obtuse and short and stout for its length.
Web between outer and middle toe not reaching to end of the basal joint of the latter. Rather
smaller than the last; wing 4.50-4.75 ; tail 2.00-2.25 ; bill under 0.503 tarsus 0.87 ; iniddle
toe and claw 0.75. 9, adult: The coronal bar reduced to a trace, dark brown; the Tinging of
neck reduced to a dusky-gray spot on each side. Young: Resembling ? as just said, but nu
trace of dark color on head and little if any on sides of neck. A very pretty little species, with
its pale dry-sand colored upper parts and stumpy bill; perfectly distinct from the last, with which
it is often associated. U.S. and British Provinces, E. of the R. Mts. (beyond which appar-
ently replaced by A. nivosus) ; abundant along the Atlantic coast of the U. S., breeding N. to the,
St. Lawrence, wintering from the Carvlinas southward. Eggs laid preferably on the shingle of
the beach, while the semipalmated usually goes to some grassy or mossy spot back of the sand.
Eggs pretty certainly distinguishable from those of the other ring-neck by their lighter color-
ing —there is much the same difference in tone that there is between the birds themselves ;
clay-color or palest creamy-brown, sparsely and pretty uniformly marked with blackish-brown
specks, without spots of any size, or scratchy lines, sometimes mere points ; eggs of about same
capacity as the ring-neck’s, but rather less elongate and pointed; 1.20 to 1.30 x 0.95 to 1.00.
ZE, m, cireumcine'tus? (Lat. cirewmeinetus, bound about.) BELTED PipiInc PLover. A
589,
590.
591.
CHARADRIIDA) — CHARADRIINZ: PLOVER. 603
variety (perhaps only some individuals) with the black necklace complete. Described:from the
Headwaters of the Platte, in Nebraska, July ; probably breeding there.
46. hiati/cula. “Dimin. of Lat. hiatus, a gape; hiaticula being a translation of xapadpuds,
charadrios, because the bird is found about the mouths (hiatus) of rivers.) ZUROPEAN RING
Piover. Size of No. 586, or rather larger, and general aypect the same; no -evident web
between inner and middle toe, that between outer aud middle only reaching to end of first joint.
of the latter; no colored ring round eye; one description would answer for the head-markings
of both, but black bars very heavy; white touches on eye-lids. Upper parts hair-brown.
Primaries blackish-brown, the outer four or five with white only on the shafts for a space near
their ends, the white beginning to invade the webs on the fourth or fifth, and enlarging in
width with diminishing length on the rest. Secondaries white with dark ends of diminishing
length inwards, till one or two of the short inner ones are almost entirely white ; the long flow-
ing innermost ones, however, like the back. Tail as in 4. semipalmatus. Length about
7.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.45 ; bill 0.60, orange, with black tip; tarsus 0.95 ; middle toe and claw
0.85; feet orange; claws black. Young like that of Av. semipalmatus ; no black on vertex;
that of side of head and around neck dusky-gray ; whitish front, line over eye, and under eyelid ;
primaries quite dark with white spaces on shafts and webs well marked ; feathers of upper parts
with pale beady tips ; ends of even middle tail-feathers white. Widely distributed in the Old
World; Greenland; Cumberland Sound, N. A. (Description from a N. A. specimen.)
Ze, curo/nicus. (Lat. cwronicus, of Courland, on the Baltic.) Europnan Lesser Rina
PLover. Closely resembling the last; smaller; black bands not so broad; black of vertex
and auriculars bordered behind with white; shaft of lst primary alone white; bill extremely
slender, black, yellow only at base of lower mandible; legs yellowish flesh-color ; a colored
ring round eye. Length about 6.00; bill 0.60; wing 4.35; tail 2.30; tarsus 0.90. Inhabits
much of the Old World; questionably N. Am., on the Pacific side. Young: Differs much as
young hiaticula does. Ring around neck dusky-gray ; that on side of head chiefly reduced to
a loral stripe. No black across vertex; white of forehead soiled. Upper parts darker than in
adult, in an early stage with pale or fulvous edgings of the feathers. (A. microrhynchus Ridg.)
48. cantia’nus nivo/sus. (Lat. cantianus, Kentish; Lat. nivosus, snowy (white).) SNowy
Rinc Prover 4g), in breeding dress: Above, pale ashy-gray, little darker than in 2.
melodus. Top of head with a fulvous tinge. A broad black coronal bar from eye to eye.
A narrower black post-ocular stripe, tending to meet its fellow on nape, and thus encircle
the fulvous area. A broad black patch on each side of the breast; no sign of its completion
above or below ; no complete black loral stripe (as in ZZ. cantianus), but indication of such
in a small dark patch on either side of base of upper mandible. Forehead, continuous with
line over eye, sides of head excepting the black post-ocular stripe, and whole under parts.
excepting the black lateral breast-patches, snowy-white. No white ring complete around back
of neck. Primaries blackish, especially at bases and ends, the intermediate extent fuscous ;
shaft uf the lst white, of others white for a space; nearly all the primaries bleaching toward
bases of inner webs, but only some of the inner ones with a white area on outer webs.
Primary coverts like the primaries, but white-tipped. Greater coverts like the back, but
white-tipped. Secondaries dark brown, bleaching internally and basally in increasing extent
from without inwards, their shafts white along their respective white portions. Tertiaries like
back. Several intermediate tail-feathers like back, darkening toward ends; two or three
lateral pairs entirely white ; all the feathers more pointed than usual. Bill slender and acute,
black. Legs black. Length 6.50-7.00; extent 13.50-14.00; wing 4.00-4.25; tail 2.00 or
less; bill 0.60; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 0.75. In winter (young ?): Upper plumage
ratlter darker than as above said, and less uniform, the individual feathers with pale edges.
Whole crown like back ; no black or fulvous on head; forehead white; lores slightly dusky ;
black of sides of breast replaced by a patch of the color of the back. Bill black; tarsi livid
219.
592.
220.
604 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
bluish ; toes blackish. U. S., chiefly west of the R. Mts.; Utah; Cala. coast, breeding and
wintering; also, coast of Texas. A specimen (4%, Corpus Christi, Texas, June 24, Sennett)
though in midsummer plumage, has no fulvous on head; no trace of Joral mark; the coronal
bar, post-ocular stripe, and lateral pectoral blotch dark brown, not black. Eggs 3; tone and
style of coloration about as in wilsonius; size as in melodus, but markings more numerous and
scratchy ; 1.200.90. (Probably specifically distinct from 4. cantianus.)
PODASO/CYS. (The Homeric epithet of Achilles, rédas dkis, podas okus, swift as to his
feet.) Mountain Prover. In general, characters of Agialites; but no black belt or
patches on neck or breast; a coronal and loral black bar. Size large. Tail short, half the
wing, square. Legs very long; tibia nude for a distance $ the length of tarsus. Latter
more than half as long again as middle toe and claw. Toes very short, the lateral of unequal
lengths. ‘Tarsus and tibia entirely reticulate. Sexes alike. One species.
P. monta/nus. (Lat. montanus, of mountains. Badly named: it is a prairie bird.)
Pranic Piover. ‘ Mountain” Purover. ¢ 9, in summer: Upper parts uniform
grayish-brown; in most breeding individuals the shade is pure, but in many cases the feathers
are skirted with tawny or ochrey. Under parts entirely white (no black belt or patches); but
the breast often shaded across with diffuse fulvous or gray. A sharp black loral line from bill
to eye, cutting off the white forehead and superciliary line from the white of other parts. A
coronal black bar across the sinciput, varying in width from a mere line to a band nearly half
the length of crown in width. Quills blackish, the shaft of the first white, of the others white
for a space ; some of the inner primaries with white spaces toward the bases of the outer webs,
and the secondaries a little pale on their inner webs. Tertiaries and greater coverts like back,
the latter white-tipped. Tail-feathers like back, blackening toward ends, the outermost pale
throughout ; all tipped with whitish. Bill black, slender; legs pale; the toesdarker. Length
9.50; extent 18.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 2.50-3.00; bill 0.90-1.00; tibia bare over 0.50;
tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 0.90-1.00. The full breeding dress has not before been fairly
described. ¢@ Q, in winter: No black coronal or loral stripe; otherwise, generally as in
summer; but the general plumage more rusty, with more decided wash of color on the breast.
Young: As last said; whole upper parts rusty from extensive edgings of all the feathers; sides
of head and neck similarly suffused with tawny. The ground-color of the upper parts is also
darker than that of the adults. Chick in down: Forehead, sides of head and under parts
white, with sulphury-yellow tinge. Crown, back and tibiae sulphury or tawny-yellow, closely
and evenly mottled with black. Unmarked line over eye; black ear-spot. Bill light at
extreme base below, and at the point. Livid patch of naked skin on neck. An interesting,
isolated species, plentifully and generally distributed in western U. S., Plains to the Pacific;
N. to 49° at least. I have shot it in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico (June),
Arizona, Montana (49°, June), California coast (November), ete. It is not Eudromias,
and sufficiently unlike Agialites. It inhabits the most sterile prairie as well as better watered
regions, quite independently of water, and is not in the least aquatic; even on the Cala. coast
it haunts the plain, never the marsh, mud-flat, or beach. Feeds chiefly upon insects, especially
grasshoppers, and is generally seen in loose straggling companies of small extent. Nest any-
where on the bare prairie; eggs 3-4; 1.40 to 1.50 long, by 1.10 broad, less pointed than
plovers’ eggs usually are, olive-drab with a brown shade, profusely dotted all over, but espe-
cially at the larger end, with blackish, dark brown and neutral tint; the markings all mere dots
and points, the largest scarcely exceeding a pin’s head. June, July.
VANEL'LUS. (Lat. vanellus or vannellus, diminutive of vannus, a fan.) Lapwines. Bill
slender, shorter than head, perfectly pluvialine. Legs long ; tibia much denuded below; tarsus
greatly longer than middle toe and claw. A web between bases of middle and outer toes ; inher
toe cleft to the base. A small hind toe. Wings very long, folding to end of the long square
tail, but rounded, 2d 5th primaries subequal and longest, 1st about equal to 7th; primaries
593.
221.
594.
CHARADRIIDA —APHRIZINZ!: SURF-BIRDS. 605
very broad, 3 or 4 outer ones much narrowed toward end. A long thin recurved occipital crest
of filamentous feathers. Plumage of npper parts highly lustrous with metallic iridesvence.
V.crista/tus. (Lat. cristatus, crested. Fig.415.) Crestep Lapwine. Adult g: Top and
front of head, including the 2-3 inch long crest, throat-line, and large pectoral area, glossy black.
Sides of head mostly, and sides of neck, white, on hind neck mixed with gray. Upper and
under tail-coverts chestnut or orange-brown. Under parts, except as said, snowy-white. Tail
white, with broad black bar at ends of feathers excepting outermost, tips of all narrowly white.
Upper parts iridescent green, passing on wings to violet-purple and steel-blue. Quills glossy
blue-black, several outer primaries fading to grayish-white on the narrow terminal portion,
the secondaries white at base. Bill black; feet red. This splendid wanton of the crest
inhabits Europe, etc., and has occurred in Greenland.
55. ? Subfamily APHRIZINA: Surf-birds.
The peculiarities of the single species seem to be super-generic, but the position of
Aphriza is still open to question ; as may be judged from the following diagnosis.
APHRUZA. (Gr. ddpéds, aphros, sea-foain ; (aw, zao, I live: badly formed, but euphonious.)
Surr-sirps. Bill plover-like, shorter than head, stout at base, contracted in continuity, with
enlarged horny termination ; both mandibles deeply grooved to their horny ends; nostrils sub-
basal, close to commissure, linear, perforate; feathers reaching equally far forward on side of
each mandible, mnch farther in interramal space. Wings very long and acute, folding to or
beyond end of tail. 1st primary longest, all rapidly graduated; tlowing inner quills not nearl7
reaching point of wing. Tail very short, square, less than one half as long as wing, 12.
feathered. Feet scolopacine, with well-developed hind toe; short and stout, much as in Strep-
silas ; tibie naked below, but the feathers falling to the suffrago; tarsus little longer than
middle toe and claw, reticulate, scutellate in front; toes cleft to the base, lateral of equal
lengths, reaching base of iniddle claw ; inner edge of middle claw dilated and jagged. General
character of plumage, iu its pattern of coloration and seasonal changes, as in Tringee. One
species; a remarkable isolated form, perhaps a plover and connecting this family with the
next by close relationships with Strepsilas, but with hind toe as well developed as usual in
Sandpipers, and general appearance rather sandpiper-like than plover-like. Aphrizine might
go under Hematopodide next tu Strepsilas ; or, perhaps better, Aphriza and Strepsilas might
together constitute a family APHRIZID&, next to, but apart from Hematopodide.
A. virga/ta. (Lat. virgata, striped.) Surr-Brrp. In summer: Dark ashy-brown, streaked
with whitish on head and neck, varied with rufous and black on the back and wings. Upper
tail-coverts and basal half or more of tail pure white; rest of tail black, white-tipped. Under
parts white or ashy-white, variously marked with brownish-black; the throat and fore breast
narrowly streaked, the streaks changing on the breast to curved bars, and there very profuse,
on other under parts sparse and spotty. Bases and shafts of primaries, tips of most of them,
greater part of the secondaries, and tips of greater coverts, white; exposed portions of primaries
blackish. Bill black, flesh-colored at base below; legs dusky greenish? In winter:
Plumage-of the head, neck, breast, and upper parts nearly uniform dusky brown, unvaried
with white or reddish, but with obsoletely darker shaft-lines; white under parts slightly
spotty; quills and tail-feathers as in suunmer. Length 9.00-10.00; extent 17.00 or more;
wing 6.50-7.00; tail 2.75; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.10. Varies greatly
in plumage with age and season, but unmistakable in any guise. Extensively dispersed over
the coasts and islands of the Pacific; aloug whole W. coast of N. A. In Alaska, according to
Nelson, it occurs N. to Bering’s Strait ; and about St. Michael’s frequents in August the rocky
shores of the swnall outlying islands, and the capes whose rugged shore-lines afford congenial
resorts to the surf-birds and the Heteroscelus incanus.
222.
595.
596.
606 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLZE.
39. Family HAXMATOPODID.2: Oyster-catchers. Turnstones.
A small family of two genera and six or eight species, with the bill hard, and either acute
or truncate, the nasal fosse short, broad, and shallow; the legs short, stout, brightly-colored.
The two following genera differ much — in fact, more than Aphriza does from Strepsilas ; it
is unnecessary to give a formal analysis. Each should be type of a subfamily at least.
56. Subfamily HA MATOPODINEA: Oyster-catchers.
EAIMA/TOPUS. (Gr. aiparomois, haimatopous, red-footed ; aiza, haima, blood, mois, pous,
foot.) OysTER-caTcHERS. No hind toe. Front toes with basal webbing, conspicuous between
middle and outer, and broadly fringed with membrane continuous with the webs to the ends.
Tarsus longer than middle toe
and claw, reticulate, the plates
in front enlarged; shorter than
pill. Tibie briefly bare below.
Legs as a whole very stout,
coarse and rough, and light-
colored. Wings long and
pointed; Ist and 2d quills sub-
equal and longest. Tail short,
Fia. 420, — Bill of Oyster-catcher, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) square, scarcely or not half as
long as the wing. Bill peculiar —longer than tarsus, twice as long as head, constricted near
the base, much compressed, almost like a knife-blade toward end, and truncate, something
like a woodpecker’s (it is an efficient instrument for prying open the shells of bivalve mol-
lusks), hard, straight or deflected sideways, highly colored (fig. 420.) Nasal groove very short,
broad, and shallow; grooving of lower mandible slight; interramal space very short, scarcely a
third the length of the long ascending gonys. Nostrils remote from the feathers, linear, close
to edge of bill. Size large. Sexes similar. Coloration dark and white, in masses. Several
species, inhabiting the sea-coasts of most countries.
Analysis of Species.
Head, neck and upper back glossy-black; belly white. ©... 1. . 2 2. ee eee ostrilegus 695
Head and neck glossy-black; back smoky-brown; belly white . . 1... e+ ese eee palliatus 596
Head and neck glossy-black; back and belly smoky-brown . .. . . . «see eee . niger 597
H. ostri/legus. (Lat. ostr@a, an oyster; lego, I gather. Fig. 421.) Europran OystTer-
CATCHER (oyster-opener would be a better name, as oysters do not run fast). Similar to the
next to be described. Upper parts glossy-black, like the head and neck. Quills black, broadly
margined with white on inner webs excepting towards end, and also with isolated white
shafts and spaces near end. Back below, interscapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts entirely
white, as well as bases of the tail-feathers. Length about 16.00; bill about 3.00; wing 9.50;
tail 4.30; tarsus nearly 2.00. Europe, Asia, Africa ; N. Am. as occurring in Greenland.
H. pallia/tus. (Lat. palliatus, wearing the pallium, a cloak.) AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER.
BROWN-BACKED OYSTER-CATCHER. Adult ¢ 9: Bill vermilion or coral-red, changing to
yellow at end. Feet pale purplish flesh-color, drying dingy yellowish. Eyes and ring around
them red or orange. Whole head and neck all around glossy-black, frequently overcast with
an ashy or glaucous shade. Back and wing-coverts smoky-brown —the contrast with the
head and neck decided. Rump and central field of upper tail-coverts like back (not white) ;
lateral and longest central coverts white. Tail-feathers white at base for nearly the space
covered by the coverts, on the lateral feathers rather farther; then like back, blackening at
ends. ‘Tertiaries and long inner secondaries like back; next few secondaries pure white; rest
gaining dark color in increasing amount; the white of the secondaries forming with the long
597.
HAMATOPODIDE —HZiEMATOPODINZ: OYSTER-CATCHERS. 607
white tips of the greater coverts a conspicuous broad oblique white bar. Primaries dusky,
blackening toward end, touched with white at bases of the inner webs of longer ones, with white
on outer webs of the short inner ones, but no isolated white subterminal spaces. (Thus much
less white on wings and tail than in osérilegus, besides the difference in color of the back ;
though some allowance in either case must be made for normal variation from the minuteness
of my description.) Entire under parts pure white, including lining of wings, where, however,
a few dusky feathers commonly show along the edge. Length 17.00-21.00; extent 30.00-36.00 ;
wing 10.00 or more; tail 4.00 or more ; tarsus 2.00 or more ; middle toe and claw under 2.00.
Bill 3 or 4 inches long, varying in shape with almost every specimen, with wear and tear under
2.
? esa
Seda douas pone Sarre.
Fic. 421. — European Oyster-catcher, 4 nat size. (From Brehm.)
the rough usage to which it is subjected; ordinarily both mandibles truncated ; often the lower,
sometimes both, acute. Bills worn thinnest and most knife-blade-like towards end are often
bent sideways, as if from habitual use of them in a particular direction. N. Am., C.andS. Am.,
almost entirely coast-wise, and chiefly along the Atlantic, but also on the Pacific side. Migra-
tory all along, wintering from the middle districts southward, breeding in abundance but
irregularly at different points. There are extensive breeding resorts along the Virginia coast.
H. niger. (Lat. niger, black.) Buack OysTeR-caTcHer. Size and shape of the fore-
going. Head and neck the same, but no white on eye-lids, and no white anywhere; rest of
plumage dark smoky-brown, blackening on wings-quills and tail-feathers. Pacific coast.
608 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOL..
57. Subfamily STREPSILAINA: Turnstones.
The character of the subfamily should be coustructed to
include Aphriza, unless Strepsilas and Aphriza may con-
stitute two subfamilies of a family Aphrizide. (See p. 605,
under Aphrizine.)
223. STREP'SILAS. (Gr. orpéfus, strepsis, a turning over,
as, las, a stone. Fig. 422.) Turnstones. Bill shorter
than head, not longer than tarsus, constricted at base, then
tapering to an acute tip, almost a little recurved. Culmen __ Fic. 422.— Bill of Turnstone, nat.
straight or a little concave, especially over nostrils; com- *”* pecinenehe 2)
missure straight or slightly recurved; under outline curving up from the base, or straight to
angle, then gonys ascending. Nasal fossee short and broad, about half the length of the bill ;
Fia. 423. — Turnstone, } nat. size. (From Brehm )
grooving of under mandible shurt and shallow. Gonys longer than wandibular rami. Wings
long and pointed. Tail short, a little rounded, scarcely or not half as long as wing. Legs
short and stout; tibie little denuded ; tarsus scutellate in front, reticulate on sides and behind,
about as long as middle toe and claw. Toes 4, the hinder short, but as well developed as in
sandpipers generally, the front toes cleft to the base. Claws curved, compressed, acute.
There is probably but one cosmopolitan species, the scientific and vernacular names of which
are both derived from its habit of turning over pebbles along the shore in search of food.
HAMATOPODIDA — STRELSILAINZE: TURNSTONES. 609
Analysis of Species.
Pied with black, white, and chestnut ; feetorange . . . «2... ee eee + + imterpres 598
Blackish and white ; feet dark?. . . Ber ae A RP aah. 0 ay, CARD he en PR eked melanocephalus 599
598. S. inter’pres. (Lat. interpres, a factor, agent, go-between. Fig. 423.) TuRNsTONE. BRANT
Birp. Cauico-pack. Adult @, in breeding dress: Pied above with black, white, brown,
and chestnut-red; below, snowy, with jet breast. Top of head streaked with black and white.
Forehead, cheeks, sides of head and back of neck, white, with a bar of ‘black coming up from
the side of neck to below eye, then coming forward and meeting or tending to meet its fellow
over base of bill, enclosing or nearly enclosing a white loral, and another black prolongation
on side of neck; lower eye-lid white or not. Lower hind neck, interscapulars and scapulars,
pied with black and chestnut ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, snowy-white, with a large
central blackish field on the latter. Tail white, with broad subterminal blackish field,
narrowing on outer feathers and incomplete, widening to usually cut off white tips of central
feathers. Wing-coverts and long inner secondaries pied like the scapulars with black and
chestnut, the greater coverts broadly white-tipped or mostly white, the short inner secondaries
entirely white, the rest acquiring dusky on their ends to increasing extent, with result of a
broad oblique whité wing-bar. Primaries blackish, the longer ones with large white fields on
inner webs, the shorter ones also definitely white on outer webs for a space, the shafts white
unless at end; primary coverts white-tipped. Under parts, including under wing-coverts,
snowy-white, the breast and juguluin jet-black, enclosing a white throat-patch, and sending
limbs on sides of head and neck as above said. Bill black ; iris black; feet orange. @ similar,
lacking inuch of the chestuut, replaced by plain brown, especially on the wing-coverts ; the
dark parts in same pattern, but restricted somewhat, the black not jet and glossy. Adults in
winter, and young, lacking the chestnut entirely, the black mostly replaced by browns and
grays, that of the breast especially restricted or very imperfect. Length 8.00-9.00 ; extent
16.00-19.00 ; wing 5.50-6.00 ; tail 2.50; bill 0.80-0.90 ; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, about
1.00. Nearly cosmopolitan ; in N. Am., both coasts abundantly, and infrequently on the larger
inland waters; migrating through and wintering in the U. S., breeding in high latitudes.
599. S. melanoce’phalus. (Gr. pédas, melas, black; xepady, kephale, head.) BLACK-HEADED
TuRNSTONE. Without any of the chestnut coloration of the last, the parts that are pied in
interpres being blackish; the white parts, however, and the distribution of the colored areas,
nearly the same. In the most perfect cases I have seen, the entire head, neck, and breast are
dark smoky-brown, the color extending further along the breast than the jet plastron of
interpres, and not uniform, but the dark brown nebulated with sooty centres of the feathers,
and shaded by mixture of white-tipped feathers into the white of the under parts. White lower
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, with black central field of the latter, as in interpres; black
and white of wings substantially the same, but most of the primaries narrowly white-tipped.
Feet apparently of some obscure dark color. Other specimens have a distinet white loral spot,
and indication of the white of head and neck of in-
‘ terpres in white speckling. No trace of chestnut
seen inany. Size and forin precisely as in interpres.
Apparently a permanent melanisin; if so, a very
curious case, and a good species. Pacific coast.
40. Family RECURVIROSTRID£:
Avocets. Stilts.
Another small family, characterized by the ex-
treme length of the slender legs, and the extreme
slenderness of the long acute bill, which is either
straight or curved upward. Recurvirostra is 4-toed,
39
Fie, 424. — Head and foot of Avocet, about 4
nat, size.
610 : SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZA.
and full-webbed; the bill is decidedly recurved, flattened, and tapers to a needle-like point;
the body is depressed; the plumage underneath is thickened as in water-birds. The species
swim well. Himantopus is 3-toed, semipalmate, the bill nearly straight, and not flattened ; in
relative length of leg it is probably not surpassed by any bird whatsoever. These two genera,
each of three or four species of various parts of the world, with the Cladorhynchus.pectoralis
of Australia, compose the family.
224, RECURVIROS'TRA. (Lat. recurvus, bent upward; rostrum, bill. Fig. 425.) AvoceTs.
'
Fig. 425. — European Avocet, Recurvirostra avocetta, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
Bill excessively slender, more or less recurved, then the upper mandible-hooked at the extreme
tip; much longer than head, more of less nearly equalling tail and tarsus; flattened on top,
without culminal ridge. Wings short (for q wader). Tail very short, square, less than half
the wing. Legs exceedingly long and slender; tibia long-denuded ; tarsus nearly twice as
“long as middle toe and claw; covering of legs skinny. Feet 4-toed; the front toes full-webbed,
hind toe short, free. Body remarkably depressed and feathered underneath with thick duck-
like plumage; altogether, as in swimming rather than as in wading birds. It is a modification
600.
225.
601.
.alights from om wing in deep water. Eggs 3-4, as variable
RECURVIROSTRIDZ: AVOCETS AND STILTS. 611
like that seen in the lobe-footed phalaropes. Sexes and young alike; winter and summer plu-
mage different (in the North American species at any rate).
R. america/na. (Lat. americana, American. Fig. 424.) AmerRIcAN Avocet. BLUE-
stocxinc. Adult ¢ 9, im summer: White, changing gradually to cinnamon or chestnut-
brown on neck and head, excepting, usually, the parts about base of bill. Interscapulars and
part of the scapulars black ; wings black, with the linimg, and most of the secondaries, white.
Tail pearl-gray. Iris red (sometimes brown). Legs dull blue (drying blackish), much of the
webs flesh color; bill black, often pale at base below. Size extremely variable: length
16.00-20.00; extent 28.00-38.00! wing 7.00-9.50; tail 3.00-4.00; bill 3.50, more or less, from
nearly straight to strongly recurved and hooked; tibiee bare 2.50; tarsus 3.50 or more; middle
toe and claw ¥.00 or less. Adult ¢ Q, % winter: Head and neck ashy or pearl-gray, like the
tail; this has been called R. occidentalis; afterward considered the young. Young: The
head and neck strongly washed with cinnamon-brown ; rusty ‘or tawny edgings of the black
feathers. I have shot searcely fledged birds in this state ;
the shank is also peculiarly swollen. U. 8. and British
Provinces ; rare now in E. U. 8., only casual in New Eng-
land ; abounding in the west, especially in the alkaline
regions, as those of the Yellowstone and Milk River regions,
Utah, ete. Its appearance is striking, as might be sup-
posed ; its clamor is incessant when the breeding places are
invaded. It is not a wary bird, and may easily be ap-
proached when wading about-in small flocks in the shal-
low alkaline pools. it loves so Well. Feeds by immersing
the head and neck for some moments whilst probing about
with the curious bill in the soft slimy ooze. On getting
beyond its depth, it swims with perfect ease, and often
in size, shape, and markings as the parents; from 1.80 to
2.10 long by 1.25 to 1.45 broad; ground color from dark
olive to brownish-drab, thence to creamy-brown or buff, Fie. 426.—Stilt. (From Tenney,
like those of Shanghai fowls; pretty uniformly and pro- ae ont =
fusely marked with small sharp spots of different shades of chocolate-brown, with neutral-
tint shell-markings; on the buff eggs usually smallest and most numerous, bolder on the
olive ones. :
HIMAN'TOPUS. (Gr. .jzavrémous, himantopous, sttap-leg. Fig. 426.) Srmrs. Bill ex-
tremely slender, but not flattened, nor turned up, nor hooked ; longer than head, rather shorter
than tarsus. Wing long and pointed, folding beyond the short and square tail, which is less
than half the wing. Legs of unique length and slenderness, the bare part about as long as
the wing:; tibize denuded for a great distance; tarsus about twice as long astoes. Feet 3-toed,
semipalmate; but the species scarcely swim. Sexes similar; young different.
H. mexica/nus, (Lat. mewicanus, Mexican. Fig. 427.) Sturt. Lona-guanxs.’ LAwver.
Adult ¢ 9 # Mantle, constituted by the interscapulars, scapulars, and wings (above and below)
glossy-black, prolonged up the back of the neck and on top and sides of head, embrading the
eyes. A spot over and behind eye, one on under eyelid, forehead to opposite eyes, sidés of head
below eyes, sides of neck and entire under parts, together with the lower back, ramp, and
upper tail-coverts, white ; tail pearl-gray. In life the long black wings fold entirely over the
white upper parts and tail, so that the bird looks entirely black above. Bill black; eyes and
legs carmine, latter drying yellowish. Length about 15.00; extent about 30.00; wing 8.50-.
9.50; tajl 2.75-3.25 ; bill 2.50-2.75; tibize bare 3.00-3.50; tarsus 4.00-4.50; middle toe and
claw 1.75-2.00. Adults, not in perfect dress: Some of the dark parts brown, not glossy-black.
226.
602.
612 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
Young: Mantle ashy-brown, each feather edged with whitish; wings black, but some of the
quills white-tipped, the edge of the wing white, the coverts edged with pale ochre. Tail not
so pearly gray as in the
adults, with some irreg-
ular dusky markings.
Legs probably different
(skins afford no crite-
yion). Chick, in down:
Bill apparently blackish ;
legs pale. Under parts
white ; above, prettily mottled with black, brown, and tawny
or orange. U. S. generally, like the avocet rare eastward,
abundant in the west, rather more southerly than the avocet.
Nest at the water’s-edge or on heaped vegetation just above
the surface in shallow water; eggs 4, pyriform, 1.60 to 1.85 x
1.15 to 1.25; greenish-drab or pale brownish-olive to dark
Fic. 427.—Black-necked Stilt, ochraceous, boldly marked all over with spots and splashes of
§ nat. size. (From Sclater.) blackish-brown.
41. Family PHALAROPODIDZ: Phalaropes.
This is likewise a small family; the three species comprising it resemble sandpipers, but
are immediately distinguished by the lobate feet ; the toes are furnished with plain or scalloped
membranes, like those of coots and grebes, but not so broad. The body is depressed, and the
under plumage thick and duck-like to resist water, on which the birds swim with perfect ease
and grace. The wings and tail are like those of ordinary sandpipers; the tarsi are much cow-
pressed ; there is basal webbing of the toes besides the marginal membrane ; the bill, and some
other details of form, differ in each of the three genera. These birds inhabit the northern por-
tions of both hemispheres, two of them at least breeding only in boreal regions, but they all
wander far southward in winter. There are but three species, one peculiar to America, the
others of general distribution.
Analysis of Genera.
Membranes plain; bill very slender, subulate : c - Steganopus 226
Membranes scalloped; bill very slender, subulate . . 8 ae - « . Lobipes 227
Membranes scalloped; bill stouter, flattened, with lancet-shaped ‘tip ea . Phalaropus 228
STEGAN/OPUS. (Gr. oreyavérous, steganopous, web-foot.) Buna: -FOOT PHALAROPES.
Bill long, equalling the tarsus, exceeding the head, extremely slender, terete and acute. Culmen
and gonys broad and depressed. Lateral
grooves long and narrow, reaching nearly
to tip of bill. Interramal space narrow and
very short, extending only half way to end
of bill. Nostrils at extreme base of bill.
Wings of moderate length. Tail short,
deeply doubly-emarginate ; legs greatly
elongated; tibiae bare for.a considerable
distance; tarsus exceeding middle toe. Fic. 428.— Head, of Wilson’s Phalarope, nat. size. (Ad
Toes long and slender, broadly margined 72 del. E.G.)
with an even, unsealloped membrane, united but for a brief space basally. Claws moderately
long, arched, and acute.
S. wil/soni. (To A. Wilson. Fig. 428.) Wuuson’s PHaLarops. Adult 9, in breeding
dress: Bill and feet black. Crown of head pale ash, passing into white along a narrow stripe
227.
603.
PHALAROPODIDZA!: PHALAROPES. 613
inthe nape. A narrow, distinct, pure white line over the eye. Sides of neck intense purplish-
chestnut, or dark wine-red; anteriorly deepening upon the auriculars into velvety-black ; pos-
teriorly continued, somewhat duller in tint, as a stripe along each side of the back to the tips
of the scapulars. Other upper parts pearly-ash, blanching on the rump and upper tail-coverts.
Wings pale grayish-brown ; coverts slightly white-tipped ; primaries dusky-brown, their shafts
brownish-white, except. at tip. Tail marbled with pearly-gray and white. All the under parts
pure white, but the fore part and sides of the breast washed with pale chestnut-brown, as if with
a weak solution of the rich color ou the neck, and a faint tinge of the same along the sides of the
body to the flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris brown. Length 8.50-9.00; extent 15.50-16.00;
wing 5.00-5.25 ; tail 2.25; bill 1.33; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.12. Adult g: Less
richly colored, and smaller ; length 8.00-8.50; extent 15.00; wing 4.75-5.00. Adult g 9, in
winter: No rusty red or pure black. Above, pure ashy-gray, each feather usually skirted with
whitish ; frequently some blackish, pale-edged feathers. Wing-quills fuscous, usually with
light edgings; tail as in summer; upper tail-coverts, line over eye, parts about bill, and whole
under parts, white, the juguluin aud sides usually shaded with ashy. Young, before first moult:
Bill blackish, about 1.10 long; legs dull yellow (tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw 1.05).
Upper parts, including crown and upper surface of wings, bowie black, each feather edged
with rusty-brown, very conspicuous on the long inner secondaries, and giving a general aspect
like that of a sandpiper of the genus Actodromas. Upper tail-coverts pure white. Tail clear
ash, edged and much marbled with white, the ash darker at its line of demarcation from the
white. Line over eye, and whole under parts white, the breast with a faint rusty tinge, and
the sides slightly marbled with gray. Quills dusky, the secondaries white-edged, and the shatts
of the primaries whitish. This stage is of extremely brief duration, beginning to give way,
almost as soon the bird is full grown, to the clear uniform ashy of the upper parts of the fall
and winter condition. The change, in some specimens shot early in August, is already very
evident, clear ashy feathers being mixed, on the crown and all thé upper parts, with such as
just described. Size of the smallest specimen only 8.25 in length by 14.50 in extent ; the wing
4.60. Chicks are covered with buff-colored down, spotted with black above. In full plumage
this is the handsomest and largest of the phalaropes, and one of the most elegant of the waders.
U. S. and British Provinces, N. to the Saskatchewan ; rare in U. 8. E. of Illinois and Lake
Michigan ; abundant in the Mississippi Valley at large and westward. Migratory, leaving U. S.
in winter; breeds in suitable places throughout its range. Nest in low grassy meadows and
marshes. Eggs 3-4, 1.20 to 1.85 long by 1.90 broad, thus elongate pyriform, clay-color to
brownish-drab, heavily marked with large splashes and sizeable spots, with numberless specks
and scratches, of dark bistre or chocolate-brown ; some eggs much less painted than others, in
finer pattern ; incubated by the ¢.
LO/BIPES. (Lat. lobus, a flap, pes, foot.) -LoBE-FooT PHALAROPES. Bill generally as in
Steganopus, but shorter, basally stouter, and tapering to a very acute, compressed tip ; ridge of
culmen and gonys less depressed; interramal space longer and
broader. Wings long. ‘Tail short, greatly rounded. Legs
and feet short; tibiae denuded for but a brief space; tarsus
not longer than middle toe. Toes very broadly mnargined with
a membrane which is scalloped or indented at each joint, and
united basally to second joint between outer and middle toe,
to first joint between the inner and middle toe; feet thus Fie. 429.— Foot of Red-necked
ei Phalarope, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
semipalmate. Claws small and short.
L. hyperbo/reus. (Lat. hyperboreus, beyond the north wind. Fig. 429.) NorTHErn
PHALAROPE. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. Adult ¢ 9, in summer: Above, sooty-gray, with
lateral stripes of ochraceous or tawny; neck rich rust-red, nearly or quite all around; under
parts otherwise white, the sides marked with the color of back. Upper tail-coverts like back,
228.
604,
614 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
some lateral ones white. Wings blackish, the ends of the greater coverts broadly white, form-
ing a conspicuous cross-bar, continued on some of the inner secondaries. Bill and feei black.
Length 7.00 ; extent 13.50; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.00; bill, tarsus, middle tue and claw, each,
under 1.00. Varies much in plumage with age and season, but easily recognized by the small
size and generic characters. Chicks in down rich buff above, silvery-gray below; crown mixed
black and yellow; a long black stripe down back, another over each hip, one across the rump,
and a shoulder-spot. N. hemisphere at large, breeding in Arctic regions, migrating into the
tropics sometimes ; generally distributed, but especially yaaritime. Eggs 3-4, June, average
1.20 X 0.80 (from 1.30 X 0.75 to 1.10 0.82), very variable in size, shape, and color; greenish-
olive, brownish-olive to various drab and buffy shades of ground color, usually very boldly
spotted and splashed sometimes in finer pattern, with bistrous, chucolate, and lighter brown.
PHALA’ROPUS. (Gr. gadaporous, phalaropous, coot-foot.) CooT-FooT PHALAROPES.
Bill scarcely longer than head or tarsus ; very stout for this family; much depressed, so broad
as to be almost spatulate, the tip only moderately acute, lancet-shaped. Upper mandible with
the ridge broad and flattened, its apex arched and decurved, its lateral grooves wide and shallow.
Interramal space broad and very long, extending nearly to the end of the bill. Nostrils sub-
basal, at some distance from the root of the bill. Wings long and pointed. Tail long,
rounded, the central rectrices projecting, rather acuminate. Legs and feet much as in Lobipes,
but the semipalmation of less extent.
P. fulica/rius. (Lat. fulicarius, coot-like; fulica, a cout; fuligo, soot.) CooT-FOOTED
Trinca. Rep PHaLaRoPE. Gray PHaLarors. Adult ¢9,insummer: Under parts, with
sides of neck, and upper tail-coverts, dark purplish or wine-red, with a glaucous bloom. Top
of head and around bill, sooty. Sides of head white, this color meeting on nape. Rump
white. Back black, all the feathers edged with tawny or rusty-brown. Quills brownish-black,
with white shafts and much white at bases of webs; the coverts dark ash, the ends and inner
webs of the greater row wHite; some of the secondaries entirely white. Bill yellowish, with
dusky tip; feet yellowish. Length 7.50; extent 14.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.50; bill 0.90;
tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw rather more. Adult g 9, in Winter: Head all around,
and entire under parts, white, —with a dusky circumocular area and nuchal crescent, and a
wash of ashy along sides of body. Above, nearly uniform ash. Wings ashy-blackish, the
white cross-bar very conspicuous ; bill mostly dark ; feet obscured. A species of circumpolar
distribution in summer, wandering far south in winter, chiefly coastwise. Nesting and eggs not
distinguishable from those of the last ; eggs averaging larger, — 1.15-1.30 X 0.90-0.95.
42, Family SCOLOPACIDZ: Snipe, ete.
Snipe and their allies
form a well-defined and
perfectly natural assem-
blage, one of the two
largest limicoline families,
agreeing with Plover in
most essential respects,
yet well distinguished from
the pluvialine birds. In
general, the bill is much
elongated, frequently sev-
eral times longer than the
head, and in those cases
in which it is as short as
. . Fig. 431. — Wilson’s Snipe. (Fromm
in plover, it does not show Tenney, after Wilson.)
SCOLOPACIDZA: THE SNIPE FAMILY. 615
the particular, somewhat pigeon-like, shape described under Charadriine, being slender and
soft-skinned throughout. It is generally straight, but frequently curved up or down. The
nasal grooves, always long and narrow channels, range from one-half to almost the whole
length of the bill; similar grooves usually occupy the sides of the under mandible ; the inter-
rainal space is correspondingly long and narrow, and nearly naked. This length, slenderness,
grooving, and peculiar sensitiveness, are the prime characteristics of the scolopacine bill. The
gape, never ample, is generally very short and narrow, reaching little, if any, beyond the base
of the bill. The nostrils are short narrow slits, exposed. The head is completely feathered
to the bill (except in one species), at the base of which the ptilosis stops abruptly without
forming projecting antiz. The wings commonly show the thin puinted contour described under
Limicole, but they are occasionally short and rounded. The tail, always short and‘soft, has
as a rule 12 rectrices; in one genus, however, there are from 12 to 26. The crura are: rarely
feathered to the suffrago. The tarsi are scutellate before and behind, and reticulate on the
sides, except in the curlews, where they are scutellate only in front; they are probably never
entirely reticulate (the normal state in plover). The hallux is absent in only two or three
instances; the anterior toes commonly show one basal web, and often two, but in many species
they are entirely cleft. The scolopacine birds are of medium and small size, ranking with
plover in this respect ; none attain the average stature of Herodiones.
The general economy of these birds is similar to that of plover; a chief peculiarity being
probably their mode of procuring food, by feeling for it, in the majority of cases, in the sand
or mud with their delicately sensitive, probe-like bill. The eggs are commonly four, parti-
colored, pointed at one end and broad at the other, placed with the small ends together in a
slight nest or mere depression on the ground; the young run about at birth. The sexes, with
very rare exceptions, are alike in color or nearly so, and the Q is usually a little larger than
the g; but the sexual distinctions are very rarely strong enough to be perfectly reliable
(remarkable exception in Machetes). Color distinctions with age, likewise, are rarely marked ;
but on the contrary, seasonal plumages are in many cases, as throughout the sandpipers, very
strongly indicated, the nuptial dress being entirely different from that worn the rest of the year.
Excepting a few species that frequent dry open places like many plover, these birds are found
by the water’s edge where the ground is soft and oozy — in muist thickets, low rank meadows,
bogs and marshes, by the riverside, and on the seashore. Some are solitary, but the majority
are gregarious when not breeding, and many gather in immense flocks, especially during the
extensive migrations that nearly all perform. The voice is a mellow pipe, a sharp bleat, or a
harsh scream, according to the species. Few birds surpass the snipe in sapid quality of flesh,
and many kinds rank high in the estimation of the sportsman and epicure. The family is
cosmopolitan, but the majority inhabit the northern hemisphere, breeding in boreal regions.
There are about ninety well-determined species of scolopacine birds, referable perhaps to
fifteen tenable genera, although many more than this are often employed. Various attempts
to divide the group into sub-families have met with little success, owing to the close inter-
gradation of the several types. All the leading forms of the family, with most of the lesser
genera, are represented in this country, and are indicated by the specific descriptions given
beyond; while its entire composition may be pointed out and rendered perfectly intelligible by
a brief summary : —
a. In Woodcock (Scolopax and Philohela) and true Snipe (Gallinago) the ear appears below
and not behind the eye, which is placed far back and high up; and if the brain be examined,
it will be found curiously tilted over so that its anatomical base looks forward. The bill is
perfectly straight and much longer than the head, deep-grooved to the very end, which is
either knobbed, or widened just behind the tip, where there is a furrow in the flattened cul-
men. The membranous covering is abundantly supplied with nerves; this organ constitutes
a probe of delicate sensibility, an efficient instrument of touch, used to feel for food below the
616 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
surface of the ground. In the dried state, the soft skin shrinks tight like parchment to the
done, and becomes studded with small pits. The gape of the mouth is extremely short and
marrow ; the toes are cleft; the legs, neck, and wings are comparatively short, and the body is
rather full. There are no obvious seasonal or sexual differences in plumage. Not completely
gregarious ; no such flights of woodcock and true snipe occur as are usually witnessed among
sandpipers and bay-snipe; they inhabit the bog and brake rather than the open waterside :
they cannot be treacherously massacred by scores, like some of their relatives ; they are know-
ing birds, if their brains are upset, and their successful pursuit calls into action all the better
qualities of the true sportsman. There is but one species of Philohela ; two or three of
Scolopax, and about twenty of Gallinago. The curious cireumstance occurs, among the
latter, that the tail-feathers range from 12 to 26 in different species; and in those with the
higher numbers, several pairs are narrow and linear—a character upon which the genus
)
Fig. 432, — American Woodcock, about # nat. size. (From American Field.)
Spilura rests— The singular genus Rhynchea, with two species, R. capensis (Africa)
and R. semicollaris (S. America), may belong here. —Macrorhamphus, containing only our
species, and one other, M. semipalmatus of the Old World, has a bill exactly as'in Gallinago,
but is distinguished by more pointed wings, and differently proportioned legs, with basal web-
bing of the toes. It stands exactly between the true snipe and
b. The Godwits (Limosa), in which we find the same very long, wholly grooved, and
extremely sensitive bill, which, however, is not dilated at the end, nor furrowed on the culmen,
and is bent slightly upward; the gape, as before, is exceedingly constricted. The toes show
a basal web. These are rather large birds, with the colors and general aspect of curlews,
but the bill is not decurved and the tarsi are scutellate behind. They frequent marshes, bays
and estuaries, and are among the miscellaneous assortment of birds that are collectively
designated ‘ bay-snipe.” There are only five or six species, of the single genus Limosa.
SCOLOPACIDG: THE SNIPE FAMILY. 617
The Terekia cinerea of various parts of the Old World, with the bill recurved almost as in an
avocet, stands between the godwits and tattlers.
c. The Sandpipers (Tringa, etc.) are a rather extensive group, notable for the variation
in minor details of form, that it shows with almost every species —a circumstance that has
caused the erection of a number of unnecessary genera. Here the bill retains much of the
sensitiveness of a snipe’s, and the gape likewise is much restricted; but the bill is much
shorter, averaging about equal to the head. One trivial circumstance affords a good clue to
this group: the tail-feathers are plain-colored, or with simple edgings, while in almost all
the species of other groups these feathers are barred crosswise. In this group the seasonal
changes of plumage are very great; the proportions of the legs, and webbing of the toes, are
variable with the species, but, as a rule, the toes are cleft to the base (not so in Micropalama
and Hreumetes), and four in number (except Calidris). The sandpipers belong particularly
to the northern hemisphere, and breed in high latitudes; they perform extensive migrations,
and in winter spread over most of the world. Among them are the most diminutive of waders.
Fig. 483. — American Snipe, abont 2 nat. size. (From American Field.)
They are probably without exception gregarious, and often fleck the beach in vast multitudes ;
they live by preference in open wet places, rather than in fens and marshes, and feed by prob-
ing, like snipe; the voice is mellow and piping. They are pretty well distinguished from
both the foregoing, though Micropalama connects with the snipe through Macrorhamphus;
but shade directly into the Tattlers, through such genera as Tryngites and Tringoides. Nearly
all the forms of sandpipers are described in detail beyond. There are in all about 20 species.
The only generic form not represented in this country is the Limicola platyrhyncha, the
peculiarity of which is expressed in its name. The EHurynorhynchus pygmeus, a wonderful
and exceedingly rare species, in which the bill is expanded and flattened at the end, somewhat
as in the spoonbill, has lately been stated to occur on our Arctic coast. The singular Machetes
ugnas: should perhaps rather come here than among
618 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
d. The Tattlers (Totanus, ete.), with which it is ranged, beyond. In this, the largest and
most varied group, the bill has comparatively little of the sensitiveness of that of all the fore-
going, and the gape is longer, extending obviously beyond the base of the culmen, and some-
times to nearly below the eyes. It varies much in length and shape, but it is usually longer
than the head, and very slender, not often grooved to the tip, and is either straight, or bent
slightly upward. The body and its members are commonly more elongate than in the foregoing,
the tues have a basal web or two, and the hinder is always present. The tail is usually barred.
These are noisy, restless birds of the marshes and sand-flats and mud-bars of estuaries, and
apparently do not probe for food to any extent; they gain their name frum their harsh voice.
The Yellowshanks is a typical example of the group; most of the species cluster close about
this type, and inight go in the single genus Zotanus. The only extra-limital forms are
Aichmorhynchus parvirostris and Prosobonia leucoptera, of the Pacific Islands; curious species
apparently near Tryngites. There are about 18 species in all, universally distributed. Finally.
e. The Curlews (Numenius) are distinguished by the downward curvature, extreme slen-
derness, and usually great length of the bill, with the slight scutellation of the tarsus. In size
and general appearance they are near the Godwits ; they inhabit all parts of the world. They
all belong to the genus Numenius, which has about a dozen species —exvepting the Ibidor-
hyncha struthersi of Asia, which is a three-toed Curlew, not showing the coloration character-
istic of the rest. Analysis of North American Genera of Scolopacide.
Toes 3. (Samdpiper.). .... +. > iS. Ge te a . EO . . . Calidris 240
Toes 4.
Bill spoon-shaped . .... . oe “Gas Suet “ise. ae iene Ta see ee we ww ew +) 6«Burynorhynchus 241
Bill not spoon -shaped.
One outer primary emarginate, narrowed. (Woodcock.) . . 7 se ee ee ee «© ©6Seolopax 230
Three outer primaries emarginate, narrowly linear. (Woodeock.) . we ae ae tee . « Philohela 229
No outer primaries emarginate.
Toes cleft to the base.
Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw.
Bill about twice as long as head ; tibiz naked below. (Snipe.) . . - « » Gallinago 231
Bill little longer than head ; tibie feathered to the joint. (Sandpiper. ) . « .Arguatelia 236
Tarsus about equal to or longer than middle toe and claw. (Sandpipers.)
Bill slightly curved, longer than head.
Tarsus evidently longer than middle toeandclaw. . .... . . . Ancylochilus 238
Tarsus equal to or barely longer than middle toeand claw .... . . Pelidna 237
Bill perfectly straight, much shorter than head, Primaries mottled . . . . Tryngites 249
Bill perfectly straight, equal to or longer than head.
Tarsus much longer than middle toe and claw . . ce ee & we « Driga. 239
Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw . a tt «2 « 6 « Actodromas 235
Toes semipalmate, with one or two evident webs, ’
Tarsus scutellate in front only; bill very long, decurved. (Curlews.) . . . . . Nwmenius 251
Tarsus scutellate in front only; bill barely longer than head, straight . . . Heteroscelus 250
Tarsus scutellate in front and behind. "
Tail not barred. One minute web. Primaries mottled. ..... . . . Dryngites 249
Tail not barred. Two full basal webs. Primaries plain. (Sandpipers.)
Bill shorter or scarcely longer than head . of Wah cane dab ade eh) Shei . Ereunetes 234
Bill much longer than head. . . . ie Mat iow Sah Gog ak, Ree . . Micropalama 283
Tail barred crosswise with light and dark colors.
Gape not reaching beyond base of bill.
Culmen furrowed at end. Under a foot long. (Snipe.). . . . Macrorhamphus 232
Culmen not furrowed. Bill if anything recurved. Over a foot long. (Godwits.)
Limosa 242
Gape longer. Length under 9 inches. (Tattlers.)
Bill grooved nearly to tip. . . soe ee ew we et ww ew 6 Pringoides 246
Bill grooved about half-way to tip . : oe 6 we we © Rhyacophilus 245
Gape longer. Length over 9 inches, (Tattlers. i
Bill not longer than head, grooved three-fourths its length.
Tail about halfaslongas wing ....... ++ + «+. Bartramia 248
Tail not halfaslongas wing . . . . . 6 + 1 ssa 6 a + « «Machetes 247
Bill longer than head
Legs bluish. Toes semipalmate. Bill stout. (Willet.) . . . Symphemia 243
Legs green or yellow. Billslender. (Yellowshanks.) . . . Totanus 244
229.
605.
SCOLOPACIDZE: WOODCOCK. 619
PHILO/HELA, (Gr. gidos, philos, loving; Qos, helos, a bog.) AMERICAN Woopcock.
First three primaries emarginate, attenuate and falcate, abruptly shorter and narrower than the
4th. Wings short and rounded; when folded, the primaries hidden by the coverts and inner
=
Fig. 434. — Head and attenuate outer 3 primaries of Philohela, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
quills. Legs short; tibize feathered to the joint ; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw, scu-
tellate before and behind ; toes long and slender, cleft to the base. Bill much longer than head,
perfectly straight, stout at base, where the ridge rises high, knobbed at end of upper mandible,
very deeply grooved nearly all its length, the culmen and line of gonys also furrowed toward
end ; very soft and sensitive ; gape very short and narrow. Head large; neck short; ear under
the eye, which is very full, set in back upper corner of the head. Sexes alike; ? largesf:
P. mi/nor. (Lat. minor, smaller— than the European Woodcock. Figs. 432, 434, 435.)
Woopcock. Boa-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown,
gray, and russet; be-
low, pale warm brown
of variable shade, not
barred. A dark stripe
from bill to eye.
Crown from opposite
eye with black and
light bars; along the
inner edges of the
wings a bluish-ashy
stripe; lining of wings
rust- brown; quills °
plain fuscous; tail
black, spotted, and
tipped ; bill brownish
flesh-color, dusky at
end; feet pale red-
dish flesh-color. The
woodcock is 10 or 11
inches long, and 16
or 17 in extent; wing 4.50-4.75 ; bill 2.50-2.75 ; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.50; and
weighs usually 5, 6, or-7 ounces. The woodhen, as some esthetic market-women prefer to call
her, is larger, 11 or 12 inches long; extent 17 or 18; wing 4.75-5.00; bill 2.75-3.00; some
good fat ones up to 8 or 9 oz. in weight. Bogs, swamps, wet woodland and fields, Eastern
U.S. and Canada; N.to Nova Scotia; N.W. to Minnesota and up the Missouri to Fort Rice:
Fic. 435. — American Woodcock, much reduced. (From Lewis.)
230.
606.
231,
620 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LIMICOLZE.
Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Terr. and Texas; no extralimital record; migratory, but breeds
throughout its range; winters in the south. This is the game bird, after all, say what you
please of Snipe, Quail, or Grouse. Eggs more rotund than those of most small waders, cor-
responding to the plump form of the bird, averaging 1.50 x 1.18; ashort broad one 1.40 « 1.20;
a long narrow one 1.55 X 1.15; brownish clay-color, more buffy or more grayish, with number-
less chocolate-brown surface-markings and stone-gray shell-spots, none very large or bold ; size
and intensity of markings generally corresponding to depth of ground color; usually laid in
April, earlier in the south. The woodcock has many curious actions during the mating season.
The young are sometimes removed from danger by the parent, carrying them with the feet.
Very erratic and capricious in its movements.
SCO'LOPAX. (Gr. cxoddra€, skolopax, Lat. scolopax, name of this very bird.) EUROPEAN
Woopcock. No outer primaries shortened or peculiar, the lst narrowed somewhat on inner
web near end; Ist and 2d longest, 3d little shorter, 4th much shorter; wings long, com-
paratively, the point of the wing extending beyond the inner secondaries, which only fold about
to end of 5th quill. Generic characters, excepting those of the wing, much as in Philohela;
saine style of bill and feet and configuration of body and head; plumage similarly variegated
above, but below barred crosswise throughout ; size much superior. Of all the snipe-like birds
of this country, loosely called ‘ Scolopax,” this straggler from Europe is the only one to which
the name is strictly applicable.
S. rusti/cula. (Lat. rusticus, a rustic; rusticula, a little countryman.) EuRopEAN Woop-
cock. Cockbird: Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, chestnut, and
yellowish-gray; under parts brownish-white, regularly: wavy-barred throughout with dark
brown. A dusky stripe from bill to eye. Top and back of head brownish-black and brown,
divided by three or four cross-bars of brownish-white and brown. Each feather of upper parts
chestnut and black, in variegation, the black usually forming a large subterminal spot. Yel-
lowish-gray tending to form a scapular stripe on each side of the back. Quills and coverts of
wing blackish, pretty. regularly varied with dark chestnut bars, on the larger quills this
chestnut paler and reduced to marginal indentations ; outer web of first primary plain whitish.
Upper tail-coverts rich chestnut, little varied with black, with pale tips. Tail-feathers black,
with angular chestnut indentations of outer webs; their tips gray from above, viewed from
below glistening silvery-white. Under parts brownish-white, more or less suffused with
chestnut-brown on the breast, the regular dusky barring only giving way on the whitish throat,
changing to lengthwise streaks on the under tail-coverts. Hen: Unmistakably similar— sub-
stantially the same; grayer above, much of the russet mottling of the ¢ replaced by hoary-
gray. A much “better bird” than our woodeock; a third larger; weight 12-15 oz. Overa
foot long ; wing seven inches or more; tail 3.50; bill only about as long as in our woodcock ;
tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw more. I describe this species with particularity, and sports-
men who get a bird of this sort will do well to report the fact at once. It was formally
introduced to our fauna in the original edition of the ‘ Key.” There are several authentic
instances of its capture in this country, and it is unquestionably entitled to such place, as a
straggler from Europe, of which country it is the common woodcock. See Lewis, American
Sportsmen, ed. of 1868, p. 169, footnote (New Jersey) ; Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y.,
1866, p. 292 (Rhode Island and New Jersey); Baird, Am. Journ. Sci., xli, 1866, p. 25 (New-
‘foundland) ; Coues, Am. Nat., x, 1876, p. 372 (Virginia).
GALLINA/GO. (Lat. gallina, a hen, whence gallinago, like virago from vir.) TRUE SNIPE.
Bill much longer than head, perfectly straight, soft to the end, where it is somewhat widened,
grooved on top, vascular and sensitive, in the dried state pitted ; lateral grooves running more
than half-way to tip; gape narrow, not reaching beyond base of culmen. Ear under eye.
Tibize feathered not quite to the joint. Tarsus a little shorter than middle toe and claw; toes
perfectly free, cleft to the base, slender and not fringed. Wings rather short and rounded (for
607.
608.
SCOLOPACIDAL: SNIPE. 621
this family), less so than in Scolopax or Philohela; no primaries attenuate. Tail short,
rounded, of numerous (in our species 16) feathers, of which the lateral are narrowed; tail
barred crosswise. Sexes alike; seasonal changes of plumage not pronounced. Numerous
species of all countries; one N. American, and another straggling to Greenland from Europe.
Analysis of Species.
Axillars and flanks white, incompletely or imperfectly barred with blackish . . . .. .. . media 607
Axillars and flanks fully and regularly barred with white and blackish. . . . . . . . . . wilsoni 608
G. media. (Lat. media, mediun (in size, between two other European species.) Fig. 430.)
EvROPEAN SNIPE. ‘‘ ENGLISH SNIPE” proper. In size, form, and general coloration indistiu-
guishable from No. 608, but the axillary feathers almost entirely white, with slight and sparse
dark markings, and the feathers of the flanks and sides less frequently and less regularly barred
ee et
Fig. 436.— The Snipe’s family. (From “ Sport with Gun and Rod.” The Century Co., N. Y.)
itelA —
with dark gray. (In the lesser European Snipe, G. gallinula, the sides and lining of wings are
fully barred as in our S. wilsoni, but the tail-feathers are 14, the outer ones little shorter and
not abruptly narrower than the rest.) Europe: Only N. American as occurring in Greenland.
G. wil/soni. (To A. Wilson. Figs. 431, 433, 436.) American Snipz. WILSsoN’s
Snipe. ‘“ EnGLisH” Snipe (so-called). Jack-Snipz. Adult g 9 : Crown black, with a
pale ochrey middle stripe. Upper parts brownish-black, varied with bright bay and tawny,
the scapular feathers smoothly and evenly edged with tawny or whitish, forming two length-
wise stripes on each side when the wings are folded. Quills and greater coverts blackish-
brown, usually with white tips, and outer web of first primary usually white. Lining of
wings and axillars white, fully and regularly barred with black. Rump black, the feathers
with white tips. Upper tail-coverts tawny with numerous black bars, and tail-feathers black
282.
609.
622 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
basally, then bright chestnut, with a narrow subterminal black bar, their tips fading to whit-
ish; some of the lateral ones white, with little rufous tinge and several instead of one black
bar. Belly white; jugulum and fore-breast light brown speckled with dusky brown; chin
nearly white; sides of body shaded with brown, and with numerous regular dusky bars
throughout; crissum more or less rufous, with numerous dusky bars. Length of ¢ 10.50-
11.50; extent 17.50-19.50; wing 4.75-5.25 ; bill 2.50 (more or less); tail 2.25; tarsus
1.25; middle toe and claw 1.50. 9Q averaging smaller. Weight of various specimens
3 oz. 4 dr. to 40z. 3dr. Bill greenish-gray, dusky on terminal third ; iris brown; feet green-
ish-gray. This is the genuine snipe, of all the birds loosely so-called ; its name of “ English”
snipe is a misnomer, as it is indigenous to this country, and distinct from any European
species, though closely resembling two of them (G. media or celestis and G. gallinula). In
our species the tail is normally composed of 16 feathers, the two lateral of which on each
side are abruptly smaller, shorter, and much narrower, resembling the under coverts somewhat ;
and the whole sides of the body from breast to tail, as well as the axillars and lining of the
wings, are completely and regularly barred, as is also the crissum. Open wet places of
North America, at large; migratory; breeds from N. U. S. northward; S. into S. Amer. in
winter, though many remain in U.S. The general habits of this favorite game-bird are
too well known to require remark. Eggs 3-4, moderately pyriform, grayish-olive, with more
or less brownish shade; markings bold and numerous, most so on the larger end, of varying
shades of umber-brown ; usually also sharp scratchy lines of black; shell-spots not notice-
able. Nest w were depression in grass or moss of the bog; chicks mottled with white, ashy,
ochrey and dark brown.
MACRORHAM'PHUS. (Gr. paxpds, makros, long, pdudos, hramphos, beak.) WEB-TOED
Syire. Bill as in Gallinago, Wings longer and more pointed, more as in Tringa. Tibi
naked below for a space about half the length of tarsus. Tarsus longer than middle toe and
claw. Anterior toes webbed at base; webbing most extensive between middle and outer.
Tail doubly-emarginate, of only 12 stiffish (as compared with Gallinago) feathers; all the
feathers closely and regularly barred. Sexes alike; summer and winter plumages different
(as in sandpipers). Thoroughly suipe-like in the bill, but otherwise like long-legged sand-
pipers; near Micropalama, for example. Two alleged species, or varieties.
Analysis of Varieties.
Length 10.00 to 12.50; extent 17.50-20.00; wing 5.30-6.00, average 5.70; bill 2.00-3.00; tarsus 1.25-1.75,
average 1.53; middle toe without claw 0.90-1.10, average 1.00.
Wing 5.25-5.90, average 5.65; bill, 2,00-2.55, average 2.20; tarsus, average, 1.35; middle toe alone,
average 0.95. In summer: Belly whitish; breast and sides speckled with dusky . . griseus 609
Wing 5.40-6.00, average 5.75; bill, 2.20-3.20, average 2.80; tarsus, average, 1.60; middle toe alone,
average 1.00. In summer: Belly cinnamon-brown; breast scantily speckled with dusky; sides
barred with dusky . a : ys . avis Wh at ap rane) . scolopaceus 610
Measurements of nine individuals, shot out of one flock in Dakota, formerly supposed to include both
species, and to show their perfect gradation in size ; now supposed to show individual variation in
scolopaceus alone.
Totallength . 10.25 10.50 11.00 11.25 11.50 11.75 11.90 12.25 12.60
Extent ofwings. . . 17.50 18.00 1850 19.25 19.00 19.50 19.75 20.25 19.50
Wing eae = B40 5.50 5.65 5.80 5.75 5.90 6.00 6.10 5.85
Whole naked leg . . 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.35 4.00 4.10 4.00 4.10 4.15
Bil, 2... ss 2.20 2.40 2.50 2.85 2.90 2.90 2.95 3.05 3.25
M. gri/seus. (Lat. griseus, gray. Fig. 437.) Rep-BREasTep Snipe (summer). Gray
Sire (winter). Brown-Back. Dowircuer. Adult 9 gf, in summer: Under parts rich
rusty-red, paler or whitish on the belly ; jugulum, breast, and sides fully speckled with dusky.
Axillars and lining of wings white, with angular dusky markings. Wing-quills fuscous, the
shaft of the lst primary white, of the others brown; secondaries conspicuously tipped with
white. Above, black, varied everywhere with the reddish color of the under parts, and on
610.
233.
611.
SCOLOPACID: SNIPE. 623
the back and scapulars with white; the rump snowy-white, unmarked, very conspicuous in
flight. Tail and its epper coverts black, closely barred with white or rufous. A dusky line
from bill to eye. Bill and feet greenish-black. In winter: Dark gray above, the feathers
with dusky centres and pale gray or whitish edges; lower back pure white; superciliary
line and spot on under eye-lid white ; below, white, the jugulum, fore-breast, and sides heavily
shaded with gray, leaving chin whitish ; the flanks and crissum with wavy dusky spots or hars.
(For dimensions see above.) This variety is supposed to be restricted to E. N. A. (?), along
the Atlantic coast, where it abounds during the migration, in proportion of 1,000 to one of the
next variety. Breeds in high latitudes. Among the shore birds, this is a great favorite with
gunners.
M. g. scolopa/ceus. (Lat. scolopaceus, snipe-like.) WrsTERN DowITCHER. RED-BEL-
LIED SNIPE. GREATER LONG-BEAK. Like the last; averaging larger, the bill especially
longer (see above). Weight 2 oz. 7 dr. to 40z. 4 dr. Entire under parts rich rusty-red,
including belly ; throat and breast scantily speckled, sides and flanks thickly barred, with
dusky. Winter and immature specimens indistinguishable from the last, excepting those sur-
passing the maximum size of the latter. N. Am. at large, supposed to be rare or casual on
the Atlantic side, and to be the only representative of the genus in the West (?). Like the
other, it is abundant; migratory; breeds in high latitudes. Both generally fly in large com-
pact flocks, like the sandpipers and shore-birds generally, rather than singly or in wisps like
Fia. 437. — Bill of Macrorhamphus griseus, nat. size, in profile, and its end from above. (Ad nat, del. E. C.)
the true snipe; and prefer the shores of bays and estuaries, instead of wet meadows. Eggs of
this variety or the last are not peculiar among their allies; 3-4 in number; length 1.55 to
1.75, by 1.10 to 1.15 broad; ground-color as in Gallinago, and general tone and style of mark-
ings the same.
MICROPA/LAMA. (Gr. puxpés, mikros, small; maddyn, palame, a web.) Sint Sanp-
PIPERS. Bill much as in the last genus, but shorter, less evidently widened at the end and not
so distinctly furrowed on top, sometimes perceptibly curved. Wings long, pointed, Ist
primary longest, rest rapidly graduated. Tail about half as long as wings, slightly doubly-
emarginate. Legs very long; tibie bare an inch; tarsus as long as the bill. Feet semipal-
mate, the front toes being connected by two evident basal webs. Plumage resembling that
of Macrorhamphus in general character; its changes the same; sexes alike. These two
genera are perfect links between snipe and sandpipers. One species.
M. himan‘topus. (Gr. ivavrorous, himantopous, strap-legged. Fig. 438.) STiur SAND-
PIpeR. Adult g 9, in summer: Above, blackish, each feather edged and tipped with white
and tawny or bay, which on the scapulars becomes scalloped. Auriculars chestnut; a dusky
line from bill to eye, and a light reddish superciliary one; upper tail-coverts white with
dusky bars. Primaries dusky with blackish tips; tail-feathers 12, ashy-gray, their edges and
a central field white; under parts mixed reddish, black, and whitish, in streaks on the jugulum,
elsewhere in bars; bill and feet greenish-black. Length 8.50-9.00; extent 16.00-17.00;
234.
612.
624 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLA.
wing 5.00; tail 2.25; bill 1.50-1.70; tarsus the same; middle toe and claw 1.00; tibia bare
1.00. Young, and adults in winter: Ashy-gray above, with or without traces of black aud
bay, the feathers usually with white edging; line over the eye and under parts white, the
jugulum and sides suffused with the color of the back, and streaked with dusky ; legs usually
pale greenish-yellow. The full breeding dress is of brief duration ; the birds are usually ashy
and white from September to
April, both inclusive. N. Am.,
generally ; not observed W. of
the R. Mts.; rare. Breeds in
high latitudes; migrates to W.
I. and C. and S. Am.
EREUNE'TES. (Gr. epevvy-
Ths, ereunetes, a searcher, pro-
ber.) SEMIPALMATED SAND-
PIPERS. Bill normally about as
long as head, straight, quite
stout for this family, both man-
dibles deeply grooved to the ex-
panded vascular and sensitive
tip. Wings long, pointed; sec-
ondaries obliquely incised. Tail
moderate, doubly-emarginate,
with pointed and projecting een- Fie. 438.— Stilt Sandpiper, in breeding dress, reduced. (From
Nuttall, after Swainson.)
tral feathers. Tarsus rather ?
longer than middle toe and claw, equal to the normal bill in length. Bare portion of tibie
$ as long as tarsus. Toes connected by broad basal webbing, and broadly margined. A true
sandpiper, chiefly distinguished from Tringa proper by the semipalmate feet (fig. 48); from
Micropalama, which is similarly webbed, by the shortness of the bill and feet. Very small;
sexes alike; summer and winter plumages different.
E. pusil‘lus. (Lat. pusillus, puerile, petty). SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. Prep. Bill,
tarsus, and middle toe with its claw, about equal to each other, an inch or less long, but bill very
variable, and apt to be shorter — 0.66-0.87 ; feet semipalmate, with two evident webs; length
5.50-6.50; extent about 11.75; wing 3.25-3.75; tail 2.00, doubly-emarginate, the central
feathers projecting. Adult ¢ 9, in summer: Above, variegated with black, bay, and ashy or
white, each feather with a black field, reddish edge and whitish tip; rump, and upper tail-
coverts except the lateral ones, blackish. Tail-feathers ashy-gray, the central darker; pri-
maries dusky, the shaft of the first white. A dusky line from bill to eye, and a white
superciliary line. Below, pure white, usually rufescent on the breast, and with more or less
dusky speckling on the throat, breast, and sides. In winter: Upper parts mostly plain ashy-
gray. Young in July and August have scarcely any traces of the spots beneath, being there
almost entirely white, with a light buff wash across breast ; there is also more white edging of
the feathers of the upper parts; but in any plumage and under any variation, the species is
known by its small size and semipalmate feet. The extreme variation in the length of the bill
is from 0.50 to 1.25, or 86 per cent of the average (0.88). N. Am., everywhere ; an abundant
and well-known little bird, thronging our beaches during the migrations, which extend to the
West. Indies and S. Amer. It is only known to breed in high latitudes, though it commonly
appears in the U. 8S. in August, and may sometimes be seen in other summer months. The
size, general appearance, and changes of plumage are much the same as those of Actodro-
mas minutilla, and the habits of these two birds are very similar. Eggs 3-4, 1.220.84, of
usual shape; ground from clay-color (usual) to grayish or greenish-drab or decidedly
613.
235.
614,
615.
SCOLOPACIDZE: SANDPIPERS. 625
olivaceous, usually boldly spotted and splashed with umber or chocolate brown, massed at
larger end; sometimes more uniformly spotted in smaller pattern.
E. p. occidentalis? (Lat. occidentalis, western.) WrSTERN SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER.
An alleged variety, probably untenable, ascribed to Western N. Am.
ACTODROMAS. (Gr. dery, akte, the seashore; dpouds, dromas, running.) PEcToRAL
SANDPIPERS. SPOTTY-THROAT SANDPIPERS. Bill about equal to head or tarsus, short,
straight, very slender, somewhat compressed, the tip punctulate, scarcely expanded, acute.
Grooves on both mandibles very deep, and extending nearly to the tip. Nostrils situated very
near the base of the bill. Feathers extending on the lower mandible much beyond those on
the upper, and half as far as those between the rami. Wings long, pointed, first primary
usually longest ; tertials long, slender, flowing. Tail rather long, deeply doubly-emarginate
(in one species cuneate), the central feathers much projecting ; upper tail-coverts moderately
long. Tibia bare for more than half the length of the tarsus; the feathers very short, making
the exposed portion nearly as great. Tarsus equal to the middle toe qnd claw. Toes long,
slender, very narrowly margined, entirely free at base. A group of several species, including
the smallest representatives of the family, agreeing in form and also in having the jugu-
lum and fore-breast thickly streaked or spotted, usually also with a brownish or ashy suffusion.
Analysis of Species.
Tail graduated, with acuminate feathers.
Jugulum ruddy brown, with very small sharp dark streaks. Upper tail-coverts and rump with black
centraltield . . eer aan a fe 5s acuminata 619
Tail not graduated ; its feathers, ekcopt cenit pair, not seumatuabas
Jugulum with brownish or ashy suffusion, thickly streaked. Upper tail-coverts and rump with black
central field.
Largest ; length 9.00 ; wing 5.25. Crown much darker than lind neck, the transition abrupt.
Chin immaciilate. Edgings of feathers on upper parts light chestnut-red, not making inden-
tations toward the shaft. Suffusion on jugulum very deep, the darker streaks narrow, distinct,
Bill and feet dusky-green . . . . wei Be Ean A th) die’ BB 2a) Ses maculata 616
Medium ; length 7.25; wing 480. Crown not conspicuously darker than hind neck. Edgings of
feathers on upper parts light reddish-yellow, scarcely brighter on the scapulars, making inden-
tations toward the shaft. Suffusion on jugulum very sai the darker markings rounded, some-
what obsolete. Billand feet black. . . . . .bairdi 615
Smallest; a miniature of the preceding; length 5. 1; wing ‘5. 40. Edeee. of feathers chestnut-red,
usually more or less indented, their tips lighter. Bill black; legs dusky-green + minutilla 614
Jugulum with little or no brownish or ashy suffusion. Upper tail-coverts white.
Medium ; length 7.50; wing 4.80. Jugulum thickly streaked with narrow dark lines, Upper tail-
coverts immaculate, except the outermost. Central tail-feathers nearly black . . bonapartii 617
Large ; length 9.50; wing 5.75. Jugulum thinly marked with oval spots or streaks. Upper tail-
coverts with dark arrow-heads. Central tail-feathers scarcely darker than the lateral. . cooperi 618
A, minutilla. (Lat. minutilla, very minute; dim. of minutus, small.) American Svrint.
Witson’s Stint. LeastSanppiper. Prep. Smallest of the sandpipers; length 5.50-6.00;
extent about 11.00; wing 3.25-3.50 ; tail 2.00 or less ; bill, tarsus, and middle toe with claw, about
0.75. Bill black; legs dusky greenish. Upper parts in summer with each feather blackish cen-
trally, edged with bright bay and tipped with ashy or white ; in winter, and in the young, simply
ashy. Quills blackish, the shaft of the first white, the secondaries and greater cuverts tipped
with white. Tail-feathers gray with whitish edges, the central ones blackish, usually with reddish
edges. Crown not conspicuously different from hind neck; an indistinct whitish line over eye,
and dusky one from eye to bill. Chestnut edgings of scapulars usually scalloped. Below,
white; jugulum and sides of body fur some distance with ashy or brownish suffusion, thickly
spotted and streaked with dusky. This species and the last are usually confounded under the
common name of ‘‘sandpeeps,” and look much alike; but a glance at the toes is sufficient to
distinguish them. N., C. and S. America and W. I., anywhere; very abundant during the
migrations. Breeds in high latitudes, returning to the U. S. in August. Eggs unknown.
A. bair'di. (ToS. F. Baird.) Barrp’s Sanppiper. Form and proportions typical of the
genus. Bill small, slender, rather shorter than the head, equal to the tarsus, the tip scarcely
40
616.
626 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLA.
expanded, its point very acute. Grooves in both mandibles very long and deep, that of the
lower very narrow. Feathers extending on the side of lower mandible much farther than those
on the upper, about half as far as those between the rami. Wings long; first and second
primaries about equal, but varying, third much shorter; tertials long, slender, flowing. Tail
rather long, but slightly doubly-emarginate, the central feathers rounded, projecting but little.
Toes long, slender, slightly margined, the middle with its claw about equal to tarsus. Adult
in breeding plumage: Entire upper parts a very dark brownish-black, deeper on the rump and
lighter on the neck behind, each feather bordered and tipped with light reddish-yellow ; on the
scapulars the tips broader and nearly pure white, and the margins brighter, making several deep
indentations towards the shaft. Upper tail-coverts long, extending to within half an inch of
the tips of the central tail-feathers, black, except the outer series, which are white with dusky
markings. Central tail-feathers brownish-black, the rest successively lighter, and all with a
narrow border of white. Jugulum with a very decided light brownish suffusion (much as in
A. maculata), and, together with the sides under the wings to some distance, with rounded
obsolete spots and streaks of dusky. Throat and under parts generally white, immaculate.
Bill, legs, and feet black. Young in August: Dimensions and proportions as in the adult.
Upper parts a nearly uniform light ashy-brown, deeper on the rump, each feather with a
central dark field and with a light edge, these whitish edgings usually conspicuous. Traces of
the brownish-black of the adult on the scapulars. Breast and jugulum with the suffusion very
light reddish-brown, the streaks sparse and very indistinct. Length 7.00-7.50; extent 15.25-
16.50; wing 4.25—4.75 ; tail 2.25 ; bill, tarsus, and middle toe with claw, about 0.87. Colors almost
exactly as in the last species ; edgings of upper plumage rather tawny than chestnut; jugular
suffusion: pale, rather fulvous, the streaks small and sparse, sometimes almost obsolete. Size
of bonapartii, but not easy to confound with that white-rumped species. North and South
America; rare on the Atlantic coast, common in the interior ; the most abundant small sand-
piper in some parts of the west, during the migrations. Breeds in Arctic regions; eggs 3-4,
1.30 X 0.92, elay-colored, grayer or more buffy in different specimens, spotted with rich umber
and chocolate-browns of varying shades; in some cases the markings fine and innumerable, in
others massed at the greater end, sometimes with black tracery also; pale shell-spots usually
evident. June, July.
A. macula/‘ta. (Lat. maculata, spotted.) PECTORAL SANDPIPER. GRASS-SNIPE. JACK-
snipe. Bill a little longer than the head, about equal to the tarsus or middle toe, moderately,
stout, straight or very lightly decurved, the tip more expanded and punctulate than in the type
of the genus. Grooves in both mandibles long and deep. Wings long, pointed, first primary
decidedly longest ; tertials very long, narrow, and flowing. Tarsus equal to middle toe, both
about equal to the bill. Tail rather long, deeply doubly-emarginate, the central feathers pointed
and greatly projecting. Adult in spring: Au ill-defined white line over the eye, and a more
distinct one of dusky between eye and bill. Crown streaked with brownish-black and light chest-
nut, conspicuously different from the neck behind, which is streaked with dusky and light ochre-
ous. Upper parts generally, a very dark brownish-black, every feather edged with ashy or dark
chestuut-red, brightest on the scapulars, the tips usually lighter, and the margins never making
deep indentations toward the shaft. Rump and upper tail-coverts black, the outer series of the
latter white, with sagittate spots of dusky. Primaries deep dusky, almost black, the shaft of the
first white, of the others brown. Secondaries and greater coverts dusky, edged and tipped
with white. Lesser coverts dusky, fading into light grayish-ash on their edges. Central tail-
feathers bruwnish-black, lighter on their edges, the lateral light ashy, margined with white.
Jugulum and breast with a heavy wash of ashy-brown, and with very numerous well-defined
streaks of dusky; the suffusion extending on the sides under the wings to some distance, where
the dusky streaks are mostly shaft-lines. Chin, and under parts generally, white, immaculate.
Bill and feet dusky greenish. Young in September: Edges of the feathers of the upper parts
617.
618.
SCOLOPACIDA: SANDPIPERS. 627
generally, and of the tertials and central tail-feathers, light bright chestnut, and the tips pure
white. Lesser wing-coverts broadly edged and tipped with light ferruginous. Suffusion on
the breast and juguluin with a yellowish ochreous tinge not seen in the adult, and the streaks
less distinct. Other parts as in the adult. Not known to have a plain ashy and white winter
plumage like most sandpipers. Length 9.00-9.50 inches; extent 16.50-18.00 ; wing (average)
5.50; bill, tarsus, and middle toe with claw about 1.10. N., C. and 8. Am., W. I., Green-
land, Asia, and Europe; thus of wide and general dispersion; in U. S., chiefly during the
migrations, when abundant in wet grassy meadows, muddy ponds and flats, etc. It goes very far
north, quite to the Arctic Ocean, and is supposed to breed only in high latitudes; the nest and
eggs are still unknown. In some respects of habit it is quite snipe-like ; it never flocks on the
beaches with the smaller sandpipers, and it has at times a wayward towering flight, like that
of a snipe. During the amours, this sandpiper has the power of inflating the throat to a won-
derful extent, forming a swelling which hangs like a great goitre upon the breast. ‘ Pectoral
sandpiper’ is a book-name, seldom spoken, the bird being better known as the ‘ grass-snipe,’
and ‘jack-snipe’; but both these names are objectionable, as it is not a snipe; and ‘jack-
snipe,’ moreover, is the proper name of an English species of Gallinago (G. gallinula), not
found in this country, where G. wilsont sometimes takes the same designation.
A, bonapar'tii. (To C. L. Bonaparte.) WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. Bill quite stout,
moderately long, equal to the head or tarsus, the tips somewhat expanded. Grooves on both
mandibles long and deep. Feathers extending on the lower mandible but little beyond those
on the upper. Wings long, pointed, first primary decidedly longest; tertials long, narrow,
and flowing. Tail moderate, quite deeply doubly-emarginate, the central feathers somewhat
pointed and considerably projecting. Tarsus rather longer than the middle toe. Toes long,
slender, and slightly, margined. Crown and upper parts generally light brownish-ash, each
feather with a large field of dusky towards its end, and on the crown and middle of the back
edged with light yellowish-red, deepening into bright sienna on the scapulars. Lesser wing-
coverts dark brownish-ash, fading into light ashy on the edges, and with shaft-lines of blackish.
Secondaries and greater coverts light grayish-ash, edged and tipped with white. Tertials very
dark brownish-ash, fading into light ashy on the edges. Primaries deep dusky, their shafts
white in the central portions, and the innermost edged with white. Rump brownish-black.
Upper tail-coverts white, their outer series with sagittate spots of dusky. Central tail-feathers
brownish-black, the rest very light grayish-ash, broadly edged and tipped with white. Jug-
ulum and breast with a scarcely appreciable wash of light ashy, with numerous, distinct, linear
oblong streaks of dusky brown; these extend as minute dots nearly or quite to the bill, and as
narrow shaft-lines along the sides to the vent. Rest of under parts white, immaculate.
Lower mandible flesh-colored for half its length ; rest of bill, with the legs and feet, black.
Length 7.50; extent 15.00; wing 4.80; bill, tarsus and middle toe with claw rather less than
1.00. Young in August: Upper parts a nearly uniform dark ash, the black of the adults show-
ing at intervals, but principally on the scapulars, where also the reddish margins of the feathers
are apparent. Jugulum and sides under the wings with an ashy suffusion, more conspicuous
than in the adult, but much more restricted, and the streaks more obsolete and indistinct.
Central pair of upper tail-coverts usually dusky. Other parts as in the adult. America at large,
but not yet observed W. of the R. Mts., nor in Alaska; Greenland, Europe. Breeds from
Labrador northward ; migratory through the E. U. 8.
A. coo/peri? (To Wm. Cooper.) Cooper’s SANDPIPER. Bill considerably longer than the
head, exceeding the tarsus, straight, rather stout, tip scarcely expanded. Feathers extending
on side of lower mandible scarcely further than those on the upper. Wings long, pointed, first
primary decidedly longest; tertials moderately long and rather slender. Tail moderate, slightly
but decidedly doubly-emarginate, the central feathers projecting. Tarsus rather longer than
the middle toe; tibia bare for half the length of the tarsus; toes all long, slender, aud slightly
619.
236.
628 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
margined. Adult in spring: Upper parts a nearly uniform light grayish-ash, each feather
with a central brownish-black field, deepening into pure black on the scapulars, where also the
edgings of some of the feathers have a reddish tinge. Tertials sooty-brown, fading into light
ashy on the edges. Secondaries and greater coverts dark grayish-ash, edged and broadly
tipped with white. Primaries deep dusky, almost black on the outer vanes and at the tips,
the innermost edged with white; shafts of all brown at base and black at tip, the central
portion being white. Upper tail-coverts white, with sagittate spots of dusky. Tail-feathers
ashy-brown, the central pair darkest. Under parts white; the jugulum, breast, and sides of
the neck with a slight reddish tinge, and, together with the sides, with numerous streaks and
oval spots of dusky, which become large and V-shaped on the flanks. Length 9.50; wing
5.75 ; tail 2.75; bill 1.25; tarsus 1.12. Long Island; only one specimen known. It is still
uncertain whether this is a good species or an unusual state of 7. canutus or A. maculata.
A. acumina/ta. (Lat. acuminata, acuminate.) SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER. A large species,
of the size and with somewhat the general aspect of the pectoral sandpiper. Tail graduated,
almost cuneate, all the feathers more or less acuminate, the projecting middle pair particularly
so. Bill about as long as head; tarsus equal to middle toe and claw ; toes perfectly free. Crown
bright chestnut, streaked with black, bounded by decided whitish superciliary lines; different
from the hind neck. Upper parts with the pattern of coloration of those of A. maculata, the
feathers being black, with bright chestnut edges, and many of them also with whitish tips, the
edgings not making scallops, and particularly straight and firm on the long tertials. Central
field of rump and upper tail-coverts black, scarcely or not varied with reddish tips of the feathers,
the sides of this area white with dusky touches. Tail-feathers dusky, the middle ones darker
or black, all firmly rimmed about with chestnut, buff, or whitish edging. Primaries blackish,
their shafts mostly white; secondaries dusky, successively acquiring white tips and edges;
greater coverts dusky, white-tipped. Entire under parts white, more or less suffused on the
jegulum, breast, and sides with a light ruddy brown (much as in Podasocys montanus), the
jugulum alone with a set of sinall sharp dusky touches, being an extension across the throat of
better pronounced streaks of the sides of the head, neck, and breast, leaving the chin definitely
pure white. The effect is quite different from that produced by the heavy streaking of A. ma-
culata. Bill and feet blackish. Length probably 9.00-9.50; wing 5.25; tail 2.50; bill 1.00;
tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw the same. (Described from several late summer and early
fall specimens, taken in Alaska. An Australian specimen before me is smaller (wing under
5.00, ete.), and, excepting the crown, lacks any reddish of the upper parts, all the edgiugs
being simply gray; the ruddy suffusion of the breast is scarcely seen.) An interesting species,
widely diffused in the Old World, lately found in Alaska, where it is common in summer in
some localities, as Saint Michael’s, and where it doubtless breeds; extent of its migration in
America, if any, unknown.
ARQUATEL'LA, (Lat. arquatella, dim. of arquata, for arcuata, bowed.) FEATHER-LEG
SaNDPIPERS. Bill, tarsus, and middle toe, ubviously not of equal lengths. Tarsus shorte:
than bill or middle toe; tibize feathered, the feathers reaching the suffrago. Toes very long,
broadly margined, and flattened underneath. Hind toe very short; claws short and bl=nt.
Tail moderate, wedge-shaped. Bill variable, always longer than head, straight or slightly
decurved, very slender, much compressed, tip scarcely expanded, groove on lower mandible
shallow or obsolete. A generic group established upon the well-known “ purple” sandpiper,
to which two other species or varieties have recently been added. The following analysis is
taken from B. N. O. C., v, 1880, p. 162.
Analysis of Species or Varieties.
Breeding dress: Crown streaked with yellowish-gray, or grayish-white; scapulars and interscapulars
irregularly spotted and indented with dull buff, or whitish, and tipped with white ; fore-neck dis-
tinctly streaked with dusky ; breast dull gray, everywhere spotted with darker. Winter dress: Back
and scapulars sooty-black strongly glossed with purplish ; the feathers bordered terminally with dark
SCOLOPACIDZE: SANDPIPERS. 629
plumbeovs- ; fore-neck uniform mouse-gray, or brownish-plumbeous. Wing 5.06; culmen 1.20;
tarsus 0.99; middie toe without claw 0.90 . . . Sees ri . . maritima 620
Breeding dress: Crown streaked with deep rusty ; soapiflare andl intaeRapalank Broadly bordered with
bright ferruginous ; fore-neck irregularly clouded with dull pale buff or soiled white and sooty-
plumbeous, the breast more coarsely clouded, with more or less of a black patch on each side.
Winter dress: Like that of maritima, but the plumbeous borders of dorsal feathers broader and
lighter, or more bluish. Jugulum streaked or otherwise varied with white. Wing 4.86; culmen 1.13;
tarsus 0.95; middle toe without claw 0,86... . i - couesi 624
&reeding dress: Crown broadly streaked with Goliracepuslbiait apaciitars ae interecapulara broadly
bordered with bright ochraceous-rufous; fore-neck pure white, sparsely streaked with brownish-gray ;
breast white, streaked anteriorly and clouded posteriorly with dusky, latter forming more or less of a
patch on each side. Winter dress: Similar to the corresponding stages of each of the foregoing, but
very much paler, the whole dorsal aspect being light cinereous, the scapulars and interscapulars with
small, nearly concealed, central spots, the wing-coverts very broadly edged with pure white ; fore-neck
with white ery predominating. Wing 5.16; culmen 1.33; tarsus 0.98; middle toe without claw
O90 «6 soe we ete es es ee ah we we) yeh fe c ee Boe R6 - + ptilocnemis 622
620. A. mari/tima. (Lat. maritima, maritime.) PURPLE Saeeeeae Bill little longer than
621.
head, much longer than tarsus, straight or nearly so; tibial feathers long, reaching to the
joint, though the legs are really bare a little way above; tarsus shorter than middle toe and
claw. Length about 9.00; extent about 16.00; wing 5.00; tail2.66, much rounded ; bill 1.20;
tarsus 0.90-1.00 ; middle toe 1.00 or a little more. The breeding dress, little known: Upper
parts black, conspicuously varied on the head, neck, back, and scapulars, with chestnut or
cinnamon, and pale buff or whitish, the darker reddish colors edging or indenting the sides
of the feathers, the paler colors chiefly tipping their ends; the rusty-red also suffusing the
sides of the head, separated from the black and reddish crown by a pale or whitish superciliary
stripe. A lighter tawny shace invades the jugulum and breast; otherwise, under parts
white, streaked on the breast with blackish, elsewhere nebulated with dusky-gray, but no
definite blackish area formed. Rump and upper tail-coverts brownish-black, unmarked.
Wings plain fuscous, the lesser coverts narrowly, the greater broadly, tipped with white,
the secondaries mostly white in increasing amounts from without inwards, and the shaft of
the first primary white. Tail-feathers plain dusky. Adult in winter: Entire upper parts a
lustrous very dark bluish- or blackish-ash, with purple and violet reflections, and each feather
with a lighter border. Greater and lesser wing-coverts, tertials and scapulars edged and tipped
with white. Secondaries mostly white. Primaries deep dusky, the shafts dull white except at
tip, where they are black. Upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers brownish-black with
purplish reflections, the outer pairs of the former white-barred with dusky. Lateral tail-feathers
light ashy. Jugulum and breast bluish-ash, each feather of the latter edged with white, and
the ash extending along the sides beneath the wings. Rest of under parts white, immaculate.
Legs, feet, and bill at base light flesh-color; rest of bill greenish-black. Most immature birds
of the first fall and-winter resemble this, but are duller, without the gloss. Young: Upper
parts much the color of the adult, but with each feather broadly edged and tipped with light
buff or reddish-yellow. Light edging of wing-coverts ashy instead of pure white. Under
parts everywhere thickly mottled with ashy and dusky, deepest on the breast and jugulum.
Chicks in down are very pretty: grayish-browu, mottled with black, the back, wings, and
rump spangled with white points; head grayish-white, tinged with fulvous, variously marked
with black ; lores with two parallel black stripes ; below, grayish-white. A species of circum-
polar disteibation, breeding and often wintering in Arctic regions; in America S. to the Middle
States; chiefly maritime, but also occurring on the Great Lakes. Egg of usual pyriform shape,
about 1.40 x 1.00, elay color with olive shade, with large bold markings of rich umber-brown
of varying shade, with neutral tint shell-markings ; markings over ali the surface, but largest
and most massed at the greater end.
A. coues‘i. (To E. Coues.) ALrEutian SANDPIPER. Very near the last. The following
is the original description, in substance. Breeding dress: Above fuliginuus-slate: feathers of
622.
630 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
crown, back, and scapulars broadly edged with rusty-ochraceous, or bright cinnamon, the
central field of each feather nearly black, much darker than wings or rump, some of the scap-
ulars and interscapulars tipped with white in some specimens. Lesser coverts narrowly,
greater coverts broadly, bordered terminally with white; greater coverts broadly tipped with
white, forming a conspicuous cross-bar; several inner secondaries chiefly white; the others,
also the inner primaries, narrowly skirted and tipped with white. Rump, upper tail-coverts,
and middle tail-feathers, uniform fuliginous dusky, the other rectrices paler, or dull cin-
ereous. A conspicuous long whitish superciliary stripe, reaching to nape, and confluent
with whitish of under side of head, thus posteriorly bounding a large sooty-brown auricular
area; anterior portion of lores, and forehead dull smoky-grayish; neck, jugulum, aud breast,
dirty whitish, sometimes soiled with dingy buff, and clouded or spotted with dull slate, sooty-
plumbeous, or dusky-blackish, this sometimes forming a large patch on each side of breast.
Other under parts pure white, the sides with a chain of slaty spots and streaks, the crissum
streaked with dusky ; lining of wing pure white. Bill and feet brownish-black in the dried
skin; iris brown. Winter plumage: Above, soft sinoky-plumbeous, the scapulars and inter-
seapulars glossy purplish-dusky centrally, the plumbeous borders of the feathers causing a
squamous appearance; head and neck uniform plumbeous, excepting the throat and a supra-
loral patch, which are streaked whitish ; jugulum squamated with white, the breast similarly,
but more broadly marked. Wing, tail, and rump, asin summer. Young, first plumage: Scap-
ulars and interscapulars black, broadly bordered with bright rusty and buffy-white, the latter
chiefly on the longer outer scapulars and lower back ; wing-coverts broadly bordered with buffy-
white ; pileum streaked black and ochrey; jugulum and breast pale buff, or buffy-white, streaked
with dusky. Downy young: Above, bright rusty-fulvous, irregularly mottled with black, the
back, wings, and rump flecked with yellowish-white papille ; head above deep fulvous-brown,
striped with velvety black from forehead to occiput, where confluent with a cross-bar of the
same; lores with two parallel stripes of same. Lower parts white, distinctly fulvous on sides.
Wing 4.50-5.15 inches, average 4.86; culmen 0.98-].25, average 1.13; tarsus 0.88-1.00,
average 0.95; middle toe without claw 0.78-0.90, average 0.86. Aleutian Islands and Coast
of Alaska all the year round; extent of migrations unknown, if any.
A. ptilocne'mis. (Gr. mridov, ptilon, a feather ; xvnpis, knemis, a greave ; the crus being feath-
ered.) PRYBILOV SANDPIPER. BLACK-BREASTED SaNpPIPER. Different. Adult in breeding
dress: With somewhat the appearance of a summer Pelidna alpina, but the black area pec-
toral, not abdominal. Crown, interscapulars, and scapulars black, completely variegated with
rich chestnut, ochrey, and whitish, the body of each feather being black, with one or another
or all the lighter markings; the coronal separated from the dorsal variegation by a grayish-
white, dusky-streaked cervical interval. Lower back, ramp, and upper tail-coverts blackish,
little variegated with chestnut. Secondaries nearly all pure white, a few of the outermost and
innermost touched with grayish-brown near end. Primaries grayish-brown with white shafts
except at tip, fading to white on inner webs toward base ; several of the inner ones also largely
white on outer webs, and tipped with white. Central tail-feathers brownish-black ; next pair
abruptly paler, grayish ; rest white or whitish with pale gray tint. Front and sides of head,
superciliary line, tufts of flank-feathers, and entire under parts, white, interrupted on the
breast with a large but not well defined nor perfectly continuous blackish area, and marked
on the upper breast and sides with a few sharp blackish shaft-lines. A dusky auricular patch.
Legs and bill dark. Length apparently about 9.50; wing 4.80-5.30; tail 2.30-2.70; bill
1.10-1.40! tarsus 0.90-1.00; middle toe and claw 1.05-1.20; 9 averaging less than @.
Winter plumage as above said. First plumage: Upper parts much as in the adults, but the rusty
markings in curved rather than angular lines, and much narrower; edges of wing-coverts ochrey.
Interior tail-feathers rusty-edged. Throat and breast more or less suffused with rusty; no black
pectoral area, but the jugulum, breast, and sides suffused with rusty. Chicks in down (July):
237.
623.
624.
238.
SCOLOPACIDA!: SANDPIPERS. 631
Below, silvery-white ; above, rich reddish-brown, varied with white, with curious little round
dots, like mildew. Each such spot is as large as a pin-head, and, under a lens, is seen to be
the enlarged brushy end of a down-feather, whence several tiny bristles sprout. Each such
plume is white at base, then black, then white-tufted as said; the dotted areas thus correspond
to the areas of black variegation, but there are, also, a black undotted frontal line, loral stripes,
and some other markings. Only known from the Prybilov or Fur Seal Islands, where it breeds.
and northward tu St. Matthew and St. Lawrence Islands. Eggs 4, like those of A. maritima.
PELID/NA, (Gr. medsdvos, pelidnos, gray?) Duniin Sanppipsrs. Bill stout, much
longer than head or tarsus, slightly decurved, tip somewhat expanded and punctulate; grooves
in both mandibles deep and distinct. Wings moderate; tertials long and flowing. Tail
moderate, doubly-emarginate, the central feathers projecting. Legs rather long; tarsus not
shorter than fniddle toe and claw, if anything longer. Bare portion of tibia more than half
the tarsus. Toes rather long, cleft to the base, narrowly margined. Contains a few species
or varieties in summer reddish above, with a great black abdominal area.
Analysis of Varieties.
Smallest: length about 8.00; bill, average, 1.40; tarsus little if any longer than middle toe and claw;
tarsus and middle toe together 1.75... 1... . 7 + . . » Alpina 623
Medium: length about 8.50; bill, average, 1.70; disproportionately lenieei, stouter, ‘x more decurved ; tarsus
decidedly longer than middle toe and claw; tarsus and middle toe together 2.00 . . . . americana 624
[Largest: bill and legs still longer than in the last. Pacific Coast,N. A... . 2... 4. ? ? paciyica]
P. alpina, (Lat. alpina, alpine.) EuROPEAN DuNLIN. PuRRE. Differing as above said from
the N. A. species. Straggler to Greenland.
P. a, america'na, (Fig. 439.) AmrricAN DUNLIN. BLACK-BELLIED SANDPIPER. Rep-
BACKED SANDPIPER. Ox-BIRD. Bill longer than head or tarsus, compressed at the base, rather
depressed at the end, and usually appreciably
decurved. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 15.00;
wing 4.50-5.00; tail 2.00-2.33; bill 1.50-
1.75; tibiee bare about 0.50; tarsus 1.00 or
rather more; middle toe and claw 1.00 or
rather less. Adult in suinmner: Above, chest-
nut-red, each feather with a central black
field, and most of them tipped with whitish ;
rump and upper tail-coverts blackish ; tail- :
feathers and wing-coverts ashy-gray, the Hee he A ar SEE ENE EA CAN
greater coverts tipped with white; quills
dusky with pale shafts; secondaries mostly white, and inner primaries edged with the same -
outer webs of primaries blackish, some of the inner ones white-edged toward the base;
secondaries mostly white. Under parts white; belly with a broad, jet-black area; breast
and jugulum thickly streaked with dusky. Bill and feet black. Adult in winter, and
young: Above, plain ashy-gray, with dark shaft lines, with or without red or black traces.
Below, white, with little or no trace of black on belly; jugulum with few dusky streaks and
an ashy suffusion. White edgings of inner primaries very conspicuous. The summer dress is
long worn; it is assumed more or less perfectly in April, and many come from the north still
wearing it. All of N. Am., breeding in high latitudes, migrating through and wintering in the
U. S., preferably coastwise ; common, in flocks on the beaches and elsewhere.
ANCYLOCHI'LUS. (Gr. dykvddyetdos, aghulocheilos, having a curved bill.) CurRLEW
Sanppipers. Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, considerably decurved,
the tip not expanded, and rather hard. Grooves in both mandibles very narrow but distinct.
Wings long, pointed. Tail very short, nearly even. Legs long, slender; tarsus and tibia
both lengthened, the latter exposed for nearly or quite half the length of the former, which is
625.
239.
626.
632 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLZ.
nearly as long as the bill. Toes moderate, slender, slightly margined, the middle one about
three-fourths the tarsus. One species, noted for its resemblance to a miniature ‘eurlew.
A. subarqua/tus. (Lat. subarquatus or subarcuatus, littled curved, as the bill is.) CuRLEW
SANDPIPER. FERRUGINEOUS SANDPIPER. Adult: Crown of head and entire upper parts
lustrous greenish-black, each feather tipped and deeply indented with bright yellowish-red.
Wing-coverts ashy-brown, each feather with a dusky shaft-line and reddish edging. Primaries
deep dusky, their shafts brown at base and black at tip, the central portion nearly white.
Upper tail-coverts white with broad bars of dusky, and tinged at their extremity with reddish.
Tail light gray with greenish reflections. Sides of the neck and entire under parts uniform
deep brownish-red. Under tail-coverts barred with dusky. Axillars and under wing-coverts
white. Bill and legs greenish-black. Young in autumn: Crown of head and back brown-
ish-black, with a slight greenish lustre, each feather edged with white or réddish-yellow.
Rump plain dusky ;*upper tail-coverts white. Wing-coverts with broad grayish-white borders.
Tail light ashy, edged and tipped with white, the central feathers with a subterminal dusky
border in addition. Under parts entirely white, the breast and sides of the neck finely streaked
with dusky, the former with a light buff tinge. Length 8.59; wing 4.90; bill (average) 1.50;
tarsus 1.30; toe 0.90; tibia bare 0.70. Inhabits most of the Old World; in America very
rare, little more than a straggler along the Atlantic Coast. (For particulars of a dozen or
more instances of its occurrence, see New England Bird Life, vol. ii., p. 224.)
TRIN'GA. (Lat. tringa or trynga or tryngas, a sandpiper.) Rosin Sanppirer. Bill
about as long as, or rather longer than, the head, straight, stout, somewhat compressed,
widening uniformly from the middle to the slightly expanded, rather hard tip; the culmen
depressed on the terminal half to the expansion at tip, and obsoletely furrowed. Both mandi-
bles deeply grooved to the tip. Nostrils very large and placed far forward in the upper groove.
Feathers extending on the lower mandible much further than on the upper, and nearly as far
as those between the rami. Wings long, pointed, first primary decidedly longest. Secon-
daries moderately incised. Tertials short, broad, and comparatively stiff. Tail rather short,
nearly even, the central feathers projecting but little if any. Legs short and very stout;
tarsus usually shorter than the bill; longer than the middle toe. Tibial feathers reaching
nearly to joint; tibia bare for nearly two-thirds the tarsus. Toes very short and stout, free
at base, widely margined ; outer lateral longer than inner. Hind toe present, well developed.
Claws short, stout, blunt, much curved, dilated on the inner edge. Size large, fori stout.
T. canu'tus. (Named for King Canute.) RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER. ASH-COLORED
SANDPIPER. GRAY-BACK. RoBIN-sNipeE. Knot. Largest of North American Tringeq.
Bill stout, straight, rather longer than the head, upper mandible widely and deeply grooved to
the expansion at tip. Feathers extending on lower mandible much farther than on upper,
and nearly as far as those between the rami. First primary decidedly longest ; tail short,
nearly even; legs short, stout; tarsus usually shorter than the bill, but much exceeding the
middle toe. Adult in summer: Upper parts brownish-black, each feather broadly tipped and
edged with ashy-white, tinged with reddish-yellow on the scapulars. Rump dark ash, barred
with dusky; upper tail-coverts white, with transverse sagittate or crescentic bars of brownish-
black. Tail grayish-ash, edged with ashy-white. Outer webs and tips of primaries deep
dusky, the inner much lighter. Secondaries and coverts grayish-ash, broadly edged and tipped
with ashy-white. Line over the eye and entire under parts uniform brownish-red, fading into
white on the flanks and under tail-coverts, which latter are marked with sagittate spots of
dusky. Bill and feet greenish-black. Young in autumn: Upper parts a uniform dark ash,
or cinereous, each feather tipped with ashy or pure white, and having a subterminal edging of
dusky-black, producing a conspicuous set of black and white semicircles, very characteristic of
the species in this plumage. Indistinct line over the eye, and whole under parts, white, more
or less tinged with light reddish, the throat, breast, and sides with rather sparse, irregularly
240.
SCOLOPACIDZA:: SANDPIPERS. 633
disposed lines and spots of dusky, which become transverse waved bars on the latter. Length
10.50; extent 20.50; wing 6.40; tail 2.70; bill about 1.40; tarsus 1.20; middle toe 1.00;
tibia bare 0.60. A large handsome species, inhabiting most of the World; in America,
chiefly along the Atlantic-coast, but also in the interior, about the large lakes and rivers.
Migratory ; breeds only in high latitudes.
CALI'DRIS. (Gr. xadidpis, kalidris, Lat. calidris, name of some beach bird, perhaps this
one.) SANDERLINGS. Bill stout, straight, about as long as head or tarsus; tip thickened,
expanded and rather hard, the culmen just behind it somewhat concave. Nostrils far forward.
Wings long, pointed; tail short, doubly-emarginate, central feathers projecting. Tibiz bare
for two-thirds the length of the tarsus; toes very short, widely margined. No hind toe
(General characters of Tringa proper, but 3-toed. See fig. 39.) One species.
Fia. 440. —Sanderling, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
627. ©. arena/ria. (Lat. arenaria, relating to arena, sand. Fig. 440.) SANDERLING. RUDDY
“Prover.” Adult in summer: Entire upper parts and neck all round variegated with black,
light ashy and bright reddish ; on the back and scapulars each feather having a central black
field, and being broadly margined and tipped with ashy or reddish. Under parts white, iminac-
ulate. Outer webs and tips of primaries deep brownish-black, inner light ashy. A white spot at
base of inner primaries. Secondaries mostly pure white; the outer vanes and part of inner on
the latter half dusky. Greater coverts dusky, broadly tipped and narrowly edged with pure
white. Rump, upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers dusky, tipped and narrowly edged
with ashy-white; lateral tail-feathers very light ash, nearly white. Bill and feet black.
Length 7.50-8.00 ; extent 15.00-16.00; wing 4.90; tail 2.25; bill about 1.00; tarsus rather
884.
242.
634 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLZ.
less; middle toe and claw 0.75. Young in autumn: No traces of the reddish. Upper parts
very light ash, each feather fading into white on the edges, and with a narrow shaft-line of
dusky. Entire under parts pure white. Scapulars dusky, edged with whitish. Other parts
as‘in summer adults. In a usual winter dress, there are traces of the reddish on the upper
parts generally, and on the breast. Each feather above is brownish-black, regularly indented
and tipped with ashy-white, thus giving to the upper parts the appearance of being evenly
mottled. There is a buff tinge on the breast, and also on the tips of the rump-feathers. The
bend of the wing is nearly as dark as in the adult. At all times the under parts from the
jugulum are pure white. Inhabits the sea coasts of nearly all countries; N. A. at large,
abundant coastwise, also in the interior on large bodies of water. Migratory; breeds in high
latitudes.
EURYNORHYN'CHUS,. (Gr. edpive, euruno, I dilate; puyxos, hrugchos, beak.) Spoon-
BILLED SANDPIPER. Bill about as long as head, straight, spatulate at end, the ‘‘ spoon” being
about as wide as long, lozenge-shaped, with the distal angle well marked, the lateral angles
rounded off, the proximal one of course running into the rest of the bill; both mandibles share
this extraordinary dilation to about equal extent. The shape is not exactly as in the accom-
panying sketch; but the expansion is remarkably vascular, doubtless changes somewhat in
drying, and may not be quite alike in different specimens. Excepting this prodigy of a bill,
the characters are those of ordinary sandpipers, especially the smaller species of Actodromas.
Toes entirely free; hind toe extremely small; middle toe and claw a little shorter than tarsus.
One species.
(addenda) E. pygme/us. (Lat. pygmeus, dwarf. Fig. 441.) SPooON-BILLED SANDPIPER.
Adult 9, in breeding plumage: General appearance of a stint (as Actodromas minutilla, for
example), and size little greater. Coloration of upper parts
almost exactly as in the species just named, the feathers
being black, with indented light chestnut-red edgings, and
mostly grayish-white tips; crown simply streaked with the
reddish color and black. Under parts white, the whole throat,
breast, and sides of the neck overlaid with bright chestnut (as
in a highly-plumaged sanderling), the breast, back of this
colored area, and the sides of the body, spotted with dusky.
Primaries plain dusky, with blackish outer webs and ends,
and mostly white shafts; secondaries mostly white from the
base; greater coverts white-tipped. Bill and feet black.
Length probably 6.00 ; wing 3.90; tail almost gone, probably
1.75; tarsus 0.90; middle toe and claw 0.80; bill 0.90, the
spoon 0.45 wide; this singular instrument probably acting as
a sifter or strainer rather than as a shovel, in dabbling in soft
eee ee ee mire. (Described from No. 92,281, Mus. Smiths. Inst.,
nat, size. (By Shufeldt, from Ridg- Plover Bay, E. Siberia, June 26, 1881, E. W. Nelson, figured
way, after nature. ) in colors in Nelson’s Birds of Bering Sea, etc., Voyage of the
‘Corwin,’ Washington, 4to, 1883, p. 87. Only one other specimen in this plumage is known
to exist; figured in Ibis, 1869, p. 462, pl. 12; see also P. Z. S. 1871, p. 111. A plain ashy
and white plumage is more usual.) Asia, especially India, breeding on the eastern Arctic
coast of Siberia, and also on the Arctic coast of Alaska; one of the rarest of birds in collections,
only some 25-30 specimens being known, mostly from India; in this country, there is prob-
ably at present scarcely another specimen known than the one here described.
LIMO/SA. (Lat. Kmosa, muddy, miry; limus, mud, slime.) Gopwirs. Bill much longer
than head, longer than tarsus, curved a little upward. Culmen flattened toward end, but not
furrowed ; end of bill not notably enlarged or punctulated. Lateral groove of both mandibles
629.
SCOLOPACIDZ: GODWITS. 635
reaching nearly to end of bill; symphyseal groove less extended. Gape of mouth moderate,
scarcely cleft beyond base of guimen, as in Snipes and Sandpipers, not as usual among Tattlers.
Wing long and pointed; tail short and square. Tibia denuded below for a moderate space.
Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, scutellate before and behind, reticulate on sides. Toes
short and stout, much flattened underneath, and ‘widely margined; outer and middle semi-
palmate, inner and middle with a slight web. Size large; general aspect curlew-like, but
bill recurved, not decurved. In character of bill approaching Snipes, especially Macrorhamphus,
to which it is nearly related in some other respects, as seasonal changes of plumage of most
species. Sexes similar. Two N. Am. species, and two others, occurring in Alaska and
Greenland, from Asia and Eurvpe.
Analysis of Species.
Rump, tail and its upper coverts barred thronghout with blackish and rufous. Lining of wings chestnut,
No extensive barring on under parts. No great seasonal changes of ee ? Feathers not extend-
ing on side of under mandible far beyond those on upper. . . ‘ . - . « + feda 628
Rump, tail, and its upper coverts barred throughout with white and black. ‘adue of wings and axillars
white, with dusky marks . . 2... 1 1 ee ep we he ew te . + . wropygialis 6381
Rump blackish, upper tail-coverts mostly white; tail black with white base sa ‘tip. Under parts in
summer intense ferruginous, barred throughout. Lining of wings ia blackish. Feathers extend-
ing on side of lower mandible to a point beyond those on upper . . . . - . hemastica 629
Similar to LZ. hemastica ; rump, tail and its coverts substantially the same. “Hiniog of wings and axillars
WHEE: ¢ © 2 2 2 & Se Oe ee eS P + + «© « @gocephala 630
L. foe/da, (Lat. feda, wale sedate unseemly. Fig. 1a) ae MARBLED GODWIT.
Marin. Feathers not extending on side of lower mandible to a point far beyond those on upper.
No white anywhere; rump, tail, and its coverts barred
throughout with blackish and the body-color. Lining
of wings chestnut; axillars the same, more or less
barred with black. General color rufous or light dull
cinnamon-red, uniform and nearly uninterrupted on
all the under parts, richer and more chestnut on the
lining of the wings and axillars; somewhat marked
with dusky on the sides of the breast and body; on
the whole upper parts variegated with the brownish-
black central field of each feather, the blackish pre-
dominating, leaving the rufous chiefly as scallops and
tips of the feathers. This rufous very variable in in-
tensity ; usually paler on upper than on under parts,
and strongest under the wings. Primaries rufous,
successively darkening from last to first, the outer
webs and ends of the few outer ones blackish, the Fia. 442. —Godwit, greatly reduced. (From
shaft of the first white. Bill livid flesh-colored, TY fer Audubon.)
blackish on about terminal third; legs ashy-blackish. Large: length 16.00-22.00 inches;
extent 30.00-40.00; wing somewhere about 9.00; tail 3.00-4.00; bill 3.50-5.50, generally
about 4.00; tarsus 3.00, more or less; middle toe and claw 1. 50; few birds vary more in
size. Sexes not distinguishable; no ashy and whitish plumage sown, Temperate N. Am. ;
the largest of the ‘‘bay-birds” excepting the long-billed curlew; conspicuous by its size ard
red color among the waders that throng the shores and muddy or sandy bars of bays and
estuaries during the migration. Known to breed chiefly in the upper Mississippi and Eastern
Missouri regions, in Jowa, Minnesota, and Dakota, to the Saskatchewan; does not appear to
go far along the Atlantic coast northward. Nests anywhere on the prairie, not necessarily
near water; eggs 3-4, about 2-28 x 1.60, light olive-drab, numerously but not very boldly
spotted with various umber-brown shades, and the usual stone-gray shell-spots.
L, hemas'tica. (Gr. aivacrixds, haimastikos, of bloody-red color.) HupsonIAN GoODWIT:
636 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
AMERICAN BLACK-TAILED GopwiT. RinG-TAILED MarRLin. Feathers on side of lower
mandible reaching to a point far in advance of those on upper. Rump blackish. Most upper
tail-coverts conspicuously white ; longest coverts and the tail-feathers black with white bases,
those of the tail-feathers most extensive, and the latter also white-tipped. The appearance
of the parts connectively is therefore of a black rump, then a broad white bar, then a broad
black bar, then a narrow white bar. Lining of wings sooty- blackish, mixed with some white;
axillars black. Under parts rich ferruginous or chestnut-red, everywhere crossed with numer-
ous irregular black bars, several on each feather, and usually also crossed, especially behind,
with similar white bars, such variegation of black, white, and red most pronounced on the
under tail-coverts. Upper parts blackish (brownish-black with greenish gloss), intimately
mixed with rufous and ochrey or whitish, these lighter colors forming indentations on the edges
of each feather. Primaries blackish, with white shafts and white basal spaces; their coverts
the same, with white tips. Bill light, probably orange or reddish, the terminal third black ;
legs black. Length 14.50-16.50; extent 24.00-26.50; wing 7.50-8.50; tail 3.00-3.50; bill
2.75-3.50 ; tibia bare 1.00 or more; tarsus 2.25-2.55; middle toe and claw 1.30-1.70. 9
averages larger than ¢; weight 9.00-9.500z.; ¢ 7.50-8.00 0z. Immature or winter specimens:
Specific characters of wings and tail much the same. Upper parts dark ash, with black shaft-
lines, the back varied more or less with black patches and whitish or rufescent markings.
Fig. 443. — Willet, nat. size, (Ad nat, del. E. C.)
¢
Under parts whitish, more or less rufescent, with traces of black barring. N. Am. generally ;
C. and 8. Am. and W.I.; not noted W. of the R. Mts., and apparently not common any-
where in the U. S.; breeds in high latitudes. The American representative of L. egocephala.
Eggs 4, average 2.18 X 1.40, very heavy brownish-olive, with the usual markings.
630. L. egoce'phala. (Gr. aiyoxépados, aigokephalos, goat-headed ; naine of some bird.) Euro-
PEAN BLACK-TAILED GopwitT. Very like the last; characters of rump and tail substantially
the same; at once distinguishable by white (not black) lining of wings and axillars. Europe,
ete. ; only American as occurring in Greenland.
631. L. uropygia/lis. (Lat. wropygialis, relating to wropygium, the rump.) WHITE-TAILED
Gopwir. Paciric BAR-TAILED Gopwit. Rump, tail, and its upper coverts, white, more
less tinged with rufous, barred throughout with black. Lining of wings and axillars white,
former varied, latter barred, with dark gray. In summer, upper parts blackish, everywhere
varied with rusty-red; head, neck, and under parts rusty-red. In winter, grayish-brown
above, the feathers with darker centres and blackish shaft-lines; below, whitish; sides and
crissum with sagittate black marks. Averaging less than L. feda ; bill 3.50-4.50. A widely
distributed Old World species, very near the bar-tailed godwit of Europe, Z. lapponica, and
probably identical with L. nove-zealandie ; lately ascertained to occur in Alaska, where it is
common, and known to breed. Eggs like those of other godwits, 2.22 x 1.47.
243, SYMPHEMIA. (Gr. ciugdnu, swmphemi, I speak with.) SrmIPpALMATE TaTTLERs. Bill
632,
SCOLOPACIDZA: TATTLERS. 637
longer than head, straight, its tip not expanded, knobbed, nor notably sensitive; grooved
about half its length only; culmen not furrowed. Gape of mouth reaching beyond base of
eulmen. Bill much stouter than usual in Tattlers. Legs stout. Feet semipalmate, with
decided web between inner and middle as well as outer and middle toes. Tarsus longer than
middle toe and claw, scutellate before and behind. (General characters of Totanus at large,
but bill and feet stout, latter bluish, and toes semipalmate. See fig. 49.) One N. Am. species.
S. semipalma’ta. (Lat. semipalmata, half-webbed. Fig. 444.) SEMIPALMATED TATTLER.
Wittet. Adult ¢ 9, in summer: Upper parts ashy, confoundedly speckled to greater or
less extent with black-
ish; this sometimes
giving the prevailing
tone, but in lighter col-
ored cases the blackish
restricted to an irregu-
lar central field on each
feather, throwing out
angular processes and
tending to become
transverse bars. When
such dark fields pre-
vail, the upper parts
become quite blackish,
speckled with ashy-
white, like Totanus
melanoleucus, for ex-
ample. Furthermore,
there is often aslight ru-
fescence. Under parts
white, sometimes with a rufous or brownish tinge, the jugulum and breast spotted and streaked,
the sides barred or arrow-headed, with brownish-black. Axillars and lining of wing, edge of
wing and primary coverts, sooty-blackish. Primaries blackish, with a great space white at
base, partly overlaid and concealed by the primary coverts, partly showing conspicuously as a
speculum ; shafts white along this space. Most secondaries white; most upper tail-coverts
white, the shorter ones dark like rump, the longer ones barred like tail. Tail ashy, incom-
pletely barred with blackish ; lateral feathers pale, or marbled with white. Bill dark; legs
bluish. It is evidently a mistake to describe the willet as merely gray and white. Length
about 16.00; wing 8.00; tail 3.00; bill 2.25~2.75; tarsus the same; middle toe and claw
1.67. @ Q in winter, and young: Character of wing as before. Above, light ashy, nearly
or quite uniform ; tail corresponding with this gray state; upper tail-coverts white. Below,
white, shaded with ashy on the jugulum, breast, and sides. Every stage occurs between the
two here described. Temperate N. Am. at large, N. to 56° at least, but chiefly U. S.; breeding
throughout its U. S. range, and resident in the Southern States. A large, stout tattler, known
at a glance by its white-mirrored black-lined wings and blue legs, too plentiful for such a wary,
restless, and noisy bird in marshes for the convenience of gunners, as its shrill reiterated cries,
incessant when its breeding places are invaded, alarm the whole neighborhood. Breeds by
pairs or in small companies in fresh or salt marshes; nest a slight affair in a tussock of grass
or reeds just out of the water; eggs 3-4, 1.90 to 2.12 X 1.45 to 1.55, average 2.00 x 1.50,
less pointedly pyriform than usual in this family, brownish or buffy-olive or clay color, boldly
and distinctly spotted and splashed with uinber-brown shades, little massed at the great end,
with the usual shell-markings.
Fie. 444. — Willets. (From Lewis.)
244.
633.
634.
638 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLA.
TO'TANUS. (Ital. totano, some bird of this kind.) Tarriers. Bill longer than head,
straight or nearly so, if anything rather bent up than down, very slender, without expansion at
tip or furrow on culmen, the lateral grooves little if any more than half its length; gape reach-
ing beyond base of culmen. Wings long, pointed; tail short, even or little rounded, barred in
color. Legs very long and slender ; tibize much denuded below; tarsi longer than middle toe
and claw, scutellate before and behind. Toes with decided basal webbing between outer and
middle toe, that between inner and middle slight. Legs green or yellow. Numerous species
of various parts of the world.
Analysis of Species.
Legs yellow.
Length over 12; wing over 7; tail 3 or more; bill over 2, bent up a little . . « . melanoleucus 633
Length under 12; wing under 7; tail under 3; bill under 2, straight . a Gee as - . flavipes 331
-Legs greenish; size and form nearly asin T.melanoleucus. . . . - 1s we ee ee glottis 636
T. melanoleu/cus. (Gr. pedas, melas, black ; Nevxds, leucos, white. Fig. 445.) GREATER
TELL-TALE. GREATER YELLOW-SHANES. LONG-LEGGED TATTLER. STONE-SNIPE. Bill
Fic. 445. — Greater Yellow-shauks, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E, C.)
straight or slightly inclined upward, not with regular curve, but as if bent near the middle
black or greenish-black. ‘Legs very long and slender, chrome-yellow. Length 13.00-14.00;
extent 23.00-25.00; wing over 7.00, nearer 8.00; tail 3.00 or more; bill 2.00 or more; tarsus
about 2.50; middle toe and claw 1.70. Length from end of bill to end of outstretched feet 17
or 18 inches. @ 9, adult: Above, blackish, more or less ashy according to season, everywhers
speckled with whitish, in a series of indentations along edge of each feather; the markings
spotty on the back and wings, streaky on the head and neck. A slight white superciliary line
Upper tail-coverts mostly white. Under parts white, the jugulum and fore-breast streaked
the sides and flanks, lining of wings and axillars barred and arrow-headed with the color of thu
back. Tail like back, with numerons white bars, generally broken on the middle feathers
Primaries blackish, with black shafts, mostly with white tips; secondaries and their coverts
the same, but their edges marbled, spotted, or broken-barred with white. The seasonal
changes of plumage are inconsiderable, consisting chiefly in the tone of the upper parts, more
blackish and white in summer, more gray and ashy in winter and in the yonng; and in the
emphasis of the dark markings of the under parts. N. Am. at large; in U.S. chiefly as a
migrant, and in winter; breeds in high latitudes; abundant, like the last a noisy, restless
denizen of the marshes, bays, and estuaries.
T, fla/vipes. (Lat. flavipes, yelluw-foot.) Lessrr TELL-TALE. YELLOW-SHANES. A
miniature of the last; colors precisely the same; legs comparatively longer; bill grooved
rather farther, perfectly straight. Length under 12.00, usually 10.00-11.00; extent 19.00-
21.00; wing under 7.00; tail 2.50; bill always under 2.00, about 1.50; tarsus about 2.00;
635.
245.
636.
637.
SCOLOPACIDA: TATTLERS. 639
middle toe and claw, and bare tibia, each, 1.25. N. Am., abundant, in the same places as
the last. Breeds from the N. States northward, and winters in the U.S. Eggs 3-4, pointedly
pytiform, 1.58 to 1.78 X about 1.16; ground clay-color, buffy or creamy, not olivaceous, the
markings showing boldly on the pale ground, but in great diversity, some eggs being heavily
splashed with blotches confluent about the great end, others having small clean-edged spots all
over the surface ; markings rich umber, chocolate, or blackish, with neutral-tint shell-spots.
T. glot/tis. (Gr. yAérra, glotta, the tongue; i.e. noisiness.) GREEN-SHANKS. Size and
form almost exactly as in T. melamoleucus ; rather smaller; bill about 2.25; wing 7.50; tail
3.25 ; tarsus 2.50; colors nearly the same, but bill and legs greenish ; rump and lower back,
as well as the tail and its coverts, white with more or fewer dark marks, chietly broken bars
or other variegation on the tail-feathers alone. ‘‘Florida.” T. glottis Aup., B. Am., 8vo ed,
Vv, 321, pl. 346. There is no reason to suppose that this bird is anything more than a strag-
gler to this country ; Audubon’s spécimen is absolutely identical with European ones.
RHYACO/PHILUS. (Gr. piaf, gen. praxos, hruax, hruakos, a brook ; pidos, philos, loving.)
GREEN TaTTLeRS. Bill moderately longer than head, perfectly straight, very slender,
grooved a little beyond its middle. Legs not very long for this group; tarsus little exceeding
middle toe and claw; bill and legs both dark-colored. Only the most rudimentary web
between inner and middle toe; a moderate one between outer and middle. Upper parts dark-
colored ; tail rounded, fully barred with white. Small.
Analysis of Species.
Length over 9.00; upper tail-coverts white; legs grayish-blue, . . ...-... ss. ae ochropus 636
Length under 9.00; upper tail-coverts like back ; legs greenish, drying blackish . . . .. . solitarius 637
R. och'ropus. (Gr. dypés, ochros, pale, sallow, wan; mois, pous, foot; not well chosen.)
Green Sanppreer. Upper parts blackish-brown, with faint olivaceous metallic gloss,
streaked on the head and neck, speckled on the back and wings, with white; upper tail-coverts
white. Tail white at base; lateral pair of rectrices white, others marked with white and
blackish in bars. Below, white, jugulum and sides marked with dusky. Bill. blackish ; iris
brown ; feet grayish-blue, greenish on the joiuts. Length about 10.00; wing 5.50; tail 2.50;
pill 1.50; tarsus 1.30. Nova Scotia; a straggler from Europe (one instance, Bull. Nuttall
Club, iii, 1878, p. 49).
R. solita/rius. (Lat. solitarius, solitary ; solus, alone. Fig. 446.) Sorirary TATTLER. AMER-
IcAN GReEN SanppireR. ¢ Q, adult:
Above, dark lustrous olive-brown, streaked
on the head and neck, elsewhere finely speck-
led, with white; no continuous white on ramp
or upper tail-coverts. Below, white; the jug-
ulum and sides of neck shaded with brownish
and streaked with dusky; sides, axillars, and
lining of wings regularly barred with dusky. _, Fre. 446,—Solitary Sandpiper, nat. size. (Ad nat.
Rump and upper tail-coverts like back; tail de! F.C)
beautifully and regularly barred throughout with black and white; white prevailing on the
outer feathers, where the dark bars may be broken, and white reduced to a series of marginal
spots on the middle feathers. Primaries and edge of wing blackish, unmarked; secondaries
like back, mostly unmarked, the inner ones gradually gaining white spots. Bill blackish ;
legs dull greenish (drying quite black, like many scrophulariaceous plants). Length 8.00-
9.00, usually between these figures; extent 15.50-17.00; wing 4.75-5.40; tail 2.25; bill
1.12-1.24; tarsus 1.20-1.30; middle toe and claw 1.12-1.20. Young: Above, lighter and
less olivaceous brownish, without gloss, the speckling less, or else of a rusty tinge. Suffusion
of jugulum paler and more restricted. White around and over eye better defined. Bill and
feet ashy-greenish. N. America, the representative of R. ochropus; N. to Alaska. Breeds
246,
638.
247.
639.
640 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LIMICOLZA.
in N. U.S. and northward, if not also through most of its U. 8. range; winters altogether
or chiefly extralimital. Abundant during the migrations; a shy, quiet inhabitant of wet woods
and meadows and secluded pools, rather than of the marshes. Eggs still (1883 !) desiderata ;
but see Bull. Nuttall Club, iii, 1878, p. 197; New England Bird Life, ii, 1883, p. 240; and
Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 26, p. 97.
TRINGOIDES. (Gr. rpiyyas, truggas, Lat. tryngas, or tringa, a sandpiper ; eidos, eidos, re-
semblance.) Spotrep Sanppipers. Bill straight, only about as long as head or tarsus, grooved
for about three-fourths its length. Tibie searcely denuded for half the length of tarsus. Tar-
sus about as long as middle toe and claw. Outer and middle toes webbed for the length of
their first joints; inner cleft. Tail fully half as long as the wing. Upper parts glossy,
under spotted on white ground; bill and feet pale. Of small size.
T. macula/rius. (Lat. macularius, spotted. Fig. 447.) SporTep SANDPIPER. ¢ 9, adult:
Above, silken ashen-olive (quaker-color —as in our
euckovus) with a coppery lustre, finely varied with
blackish, in streaks on head and neck, elsewhere in
wavy or otherwise irregular cross-bars. Line over
eye, and entire under parts, pure white, with nu-
merous sharp circular black spots, larger and more
y crowded in the Q than in the @. Secondaries and
Fie. 447.— Spotted Sandpiper, nat. size. their coverts broadly white-tipped; some white feath-
(Ad nat. del. E. C.) f : ste é
ers along bend of wing; axillars and lining of wings
white, the latter with an oblique dusky bar. Primaries aud most of the secondaries brownish-
black, with brown shafts and large white basal spaces, concealed in the folded wing, conspicuous
in flight. Upper tail-coverts and middle tail-feathers like back; lateral ones successively acquir-
ing white tips; outer with several incomplete white bars. Feet pinkish-white, drying yellow-
ish. Bill flesh-colur, black-tipped; sometimes much of culmen dusky; sometimes much of
under mandible orange. g: Length 7.25-7.60; extent 13.00-13.50; wing 3.80-4.00 ; bill,
tarsus, and middle toe with claw, each 0.95-1.00. 9: Length 7.60-7.90; extent. 13.50-14.00;
wing 3.90-4.10. Young: Above, less glossy, with little if any blackish variegation. Below,
white, entirely free from spotting. Downy young: Below, white; above, mottled with dark
brown and buff; a sharp black stripe from top of head down middle of back, and another
through eye. N. Am. at large, extremely abundant everywhere near water, and breeding
throughout the country; winters in Southern States and beyond; familiarly known as the
sandlark, peetweet, teeter-tail, tip-up, etc., these last names being given in allusion to its
habit (shared by allied species) of jetting the tail as it moves; a Wustom as marked as the
continual bobbing of the head of the solitary tattler and others. Nest a slight affair of dried
grasses, on the ground, often in a field or orchard, but generally near water; eggs 4, pointed,
creamy or clay-colored, blotched with blackish and neutral tint; about 1.30 < 1.00.
MACHE'TES. (Gr. paxntns, machetes, a fighter.) Fiaurinc SanpPIPers. Bill straight,
about as long as head, shorter than tarsus, grooved nearly to tip. Gape reaching behind
culmen. Outer and middle toe webbed at base; inner cleft. Tarsus longer than middle toe
and claw. Tail about half as long as wing, barred. in the breeding season with the face
bare and beset with papille, and the neck with an extravagant frill ur ruffle of elongated
feathers. 9 without these ornaments.
M. ‘pug’nax. (Lat. pugnax, pugnacious. Fig. 448.) Rurr, g. Rerve, 9. ComBaTANt.
GamBeTTa. Adult g, in wedding dress: Varied above with black, brown, buff and chestnut,
the sides of rump white; under parts white, breast and sides and crissum black, spotted with
white ; tail brown, barred with chestnut and white; quills dusky, with white shafts; wing
coverts ashy-brown. Bill blackish, flesh-colored at base; legs dingy yellow; warty excres-
cences yellow; feathers of the ruff endlessly varied in color. Length about 12.00; wing 7.00;
248,
640.
SCOLOPACIDZ!: TATTLERS. 641
tail 3.00; bill 1.50; tarsus 2.00. 9 smaller, lacking the ruff and tubercles, ete. A widely
distributed bird of the Old World, noted for its pugnacity ; occasionally killed on the coast of
New England and the Middle States. (Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., v, 1852, p. 220,
Long Island. Coues, Pr. Essex Inst., v, 1868, p. 296; New England. Brewster, Am. Nat.,
vi, 1872, p. 306; Massachusetts. Brewster, Bull. Nuttall Club, i, 1876, p. 19; Maine.
Wheaton, Bull. Nuttall Club, ii, 1877, p. 83; Ohio. —Forest and Stream, Oct. 7, 1880, p.
186; Massachusetts. See Freke, Zoologist, Sept. 1881, p. 376.)
BARTRAMIA. (To Wm. Bartram.) Bill rather shorter than head, much shorter than tar-
sus, about equal to middle toe; straight, the culmen a little concave in most of its length, the
Fig. 448. —'The Ruff. ¢’, in full feather, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
upper mandible grooved for three-fourths its length. Gape very wide and deep, reaching below
eyes. Feathers on side of lower mandible scarcely or not reaching opposite those on upper, and
not filling the interramal space. Tail very long, inore than one-half the wing, graduated.
Wings moderate, pointed. Tibia denuded for nearly the length of the middle toe. Tarsi
scutellate before and behind, much longer than middle toe and claw. Outer toe moderately
webbed ; inner cleft to the base. Size medium; neck and legs long; head small; coloration
highly variegated; sexes alike; no great seasonal changes. One species.
B. longicauw/da. (Lat. longus, long ; cauda, tail.) BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. BARTRAM’S
TaTtTLeR. Upianp PLover. Frieip Puover. Grass PLover. Prairie Picron. Adult
& 9%: Above, blackish, intimately variegated with tawny or whitish edgings of all the
feathers ; blackish prevailing on crown and back, the lighter colors on the hind neck and
41
249,
641.
642 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLZ.
wings; on the scapulars and long inner secondaries the black resolved in regular angulai bars
on a greenish-brown field. Rump and most upper tail-coverts brownish-black, unvaried; a
few of the longer coverts barred to correspond with tail. Middle tail-feathers dark ashy-
brown, with paler or rufescent edges, and irregular or broken bars, throughout ; other tail-
feathers becoming orange-brown, with numerous irregular or broken bars or spots of black ;
with one broad, firm, subterminal black bar, and tips white for a distance increasing on succes-
sive feathers. Under parts dull soiled white, or tawny-white, the rufescence strongest on
jugulum and breast, the jugulun streaked with blackish, and sides with sharp arrow-heads
of the same. Axillars and lining of wings pure white, regularly barred with black. Prim-
aries brownish-black; the lst at least, and sometimes all of them, barred with white on the
inner webs; shaft of the first white, of the others brown. Secondaries like primaries, but
usually barred with white on both webs, the inner ones gradually assimilating with the back
in character of markings. Bill yellow, with black ridge and tip; feet dull yellowish, drying
darker; iris dark brown. Length 11.75-12.75; extent 21.50-23.00; wing 6.25-7.00; tail
about 3.50; tarsus 1.75; bill, and middle toe and claw 1.00-1.25. Downy young: Varie-
gated above with white, brown, or black; white below; bill bluish with dark tip; legs clay-
color. They are 5 or 6 inches long before any feathers sprout. N. Am. at large, rare W. of
the R. Mts., in profusion on the prairies of the interior, and common eastward; N. to the
Yukon. Breeds from the middle districts northward; winters extralimital. A fine game
bird; but those who only know it when its fears are excited by incessant persecution have
little idea what a gentle and confiding creature it is on the western prairies. Nest any-
where on the prairie, in June; eggs normally 4, averaging 1.75 x 1.28; clay-color or pale
creamy-brown without olive shade; spotted all over, but most thickly at the large end, with
small, sharp, rounded surface marks of umber-brown, among which are the purplish-gray shell-
spots ; the spots rarely if ever larger than a split pea, and seldom confluent.
TRYN’GITES. (Gr. rpiyyas, truggas, a sandpiper, with suffix -rys, -tes.) MaRBLE-WING
Sanpprrers. Bill shorter than head, very slender, tapering, and acute, grooved nearly its
whole length, and thus much as in Tringa ; but gape of mouth extensive, and end of bill not
dilated and sensitive. Frontal feathers embracing base of upper mandible in nearly transverse
outline, and extending quite to uostrils; those on side of under mandible reaching further still,
and those of chin completely filling the interramal space; such extension of the feathers
making the bill appear remarkably short. Wings of ordinary shape. Tail about one-half
as long as wings, rounded, with projecting central feathers. Tibiee denuded below fur a
space less than length of middle toe. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. Toes cleft to
the base, or with only the most rudimentary basal webbing. Primaries peculiarly marbled in
color. Tail not barred. Related to Tringa in many respects; but the acute and hardened
tip of the bill, and long gape, are totanine, and on the whole the affinities seem to be with
the last genus. One species.
T. rufes/cens. (Lat. rufescens, rufescent, reddish. Fig. 449.) Burr-BREASTED SANDPIPER.
& 9, adult, in breeding plumage: Above, brownish-
black with a greenish gloss, every feather broadly mar-
gined with tawny or yellowish-brown, the latter the
prevailing tone. Under parts buff or fawn-colored, with-
out markings except a few small blackish spots on sides
of breast. Central tail-feathers greenish-brown, blacken-
; ing at ends; others paler, often rufescent, with white or
Fie. 449, — Buff-breasted Sandpiper, tawny tips and subterminal black bar; and usually, also,
nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) some black marbling or streaking. Primaries and sec-
ondaries ashy-brown blackening at end, the extreme tip white— most of the inner webs
of the primaries, and both webs of the secondaries pearly white, speckled and marbled witb ,
250.
64%.
251.
SCOLOPACIDZ: TATTLERS. 643
black. This curious tracery, best seen from below, is diagnostic; though the precise pat-
tern varies interminably. The patch of under coverts at the bases of the primaries have
the same character. Axillars white; lining of wings white or rufescent. Iris brown.
Bill brownish-black; legs greenish or yellowish. Length 7.50-8.25; extent about 16.00;
wing 5.00-5.25; tail 2.50; bill along culmen 0.67-0.75, along gape 1.00; tarsus 1.20;
riddle toe and claw under 1.00. Fall plumage: Under parts less rufescent, frequently simply .
awny-whitish; and the broad ochrey or tawny edgings of the feathers of the upper parts
replaced by narrow whitish streakings, in a set of semicircles. Wings and tail as in spring,
N. Am. at large, and a frequent European straggler, but apparently nowhere abundant;
migratory in the U. 8.; S. in winter through 8. Am.; breeds in high latitudes. Eggs usually
4, pointedly pyrifurm, 1.40 to 1.50 X 1.02 to 1.10; the ground clay, sometimes slightly oliva-
ceous, often quite grayish; markings extremely bold and sharp, in heavy blotches and indeter-
minate spots all over the eggs, but largest and mest numerous at the greater end; colors rich
umber-brown, of varying shade. Nearest these blotched samples are the splashed ones, with
markings massed at greater end, elsewhere splattered in small pattern. Others are spotted with
narrow markings radiating from the large end, almost wreathing about the greatest diameter.
All with the usual neutral-tint shell-markings; most with scratchy blackish marks over all.
HETERO'SCELUS. (Gr. érepos, heteros, different, otherwise; oxédos, skelos, leg.) SHORT-
LEGGED TATTLER.. Bill totanine, longer than head or tarsus, straight, rather stout, uuch com-
pressed, both mandibles grooved for about two-thirds their length, with inflected tomia beyond.
Gape of mouth extending beyond base of column; feathers of equal extent on sides of both
mandibles, those of chin reaching much farther. Wings long, pointed, folding about to end of
tail; 1st and 2d quills subequal and longest. Tail short, less than half the wing, nearly even.
Legs short, somewhat rugous, reticulate except on front of tarsus, where imperfectly or incom-
pletely seutellate ; tibiae denuded for a space about half as long as tarsus; tarsus longer than
middle toe and claw, shorter than bill; outer longer than inner lateral toe; a large basal web
between outer and middle, a rudimentary one between middle and inner; bind toe long, about
equalling Ist joint of inner toe. One species, remarkable for the character of tarsal envelope
and perfect uniformity of color of upper parts.
H. inca‘nus. (Lat. imcanus, quite gray.) WANDERING TaTTLeR. Upper parts perfectly
uniform dark plumbeous, or slaty-gray, including the wholly unmarked tail, wing-coverts, and
inner quills, the longer quills gradually blackening, the shaft of the first primary nearly all
white ; a white line over eye. Lining of wings, axillars, and sides of body colored like the back,
but varied with white. Under parts in general white; in one plumage without markings, but
heavily shaded on neck, breast, and sides with the color of the back; in another, heavily
marked with blackish-plumbeous — speckled on throat, streaked on neck, wavy-barred on breast,
sides, and crissum. Bill black, apparently pale at base of under mandible. Length about
10.00; wing 6.50; tail 3.00; bill 1.50; tarsus 1.25; mid-
dle toe and claw a little less. A species of almost universal
distribution on the coast and islands of the Pacific, com-
mon in summer on the shores of Alaska; described under
at least twelve different names.
NUME'NIUS. (Gr. véos, neos, new; yyy, mene, the
moon: the long curved Dill, like a crescent. Fig. 450.)
Curtews. Bill of very variable length, always longer
than head, probably always exceeding the tarsus, some-
times more than length of entire leg; slender, curved yo. 450. —Long-billed Curlew, greatly
downward, the tip of the upper mandible knobbed and reduced.
overhanging the end of the lower; obsoletely grooved nearly to end. Gape of mouth
extended beyond base of culmen. Feathers reaching about equally far on sides of each man-
fr
644 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLZ.
dible. Wings and tail ordinary; latter barred in color. Legs rather stout; tibie largely
denuded below; tarsus much longer than middle toe and claw, scutellate in front only, else-
where reticulate. Toes short and thick, flattened underneath, broadly margined on sides.
Of large and medium stature, and plump form. Coloration variegated ; rufous usually prevail-
ing. Sexes alike; changes of plumage not pronounced. A cosmopolitan genus of several
species ; in character of bill unique, in that of the legs very similar to Limosa. In fact,
barring the bill, Nwmenius longirostris closely resembles Limosa feda. It is a curious fact
that Old and New World representatives of both these genera differ from each other in a simi-
lar manner, the former having the rump, tail and its coverts, and lining of wings white, barred
or not, while some or all of these parts in the latter are dark. Compare Limosa feda with L.
wuropygiatis ; L. hudsonica with L. lapponica ; Numenius hudsonicus with N. pheopus, ete.
Fig. 451. — The European Curlew, Numenius arquatus, } nat, size. (From Brehm.)
Analysis of Species.
Feathers of belly bristle-tipped.. . . ..... cae a ew Hh ea ww es Lettensis 647
Feathers of belly normal.
Rump white, more or less spotted with dusky.
Upper tail-coverts and under wing-coverts white spotted and barred with dusky . . pheopus 644
Rump, upper tail-coverts and lining of wings not white.
Primaries varied with rufous. General coloration strongly rufous, especially below: lining of
wings deepest rufous, little or not varied. Juarge; bill4-6-8inches . . . . . . longirostris 643
Primaries varied with rufous or whitish. General coloration scarcely or not rufous; lining of
wings entirely varied. Medium-sized: bill84 inches... .. +... + . Audsonicus 645
Primaries not varied with rufous or whitish General coloration scarcely or not rufous; lining
of wings entirely varied. Smallest; bill under 3inches . > + + eo w + a + Borealis 646
SCOLOPACIDA:: CURLEWS. 645
643. N. longiros'tris. (Lat. longus, long; rostrum, beak.) LonG-BILLED CURLEW. SICKLE-BILL.
. 644,
645.
Bill of extreme length and curvature, measuring from 4 to 6 or $ inches. Of largest size: length
94.00 or more ; extent 38.00; wing 10.00-19.00; tail about 4.00 3 tarsus 2.75-3.50. Plumage
very similar to that of the godwit, Limosa feda: prevailing tone rufous, of varying intensity
in different specimens, usually deepest on the lining of the wings, which are little varied with
other color. Primaries varied with rufous. Top of head variegated with blackish and rufous
or whitish, without distinct pale median and lateral lines. Upper parts brownish-black,
speckled with tawny or cinnainon-brown, cach feather having several indentations or broken
bars of this color; rufous prevailing on wing-coverts. Tail-feathers and secondaries cinnamon-
brown, with pretty regular dark bars throughout. Under parts rufous or cinnamon of varying
intensity, usually deepening to chestnut under the wings, fading to whitish on throat; the
jugulum and fore-breast with dusky streaks which tend on the sides of breast and, body to arrow-
heads or more or less complete bars ; lining of wings, axillars, and crissum, mostly unmarked,
though some spots may appear. No white on rump, tail, or wings. Bill black, much of under
mandible pale-flesh-color or yellowish ; legs dark. Little variation in plumage with sex, age,
or season. Chicks hatch in whitish down, thickly blotched above with brownish-black; the
bill straight, an inch long. Like other exceptional developments of parts of birds, this member
grows to indetermi-
nate length. Up to
the time it is not over
3 or 4 inches long,
the species may be
i
AY (i = =e
distinguished from, N. wr 7 )
hudsonicus by the AY \ \o
strong rufescence of y \\ ~ \ \ * <
the under parts, which \ : as :
are nearly clear of \\
dark markings. En-
tire temperate N.
Am.; breeds nearly
throughout its range;
migratory northward,
resident in the south,
but also S. in winter
to C. Am.; uncom-
mon in New England.
Nests aboundingly on
the S. Atlantic coast, and on the prairies of the Northwest. Eggs 3-4, not very pear-shaped,
more like hen’s eggs; 2.45 to 2.80 long by 1.80-1.90 broad; clay-colored, tending either te
darker olivaceous shades or to buff; spotting generally pretty uniform and of small pattern,
in some eases blotched or massed at the greater end, of sepia, chocolate, or umber-brown, the
paler shell-markings usually numerous and evident.
N. phe’opus. (Gr. dads, phaios, dusky, swarthy; wots, pous, foot.) EUROPEAN WHIMBREL.
In stature and general character resembling the Hudsonian curlew ; at once distinguished from
that species by the white rump, upper-tail coverts and lining of wings, spotted or barred with
dusky. An extensively distributed Old World species, only N. American as occurring in
Greenland.
N. hudson/icus. (Of Hudson’s Bay. Fig. 452.) Hupsonran Curtew. Jack CuRLEW. Of
medium size; bill moderate in length, stout. curved. Bill 3 or 4 inches long. Length 16.00--
18.00 ; extent 32.00; wing 9.00-10.00; tail 3.50 ; tarsus 2.25-2.50. General tone of coloration
646.
647.
646 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LIMICOLZA.
searcely rufous, the under parts, and the variegation of the upper, being whitish or ochraceous.
No white on rump, tail, or lining of wings. Top of head uniform blackish-brown, with well-
defined whitish median and lateral stripes (as in pheopus, but neither longirostris nor borealis).
Upper parts brownish-black, speckled with whitish, ochraceous or pale cinmamon-brown, in
same pattern as in longirostris, but the dark in excess of the light colors, and these never
strongly rufescent. Tail ashy-brown (not rufous), with numerous narrow blackish bars. Prima-
ries fuscous, marbled or broken-barred with pale color (pattern as in longirostris, tone not
strongly rufous). Lining of wings and axillars rufescent, but spotted or barred throughout with
dusky. Under parts soiled whitish or somewhat ochraceous, only obscurely rufescent on cris-
sum, if anywhere; the jugulum and fore-breast with dusky streaks which, as in other species,
change to arrow-heads or incomplete bars on sides of breast and body. Bill blackish, sume
part of lower mandible pale; feet dark. The N. Am. representative of N. pheopus, but
obviously different ; generally distributed, not so common as either longirostris or borealis ;
breeds in high latitudes, migratory through the U.S8., wintering in the 8. States and far beyond.
Eggs of intermediate size, but not distinguishable with certainty, the markings being as in
other species; 2.12 to 2.30 long, by about 1.60 broad.
N. borealis. (Lat. borealis, northern.) Esximo Curtew. Dovucu-srrp. Of smallest
size; bill short, slender, and little curved. Bill 2.00 or more, perhaps never 3.00. Length
12.00-15.00 ; extent 28.00; wing under 9.00; tail 3.00; tarsus 2.00 or less. General tone
little rufescent, the under parts and the variegation of the upper rather ochraceous than rufous.
Top of head variegated throughout, without median line, but with tolerably well defined
whitish superciliary stripes. Upper parts brownish-black, speckled with ochraceous or very
pale cinnamon brown, the general effect as in hudsonicus ; dark coloration in excess of the
pale. Tail barred much as in hudsonicus, the broader light bars often rufescent. Primaries
and most secondaries plain fuscous, entirely lacking the variegation seen in the foregoing.
Under parts ochraceous, or somewhat rufescent, very variable, frequently whitish, marked as
in other species with dusky streaks, arrow-heads, or bars, but these more numerous, frequently
oceupying all the under parts, excepting chin and middle of belly. Avxillars and lining of
wings rufescent, barred throughout with dark brown. Bill black, with base of lower mandible
pale or yellowish ; feet greenish-black. In handling perhaps a hundred fresh-killed birds, I
have noted inuch variation in tone, but the species is unmistakable. N. Am. at large, breeding
within the Arctic cirele, migrating through the U.S., where rarely if ever known to winter,
never to summer, and wintering in C. and 8. Am. Extraordinarily abundant in some places
during the migration, as in Labrador, where it fairly swarms in August. In the northern
regions, feeds chiefly on the Hmpetrum nigrum. Nest in open plains. Eggs 4, from 1.90 to 2.12
long, by 1.33 to 1.40 broad ; olive-drab, tending to green, gray, or brown in different cases, with
large, bold and numerous markings of bistre, chocolate and sepia-brown, tending to aggregate
on the greater end, with the ordinary stone-gray shell-marks.
N, taiten'sis. (Of Otahiti.) OTaniTi CURLEW. BRISTLE-BELLIED CURLEW. Of mediun
size, about equalling N. ph@opus ; wing 9.00 or more; tail 4.00; bill about 3.50; tarsus about
2.25. Crown with light median and superciliary lines; upper parts brownish-black, with the
usual tawny variegation ; no white on rump, tail, or lining of wings ; tail and its coverts tawny,
the coverts spotted or streaked with dusky, the rectrices pretty regularly and firmly barred with
about 6 dusky bands, and tipped with tawny-white; lining of wings and axillars fully barred —
with tawny and dusky. Primaries blackish, varied to some extent on inner webs, the shaft of |
the first white. Under parts pale tawny, the chin white, the jugulum thickly streaked, the
sides more loosely barred with dusky, but inost of under parts immaculate, and many feathers,
especially of the flanks, ending in long glistening bristles. Bill and feet dark. Alaska, not
common, perhaps only a stragyler from Asia; a well-known and abundant curlew of various
Pacific islands, only recently added to our fauna.
HERODIONES: HERONS AND THEIR ALLIES. 647
VIII. Order HERODIONES: Herons and their Allies.
Altricial Grallatores: including the Herons, Storks,
Ibises, Spoonbills, and related birds. The species
average of large size, some standing among the tall-
est of Carinate birds, with compressed body and ex-
tremely long neck and legs. The neck has usually
15-17 vertebre, and is capable of very strong flexion
in S-shape.” The tibie are naked below; the podo-
theca varies. The general pterylosis is peculiar, in
the presence, in central groups of this order, of
" powder-down tracts, and in some other respects. The
oil-gland is present, and tufted. A part if not the
whole of the head is naked as a rule, as much of
the neck also frequently is. The toes, usually long
and slender, are never fully webbed. The hallux is
more or less lengthened, and either little elevated, or
else perfectly insistent. A foot of insessorial character
results ; the species frequently perch on trees, where
the nest is usually placed. The physiological nature
is altricial and usually psilopedic ; the young hatch-
ing naked, unable to stand, and being fed in the nest.
The food is fish, reptiles, mollusks, and other animal
matters, generally procured by spearing with a quick
thrust of the bill, given as the birds stand in wait,
or stalk stealthily along; hence they are sometimes
called Gradatores (stalkers). The bill normally rep-
resents the ‘‘cultrirostral” pattern; it is as a rule of
lengthened wedge shape, hard and acute at end if not
hard throughout, with sharp cutting edges; enlarging
regularly to the base where the skull contracts gradu-
ally in sloping down to meet it ;.but deviations from
such typical shape are frequent and striking. It is
firmly affixed to the skull, and always longer than the
head. The nostrils are small, elevated, surrounded
Fic. 453. — The Bittern’s Bog. (From by bone and a horny sheath, with little if any soft’
Michelet.) skin. The wings normally show a striking difference
from those of Limicole, in being long, broad, and ample. The tail is short and few-feathered,
usually having 12 rectrices.
The cranial characters, though varying to some extent, agree in several important respects.
‘ The palatal structure is desmognathous, but without keel along line of junction; the maxillo-
palatines are large and spongy. The nasal bones are typically holorhinal; schizorhinal in
Ibides ; in which, also, the angle of the mandible is produced and recurved, being normally
truncate. The sternum is ample, once or twice notched on each side behind. The cervical
vertebrae are numerous; usually 15-17. The trachea and bronchi present some remarkable
dispositions, but here and there only, such conformations being therefore not -characteristic of
the order. The carotids are double (in Botawrus (fig. 93) unique, as far as known, in uniting at
once). An intestinal caecum or two ceca, present. Different genera vary in the classificatory
muscles of the leg, the ambiens, femoro-caudal, and its accessory being present or absent.
648 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— HERODIONES— IBIDES.
The group here noted corresponds to the Pelargomorphe of Huxley, the Ciconitformes of
Garrod (minus Cathartide !), the Grallatores altinares of Sundevall, aud includes the Herodie,
Pelargi, and Hemiglottides of Nitzsch, — respectively the Heron series, the Stork series, and the
series of Ibises and Spoonbills. The first of these differs more from the others than these do
from one another. As usual, there are certain outlying genera, types of families or subfamilies,
the position of which is not assured. But appearances are that the questionable forms will
fall in one or another of the three series indicated. All of these series, to be conventionally
rated as suborders or superfamilies, are represented in North America, where also all the large
and leading families occur. 8
12. SusorpER IBIDES: Tue Isis Series.
Skull schizorhinal. Angle of mandible produced and recurved. Ambiens muscle, femoro-
caudal and accessory, semitendinosus and accessory, and post-acetabular portion of tensor fascia,
present; pectoralis major simple; biceps cubiti connected with tensor patagii longus. Sternum
double-notched on each side. Carotids double, normal. Two intestinal ceca. Tongue ex-
tremely small. A tufted oil-gland. Plumage without powder-dowu; feathered tracts broad.
Tarsi reticulate (rarely scutellate). Hallux uot fairly insistent. Claws resting upon a horny
“shoe.” Inner edge of middle claw not, or not fairly, pectinate. Side of upper mandible with
adeep narrow grovve for its whole length; bill otherwise very differently shaped in the two
families, Ibidide and Plataleide, of which this series consists.
43. Family IBIDIDA: Ibises.
Bill very long and slender, compressed-cylindric, curved throughout, deeply grooved
nearly or quite to tip, which is rather obtuse, nut notched; end of culinen rather broad and
depressed, in the rest of its extent the culmen narrow and rounded; interramal space narrow,
acute, produced nearly to tip of bill. (Whole bill thus closely resembling a Curlew’s; one of
our species is frequently called ‘Spanish Curlew.”) Legs rather short (for Herodiones).
Claws compressed, acute; the middle may be dilated and jagged, but is not: fairly pectiuate.
Hallux sub-insistent. Tarsi reticulate, or scutellate in front only. Anterior toes more or less
webbed at base. Pterylosis nore or less completely stork-like, lacking the powder-down
tracts of Herons; head more or less extensively denuded. Birds of medium and large size
(among Herodiones}, long-legged, long-necked and small-bodied, with ample more or less
rounded wings, of which the inner quills are very large; tail very short, usually if not always
of 12 broad rectrices. Chiefly lacustrine and palustrine inhabitants of the warmer parts of the
globe, feeding on fish, reptiles, aud other animals. The sexes are alike; the young different.
There are about 24 species of Ibises, among which the minor details of form vary considerably,
nearly every one of them having been made type of some genus, according to shape of bill,
character of head-feathering, condition of tarsal envelope, ete. The two leading modifications
are, tarsus entirely reticulate, and tarsus scutellate in front; our genera illustrate the latter.
Oss. Our Wood “ Ibis,” so called, is a Stork. See beyond, p. 652. ,
Analysis of Genera and Species.
Head bare on sides and beneath. Claws scarcely curved. Colors dark, metallic, greenish and chestnut.
PLEGADIS 262
Face without white feathersinadult . .. . ae we ae ta wea - « . « faleinellus 649
Face surrounded by white featbersinadult ... + guarauna 650
Head extensively bare on front, sides, and beneath. Claws curved. Golors light, dull, red or white.
Evpovcrmus 253
Adults white. ...... fi, Cap te SB ER Pa ee oles see ew, albus 651
Adults scarlet... 2. 2. eee, Bye ey GY aes Rake wah Ger Weegee ar Cae ruber 652
252.
649.
650.
IBIDIDZ:: IBISES. 649
PLE/GADIS. (Gr. rAnyds, plegas, a scythe, sickle.) Gxossy Ipisms. Bill twice as long
as head, or more, regularly decurved; both mandibles grooved on sides for their whole length;
culmen prominent from near base for most of its length, flattened and grooved on terminal two-
fifths; symphysis of lower mandible grooved to tip. Thus each mandible, toward the end of
the bill, has 3 grooves, one median and two lateral; 6 in all. Nostrils linear, in advance of
base of upper mandible, in its lateral grooves. Frontal feathers sweeping with strongly convex
outline across forehead, near but not quite at base of bill; lores broadly naked, the bare space
embracing eyes; a pointed projection of feathers on side of lower mandible; another median
one advancing farther and more acutely on bare space of chin, which is thus forked behind.
Tibiee bare for a distance equal to half or more of the length of tarsus; mostly reticulate, but
with smooth bare skin for a space above in front. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw,
reticulate, scutellate in front. Lateral toes unequal, the inner shortest. Hind toe somewhat
elevated, without claw not half as long as middle toe without claw. Claws all long and
slightly curved; inner edge of middle one dilated and cut three or four times, but without the
regular “comb” of a heron’s. Wings and tail ordinary, latter of 12 feathers. Colors dark
glossy-green and chestnut; bill and feet dark. Two or three species, one cosmopolitan, one
or two confined to America. Sexes alike; young different. Eggs whole-colored.
P. falcinel/lus, (Lat. falcwnculus or falcimellus, a little scythe.) Guossy Ipis. ¢ 9, adult:
No white feathers around face. General color rich dark purplish-chestnut, opaque, changing
on head, back, wings (excepting lesser coverts), and tail, to glossy dark purplish-green ; sides
and lining of wings and crissum dusky greenish; primaries greenish-black. Bill blackish ;
legs grayish-black ; iris brown; bare skin of head slaty-blue. Young: Head, neck, and under
parts grayish- -brown, the two former streaked with whitish ; upper parts glossy dusky-green.
Length about 2 feet; extent about 3 fect; wing 10.00-11.00 inches; tail 4.00; bill 4.50-
5.50; tibiee bare about 2.50 ; tarsus 3.50; middle toe and claw rather less. This bird is chiefly
Old World, not common or regular in America, found occasionally anywhere E. of the Missis-
sippi, especially coastwise and southerly; N. casually to New England. The next species is -
much more abundant in its proper range. Eggs with shell rougher and heavier than that of
heron’s eggs, ovoidal, not elliptical, greenish-blue, 1.90 to 2.10 long, by about 1.48 broad.
P. guaraw’na. _(Vox barb., S. Am.) Wauuire-racep Guossy Ipts. Adult 3: A white
margin of feathers entirely surrounding the bare space on head. Head otherwise, neck, and
entire under parts of the body, including the tibia, rich purplish-chestnut, quite uniform on
the under parts, obscured with dusky on the head and nape, there iridescent with violet. Back
and wings intensely iridescent with various metallic tints; back, wing-coverts, and inner quills
shining with violet, green, and purple; scapulars more like under parts, being of a rich deep_
wine-red and less lustrous than the wing-coverts. Primaries green, with brassy’ or almost
golden lustre. Rump, upper tail-coverts and tail chiefly green, but with various violet and purple
reflections ; lower tail-coverts similar, contrasting with the chestnut of the belly. Lining of
wings brassy-green, like the primaries; axillars violet, like the upper wing-coverts. Bare
facial area apparently reddish. Bill blackish, reddening toward end; legs and feet dusky-
reddish ; claws blackish; iris red. Length 22.00-24.00; extent 38.00-40.00; wing 10.00-
11.00; tail 3.75-4.25-; bill 5.00-5.50; tibiee bare 2.50; tarsus 3.75; middle toe and claw 3.25;
inner do., 2.50; vuter do., 2.90; hind do., 1.60. 9 similar, averaging smaller; length 21.50;
extent 36.00, ete. In this beautiful species, the feathers sweep down on the forehead with
regular convexity, nearly but not quite to the base of the culmen, thence retreating around
back of the eye, which is wholly in bare skin, then runving forward to a point on the side of
the lower mandible; retreating again, then running forward in a point on the middle line of
the chin, further than on jaw or forehead; there being thus enclosed, on each side of the
head, a broad naked space, widest forward, narrowing behind to embrace the eye ; and between
the rami of the jaw another bare space, forked behind to receive the projecting feathers of the
650 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —HERODIONES — IBIDES.
chin, and not quite separated from the bare loral space, because the feathers on the side of the
jaw stop a little short of the hard base of the mandible. Young, first plumage (with traces of
down still) : Remarkably lustrous. Plumage entirely green; legs black ; bill blackish, irreg-
ularly blotched or regularly banded with pinkish-white. This green unicolor plumage, consti-
tuting Ibis thalassinus of some, is retained tll full growth, gradually giving way through a
Fig. 454. — European Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia, 4 nat. size. (From Brehm.)
brownish or grayish to the purple-chestnut and iridescent plumage. Chicks hatch clothed in
blackish down, with whitish bill. Southwestern U. S., especially Texas ; N. to Kansas ; W.
through New Mexico and Arizona to California (to Oregon?), and far S. in tropical America.
Swarming by thousands at some points along the Rio Grande. Nest in vast heronries with
various herons, in the beds of reeds and rushes, rising in air by ‘ “hundreds of acres ” when a gun
js fired. Nest strongly and compactly woven of dead reeds, affixed by twining to broken down
253.
651.
652.
254.
653.
PLATALEIDZ: SPOONBILLS. 651
or upright living ones, about a foot in diameter and nearly as deep, well cupped, thus unlike
the frail platforms herons build. Eggs 3-4, rarely 5, deep bluish-green, not elliptical, from
1.72 X 1.30 to 2.20 x 1.50, averaging 1.99 x 1.42.
EUDO'CIMUS. (Gr. edddxizos, well-tried, approved, famous.) Wuirs Ipis. ScAaRLET
Ipts. General character of Plegadis. Face more denuded, with whole chin bare (in the adults).
Claws stout, obtuse, curved. Plumage not metallic. Color white or red. Eggs spotted (in
E. albus at least).
E. al/bus. (Lat. albus, white.) Wits Isis. Spanish CurRLEW. Adult ¢ 9: Plumage pure
white ; tips of several outer primaries glossy black. Bare face and most of bill, and legs orange,
red, or carmine; bill tipped with dusky. Iris pearly blue. Length about 26.00 ; extent 40.00;
wing 11.50-12.50; tail 5.00; bill 5.00-7.00; tarsus 3.50; middle toe and claw 2.50. Sexes
alike; Q averaging smaller. Young: Dull brown, rump and under parts white; bare parts of
head of less extent, yellowish, bill the same ; legs bluish ; iris brown. Younger: Dull brown ail
over, with whitish rump and gray tail. S. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to the Ohio, rarely to
the Middle States, casually to New England; W. to Texas; resident in Florida. Breeds in
communities by thousands in tangle and brake and tulé of the S. coast; nest similar to that
above described, but of twigs, ete. Eggs 3, 2.25 1.60, dull chalky white, blotched and
spotted with pale yellowish and dark reddish-brown.
E, ruber. (Lat. ruber, red.) Scartet Ipis. Adult ¢9: Plumage scarlet; tips of several
outer primaries glossy black. Bare parts of head, bill, and legs pale lake red. Young brownish-
gray, darker above, paler or whitish below. Size and proportions nearly as in the last. This
splendid creature is a native of Tropical America: accidental in the U. 8. (Seen at a distance,
not procured, Louisiana, July, 1821, Audubon; fragment of a specimen examined, Los Pinos,
N. M., on the Rio Grande, June, 1864, Cowes ; ‘‘ Florida,” specimen in Museum of Charleston
College, 8. C., Brewster.)
44, Family PLATALEID2: Spoonbills.
Bill long, flat, remarkably widened, rounded, and spoon-shaped atthe end. Birds of this
group are known at a glance, by the singularity of the bill ; they closely resemble the foregoing
in structure and habit, being simply spoon-billed Ibises. Two genera, with five or six species
of various countries. The American genus differs notably from the type of Platalea, in having
the trachea simple, bifurcating into the bronchi high in* the neck; the bronchi with fusiform
partly membranous dilatation before entering the thorax. In Platalea leucorodia (fig. 454) the
trachea is peculiarly convoluted within the thorax.
Aja’/ja. (Vox barb., 8S. Am.) AMERICAN SPOONBILLS. Character as above said. In addi-
tion: Head entirely bald, in‘the adult. Throat somewhat pouched. Nostrils basal, linear-
oblong. Tibiz and tarsi reticulate with hexagonal plates. Toes semipalmate ; hind toe well
down. Tail of 12 feathers. Bill broader than head at the greatest width of the spoon. A
lateral groove the whole length of the upper mandible. A nail at end of bill; much of bill
rugous and skinny. A recurved tuft of feathers on the foreneck below. Colors white and red.
Sexes alike; young different. One species.
A. ro/sea, (Lat. rosea, roseate.) RosEATE SPooNBILL. Adult g 9 : Ground color white ;
back and wings delicate rose-color; under parts more rosy; plumes of the lower fore-neck,
lesser wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts, rich carmine ; shafts of wing- and tail-feathers
carmine. Tail brownish-yellow, and a patch of the same color on the sides of the breast; neck
white. Bald head varied with green, yellow, orange, and black; bill varied with greenish,
bluish, yellowish, and blackish tints. Legs lake red. Ivis carmine. Claws blackish. Length
31.00-35.00; extent 50.00-55.00; wing 15.00-16.00; tail 4.00-5.00; bill 7.00, 2 inches or
more across the spoon; tibia bare 3.00; tarsus 4.00; middle toe and claw 3.50; hind do
652 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES — PELARGI.
2.00. 9 similar, smaller; length 30.00 or less; extent 48.00. Young: Head mostly feath-
ered, and general color grayish-white ; acquire white with rosy the second year; full plumage
the third. Weight of adults 3 or 41bs. This bird, so singular in form and magnificent in
color, inhabits the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and southward in Tropical America ; resi-
dent in Florida; N. only to the Carolinas. Breeds in communities in trees and bushes of
tangled swamps. Nest a platform of sticks like a heron’s ; eggs usually 3, laid in April, nearly
elliptical, 2.60 x 1.90, white.
13. SuBorpER PELARGI: THE Srorx SERIEs.
Skull holorhinal. Angle of mandible truncate. Ambiens muscle and accessory femoro-
caudal absent; femoro-caudal present or absent; semitendinosus and its accessory present ;
pectoralis major double; biceps cubiti and tensor patagii longus disconnected. Carotids double,
normal. Two intestinal’ ceca. A tufted oil-gland. Plumage without powder-down; feath-
ered tracts broad. Tarsi normally reticulate. Hallux not fairly insistent. Claws resting upon
a horny ‘‘shoe.” Inner edge of middle claw not pectinate. Side of upper mandible ungrooved,
without nasal fossa, the nostrils bored directly in its substance; bill very stout, compressed,
tapering, straight or recurved or decurved.
The Storks belong chiefly to the Old World, the warm and temperate portions of which
they inhabit. There are about a dozen species, representing nearly as many genera of authors;
among these Anastomus and Hiator are remarkable for a wide interval between the cutting
edges of the bill, which only come into apposition at the base and tip. The singular African
Scopus wmbretta, type of a family, is often placed among the Herons, but its pterylosis is that
of Storks.
45. Family CICONIIDZ: Storks.
Bill longer than head, very stout at base, not grooved, tapering to the straight, recurved or
decurved tip. Nostrils pierced directly in the horny substance, without nasal scale or mem-
brane, high up in the bill close to its base. Legs reticulate. Hallux not or not completely
insistent. Claws not acute.
The family falls in two American subfamilies, that of the Storks proper, and that of the
so-called ‘‘ Wood Ibises.” Both are represented
in N. America.
58. Subfamily TANTALINAE: Wood Ihbises.
Bill long, extremely stout at base, where it is as
broad as the face, gradually tapering to the de-
curved tip, without nasal groove or membrane, the
nostrils directly perforating its substance, high up
at base of upper mandible. Toes lengthened, the
middle not less than half as long as the tarsus, the
outer longer than the inner; hind toe nearly insist-
ent; claws less nail-like than in Ciconiine. One
American genus and species, and one genus with
3 or 4 species of Africa, Southern Asia, and part
of the East Indies. As these birds have been as-
certained to be Storks, it is unfortunate that the
name of ‘‘Tbis,” tending to promote confusion,
should be too firmly attached to them to leave any
Fia. 455. — Wood Ibis, greatly reduced. (From e 7
Tenney, after Audubon.) , hope of its being abolished from such connection.
255.
256.
654.
CICONIID4i — CICONIINZ:: STORKS. 653
Just as we saw the American Spoonbill distinguished from Platalea of the Old World, so
does the American Wood Ibis differ from Old World Tantalus to a marked degree in the
structure of the windpipe; but this time it is our bird which has that organ simple, it being
remarkably complicated in the other. In Zantalus ibis, typical of the genus, the trachea is
several times folded and doubled upon itself in the thorax. In Tantalus loculator, the trachea
is short, straight, and simple in its lower part, with numerous reduced and modified rings, and
flattened from side to side, producing a ridge in front. It has been made type of a genus
Tantalides, but that name being preoccupied, a new one seems to be required.
TAN’TALOPS. (Gr. Tdvtados, Lat. Tantalus, a mythical character; dy, ops, aspect.)
American Woop Stork or Woop ‘‘Inis.” Character as above. In addition: Whole head
and part of the neck bare, rugous and scaly in the adult. Nasal fossz not continued beyond the
nostrils. Anterior toes webbed at base. Tibia bare for half their length. Claws com-
pressed, but obtuse. Head feathered in the young. Sexes alike. Color white and black.
. T. locula‘tor. (Lat. locus, a place; loculus, a little place, but qu. loculator in its application
to this bird? Fig. 455.) American Woop Stork. Woop Ixis. CoLorapo TURKEY.
Adult ¢ 9 : Plumage white, the wing-quills, primary coverts, alula, and tail, glossy black.
The bald head livid bluish and yellowish. Bill dingy yellowish. Legs blue, becoming blackish
on the toes, the webs tinged with yellow. Iris dark brown. Length nearly 4 feet; extent
5.50 feet; wing 1.50; tail 0.50; bill 9 inches, 2 or more deep at base: tibie bare 6.00;
tarsus 8.00; middle toe and claw 4.75. Weight 10 or 12 Ibs. 9 smaller than g. Young:
Head downy-feathered; the plumage dark gray, with blackish wings and tail; plumage
whitening and head becoming bald after the first month. South Atlantic and Gulf States,
and across in corresponding latitudes to the Colorado River, where abundant. N. to the
Carolinas; up the Mississippi to the Ohio; casually straying to Penn., N.Y., and even New
England (?).1 W. I., Mex., C. and S. Am. Resident in the 8. States; abundant; gregarious;
frequents the most thickly wooded swamps and bayous, fairly swarming in its heronries; flight
performed with alternate flapping and sailing; at times mounts high in air and performs the
most beautiful evolutions, with motionless wings, like a turkey buzzard. Eggs 2-3, elliptical
in contour, shell rough with flaky substance ; color white; size 2.75 x 1.75.
59. Subfamily GICONIINAE: True Storks.
Bill as above described, but end not decurved (straight or recurved). Nostrils nearly
lateral. Toes short, the middle less than half the tarsus. Lateral toes nearly equal. Hind
toe uot insistent. Claws short, broad, obtuse, flattened like nails. Several Old World and
two American genera, Dissoura (D. maguari) and Mycteria.
MYCTE'RIA. (Gr. puxrnp, mukter, the snout; puxrnpite, mukterizo, I turn up the nose.)
Jazpirus. Bill immensely large, recurved. Whole head and neck bare, except a hairy patch
on the occiput. Tail not peculiar. (In Dissowra, bill moderate, straight, head mostly feathered,
tail forked, and its under coverts stiffened and lengthened, resembling rectrices.)
M. america/na. AMERICAN JABIRU. Adult: Plumage entirely white. Bill, legs, and feet,
aud bare skin of head and neck, black, the neck with a broad bright red collar round the lower
portion. Immature (transition plumage): Rump, upper tail-coverts and tail, white; rest of
upper parts, including feathered portion of lower neck, soft light brownish-gray, irregularly
mixed, except on lower neck, with white feathers of the adult livery; lower parts entirely
white. Bill, etc., colored as in the adult. Wing 24.50-26.00; tail 9.50; culmen 9.75-12.30 ;
depth of bill through base about 2.50; tarsus 11.25-11.50; middle toe 4.20-4.50. Tropical
America, N. to Texas.
1 Mr, Allen informs me that the alleged New England case is doubtless erroneous (Bull. Nuttall Club, viii,
July, 1883, p. 187).
654. SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —HERODIONES — HERODII.
14. Susorp—ER HERODII: Tue Heron Suriss.
Skull holorhinal. Angle of mandible truncate. Ambiens muscle, and accessory femoro-
caudal, absent ; femoro-caudal, semitendinous and its accessory, present. Carotids double,
sometimes abnormal (p. 198). One intestinal cecum. Tongue moderate. A tufted oil-gland.
Plumage with 2-4 pairs of powder-down tracts; feathered tracts very narrow. Tarsi normally
scutellate. Hallux long and perfectly insistent, with long claw. Inner edge of middle claw
distinctly pectinate. Bill variable with the families, normally narrow and wedged, with long
nasal fossee.
The extraordinary Baleniceps rex, the Shoe-bill or Whale-head, of Africa, with an
enormous head and bill, thick neck, and one pair of powder-down tracts, is the type of a family
Balenicipitide, which may belong here; but it approaches the Storks, and its peculiarities are
so great that it may constitute a separate superfamily group. The Boat-billed Heron (Cancroma
cochlearia) of Central America, with a singular shape of bill that has suggested the name, and
four pairs of powder-down tracts, constitutes one family of Herodii (Camcromide). The dis-
puted cases of Ewrypyga and Scopus have already been mentioned. These and some other
doubtful forms aside, the Heron series is represented by the single
46. Family ARDEIDZ: Herons.
It is in this family, as in Cancromide, that powder-down tracts reach their highest devel-
opment; aid although these peculiar feathers occur in some other birds, there appears to be
then only a single pair; so that the presence of two or three pairs is probably diagnostic of
this family. In the genus Ardea and its immediate allies (Ardeime) there are three pairs,
the normal number; one on the lower back over the hips, one on the lower belly under the
hips, and one on the breast, along the track of the fureula. In the Bitterns (Botaurine) the
second of these is wanting. (In the Boat-billed Heron, Cancroma cochlearia, there is still
another pair, over the shoulder-blades.) There are other pterylographic characters; in gen-
eral, the tracks are extremely narrow, often only two feathers wide; there are lateral neck
tracks ; the lower neck is frequently bare behind. More obvious characters are, the complete
feathering of the head (as compared with Storks, ete.) except definite nakedness of the lores
alone —the bill appearing to run directly into the eyes; a general looseness of the plumage
(as compared with Limicole), and especially the frequent development of remarkably length-
ened, or otherwise modified, feathers, constituting the beautiful crests and dorsal plumes that
ornament many species, but which, as a rule, are worn only during the breeding season.
These features will suffice to determine the Ardeide, taken in connection with the more general
ones indicated under head of Herodiones, and the following details : —
Bill longer than head, usually about as long as tarsus, straight, or very nearly so, more
or less compressed, acute, cultrate (with sharp cutting edges); upper mandible with a long
groove. Nostrils more or less linear, pervious. Head narrow and elongate, sloping down to
the bill, its sides flattened. Lores naked; rest of head feathered, the frontal feathers extending
in a rounded outline on the base of the culmen, generally to the nostrils. Wings broad and
ample; the inner quills usually as long as the primaries, folding over them when the wing is
closed. Tail very short, of twelve (usually) or ten (in Zebrilus and Botaurine) soft broad
feathers. Tibie naked below (except Zebrillus), sometimes for a great distance. Tarsi
scutellate in front (except Tigrisoma), and sometimes behind, generally reticulate there and
on the sides. Toes long and slender; the outer usually connected with the middle by a basal
web, the hinder very long (for wading birds), inserted on the level of the rest. Hind claw
larger and more curved than the middle one (always?) ; the middle claw pectinate.
The group thus defined offers little variation in form; all the numerous genera now
ARDEIDA:: HERONS. 655
in vogue have been successively detached from Ardea, the typical one, with which many
of them should be reunited. The ‘“‘ Night Herons” (Nyctiardea and Nycterodius) differ some-~
Fra. 456. — Herons, idealized from Ardea cinerea. tFrom Michelet.)
what in shortness and especially stoutness of bill; while the Bitterns (Botawrus and Ardetta),
the South American genera Tigrisoma, Zebrilus, and a few others, are still better marked.
656 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES -- HERODII.
There are about seventy-five species, very generally distributed over the globe, but especially
abounding in the torrid and temperate zones. Those that penetrate to cold countries in
summer are regular migrants; the others are generally stationary. They are maritime,
lacustrine and paludicole birds, drawing their chief sustenance from animal substances taken
from the water, or from soft ground in its vicinity; such as fish, reptiles, testaceans, and
insects, captured by a quick thrust of the spear-like bill, given as the bird stands in wait
or wades stealthily along. In conformity with this, the gullet is capacious, but without
special dilatation, the stomach is small and little muscular, the intestines are long and ex-
tremely slender, with a large globular cloaca and a cecum. Herons are altricial, and
generally nest in trees or bushes (where their insessorial feet enable them to perch with ease),
in swampy or other places near the water, often in large communities, building a large flat
rude structure of sticks. The eggs vary in number, coincidently, to some extent, with the
size of the species; the larger herons generally lay two or three, the smaller kinds five or six;
the eggs are somewhat elliptical in shape, and usually of an unvariegated bluish or greenish
shade. The voice is a rough croak. The sexes are nearly always alike in color (remark-
able exception in Ardetta); but the species in which, as in the Bittern, the plumage is nearly
unchangeable, are very few. Indeed, probably no birds show greater changes of plumage,
with age and season, than nearly all the herons. Their beautiful plumes are only worn
during the breeding season; the young invariably lack them. There are still more remark-
able differences of plumage in many cases, constituting dichromatism, or permanent normal
difference in color, like that of the “red” and ‘ gray” specimens of Scops Owl. Thus, some
species are pure white at all ages and seasons, in both sexes, other individuals of the same
species being variously colored. Such dichromatism appears in our Ardea occidentalis, Di-
chromanassa rufa, and Florida cerulea. It was formerly believed in the cases of the two
latter, that the white were the young, the colored the adults; but it now appears that the
difference is permanent, and independent of age, sex, or season. Many species are pure white
at all times, and to these the name of ‘‘egret” more particularly belongs; but I should
correct a prevalent impression that an egret is anything particularly different from other herons.
The name, a corruption of the French word ‘‘aigrette,” simply refers to the plumes that
ornament most of the herons, white or otherwise, and has no classificatory meaning; its
application, in any given instance, is purely conventional. The colors of the bill, lores, and
feet are extremely variable, not only with age or season, but as individual peculiarities ; some-
times the two legs of the same specimen are not colored exactly alike. The 9 is commonly
smaller than the g. The normal individual variability in stature and relative length of parts
is very great; and it has even been uoted that a specimen may have one leg larger than the
other, and the toes of one foot longer than those of the other —a circumstance perhaps result -
ing from the common habit of these birds of standing for a long time on one leg.
The North American Ardeida, if not the whole family, are divisible into the two subfamilies
of Ardeime, or Herons proper, and Botaurine, or Bitterns.
Analysis of Subfamilies, Genera, and Subgenera,
BoravuRInz&. Tail-feathers 10. Two pairs of powder-down tracts. (Bitterns.)
Very small; length about a foot Sexes unlike - . Aish soe ea eo + . Ardetia 267
Medium sized; length about 2 feet. Sexes alike e 2 soe et ew ew we ww») 6Botaurus 266
ARDEINZ. Tail-feathers12 ‘Three pairs of powder-down tracts. (Herons.)
Bill stout and comparatively short, not longer than very short tarsus, which is not perfectly scutel-
late in front. (Night Herons.)
Gonys convex, like the culmen; tarsus longer than middle toe and claw + « « . Nycterodius 265
Gonys about straight; tarsus about equal to middle toe andclaw . . . . ‘a Nyctiardea 264
Bill ordinary. Tarsus scutellate in front
Length under 20 inches, Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. Green . . . . Butorides 263
Length over 20 inches, under 30. Blue, white, or variegated.
Blue or white. Adult without decomposed feathers onback. . ..... . . Florida 262
257.
655.
ARDEIDA) — ARDEINA:: HERONS. 657
Always white, Adult with decomposed recurved feathersonback ... . . . Garzetta 259
Ashy-blue, white below. Bill longer than tarsus nota - +. » + « Aydranassa 260
Length 30, not 36 inches. Blueor white. Tarsus twice as long as middle toe. Bill shorter than
tarsus ap ar 2h, et Par) ye ae Aen oleh sien a . Dichromanassa 261
Leugth 36 or more. Entirely white; nocrest ; long decomposed feathers on back . . Herodias 258
Length 42 or more; of dark varied colors, or white ; crested, without dorsal plumes . . Ardea 257
60. Subfamily ARDEINA: True Herons.
Tail-feathers 12 (in all N.
Am. genera), broad and stiff-
ish. Powder-down tracts 3
pairs. Tibiee naked. below.
Outer toe not shorter than in-
ner. Claws moderate, curved.
(Embracing most of the spe-
cies of the family, and all our
species excepting the Bit-
terns.)
ARDEA. (Lat. ardea, a
heron.) Great Herons. Of
largest size. Neck and legs
very long, former well feath-
ered all around. Tibie exten-
sively denuded below. Tarsus
longer than middle toe and
claw. Outer lateral toe longer
than inner. Bill shorter than
tarsus, equal to or longer than
middle toe and claw. Colors
dark and varied, exceptionally
white; back. without length-
ened loosened plumes; scapu-
lars lanceolate, lengthened, but
not loosened; lower fore-neck
with lengthened feathers; head
crested, in breeding season with
two long, slender, flowing, oc-
cipital plumes. Sexes alike;
young similar, but lacking all
lengthened feathers. Dichro-
matic. (Genera 258-263 should
be reduced to subgenera of
Fic. 457. Great Blue Heron, greatly reduced. (From Tenney, after
Ardea.) Audubon.
Analysis of Species,
Tibiz and edge of wing white; occiput and plumes black. (Europe.).... . ai 38 cinerea 657
Tibiz and edge of wing rufous; or whole plumage white.
Occiput and plumes black; whole plumage varied. Bill 6 or less; tarsus 8orless . . . . herodias 655
Occiput and plumes white; or, whole plumage white. ‘ Bill 6 or more; tarsus8 or more occidentalis 656
A. hero/dias. (Lat. herodias, a proper name ; Gr. épwdias, erodias, a heron. Fig. 457.) Great
Buus Heron. Of large size, and varied dark colors; not dichromatic. Back without peculiar
plumes at any season, but scapulars lengthened and lanceolate; an occipital crest, two de-
42
656.
657.
258.
658.
658 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES — HERODII.
ciduous feathers of which in the breeding season are long and filamentous; long loose feathers
on the lower neck. Length 42.00-50.00; extent about 70.00; wing 18.00-20.00; tail 7.00-
8.00 ; bill 4.50-6.25, usually between 5.00 and 6.00; tibie bare 3.00-4.00; tarsus 6.00-8.00,
usually 6.50-7.00; middle toe and claw about 5.00. 9 average smaller than f. Weight 6 or
8 ibs. Adult ¢ 9, in breeding dress: Bill yellow, more or less blackened on culmen; lores
blue; iris chrome-yellow ; legs and feet blackish, the soles yellowish. Tibia and edge of wing
chestnut-brown. Forehead and middle of crown white; sides of crown and occipital crest
black. Neck pale purplish-gray, with a mixed white, black, and rusty throat-line, yielding
to white on chin and cheeks. Plumes of lower neck, the breast, and belly, black, more or less
interrupted with white streaks.on the middle line; crissum white. Upper parts in general
slaty-blue; tail the same; long scapular feathers more pearly-gray ; wing-quills deepening
from this color to the black primaries. Young: Without any long feathers. Crown and front
without white; whole top of head blackish. Tibie and edge of wing paler rufous, or whitish.
General color of upper parts paler and more grayish-blue, more or less tinged with rusty.
Black of under parts replaced by ashy. Upper mandible mostly blackish; lores and most of
lower mandible greenish, rest of the latter and the eyes, yellow; tibia greenish. There are
endless variations in plumage and colors of the soft parts, but this great species cannot be
mistaken, being only closely related to the colored phase of the next. N. Am. at large, and
much of C. and S. Am., N. to Labrador, Hudson’s Bay, and Sitka in Alaska; northerly migra-
tory; elsewhere resident. Breeds in suitable places throughout its range, sometimes singly,
oftener in great heronries to which the birds resort year after year, shared usually with other
species of its tribe. Nest usually in trees or bushes, in the West sometimes on cliffs; eggs
3-6, oftener 3-4, pale dull greenish-blue, ellipsoidal, about 2.50-1.50.
A. occidentalis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) FLormpa Heron. GREAT WHITE HERON.
WtrpEmMAnn’s Hrron. Similar to the last; larger; dichromatic. Length 54.00; extent
83.00; wing 19.00-21.00; tail 8.00; bill 6.50; tarsus 8.00-8.50; tibize bare 5.50. oe,
adult, colored phase (wurdemanni Bd.): Head, with the crest, white, the forehead streaked
with black edges of the feathers. Under parts white, the sides streaked with black ; lower
plumes of neck white, mostly streaked with black edges of the feathers. Neck purplish-gray,
darker than in A. herodias, with a similar throat-line of white, black, and rufous. Under
wing-coverts streaked with white; rufous of edge of wing less extensive than in A. herodias,
that of the tibie paler. Tibize and soles of feet yellow ; tarsi and top of toes yellowish-green.
Young ;. Like young herodias ; top of head dusky, the feathers with whitish shaft-lines and
bases. Lesser wing-coverts speckled with rusty, the under ones with white. Adult g 9 in
white phase (occidentalis Aud.): Color entirely pure white; bill and eyes yellow; culmen
greenish at base; lores bluish; legs yellow, greenish in front. Southern Florida; Cuba;
Jamaica; ‘‘S. Illinois and Indiana.” Eggs 3, 2.75 X 1.67.
Ops. — A. wardi is described as indistinguishable in its white phase from the last; in its
colored phase exactly like the last, but head colored as in herodias ; bill 6.50-7.00; tarsus
8.50-9.00. Florida. (Bull. Nutt. Club, vii, Jan. 1882, p. 5.)
A, cine'rea. (Lat. cinerea, ashy. Fig. 456.) EuropraAn Birus Heron. Character similar
to that of A. herodias ; easily distinguished by the white (not chestnut) tibiz and border of
wings, and ashy neck. Europe; only N. American as a straggler to Greenland.
HERO'DIAS. (Lat. herodias ; see above, No. 655. Fig. 458.) Great Earer Herons.
Character of Ardea proper, excepting in plumage; color white; no crest; a long depending
train of stiff-shafted loose-webbed scapular feathers in the breeding season. Size large, only
exceeded by the species of Ardea. (See fig. of the European species, H. alba.)
H. egret‘ta. (O. H. G. hiegro, a heron; Fr. azgrette, a plume; Engl. egret.) Great
Wuire Earet. Waite Heron. No obviously lengthened feathers on the head at any time;
in the breeding season, back with a magnificent train of very long plumes of decomposed, fas-
Po",
ARDEIDA — ARDEINZ:: HERONS. 659
tigiate feathers drooping far beyond the tail; neck closely feathered. Plumage entirely white
at allseasons. Bill, lores, and eyes, yellow; legs and feet black. Length 36.00-42.00 (not in-
cluding the dorsal train, which is a foot or more longer) ; extent 55.00; wing 16.00-17.00 ; tail
5.50-6.50; bill 4.50-5.00; tarsus about 6.00; tibize bare 3.50. 9 averaging smaller than ¢.
U. 8. southerly, and much of W. L., C. and S. Am. ; straggling northward to Nova Scotia,
Fic, 458. — European Great White Egret, Herodias alba, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
Breeds like other herons; eggs 3-4,
Canada, Minnesota, ete.; resident in the south.
2.20-1.55.
GARZETY’TA, (Ital. name of a heron.
preceding, but size small ; length about 2 feet.
recurved train of stiff-shafted loose-webbed feathers in the bre
lengthened, depending. (See fig. of the European species, G. nivea.)
Fig. 459.) Smart Ecret Hzrons. Form of the
Color white; an occipital crest, and short
eding season ; lower neck-feathers
659.
260.
660 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES — HERODII.
G. candidis/sima. (Lat. candidissima, very white; candida, white.) LirTLE WHITE
Ea@ret. Snowy Heron. Adults with a long occipital erest of decomposed feathers, and
similar dorsal plumes, latter recurved when perfect; similar, but not recurved plumes on the
lower neck, which is bare behind. Lores, eyes, and toes yellow; bill and legs black, former
yellow at base, latter yellow at the lower part behind. Plumage always entirely white.
Length about 24.00; extent 36.00-40.00; wing 9.50-11.00; tail 4.00; bill 3.00 or more;
tibies bare 2.50; tarsus 3.75; middle toe 2.75. S. States; Cala.; Middle States, in summer ;
N. occasionally to New England, Canada, and Nova Scotia. Abundant in its regular range ;
resident in the South and beyond ; breeds throughout. Eggs about 4, 1.67 x 1.25.
HYDRANASSA. (Gr. dSwp, hudor, water, giving in Lat. hydr-; dvacoa, anassa, a queen.)
DEMOISELLE Eorets. Of medium size: length under two and a half or three feet. Bill
very slender, contracted from the base toward the middle, with almost a little concave upper
and under outline, then tapering to a point; in length equalling or exceeding the tarsus. .
660.
261.
661.
262.
662.
ARDEIDAi — ARDEINZ: HERONS. 661
Toes comparatively short, the middle little more than half the tarsus. Adult with feathers
of the head and neck lengthened, lanceolate, with well-defined edges; an occipital crest of
several long plumes, and splendid dorsal train of decomposed, fringe-like feathers depending
beyond the tail. Dichromatism not known.
H. tri/color. (Lat. tricolor, three-culored.) Lourstana Earer. ‘‘Uapy oF THE WATERS.”
Adult: Slaty-blue on the back and wings, mostly white below and along the throat-line ; crest
and most of the neck reddish-purple, mixed below with slaty; the longer narrow feathers
of the crest white ; lower back and rump white, but concealed by the dull purplish-brown feath-
ers of the train, which whiten towards the end. Bill black and yellow; lores yellow; legs
yellowish-green, dusky in front. Iris red. Young variously different, but never white;
lacking the long occipital plumes and dorsal train; neck and back bright brownish-red ;
trump, throat-line and under parts white; quills and tail pale purplish-blue; legs dusky-
greenish. Length 24.00-27.00 (exclusive of the long train) ; extent 37.00-39.00 ; wing 10.00-
11.00; tail 3.50; bill 4. 00-5. 00; tibize bare 2.25; tarsus 4.00; middle toe and alae 3.00. 8.
Atlantic and Gulf States, chiefly maritime, very rarely N. to the Middle districts ; 8. in tropical
Am. Resident along our southern coasts. Breeds in communities like other herons. Nest and
eggs scarcely distinguishable from those uf the snowy heron; eggs rather less elliptical,
usually 4 in number, averaging 1.78 x 1.30.
DICHROMANAS'SA. (Gr. dis dis, twice; xpapa, chroma, color; and dvacoa; alluding
to the dichromatism of D. rufa.) Dicurorc Earets. Of medium size; length about two and
a half feet. Bill slender, much as in the last, but shorter than the very long tarsus, which
is about twice as long as the middle toe and claw. Toes extremely short (for this family).
Feathers of head and neck elongate, lance-linear and stiffish, distinct; the longest forming
occipital and jugular tufts. A dorsal train of long decomposed fastigiate feathers, with stiff-
ened shafts. Dichromatic; pure white or colored; in latter state, without the white throat-
line of most herons.
D. ru’fa, (Lat. rufa, reddish.) Reppish Ecret. PEALE’s Earet. In the colored phase:
Adult grayish-blue, rather paler below; no white throat-line; head and neck lilac-brown;
ends of the train yellowish. Bill black ou the terminal third, the rest flesh-colored, like the
lores ; iris white ; legs blue, the scales of the tarsus blackish. In the white phase: Plum-
age entirely pure white. Bill, lores, and eyes as before; legs dark greenish, the soles
yellowish ; in which state the bird is ‘“ Peale’s Egret,” long held for a distinct species, then
long decided to be the young. Length 28.00-31.00; extent about 46.00; wing 19.50-14.30;
tail 4.50; bill 4.00; tibiz bare 4.00; tarsus 5.50-6.00; middle toe and claw 3.00. Gulf
States strictly; maritime; resident, abundant. Nests in communities, with other species,
upon low bushes, sometimes un the ground; eggs 3-4, of usual shape and color, froin 1.90 X
1.48 to 2.12 & 1.55, averaging 2.00 & 1.50.
FLO/RIDA. (Named for the State.) Buuz anp Wuire Herons. Of small size; length
about 2 feet. Bill slender, very acute; culmen gently curved front near base; under outline
straight or slightly concave; about as long as tarsus. Head of adult with lengthened de-
composed feathers; those of lower neck, and the scapulars, lengthened and linear-lanceolate,
but compact-webbed; no dorsal train of fringed feathers. Neck bare behind below. Di-
chromatic ; color blue or white, or both.
F. coru’lea. (Lat. cerulea, blue.) Lirrte BLuE Heron. Lirrte Warre Heron (not
to be confused with Little White Egret). In the colored phase: Slaty-blue, or dark grayish-
blue, becoming purplish-red or maroon-colored on the neck and head. Bill and loral space
blue, shading to black toward the end; legs and feet black; eyes yellow. Length about
24.00; extent 40.00~-42.00; wing about 11.50; tail 4.25; bill 3.00-3.40; tarsus about the
same, rather more; tibie bare 2.00. In one phase, entitely white; but generally showing
traces of blue. Pure white birds require a second glance to distinguish them from immature
263.
663.
264.
664,
662 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —HERODIONES — HERODII.
Garzetta candidissima, as they are of the same size, and not strikingly different in form;
notice lores and basal half of bill greenish-blue, the rest blackish; most of lower mandible
yellowish ; legs greenish-blue, with yellow traces, or bluish-black; the snowy heron has no
bluishness about the soft parts. §. Atlantic and Gulf States, resident, abundant; N. in
summer often to the Middle States, casually to New England. Nesting as usual; eggs 3-4,
1.75 X 1.25, of usual shape and color.
BUTORI/DES. (Lat. butor, a bittern; Gr. eidos, eidos, resemblance.) GREEN HERONS.
Size small; length one and a half feet. Bill moderate, longer than tarsus, with gently convex
culmen and gonys. Legs short; tibiz little denuded; tarsus scarcely or not longer than
middle toe and claw. An occipital crest of lengthened, lanceolate, not decomposed, feathers ;
neck-feathers long but blended, those below depending in a tuft, those on sides hiding an
extensive bare space behind. In the breeding season, feathers of back lengthened, lance-
linear, but compact-webbed, and not forming a train. Upper parts glossy green.
B. vires/cens. (Lat. virescens, growing green.) GREEN Heron. Adult in the breeding season
with the crown, long soft occipital crest, and lengthened narrow feathers of the back lustrous
dark green, sometimes with a bronzy iridescence; the dorsal plumes in high plumage with
a glaucous bluish cast. Wing-coverts green, with conspicuous tawny edgings; neck rich dark
purplish-chestnut, the throat-line variegated with dusky and white. Under parts mostly dark
brownish-ash ; belly variegated with white. Quills and tail greenish-dusky with a glaucous
shade; edge of the wing white; some of the quills usually white-tipped. ‘Bill greenish-black,
much of the under mandible yellow; lores and iris yellow; legs greenish-yellow; lower neck
with lengthened feathers in front, a bare space behind. Young: Head less crested; back with-
out long narrow plumes, but glossy-greenish ; neck merely reddish-brown ; whole under parts
white, variegated with tawny and dark brown. Length 16.00-18.00; extent about 25.00;
wing 6.50-7.50; bill 2.50; tarsus 2.00; middle toe and claw about the same; tibiee bare 1.00
or less. U.8., and a little beyond, abundant in summer; resident in the South, and beyond.
This is a very pretty and engaging little heron, in spite of the ridiculous nickname by which it
is so well known to the great unwashed democracy of America. Breeds anywhere in its range,
sometimes in communities with larger species, often by itself in pairs. Nest a rude platform
of twigs, on tree or bush ; eggs 3-6, elliptical, 1.37 x 1.12, pale greenish.
‘NYCTIAR'DEA. (Gr. vvé, gen. vucrds, nux, nuktos, night: Lat. ardea, a heron. Fig. 460.)
Nieut Herons. Of medium size; length about
2 feet. Bill very stout for this family; bill, tarsus,
and middle toe with claw, of approximately equal
lengths. Tarsus reticulate in front below. Tibie
briefly naked below. Neck short, corresponding to
the short legs; body stout. No peculiar plumes,
excepting two or three extremely long filamentous
feathers springing from the hind head, generally
imbricated in one bundle. Sexes alike; young
Ai : : very different. A better genus than any of the
EE TAY PRD OG an foregoing, as distinguished from Ardea, but very
Fic. 460.—Night Heron. (From Lewis.) near the next, which might be combined with it.
N. gri/sea ne’via. BLACK-cROWNED NicgHT Heron. QuA-Birp. Squawxk. Adult ¢
Q: Crown, seapulars and interscapulars very dark glossy green; other upper parts, wiugs
and tail, pale bluish-gray with a lilac or lavender tinge, most decided on the neck. Fore-
head and throat-line white, shading into the lilaceous of the neck; under parts whitish,
tinged with lilac. The long occipital plumes white. Eyes red; lores greenish; bill black ;
legs yellow; claws brown. Length 23.00-26.00; extent about 44.00; wing 12.00-14.00;
tail 5.00; bill, tarsus, middle toe with claw, each 3.00 or a little more; tibia bare about an
265.
ARDEIDA: BOTAURINZ: BITTERNS. 663
inch. Young very different; grayish-brown above, the feathers with paler edges, and con-
spicuously spotted with whitish; the lower parts paler or dull whitish, streaky with darker;
green of head replaced by chocolate-brown ; quills chocolate-brown, white-tipped; no occip-
ital plumes. U. S. and British Provinces, common; migratory; resident in the south.
Breeds in heronries, sometimes of vast extent, resorted to year after year. Nest large and
frail; eggs 3-4, of usual shape, very pale sea-green color, averaging 2.00 X 1.50. Our
species is only a variety of the European N. grisea, whence the trinomial name; “‘nevia”
is only applicable to the young in the spotted stage.
NYCTERO'DIUS. (Gr. wé, nux, night; ¢pwdids, erodios, a heron.) THICK-BILL NigHT HER-
ons. Of medium size; length about 2 feet. Bill extremely stout for this family ; culmen curved
throughout; gonys convex, ascending ; commissure and lateral outlines of bill straight; bill
much shorter than tarsus. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, reticulate excepting above
in front. Feathers of occiput lengthened, the longest of great extent, and linear, forming a
hanging crest ; feathers of back lengthened and lanceolate, the longest loose-webbed, extending
beyond the tail. Sexes alike; colors variegated ; young very different.
N. viola/ceus. (Lat. violaceus, violet-colored: straining a point.) YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT
Heron. Adult ¢ 9: General color grayish-plumbeous, or light grayish-blue, darker on the
back, where the feathers have black centres and pale edges, and rather paler below. Head and
upper neck behind black, with a cheek-pateh, the crown, and most of the crest, white, more
or less tinged with tawny. Quills and tail dusky plumbeous. Bill black; eyes orange; lores
greenish ; feet black and yellow. Length about 24.00; extent 44.00; wing 12.00; tail 5.00;
pill searcely 3.00, over 0.50 deep at base; tibize bare 2.00; tarsus 4.00; middle toe and claw
2.75. Young: Above, grayish-brown, with an olive shade, streaked and spotted with brown-
ish-yellow ; below, streaked with brown and whitish ; sides of head and neck yellowish-brown,
streaked with darker; top of head and neck above behind blackish, variegated with white.
' Bill blackish, with much of the lower mandible, and the lores, greenish-yellow; legs the same,
obscured on front of tarsus; iris yellow. S. Atlantic and Gulf States, and southward, occa-
sionally N. to the Middle States; not abundant, and chiefly confined to the coast. Resident in
Florida. Nest as usual in trees and bushes, in communities; eggs 3, pale greenish-blue ; 2.00
x 1.45.
61. Subfamily BOTAURINA:: Bitterns.
Tail-feathers 10, broad and very soft. Powder-down tracts 2 pairs. Outer toe shorter
than the inner. Claws long and little curved. The Bitterns form a well-marked section of
Fig. 461.— Bill of Bittern, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.)
the family, if not one of subfamily value. They are retiring and solitary birds of the marsh,
not gregarious, not nesting in communities on trees, but by separate pairs, and on the ground ;
and the eggs have not the characteristic color of those of true Herons.
266.
267.
667.
664 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES— HERODII.
BOTAURUS. (Late Lat. botawrus, a bittern; said to be not equal to bos-tawrus; froin
the hollow guttural cry?) Brrrerys. Of medium size; length about 24 feet. Bill mod-
erately longer than head, shorter than tarsus, which is shorter than middle toe and claw.
Tarsus broadly scutellate in front. No crests or peculiar dorsal plumes; neck-feathers long
and loose; plumage blended, spotty and streaky. Neck in part bare behind. Sexes and
young alike.
B. mugi'tans. (Lat. mugitans, bellowing. Figs. 461, 462.) Ammprican BirTeRN. INDIAN
Hen. STAKE-DRIVER. BoG-BULL. Plumage of the upper parts singularly freckled with brown
of various shades, blackish, tawny,
and whitish ; neck and under parts
ochrey or tawny-white, each feather
marked with a brown dark-edged
stripe, the throat-line white, with
brown streaks. A velvety-black
patch on cach side of the neck
above. Crown dull brown, with
buff superciliary stripe. Tail brown.
Quills greenish-black, with a glau-
cous shade, brown-tipped. Iris yel-
low. Bill on the ridge brownish-
black, the rest pale yellowish; a
dark brown loral stripe. Legs
dull yellowish-green ; claws brown.
Length from 23.00 to 34.00! extent
32.00-45.00 ! wing 9.50-13.00; bill
about 3.00; tarsus about 3.50; middle toe without claw about the same; its claw above
an inch long. Q smaller than ¢ ; but few birds differ so much in size as this species, indepen-
dently of sex. Entire temperate N. Am., N. to 58° or 60°, 8. to C. Am. ; accidental in Europe.
Regularly migratory; resident in the South. The bittern is a bird of very marked character.
It inhabits bog and brake, singly or in pairs; has a hoarse gurgling outery of alarm, and a
note sounding like the strokes of a mallet on a stake. Nests on the ground ; eggs 3-5, brown-
ish-drab with a gray (not green) shade, 1.90 to 2.00 long by about 1.50.
ARDET'TA. (Ital. diminutive of Ardea.) Dwarr BitTerns. Very small, least of the whole
family ; length about a foot. In form very nearly as in Botaurus. Bill slender. Tarsus about
equal to middle toe and claw. No peculiar feathers ; those of lower neck long and loose ; head
slightly crested. Colors of back in large areas. Sexes dissimilar; young similar. There are
several species of these queer little herons, of America and the Old World ; they mostly inhabit
reedy swamps, and somewhat approach rails.
A. exi'lis. (Lat. eailis, for exigilis, exiguous, slight, small.) Least Birrern. Adult ¢
with the slightly crested crown, back, and tail, glossy greenish-black. Neck behind, most, of
the wing-coverts, and outer edges of inner quills, rich chestnut; other wing-coverts brownish-
yellow. Frovt aud sides of neck, and under parts, brownish-yellow, varied with white along
the throat-line, the sides of the breast with a blackish-brown patch. Bill mostly pale yellow,
the culmen blackish ; lores light green; eyes and toes yellow; legs green, the hinder scales
yellow. @ with the black of the back entirely, that of the crown mostly or wholly, replaced
by rich purplish-chestnut; the edges of the scapulars forming a.brownish-white stripe on either
side. Length 11.00-14.00 ; extent somewhere about 18.00; wing 4.00-5.00 ; tail, bill, tarsus,
middle toe and claw, each, 2.00 or less. U.S. and Brit. Provinces, common; migratory ;
resident in the South ; breeds throughout its range. Found also in W. I. and C. Am. Inhabits
reedy swamps and marshes, such as rails frequent; nest on ground or iu bush or reed patch,
Fie. 462. — American Bittern. (From Tenney, after Audubon.)
ALECTORIDES: CRANES, RAILS, AND THEIR ALLIES. 665
a mere platform of dead rushes. Eggs 3-5, elliptical, about 1.92 x 1.22, white, with faintest
tinge of bluish.
IX. Order ALECTORIDES: Cranes, Rails, and their Allies.
A portion of these birds, representing the Crane type, have a general resemblance to the
foregoing, but are readily distinguished by the technical characters given beyond under the head
of Gruide, and in essential respects accord with the rest, representing the Rail type. The latter
are birds of medium and small size, with compressed body, and the head feathered. The neck
and legs are not particularly lengthened, but as a rule the toes are remarkably long, enabling
the birds to run lightly over the soft oozy ground and floating vegetation of the reedy swamps
and marshes they inhabit. This length of the toes has given a name, Macrodactyli, to the
group; their shy retiring habit of skulking among the rushes has caused them to be sometimes
called Latitores (skulkers). Their nature is preecocial; the eggs are numerous, usually laid
on the ground, in a rude nest. The nourishment is essentially the same as that of the Limicole,
but it is simply picked up from the surface, not felt for in the mud, nor stamped out of the
ground. The hallux is usually lengthened, and but little elevated, but may be short and well
up, or even absent. The feet are conspicuously lobate in some forms, but never extensively
palmate ; the phalanges of the front toes diminish in length from first to penultimate. The
lower part of the erus is bare of feathers. The wings are usually short, rounded, and concave,
the tail is very short, few-feathered, often held cocked up, and wagged in time with a bobbing
motion of the head that occurs with each step taken.
The Alectorides are schizognathous in palatal structure. The nasal bones are schizorhinal
in the Crane type, holorhinal in that of the Razls. The angle of the mandible is truncate. The
maxillo-palatines are not spongy, but thin and laminate. There are normally no basipterygoid
processes. The sternum is typically long and narrow, and may be entire, or deeply notched;
it is sometimes excavated to receive folds of the windpipe. There are two carotids ; and two
intestinal cceca are present. While the general pterylosis is not peculiar, the Alectorides nor-
mally lack the powder-down tracts so characteristic of Herons and their allies. As to the
classificatory muscles of the thigh, all five are present nearly throughout the order; exception-
ally the femoro-caudal or its accessory is wanting.
These normally preecocial and ptilopeedic (with whatever exceptions) birds are more sharpl+
distinguished from the perfectly altricial Herodiones than they are from the completely precocial
and ptilopadic Limicole ; with which latter, in fact, the Alectorides are directly connected
through the Bustards (Otidide) and the Thick-knees (idicnemide) — the line between the
two orders being probably to be drawn between these two families.
This country affords typical representatives of the two leading forms of the order, that of
the Cranes, to which Aramus belongs, and of the Rails, Coots, and Gallinules, as given beyond.
There are, however, a number of remarkable outliers that may be briefly mentioned, as fol-
lows: The large and important Old World family of the Bustards, Otidide, has already been
mentioned as the connecting link between Alectorides and Limicole. The Kagu, Rhinochetus
jubatus of New Caledonia, and the Carle, Hurypyga helias of Guiana, each the type and single
representative of a family, are near the Cranes in principal osteclogical characters, although
pterylographically they are more like Herons, both possessing powder-down tracts; and Hury-
pyga, in particular, resembles Herons in other respects. More closely allied to the Cranes are
the Trumpeters, Psophiide, of one genus and few species of Scuth America; with the Cariamas,
Cariamide, of the same country, represented only by the Cariama cristata and the Chunga
burmeistert. The Horned Screamers, Palamedetde, of South America, consisting of three
species, Palamedea cornuta, Chauna chavaria, and C. derbiana, seem to be nearer the Rails, and
also to closely approach some water birds ; one of them is by some considered the nearest living
268.
668.
666 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —ALECTORIDES —GRUIFORMES.
ally of the mesozoic Archeopteryx ; they should probably constitute an order apart. Some
gigantic extinct birds belong in the neighborhood of the rails and coots. Apparently rail-like,
but probably more truly plover-like birds are the Jacands, Parride, noted for the length of the
toes, and especially of the claws; they have a sharp spur on the wing. There are less than
12 species, usually referred tv several genera, of various parts of the world; ove of them lately
ascertained to occur in our country. Finally, the Sun-birds, Heliornithide, are a small but
remarkable family of one or two genera and about four species of tropical America, Africa, and
southern Asia. They have been classed, on account of their lobate feet and a certain general
resemblance, with the grebes; but the feet are like those of coots, and their whole structure
shows that they belong with the ralliform birds.
Waiving consideration of certain disputed forms, the Alectorides may be ranged in two
series, suborders, or superfamilies, according as they are crane-like or rail-like.
15. SuBorpER GRUIFORMES: Cranes AND THEIR ALLIES.
Represented in N. Am. by two families, Gruide and Aramide.
47. Family GRUIDZE: Cranes.
As already explained, Cranes are related to Rails in essential points of structure, though
more resembling Herons in their general aspect. They are all large birds, some being of im-
mense stature ; the legs and neck are extremely long (the latter with about 17 vertebra) ; the
wings ample, but incised along posterior border, from shortness of the outer secondaries ; the
tail short, usually of 12 broad feathers. The head is generally, in part, naked and papillose or
wattled in the adult, with a growth of hair-like feathers, or, in some cases, an upright tuft of
curiously bushy plumes. The general plumage is compact, in striking contrast to that of
Herons ; but the inner wing-quills, in most cases, are enlarged and flowing. In some species,
the sternum is enlarged and hollowed to receive a fold of the windpipe, as in Swans, and some
of the Storks and Ibises (p. 202). Bill equalling or exceeding the head in length, straight, rather
slender but strong, compressed, contracted opposite the nostrils, obtusely pointed ; nasal fosse
short, broad, shallow ; nostrils near the middle of the bill, large, broadly open and completely
pervious ; tibize naked for a great distance; tarsi scutellate in front; toes short, webbed at
base ; hallux very short, highly elevated ; inner anterior claw large. About 15 species of various
parts of the world; only 3 of them American. Most of them fall in the genus Grus ; the
elegant ‘‘ demoiselle” cranes of the Old World, Anthropoides (or Tetrapteryx) virgo and para-
disea, and the African Balearica (or Geranarchus) pavonina, are the principal exceptions.
GRUS. (Lat. grus, fem., a crane.) CRANES. Of maximum size and length of neck and
legs ; color white or gray. Head without crest; more or less bare of feathers in adult, carun-
culate, with hair-like bristles; forehead low. Character of bill, legs, and wings, typically as
above said. Tail short, 12-feathered. Tarsus broadly scutellate in front. Toes short, the
niiddle about third as long as tarsus ; inner rather exceeding outer, with enlarged claw. Inner
wing-quills lengthened, curved, pendent beyond primaries when the wing is folded. Nest on
the ground ; eggs few.
Analysis of Species.
Adult white, with black primaries. Nakedness extending backward in a point on top and side of
HOG: 5. oe. see gt we eg Se ee Oe se eS oe & Sh ea americana 668
Adults gray. Nakedness forked on top of head by a point of feathers, and not reaching on side below eye.
Smaller: wing under 20.00; bill 4.00 or less; tarsus 8.00orless . jj .«..... canadensis 669
Larger: wing over 20.00; bill 5.00 or more; tarsus 9.00 or more . eee p Sih etn hes wate ay 5 pratensis 670
G. america/na. WHITE CRANE. WHOOPING Crane. Adult with the bare part of the head
extending in a point on the occiput above, on each side below the eyes, and very hairy. Bill
very stout, gonys convex, ascending, that part of the under mandible as deep as the upper
669.
670.
GRUIDZ: CRANES.— ARAMIDZ: COURLANS. 667
opposite it. Adult plumage pure white, with black primaries, primary coverts and alula; bill
dusky greenish ; legs black ; head carmine, the hair-like feathers blackish. Young with the
head feathered; general plumage gray? varied with brown. Length about 50 inches; extent
90.00; wing 24.00; tail 9.00; tarsus 12.00; middle toe 5.00; bill 6.00. In the adult, the
windpipe is quite as long as the bird itself — 50 inches or more, and over two feet of it is coiled
away in the keel of the breast-bone, which is entirely hollowed out to receive these extraordi-
nary convolutions (fig. 99); the voice is singularly raucous and resonant. Temperate N. Am.,
but apparently of irregular distribution, not well made out; said to be or to have been common in
the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and to have extended up the coast to the Middle States.
Now scarcely known in the Eastern and Middle States. The chief line of migration appears to
be in the interior, along the Mississippi Valley, Texas to Minnesota and Dakota, where the bird
breeds, and thence spreading in the interior of the Fur Countries. So wild and wary a bird
must be much influenced by the settlement of the country. Eggs 2 (or 3?), about 3.75 X
2.65, light brownish-drab, rather sparsely marked, except at great end, with large irregular
spots of dull chocolate-brown, with paler obscure shell-markings ; shell rough, with numerous
warty elevations, and punctulate.
G. canaden’sis. (Of Canada.) NorrHeRN Brown Crane. General character of the
species next to be described; nakedness of head, and color of plumage substantially the same.
Smaller; wing 18.00-19.00; tail 7.00; tarsus 6.75-8.00 ; bill along culmen 3.00-4.00! middle
toe searcely 3.00. Alula, edge of wing, primaries, and their shafts, black? Head of adult
less naked? Supposed to be confined in the breeding season to Arctic America, thence
migrating through Western U. 8. to W. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southward.
(Supposed to be the true G. canadensis Linn.,. 1758, ex Edw. Is G. fraterculus Cass. ?
I must retain my doubts about this bird.)
G. praten’sis. (Lat. pratensis, relating to pratwm, prairie, field.) SouTHERN SAND-HILL
Crane. Common Brown or SAND-HILL CRANE. Adult with the bare part of the head
forking behind to receive a pointed extension of the occipital feathers, not reaching on the
sides below the eyes, and sparsely hairy. Bill moderately stout, with nearly straight and
scarcely ascending gonys, that part of the under mandible not so deep as the upper at the same
place. Adult plumage plumbeous-gray, never whitening; primaries, their coverts, and alula,
ashy-brown, little darker than the general plumage, the shafts of the primaries white. Young
with head feathered, and plumage varied with rusty brown. Nestlings quite reddish. Smaller
than G. americana; larger than No. 669; lefth 44.00; extent 80.00; wing 22.00; tail
9.00; tarsus 9.50-10.00; bill along culmen 5.00-6.00; middle toe 3.50-4.00. This species
has been said to lack tracheal convolutions, which is not true of the adult. The trachea is at
first simple and straight, not entering the sternum ; in the adult, about 8 inches of windpipe
is coiled away in the breast-bone, the anterior half of the keel of which is excavated to receive
the folds (fig. 100). The disposition is the same as in G. americana, but much less extensive —
8 inches as against about 27 — a difference in degree, not of kind. Temperate N. Am., rare or
irregular in the east, very abundant in the south and west; apparently breeds in sufficiently
wild places throughout its range. Eggs (2) cannot be distinguished from those of G. americana
by color or texture of shell, or dimensions; the specimens examined average less capacious,
and relatively more elongate; from 4.10 x 2.40, down to 3.65 X 2.10; average nearer 3.90 X
2.60 ; series probably including eggs of No. 669. (G. canadensis Auct., an Linn. ?)
48. Family ARAMIDZ: Courlans,
Consisting of a single genus, with probably only one species, of the warmer portions of
America; closely allied to Gruid@ in essential points of structure, and forming a connecting
link with Rallide. The osteological and pterylographie characters are completely crane-like;
!
269.
671.
668 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALECTORIDES — GRUIFORMES.
the digestive system is as in the Rails; the cca are two, situate close together. Carotids two;
syringeal muscles one pair; femoro-caudal absent.
A/RAMUS. (Etym. ignot.) CouRLANs. Bill twice as long as the head, slender but strong,
compressed, grooved for about half its length, contracted opposite the nostrils, the terminal
portion enlarged and decurved. Nostrils long, linear, pervious. Head completely feathered
to the bill; tibize half bare; tarsus scutellate anteriorly, as long as the bill, longer than middle
Fic. 463. — Parra jacana, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
toe; toes cleft, the hinder short, elevated, the outer longer than inner; wings short, rounded,
with faleate lst primary, the inner quills folding over the primaries when closed; tail short,
of 12 broad feathers.
A. pic/tus. (Lat. pictus, painted, spotted.) Sconopaczous CourRLAN. CRYING-BIRD.
Caravu. Limpxin. Chocolate-brown with a slight olivaceous or other gloss, paler on the
face, chin, and throat, most of the plumage sharply streaked with white. Length 24.00-28.00;:
extent 40.00-44.00; wing 12.00-14.00; tail 6.00-7.00; bill and tarsus, each, about 5.00.
Florida, and West Indies.
672.
PARRIDZ; JAGANAS. 669
16. SusorRDER RALLIFORMES: Ra.uirorm Birps.
Represented in North America by the three leading groups of Railide—the Rails, Galli-
nules, and Coots. (For position of Parrid@, see below.)
49. Family PARRIDAS: Jagands.
A small family of small wading-birds, of 3 genera and fewer than 12 species, combining
characters of Plovers and Rails, outwardly distinguished from either by the excessive develop-
ment of the toes and especially of the claws. These are slender, compressed, acute, nearly or
quite straight; that of the hind toe much exceeding its digit inlength. The spread of feet thus
acquired enables the birds to run with ease over the floating vegetation of the marshes they
inhabit. The American genus is Parra (fig. 363); the Old World genera are Metopodius,
Hydralector, and Hydrophasianus. The systematic position of the family has been much
questioned. On nearly all counts, it would appear to be Limicoline, not Alectoridine, and
should be removed to the other order, next to Charadriide. The bill of Parra is quite plover-
like; the spur on the wing and skin-flaps about the bill are like those of Hoplopterus and
Lobivanellus (Plovers). With this understanding, I leave the family where I find it.
PAR/RA. (Lat. parra, name of some bird.) JaganAs. Bill plover-like, contracted in
continuity, enlarged terminally; with culmen depressed to end of nasal groove, then convex
and decurved; outline of mandibular rami about straight to the gonys, which is ascending;
commissure about straight to the decurved end. Nasal grooves along the contracted portion
of the bill; nostrils small, elliptical, situate in advance of the base of the bill. Angle of mouth
with a leaf-like lobe of skin (rudimentary in our species). Forehead with a large leaf-like
lobe of skin, with free lateral and posterior edges, adherent centrally and anteriorly where
reaching base of upper mandible. A sharp horny spur on bend of wing. Primaries 10, not
peculiar in structure; outer 8 about equal and longest, overlaid by the inner quills in the
closed wing. ‘Tail very short, with soft rectrices concealed by the coverts. Tibize bare below,
and with the tarsus scutellate before and behind, the scutella tending to become confluent in a
continuous sheath. All the toes, claws included, longer than tarsus; middle toe alone nearly
as long ag tarsus; outer toe alone about as loug as‘middle, its elaw shorter than that of middle
toe; inner toe a little shorter than outer, its claw longer; hind toe only about as long as basal
joint of middle toe, but its claw much longer than itself; all the claws slender, about straight,
very acute.
P. gymno'stoma. (Gr. yuprds, gunnos, naked: oréua, stoma, mouth. Fig. 53ter.) Mexican
Jacand. Adult: General plumage rich purplish-chestnut, brightest on wings and tail, darkest
on back, breast, and sides, fading on lower belly. Quills pale yellowish-green, with dusky
edging in increasing extent from the secondaries to the outermost primary; alula and primary
coverts blackish. Bill, frontal leaf, and wing-spur yellow; base of upper mandible whitish,
and space between it and the frontal leaf carmine ;' feet greenish ; iris brown. Young: Grayish-
brown above, streaked with brownish-yellow; below, buffy-whitish, darker across breast, the
sides and lining of wings dusky; a light superciliary and dusky postocular stripe ; wing-quills
greenish-yellow as in adult; tail-feathers like upper parts. Frontal leaf rudimentary.
Wing about 5.00; bill 1.25; tarsus, and middle toe without claw, 2.00. West Indies, Mexico,
to Texas on the Lower Rio Grande.
50. Family RALLIDZ: Rails, etc.
This is a large and important family, abundantly represented iu most parts of the world.
They are birds of medium and sinall size, generally with compressed body and large strong
legs (the muscularity of the thighs is very noticeable), enabling them to run rapidly and thread
670 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALECTORIDES— RALLIFORMES.
with ease the mazes of the reedy marshes to which they are almost exclusively confined;
while by means of their long tves they are prevented from sinking’ in the mire or the floating
vegetation. The wings are never long and pointed as among Limicole, being in fact of the
shortest, most rounded and concave form found among waders; and the flight is rarely pro-
tracted to any great distance. The tail is always very short, generally of 10 or 12 soft
feathers. Details of the bill and feet vary with the genera; but the former is never sensitive
at the tip, and the latter have the hallux longer and lower down than it is in the shore-birds.
The nostrils are pervious, of variable shape. The head is completely feathered; the general
plumage is ordinarily of subdued and blended coloration, lacking much of the variegation
commonly observed in shore-birds ; the sexes are usually alike, and the changes of plumage
not great with age or season. The food, never probed for in the mud, but gathered from the
surface of the ground or water, consists of a variety of aquatic animal and vegetable substances.
The nest is a rude structure, placed on the ground, or in a tuft of reeds or other herbage; the
eggs are numerous, generally variegated in color; the young are hatched clothed. The
general habit is gregarious, aud migratory; many species occur in vast multitudes, though
their skulking ways, and the nature of their resorts, withdraw them from casual observation.
Some species swim habitually.
There appear to be upward of 150 species of the family, falling in several well-marked
groups. The Ocydromine are an Old World type of some 35 species, ranking with some
authors asa distinct family. Mr. Gray makes the African Himantornis hematopus the type
and single representative of another subfamily. Excluding the Parride and Hehormthide,
both of which are sometimes brought under Rallide, as subfamilies, the three remaining
groups are represented in this country. 5
Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera.
Ratiinz. Rails. No frontal shield, the feathers of forehead reaching bill. Toessimple. Body com-
pressed.
Bill slender, longer than head, curved, with long narrow nasal groove and linear nostrils . Rallus 271
Bill stout, not longer than head, straight, with broad nasal groove and oblong nostrils Porzana 272
As in the last; wings longer, folding nearly to end of tail » . Crex 273
GALLINULINE, Gallinules. A bare horny frontal shield. Toes simple or merely margined, Body
less compressed.
Toes without evident lateral margins; nostrils oval . Sop ioe Mas pois oe . . « Lonornis 275
Toes with lateral margins; nostrils narrow. . . » . . + Gallinula 274
Fuuictnas. Coots. A bare horny frontal shield. “Toes lobate. Body "depressed, Nostrils narrow
Fulica 276
62. Subfamily RALLINA: True Rails.
This is the largest, and central or typical, group, to which
most of the foregoing paragraph is especially applicable. The
species are strictly paludicole ; the compression of the body is at
a maximum; the form is blunt and thick behind, with a very
short tip-up tail, and tapers to a point in front; the whole fig-
ure being thus adapted to wedge through narrow places. The
wings are extremely short and rounded, and the ordinary flight
=e appears feeble and vacillating, though the migrations of many
Fic. 464, Carolina Rail. (From Species are very extensive. The tail has 12 feathers. The
Tenney, after Wilson.) flank-feathers are commonly enlarged and conspicuously col-
ored; the thighs are very muscular; the tibie are generally if not always naked below; the
tarsi seutellate in front; the toes are long, cleft, without lobes or any obvious marginal mem-
branes. The bill occurs under two principal modifications: in Rallus proper it is longer than
the head, slender, compressed, slightly curved, long-grooved, with linear nostrils; in Porzana
and most genera, however, it is shorter or not.longer than the head, straight, rather stout,
271.
RALLIDA — RALLINZA: RAILS. 671
with short broad nasal fosse, and linear-oblong nostrils — altogether somewhat as in gallina-
ceous birds. The culmen more or less obviously parts antial extension of the frontal feathers,
but never forms a frontal shield, as in the Coots and Gallinules. Of about 35 American species
or varieties only 10 occur in this country, to which must be added one straggler from Europe.
There are some 25 Old World species.
The Rails inhabit all temperate countries; they are remarkably distinguished by the
extreme narrowness or compression of the body, which enables them to thread a way through
‘the closest reeds and rushes of the marshes where they always live. Instead of long, flat,
pointed, narrow wings, with flowing tertials, characteristic of the great Plover-snipe group,
they have short, concave, rounded wings, and their flight is consequently of a different sort.
They are neither swift nor vigorous on wing. When flushed, a matter of some difficulty,
they fly in so feeble and vague a way that it is not very easy to understand how they make
the extensive migrations for which, nevertheless, they are noted. The legs, as well as more
particularly the feet, are large and strong; the thighs extremely muscular; they trust rather
to these members than to their wings in avoiding pursuit or escaping danger; probably no
birds are more accomplished pedestrians than they are. There is generally, if not always, a
slight membrane between the base of the toes, but nothing amounting even to semipalmation ;
nevertheless, some of the species swim short distances with ease. While not exactly grega-
rious, since they do not go in flocks that are actuated by a common impulse and the instinct of
socialism, nevertheless they frequent, through community of tastes and wants, the marshes
in immense numbers; where they breed, and where they appear during the migration, par-
ticularly the autumnal, the marshes appear full-stocked with them. ‘Their cries are loud,
dry, and harsh; in the spring-time the marshes resound. They scream piteously when
wounded and caught, and fight as well as they can with their strong claws. Their food
consists of all sorts of aquatic animals small enough to be swallowed — little crabs, snails,
and other small mollusks, grubs, worms, and insects. They probably .all live at times, and
in a measure at least, upon the seeds and tender shoots of aquatic plants. They lay many
white or whitish, much-spotted, oval or elliptical eggs, in a rude flat nest, built of sticks,
rush-stalks, and grasses, upon the ground. The young, of which more than one brood may
be annually raised, are generally black in the downy state, whatever the color of the adults.
They appear to be of somewhat nocturnal habits, and probably migrate mostly by night.
The flesh of some of our species is esteemed good eating, and great numbers are auunually
destroyed for the table, in the fall, when they are generally very fat.
RAL/LUS. (Low Lat. rallus, a rail, from rasle, rdle, a rattling ery.) Raius. Marsu Hens.
Bill longer than head, slender, compressed, decurved, with long nasal groove extending beyond
middle of bill. Nostrils linear, sub-basal. Hind toe not half as long as tarsus. Wings, tail,
and legs as in Railing at large. Plumage variegated above, plain below, excepting the con-
spicuously barred flanks, and lining of wings and tail. Sexes alike; young little different.
Swamps and marshes exclusively. Eggs numerous, buff and spotted. Very clamorous in
breeding season. We have 3 good species, one of them of 3 varieties.
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Large: length 12.00 or more ; wing 5.00 or more; bill 2.00 or more.
Flanks gray, with narrow white bars. Above, olive-brown or olive-gray without chestnut on
wings; below, pale rufous or ashy.
Upper parts olive-brown obscurely varied with olive-gray edges of tlie ite below with
little rufous. Atlantic . . . erepitans 673
Upper parts olive-gray, with ipseune dark stripes Below; breust quite mifouss Pacific obsoletus 674
Upper parts olive-gray with distinct dark stripes; below dullrufous. Gulf . . . . saturatus 675
Flanks dusky, with broad white bars. Above, as with olive-brown and blackish; wing-
coverts quite chestnut; below, rich rufous . . ae: soe we +e + Clegans 676
Small: length under 12.00; wing under 4.50; bill ander 1. 00.
Colors asin elegans... . oh BS Sa sal ‘ i . » « + virginianus G77
673.
674.
675.
676.
672 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— ALECTORIDES-—RALLIFORMES.
R. longiros/tris cre/pitans. (Lat. longirostris, long-billed. Lat. crepitans, crepitating,
clattering. Fig. 465.) CLAppeR Ratt. SaLtT-wATER MARSH-HEN. Mup-HEN. ¢ 9, adult:
Above, variegated with dark olive-brown and pale olive-ash, the latter edging the feathers,
the variegation dull and
blended. Below, pale dull
ochrey-brown, whitening
on the throat, frequently
ashy-shaded on the breast,
without decided cinnamon-
brown shade. Flanks, ax-
illars, and lining of wings,
fuscous-gray, with sharp
narrow white bars. Quills
and tail plain dark-brown,
without chestnut on the
coverts. Eyelids and short
superciliary line whitish.
The general toue is that
of a gray bird, without
any reddishness. Young
mostly soiled whitish below; when just from the egg entirely sooty black. Length 14.00-
16.00; extent about 20.00; wing 5.00-6.00; tail 2.00-2.50; bill 2.00-2.50; tarsus 1.67-2.00;
middle toe and claw 2.00-2.33. 9 smaller than the #. Salt marshes of Atlantic States, ex-
tremely abundant southerly; N. regularly to the middle districts, sometimes to Massachusetts.
Resident from the Carolinas southward. Breeds in profusion in the marshes of the Carolinas,
ete., where its clattering is almost incessant during the mating season. Nest a rude platform
of reeds and grasses just out of the water on the ground. Eggs 6 to 12, averaging 1.67 x 1.12,
whitish, creamy, or buff, variously speckled and blotched with reddish-brown, with a few
obscure lavender marks.
R. 1. obsole’tus. (Lat. obsoletus, obsolete; referring to the markings of the upper parts in
comparison with those of R. elegans.) CaALIvoRNIA CLAPPER Raiu. Back and scapulars
grayish-olive, indistinctly striped with dusky; breast deep ciunamon. General aspect of the
last, but quite reddish below. Wing 6.50; bill 2.25-2.50, its least depth 0.33; tarsus 2.10-
2.25. Salt marshes of the California coast.
R. 1. satura’tus. (Lat. satwratus, saturated, satiated, i.e. dark-colored.) LOvISIANA
CuApPER Ratt. In general similar to crepitans; above, olive-gray or ashy, broadly striped
with brownish-black; breast dull cinnamon. ‘ Louisiana.”
R. elegans. (Lat. elegans, choice.) Kincg Raiu. FRESH-wATER MARSH-HEN. With
a geueral resemblance to crepitans, but larger and much more brightly colored. Adult ¢ 9:
Above, distinctly streaked with brownish-black and tawny-olive, the darker color being the
central field of each feather ; becoming rich chestnut on the wing-coverts, and plain dark brown
on the hind-neck and top of head. Below, rich rufous or cinnamon-red, brightest on breast,
fading on throat and belly; a line of the same over the eye, and dusky line through eye; lower
eyelid white. Flanks and lining of wings blackish, broadly and distinctly barred with white ;
some of the crissal feathers similar. Specimens vary much in ‘the richness of the tints and
distinctness of the markings, but the reddish and streaky tone is always quite different from
the dull blended colors of crepitans. Length 17.00-19.00; extent 23.00-25.00; wing 6.00-
7.00; bill 2.10-2.50; tarsus 2.30; middle toe and claw about the same. U. S., rather south-
erly, Texas to the Middle States regularly, to Connecticut casually ; in the interior to Kansas
Fre. 465. — Clapper Rail, reduced. (Altered. from Lewis.)
677%.
272.
678.
679.
RALLIDZ —RALLINZ: RAILS. 673
and Missouri at least. Winters in the South. Inhabits preferably swamps and marshes
above tide-water. Nesting the same as crepitans; eggs not distinguishable.
R. virginia/‘nus. Vireinta Rau. Coloration exactly as in elegans, of which it is a perfect
miniature. Length 8.50-10.50; extent about 14.00; wing 4.00, always under 4.50; tail
1.50; bill 1.35-1.65; tarsus 1.25-1.50; middle toe and claw 1.50-1.75. Temperate N. Am.,
chiefly eastern U. 8., migratory, abundant, both in fresh and salt marshes. Breeds commonly
in New England; winters in the S. States and beyond. Although a regular migrant along:
the Atlantic coast, it never occurs in such immense numbers as the Carolina Rail. Eggs like
those of the foregoing in color, but much smaller, about 1.25 x 0.95. They agree in size nearly
with those of Porzana carolina, but the latter are greenish or drab, not buffy.
PORZA'NA. (Ital. porzana, Venetian name of P. maruetta.) Craxes. Bill shorter or
not longer than head, stout, high and compressed at base, tapering, obtuse ; nasal fossee ample.
Nostrils linear-oblong, near middle of bill. Otherwise generally as in Rallus; hind toe longer.
Tarsus moderately shorter than middle toe and claw. Plumage of upper parts spotty as well
as streaky. Small. Sexes alike. The 3 N. Am. species are very different (subgenerically),
but carolina closely resembles maruetta of Europe.
Analysis of Species.
Small: length 8.00 or more. Face of adult blackish, the breast slate-gray.
Bill orange, with red base. Breast spotted. (European.). . . ae 2 at Bae oes maruetta €78
Bill not orange, without red base. Breast not spotted Bales . «2h cand ee gee Pe «BS is carolina 679
Smaller: length about 6.00; wing over 3.00; yellowish-brown, barred with white - mnoveboracensis 686
Smallest: length about 5,50; wing scarcely 3.00; blackish, speckled with white and chestnut
Jjamaicensis 661
P, maruet'ta. (Fr. marouette, name of this species.) EUROPEAN SPOTTED CRAKE. ¢ @,
adult: Above, dark red-
dish-brown shaded with
olive; hind neck fine-
ly dotted, other upper
parts spotted and short-
ly striped with white,
and marked with black-
ish. Below, slate-gray,
fading to whitish on
belly, the breast spot-
ted with white, the
flanks barred with
white, the crissuin buff.
Top and front of head,
and upper throat black-
ish, the crown streaked
with this color and dark
brown. Quills and tail
dark olive-brown. Iris
reddish - brown; bill
orange, red at base;
legs yellowish-green,
livid on the joints. Length about 8.50; wing 4.75; tail 2.00; bill 0.85; tarsus 1.45; middle
toe and claw 1.75. Young lack the black face; chin whitish. Europe. Only N. Am. as
occurring in Greenland.
P. carolina, (Fig. 466.) Carotina Crake. Common Rar. Sora. ‘Ortonan.” Above,
olive-brown, varied with black, with numerous sharp white streaks and specks; flanks, axillars
43
Fic. 466.— Carolina Rail. (From Lewis.)
680.
681.
682.
273.
674 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALECTORIDES— RALLIFORMES.
and lining of wings, barred with white and blackish; belly whitish; crissum rufescent. Adult
& @: Face and central line of throat black, the rest of the throat, line over eye, and espe-
cially the breast, more or less intensely slate-gray, the sides of the breast usually also with
some obsolete whitish barring and speckling. Young: Without this black, the throat whitish,
the breast brown. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing 4.00-4.50; tail about 2.00;
bill 0.67-0.75; tarsus 1.33; middle toe and claw 1.67. Temperate N. Am., exceedingly
abundant during the migration in the reedy swamps of the Atlantic States, in August and
September, when tens of thousands are killed every year. Breeds from the Middle States
northward: winters in the 8. States and beyond. Has occurred in Greenland and Europe.
The eggs are spotted just like those of the foregoing Ralli, but are readily distinguished by
their strong drab ground-color instead of the white or creamy and pale buffy of the former.
They are rather smaller than those of R. virginianus, and perhaps more obtuse, measuring
about 1.20 by 0.90. This is the rail of sportsmen. It is also called sora or soree; the word
is colloquial and local. The word “ortolan” has a curious connection with this species.
It is Italian and French, equal to the Latin hortulanus, relating to a garden: the “ ortolan”
is Emberiza hortulana, a bunting, esteemed a great delicacy by gourmands; and our crake
has been called ortolan for no better reason than that it is also edible and sapid! The same
name is frequently applied to the bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, because it is found abun-
dantly in the same marshes in the fall, and sells in the same restaurants as the same bird as
the rail, the two being brought in together by the gunners.
P. noveboracen’sis, (Low Lat., of Noveboracum: i. e., New York.) YELLOW CRAKE.
YeLLow Rai. Adult ¢ 9: Above, streaked with blackish and brownish-yellow, thickly
marked with narrow white semicircles and transverse bars. Below, pale brownish-yellow
fading on belly, deepest on breast, where many feathers are dark-tipped; flanks blackish with
numerous white bars; crissum varied with black, white, and rufous. Lining of wings white.
A brownish-yellow superciliary line, and dark transocular stripe. Small; about 6.00 long ;
wing 3.25; tail 1.50; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.87; middle toe and claw 1.12. Eastern N. Am.,
not abundant; N. to Hudson’s Bay: winters in the 8. States. Does not appear to have been
observed in N. England N. of Mass., nor anywhere W. of the Mississippi Valley, Texas to
Minnesota ; but it is not common, is very secretive like other Rails, and readily eludes obser-
vation; its distribution may be more general than it is known to be. Eggs about 6, rich,
warm, buffy-brown, marked at the great end with a cluster of reddish-chocolate dots and
spots; 1.15 by 0.85, to 1.05 by 0.80; shape as in the foregoing.
P, jamaicen’sis. (Of Jamaica.) Lirtte Biack Crake. Adult ¢ 9: Upper parts
blackish, finely speckled and barred with white, the hind neck and fore back dark chestnut.
Head and under parts dark slate color, paler or whitening on the throat, the lower belly,
flanks, and under wing and tail-coverts barred with white. Quills and tail-feathers with
white spots. Very sinall: length about 5.50; wing 2.75~3.00; tail 1.35; tarsus 0.75. S. and
C. America and W. I., not often found in the U. 8., being one of the rarest of our birds.
Observed N. to Mass., W. to Kan., and probably occurs across to the Pacific. Eggs from New
Jersey are altogether different from those of the sora, or the yellow crake, being creamy-
white, sprinkled all over with fine dots of rich, bright reddish-brown, and with a few spots of
some little size at the great end; most like the more finely-speckled examples of the eggs of
the large Ralli; dimensions 1.05 X 0.80.
P. j. coturni/culus. (Lat. dim. of coturniz, a quail.) FARRALLONE Buack Crags. Like
the last; rather smaller, the wing 2.50; more uniform in color, the back without white specks.
Farrallone Islands, coast of California.
CREX. (Gr. xpéé, krex, Lat. crex, a crake; referring to the creaking notes.) Lanp Rarzs.
General character of Porzana. Wings much longer, folding nearly to end of tail. Tarsus
relatively shorter. Plumage above streaky, but not spotty.
683.
274,
684,
275.
RALLIDA — GALLINULINZ: GALLINULES. 675
C. praten‘sis. (Lat. pratensis, of fields.) EuRopEAN Lanp Rain. Corn Crake. Adult
& 2: Upper parts blackish-brown, variegated with brownish-yellow, the wing-coverts both
above and below rusty-reddish, the quills rufous-brown. Below, bluish-gray of varying
intensity, more ashy-whitish on throat and belly, the flanks and crissum barred with reddish-
brown. Line over eye like under parts; a dark brown stripe through eye. Bill and eyes
brown; legs pale. Length about 10.50; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 2.00; bill 0.80-1.00; tarsus
1.60. Europe; casually in Greenland ; accidental in New Jersey and Bermudas. (Wedderb.,
Zool., 1849, p. 2591; Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad., vii, 1855, p. 265; Reinh., Ibis, 1861, p. 11;
Bd., Am. Journ. Sci., xli, 1866, p. 339; Freke, Zool., v, 1881, p. 374.)
63. Subfamily GALLINULINA: Callinules.
Forehead shielded by a broad, bare, horny
plate, a prolongation and expansion of the culmen.
Bill otherwise much as in the shorter-billed rails,
like Porzana ; general form much the same,
though the body is not so compressed ; toes long,
simple, or slightly margined. The Gallinules
are somewhat Rail-like’ birds, of similar habits,
inhabiting marshes; they agree with the Coots
in possessing a frontal shield, but the feet are
not lobate, nor is the body depressed, and the
species swim no better than Rails. Some are of
| y the richest and most elegant coloration. There
af “== are about 380 species of various parts of the
Fic. 467.—European Gallinule, Gallinula chlo. World, constituting several genera, two of which,
oropus. (From Dixon.) very distinct from each other, occur iu N. Am.
GALLYNULA. (Lat. gallinula, dimin. of gallina, a hen. Fig. 467.) GALLINULES. WaTER
Hens. Mup Hens. Bill not longer than head, stout at base, tapering, compressed, the culmen
running directly up on the forehead and expanding into a frontal plate of different shape in
different species. Nostrils near middle of bill, linear. Feet large and stout; tibie naked
below ; tarsus moderately compressed, scutellate; toes very long, the outer longer than the
inner, with an evident though slight marginal membrane; claws long, slender, little curved,
acute. Wings short and rounded, but ample. Tail very short, of 12 weak feathers, with
long ample under coverts, as in Rails. Plumage not rich blue, etc. Several species of
x.
various countries.
G. galea/ta. (Lat. galeata, helmeted.) CommMoN GALLINULE. FLORIDA GALLINULE.
Rep-BILLED Mup-HEN. Adult ¢ 9 : Head, neck, and under parts, grayish-black, darkest
on the former, paler or whitening on the belly. Back brownish-olive. Wings and tail dusky;
crissum, edge of wing, outer web of first primary, and stripes on the flanks, white. Bill,
frontal plate, and ring round tibie, red, the former tipped with yellow; tarsi and toes
greenish, the joints bluish; eyes red or brown. Young: Similar, but lacking the bright
colors of the bill and legs, the former simply greenish; under parts extensively whitish.
Length 12.00-14.00; extent 20.00-22.00; wing 6.50-7.50; tail 3.00; gape of bill about
1,50; tarsus about 2.00. §. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. sometimes to New England, to
Canada West, Minnesota, Kansas, ete., and on the Pacific side to San Francisco; W. I.,
C. Am., and much of 8. Am. Resident in the Southern States, and abundant coastwise.
Nidification exactly that of the coot (beyond). Eggs 10-12-14, 1.75 x 1.25.
IONOR'NIS. (Gr. tov, ion, a violet; dpus, ornis, a bird; alluding to the rich blue color.)
SuLttan GALLInuLES. Hyacinras. General character of Gallinula ; bill very stout and
685.
276.
686.
676 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALECTORIDES —RALLIFORMES.
high, shorter than head, the nostrils near its middle, oval. Toes without lateral margins.
Plumage beautiful with rich blue, ete.
I, marti/nica. (Of Martinique.) Purpue Gauuincote. Adult g¢ 9: Head, neck, and
under parts beautiful purplish-blue, blackening on the belly, the sides and lining of wings
bluish-green, the crissum white. Above, olivaceous-green, the cervix and wing-coverts tinted
with blue. Quills and tail-feathers blackish, glossed on the outer webs with greenish.
Frontal shield blue; bill carmine, tipped with yellow; legs yellow. The frontal shield is
obovate, with a point behind. Young with the head, neck, and lower back browhish, the
under parts mostly white, mixed with ochrey. Length 10.00-12.00; extent about 22.00;
wing 6.50-7.00; tail 2.50-3.00; bill from gape about 1.25; tarsus
about 2.25; middle toe and claw about 3.00. S. Atlantic and Gulf
States, N. casually to New England, etc.; resident in the South.
Also inhabits much of C. and 8. Am., and W. I.
64, Subfamily FULICINA: Coots.
Bill and frontal plate much asin the Gallinules. Body depressed;
the under plumage thick and duck-like, to resist water. Feet
highly natatorial ; toes, including the hinder, lobate, being furnished
with large semicircular membranous flaps. The Coots are emi-
nently aquatic birds, swimming with ease, by means of their lobate
feet, like phalaropes and grebes ; but this ability results from very
slight modification of a structure shared by the Rails and Gallinules.
There are about ten species, of both hemispheres, distinguished,
among other characters, by the size and shape of the frontal shield.
That, for instance, figured (fig. 468) is of an exotic species, much
Ni larger than that of Fulica americana, and differently shaped. One
Fic. 468, — Frontal shield of Species is remarkable for having the forehead singularly carun-
a species of coot. culate; the others closely resemble our common species.
FU'LICA, (Lat. fulica, or fulia, a coot, from the sooty color; fuligo, soot.) Character
essentially as above. Tarsi shorter than middle toe, stout, very broadly scutellate. Nostrils
linear, in a broad fossa, towards middle of bill. Tibize bare below. Wings moderate, rounded,
the 2d and 3d quills usually longest. Tail very short, 12-feathered. Plumage dark slaty
color; sexes alike.
F. america/na. AMERICAN Coot. WHITE-BILLED MupD-HEN. Crow Duck. Dark
slate-color, paler or grayish below, blackening on the head and neck, tinged with olive on the
pack. Crissum, whole edge of wing, and tips of secondaries, white. Quills dusky, the outer
edge of the first primary white. Tail blackish. Bill white or flesh-color, marked with
reddish-black near the end and at base of frontal plate; feet dull olivaceous or livid yellowish-
green; iris carmine; claws black. Young similar, paler and duller. Length 14.00-16.00;
extent 23.00-27.00; wing 7.00-8.00; tail 2.00; bill from the gape 1.25-1.50; tarsus about
9.00; middle toe and claw about 3.00. The frontal plate is much smaller in this than in some
other species, in which it covers all the forehead. Entire temperate N. Am., even to Alaska
and sometimes Greenland; Mexico, Cent. Am. and W.I.; abundant, and breeds throughout
its range; migratory northerly ; resident in the South. Inhabits during the breeding season,
and mostly, reedy sloughs, pools, and sluggish streams, seeking safety in concealment rather
than by flight. Nesting most like that of grebes; a hollowed heap of bits of dead reeds,
just out of the water, sometimes “ floating ” in the sense that the mass of broken-down reeds
upon which it rests lies on the water. Eggs about a dozen, 1.75 to 2.00 long by 1.20 to 1.35
broad, shaped like an average hen’s egg, clear clay-color, uniformly and minutely dotted with
885.
LAMELLIROSTRES: ANSERINE BIRDS. 677
dark brown, the spots usually mere pin-heads, sometimes large blotches. The nest is some-
times on dry ground a little away-from water. The young hatch covered with black down,
fantastically striped with bright orange-red, with vermilion bill tipped with black.
(addenda.) F.a/tra. (Lat. atra, black.) European Coot. Like the last. Bill, inelud-
ing frontal plate, entirely white ; edge of wing, and of first primary, white, but no white on
the crissum. Europe; only N. Am. as occurring in Greenland.
xX. Order LAMELLIROSTRES: Anserine Birds.
Bill lamellate: that is, both mandibles furnished along their tomial edges with series
of laminar or teeth-like projections, alternating and fitting within each other. Covering of
bill membranous, wholly or in greatest part. Tongue fleshy, usually with horny tip, and
serrate or papillate edges corresponding to the denticulations of the bill. Feet palmate; hallux
elevated, free, simple, or lobed (rarely absent). Wings never exceedingly long, rarely very
short. Tail generally short and many-feathered. CEsophagus narrower than in the lower
flesh-eating orders, usually with a more or less specially formed crop; gizzard strongly
muscular; intestines and their cceca long ; cloaca capacious. Legs near centre of equilibrium ;
position of body in walking horizontal or nearly so. Reproduction precocial. Sexual habit
frequently polygamous. Diet various, commonly rather vegetarian than animal. There are
two remarkably diverse types of lamellirostral birds, of more than family value, by some now
made the bases of separate orders. The matter at issue may be here compromised by the
recognition of two series, or suborders, as was done in the somewhat parallel cases of Columbe,
Galline, and A lectorides.
17. Susorper ODONTOGLOSS 4: GRaALLATORIAL ANSERES.
.. Consisting of the single family of the Flamingoes; the Odontoglosse of Nitzsch, the
Amphimorphe of Huxley, the Phenicopteride of most authors. ‘The genus Phenicopterus
is so completely intermediate between the Anserine birds on the one side, and the Storks and
Herons on the other, that it can be ranged with neither of these groups, but must stand as the
type of a division by itself. Thus the skull has the long lacrymo-nasal region, the basi-
pterygoid facets, the prolonged and recurved angle of the mandible, the laminated horny sheath
of the Chenomorphe [Anatide]; but the maxillo-palatines are spongy, and the general structure
of the rostrum is quite similar to that found in Storks and Herons. The lower end of the crus
is bare, but the feet are fully webbed; and the pterylosis is said by Nitzsch to be completely
stork-like.” (Huxley.) According to Garrod, two carotids are present, but the right is much
larger than the left, which joins it low down in the neck (unique in detail, but similar to the
disposition found in Bitterns and certain Parrots; fig. 94). The femoro-caudal is absent; the
ambiens, accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus are present
(differing both from Herodiones and Anatide). The tongue is thick, fleshy, papillate, with
terminal nail, and closely tied down; cesophagus extremely narrow, with special crop; gizzard
very muscular ; intestines ample, both in length and calibre; two long ceca, constricted at
base; a capacious cloaca. Bill of unique shape, but perfectly lamellate. General configur-
ation of body and members grallatorial ; legs and very slender neck exceedingly long, exhibit-
ing even an exaggeration of the proportions of Cranes, Storks, and Herons; but toes webbed.
The external characters are so nicely balanced. between those of wading and swimming birds,
that the Flamingoes have been placed indifferently in both groups; but nearly the whole
organization corresponds essentially with that of the duck tribe, the grallatorial relationship,
in form and habits, though so evident, being rather of analogy than of affinity. The physi-
ological nature is said to be precocial; the young hatching clothed and taking directly
to the water.
277.
678 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LAMELLIROSTRES— ODON. TOGLOSSZE.
51. Family PHCRNICOPTERIDA: Flamingoes.
Bill unique in shape, abruptly bent in the middle, so that the upper surface faces the
ground in the act of feeding; im length much exceeding the head, very large and thick,
entirely invested with membrane (without the distinct terminal horny nail of Anatide).
Mandible narrower than maxilla at base, broader in the rest of its extent, ridged near the end.
Edges of upper mandible furnished with a great number (some 150) of oblique laminz ; of lower
incurved, similarly furnished. Nostrils sub-basal, nearer commissure than culmen, linear,
long. Tibize bare below for a great distance, and with the tarsi broadly scutellate before
and behind. Toes short, the anterior palmate with incised webs; the hallux. elevated, free,
Fic. 469. — American Flamingoes. (From a photograph of a group mounted by F. S. Webster.)
very small, or absent. Wings moderately long, ample, with enlarged inner secondaries
folding over and beyond the primaries when closed. Tail short. There are about 7 species of
Flamingoes, inhabiting the warmer parts of both Hemispheres; three of America besides
ours, and three or four Old World. They represent several genera of late systematists, the
most marked being that represented by P. andinus, which is three-toed. Our species falls in
the restricted genus Phenicorodias of Gray.
PHGNICO'PTERUS. (Gr. dowidnrepos, phoinikopteros, Lat. phenicopterus, a flamingo:
i. e. red-wing.) FxLamincons. Character as above. Head bare between bill and eyes.
Hind toe present. Claws flattened, obtuse. Wings ample, pointed; 1st three primaries sub-
equal and longest; inner secondaries elongated and tapering.
687.
PHENICOPTERIDZE: FLAMINGOES. 679
P. ru’ber. (Lat. ruber, red. Fig. 469.) American Rep Fuaminco. Adult #9: Plu-
mage scarlet, the primaries and most of the secondaries black. ‘Legs lake-red. Bill black on
the terminal part, orange.in the middle, the base and bare skin of head yellow. Young the
first year white or rosy. Stature nearly 5 feet; weight 6 or 8 lbs. Length about 4 feet; extent
of wings 5 feet or more; wing 16 inches; tail 6; bill 5; tibia bare 9; tarsus 13; middle toe and
claw 34. @ like @ in color, but smaller. Florida and Gulf coast, and southward; said to
have been N. to 8. Carolina. Eggs 2, 3.25 X 2.10, with thick shell, roughened with white
flaky substance, bluish when this is scraped away. The nest is described as a heap of earth
and other material, which the birds bestride in an ungainly attitude; but it is not high enough
to permit their long legs to dangle, as represented in some popular accounts and pictorial
efforts. A recent writer upon one of the Old World species states positively that the incubating
bird doubles her legs under her in the usual way ; so that, unless the American species does
differently, the accompanying illustration must be considered conventional. The young are
said, on good authority, to take to the water as soon as hatched.
18. SuBorpER ANSERES: Anserine Birps Proper.
Simply equivalent to Lamellirostres as above defined, minus the Grallatorial type. For
further characters, see on, under head of the single
52. Family ANATIDA®: Geese, Ducks, etc.
Bill lamellate, stout, more or less elevated and compressed at
base, widened or flattened at the obtuse tip, invested with soft,
tough, leathery membrane, except at the end, which is furnished
with a hard, horny “nail,” generally somewhat overhanging,
sometimes small and distinct, sometimes large and fused; that is,
changing insensibly into the general covering. (This soft cover-
ing is regarded by some as a prolonged cere; but this is purely
theoretical.) Body full, heavy, flattened beneath; neck of variable
length; head large; eyes small. No antic; the frontal: feathers
encroaching on the culmen with a convex or pointed outline, and forming other projections on
the sides of the bill, and in the interramal space, which latter is broad and long, the mandib-
ular crura being united only at the end by » broad short bridge; no culminal ridge nor keel
of gonys. Nostrils subbasal, median, or subterminal, elevated, open, naked, usually broadly
oval. Wings of moderate length (rarely very short), stiff, strong, pointed, conferring rapid,
vigorous, whistling flight; a wild duck at full speed is said to make ninety miles an hour.
Tail of variable shape, but usually short and rounded, never forked, sometimes cuneate, of
12-24 feathers, usually 14-16, the under coverts very long and full, forming a conspicuous
erissal tuft. Legs short; knees buried in the general integument ; tibiee feathered nearly or
quite to the suffrago; tarsi reticulate or scutellate, or both ; toes palmate, the hinder always
present and free, simple or lobate. Wing occasionally spurred.
Like the gallinaceous, the anserine type is a familiar one, comprising all kinds of ‘ water-
fowl,” among which are the originals of all our domestic breeds of swans, geese, and ducks,
that vie with poultry in point of economic consequence, ornament our parks, or furnish exquisite
material for wearing apparel, as well as the filling of our pillows and couches. But additional
information respecting the structure of this, the largest and most important family of swimming
birds, may be desirable. It is definitely characterized by many important points besides those
external features just stated. In palatal structure, Anatide are desmognathous (fig. 78) ; ‘‘ the
laerymal region of the skull is remarkably long [the lacrymal bone itself is large]. The basi-
aphenoidal rostrum has oval sessile basipterygoid facets. The flat and lamellar maxillo-palatines
Fie. 470. — Wild Duck.
680 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. - LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
unite and form a bridge across the palate. The angle of the mandible is produced and greatly
recurved” (Hualey). The interorbital septum is more or less completely ossified, and the
orbits are better defined than in many birds, by well-developed lacrymal and post-frontal pro-
cesses. The premaxillary is large, and its three prongs are so extensively fused that only a
slight nasal aperture remains. Sometimes the top of the skull shows crescentic depressions for
lodgment of the supraorbital gland, the secretion of which lubricates the nasal passages; but
this feature is never so marked as in most of the piscivorous swimmers (fig. 63). The sternum is
long and broad, more or less transverse posteriorly, with a simple notch or fenestra on each
side; sometimes its keel is curiously hollowed out for a purpose stated beyond. The vertebree
vary a good deal in number, owing to the variability of the cervicals, which run up to 24 in
some swans. The pelvis is ample, arched and extensively ossified, with small foramina, showing
nothing of the straight, constricted, largely fenestrated figure prevalent among lower water-
birds. The oil-gland is present, tufted. The carotids are two. The ambiens, femoro-caudal
and its accessory and semitendinosus are present. The tongue is large and fleshy; its main
bone (glosso-hyal ; fig. 72) is highly developed; its sides show processes corresponding to
the lamelle of the bill. The gullet is not so ample as in the flesh-eating swimmers. The
gizzard resembles that of a fowl in its shape and great muscularity; the muscles are deep-
colored, and well show the typical disposition of large hemispherical lateral masses converging
to central tendons. The coca vary with the genera according to food; they are very long —
12 or 15 inches—in some of the herbivorous species. The male genital armature merits
special notice. ‘‘In some Natatores which copulate on the water there is provision for more
efficient coitus than by simple contact of everted cloace; and in the Anatide a long penis is
developed. Itis essentially a sacular production of a highly vascular part of the lining niein-
brane of the cloaca. . . . In the passive state it is coiled up like a screw by the elasticity of
associated ligamentous structure. . . . A groove commencing widely at the base follows the
spiral turns of the sac to its termination ; the sperm ducts open upon papille at the base of this
groove. This form of pénis has a muscle by which it can be everted, protruded and raiséd.”
(Owen.) Among the most interesting structures of the Anatide are the curious modifications
of the windpipe, prevailing almost throughout the family. In a number of swans, this organ
enters a cavity in the keel of the sternum, doubles on itself and then emerges to pass to the
lungs, forming either a horizontal or a vertical coil. In some geese the windpipe coils between
the pectoral muscles and the skin. These vagaries of the windpipe are not, however, confined
to the present family, occurring in some of the cranes, ibises, certain Galline, and also, it is
said, in the curious snipe, Rhynchea capensis. In most of the ducks, furthermore, and in the
mergansers, the lower larynx is a singularly enlarged and complicated affair; several of the
lower rings of the trachea being soldered together and greatly magnified to produce a large
irregularly shaped capsule. Its use is not known; in some sense it is a sexual character,
since it is only fully developed in the male; it varies greatly in size and shape in different
species (figs. 3, 98). Finally, it should be added, that the pterylosis of the family is perfectly
definite, a certain type of tract-formation prevailing throughout, with very slight minor modi-
fications.
It is not easy to overrate the economic importance of this large family. It is true that the
mergansers, some of the sea ducks, and certain maritime geese, that feed chiefly upon animal
substances, are scarcely fit for food; but the great: majority afford a bounteous’ supply of sapid
meat, a chief dependence, indeed, with the population of some inhospitable regions. Such is
the case, for example, in the boreal parts of this continent, whither vast bands of water-fowl
resort to breed during the fleeting arctic summer. Their coming marks a season of compara-
tive plenty in places where hunger often pinches the belly, and their warm downy covering
is patched into garments almost cold-proof.
The general traits of the anserine birds are too well known to require more than passing
ANATIDAt — CYGNINZA: SWANS. 681
notice. They are salacious to a degree remarkable even in the hot-blooded, passionate class of
birds; a circumstance rendering the production of hybrids frequent, and favoring the study of
this subject. If we recall the peculiar actions of geese nipping herbage, and of ducks ‘‘ dab-
bling” in the water, and know that some species, as the mergansers, pursue fish and other live
prey under water, we have the principal modes of feeding. Nidification is usually on the
ground; sometimes in a hollow tree; the nest is often warmly lined with live feathers; the
eggs are usually of some plain pale color, as greenish, drab, or creamy; the clutch varies in
number, commonly ranging from half a dozen to a dozen anda half. The young are clothed
with stiffish down, and swim at once. Among the ducks and mergansers, marked sexual diver-
sity in color is the rule; the reverse is the case with swans and geese. A notewurthy color-
ation of many species, especially of ducks, is the speculum; a brightly colored, generally
iridescent, area on the secondary quills. Most of the species are migratory, particularly those
of the northern hemisphere ; the flight is performed in bands, that seem to preserve discipline
as well as companionship ; and with such regularity, that no birds are better entitled to the
claim of weather-prophets.
There are upward of 175 species of this family, inhabiting all parts of the world. They
differ a good deal in minor details, and represent 4 number of peculiar genera aside from the
ordinary types, though none are so aberrant as to endanger the integrity of the group. It is
difficult to establish divisions higher than generic, because the swans, geese, and ducks, if not
also the mergansers, are closely united by intermediate genera. But the five groups presented
as subfamilies in the following pages, and representing the whole of the family, may be con-
veniently recognized, and are readily distinguished, so far as our species are concerned, by the
characters assigned. The genera will be found analyzed under heads of their respective
subfamilies.
Analysis of Subfamilies.
Cyenina. Swans, Lores partly naked. Tarsi reticulate. Hallux simple. Sexes alike.
ANSERIN2E. Geese. Lores feathered. Tarsi reticulate. Hallux simple. Sexes alike.
AnaTINaE. River Ducks. Lores feathered. Tarsi scutellate in front. Hallux simple. Bill flattened. Sexes
unlike.
FuLIGULINZ. Sea Ducks. Lores feathered. Tarsi scutellate in front. Hallux lobate. Bill flattened.
Sexes unlike.
MereGinze. Mergansers. Lores feathered. Tarsi scutellate in front. Hallux lobate. Bill cylindric. Sexes
unlike.
65. Subfamily CYGNINA: Swans.
A strip‘of bare skin between the eye and bill ; tarsi
reticulate, and shorter than middle toe and claw ;
hind toe simple, or with very slight lobe. In the
Swans, the neck is of extreme length and flexibility,
exceeding the trunk, with up to 22 or 26 vertebre ;
the movements and attitudes on the water are pro-
verbially elegant and graceful. The bill equals or
exceeds the head in length; it is high and com-
pressed at base (where sometimes tuberculate), flat-
ter and widened at the end; the nostrils are median.
The lores are naked in the adults, though usually
feathered in the young. Some of the inner remiges
SS are usually enlarged, and when elevated in a pecu-
Fig. 471. ~- Mute Swan, Cygnus olor. (From liar position of the wing, they act as sails to help the
Dixon.) course of the bird over the water. The reticulate
tarsi are shorter than the middle toe and claw. The hallux is scarcely or uot lobate. The legs
are placed rather far back for this family, so that the gait is awkward and constrained. The
278.
688,
689.
682 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
tail is short, of 20 to 24 feathers. Although the voice is sonorous at times, an habitual reti-
cence of Swans contrasts strongly with the noisy gabbling of Geese and Ducks; it is hardly
necessary to add, that their fancied musical ability, either in health or at the approach of
death, is not confirmed by examination of their vocal apparatus; this is in many cases con-
voluted as already described, but there are no syringeal muscles nor other apparatus for modu-
lating the voice. There are eight or ten species, of various countries, among them the cele-
brated black swan of Australia, Chenopsis atrata, the black-necked swan of South America,
Sthenelus melanocorypha (Cygnus nigricollis of authors). The Coscoroba anatoides of the
same country, a species with feathered lores, often referred here, is perhaps better placed
among Anatene. In none of these does the trachea enter the breast-bone. The Paleocycnus
Salconert is a large fossil species from Malta. Our two species belong to the restricted genus
Olor, distinguished from Cygnus proper by absence of a tubercle at the base of the bill
(seen in fig. 471). The sexes are alike throughout the group.
CYGNUS. (Gr. kixvos, kuknos, Lat. cyenus or cygnus, a swan.) WHITE Swans. Neck of
extreme length. Trachea normally entering sternum. Bill tuberculate or not, the’ skinny
covering in the adults reaching to the eyes; not shorter than head, very high at base, where
deeper than wide, broader and flattening toward the rounded end; culminal ridge at base
about horizontal, very broad and flat or even excavated, the sides of the bill there nearly
vertical. Nostrils near middle of bill, high up. Legs behind centre of equilibrium when
the body is horizontal. Tibiee bare below. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw, entirely
reticulate; toes long, with full webs, the anterior reticulate on top for a distance, then scu-
tellate. Hallux small, elevate, with slight lobe. Wings very long and ample. Tail short,
rounded (in Olor) or wedged (in Cygnus proper), of twenty or twenty-four feathers. Size
large: adults entirely white, with black bill and feet, former usually in part yellow: young
rusty on head; younger gray or ashy. Sexes alike. Our species 4-5 feet long. They all belong
to Olor, having non-tuberculate bill; rounded tail, the young with the down on the sides
of the bill forming distinct antize; and the inner webs of the outer three primaries, with outer
webs of the 2d, 3d, and 4th, sinuated.
Analysis of Species.
Tail of 24 feathers(normally). Bill entirely black, rather longer than head, nostrils fairly in its basal half
bucoinator 688
Tail of 20 feathers (normally). Bill normally with a small pele spot not reaching the nostrils, scarcely
or not larger than head, nostrils at the middle 5 : . columbianus 689
Tail of 20 feathers (normally). Bill normally with a great yellow apace extending beyond the nostrils,
scarcely or not longer than head, nostrils at the middle. .......+..... musicus 690
C. buccina’tor. (Lat. buccinator, a trumpeter; buccina, a trumpet; bucca, the cheek.)
TRUMPETER Swan. Adult g 9: Plumage white, with or without wash of rusty on head.
Bill and feet entirely black. Bill more developed in the terminal portion than that of C.
americanus, throwing the nostrils fairly within the basal half, and making the distance from
the anterior angle of the eye to the hind edge of the nostril equal to the distance thence to
the end of the bill. Tail-feathers normally 24. Largest: length 5 feet or more when full
grown, and extent about 8 feet; wing 2 feet or more; tail 8-9 inches. Bill about 4.50 inches
along culmen, from eye to tip nearly 6.00; tarsus 4.50-5.00; middle toe and claw 5.50-6.00.
Young smaller; bill and feet not perfectly black; plumage grayish, the head and upper neck
rusty-brown. This swan chiefly inhabits N. Am. from the Mississippi valley westward, Texas
to the fur countries; Great Lakes; Hudson’s Bay; Canada; casual on the Atlantic Coast.
Breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward; in winter south to the Gulf.
C. columbia/nus. (Of the Columbia River. Fig. 472.) Common AMERICAN Swan. WHIsT-
ting Swan. Adult ¢ 9: Plumage as before. Bill with a yellow spot or blotch in front of
eye, usually small, sometimes wanting. Bill less lengthened and expanded terminally than in
C. buccinator, the nostrils across the middle; the distance’ from the anterior angle of the eye
ANATIDZA — ANSERINZE: GEESE. 683
to the hind edge of the nostril more than thence to the end of the bill. Tail-feathers normally
20. Length under 5 feet; extent 6 or 7 feet; wing uuder 2 feet; tail 7 or 8 inches. Bill about
4.00 along culmen ;
from eye to tip of bill un-
der 5.00; tarsus 4.00;
middle toe and claw
5.50. Young smaller;
plumage ashy - gray,
with reddish - brown
wash on head and upper
neck ; bill in part flesh-
colored, the lores plu-
mulose; feet yellowish
flesh-color. N. Am. at
large, U. S. in winter
and during the migra-
tion ; the usual species
along the Atlantic coast,
and more numerous on
either coast than in in-
terior -U. S.; rare or
casual, however, in
New England and eastward. Breeds only in the high north. Eggs 2-5, from 4.00 & 2.25
to 4.50 X 2.50, with rough dull white shell, with more or less brownish discoloration.
690. C. mu'sicus. (Gr. povoixds, mousikos, Lat. musicus, musical.) WHoorine Swan. Similar
to C. columbianus, and having the same shape of the bill, but instead of a small yellow spot
behind the nostrils there is a great yellow blotch, occupying one half or more of the bill and
extending beyond the nostrils. Only N. Am. as occurring in Greenland: Reinh., Ibis, 1861,
p. 13 of the reprint; Freke, Zodl., v, 1881, p. 372.
691. [C. be/wicki. (To Thos. Bewick.) Brwicn’s Swan. A European species, incorrectly
attributed to N. A. in the 2d ed. of the Check List, which see, p. 111.]
Fie. 472. — Whistling Swan. (From Lewis.)
66. Subfamily ANSERINAE: Geese.
Lores completely feathered ; tarsi entirely
reticulate; hind toe simple. Neck in length
between that of swans and of ducks; cervical
vertebrae about 16; body elevated and not so
much flattened as in the ducks; legs relatively
longer; tarsus generally exceeding, or at least
not shorter than, the middle toe; bill generally
rather short, high and compressed at base, and
tapering to tip, which is less widened and flat-
tened than is usual among ducks and almost
wholly occupied by the broad nail. The
species as a rule are more terrestrial, and walk
F 1d. 473. — Common (a) and Black (b) Brant. better, than ducks; they are generally herbiv-
orous, although several maritime species (Philacte, and an allied South American group) are
animal-feeders, and their flesh is rank. Both sexes attend to the young. A notable: trait,
shared by the swans, is their mode of resenting intrusion by hissing with outstretched neck,
279.
692.
693.
684 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
and striking with the wings. With some exceptions the plumage is not so bright and variegated
as that of ducks, and the speculum is wanting ; there is only an annual moult, and no seasonal
change of plumage ; the sexes are generally alike. Most of the geese fall in or very near the
genera Anser and Bernicla, and are modelled in the likeness of the domestic breeds. The more
notable exotic forms are: the Australian Anseranas melanoleuca and Cereopsis nove-hollandie,
the former having the feet little more than semipalmate, the latter scarcely aquatic, with very
long legs, much bare above the suffrago, and the bill small, very membranous; the African
Plectropterus gambensis, a purplish-black bird with spurs on the wings and a daBevale at the
base of the bill; the Asiatic Cynopsis cygnoides, frequently domesticated, a true goose with
a swan-like aspect; the Egyptian goose, Chenalopex egyptiaca. ,The geese appear to pass
directly into the ducks through the rather large shieldrake group, the species of which resemble
the latter in many external features, but are more essentially like geese. Characteristic exam-
ples of this group are the European Tadorna vulpanser and Casarca rutila; there are several
others in the southern hemisphere; our long-legged arboricole genus Dendrocygna belongs
in the immediate vicinity, while the domesticated musk duck, Catrina moschata, is not far
removed. Through such forms as these we are brought directly among the ducks proper.
Analysis of Genera,
Bill pink; feet yellow; under parts extensively black. Bill tapering, not longer than head. Lamelle
moderately exposed. . 6 6 6 6 8 ee ew ete ee © 8 * a . Anser 279
Bill and feet pink. Plumage white, or much varied. Bill tapering, not. loniees ‘than eed. Lamellz
completelyexposed . g@ # & 46 HRS HR ER ER RED Dw |S Rw Sa we we Chen 280
Bill and feet black ; head and neck black, with white spaces Bill tapering, shorter than head. Lamelle
0076 (C2) 2 ee a a a a BEA 13s ats toe SEA ae ers Bernicla 282
Bill and feet light; plumage bluish, with black crescents, Bill tapering, not longer than head. Lamelle
POS ERO we we Em a a ke Re me we Philacte 281
Bill and feet various; plumage much variegated. Bill scarcely tapering, longer than head Dendrocygna 283
Ogs. — These characters only indicate the N. Am. species.
AN/SER. (Lat. anser, a goose.) Gray Gerrse. Bill shorter or not longer than head,
very stout, tapering to obtuse tip, at base rather higher than broad. Lateral lamelle some-
what exposed by bevelling of tomia. Nostrils in basal half of bill, their anterior edge only
reaching its middle. Tibie naked below. Tarsus rather shorter than middle toe and claw,
entirely reticulate, Anterior toes full-webbed, on top reticulate at base, then scutellate.
Hind toe moderate, reaching the ground. Tail of 16-++ feathers. Color not white, nor
with black head, neck, bill, or feet; the bill pink, the feet yellow (in our species).
Analysis of Varieties.
Bill small; culmen 1.50-1.75. 6. 2 6 6 0 ee ee he ee ee eee ee albifrons 692
Bill large; culmen 1.75-2.00. . . » . - al GE dae cag at ee se) GRE RT NaC Ses Ma ee 88 + + « 6 « gambeli 693
A. al/bifrons. (Lat. albus, white; frons, forehead.) EUROPEAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.
The above is the slight character which appears to separate this from the next. Only N. Am.
as occurring in Greenland.
A. a. gam/beli. (To Wm. Gambel.) AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GoOsE. SPECKLE-
BELLY. Tail normally 16-feathered. Bill smooth; the laminz moderately exposed. Adult ¢
Q: Bill pink, pale lake or carmine, the nails white. Feet yellow. Eyes brown. Claws
white. A white band along base of upper mandible, bordered behind by blackish ; upper tail-
coverts white. Under parts whitish, the breast and belly more or less extensively patched or
blotched with black, in high plumage perhaps mostly black, the sides of the rump, and the
crissum, white. Head and neck dark grayish-brown, paler on the lower neck in front, where
passing into the whitish black-blotched breast. Back dark ashy-gray, the feathers anteriorly
tipped with brown, farther back with pale gray. Secondaries and ends of primaries dusky,
more ashy toward base, the primary coverts and outer webs of primaries ashy, the greater
coverts and secondaries bordered with whitish, the primaries and coverts edged and tipped
280.
694.
695.
ANATIDA — ANSERINZ: GEESE. 685
with white ; shafts of quills white. Young: Darker, browner; the gray and ashy colors rather
brown, the base of the tail not pure white, no white on forehead, which is darker than rest
of head, no black on under parts, the bill obscured, the nail blackish, the feet pale. Length
about 27.00 inches; extent 60.00; wing 16.10-17.00; tail 5.50; tarsus 2.75; middle toe
and claw rather more; bill up to 2.00. N. Am. at large, breeding in the far north, wintering
in the U. S8., in greater numbers on the Pacific side than in the interior or along the Atlantic.
Eggs 6-7, 2.90 to 3.30 long by 2.10 broad, elliptical, smooth dull yellowish with an olive
shade, in places discolored with a darker tint.
CHEN. (Gr. xqv, chen, a goose.) Snow GeEEsE. Bill about as long as head, very stout
aud high at base, where higher than broad, the under mandible very deep. Tomial edges
of much bevelled off, and receding from each other, leaving an elliptical space, in which the
large prominent teeth are fully exposed. Nostrils in basal half of bill. Feet as in Anser, but
tarsus if anything longer than middle toe and claw. Color white, at least on head. Bill and
feet reddish.
Analysis of Species.
Not white. Nearly thesizeofthenext . . . ©... 1 ee eee
Pure white, with black wing-tips; head ciistye or abt:
Bin Yee ee ae cerulescens 694
Large: length about 30.00; wing 17.00 or more. Billsmooth. . . Be) Sidra: Ge. tg hyperboreus 695
Small: length about 25.00; wing 16.00 or less. Billsmooth ..........4.084.. albatus 696
Very small: under 24.00; wing 15.00 or less. Billstudded with papillae. .... - . rossi 697
C. cerules/cens. (Lat. cerulescens, bluish.) BiLuE-SnNow Gooss. Bill eae feet flesh-pink,
former with the recess between the mandibles black, the nails whitish; iris dark brown;
claws dusky. Head and neck above white, the neck below, passing on to the back and
breast, dusky-gray, then fading into whitish on the under parts, changing on the wings into
fine bluish-gray, or silvery-ash ; rump and upper tail-coverts whitish; quills and tail-feathers
dusky, edged with whitish, the primaries black. Size of the snow goose or rather less, and
closely resembling the
young of that species.
Length about 25.00;
wing 16.00; bill 2.25 ;
tarsus 3.00. N. Am.
at large, not very com-
mon or well-known.
C. hyperbo’reus. (Lat.
hyperboreus, beyond
the north wind.) Snow
GOOSE. WHITE
BRANT. Bill ecar-
mine-red or pale pur-
plish with a salmon
tinge, the nails white,
the recess between the
mandibles black. Eyes
dark brown. Feet dull
lake-red, the claws
blackish. Adult plu-
mage pure white, the Fic. 474, —Emperor Goose. (From Dall.)
head usually washed with rusty-brown, like a swan’s, the ends of the primaries blackening.
Young resembling the last, but the head not white while other parts are colored. Large:
length 27.00-31.00 ; extent 57.00-62.00; wing 17.00-19.00; tail 6.50; bill 2.35-2.60; tarsus
3.00-3.50; middle toe and claw the same. Weight 5 or 6 lbs. The dimensions grade down
696.
697,
281.
698.
282.
686 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES— ANSERES.
to those of the next. N. Am. at large; breeds in high latitudes, migrating and wintering in
the U.S. Abundant in the interior and along the Pacific coast, less so on the Atlantic:
Casual in Europe. Eggs about 3.00 x 2.00, yellowish-white. *
C. h. alba/tus. (Lat. albatus, whitened.) Lesser Snow Goossz. Coloration precisely
as in the last; size less, but grading up to that of hyperboreus. Length about 25.00; wing
15.50; tail 5.50; bill 2.00-2.12; tarsus 2.90-3.00. Western N. Am., probably also Eastern ;
accidental in Ireland.
C. ros'si. (To B. R. Ross.) Ross’ Gooss. Hornep Wavey. Least Snow Goose.
Coloration as in the foregoing. Bill with the outline of the feathers on the side nearly straight
instead of strongly convex, studded at base with numerous papille, and less exposure of the
teeth. Very small, no larger than a mallard duck. Length about 21.00; wing 14.50; tail
5.00 ; bill 1.50; tarsus 2.50. Arctic America, U. S. in winter, western. A curious little white
goose, so different from the other species of Chen as to have been made type of a genus
Exanthemops.
PHILACTE. (Gr. didos, philos, loving; dkrn, akte, the seashore.) PAINTED GEESE.
Superficial aspect of Chen. Skull with superorbital depressions (wanting in other N. Am.
geese). Teeth of bill
exposed posteriorly ;
the nail prominent ;
bill moderately ro-
bust. Tarsus not
longer than middle
toe and claw. Plu-
mage variegated, but
no metallic tints ; bill
and feet light-colored.
Webbing of the toes
incised. Sexes alike.
Arctie and maritime.
P. cana/gica. (Of
the island of Kanaga.
Fig. 474.) Parnrep
GoosE. EMPEROR
Goose. Wavy blu-
ish-gray, with laven-
der or lilac tinting, Fic, 475. Common Brant. (From Lewis.)
and sharp black crescentic marks ; head, nape, and tail white, former often washed with amber-
yellow; throat black, white-speckled; quills varied with black and white; eye brown; feet
flesh-color. Length 25.00-28.00; wing 15.00-17.00; tail 5.00-6.00; bill 1.50; tarsus 3.00.
N. W. coast; abundant at mouth of Yukon; wintering chiefly in 8. Alaska and the Aleutian
Islands, breeding N. to Behring Strait at least; also on the Siberian side. A remarkable
species, unlike any other goose of our country; strictly maritime. Its flesh is rank, and
searcely fit for food. Eggs about 5, 3.85 & 2.00, white, with fine pale brown dotting, giving a
general pale dirty-brown color.
BER/NICLA. (Latinized from English barnacle.) BARNACLE GEESE. BRANT GEESE.
Bill short, the nostrils at its middle. Lamine of bill not exposed, the commissure being
straight. Head and neck black, with white spaces. Bill and feet black. Hind toe very
small. Tail of 16-18 feathers. Sexes alike. Several species, of both Hemispheres. (The name
“ barnacle ” commemorates the fable that these birds sprouted from the little cirripeds called
barnacles ; ‘‘ brent” or ‘‘ brant” is simply ‘‘ burnt” goose, from the dark color, as if charred.)
699.
700.
ANATIDHA — ANSERINZ!: GEESE. 687
Analysis of Species and Varieties.
Forehead, cheeks, and chin white. (European.) . . . 6 1. + + ee 6 + © © 0 © « deucopsis 699
Forehead, cheeks, and chin black; white stripes on neck.
Black of neck well defined against light lower parts . . . - «6 © © © «© «© © © «© «© « brenta 700
Black of neck extending over breast STR et pasa ptat WY AS
Forehead black; cheeks and chin white; no white stripes on neck.
Tail normally 18-feathered. Large.
No white collar in black oflowerneck . . . 1. 2 1 6 1 2 ew we ww ew ee COMadensis 702
A white collar in black oflowerneck . . . 1. 1... 1 ee + © oe + « s . Occidentalis T02a
Tail normally 16-feathered. Small.
No white collar in black oflower neck. . 2. 1. 1 1 1 6 1 ee we we ww ss Atchinsi 704
A white collar in black of lowerneck . . 2. 1 6 et ee we ew . . leucoparia 703
eet ew ee wt we oe =«6igricans 701
B. leucop’sis. (Gr. deuxds, leucos, white; dys, opsis, appearance: the face white.)
BARNACLE Goose. Tail normally of 16 feathers. Bill, feet, and claws black. Iris brown.
Front and sides of head
and chin white, with a
dark line at base of bill,
and thence to eye. Rest
of head and neck all
around black, prolonged
on the back and wings,
the feathers of the latter
bluish, gray at base and
edged at end with whit-
ish; rump and tail black.
Upper and under tail-
coverts, sides of rump,
belly, and hind breast,
white or whitish, the
sides shaded with gray.
Quills dusky, blackening
at ends, tinged on the
exposed surfaces with
ashy. Sexes similar; 9
duller colored and smaller
than g. Length of ¢
28.00; extent 55.00;
wing 17.00; tail 6.00;
bill 1.50; tarsus 2.75 ;
middle toe and claw the
same. Europe; very rare
and casual in N. Ain. ex-
cepting Greenland,where
regular. (Hudgon’s Bay,
Am. Nat., ii, 1868, p. 49.
N. Carolina, Am. Nat.,
v, 1871, p. 10. Long Island, Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, 1877, p. 18. Tlinois, Forest and Stream,
Nov. 23, 1876.) a
B. bren’‘ta. (Quasi-Lat. brenthus, brentus, burnt. Fig. 475.) Brant Goose. Bill, feet, and
claws black ; iris brown. Head and neck all around, and a little of fore part of body, glossy-
black, well defined against the color of the breast : on each side of the neck a small patch of
white streaks; frequently also white touches on eyelid and chin. Breast ashy-gray, beginning
Fig. 476, — Black Brant. (From American Field.)
701.
702,
7WO2a.
688 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
abruptly from the black, fading on the belly and crissum into white, shaded along the sides
of the body; upper parts brownish-gray, the feathers of the dorsal region with paler gray
tips; rump darker ; upper tail-coverts white. Tail-feathers, wing-quills, and primary-coverts
blackish, the inner quills whitish toward base. Length 24.00; extent 48.00; wing 13.00;
tail 4.50; bill 1.33; tarsus 2.25; middle toe and claw about the same. Europe. In Norti
America, chiefly along the Atlantic Coast, being more maritime than other U. 8. geese, bui
still found inland on the great lakes and rivers. U.S. only in winter, and during the migra-
tious, when abundant. Breeds in high latitudes, to the Arctie Coast.
B. b. nig/ricans. (Lat. nigricans, being blackish. Fig. 476.) Buack Brant. Similar tothe
last ; black of jugulum extending over most of under parts, fading on belly and crissum, without
abrupt line of demarcation on breast; white neck-patches usually larger ana meeting in front.
Size of the last. Both coasts; very abundant on the Pacific side, not common on the Atlantic.
Migrations and breeding resorts the same.
B. canaden’sis. (Of Canada. Fig. 477.) Canapa Goose. Common WiLp Goose. Tail nor-
mally 18 - feathered.
Bill, feet, head, and
neck black; on the chin
a broad white patch
“ mounting on sides of
head behind eyes, some-
times broken on chin;
not extending forward
. to jaws ; white touches
usually on eyelids. Up-
= per tail-coverts definite-
= ly white; rump black-
ish ; tail-feathers black.
General color brown-
ish-gray, paler or more
ashy-gray below, all
the feathers with paler
gray or whitish edges,
those of sides of body
z usually darker than
rest of under parts, the
lower belly and crissum
definitely white. Iris
brown. Length 3 feet
or more; extent 5 feet;
wing 18-20 inches ; tail 7.00; tarsus 3.00-3.50; middle toe and claw more; bill about 2.00.
N. Am. at large. This is the most generally distributed and on the whole the most abundant
goose of oar country. It breeds in various parts of the U. S., sometimes im trees, but the
greater number of individuals pass further north to nest. Eggs 5 to 9, usually 5 or 6, ellip-
soidal, smooth, pale dull greenish, about 3.50 2.50.
B. c. occidentalis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) LARGER WHITE-CHEEKED Goose. Similar
to the last ; of equal size, and tail 18-feathered. Coloration averaging darker than in the last,
the under parts especially, against which the white of the anal and crissal region is well-defined.
Black of neck bounded below in front by a white half-collar. Bill averaging shorter, and
tarsus relatively longer. The best samples are well marked; others shade into the common
form. Pacific coast, especially Alaska. (The bird here indicated is B. occidentalis Bd. Whether
Fie. 477. — Canada Goose. (From Lewis.)
03.
‘04.
83.
105.
to6.
ANATIDAI— ANATINZ!: RIVER DUCKS. 689
leucoparia Brdt.? But not leucoparia Cass. Not in the Check List, 1882, not having been
there formally recognized as a subspecies. )
B. c. leucopari’a, (Gr. Acuxds, leukos, white ; maped, pareia, cheek.) SMALLER WHITE-
CHEEKED Goose. Similar to the last in color; but much smaller, and tail 16-feathered, thus
resembling No. 704, from which distinguished as occidentalis is from canadensis. Length 24.00
or less; wing about 15.00. This is the small ‘‘white-necked goose” figured by Cassin, IIL,
pl. 45, as B. leucoparia, Brandt. Pacific coast, especially Alaska.
B. ec. hut/chinsi. (To Mr. Hutchins.) Hurcuins’ Gooss. Tail normally 16-feathered.
Coloration as in the Canada goose. Size much less. Length 25.00-30.00; extent about
4 feet; wing 15.00-17.00; tail 5.00-6.00; bill 1.50; tarsus under 3.00. There seems little
probability of establishing good character of more than one species of the canadensis group,
with probably four varieties: large, no collar (702); small, no collar (704); large, collared
(702a) ; small, collared (708).
DENDROCY’GNA. (Gr. dévdpov, dendron, a tree; Lat. cygnus, a swan.) TREE Ducxs.
Duck-like arboricole geese, with the bill longer than the head, terminated by a prominent
decurved nail, the lamellz not projecting ; nostrils small, oval, in basal half of bill; legs very
long, the tibize extensively denuded below ; hind toe lengthened, more than one-third as long
as the tarsus; tarsi entirely reticulate, as in geese proper. Wings ample, rounded; 1st quill
shorter than 4th. Coloration variegated. Sexes similar. Nest in trees. In addition to the
two following species, a third, D. arborea, of the West Indies, may occur in the South.
Analysis of Species.
Bill and feet blackish ; coloration largely cinnamon; no white wing-patch . . ...... > Sulva 05
Bill and feet reddish; coloration largely blackish ; a large white wing-patch. . . . - . autumnalis 106
D..ful/va, (Lat. fulva, fulvous, reddish.) Funvous Tree Duck. Bill bluish-black ;
feet slaty-blue. Pale cinnamon or yellowish-brown, extensive and uniform on the lower parts,
darker on head; nape and hind-neck with a black line; scapulars and fore-back blackish with
pale cinnamon edgings of the feathers. Rump and tail black; upper and under tail-coverts
white. No white speculum on wing; lesser wing-coverts chocolate-brown; rest of wing black
on both surfaces. Length about 20.00; extent 36.00; wing 9.50; tail 3.25; tarsus 2.25; bill
1.50, with hooked nail. S. W. U.S. and southward, in summer, Louisiana to Cala. ; common
on the Rio Grande.
D. autumna/lis. (Lat. autumnalis or auctumnalis, of the period of increase, of harvest ; auctus,
imereased, augmented.) AuTUMNAL TREE Duck. Bill coral-red, with orange above, and
bluish nail; feet pinkish-white. A large white speculum, consisting of greater wing-coverts
and basal parts of most of the quills, as well as spurious quills and outer webs of one or two
primaries. Head and neck reddish-chocolate, paler on cheeks and chin, with black stripe
down nape and hind-neck, passing through more yellowish-brown on the fore-parts of the
body to blackish on lower back, rump, tail, belly, sides of body and lining of wings; flanks
and crissum mostly white. Length about 20.00; extent 36.00-38.00; wing 9.50-10.50;
tail 3.00; bill along gape 2.00; tarsus 2.25. S. and C. Am. and Mex. to Texas, abundant
from April to October on the Rio Grande, where called ‘cornfield duck ;” a common market-
bird in some places. Nest in hollows of trees, often at a great distance from water, to which
the young are transported by the parents in the bill. Eggs 12-16, 2.10 x 1.50, of usual duck
shape, buffy-white.
67. Subfamily ANATINAE: River Ducks.
Tarsi scutellate in front; hind toe simple (in Fuliguline, the hind toe with a flap or
lobe.) This expression separates the present group from all the North American examples
of the foregoing and succeeding subfamilies, although it is not a perfect diagnosis. The neck
and legs are shorter than they average in geese, while the feet are smaller than in the sea-
690 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
ducks, the toes and their webs not being so highly developed. None of the Anatine are
extensively maritime, like most of the Fuliguline ; yet they are by no means confined to
fresh waters, and some species constantly associate with the seaducks. They feed exten-
sively, like most geese, upon succulent aquatic herbage, but also upon various animal
substances ; their flesh is almost without exception excellent. They do not dive for their
food. The moult is double; the sexes are almost invariably markedly distinct in color;
the young resemble the
9; the wing has usu-
ally a brilliant speculum,
which, like the other
wing-markings, is the
same in both sexes. Un-
like geese, these and oth-
er ducks are not doubly-
monogamous, but simply
so if not polygamous ;
the male pays no atten-
tion to the young. Ex-
cluding the shieldrake
group, already mentioned
as pertaining rather to
the geese than the ducks,
there are about fifty spe-
= cies, generally distrib-
Fic. 478.— Mallards. (From Lewis.) uted over the world.
They are split into a large number of modern genera, most of which indicate little more than
specific characters; the majority are represented in this country. Of those here following,
two, Spatula and Aix, represent decided structural peculiarity; the rest might all be referred
to Anas, type of the group. The Malacorhynchus membranaceus, of Australia, is a notable
exotic form.
Analysis of Genera.
Head crested ; bill narrow, the tip formed widely by the nail . fg at GSAS Bogs Mae UE dea oe AEB IO.
Head not crested; bill greatly wider at end than at base... ..... ++... =. . Spatula 289
Head not crested ; bill not spoon-shaped.
Tail cuneate, with narrow central feathers more than half as long as wing . see « F Dafila 285
Tail not cuneate, not half as long as wing
Bill shorter than head ; tail-feathers lance-acute; head not white; belly white yg. and 9 Dajila 285
Bill shorter than head ; tail-feathers not acute; crown and belly white . . »-Mareca 287
Bill about as long as head, or longer.
Wing-speculum white; wing-coverts chestnut; bill dark; feet orange Chaulelasnus 286
Wing-speculum violet, black-bordered; bill greenish, or dusky and orange; feet orange Anas 284
Wing-speculum green; lesser coverts blue or not; bill dark. Very small Querquedula 288
Oxs. — The old males of all our species are unmistakable, having strong marks of color,
size, and form; but the females and young may not always be recognized at a glance. In
examining any “‘duck” of which you are in doubt, first notice the bill; if it is narrow and
eylindrical, with sharp saw-like teeth, very conspicuous, the bird is one of the Mergansers,
or ‘Fishing Ducks,” scarcely fit for food. Next, examine the hind toe; if it has a flap or
lobe hanging free, the bird is one of the Fuliguling, which may or may not be good for the
‘table ; if the hind toe is simple and slender, it is one of the Anating, and sure to make a
good ‘dish, if in order. All the red- or orange- -footed species are Anatine (excepting the
Mergansers) ; but not all the Anatine have the feet thns colored. In determining female
and young Anatine, look to the wing-markings rather than the body-colors. The species
of Querquedula are very sinall ‘‘ teal” ducks, 16 inches or less in length.
84,
707.
708.
ANATIDZA —ANATINZ: RIVER DUCKS. 691
A'NAS. (Lat. anas, a duck.) Common Ducks. Matiarp anp Buacx Ducxs. Bill
not shorter than head, rather longer than tarsus, broad and about parallel-sided, higher than
wide at base, then much depressed and flattened, the end rounded, the nail narrow, less than
one-third as wide as the end of the Dill. Nostiils high up, in head half of bill. Feathers
teaching to about the same distance on forehead, cheeks, and chin. Tail rounded, less than
half as long as wing, of 16-18 pointed ethene, Bill greenish, or blackish Blotdhed with
orange. Feet bright-colored. Speculuin violet, etc., framed in black and white (in both
sexes). Sexes unlike (boscas) or alike (obscura).
Analysis of Species.
@ Head and neck green, neck with white ring, breast’ purplish-chestnut, etc. 9 variegated with dusky
and yellowish-brown Be Rey BSE Bias AS ORs Se: ee he ee a boscas 707
of ¢ entirely dusky, variegated with yellowish-brown ; lining of wings white. ..... obscura 708, 709
A. bos/eas. (Gr. Booxds, boskas; Lat. boscas or boscis, probably this very species. Fig. 478.)
Mauuarp. WILD or Domestic Duck. GREEN-HEAD. Adult ¢: Bill greenish-yellow. Feet
orange-red. Iris brown. Head and upper neck glossy-green, succeeded by a white ring. Breast
purplish-chestnut. Lower back, rump, and tail-coverts glossy-black. ‘Tail-feathers mostly
whitish. Under parts from the breast, and scapulars, silvery-gray, finely undulated with
dusky; crissum black. Speculum violet, purplish and greenish, framed in black and white
tips of the greater coverts, and black terminal border. 9, adult: Feet and wings as in the g,
Bill blackish, blotched with orange, especially at base, tip and along edges. Entire body-
colors with dusky-brown and tawny-brown; the tone paler and in finer pattern on the head,
neck, and under parts than on the back. Length 22.00-24.00; extent 32.00-36.00; wing
10.00-11.00; tail 3.00-4.00; bill about 2.00; tarsus rather less; middle toe and claw more.
Tm the drake, a tuft of cyrly feathers on tail. Weight 2 or 3 pounds. Habitat nearly cos-
mopolitan; nearly everywhere domesticated, being the well-known original of the barn-yard
duck. Wild in abundance throughout N. Am., breeding sparingly in the U. 8. as well
_as farther north; rare in New England, and scarcely found beyond Massachusetts, being
replaced farther N. E. by the dusky duck. Nest on ground, of trash and feathers; eggs
usually 8-10, 2.25 X 1.60, smooth, dingy yellowish-drab.
Oxs. —An‘anomalous duck, with the general aspect of a mallard, but nearly as large as
a goose, is occasionally taken on the Atlantic coast; it is unquestionably part mallard, the
balance of its parentage supposed to be muscovy; Anas maxima Gosse; Fuligula viola Bell. —
A supposed hybrid of mallard x gadwall is Anas glocitans or A. brewert Aud.; A. audubons
Bp. The mallard is known to x with various other species. Upwards of 50 kinds of hybrid
ducks are recorded; some of them prove fertile. There is even a Clangula X Mergus.
A. obsew/ra. (Lat. obsewra, dark.) Dusky Duck. Biack Duck. Size of the mallard,
and resembling the 9 of that species, but darker and without white anywhere except the
lining of the wings in g 9, and a narrow white line along proximal border of speculum
of @. Sexes alike. Bill yellowish-green, with dusky nail; feet orange-red, with dusky
webs. Iris brown. General plumage dusky-brown, paler below than above, variegated
with pale rusty-brown edgings of the feathers; top of head darker than sides and throat,
the former blackish with pale brown streaking in fine pattern, fhe latter grayish-brown with
dark streaking. Wing-coverts dusky-gray; the greater tipped with Wlack, edging the
purplish-blue or violet speculum. The general blackish color, contrasting with white liming
of wings, and the violet speculum framed in velvety-black, are diagnostic. Q boscas is much
“lighter in tone, and more variegated with tawny-brown. Chiefly Eastern N. Am.; Western? -
Abundant along the Atlantic Coast, Texas to Labrador. One of the oreo ducks in
summer in New England and N. E.-ward. W. to Kansas, Iowa, etc., but not positively
known beyond. Nest on ground, of weeds, grass, and feathers; eggs 8-10, Hiety pale yellowish-
drab, about 2.30 x 1.75. One of the best table ducks.
709.
285.
710.
692 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
A. o. fulvi/gula. (Lat. fuluus, reddish; gula, throat.) FiLorma Dusky Duck. Similar;
lighter-colored; throat plain pale brownish; bill olive, with black nail and base of commissure
A local race, resident in Florida.
DA'FILA. (A non-sense word.) Prix-ram Ducxs. Tail (in adult ¢) narrow, cuneate,
when fully developed nearly as long as wing, the 2 central feathers long-exserted, linear-acute :
in Q and young the tail merely
tapering, with acute feathers; tail-
feathers 16, including the long mid-
dle pair. Bill shorter than head,
longer than tarsus, nearly paralle:
sided, widening a little to the end,
the nail small, the narrow nostrils
high up in basal third of bill.
Feathers of cheeks sweeping in
strongly convex outline along side
of upper mandible, beyond those
on side of lower mandible. Wing
acute, the Ist and 2d primaries
subequal and longest, rest rapidly
graduated. Neck unusually long Fig, 479. — Head of Dajila, 9, nat. size. (Ad nat, del. E. C.)
and slender, and form less ‘‘stocky” than that of most ducks. Sexes and young very unlike
in color, even to the wing-markings, as well as in shape of tail. Bill and feet dark. Under
parts white or whitish. Speculum of ¢ framed in buff, white, and black.
D. acu'ta, (Lat. acuta, acute, as the tail is. Figs. 479, 480.) Prx-ram Duck. Spric-Tat.
Adult ¢: Bill black,
with grayish - blue
edge of upper man-
dible; feet grayish-
blue ; claws black;
iris brown. Head and
neck above rich dark.
brown, glosséd with
green and purple ;
side of neck with a
long white stripe run-
ning up from the
white under parts:
back of neck with’a
black stripe passing
below into the gray
color of the back;
the lower fore-neck,
breast, and under
parts usually, white,
the sides finely waved
with black, the crissum black, white-bordered. Fore back finely waved with narrow bars of
black and white or whitish; the seapulars and long tertiaries firmly striped lengthwise with
velvety-black and silvery-gray. Lesser wing-coverts plain gray ; greater tipped with reddish
buff, framing the speculum anteriorly ; this is of coppery- or purplish-violet iridescence, framed
posterio-ly with black sub-tips and white tips of the secondaries, internally with silvery aud
Fria. 480 — Pin-tail Duck, 9 g. (From Lewis.)
286.
711.
287.
ANATIDZ4E—ANATINZ: RIVER DUCKS. 693
black stripes. Tail-feathers gray, the long central ones blackish ; sides and roots of tail varied
with blackish and buff. It is thus a very handsome duck in full plumage, aside frum the trim
and clipper-like build. Length very variable, up to 30 inches, according to development of
tail, which is sometimes 9 inches long, usually 5 or 6; extent 36.00; wing 11.00; bill 2.25;
tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 2.25. Adult 9: Smaller; lacking the development of the
tail; length 24 or less. Only traces of the speculum, in green specks in a brown area between
white or whitish tips of the secondaries and those of the greater coverts. Bill blackish; feet
dull grayish-blue ; iris brown. Whole head finely speckled, and whole neck finely streaked,
with dusky-brown and grayish-brown or yellowish-brown; under parts pale ochrey-brown,
freckled with dusky; upper parts variegated with brownish-black and yellowish-brown, on the
fore parts the lighter color in angular or rounded bars on each feather. Young drake like the
duck. Though the resemblance is close to some other species, observe color of bill and feet, tips of
secondaries and greater coverts, and size and generic characters. Northern hemisphere; N. Am.
at large, wintering and migrating in U. 8. and beyond, breeding from northern borders northward ;
more numerous in the interior than along either coast. I have found it breeding abundantly
in parts of N. Dakota and Montana. Nest on ground; eggs 6-10-12, smooth, elongated
ellipsoidal, 2.10 to 2.30 long by about 1.52; uniform dull grayish-olive, without any buff tint.
CHAULELASMUS. (Gr. xatdws, chaulios, protuberant; edacpos, elasmos, a layer, plate ;
referring to the teeth of the bill.) Gapwauts. Bill about as long as head, rather exceeding
tarsus, the sides parallel to the rounded tip, the lamelle not concealed, the nostrils high up near
the base, the reéntrance between the feathers on culmen and those on side of bill short and
open, in advance of feathers on side of lower mandible. Wings pointed, lst primary longest.
Tail short, rounded or cuneate, with pointed feathers. @ with most of the plumage barred or
half-ringed with black and white, or whitish ; middle wing-coverts chestnut, greater coverts
black, speculum white ; Q with similar white speculum. Feet yellowish.
C, stre’perus, (Lat. streperus, noisy, ‘ obstreperous.’) GaDWALL. Gray Duck. Adult ¢:
Bill blue-black; feet dull orange, with dusky webs and claws ; iris reddish-brown. Head and
neck brownish-white, darker on crown and nape, barred and specked with dusky. Lower neck,
breast, sides of body and fore-back waved with crescentic bars of blackish and white, the cres-
centic marks giving a scaly appearance most distinct on the neck and breast, elsewhere finer,
more undulatory and transverse. Lower back dusky, passing to black on the rump and tail-
coverts. Belly white, minutely marbled with gray. Scapulars tinged with rusty brown ; longest
inner quills hoary gray; lining of wings white; lesser upper coverts gray; middle coverts
chestnut-red ; speculum white, formed by part or the whole of the outer webs of the second-
aries, framed in velvet black of the greater coverts, terminally bordered with black and hoary
gray. Length about 22 inches; extent 34.00; wing 10.50-11.00; tail 4.50; tarsus 1.60; Dill
1.75; middle toe and claw 2.20. Adult 9: Smaller than g. Bill dusky, blotched with
orange. Feet dingy yellowish, with dusky webs and claws. Lacking the regular crescentic
and wavy markings of the @; variegated with dusky and tawny brown, like Q of other
species; the chestnut of the g wanting or restricted; but the wing-markings are sufficiently
distinctive. Young drake resembling the 9. One of the most widely diffused of ducks, in
most parts of the world; in N. Am. nearly throughout, but not specially arctic in the breeding
season, nesting anywhere in the U.S. Nest on ground, sometimes in trees; eggs creamy-buff,
‘ a trifle over 2.00 by about 1.50.
MARE’CA. (S. Am. mareca, Brazilian name of a kind of teal.) Wuicron. Bill shorter
than head, rather high and narrow at base, parallel-sided, with rounded end, the nail occupy-
ing the middle third; the upper lateral reéntrance short and open; nostrils high up and near
base. Tail pointed, of 16 feathers, not half as long as wing. Bill and feet dark colored ;
belly and middle and greater wing-coverts white; top of head white or light; speculum green,
black-bordered.
694 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
Analysis of Species,
Head and neck cinnamon-red, scarcely varied ; with mere traces of green, if any; top of head creamy or
BrOwnish-white: 2.6: a OB OR Se Ow SE CR ee em - « « penelope 712
Head and neck grayish, spoukiad with a the sides of the head with a broad patel of green, the top
white or Nearly 20 ks RC a ee ee . . americana 713
712, M. penelope. (Penelope, a ‘snpttidlceal name.) EuROPEAN WIiGEON. Size and general
character of the next species; differing as above. Europe; Greenland; rare or casual along
the whole Atlantic coast ; more numerous on the N. Pacific coast and 8. to California.
713. M.america/na. (Fig. 481.) AMERICAN WiGEON. BaLp-patTe. Adult ¢: Bill grayish-blue,
with black tip and extreme base; feet similar, duller, with dusky webs and claws; iris brown.
Top of head ee or nearly so; sides the same, or more buffy, speckled with dusky- green,
ae purer green forming a
broad: patch from and
below eye to hind
head; chin dusky.
Fore neck and breast
light brownish - red,
or very pale purplish-
cinnamon, each feath-
er with paler grayish
edge; along the sides
of the body the same,
finely waved with
dusky ; the breast and
belly pure white, the
crissum abruptly
black. Lower hind
neck and fore back
and scapulars finely
= waved with the same
Fre. 481.— American Wigeon. (From Lewis.) reddish color and with
dusky; lower back and rump similarly waved with dusky and whitish. Lesser wing-coverts
plain gray; middle and greater coverts pure white, forming a large area, the greater black-
tipped, forming the fore border of the speculum, which is glossy green, bordered behind by
velvety black, internally by the black and white stripes on the inner secondaries. Tail brown-
ish-gray, the lateral upper coverts black ; axillary feathers white. Only old drakes have the
crown immaculate white, the chin dusky, the auricular patch definitely green ; generally the
whole head and upper neck are pale brownish-yellow or reddish-white, speckled with greenish-
dusky. 9 resembling the immature gf on the head; the peculiar brownish-red is interrupted
with dusky and whitish bars. The wing-pattern is nearly as in the ¢; but the white is re-
stricted or interrupted with gray, the greater coverts may lack black tips, the speculum is faint,
and the black stripes of the inner secondaries are replaced by brown. The normal variability
in coloration, aside from age or sex, is great, but the bird cannot be mistaken under any
conditions ; the extensive white of the under parts and wings is recognizable at gun-shot
range. Length 18.00-21.00; extent 30.00-35.00; wing 10.00-11.00; tail .4.00-4.50; bili
1.60; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw more. N. Am. at large, breeding anywhere ; Europe,
casually. Eggs 8-12, 2.00 x 1.50, dull pale buff.
288, QUERQUE'DULA.. (Lat. querquedula, a small kind of duck ; related to English quack.)
TreAL Ducks. Bill nearly or quite as long as the head, longer ‘than tarsus, narrow and par-
allel-sided, the nail narrow, 4 to } of the tip. Size dinglll est among our ducks. Sexes more ot
less unlike. Speculum glossy-green. Bill blackish. The genus contains two sections, .perhaps
as worthy of distinction as some of the foregoing genera.
’
ANATIDH-- ANATINZ:: RIVER DUCKS. 695
Analysis of Subg aand Sp :
Nerriom. Head sub-crested. Bill very narrow; nail about } its tip. Reéntrance of feathers on sides of
culmen in advance of base of bill below. Head and neck chestnut, with a broad glossy green band on
each side behind eye, bordered with whitish, blackening where meeting on nape. Under parts white,
with circular black spots; crissum black, varied with white or creamy; upper parts and sides of body
closely waved with black and white. Speculum rich green bordered in front with buff tips of the cov-
erts, behind with white tips of the secondaries; no blue on wing; feet dark; bill black. ¢ differing
especially in the head markings, those of wings similar.
No white on side of body in front of wing; a scapulars black externally, creamy white inter-
nally . oa fe Bee ae . tte erecea 714
A white crescent on side of body before eines scapulars plain eke + . carolinensis 716
QUERQUEDULA proper. Head close-feathered. Bill broader than in Nettium, the nail about 4 its tip.
Reéntrance on sides of culmen not in advance of base of bill below. Wing-coverts in g @ sky blue,
the greater white-tipped; scapulars of ¢ striped with blue and buff.
¢ Head and neck blackish-plumbeous; a large white crescent in frontofeye. . . . discors - 716
d¢ general color purplish-chestnut; no whiteon head. ....... eee cyanoptera 717
Q (N.) cree'ca. (Lat. erecca, formed like crea, crake, quack, ete., to express the sound.) Euro-
PEAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Like the next to be described: No white crescent before wing ;
green band in chestnut of side of head bordered with decided whitish ; barring of sides and upper
parts broader and coarser; long scapulars as well as inner secondaries creamy white, black-
bordered externally. Europe; Greenland; casually on N. Am. Atlantic coast.
715. Q. (N.) carolinen’sis. (Fig. 482.) AMERICAN GREFN-WINGED TEAL. Adult ¢: Bill black;
feet bluish-gray ; iris brown. A white crescent in front of wing. Head and upper neck rich
chestnut, blackening
on chin, with a glossy
green patch behind
each eye blackening
on its lower border
and on the nape
where it meets its
fellow among the
lengthened feathers
of the parts, bordered
below by a more or
less evident whitish
line, which may often
be traced to the angle
of the mouth. Up-
per parts and flanks
waved with narrow
d Mar eS black bars on a whit-
Fig. 482. — AmericanGreen-winged Teal. (From Lewis.) ish ground. Under
parts white, becoming buff or fawn-colored on breast, nebulated with gray, on the breast
with numerous sharp circular black spots; fore neck and sides of breast waved like the upper
parts. Crissum black, with a buff or creamy. patch on each side. Primaries and wing-coverts
leaden gray; speculum velvety purplish-black on outer half, the inner half rich green ; bor-
dered in front with chestnut, fawn or whitish tips of the greater coverts, behind by white tips
of the secondaries, interiorly with purplish-black stripes on the outer webs of the lengthened
secondaries. Adult 9: Nearly like # on the wings, the green speculum less perfect; no
erest; head and neck streaked with light reddish-brown on a dark brown ground; upper parts
mottled with dark brown, barred and streaked with tawny or grayish ; lower parts white, more
or less buffy-tinged on lower fore neck and breast, which have nebulous dusky spotting. A
very small species, one of the most prettily colored of all, of unsurpassed excellence of flesh :
Wy
ae Abs f
itt 4, |
SS lies ye a
Uy
716.
W117.
289,
718.
696 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
length about 14.00; extent 23.00; wing 7.00-7.50 ; tail 3.00; bill 1.50; tarsus 1.20. N. Am.
at large, extremely abundant; casual in Europe. Breeds from the N. borders of the U.S. It
is one of the earliest arrivals among the hordes of water-fowl that come thronging from the
north in fall. Nest on the ground, of weeds, grass, and feathers: eggs about 8, 1.75 to 1. 90
by 1.20 to 1.30, pale dull greenish in color.
Q. dis‘cors. (Lat. discors, discordant.) Buun-wincep Tzau. Adult g: Bill grayish-
black ; feet dingy yellow, with dusky webs and claws; iris brown. Head deep leaden-gray,
with purplish gloss, blackening on top; a large white black-edged crescent in front of eye.
Under parts purplish-gray, with innumerable black spots, rounded or oval on the breast,
changing to bars on the flanks, becoming nebulous on the belly. Crissum black, a patch on
each side of rump, the axillars and most of the lining of the wings, white. Lower hind neck
and fore back varied with brownish-black and yellowish-brown; lower back and rump dark
brown with’a greenish tinge. Wing-coverts and outer webs of some of the scapulars sky-blue ;
speculum rich green, set between white tips of the greater coverts and secondaries, some of
the inner secondaries and longest seapulars velvety greenish-black on outer web, greenish-
brown on inner web, striped lengthwise with reddish-buff. 9 retaining the sky-blue on
the wing-coverts and much of the other wing-markings, hence easily distinguished among our
ducks, excepting 9 cyanoptera. Bill greenish-dusky; feet very pale or flesh-tinted. Head
and neck streaked with brownish-black on a dull buff ground, the cheeks and chin whitish,
unmarked. Above, dark brown, with pale edges of the feathers; below, whitish-gray,
mottled with obscure spots. Length 15.00-16.00; extent 26.00-30.00; wing 7.00-7.50 ;
tail 3.50; bill 1.50; tarsus 1.20. N. Am., chiefly E. of the R. Mts., to the Pacific in Alaska;
goes to high latitudes, but also breeds indefinitely throughout its range; abundant in the
U. S. in winter and during the migrations.
Q. cyano’ptera. (Gr. xvavds, kuanos, blue; mrépov, pteron, wing.) CINNAMON TEAL. Adult
&: Bill black; feet orange, joints and webs dusky; iris orange. Head, neck, and entire
under parts rich purplish-chestnut, darkening on crown and chin, blackening on middle of
belly; erissum dark brown. Fore back lighter cinnamon, varied with brown curved bars,
several on each feather; lower back and rump greenish-brown, the feathers edged with paler.
Wing-coverts sky-blue, as in discors; some of the scapulars blue on outer webs and with a
central buff stripe, others dark green, with buff stripe. Speculum green, set between white
tips of greater coverts and white ends of the secondaries. Wings thus quite as in discors, but
the body-colors and head entirely different ; rather larger; length 16.00-17.00; extent 25.00;
wing 7.50-8.00; bill 1.60-1.75, along commissure about 2.00. Adult 9: Similar to 9 discors,
and not easy to distinguish; larger; bill longer; under parts at least with a tinge of the pecu-
liar chestnut color; head and especially chin more speckled, without the immaculate whitish
of those parts of 9 discors. Bill dusky, paler below and along edges; iris brown; feet yel-
lowish-drab. A generally distributed S. Am. teal, now abundant in U. 8S. west of the R.
Mts., and of casual occurrence in the Gulf States. Nest on ground, of grass and feathers,
anywhere in its U.S. range; Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon, etc. Eggs
9-12, laid in June, oval, one end smaller than other, creamy white or pale buff; 1.90 x 1.30
to 2.10 X 1.40.
SPA/TULA, (Lat. spatula or spathula, a spoon, spathe, spatula: shape of the bill.)
Spoon-BILL Ducxs. Bill much longer than head or tarsus, twice as wide at end as at base,
broadly rounded spoon-fashion at end; the nail narrow and prominent, the laminz very numer-
ous and protrusive. Tail short, pointed, of fourteen acute feathers. Feet small, red. The
peculiarity of the bill characterizes this genus almost as strongly as Platalea among ibises,
or Eurynorhynchus among sandpipers; the form is otherwise that of ordinary Anatine.
There are several species, one N. American.
S. clypea'ta. (Lat. clypeum, a shield: shape of the bill. Fig. 483.) SHOVELLER Duck.
30.
ANATIDAi—ANATINZ: RIVER DUCKS. 697
Broap-simu. Adult ¢: Bill blackish ; iris orange-red: feet vermilion-red. Head and neck dark
glossy green. Lower neck and fore breast pure white. Abdomen purplish-chestnut. Wing-
coverts sky-blue 3 speculum rich green, set between white tips of greater coverts, and black sub-
tips and white tips of secondaries ; inner secondaries greenish-black, with long white stripe;
long scapulars blue on outer webs, striped with white and greenish-black on inner; short
anterior scapulars white. Rump and upper and under tail-coverts black; a white patch on
‘each side at root of tail. Adult 9: Bill dull greenish; iris yellow; feet orange. Wing-
markings similar to those of ¢, though imperfect; traces of chestnut on belly. Head and
neck brownish-yellow, speckled with dusky. In any plumage the species is of course at once
recognized by the peculiar bill. Length 17.00-21.00; extent 30.00-33.00; wing 9.50; tail
3.00; bill about 2.70; along commissure 3.00; tarsus 1.33. Europe, Asia, etc.; in N. Am.
at large, breeding throughout, and wintering in abundance from the middle districts to C. Am.
Fie. 483. — Shoveller Duck, } nat. size. (From Brehm.)
Eggs about 8, averaging 2.10 x 1.50, smooth, elliptical, in color dull pale greenish-gray,
sometimes faintly bluish. In full dress, which is comparatively infrequent, since it character-
izes only the breeding season, this is a very smart and jaunty drake, tricked out in parti-color ;
the great majority of specimens, however, are found in a plumage more like that of the duck.
The bird is among the best of the ducks for the table.
AIX. (Gr. aié or &£, aix or atx; application not obvious.) BripaL Ducks. Head crested.
Bill shorter than head, no longer than tarsus, very high at base, the reéntrances at sides of
culmen much prolonged towards the forehead. Nostrils large, oval, set little in advance of the
feathers on culmen. Terminal nail occupying the whole end of the bill, and much curved
downward. Lamelle small, few, and distant. Tarsus incompletely scutellate in front, much
shorter than middle toe. Claws compressed, curved, and acute, that of the middle toe dilated
on inner edge. Tail half as long as wings, rounded, of sixteen rounded feathers, and very
*19,
‘colorings of feathers about the wings. Bill
698 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
long coverts. A peculiar as well as most beautiful genus; the Chinese Mandarin Duck, 4
galericulata, is still more remarkably, though not more elegantly, colored than ours.
A. spon’sa. (Lat. sponsa, betrothed: i. e., as if in wedding dress. Fig. 484.) Woop Duc.
Summer Duck. “Tue Brive.” Adult ¢: Bill pinkish-white, with lake-red base, black
ridge, tip, and under mandible ; iris and edges of eyelids red; feet orange, with black claws.
Upper part of the head, including crest, glistening green and purple ; a narrow white line over
eye from bill to occiput, and another behind eye to nape, these white lines mixing in the crest.
A broad white patch on the throat, forking behind, one branch mounting head behind eye, the
other passing to side of neck. Sides and front of lower neck and fore breast rich purplish-chest- «
nut, prettily marked with several chains of angular white spots. A large white black-edged
crescent of enlarged feathers in front of the wing. Under parts pure white, the sides yellow-
ish-gray vermiculated with black and white wavy bars; the enlarged flank-feathers broadly
rayed with black and white; the lining of the
wings white barred with grayish-brown, of
which color is the crissum. Upper parts gen-
erally lustrous with bronzy-green and purple ;'
scapulars and inner secondaries velvet-black,
glossed with purple and green ; a green spec-
ulum, succeeded by white tips of the seconda-
ries; primaries frosted on outer webs near end.
Adult Q: Little or no crest, but lengthened
feathers on nape; no enlargement or special
dusky: feet yellowish-dusky. Head and neck
gray, darker on crown, the chin and parts
about bill and eyes white. Fore neck, breast
and sides of body yellowish-brown, mottled
with dark gray, the breast spotted with brown,
the belly white. Upper parts dark brown Fie. 484.—Wood Duck. (From Tenney, after Audubon.)
with considerable gloss; wings much as in the male, but the velvety-black reduced. Length
18.00-20.00 ; extent about 28.00; wing 9.00; tail 4.50; bill 1.40; tarsus the same; middle
toe and claw 2.00. N. Am. at large, but especially U. 8., breeding throughout its range,
wintering chiefly in the South. This exquisite bird is commonly dispersed in wooded portions
of the country near water; it nestles usually in the hollows of trees, whence the young are
transported in the bill of the parent. Eggs about a dozen, very variable in number, of pale
drab color and the usual smooth shell and elliptical shape, about 2.00 x 1.50.
68. Subfamily FULIGULINAE: Sea Ducks.
Tarsi scutellate in front ; hind toe
lobate. The large membranous flap
depending from the hind toe dis-
tinguishes this group from the pre-
ceding, probably without exception.
While the general forn is the same
as that of the Anatine, the feet
are notably larger, with relatively
shorter tarsi, longer toes (the outer
searcely or not shorter than the mid-
Fiq. 485. — Canvas-back. (From Fie 486, — hed-head. (From dle), and broader webs ; they BEG
Lewis.) Lewis.) also placed somewhat further back,
mu
Zz
ZZ
A
PA
Z
—
\\
ANATIDA — FULIGULINZE: SEA DUCKS. 699
in consequence of which the gait is still more awkward and constrained than the ‘‘ waddle” of
ordinary ducks; but swimming powers are enhanced, and diving is facilitated. A large
number of the species are exclusively maritime, but this is no more the case with all of them,
than is the reverse with the river ducks. These birds feed more upon mollusks and other
animal snbstances (not, however, upon fish, like the mergansers) than the river ducks do, and
‘their flesh, as a rule, is coarser, if not entirely too rank to be eaten; there are, however, signal
exceptions to this, as in the case of the canvas-back. The sexes are unlike, as among the
Anatine ; and besides the difference in color, the 9 is often distinguished by the absence or
slight development of certain tuberosities of the bill that the ¢ of several species, as of scoters
and eiders, possesses. A large majority of the species inhabit the Northern Hemisphere; there
are some forty in all, exhibiting a good deal of diversity in minor details, really requiring
recognition of many genera. Among notable exotics, we have the soft-billed Hymenolemus
malacorhynchus of New Zealand, and the short-winged Micropterus cinereus of South America,
both related to our genus Camptolemus ; there are but few others. The genus Hrismatura is
the type of a small group remarkable for the character of the tail, as described beyond, and
sometimes considered as a subfamily apart. Biziwra lobata of Australia, with a fleshy appen-
dage under the bill, the African Thalassornis leuconota, the Nesonetta aucklandica, and several
species of Hrismatura and Nomonyx, compose this group.
Analysis of Genera and Subgenera.
Tail-feathers rigid, narrow, linear, exposed to their bases by shortness of coverts.
Nail of bill ordinary . : . 5 . . « «© Nomonyx 299
Nail of bill narrow above, ovathonvhic and seliianed ‘banca tip ‘oil ug . . . Brismatura 298
Tail-feathers and their coverts ordinary (central pair very long, however, in Harelda ¢).
Bill variously gibbous, or appendaged, or featlered beyond nostrils.
Bill gibbous at base, then broad, depressed, with large fused nail, without frontal processes.
Gibbosity of bill superior, circumscribed; feathers not projected on culmen.
Tail 16-feathered. gf: Color entirely black (@pEM1A)
Gibbosity of bill superior, circumscribed ; feathers projected on culmen. Tail 14-
feathered. g': Color black or dark, with white wing-patch (MELANETTA)
Gibbosity lateral as well as superior; feathers projected on culmen.
Tail 14-feathered. g: Color black, with white head-patches (PELIONETTA)
Bill gibbous at base, with large frontal processes.
Frontal processes in line with culmen (SOMATERIA proper) . . .
Gdemia 297
Frontal processes bulging out of line with culmen (ERIONETTA) . Me 2a Somateria 296
Bill not gibbous, but feathered on culmen beyond nostrils(ARCTONETTA) . . a
Bill not gibbous, but appendaged with leathery expansion of side of upper mandible,
cheeks not bristly (HENICONETTA) . . ae ie hs 3 ‘
Bill not gibbous, but appendaged with a lobe at base of commissure. . ‘ | Histrionicus 295
Bill not aes but hiccamacaa) with a eae expansion of side of upper siigenctibtes cheeks
bristly fans ae . ss . . Camptolemus 294
Bill ordinary. *‘
Nail of bill large, fused. Tail (of #) about aslongaswing ..... .; . . . + Harelda 293
Nail of bill narrow, distinct. Tail of ordinary length and shape.
Bill shorter than head, high at base. Head of ¢ puffy or crested, iridescent, with
white patches; crissum white; colors black and white, in masses. . . . . - Clangula 292
d, white spot before eye (CLANGULA proper) . . af
d, white patch behind eye (BUCEPHALA) . . . ae
Bill about as long as head. Head of # black, red, or brown, without spots; cris-
sum dark . : ok dee dae Woh ask aoa
Bill dusky. Head of f aielky realists “(Anreronerra) . we ee ee + Pp Fuliguia 291
Bill bluish or blackish. Head of # black orred. (FULIX) ...... .
Bill red. Head red, crested (European), (FULIGULA proper)... .. .-
Nore. — See further analyses of the subgenera (some of which arg-of generis value) under heads of Gdemia,
Somateria, and Fuligula.
1, FULI'GULA. (Lat. fuligula or fulicula, dim. of fulix or fulica, a coot; fuligo, soot.)
Buack-HEAD and Rev-neap Ducks. Scaurs and Pocuarps. Bill ordinary, without
special gibbosity or peculiar outline of feathers at base, only in one species (F’. vallisneria)
700 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
not shorter thap head and rising high on forehead; nail at end distinct, decurved, narrow,
less than one-third as wide as end of bill; frontal feathers extending to approximately equal
distances on top and sides of upper mandible, with a well-marked reéntrance between them
reaching back to about opposite angle of the mouth, those of chin advancing rather farther.
Nostrils in basal two-fifths of bill (nearly median in F’. vallisneria). Outline of upper man-
dible gently concave to the decurved nail; sides nearly parallel, or widening toward end (whole
bill much as in ordinary Anatine). Tail short, rounded, less than half as long as wing,
14-16-feathered. Tarsus less than $ (4-2) as long as middle toe and claw. Head not crested
or notably puffy (in our species). Head and neck black, brown or chestnut (not green with
great white patches). Sides and back finely waved with black and white. Lining of wings
white. Crissum black. Bill blackish, or black and blue. Legs dark. Speculum white or
gray. (Comprising several species of ‘black-head” and “‘ red-head” ducks, including the
‘“eanvas-back”; characters drawn up on consideration of these species; requiring modifica-
tion, especially as-to color, to include the European F. rufina, by some considered type of
the genus. Equivalent to Fulix, Aythya and Aristonetta of Baird, 1858, and apparently sepa-
rable into three full genera — one for the crested pochards of Europe ; one for the black-heads
and red-heads together; and one for the canvas-back alone. The type of Fuligula is said by
Sundevall to be F’. cristata ; in which case Callichen is available for rufina.)
Analysis of Species.
Conspicuously crested; bill and feet red (Fuliguia) . . .. . 2... se ew ew ew es TUfina 886
Not crested; bill and feet dark.
Bill not longer than head, with concave line of culmen, not notably high on forehead; chord of
culmen under 2 inches. Nostrils fairly in basal half of bill. (Fuliz.)
Black-heads: g with head, neck, body anteriorly, lower back, rump, tail and its coverts, black,
the head glossy; below, including lining of wings, white, with fine black waving on sides and
lower belly; bill black and blue, or dusky; feet dark. Q with head and neck brown, with or
without white around bill, and other black parts of g' rather brown. (Fulizx proper.)
No ring around neck.
d¢ Speculum white; back and sides finely waved in zig-zag with black and whitish ; bill
blue, with black nail. 9% with the face white.
Length about 20.00; wing 9.00; gloss ofhead green . . ee ew ew we marila 720
Length about 16.00; wing 8.00; glossofhead purple. . . ...... . affinis T21
An orange-brown ring round neck of ¢.
Speculum gray; back nearly uniform blackish ; bill black, pale at base and near end;
@ without collar; lores and chin whitish, and ring round eye. . . collaris 722
Red-heads: g with head and neck chestnut, in 9 plain brown; body anteriorly, rump, tail, and
its coverts, black, in 9 brown; back, scapulars, and sides finely waved with black and white or
ashy-white in equal amounts; speculum gray, Bill blue with black belt at end. Back dis-
‘tinctly vermiculated with black on an ashy-white ground (4ithyia). . . . . . . americana 123
Bill longer than head, with scarcely concave culmen rising high on forehead ; chord of culmen over 2
inches. Nostrils reaching middle of bill.
Canvas-back: gf head dark chestnut-brown, much obscured with dusky 6n top and about bill.
Silvery-whitish of back prevailing over the black waved lines, which arenarrow and much
broken into chains of dots (Aristonetta) . . 1 6. 1 1 6 te ew we eee 2 vallisneria 724
FULIGULA.
886, (addenda.) ¥F. rufiina. (Lat. rufina, reddish.) Rep-cREstep PocHarp. Adult @:
Conspicuously crested. Bill vermilion, white-tipped; feet orange-red; eyes brown. Head
and upper neck rusty-red, with a rosy tint. Lower- and hind-neck, fore-back, breast, and
middle of belly black. Back grayish-brown, with a large white patch on each side, blacken-
ing on rump and upper tail-coverts. Tail ashy-gray. Primaries whitish, edged and tipped
with dusky-gray; speculum and sides of belly white. 9: Bill dusky with pink tip, and feet
pinkish, with dusky webs. Upper parts generally rufous-brown, under parts brownish-
white, the throat and upper fore-neck whitish; crown and rump darker than other upper
parts, the dorsal feathers with pale edges; quills brown, edged and tipped with darker, the
1.
ANATIDA — FULIGULINZ: SEA DUCKS. 701
‘
speculum gray, bounded terminally with brown. Europe, ete. One found in Fulton Market,
New York, Feb. 1872. (See Check List, 2d ed., 1882, p. 136.)
FuLix.
F. mari/la. (Qu. proper name? Qu. Gr. papidy, marile, charcoal, from the pitch-black
fore-parts?) GREATER Scaur Duck. Bic Buack-HEap. Buiur-pmiu. Rarr Duck.
Friockine Fown. SHuUFFLER. Adult ¢: No ring around neck. Speculum white. Bill
dull blue, with black hooked nail, broad and flat at end, where considerably wider than at
base. Iris yellow. Feet livid blackish, or dark plumbeous, with darker webs. Whole head,
neck, and fore-parts of body pitch-black, on the head with chiefly green iridescence. Lower
back, rump, tail, with both upper and under coverts, black or blackish. Middle of back,’
scapulars, and most of under parts, white, the interscapulars, scapulars, sides of body, flanks,
and lower belly waved-with fine zig-zag cross-lines of black, quite in ‘‘canvas-back” style.
Wing-coverts similar to back, but darker gray and more obscarely marked; the greater
coverts tipped with black, forming the anterior border of the white speculum, which is formed
by the secondaries, the white extending quite across them, their tips black. Primaries
brownish-black, becoming gray inwardly. Axillars and most of under wing-coverts white.
9: Bill, eyes and feet as before. The black parts of the ¢ replaced by dusky or dark brown,
which latter is the color of the head. A broad belt of pure white around base of upper
mandible, forming a conspicuous white ‘‘face.” The black-and-white vermiculation less
distinctly developed. Length of ¢ 9 18.00-20.00; extent 30.00-35.00, usually over 30.00;
wing 8.50-9.00; tail 3.00; bill 2.00; tarsus 1.50; iniddle toe and claw 2.60. Europe, Asia,
ete., and N. Am. at large; on the whole more northerly than. F. affimis, not proceeding so
far south in winter, though breeding no farther north — from N. borders of U. §., northward.
The more frequent U. 8. scaup in winter is F’. affinis. Nest on ground, down-lined; eggs
drab-colored, 2.45 X 1.72.
F, affnis. (Lat. affinis, ad and finis, allied, affined.) Lesser Scaup Duck. LitTLe
BLACK-HEAD (with other names of the foregoing). Extremely similar to the last; gloss of
head chiefly purple, sides and flanks less closely waved with black? Smaller: length 15.50-
17.00; extent under 30.00; wing 8.00 or less; tail 2.50; bill 1.75; tarsus 1.50; middle toe
and claw 2.30. It is difficult to define this bird specifically, but it appears to preserve its
characters, though constantly associated with the last. N. Am. at large; breeds from the
N. borders of the U. 8. northward; winters in and migrates through the U. S. to C. Am.
and W. I.
F. colla/ris. (Lat. collaris, pertaining to collum, the neck: collared.) Rine-neck Ducx.
Adult g: A chestnut or orange-brown ring round neck. Speculum gray (not white). Bill
black, the base and edges, and a belt near end of upper mandible, pale bluish. Iris yellow.
Feet grayish-blue, with dusky webs. Head and neck above the collar lustrous black, with
green, violet, and purple iridescence, the extreme chin white. Lower neck, fore-breast,
upper parts generally, blackish, the scapulars scarcely waved or only dotted with grayish.
Crissum black; under parts generally, including lining of wings, white, the lower belly and
sides finely waved with black. Wings plain dark brown, with an ashy-gray speculum
formed by outer webs of some of the secondaries. Tail of 16 feathers. Adult 9: No collar;
head umber-brown darker on top, with whitish cheeks and chin, and white eye-ring ; other’
black parts of # dark brownish; under parts less extensively and less purely white; wing
-and its speculum as before. Length 16.00-18.00; extent 30.00 or less; wing abont 8.00; tail
9.75; tarsus 1.25; bill 1.75, not so much widened: at end as that of the scaups. N. Am. at
large ; breeds from N. border of U.S. to far north, winters in and migrates through U. S.
to C. Am. and W. I. Nest on ground, of grass and moss; eggs about 9, pale greenish.
2.25 X 1.60.
723.
_the forward end of nostril about 2 the way
702 =SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
F. feri/na americana, (Lat. férina, feral, wild. Figs. 486, 487, 488.) RED-HEAD.
AMERICAN PocusRp. Adult $: The feathers of the head somewhat full and puffy, though
forming no crest. Bill broad and flattened,
a little widened toward end, running into
the forehead which arches abruptly over
and away from it, not rising gradually into
line with forehead; shorter or not longer
than head, 2 inches or less in length along
culmen, the nostrils within its basal half;
from upper corner to end of bill. Bill dull
blue with a black belt at the end. (Compare head and bill of
eanvas-back.) Iris orange. Feet dull grayish-blue, with dusky
webs and black claws. Head and neck all around rich pure
chestnut, not obscured with dusky-brown, but with bronzy or
coppery red reflections. Lower neck and fore parts of body
above and below, with rump and tail-coverts above and below,
blackish. Back mixed whitish and blackish in about equal
amounts, the dark wavy lines distinct and unbroken. (In the
European pochard, F. ferina, from which our bird differs, the
back is also distinctly and completely waved with black, but the
ground is quite white, as in our canvas-back, in which the dark
lines are much broken up, the’ white thus prevailing. This fine
vermiculation, when not too closely examined, gives a delicate
silvery-gray tone, of different shade in the different species.)
Sides of body under the wings vermiculated inuch like the back, Fie. 487. — Red-head, } nat. size.
the undulations subsiding in the grayish-white of the middle (from nature by J. L. Ridgway.)
under parts. Wing-coverts ashy-gray, minutely dotted with white; speculum hoary-ash,
; bordered internally
with black; lining of
wings mostly white.
9: Bill obscured blu-
ish, with black belt
near end; iris yellow ;
feet asin g. Same
shape of bill and
head. Head and up-
per neck dull reddish-
brown, paler or whit-
ish on cheeks and
behind eye; upper
parts brownish, the
feathers paler edged.
Wings much as in
6, the white lining
restricted. Length
20.00-23.00; extent
about 33.00; wing
9.00-10.00; tail 3.00,
of 14 feathers; tarsus 1.50; middle tue and claw 2.75. N. Am. at large, but particularly
Fic. 488. — Red-heads. (From Lewis.)
ANATIDH — FULIGULINE!: SEA DUCKS. 703
E. of the Mississippi and along Atlantic Coast; breeds in high latitudes, winters in U. S.
One of the commonest market-ducks in eastern cities in winter, selling readily for canvas-
back, and more likely to be distinguished
therefrom with the feathers on than off!
Nest on ground, or among reeds over water
like a coot’s, down-lined. Eggs 7-8, buff,
2.25 X 1.70.
ARISTONETTA.
F. vallisne/ria. (Name of a genus of
aquatic plants, the wild celery, V. spiralis, dedicated to
Antonio Vallisneri, an Italian naturalist. Figs. 485, 489, 490.)
Canvas-Back. Adult ¢: The head close-feathered. Bill
high at the base and narrow throughout or scarcely widened
toward end, sloping gradually up to the top of the head in line
with the sweep of the forehead, altogether somewhat like a
goose’s in shape; decidedly longer than head, 24 inches to
nearly or quite 3 in length, measured along the culmen; the
nostrils reaching the middle of the bill, their fore end half-way
from upper corner to end of bill. Bill not blue, black-belted,
but blackish throughout. Eyes red. Feet grayish-blue.
Head and upper neck not coppery brownish-red, but dark
reddish-brown, further much obscured with dusky or quite
blackish about the bill and on top. Ground color of back
white, very finely vermiculated with zigzag blackish bars
much narrower than the intervening spaces, and tending to
break up, or mostly broken up, into little chains of dots across
the feathers; the resulting silvery-gray tone consequently
several shades lighter than in the red-head. Other characters je eae ae ae
substantially as in that species. Q differs as 9 red-head does; way.).
head dark snuffy-brown, etc., but the bill is colored as in the @, and sufficiently preserves its
peculiar shape; eyes
reddish-brown. Size
of the red-head, or a
little larger; tarsus
1.75; bill longer, as
above ; culmen much
over 2 inches; gape
about 2.67; line from
upper corner to tip
nearly or quite 3.00,
of which distance the
nostrils reach half
way. N. Am. at
large; breeds from
the northern tier of
States northward, in
the R. Mts. further
south, and in upper
California; winters in
Fic. 490. — Canvas-back. (From Lewis.) the U. 8. and soutb-
292.
125.
726.
704 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES.
ward to Guatemala; abundant along the Atlantic coast, from the middle districts to Texas,
especially in the Chesapeake. When feeding on the wild celery the flesh acquires a peculiarly
fine flavor, which has gained for the bird great renown among gastronomers; but its flesh is of
no special excellence under other circumstances, in fact inferior to that of most River Ducks
(Anatine). There is little reason for squealing in barbaric joy over this over-rated and gen-
erally under-done bird; not one person in ten thousand can tell it from any other duck on the
table, and then only under the celery circumstance just said.
CLAN’GULA. (Lat. clangula, dim. of clangor, a noise.) WuHIsTLERS. GaArrots. Bill
much shorter than head, about as long as tarsus, very high at base, tapering to end with definite
nail, and acute upper corners; frontal and mental feathers little in advance of loral. Nostrils
median. Tail about half as long as wing, 16-feathered, pointed. Body plump; neck short;
feet far back. @ with the head puffy or slightly crested, dark-colored, iridescent, with great
white patches; lower neck all around, under parts including sides, and most of the wing-
coverts, scapulars, and secondaries, white; lining of wings dark; most of upper parts black ;
no waving on back or sides; crissum not black; bill dark; feet light or bright. 9 with less
puffy dark brown or gray head, and traces or not of the white patches. Medium-sized and small
ducks, mostly black and white. They include two types of at least subgeneric value; one
(Clangula proper) represented by the garrots, the other (Bucephala) by the buiile-head.
Analysis of Species.
Nostrils rather before middle of bill.. g head uniformly puffy, the gloss green; a round or oval white
spot before eye, not reaching upper corner of bill; white of wings continuous; lining of wings entirely
dark; eye yellow; feet orange. 9 head dark brown, unmarked. (Clangula) ..... . glaucium 125
Nostrils as before. g' head somewhat crested, the gloss purple and violet; an angular or crescentic white
space before eye, applied against whole base of bill; white of wings divided by a darx line; lining of
wings entirely dark; eye yellow; feet orange. 9 head dark brown, unmarked... . . . islandica 126
Nostrils rather behind middle of bill. g' head extremely puffy, the gloss various. No white before eye,
but great white space on side of head behind, meeting its fellow on nape; white of wing continuous;
lining of wing with some white; eye brown; feet flesh-color; ? head dark gray, with trace of the white
auricular patch. (Bucephala) Gr Bete Be Bho Bi th ep Sh Ma + + 4. « Quritus 849, or californicus 850
P. ecrista’tus. (Lat. cristatus, crested.) CRESTED GREBE. Adult, breeding plumage: Crown and long
occipital crests glossy black; end of ruff the same, the rest reddish-brown, fading into silky-white of throat and
sides of head. Neck behind and upper parts dark brown, the feathers with gray margins. Primaries chocolate-
brown, with black shafts, the tips of the inner ones white, as are all the secondaries and tertiaries, excepting a
little of the outer webs of the former; greater wing-coverts white on inner webs. Under parts pure silky white,
without a traceof dusky mottling, the sides of the neck and body tinged with reddish, and on the flanks mixed
with dusky, where the feathers have dark shaft-lines, Length about 24.00; extent 33.00; wing 7.00; bill 2.00,
the gape 2.70; tarsus 2.50. Europe, etc. N. Am. ?
P. griseige/na holbeelli. (Low Lat. griseus, gray ; gena, cheeks. ToC. Holbéll.) AmERIcAN
RED-NECKED GREBE. Adult, breeding plumage: Crests short, and ruffs scarcely apparent.
Iris carmine. Bill black, the tomia of upper mandible at base and most of lower mandible
yellowish. Crown and occiput glossy greenish-black ; back of neck the same, less intense,
and upper parts generally the same, with grayish edgings of the feathers. Wing-coverts and
848,
849.
PODICIPEDIDZA:: GREBES. 795
primaries uniform chocolate-brown, the shafts of the latter black. Secondaries white, mostly
with black shafts and brownish tips. Lining of wings and axillars white. A broad patch
of silvery-ash on the throat, extending around on sides of head, whitening along line of
juncture with the black of the crown. Neck, except the dorsal line, deep brownish-red, which
extends diluted some distance on the breast. Under parts silky-white, with a shade of silvery-
ash, each feather having a dark shaft-line and terminal spot, producing a peculiar dappled
appearance. Winter plumage, and young: Crests scarcely appreciable. Bill mostly yellow-
ish, the ridge more or less dusky. Red of the neck replaced by brownish-ash of variable
shade, from quite dark to whitish. Ash of throat and sides of head replaced by pure white.
Under parts ashy-white, the mottling not so conspicuous as in summer. Dimensions: Length
about 19.00; extent 32.00; wing 7.60; bill along culmen 1.90-2.40, along gape 2.40-3.10 ;
height at nostrils 0.55; tarsus 2.50; middle toe and claw 2.85. This bird could only be
confounded with ecristatus in immature dress: it is smaller, stouter, more thick-set, with
stouter bill, nebulated under plumage, less white on the wing, and usually has rather shorter
tarsi, — only about four-fifths the middle toe and claw, instead of about equal to the middle toe
alone, as in cristatus. The American bird is a larger variety of the European, the bill,
especially, disproportionately longer, differently shaped and colored; tarsus longer, both
absolutely and relatively to length of toes. N. Am. at large and Greenland; common in
the U. S. in winter, breeding northerly. Eggs 2.10 to 2.35 X 1.25 to 1.45, rough, whitish,
either inclining to pale greenish or with buffy discoloration, of the narrow- “elongate alane
usual in this family.
Ozs. Specimens more like the typical griseigena from the N. W. coast.
P. cornw'tus. (Lat. cornutus, horned.) Hornep Grese. Adult, breeding plumage:
Bill black, tipped with yellow. Feet dusky externally, internally yellowish. Iris carmine,
with a fine white ring. A brownish-yellow stripe over eye, widening behind and deepening
im color at the ends of the long crests, and being dark chestnut between eye and bill. Crown,
chin, and the very full ruff glossy greenish-black. Upper parts brownish-black, with paler
edges of the feathers. Primaries rather light chocolate-brown, with black shafts, except at
the base. Secondaries white. Neck all round, except stripe down behind, and sides of the
body, rich dark brownish-red or purplish wine-red, mixed with dusky on the flanks. Under
parts pure silky-white. Winter plumage, and young: Bill dusky, much of the under
mandible bluish or yellowish-white. Indications of crests and ruff in the length and fulness
of the feathers of the parts. Crown and neck behind, and sides of the body, sooty-blackish.
Other upper parts and the wings as in the adult. Chin, throat, and sides of head, pure white,
this color nearly encircling the nape. Neck in front and lower belly lightly washed with
ashy-gray. Under parts as before. Newly-fledged young are curiously striped on the head
with rufous, dusky, and white. Dimensions: length about 14.00 inches; extent 24.00;
wing 5.75; tarsus 1.75; middle toe and claw 2.10; bill along culmen about 0.90, along gape
1.30; its height at the nostrils 0.30, its width there 0.25. Bill compressed, tapering, with
considerably curved culmen, — quite different from the broad depressed bill with straight tip
and much ascending gonys of P. awritus. It varies much in size, even among equally adult
examples; in the young it is always smaller and weaker than in the old. Black, yellow-
tipped in the old, we find it variously lighter in the young, — usually dusky on the ridge,
elsewhere tinged with olivaceous, yellowish, or even orange or extensively bluish-white.
In breeding plumage this bird is conspicuously different from any other; but the young are
much like those of P. awritus, requiring careful discrimination. N, io. at large, abundant,
and generally diffused. Eggs laid on soaking or floating beds of decayed reeds, white or
slightly shaded, elliptical, 1.70 x 1.20.
P. auri‘tus. (Lat. auritus, eared.) EvRopEAN EARED GREBE. , Like the next to be de-
scribed, excepting more white on the wing; inner four primaries entirely white, all the rest
more or less white, secondaries all entirely white. Only N. Am. as occurring in Greenland (?).
850.
85L
3836.
796 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES.
P. a. califor’nicus. AMERICAN EARED GREBE. Adult, breeding plumage: Bill shorter
than head, rather stout at base, much depressed, broader than high at the nostrils, tip acute,
not decurved, gonys straight, ascending, culmen a little concave basally, nearly straight termi-
nally. Tarsus about equal to middle toe without its claw. Bill entirely black. Feet dull
olivaceous, blackish outside and on sole. Eye scarlet. Eyelid orange. Conspicuous long
auricular tufts, golden-brown or tawny, finely displayed upon a black ground. Crown, chin,
and neck all round, black. All the primaries entirely chocolate-brown, with usually a wash
of dull reddish-brown externally. Secondaries white, but the bases of all, and a considerable
part of the two outer ones, dusky; their shafts mostly all dusky. Sides deep purplish-brown
or wine-red ; this color washed across the breast, behind the black of the neck, and also across
the anal region. Under parts silky-white, the abdomen grayish. Young: Bill shaped gener-
ally as in the adult, but smaller, with less firm outlines, so that its distinctive shape is some-
what obscured. Little or no trace of the auricular tufts. Crown, sides of head, and neck all
around, sooty-grayish, paler and more ashy on the foreneck. Upper parts rather lighter and
duller colored than in the adults. Primaries as in the adults, but without the reddish tinge ;
a few of the innermost ones sometimes white-tipped. Sides under the wings washed with a
lighter shade of the color of the back; lower belly grayish. Dimensions: length 12 to 14
inches, usually 13 or less; extent 21.50-24.00; wing 4.75-5.25; bill 1.00 or less; along
gape 1.25; height at nostril 0.22; width there 0.26; tarsus 1.60; middle toe and claw 1.95.
While the breeding plumages of P. cornutus and the present species are widely different,
there is much similarity between the young and winter dress of the two species. As a rule,
auritus is smaller ; even traces of ruffs are less appreciable ; the fore neck is scarcely lighter
than the hind neck; the back is rather deeper colored and more uniform. The shape and pro-
portions of the bill, however, furnish the most reliable characters. Western N. Am., the com-
monest species of grebe breeding in the pools west of the Mississippi; E. to Illinois. Eggs
not distinguishable from those of P. cornutus.
P. dominicus. (Of St. Domingo.) St. Dominco Gress. Representing a genus or subgenus
apart from the foregoing (Tachybaptes). Bill very short, much less than the head, scarcely
over half the tarsus; stout, little compressed, rather obtuse. Lateral outlines nearly straight ;
culmen slightly concave at the nostrils, elsewhere convex; commissure straight, except a little
sinuation at base; under outline straight to angle, gonys thence straight to tip, the angle
well defined. Wings short, and with abrupt attenuation of the outer primaries. Tarsus
stout, little over three-fourths the middle toe and claw; outer lateral about equal to the mid-
dle toe. Size very small; body full; neck short; no decided crests or ruffs. Adult: Crown
and occiput deep glossy steel-blue. Sides of head and neck all around dark ashy-gray, darkest
behind, where tinged with bluish. Chin varied with ashy and white. Upper parts brownish-
black, with glossy-greenish reflections. Primaries chocolate-brown, the greater portion of the
inner vanes of all, and nearly all of the inner four or five, together with all the secondaries,
pure white. Under parts silky-white, thickly mottled with dusky. Upper mandible dusky,
the lower mostly yellowish. Dimensions: length about 9.50; extent 16.00; wing 3.60; bill
along culmen 0.70; along gape 1.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.75. Warmer parts
of America, N. to the Rio Grande of Texas.
PODILYWBUS. (Podicipes+Colymbus.) Tuick-piLteD GrRepes. Bill shorter than
head, stoutest in the family, compressed, with obtuse and hooked tip; culmen about straight
to the nostrils, thence declinato-convex; gonys regularly convex without decided angle; com-
missure slightly sinuate at base, then straight, then much deflected. Upper mandible covered
with soft skin to the nostrils, between which are two fosse, the anterior shallow, oblong, the
other deep, triangular, separated from the bare loral space by an intervening ridge. Nostrils
broadly oval, far anterior. No crests or ruffs, but shafts of frontal feathers prolonged into
bristles. Eyelids peculiarly thickened. Outer three or four primaries abruptly sinuate near
852.
ALCIDZ: AUKS. T97
the end.. Tarsus much abbreviated, comparatively stout, about three-fourths as long as middle
toe and claw. Middle and outer toes nearly equal. Basal semipalmation of toes more exten-
sive than in Podicipes. Lobe of hind toe moderate.
P, podifcipes. (For podicipes, see above.) PrED-BILLED GREBE. DascHick. DIpprEr.
DirepaPPER. WATERWITCH. Adult, breeding plumage : Bill light dull bluish, or bluish-
white, dusky on ridge or at tip, encircled with a bruad black band. Iris brown and white ;
eyelids white. Feet greenish-black outside, leaden-gray inside. Frontal and coronal bristles
black. Crown, occiput, and neck behind, grayish-black, the feathers with slightly lighter
edges. Sides of head and neck brownish-gray. A broad black throat-patch, extending on
sides of lower mandible. Upper parts brownish-black, the feathers with scarcely lighter edges.
Primaries and secondaries chocolate-brown, the latter frequently with a white area on the inner
webs. Under parts ashy, washed over with silvery-gray, thickly mottled with dusky; these
dark spots most numerous and evident on the sides. Lower belly nearly uniformly dusky.
Winter plumage: Bill light dull yellowish, without a dark band, more or less dusky on the
ridge. No gular patch. Crown and occiput dusky brown. Upper parts with more evident
pale edgings of the feathers than in summer. Neck, breast, and sides, light brown, darker
posteriorly, where more or less conspicuously mottled with dusky. Under parts otherwise pure
silky-white, immaculate; lower belly grayish. Young-of-the-year: White gular patch in-
vaded by streaks of the brownish of the head, and the latter much streaked with white.
Dimensions: length about 13.00; extent 24.00; wing about 5.00; bill along culmen 0.75 ;
along gape 1.20; height at nostrils 0.40; width 0.25; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw 2.15.
Varies greatly in size. Inhabits the greater part of S. and C. Am. and all temperate N. Am. ;
the most abundant species of the family in Eastern U. 8.
oa
63. Family ALCIDA®: Auks.
Feet palmate, three-toed (hallux wanting). Tarsi reticulate or partly scutellate. Tibio-
tarsal joint naked. Claws ordinary. Bill of wholly indeterminate shape, often much as in
Colymbide or Podicipedide ; often curiously shaped, with various ridges, furrows, or horny
protuberances. Tail perfect, of few feathers. ores completely feathered. Nostrils wholly
variable in shape and position, naked or feathered. Legs very variable. Coloration vari-
able ; head often with long curly crests. No tibial apophysis. Usually (always?) an auconal
sesamoid, sometimes double. Carotids usually double (single in Alle). Ceca coli pres-
ent; ambiens muscle present, accessory semitendinosus absent; oil-gland tufted. Palatal
structure schizognathous; nasal schizorhinal. Nature altricial and ptilopedic. Eggs few or
single, plain or variegated. The numerous species confined to the Northern Hemisphere.
Birds of this family will be immediately recognized by the foregoing circumstances, taken
in connection with general pygopodous characters. Agreeing closely in essential respects, they
differ among themselves to a remarkable degree in the form of the bill, with every genus and
almost every species; this organ frequently assuming an odd shape, developing horny pro-
cesses, showing various ridges and furrows, or being brilliantly colored. It is the rule that
any soft part that may be observed on the bill will finally become hard, or form an outgrowth,
or both; and such processes, in some cases at least, are temporary, appearing only during the
breeding season.
The last sentence, reprinted as it stands in the original edition of the Key (1872) hints at
the extraordinary changes undergone by the bill in several genera of Alcide, so ably elucidated
in 1877 and 1879 by L. Bureau, who showed that in many species parts of the horny covering
of the bill are regularly shed or moulted, in a manner analogous to the casting of deer’s antlers,
quite as shown by R. Ridgway in the case of our White Pelican, which drops the “‘ centre-
board.” In the Common Puffin, for example, no fewer than nine pieces of the bill fall of
198 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PYGOPODES.
separately, after the breed-
ing season, to be renewed
again from the soft basement membrane.
The absence, im winter, of the horny plate
at the angle of the mouth of Simorhynchus
cristatellus, had been noted (Key, p. 342), as
well as the presence or absence of the horn. of
Ceratorhina ; but we had no knowledge of the
process by which the change was effected, prior
to Bureaw’s studies. In the Puffins there is also
a moult of the exerescences upon the eyelids,
and a shrivelling of the colored rosette at the
corner of the mouth.
The Auks are confined to the Northern
Hemisphere. Some representatives have been
found as far north as explorers have penetrated.
The great majority live in more temperate lati-
tudes. Amore or less complete migration takes
place with most species, which stray southward,
sometimes to a considerable distance, in the au-
tumn, and return north again to breed in the
spring. A few species appear nearly stationary.
The most southern recorded habitat of any
member of the family is about latitude 21° N.,
on the Pacific coast of North America, but this
is rather exceptional. The species are very
unequally divided between the two oceans. The
Atlantic has but few representatives compared
with the Pacific. On the northern coasts of
the latter the family reaches its highest devel-
opment; the greatest number of species, of the
most diversified forms, are found there, though
the number of individuals of any species does
not surpass that of several Atlantic species.
Comparatively few species are common to both
oceans. All the members of the family are ex-
clusively marine. They are decidedly grega- ; ee
rious, particularly in the breeding season, when ___ Fie. 531, — Egging in Alaska on cliffs inhabited by
some species congregate in countless numbers. talaga (p. 748), Auks, ete. (Designed by H. W.
Usually one, often two, rarely three eggs are Se renee
laid, either upon the bare rock or ground, or in crevices between or under rocks, or in burrows
ALCIDZ: AUKS. 799
excavated for the purpose. Auks
are all altrices, and are believed
to be chiefly monogamous. The
young are at first covered with
long soft woolly down; rarely
stiffish hairs appear on some parts.
The moult is double. The young
of the year usually differ from the
adults; the latter usually differ in
their summer and winter plumages.
A very prevalent feature is the
possession of crests or plumes, or
elongated feathers of a peculiar
shape on the sides of the head.
All the species walk badly ;
some scarcely walk at all.
The position of the legs with
reference to the axis of the
body necessitates an upright
position when standing. The
birds appear to rest on their
rumps, with the feet extended
horizontally before them, most
of the tarsus touching the
ground. The Puffins, how-
ever, and a few others, stand
well on their feet. All the
species but one fly well, with
rapid vigorous motion of the
wings, in a straight, firm,
well-sustained course. All
progress on or under the
water with the utmost facility.
They are very silent birds;
the voice is rough and harsh ;
the notes are monotoned.
i They feed exclusively upon
Fie. 532. — A needle rock tenanted by Cormorants (p. 728, No. 757), Auks, animal substances procured
etc. (Designed by H. W. Elliott. From Harper Brothers.) from the water.
The family is divisible into two subfamilies according to the feathering of the nostrils
and other characters.
Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera.
PHALERIDINS#. Nostrils naked, remote from feathers. Bill of variable shape, always compressed,
higher than wide, as far as known appendaged with deciduous elements. Head nearly always crested.
No great seasonal changes of plumage.
Eyelids with deciduous appendages. No crests. Bill extremely high and thin; culmen with one
curve; both mandibles grooved. A rosette at angle of mouth. Covering of bill moulted in 7-9
pieces. Inner lateral claw enlarged. Tarsus scutellate in front oe ¢ . , « Fratercula 337
Eyelids simple. Long lateral crests. Bill extremely high and thin, culmen with two curves; upper
mandible grooved, under smooth. A rosette at angle of mouth. Covering of bill moulted in 7 pieces
Inner lateral claw enlarged. Tarsus scutellatein front . . . . ~ . « . Lunda 338
Eyelids simple. Lateral crests. Bill witha deciduous horn at base of upper mandible. No rosette.
800 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PYGOPODES.
Neither mandible grooved. oe of bill moulted in 2 aa Inner lateral claw normal.
Tarsus scutellate in front. . . +. . + Ceratorhina 339
Eyelids simple. Variously crested. “Bin of ‘indeterminate shane, various 5 parts moulted in 1-7 pieces.
No soft rosette. Inner claw normal, Tarsusreticulate . . . . « . Simorhynchus 340
Eyelids simple. Not crested ? Bill acute; upper mandible striate; no 5 moult of bill known. No
rosette. Inner claw normal. Tarsus reticulate 7 . « . «Ptychorhamphus 341
ALcInaz. Nostrils more or less completely feathered. Bill ‘of. variable shape, as far as known not
appendaged with deciduous elements. Head not crested (except one species). Seasonal changes of
plumage usually marked.
Bill elongate, more or less slender, without vertical grooves.
Nostrils nearly circular, incompletely feathered. Bill short and stout for this group. Tarsus
scarcely compressed, scutellate in front . . . oe eo es Able 242
Nostrils broadly oval, incompletely feathered. Bill aint comeneusedl Tail nearly even. Tarsus
extremely compressed, scutellate in front and internally. . Paes Synthliborhamphus 343
Nostrils oval, feathered. Bill very small, slender, acute. Tarsus reticulate. .Brachyrhamphus 344
Nostrils narrow, feathered. Bill about equal to tarsus. Tarsusreticulate . ... . . Uria 345
Nostrils narrow, densely feathered. Bill longer than tarsus. Tarsus scutellate in front Lomvia 346
Bill elongate, stout, high, narrow, vertically grooved. WNostrils linear, densely feathered.
Wings fully developed, fit for flight . oP a Ge ieee ep nee Siac latotne ve Ya 2a Utamania 347
Wings reduced in size, unfit for flight .. .. é - + Alea 348
Oss. Many additional characters of these remarkable enera’ are aan under their respective heads.
76. Subfamily PHALERIDINA: Parrot Auks, etc.
Characters as above. This subfamily contains a number of curious birds of the Auk
family for which there is no single English name. With one exception (that of the Common
Puffin or Sea Parrot of the Atlantic) all are confined to North Pacific and Polar waters.
Without known exception (but qu. Ptychorhamphus ?) all these birds have the bill appendaged
with deciduous elements, which is not the case with the Alcine proper; but the subfamily is
not very sharply distinguished from Alcine, such forms as Ptychorhamphus and Alle being
connecting links. The genera Fratercula and Lunda are together so different from the rest
that some authors separate them as a family Mormonide ; but this seems scarcely advisable.
83'7, FRATER'CULA. (Dimin. of frater, a brother: what application?) Sea Parrots.
Masxkine Purrins: the grotesque Dill being likened’ to the comic mask of revellers at a
carnival, and be-
ing as it were put
on for the nuptial
festivities, and af-
terward removed.
Bill about as long
as head, about as
high as _ long,
extremely com-
pressed, with
nearly vertical
sides, its lateral
profile somewhat
triangular, its
depth at base
Fic. 533. — Head of Sea Parrot (F, arctica), nat. size. (Ad nat, del. E. C.) equal to that of
the head ; culmen beginning on a level with the forehead, thence curving downward with regular
convexity to the overhanging tip, its ridge sharp and unbroken throughout ; commissure straight
and horizontal to the decurved tip; gonys sharp, ascending, gently sinuous. Terminal portions
of both mandibles hard, horny, and persistent, depressed with several oblique curved grooves,
convex forward. Basal portion of upper mandible forming a narrow obtuse-angled triangular
853.
ALCIDA — PHALERIDINA:: PUFFINS. 801
space, or nasal fossa, its short base horizontal, its long sides rising and sloping backward
to meet at an acute angle at base of culmen; the linear nostrils horizontal, close to com-
missure at base of this space, which in winter is naked and membranous, in summer covered
with a symmetrical horny ‘‘saddle” sheathing the uasal fossa; with a basal raised “ collar”
surrounding base of upper mandible, through numerous perforations of which protrude rudi-
mentary feathers; with a small narrow horizontal horny strip on each side below nostrils;
with usually, also, a long, narrow, obliquely vertical strip bounding the triangular space
anterior. Basal portion of under mandible contracted and membranous in winter, in summer
with a symmetrical horny ‘‘ shoe” which carries the line of the gonys dowuward and backward
to a point, and a narrow horny strip along base. These deciduous elements thus forming
three symmetrical pieces, surrounding the bill, and three or two pairs of lateral pieces; in all,
9 or 7 pieces (9 in arctica: and glacialis, 7 in corniculata) which are regularly moulted.
Angle of mouth with a rosette of naked skin, festooned in summer, shrunken in winter.
Eyelids surmounted above by a triangular, obtuse or acute, below by a horizontal, lengthened,
callosity. No crests on head, but a furrow in plumage behind eye. Wings not peculiar.
Tail rounded, but central feathers shorter than the next, contained about 23 times in length
of wing, 16-feathered. Tarsus very short, only equal to inner toe without claw, stout, little
compressed, reticulate except for a small space in front, which is scutellate. Outer toe about
equal to the middle; its claw shorter than the middle claw, both slightly curved, not very
acute, upright; middle claw dilated on inner edge; inner claw enlarged, curved to a semi-
circle, very acute, usually lying horizontal. Sexes alike; seasonal changes of plumage slight,
those connected with the moult of the bill very great. Egg single, white or scarcely marked,
laid in rocky crevices or burrows in ground.
Analysis of Species.
Excrescence of upper eyelid forming a slender acute horn. Height of bill much greater than length of
commissure. Black of throat reaching Dill. . corniculata 853
Excrescence of upper eyelid forming an obtuse prORURS: ” Black “a throat io reaching bill.
Culmen moderately convex, its chord about 2.00; its arc 2.10; bill under 1.50 deep at base. Wing
under 7.00 ey hits See tae mee Gh as arctica 854
Culmen very convex, its chord about 2.40 ; tea arc er ‘60; pill over 1. 50 con at — Wing 7.00 or
IMOLOS ay! ay" se aie: se SR ita fae ae aah te By RE ae teed oc ae as ‘ .glacialis 855
F. cornicula’ta. (Lat. corniculata, ineap a little horn (over the - Fig. 534.) Horner
MasxinG Purrin. Adult in sunner: Appendage of the upper eyelid produced into a long,
slender, acute, upright horn; that of lower eyelid linear-obtuse, horizontal. Bill very large,
especially high for its length, its height about equal to chord of culmen exclusive of the basal
collar, much greater than length of gape; base of culmen and point of gonys both produced fai
backward, giving a very convex outline of feathers alongside the bill; sides of bill not
distinctly divided into nasal compartment and grooved portion, uearly smooth, with only
three short shallow grooves; culmen very convex, almost the sextant of a circle; tip of upper
mandible much hooked; rictus sHort, that portion in advance of the basal rim of upper man-
dible only about as long as upper mandible is deep; outline of gonys sinuate, at first convex,
then more ascending, with slight concavity; chord of gonys nearly as long as that of upper
mandible, exclusive of the basal rim or collar. Form otherwise not peculiar in the genus.
Crown of head grayish-black, narrowing to a point at base of culmen. Sides of head white ;
‘the postocular furrow and sides of lower jaw ashy. A distinct narrow line of white along
edge of fore-arm. Entire upper parts glossy blue-black; a sootier shade of black encircling
the fore-neck, running forward on throat to bill. Other under parts white, except a few
elongated blackish feathers on sides of flanks. Lining of wings pearly-ash. Bill entirely
vermilion-red, even the basal collar; edges of eyelids red; excrescences of eyelids bluish-
gray; iris brown; feet orange-red, the webs tinged with vermilion; claws brownish-black ;
rosette of mouth bright yellow-orange. Length 14.50; extent 24.50; wing 7.25; tail 2.75;
51
854.
802 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PYGOPODES.
tarsus 1.10; middle toe and claw 2.00; outer do. 1.90; inner do. 1.35; chord of culmen 2.00;
curve 2.25; gape, from basal collar to tip, 1.20; chord of gonys 1.75; depth of bill at base
1.80; greatest width 0.60; nostril 0.40; horn over eye 0.35. In winter: The moult of the
bill not known; supposed with good reason to shed 3 symmetrical pieces and two pairs of
pieces, in all 7, namely, the collar at base of upper mandible; the saddle of nasal fossa;
the shoe of under mandible; the pair of sub-nasal strips; the pair of mandibular strips; if so,
all the same as in F’. arctica, excepting the pre-nasal strips. The processes of the eyelids
fall; the colored ring round eye pales; the rosette of mouth shrivels and pales; feet yellow;
the denuded membranous part of bill doubtless blackish. In any state, the species is easily
recognized by extension of the black collar to the bill. N. Pacific, both coasts, and adjoining
polar seas; not known in N. Atlantic ; S. to Sitka at least. Economy in all respects that
of the better known species. The single egg seen is dead white, rough, 2.75 < 1.75.
F. are/tica, (Lat. arctica, arctic. Fig. 533.) Common Purrin. Sea Parrot. Adult in
2 summer: Appendage of upper eye-
lid upright, obtusely triangular;
of lower eyelid linear, obtuse, hori-
zontal. Bill moderately large, with
moderate convexity of culmen, its
height less than chord of culmen,
little more than from posterior bor-
der of nostril to tip; base of cul-
men and point of gonys not pro-
duced far backward, leaving but
moderately convex outline of feath-
ers along side of bill; sides of bill
distinctly divided into an anterior,
hard, horny, deeply grooved por-
tion, differently colored from the
smooth basal portion; rictus long,
that portion in advance of the basal
tim of upper mandible much longer
than upper mandible is deep ; out-
line of under mandible regularly
curved from base to tip; chord of
gonys much shorter than that of
culmen. Crown of head grayish-
black, sharply defined against color
of sides of head, separated by a
= slight ashy cervical collar from the
Fig. 534, —Left, Horned Puffin ; right, Tufted Puffin, (rawn dark color of the upper parts. Sides
by H. W. Elliott. From Harper Brothers.) of head, with chin and throat, ashy-
white, nearly white between eyes and bill, with a dark ashy patch on side of throat. Upper
parts glossy blue-black, continuous with a broad collar around the neck in front, not extending
to the bill. A narrow line of white along border of fore-arm. Under parts from the neck
pure white, the long feathers of the sides and flanks blackish. Under surface of wings pearly-
gray; inner webs of primaries and secondaries grayish-brown, the shafts brown, with black
ends and whitish bases. Iris brown. Eyelids vermilion-red, the excrescences grayish-blue.
Basal collar of bill and first ridge dull yellowish; nasal saddle and corresponding shoe of lower
mandible grayish-blue ; rest of bill vermilion-red, the tip of the lower mandible and two ter-
minal grooves often yellowish; rosette of mouth orange-yellow; feet coral or vermilion-red ;
855.
338.
ALCIDA — PHALERIDINZ: PUFFINS. - 803
claws black. Length 13.50; extent 24.00; wing 6.50; tail 2.25; tarsus 1.00; middle toe
alone 1.40, its claw 0.40; outer do. 1.40, its claw 0.30; inner do. 1.00, its claw 0.40 (its chord
— the curve more); chord of culmen 2.00, its arc 2.10, the ordinate 0.30; depth of bill 1.40;
gape 1.25; gonys 1.45; greatest width of bill (at base of nostrils) 0.60; nostrils 0.85. 9 av-
eraging less than g. In winter: No colored eye-ring nor appendages of eyelids. Rosette of
mouth shrunken and pale. Feet orange, notred. Face blackish around eye, the ashy-white
obscured with dusky. Basal parts of bill membranous and blackish, and whole base of bill
contracted, the point of the gonys cut off. The following pieces have been shed: 1, the basal
rim or collar; 2, the nasal case or saddle; 3, the mandibular case or shoe; 4, 5, the strips at
base of mandible, one on each side; 6, 7, the subnasal strips, one on each side; 8, 9, the pre-
nasal strips, one on each side (3 symmetrical pieces, 3 paired pieces, 9 in all). Young, first
fall and winter: Resemble the adults in winter, but bill still weaker and less developed; the
plumage is the same, with blackish face. This long kept us in ignorance of the moult of the
bill, the adults in winter being mistaken for young birds by all authors till Bureau explained
the case. Inhabits the coasts and islands of the N. Atlantic, breeding in Iceland, Southern
Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and 8. to Bay of Fundy ; rare in the N. Pacific (Pallas),
where chiefly replaced by F. corniculata ; replaced.on most of the European coast by a smaller
weaker-billed variety, and in Polar Seas by the larger stouter-billed F. glacialis. In winter,
ranging or driven south irregularly along most of the U. S.; not regular beyond New England.
The moult of the bill as well as of the plumage occurs in August and September, when the
birds are unable to fly for a period, and many perish if caught at sea in storms at this time.
Nest by thousands on coasts and islands, burrowing in the ground like rabbits, to arm’s length
or more. The single egg is laid late in June and in July, on a slight grassy nest at the end of
the burrow ; in shape rounded ovate, with greatest diameter nearly at the middle; average size
9.50 X 1.75; shell granular, white or brownish-white, colorless or marked with obsolete
spots, dots, and seratches of pale purplish, sometimes with a few splashes of pale yellowish-
brown. Nestlings are covered with blackish down, whitish below from the breast.
F. a. glacia/lis. (Lat. glacialis, icy.) LARGE-BILLED Purrin. Specific character of
F. arctica ; size greater, the bill especially larger, and differently shaped. Protuberance
of upper eyelid higher and sharper. Bill very deep, rising high on forehead, with very convex
culmen, dropping nearly perpendicularly at end. Four grooves of upper and three of lower,
distinct; gonys quite convex. Length 14.50; extent 26.00; wing 7.25; tail 2.25; tarsus
1.20 ; middle toe and claw 1.90, outer do. 1.90, inner do. 1.45; chord of culmen 2.40, its are
2.60, the ordinate 0.45; depth of bill at base 1.70; gape 1.50; gonys 1.60; greatest width
of bill 0.65; nasal slit 0.45. Polar Seas; Spitzbergen; N. Greenland. Not authentic as
occurring in the U.S. The seasonal changes are in all respects the same as those of
F. arctica.
LUNDA. (Vox barb.) Turrep Masxine Purrin. Generic character of Fratercula, ex-
cepting crest, eyelids, and details of bill. A long tuft of feathers on each side of head. Eye-
lids not appendaged. Nostrils very small, linear, marginal. Upper mandible divided into
distinct but not differently colored compartments; its base with a deciduous raised rim or
collar, perforated for the passage of feathers as in Fratereula, but this collar not so prominent,
and the deciduous smooth basal saddle not so distinctly separated from the ridged part of the
bill beyond, where are three well marked, widely separated curved grooves, concave forward
(the reverse of Fraterculu). Culmen arched in two separate curves, the basal one surmounted
by a prominent widened ridge-pole, ending abruptly, the terminal one sharp, strongly convex
to the hooked tip of the bill. Lower mandible with the sides perfectly smooth throughout, the
outline of gouys at first descending, then rounding upward and thence about straight to tip of
bill; the base of the mandible with a narrow deciduous border ; ordinarily no evidence of the
existence of the deciduous shoe of the lower mandible. The parts of the bill moulted are the
856.
804 ‘SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. ~PYGOPODES.
basal collar, the nasal saddle and pair of subnasal strips; the mandibular shoe and basal strip ;
three large symmetrical pieces and two pairs of small lateral pieces, in all seven. (Thus as in
F-. arctica, lacking only the pair of prenasal strips; thus exactly as supposed to be the case in
F. corniculata. The loss of the pieces of the upper mandible makes the same difference in the
bill as oceurs in F’. arctica ; but the moult of the mandibular shoe effects less change in the
appearance of the bill).
L. cirra/ta, (Lat. cirrata, having curly locks. Figs. 534,535.) Turrep Purrin. Adult
in summer: Crests about 4 inches long, straw-yellow, some of the posterior feathers black at
base; these bundles of silky, glossy
feathers with very delicate shafts and
loosened webs; they chiefly sprout
from what corresponds to the furrow
in the plumage of F’.. arctica. Face
white, broadly of this color on sides
of head to beyond eyes (as far as the
crests), narrowly across forehead and
chin, the bill being thus entirely sur-
rounded by white. Crown between
the crests, and entire upper parts,
excepting the extreme forehead and
a line along the forearm, glossy blue-
black. Entire under parts, exvepting
Fie. 535. — Bill of young Tufted Puffin, nat. size. extreme chin, and including sides of
hind head and sides of neck, sooty brownish-black, more grayish on the belly, the lining of
wings smoky-gray, the under tail-coverts quite black. Wings and tail black, their inner
webs brownish-black, the shaft of the first primary whitish underneath near base. Bill, feet,
and eye-ring vermilion-red; the basal parts of the bill when about to desquamate showing
more yellowish or enamel color, or even showing the livid color of the subjacent membrane.
Rosette of mouth yellow. Claws black. Eyes ‘‘ brownish-yellow.” Length 15.00-16.00;
Fic. 536, — Horn-billed Auk, adult in summer, nat. size. (Fram Elliot.)
extent 27.00; wing 7.75 ; tail 2.75; tarsus 1.30; middle toe 2.00, its claw 0.50; outer do. 1.80,
its claw 0.40; inner do. 1.25, its claw 0.50; greatest depth of bill 1.90; greatest width 0.90;
chord of culmen 2.40, of which the terminal part is 1.40; gape about 1.90; gonys 1.60; greatest
depth of upper mandible 1.15 ; nostrils 0.25. Adult in winter: Plumage as in summer ; crests
retained: iris “pale blue.” Basal part of bill dark-colored, without the above-named deciduous
839.
857.
ALCIDHi —PHALERIDINZ: AUKS. 805
pieces; the change in upper mandible is decided, as in F. arctica, but the difference in the
lower mandible is comparatively slight. In birds of the first spring the terminal portion of the
bill may be smooth, like the under mandible, and the bill and feet rather orange-red than ver-
milion ; at this time the face whitens and the crests sprout. Young: No crests, and no white
about the face
The bill like that
of the adults in
winter after: the
moult, saddled
with soft dark-col-
ored skin at base,
but every way
smaller, weaker,
and quite smooth
( “ Sagmatorhina
lathami,” fig. 535,)
and, like the feet,
Fie. 537. — Horn-billed Auk, adult in winter, nat. size. (From Elliott.) rather yellow or
orange than red; the plumage entirely blackish above, sooty- brown below, the feathers of the
belly and flanks whitish at the base; iris brown. Coasts and Islands of the N. Pacific, S. in
winter on the American side to California; of casual occurrence on the Atlantic Coast to New
England. General habits and economy of the common puffin; nesting similar. Egg single,
rough, dead-white, but showing, besides frequent discolorations, obsolete shell-markings of
pale purplish-gray’; size from 2.65 to 2.85, by 1.92 to 2.00; broader and more capacious than
that of F. corniculata, though no longer.
CERATORHI'NA. (Gr. xépas, xépatos, keras, keratos, a horn; pis, pds, hris, hrinos, the
nose.) Rurnoceros Auxs. Related to Lunda and Fratercula ; no peculiarity of eyelids or
inner claw; bill smooth;
base of upper mandible
with a large upright
horn, and under mandi-
ble with an accessory
horny piece lying be-
tween its rami; this
piece and the horn decid-
uous, when base of up-
per mandible covered
with a soft cere. Bill
shorter than head, stout, Fie. 538. — Horn-billed Auk, young, nat. size. (From Elliot.)
deep at base, much compressed and rapidly tapering to acute decurved tip, sides erect, smooth,
culmen very convex, gape gently curved, gonys nearly straight, with angle at symphysis.
Nostrils short, linear, subbasal, marginal, impervious, at base of the horn or cere. Two
series, postocular and maxillary, of lengthened, straight, stiffish lance-acute white feathers on
each side of head. General form of Fratercula. Size large. One species.
C. monocera'ta. (Gr. pévos, monos, only, single; xépas, keras, horn. Figs. 536, 537, 538.)
Unicorn Aux. Horn-pitt Aux. Adults in summer: Bill orange-yellow. Culmen and
base of upper mandible dusky ; feet some yellow color, the tarsi behind and the soles blackish ;
claws black. The sharp feathers of the head white, about an inch long. Entire upper parts
glossy blue-black; a line of white along edge of forearm. .. Sides of head and neck, of body
along under the wings, with chin, throat, and fore-breast, clear grayish-ash, or pale bluish-
806 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES.
gray; under parts from the breast pure white, shading insensibly into the color of the sides aud
flanks. Inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers grayish-brown, paler ' toward base, the shafts of
the primaries dull whitish at base. Length 15.50; extent 26.00; “wing 7. 25; tail 2.50; tarsus
1.20; middle toe and claw 1.85 ; outer do. 1.70; inner do. 1.40; ‘chord’of aulner without horn
1.00, with horn 1.40; gape 2.00; nostril to tip of horn 0.75 ; total depth of bill, including horn,
1.25. In winter: Plumage the same; iris white; no horn nor accessory piece under the bill,
these being shed; place of horn occupied by a soft dark-colored basement membrane or cere
(‘' Sagmatorhina suckleyi,” Fig. 537). Young: Bill like that of adults in winter, lacking
horn, but every way weaker, hardly more than half as large. Mostly dark-colored. No white
feathers on side of head. White of under parts overlaid and marbled with dark-gray ends of
the feathers ; black of upper parts brownish. The first spring the horn grows, the accessory
piece develops, and the plumage clears up. Nestlings are covered with smoky-brown down.
Both coasts and islands of N. Pacific, to Lower California and Japan; not specially arctic;
e. g., breeds on the Farallone Islands.
SIMORHYN'CHUS. (Gr. oupés, simos, snub-nosed; fuyxos, hrugchos, beak.) SNUB-NOSED
Avurs. Of moderate and very small size, and stocky shape. Head usually crested or with
peculiar feathers. Bill of indeterminate shape, differing with each species, furnished with a
varying number of deciduous horny elements. Nostrils entirely unfeathered. Wings and tail
ordinary. Feet small; tarsi shorter than middle toe, entirely reticulate; toes long, middle and
outer of about equal lengths, claw of the former longest ; inner claw reaching base of middle ;
all curved and compressed. Four species, very distinct; the queerest little auks in the world.
Each has been made type of a genus; S. psittaculus differs more from the rest than these do
from one another, and might stand apart as a genus (Phaleris), the others being rated as sub-
genera (Simorhynchus proper, Tylorhamphus, and Ciceronia).
Analysis of Species.
Upper mandible oval, lower mandible falcate, rictus curved upward. No crest (Phaleris) psittaculus 855
Upper mandible triangular, lower straight, rictus horizontal, sinuate,
A long frontal crest, curling over forward.
One series of white feathers on each side of head (Simorhynchus proper)... . . eristatellus 859
More than one series of white feathers on each side of head (Tylorhamphus) ..- . . pygmeus 860
Short white hair-like feathers over the forehead; no crest (Ciceronia). . . . . .. . « pusillus 861
S. psitta‘culus. (Lat. psittaculus, a little parrot. Fig. 439.) Parroquet Auk. Puc-
NOSED AUK. Bill moderately large, much compressed, densely feathered for some distance at
«base, but not to the nostrils, which are narrowly
oval, overhung by a projecting scale or shield,
which is deciduous. Profile of bill oval; of
upper mandible narrowly oval; culmen gently
convex, declinate, tomial edge more convex, ac-
clinate, meeting at an obtuse tip; lower mandi-
ble extremely slender, faleate, curved upward,
with concave tomia, very convex gonys, and
aeute point. Frontal feathers embracing cul-
men with a reéntrance, thence dropping per-
pendicularly to commissure; those on lower
Fic. 539. — Parroquet Auk, nat, size, (Ad nat.del. mandible not reaching quite so far; interramal
H. W. Elliott.) space fully feathered. Adult: In summer with
the nasal saddle, moulted in one piece in winter; shape of bill not materially altered, however.
the piece being small and flattish. Bill vermilion or coral-red, usually enamel-yellow at tip
and along edges. No curly crest on forehead, but a series of long white filamentous feathers
from the eye downward and backward. Entire upper parts, with chin, throat, breast, and
ALCIDA — PHALERIDINA: AUKS. 807
flanks sooty brownish-black, grayer below than above; other under parts white; lining of
wings dark. Feet dull greenish or yellowish, darker behind and below. Length about 9.00;
wing 5.40-5.75; tail 1.55% -:térsus about 1.00; middle toe alone 1.10; chord of culmen or
gonys 0.60; gape 1.00; depth of bill 0.45; width 0.30. Young: No white filamentous feath-
ers on head ; a white spot on lower eyelid; upper
parts as before, under parts white, marbled and
mottled with dusky ends of the feathers. N.
Pacific and polar seas, highly arctic, apparently
not coming much south. This quaintly-beaked
bird resorts to cliffs and crags to breed, laying its
single egg deep in the cavities of the most inac-
cessible rocks overhanging the sea; it resembles
a small narrow hen’s egg, being white, variously
soiled and discolored, minutely granular and rough
to the touch, 2.25 to 2.35 long by 1.45 to 1.50.
S. cristatel/lus. (Lat. cristatellus, dimin. of
cristatus, crested. Figs. 540, 541,542.) CresTep
AuUK. -SNUB-NOSED AUK. Bill fundamentally
small and simple, compressed-conic, with convex
culmen and little sinuate horizontal commissure ;
but in the ‘breeding season developing several
corneous appendages, which alter its shape great-
ly, make it singularly irregular, and modify even
the outline of the feathers at its base. These
accessory pieces are: a nasal plate, filling the
nasal fossa, separate from its fellow of the oppo- Fie. 540. — Crested Auk, reduced. (Ad. nat. del.
site side ; asubnasal strip prolonged on the cutting saliaaiteneiaiiias
edge of the upper mandibles backward from the nostrils; a rosette-like plate at base of upper
mandible just over angle of the mouth ; a large shoe encasing the posterior part of the under
mandible; the latter single, the other three pieces in pairs, making seven in all which are
moulted; all these elements vermilion or coral-red; end of the bill enamel-yellow. (Before
acquiring these growths the young bird is tetraculus of authors; the adult in winter, after
i
Fig. 541. — Crested Auk, in summer, nat. size. Fie. 542. — Crested Auk, in winter, nat. size.
shedding them, is dubius.) A beautiful crest of 12-20 slender feathers springing from the fore-
head, curling over forward in are of a circle to fall gracefully upon the bill; this helmet is
blackish ; at full length about 2 inches long; the feathers are not filamentous, but have well-
formed webs, and are bundled or impacted together, owing to the oblique divergence of the
860.
861.
808 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PYGOPODES.
webs from the shaft, as in the genus Lophortyx. A slender series of white filamentous feathers
over and behind each eye, drooping downward and backward. The whole plumage otherwise
sooty more brownish-black above, more brownish-gray below. Feet bluish, with dark
webs. Aside from the transformation of the bill, the young only differ in lacking the crest and
white filaments; but both are early acquired; there is a white spot below eye. The summer
and winter plumages are alike. Iris said to be in winter white, in summer with a blackish
outer and bluish inner ring; in the young, brown. Length 8.50-9.00; wing 5.25-5.50; tail
1.55; tarsus 0.90-1.00; middle toe and claw 1.35: chord of culmen 0.45. N. Pacific, both
coasts and islands, on the Asiatic side to Japan, but not known to come §. to U.S. Nesting
in every respect like S. psittaculus ; single egg, similar, smaller, 2.10 x 1.40.
S. pygme/us. (Lat. pygmaeus, dwarf. Figs. 543, 544.) Waiskermp AUK. RED-NOSED
Aux. Bill small and simply conic-eompressed, little longer than high, resembling the young
or winter bill of the preceding ; having but one pair
of accessory pieces, the small shields which fill the
nasal fossee, and are doubtless shed in winter. Adult:
A very long curly crest of slender filamentous feath-
ers curving over forward in are of a circle to droop
upon the bill; the crest dark-colored and of same
general character as that of S. eristatellus, but of
fewer and more thready feathers. A maxillary series
of slender filaments from the commissure of the bill
along the side of the jaw; another series from base
of culmen to eye; a postocular series adown the side — Fre, 543, — Whiskered Auk, young, nat. size.
of the neck, all these white or yellowish-white. (From Elliott.)
Crest and general plumage as in the last. Bill (dry) orange-red, more salmon color or yellow
enamel at end ; feet (dry) undefinably dark. Length
8.00 or more; wing 5.60; tail 1.25; tarsus 1.00;
middle toe and claw 1.55; outer do. 1.60; inner
do. 1.10; chord of culmen 0.45; depth of bill at
base 0.30; gape 0.90; crest outstretched 1.50;
longest white filaments on head 1.00. Young:
Bill very small and weak, much compressed. No
sign of crest nor of white feathers on head. Above
blackish-cinereous, quite black on head, wings,
and tail; under parts lighter and more grayish-
plumbeous, bleaching on the belly and crissum.
Bill reddish-dusky; tarsi behind and soles black ;
\ eye black and white. (8. cassini, Coues.) N.
Fie, 544,— Whiskered Auk, adult, nat. size. Pacific ; apparently rare in most localities; there
(From Elliot.) are as yet but few specimens in any museums.
S. pusillus. (Lat. pusillus, pucrile. Figs. 545, 546, 547.) Least AUK. KNOB-NOSED AUK.
Adult in summer: Bill small and simple, but stout for its length, scarcely higher than wide at
base, rather obtuse at tip. A small knob or tubercle at the base of the culmen, which is
deciduous. No crest; but front, top, and sides of head more or less thickly lined with delicate
white thready feathers; a similar series, exceedingly fine, from the eye along sides of hind head
and nape. Excepting these filaments, the entire upper parts glossy black; region about under
mandible, and a few feathers along the sides of body and flanks, blackish ; under parts white,
more or less extensively mottled or clouded with blackish. Lining of wings white, with dark
feathers along the edge. Bill red, the knob and base of upper mandible dark. Legs (dry)
undefinably dark, the front of tarsus and tops of toes lighter. Length 6.50; wing 3.75;
ALCOIDAi — PHALERIDINZE: AUKS. 809
tail 1.25; tarsus 0.70; middle toe and claw 1.00; chord of culmen, including the node, 0.40;
gape 0.60; height of bill at base 0.80, width scarcely less. In winter: The knob gone;
the little white bristles of head retained ; white of under parts extensive, reaching far around
sides of neck; humeral and scapular feathers and many of the secondaries marked with white,
producing patches of this-evlor on the upper parts, unknown in other Phaleridine ; such
seasonal change of plumage indicating an approach to Mergulus or Brachyrhamphus. Young:
Like the adults, but the white of the under parts nebulated with dusky ends of the feathers;
this clouding does not clear up until the knob of bill and bristles of head have been acquired.
a
/ ©
© ©
Fie. 645. — Least Auk, adult, nat. size. Fig. 546, — Least Auk, young, nat. size.
This curious little bird, the smallest of all the auks, and one of the least of all water birds,
inhabits the coasts and islands of the N. Pacific, resorting to favorite breeding places by
millions, with S. psittaculus and S. cristatellus. The nesting is similar, the single egg being
laid in the recesses of rocky shingle over the water; size 1.55 X 1.12. The bird is not known
to come §. so far as the U. 8.
Fic. 547. — Group of Least Auks. (Designed by H. W. Elliott.)
841. PTYCHORHAWPHUS. (Gr. rrvé, rrvyés, ptux, ptuchos, afold: pdpdos, hramphos, beak.)
WRINKELE-NOSED AvuKS. Size moderate; form stout; no crests nor any peculiar feathers
about head. Bill about # as long as head, stout, straight, little compressed, conic-acute ;
culmen little convex, broad at base, where in the dried state transversely corrugated; in place
of which wrinkles there may be some formation now unknown; sides of upper mandible
862.
342.
863.
810 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PYGOPODES.
turgid, with inflected tomial margins; of under upright, grooved lengthwise; gape straight;
gonys straight or nearly so, very loug. Nasal fosse large, shallow, covered with soft skin
in the only state known; which flares over the rather long, narrowly oval sub-basal nostrils
at the bottom of the fossa. Outline of frontal feathers nearly transverse across culmen, thence
retreating obliquely to the commissure. Tarsi reticulate, much shorter than middle toe
without claw. This genus apparently connects the Phaleridine with the Alcine, having
much the aspect of Mergulus or Brachyrhamphus, with sui generis shape of bill; its position
will only be settled by learning what, if any, are the transformations of the bill.
P. aleu’ticus. (Of the Aleutian Islands.) ALEUTIAN AuxK. Bill black, the skinny part
pale in the only state observed; feet blackish behind and below, bluish in front of tarsus and
on tops of toes. A touch of white about eye. Upper parts blackish-plumbeous, the head,
wings, and tail nearly black. This dark color, diluted to grayish-plumbeous, extends around
the head, neck, and fore-breast, along the sides, and on lining of wings, fading to white on
belly and crissum. No special states of plumage are known. Length 8.00-9.50; extent
16.00-18.50; wing 4.75-5.25 ; tail 1.50-1.75; tarsus about 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.40;
outer do. 1.80; inner do. 1.10; culmen 0.75; gape 0.90; gonys 0.60; depth of bill at base
0.40, width 0.30. Pacific coast of N. A., Aleutians to L. Cala., thus not specially Arctic.
Breeds as far south at least us the Farallones.
77. Subfamily ALCINAZ: Guillemots, Murres, and Auks proper.
See analysis on p. 799, and characters of subfamily Phaleridine. Among the Alcina,
that is to say, Auks with feathered nostrils and unappendaged Dill, there is a gentle gradation
from those genera in which the bill is simplest and slenderest, as in the Guillemots and Murre-
Jets, to those in which it is stoutest, as in some of the Guillemots, and in the razor-billed and
great auks, in which it is greatly compressed and suleate, recalling that of a puffin. Some of
the genera are confined to the North Pacific, as Synthliborhamphus and Brachyrhamphus;
others are cireumpolar, as Uria and Lomwvia; several, as Alle, Uria, Lomvia, Utamania and
Alca, represent the family in the North Atlantic, together with Fratercula of the Phaleridine.
AL'LE. (A local name of the bird.) Sra Dove. Size small; form squat and bunchy.
Bill very short, stout, and obtuse, as wide as high at base,
the sides of both mandibles turgid, the edge of the upper
©) much inflected; culmen very convex; rictus ample, de-
curved at end; gonys straight, very short, the mandibular
rami correspondingly long, and widely divaricated; nasal
fossee short, wide, deep, partly feathered. Nostrils sub
basal, more nearly circular than in any other genus except-
ing the next. Wings rather long for this family; tail
Hig: DAs. — Bear dove, mat, size: much rounded, with narrow pointed feathers. Feet small
and weak; tarsus scarcely compressed, broadly scutellate in front, finely reticulate behind.
One species.
A. ni/gricans. (Lat. nigricans, blackening. Fig. 548.) Sea-pove. Dover. ALLE.
Adults in summer: Head and neck all around, and entire upper parts, very glossy blue-black ;
scapulars edged and secondaries tipped with white, forming two conspicuous patches; touches
of white about eyes. Under parts from the neck pure white, some of the long feathers of the
flanks rayed with black ; lining of wings dusky. Bill black; mouth yellow ; feet black behind
and below, in front and above flesh-colored; eyes brown. In winter: The white of under
parts extending to the bill, and on sides of neck nearly around. Young like adults in winter,
but upper parts duller; bill smaller; feet dusky greenish, the scales obscured. Length 8.50;
extent 15.50; wing 4.75-5.25 ; tail 1.50; tarsus 0.80; middle toe and claw 1.20, outer do.
PS
3438.
864.
ALCIDZA — ALCINZ:: MURRELETS. 811
1.15, inner do. 0.85; chord of culmen 0.50, gape 1.00, gonys 0.20; height or width of bill
at base 0.35. N. Atlantic, both coasts. In winter 8. to the Middle States or beyond. ,
Overtaken by storms at this season this little bird is not seldom blown inland. It is very
abundant at its breeding grounds in the far north, being one of the most boreal of birds.
Egg single, 1.60 x 1.10, pale greenish-blue.
SYNTHLIBORHAM’PHUS. (Gr. cuvOdAi8o, sunthlibo, I compress; pdudos, hramphos,
beak.) NIPPER-NOSED MuRRELETS. Of moderate size and stout form; general aspect of
Alle ; with or without a crest. Bill somewhat as in Brachyrhamphus, but stouter and
deeper for its length; greatly compressed throughout, its depth at base about half as much as
length of culmen; culmen moderately convex, gonys ascending. Nostrils sub-basal, broadly
oval or nearly circular; nasal fossee small and shallow, feathered to nostrils. Feathers to
about opposite points on culmen and keel, thence retreating rapidly backwards. Secondaries
very short, as in Brachyrhamphus, the longest not reaching much more than half way from
carpal joint to the point of the closed wing. (This style of wing is characteristic of the
murrelets, which ‘‘ paddle” the air ina peculiar way.) Tail short, nearly square, with broadly
rounded feathers. Tarsi much compressed, like the bill; transversely scutellate in front and
on the side, reticulate behind; about as long as middle toe without claw. With the general
character of Brachyrhamphus, this genus differs in the deeper, stouter bill, and much com-
pressed scutellate tarsi; it includes two very stylish species of the N. Pacific, very different
from each other.
Analysis of Species.
Head closely feathered; depth of bill more than half its length; white of sides of crown not advancing
DOFOLE:CY OS: xo ae Sees do seca Be ae SR, BO BE ee OE Se OR a ee Ge antiquus 864
Head crested; depth of bill about half ita length; white of sides of crown advancing nearly to bill
umizusume 865
S. anti/quus. (Lat. antiquus, ancient; i. e. gray-headed. Fig. 549.) BLACK-THROATED
Mourrerer, Adult in breeding dress: Bill whitish or yellowish, its base and ridge black.
Feet whitish or yellowish, the tarsus behind and both surfaces of webs, black. Head all around,
and throat, black, pure above, sooty on chin and throat. A
conspicuous white stripe from over each eye to sides of nape,
where connected by some white feathers with its fellow, and ©
spreading on the sides and back of neck into a set of sharp j
white streaks; trace of white on each eyelid. Upper parts dark | a
plumbeous, blackening on tail; upper surface of wing the same,
the edging of the wing all along from the elbow, and the ex-
posed parts of the primaries, blackish; secondaries like the cov- _ Fie. 549. — Black-throated Mur-
erts, or rather darker; basal portion of inner webs and shafts 7élet, nat. size.
of primaries whitish; under surface of wing white, mottled with dusky just along the edges.
Sides of body under the wings velvety-black;-these black feathers lengthening behind, and
overlying the flanks, which are seen to be white on raising them. Aunteriorly this black extends
in front of the wings and continues on to the nape of the neck, where it mixes with the white
streaks above said. The sooty-black of the throat is continuous with that of the sides of the
head as far as the auriculars, beyond which it narrows to a point on the throat, being separated
from the black of the nape by a large white area, an extension to the auriculars of the white
which is the color of the whole under parts, except as said. Length 9.50-10.50; extent 16.75-
18.25 ; wing 5.50; tail 1.60; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25, outer do. 1.15, inner do.
1.00; bill along culmen 0.60, gape 1.20, gonys 0.40; depth at base 0.30, width 0.20. Young
or winter: Upper parts darker, the plumbeous being obscured by dusky, especially on the wing-
and tail-coverts and rump. Forehead, crown, nape, sooty-black, not relieved by white streaks,
or only with traces of the latter; eyelids sometimes largely white. No black on throat, only
865.
344,
812 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —~PYGOPODES.
some dusky mottling about base of bill; the white of the under parts extending on head nearly
to eyes, and far around on sides of nape, so that only a narrow median line is left dark. Sides
of body under wings merely dusky, not continuous over the flanks, where the feathers are
partly white, and scarcely advancing in front of wings. The course of the seasonal plumages,
or those dependent upon age, is not yet fully traced for this species ; the clarity of the ash, the
intensity of the black, and the purity and distinctness of the white striping, indicate the more
perfect feathering, and conversely. N. Pacific, both Asiatic and American, S. in winter to
the U. 8., breeding from Sitka, Alaska. Accidental in one instance in Wisconsin.
S. umizu/sume. (The Japanese name. Fig. 550.). JAPANESE MURRELET. TEMMINCK’S
Aux. Bill more elongate and acute than in the type of the genus, less compressed, not so deep
for its length. Bill yellow, with black ridge ; feet livid-bluish, with dusky webs. A large crest,
of a dozen (more or fewer) feathers springing from extreme forehead, not recurved, but
drooping backward over the occiput. A conspicuous series of white feathers on each side
of head, from origin of the crest over eye to nape,
where more or less confluent with those of oppo-
site side, and then dispersed in streaks over the
sides of the neck to the shoulders. Rest of head,
including throat, sooty or ashy-blackish, this color
extending as far as the interscapulars, whence the
upper parts are more plumbeous, only darker on
wings and tail. Sides under the wings plumbeous-
black to the flanks, this color advancing in front
of wings and continuous with that on the sides of
neck and head. Lining of wings white, except some dark mottling along the edge; bases of
primaries, and most of their inner webs, white, shading through gray to their dusky tips.
Whole under parts white, except as said. Length 10.50-11.00; extent 18.00-18.50; wing
5.50; tail 1.75; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25, outer 1.20, inner 1.00; bill along
culmen 1.00, gape 1.10; gonys 0.40; height or width at base 0.25-0.30. Younger: No crest ;
bill obscured; little or no trace of white about head, which is dusky plumbeous; other upper
parts similar, the back lighter; white of under parts extending to bill and far around on sides
of neck. There is much variation in different specimens, the full significance of which remains
to be determined ; but the species is unmistakable. N. Pacific, both Asiatic and Ametican;
8. to U. S. and Japan. :
BRACHYRHAM'PHUS. (Gr. Bpayds, brachus, short; paudos, hramphos, beak.) PrAKED-
NOSED MurRexets. Approaching Uria in generie character. Bill small, slender, much
shorter than head, not longer than tarsus, compressed, very acute; culinen gently curved,
rictus and gonys straight ; tomial edge of upper mandible much inflected toward base, notched
near tip. Nasal fossee small and shallow, nearly filled with feathers, reaching tu the broadly
oval nostrils. "Wings very narrow, faleate, pointed, with extremely short secondaries. Tail
nearly square, with obtuse feathers. Feet very small and short; tarsus of variable length
relative to the toes, entirely reticulate. Outer and middle toes of equal lengths, the claw
of the former smaller ; inner toe short, its claw not reaching base of middle claw. Claws all
small, compressed, acute. Containing several species of diminutive murres, all confined to
the Pacific.
Fic. 550. — Japanese Murrelet, nat. size.
Analysis of Species.
Tarsus shorter than middle toe without claw.
Upper parts blackish and chestnut, lower blackish and white (summer), or upper parts cinereous and
white, lower white (winter) 2... 6 1 ee ee eee ee marmoratus 866
Upper parts ashy, barred and spotted with dull yellowish; under parts whitish barred with dusky.
kittlitzt 867
Tarsus as long as middle toe without claw.
866.
867.
868.
ALCIDA —ALCING: MURRELETS. : 813
Lining ofwings white . 2... 6 0 ee te te et a) Die at RG Bowe hypeleucus 868
Einingotwinesark 24 ee ee Rw RE ORR EE ER we SG craveriit 869
Tarsus said to be longer thanmiddletoe . . . 1. +. ee ee et te ques brachypterus 870
B. marmora‘tus. (Lat. marmoratus, marbled.) MARBLED. MURRELET. WRANGEL’S
MuRRELET. Adult in summer: Bill black; tarsi behind and both surfaces of webs blackish ;
tarsi in front and top of toes livid flesh-color, or dull bluish-gray; iris brown. Above,
brownish-black, barred crosswise with chestnut-brown, or bright rust-color, except on the
wings, which are uniform brownish-black, the primaries darker, their inner webs gray toward
the base. Lining of wings smoky brownish-black. A few whitish feathers, varied with
chestnut and dusky, on the scapulars. Entire under parts, including sides of head and neck,
marbled with sooty brownish-black and white, the feathers being white with dark ends.
Adult in winter: No chestnut, and entire under parts pure white, immaculate, excepting
some dusky streaks on the long feathers of the sides and flanks. Upper parts very dark-
cinereous, the centres of the feathers, especially of the back and rump, blackish; the crown,
wings, and tail almost black, the greater coverts narrowly edged with white; the scapulars
almost entirely white, forming two conspicuous patches. On the lores, the white invades
to the level of the eyes, avd extends into the nasal fosse; it then dips, leaving the eyes in
dark color; on the nape it reaches nearly across the middle line; on the sides of the rump
it leaves a band of dark color about an inch wide. Specimens are found in every
stage intermediate between the two here described. Young, first plumage, with bill only a
third as long as head: Resembling the winter adult, in absence of chestnut. Upper parts
blackish, with only a shade of cinereous, therefore darker than in the winter adult; white on
scapulars present, but restricted, and interrupted with dusky. Entire under parts white, as
before, but thickly marked with fine wavy dusky lines, most numerous across throat, largest
on sides and flanks, finest on lower breast, the chin, middle of belly and crissum unmarked.
Lining of wings as before. Length 10.00; extent 18.00; wing 5.00; tail 1.50; tarsus 0.70;
middle toe alone, 1.00, its claw 0.20; outer toe and claw 1.15; inner do. 0.90; bill along
culmen 0.60~-0.70, gape 1.25-1.35, gonys 0.45-0.55, height at base 0.24, width 0.20. Coasts
and islands of the N. Pacific; on the American side, 8. in winter to S. Cala.; breeds as far
south at least as Vancouver, and apparently does not penetrate far north.
B, kittlit'zi, (To F. H. v. Kittlitz.) Kurrzirz’s Murrevet. Related to the last, and
belonging to the same section of the genus, having the tarsi shorter than middle toe without
claw. Bill about .one-third as long as the head. Length about 9.00. Above, cinereous of
lighter and darker shades, spotted and barred with dull yellowish. Below, whitish, undulated
with dusky. Wings blackish. This is the substance of Brandt’s description of this species,
which is quite distinct from the foregoing. The bird was originally described from
Kamtschatka; two specimens have lately been taken from the Aleutian Islands by Mr. E. W.
Nelson and Mr. L. M. Turner. They are preserved in the National Museum, where I have
handled one of them, but are not at present accessible to me for description.
B. hypoleu’cus. (Gr. io, hupo, below, Aevkés, lewkos, white.) WHITE-BELLIED MURRELET.
Adult in winter: Bill 4 the head, # the tarsus, as long as middle toe and half its claw, very
slender. Tarsus equal to middle toe without claw. Entire upper parts unvaried cinereous,
slightly darker on head; this color extending on head to include eyelids, and a little farther down
on the nape; thence in a straight line along middle of side of neck to shoulders, thence along
sides of body in a strip nearly an inch broad, the elongated flank-feathers being also of this color ;
other under parts pure white, including lining of the wings. Primaries black, the greater part
of their shafts and inner webs whitish. Bill black, the base of lower mandible pale; feet whit-
ish-blue, black below. Length 10.00-10.50,; extent 16.00-17.50; wing 4.75; tail 1.75; tarsus
0.95; middle toe without claw 0.95, its claw 0.20; outer toe and claw 1.10; inner do. 0.90;
bill 0.80; gape 1.30; gonys 0:45; depth of bill at base 0.22; width 0.19. S. and L. Cala.
869.
' 870.
345.
814 ‘SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES.
B. crave/rii? (To F. Craveri. Fig. 551.) Craveri’s MURRELET. Resembles the last;
questionably distinct ; differs in having the under surface of the wing dark. lL. California,
both sides.
B. brachy'pterus? (Gr. Spayis, brachus, short; mrépov, pieron, wing.) SHORT-WINGED
Murretet. Tarsus said to be longer than middle toe. Bill about 4 as long as head
Above, cinereous, the wings and tail
blackish. Neck on sides and below,
breast and belly white. Length 9.00.
Unalashka. (This is the substance of
Brandt’s original description. The al-
leged species is unknown to me, and no
specimens are known to exist in this
country.)
URIA. (Gr. odpia, ouria, a kind of
water fowl.) Biack GuitLtemots. Bill
much shorter than head, about equal to
tarsus, straight, rather stout, moderately
compressed ; culmen at first straight, then
decurved; gape straight to near tip:
gonys short, straight, ascending, about 4 Fic. 651. — Craveri’s Murrelet, nat. size. (From Elliot.)
as long as culmen. No nick or groove near tip of upper mandible; its tomiial edge scarcely
inflected. Nasal fossee large and deep, partially filled with feathers which do not entirely
cover the nostrils. Feathers salient in rounded outline on side of lower mandible. Tail little
rounded, contained 2$ times in‘length of wing. Tarsus entirely reticulate, slightly shorter than
middle toe without claw. Claws compressed, arched, acute, the outer grooved on outer side,
the middle dilated on inner edge. No postocular furrow in plumage. Color black, relieved
with white on head or wing, bill black, feet red; in winter, largely white. Eggs plural,
‘ colored. Three or four species.
871.
Analysis or Species.
A large white mirror on wing above and below, entire; no white about head Peo a eae grylle 871
A large white mirror on wing above, partly divided; none below; no white about head . . . .columba 872
No white mirror on wing; parts about eye and billwhite . . ... - 2. + ee ew ee carbo 873
U. grylle. (N. European name of the bird. Fig. 552.) Buack GUILLEMOT. SEA-PIGEON.
Adult in full dress: Plumage sooty-black with a tint of “invisible” green; wings and tail pure
black ; former with a large white mirror on both surfaces; bill and claws black; mouth and
feet carmine, vermilion or coral red; eyes brown
This faultless dress-suit is only worn about twc
months. In August, the wings and tail fade to
© gray; the body-color loses the green gloss; the
white mirror is soiled with brown. When the
quills and tail-feathers have fallen, and new ones
partly grown, the progress of the moult gives a
new clean white mirror, smaller than in midsum-
mer; head and neck all around, rump and under
parts, marbled with black and white, the bird
looking as if dusted over with flour; back black,
the feathers mostly edged with white. Completion of the moult gives the following winter
plumage: Wings and tail black, the white mirror faultless; head and neck all around, ramp
and under parts, white; back and more or less of the hind neck and head black, variegated
with white. Young in first plumage: Bill black, feet dusky reddish. Upper parts plumbeons
Fig. 652. — Black Guillemot, nat. size.
872.
873.
ALCIDZA — ALCINZ: GUILLEMOTS. 815
or sooty, little varied with white; under parts white, marbled, rayed and waved with dusky;
incipient mirror spotty. Nestlings are covered with sooty brownish-black down; bill and feet
brownish-black. Perfectly white and entirely black birds are rarely seen. The mirror on the
upper surface of the wings is composed of the terminal half (more or less) of the greater coverts,
the rest dark ; of the several next rows excepting their dark bases, the white of these coverts
normally overlying and concealing the dark basal portions of the greater coverts, so that the
oval mirror is usually unbroken; the anterior border of the mirror is the line through the union
of white tips with dark bases of the row of lesser coverts about 4 an inch from the fore-arm
edge of the wing. When, as not seldom happens, the row of greatest coverts are dark beyond
the extent of the next row, this dark being thus
uncovered, shows as a wedge partly splitting the
: mirror, as normally occurs in U. columba. Or,
© . the greater row of coverts may be entirely dark,
when the mirror is unbroken, as before, but much
smaller; or, again, the middle row of coverts may
be tipped with dark, making a break across the
mirror, but in ‘a different method from that first
described. Finally, the mirror may be only in-
dicated by isolated white feathers, or wholly want-
ing. Length, average, 13.00; extent, average,
22.50; wing 5.50-6.25; tail about 2.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.75; bill 1.30;
gape 1.75; gonys 0.65; depth of bill at base 0.45, width 0.35. Eur. and N. Am. coasts and
islands of the N. Atlantic, very abundant; rare or casual in the N. Pacific, where replaced by
the succeeding species; occurring in the Arctic Ocean, but apparently mostly replaced by U.
mandti ; in N. A. occurring in Hudson’s Bay, and S. in winter to the Middle States. Gregari-
ous; flying in close flocks low over the water; nesting scattering in rifts of rock near the
water; eggs 2-3, sea-green, greenish-white or white, spotted and blotched most irregularly
with blackish-brown, and with purplish shell-markings; size 2.25 to 2.50 x 1.50 to 1.60;
shape nearly elliptical, not pyriform like those of Guillemots; laid in June, July.
U. colum/ba. (Lat. -columba, a pigeon. Fig. 553.) Prazon Guituemot. Bill stouter than
that of grylle, and more obtuse. No white on under surface of the wing. White mirror of
upper surface nearly split in two by an oblique dark line, caused by the extension of the dark
bases of the greater coverts, in increasing :
amount from within outward, till the outer-
most are scarcely tipped with white; con- »)
Fie. 553. — Pigeon Guillemot, nat. size.
sequently there is a dark wedge between
the white ends of the greater and middle
rows of coverts. Plumage and its changes
otherwise as in the foregoing; general
habits and nesting the same. Asiatic and
Am. coasts and islands of the N. Pacific ;
breeds as far south as California.
U. car’bo. (Lat. carbo, a coal; ie. Fig. 554. — Sooty Guillemot, nat. size.
black. Fig. 554.) Soory GuintemoT. SPECTACLED GUILLEMOT. Like the last; larger.
especially the bill. No white on either surface of wings. A pair of white spectacles on the
eyes, and whitish about base of bill. General plumage and its changes as in others of the
genus; bill and feet the same. Length 14.00-15.00; wing 7.75; tail 2.50; tarsus 7.35;
middle toe and claw 2.10; bill 1.55-1.70 along culmen, along gape 2.20, from feathers on
side of lower mandible 1.50; depth at base 0.50; width 0.38. N. Pacific, in higher latitudes;
British Columbia to Japan. An interesting species, still rare in collections.
346.
874
816 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —-PYGOPODES.
LOM'VIA. (N. European name of birds of this kind.) Murres. Guimnemots. Eec-
BIRDS. Bill shorter than head, longer than tarsus, straight or slightly decurved, much com-
pressed; culmen regularly curved throughout; rictus curved in most of its length; gonys
straight, or little curved, nearly as long as culmen; upper mandible grooved on the side near
tip, its commissural edge greatly inflected. Nasal fossze fully feathered. Feathers on lower
Fig. 555. — Gathering Murre’s eggs in Alaska. (Designed by H. W. Elliott.)
mandible retreating in straight oblique line from interramal space to rictus. Tail short, much
rounded, contained over 3 times in length of wing. Tarsus compressed, much shorter than
middle toe and claw ; outer claw not grooved on outer face. A furrow in plumage behind eye,
Colors dark above, white below. Egg single, pictured, pyriform.
Analysis of Species.
Depth of bill opposite nostrils uot more than } the length of culmen.
Bill comparatively slender, not dilated along edge of upper mandible at base, the culmen, commissure
and gonys curved. Atlantic . . ‘ - + + troile 874
Bill stouter, somewhat dilated along edges of upper mandible at pase, the culmen, rictas, and gonys
nearly straight. Pacific . wae ae aa ‘i ae. cores . californica 8715
Depth of bill opposite nostrils more than } the length of alesse
Bill very stout, thick, deep, much dilated along enee of upper mandible at base ; culmen, commissure
and gonyscurved .. . 7 Be aia 8 rome iy ces oe =e . S e4 arra 876
L. troile. (Nom. propr., of uncertain reference. Figs. 556, 557,560.) Common GUILLEMOT, or
Murre. Adult in summer: Head and neck all around rich dark maroon brown, changing on
upper parts into dark slaty-brown, nearly uniform, but most of the feathers of the back and rump
with slightly lighter, more grayish-brown, edges. Secondaries narrowly but distinctly tipped with
white. Under parts from the throat pure white, the sides and flanks marked with dusky or slaty,
the lining of the wings varied with white and dusky. Bill black ; mouth yellow; eyes brown;
feet blackish. In some cases, not in most, a white ‘‘ eye-glass,” consisting of a rim around eye
875.
876,
ALCIDZA —ALCINZ : MURRES. 817
and handle back of eye in the furrow of the plumage. In winter: White of under parts reaching
to the bill, on sides of head to level of the commissure, farther around on sides of neck, leaving
only a narrow isthmus of dark color; the two colors shading without distinct line of demarca-
tion; usually a spur of dark color in the furrow behind eye. Young, first winter, like the
adults at that season ; bill shorter and weaker, and, like the feet, in part light-colored. Fledg-
lings dusky brownish, with white breast and belly, and whitish about head and neck. Length
17.00; extent 30.00; wing 8.00; tail 2.25; tarsus 1.40; middle toe and claw 2.10; outer do.
2.00; inner do. 1.70; bill along culmen 1.75;
gape 2.50; gonys 1.15; depth at base 0.55;
width 0.30. European and American coasts
and islands of the N. Atlantic, to or beyond 80°
N.; on the Amer, side breeding from Nova
Scotia northward ; in winter to the Middle States. Fig. 556, — Common Guillemot, or Murre, nearly
Myriads of murres cSngregate to breed on rocky ™*- size. (From Elliot.)
islands, incubating their single eggs as closely together as they can find standing-room on the
shelves of the cliffs; their ranks serried on ledge after ledge, and clouds ,of birds whirling
through the air. The eggs, so numerous as to have commercial value, are notorious for their
variability in coloration. The size is great for that of the bird, averaging 3.25 Xx 2.00, run-
ning unusually from 3.00 to 3.50, with half as much variation in breadth. The ground color
ranges from ereamy to pure white, then through
earthy, grayish, bluish, or greenish-white to
sea-green and every darker shade of green. The
markings of the creamy and white varieties are
generally spots and blotches of different shades
of brown, pretty uniformly dispersed, and eggs
of this type resemble those of the razor-bill,
but may usually be distinguished by larger size
Fra. 557. — Common Guillemot, nat. size. (in length) and more pyriform shape. The
green eggs are endlessly varied, in pattern of the markings, but are normally more streaked in
sharp angular zigzag lines, inextricably confused, reminding one of Chinese literature.
L. t, californica, (Fig. 558.) CALIFORNIAN GUILLEMOT. Like the last. Bill averaging
somewhat longer, about 1.90; culmen, commissure, and gonys nearly straight; upper mandible
somewhat dilated toward the base along the cutting edges, and less feathered; gonydeal angle
prominent. The bill consequently approaches that of the next species, in width and depth, but
exaggerates the length and straightness of that of the last species. Pacific coast of N. Am.,
breeding from islands in Behring’s sea to California.
L. ar’ra, (Russian name, arrie. Fig. 559.) THick-BItLeED Gui~temor. Arrig. Like the
foregoing in plumage and its changes. Form very robust. Bill short, stout, wide, deep ; culmen
curved throughout; commissure decurved at end; gonys if anything concave in outline, the angle
very protuberant; cutting edges of the upper mandible dilated and denuded toward the base,
52
347
877.
818 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES.
this bare turgid space flesh-colored in life, drying pale yellowish. Length 18.00; extent 32.003.
wing 8.50; tarsus 1.25; bill along culmen 1.40, along gape 2.20; gonys 0.90; depth at angle
0.55, width at base of nostrils 0.30, at angle of mouth 0.80. N. Atlantic and Polar and
N. Pacific shores and islands, in myriads; on the Atlantic 8. in winter to the Middle States,
breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward. The N. Pacific form, unquestionably
of the ‘ thick-billed” species, does not exhibit the extreme of shortness and stoutness as just
described for the At-
lantic; with a cul.
men of about 1.67,
the depth opposite
nostrils is hardly 0.67,
thus less than half
the length of culmen,
instead of about half;
gape nearly 3.00.
The sides of the up-
per mandible are char-
acteristically dilated
and denuded, of a
glaucous bluish color; the bg of the bill is less deflexed, though more so than in the common
guillemot. This is the great “egg-bird” of the high N. Pacific; on St. George’s, one of the
Prybilov group, for example, the birds ‘‘go flying around the island in great files and platoons,
always circling against or quartering, on the wing, at regular hours in the morning and the
evening, making a dark girdle of birds more than a quarter of a mile broad and thirty miles
long, whirling round and round the island, and forcing upon the most casual observer a lasting
impression.” The N. Pacific form is L. arra proper; that of the N. Atlantic is ‘‘ Briinnich’s
guillemot,” differing as said, and perhaps constituting a subspecies apart (L. a. svarbag).
UTAMANIA. (Cretan name of the bird.) Razor-pint AuK. Size, form, and general
aspect of the last genus. Bill about as long as
Fig. 558. — Californian Guillemot, nat, size.
' head, densely feathered for half its length, the
feathers extending on upper mandible beyond mid-
dle of commissure, those on lower somewhat far-
ther. Bill greatly compressed, cultrate, sulcate, —
hooked; culmen ridged, regularly convex; com-
missure straight to the hook; gonys about straight.
Nostrils linear, marginal, densely feathered. Tarsi
seutellate in front. Tail short, pointed, of stiffish, ™
acute feathers. Wings normal, effective for flight. Fig. 559. — Thick-billed Guillemot, nat. size.
Bicolor. Egg single, colored. One species.
U. tor’da. (Name of the bird.) Razor-Bittep AUK. Tinker. Adult in summer: Bilt
and feet. black, the former with a white line occupying the length of the middle sulcus on both
mandibles; mouth yellow; eye bluish. A strict, sunken line of white from eye to base o.
culmen. Head and neck all around and upper parts black, glossy and intense on the latter
lustreless opayue brownish-black on the sides and front of the former. Tips of secondaries
and entire under parts from the neck, including lining of wings, white. In winter: White
reaching to bill, and invading sides of head and neck ; the dark parts duller. Young: Like
the adults in winter; smaller; duller; bill unformed, and like the feet not black. Nestlings
clothed with sooty down, paler or whitish below. In the adults, the sharp white line from,
bill to eye is very characteristic, appearing with the first feathering, but sometimes fails in
winter birds. Length about 18.00; extent 27.00; wing 7.75; tail 3.50, graduated 1.25;
878.
. AL/CA. (Lat. from alk
ALCIDA — ALCINZ:: GREAT AUK, 819
tarsus 1.25; middle or outer toe and claw 2.00, inner 1.40; chord of culmen 1.30, are 1.50;
gape 2.25; gonys 0.75; greatest depth of bill 0.90. This auk abounds in the N. Atlantic,
both eoasts, and parts of the Polar seas; casual in the N. Pacific; Japan. On our coast,
breeds in great numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about Newfoundland and Labrador
strays S. in winter to the
Middle States, like other
Alcide. The eggs are
usually laid in caverns
and fissures of the rocks
along precipitous shore-
lines, often with those of
sea-pigeons and puffins ;
about 3.00 X scant 2.00,
white with creamy or
milky-bluish tint, never
green like those of murres,
spotted and blotched, but
not fantastically traced
over, with different shades
of umber - brown ; less
pointed ; laid in June and
July.
or auk.) His Grace,
Tue AUK, who lost the
use of his wings, and per-
ished off the face of the
earth in consequence.
A. Impen/nis. (Lat.
impennis, wingless. Fig.
561.) THE GREAT AUK.
Largest of the family:
length about 30.00 inches;
wing 6.00; tail 3.00; bill =
along gape 4.25; chord Fie. 560. — Murres.
of culmen 3.15; greatest depth of upper mandible 1.00, of lower 0.67; greatest width of bill
0.67; tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 3.25; outer do. 3.00; inner do. 2.25. A great white
oval spot between eye and bill. Hood and mantle dark; under parts white, extending in a
point on the throat; ends of secondaries white. Bill black, with white grooves; feet dark.
Special interest attaches to this bird, which is now doubtless extinct, largely through human
agency. It formerly inhabited this coast from Massachusetts, northward, as attested by earlier
observers, and by the plentiful occurrence of its bones in shell-heaps; also Greenland, Iceland,
and the N. W. shores of Europe, to the Arctic Circle. On our shores it was apparently last
alive at the Funks, a small island off the 8. Coast of Newfoundland; while im Iceland, its
living history has been brought down to 1844. For some years, it was currently, but prema-
turely, reported extinct. Mr. R. Deane has recently recorded (Am. Nat. vi, 368) that a speci-
men was ‘found dead in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Labrador, in November, 1870;” this
one, though in poor condition, being sold for $200, and sent to Europe. But there appears to
be some question respecting the character, date, and disposition of this alleged individual; and
it seems very improbable that the species lived down to 1870. I know of only four speci-
820 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PYGOPODES.
mens in this country,—in the Smithsonian Institution, in the Philadelphia Academy, the
Cambridge Museum, and Vassar College, Poughkeepsie (the latter the original of Audubon’s
figures). There is an egg in each of the first two mentioned collections. In pattern of
coloration the egg is like that of the razor-billed auk, though it is of course much larger, meas-
uring about 5.00 x 3.00. About 70 skins appear to be preserved in various museums, with
as many eggs, some half dozen more or less complete skeletons, and other bones representing
perhaps a hundred individuals.
Fig. 661.—Great Auk. (From Sport with Gun and Rod. The Century Co., N. Y.)
Part IV.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS
OF THE
FOSSIL BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA.
There is at present no satisfactory evidence that Birds existed in North America before the
Jurassic period; the footprints in the sandstone of the Connecticut Valley attributed to Birds.
having probably all been made by Dinosaurian Reptiles (p. 63). A number of Cretaceous
Birds have been known for some years, as given in the original edition of this work (1872);
but it is only since 1881 that this class of vertebrates has been traced back to the Jurassic
by the discovery of Laopteryx priscus on a geologic horizon nearly that of the famous
Archaeopteryx. ; : ;
The Tertiary Birds of North America belong to genera identical with, or nearly related
to, those now‘living (p. 64). The case is otherwise with the earlier forms from the Cretaceous
and the Jurassic, which represent different primary divisions of the class Aves (p. 237), com-
parable in taxonomic value to that one (Saurure) which is based upon the Archeopteryx, or
to those afforded by the Ratite and the Carinate birds respectively. Most of these forms are
Odontornithes, or Birds with teeth; having the teeth implanted either in grooves (Odon-
tolee), or in sockets (Odontotorma), as illustrated by the genera Hesperornis and Ichthyornis
respectively.
In the original edition of the Key these Cretaceous types were ranged with those from the
Tertiary, their characters not having been fully worked out at that time. They have since
become well known, through Professor Marsh’s splendid restorations and illustrations, in his
great work entitled ‘Odontornithes’ (4to, Washington and New Haven, 1880).
It is deemed advisable to present the Fossil Birds of North America under the three
categories of the Tertiary, the Cretaceous, and the Jurassic forms; the first-named being
ranged under the several orders to which they are supposed to belong, as described in this
work ; the remainder, with few exceptions, being Odontornithes.
822 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS.
A.— Tertiary Birds.
CARINATE (p. 288).
PASSERES (p. 238).
. PALZOSPIZA BELLA.
Paleospiza bella, ALLEN, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. Terr., iv., no. 2, May 8, 1878, pp. 443-
445, pl. i, figg. 1, 2.—Am. Journ. Sci., xv, May, 1878, p. 381.— Amer. Nat., xv, Mar.,
1881, p. 253.
Based upon some beautifully preserved remains, froin the insect-bearing shales of Floris-
sant, Colorado, now deposited in the Museum of the Boston Society of Natural History. They
consist of the greater part of the skeleton, including all the bones of the wings and legs ex-
cepting the femurs, but unfortunately lacking the bill. The impression of the feathers of the
wings and tail are remarkably distinct, showing not only the general shape of these parts, but
the shafts and barbs of the feathers themselves. The bones are all in situ, ‘‘ and indicate be-
yond question a high ornithic type, probably referable to the oscine division of the Passeres.
The lack of the bill renders it impossible to assign the species to any particular family, but the
fossil on the whole gives the impression of Fringilline affinities.” The approximate length of
the specimen is seven inches.
PICARIZ (p. 444).
. UINTORNIS LUCARIS.
Uintornis lucaris, MaRsH, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 259.— CouEs, Key, 1872,
p. 347.
This bird was about as large as a robin, and apparently related to the woodpeckers. The
only known remains are from the Lower Tertiary formation of Wyoming Territory. They are
preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
RAPTORES (p. 496).
. AQUILA DANANA.
Aquila danana, Mansy, Ain. Journ. Sci., ii, Aug., 1871, p. 125. — Cougs, Key, 1872,
p. 347.
This species was nearly as large as the golden eagle (A. chrysaétus). The only known
remains were found in the Pliocene of Nebraska, and are preserved in the Yale Museum.
. BUBO LEPTOSTEUS.
Bubo leptosteus, Marsa, Am. Journ. Sci., ii, Aug., 1871, p. 126. — Couss, Key, 1872,
p. 347.
A species about two-thirds as large as the great horned owl (B. virginianus). The re-
mains were discovered in the Lower Tertiary beds of Wyoming, and are now in the Yale
Museum.
. PALZOBORUS UMBROSUS.
Cathartes umbrosus, Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., xxvi, 1874, p. 151. — Ann, Rep. Chief of
Engrs. U. 8. A., 1874, p. 606.
Vultur wmbrosus, Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., xxvii, 1875, p. 271.— Ann. Rep. Chief of
Engrs. U. 8. A., 1875, p. 993. — Rep. Surv. W. 100th Merid., iv, pt. ii, p. 287, pl. Ixvii, fige.
10-18, pl. Ixviii, figg. 1-19.
From the Pliocene of New Mexico; remains found in the sands north of Pojuaque, repre-
senting a rapacious bird in size intermediate between the golden eagle and the turkey vulture;
10.
11.
12.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS. 823
referred at first to ‘the genus Cathartes, afterward provisionally to the genus Vultur. As the
description and figures clearly indicate a bird generically distinct from Cathartes, and as the
improbability of the occurrence of a true Vultwr in North America is extreme, it is suggested
that this species be made the type of a new genus, Palgoborus, based upon the characters
given by the describer.
GALLINZ (p. 571).
. MELEAGRIS ANTIQUUS.
Meleagris antiquus, Marsu, Am Journ. Sci., ii, Aug., 1871, p. 126.—Couns, Key,
1872, p. 347.
This species was nearly as large as the wild turkey (M. gailipavo). The remains repre-
senting it were found in the Miocene of Colorado, and are preserved in the Yale Museum.
. MELEAGRIS ALTUS.
Meleagris altus, Marsu, Proc. Phila. Acad., Mar., 1870, p. 11.— Amer. Nat., iv, July,
1870, p. 317. — Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 260. — Couns, Key, 1872, p. 348.
Meleagris superbus, Corn, Syn. Ext. Batrach., ete., p. 239.
“‘ Represented by portions of three skeletons, of different ages, which belonged to birds
about the size of the wild turkey, although proportionally much taller. The tibiee and tarso-
metatarsal bones were, in fact, so elongated as to resemble those of wading birds.” From the
Post-pliocene of New Jersey. The remains are mostly in the Museum of Yale College.
. MELEAGRIS CELER.
Meleagris celer, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., Oct., 1872, p. 261. — Couns, Key, 1872, p. 348.
A species much smaller than the foregoing, but with legs of slender proportions. Also
from the Post-pliocene of New Jersey, and preserved in the Yale Museum.
LIMICOLZ (p. 596).
CHARADRIUS SHEPPARDIANUS.
Charadrius sheppardianus, Cops, Bull. U. 8. Geol. Surv. Terr., vi, no. 1, Feb. 11, 1881,
pp. 83-85. — Amer. Nat., xv, Mar., 1881, p. 253.
ALECTORIDES (p. 665).
GRUS HAYDENI.
Grus haydenit, Marsu, Ain. Journ. Sci., xlix, March, 1870, p. 214.—-Couzs, Key, 1872,
p. 348.
A species about as large as the sandhill crane (G. canadensis). From the Pliocene of
Nebraska. Remains preserved in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy.
GRUS PROAVUS.
Grus proavus, MarsH, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 261. —Covsgs, Key, 1872,
p. 348.
This species was nearly as large as a sandhill crane. The remains representing it were
found in the Post-pliocene of New Jersey, and are now inthe Yale Museum.
ALETORNIS NOBILIS.
Aletornis nobilis, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 256. — Cougs, Key, 1872,
p- 348. :
Nearly as large as the preceding species. Found in the Eocene deposits of Wyoming,
and now in the Museum of Yale College.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
824 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS.
ALETORNIS PERNIX,
Aletornis pernix, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 256. — Couns, Key, 1872,
p- 348. :
About half the size of the above, and from the same locality. Also in the Yale Museum.
ALETORNIS VENUSTUS.
Aletornis venustus, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 257. Cougs, Key, 1872,
p- 348.
A smaller species, about as large as a curlew (Nuwmenius). From the same locality, and
likewise in the Yale Museum.
ALETORNIS GRACILIS.
Aletornis gracilis, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 258. — Cougs, Key, 1872,
p- 348.
A bird about the size of a woodcock (Philohela minor). From the same formation and
locality, and now preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
ALETORNIS BEULLUS.
Aletornis bellus, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 258. —Couns, Key, 1872,
p. 349.
A still smaller species, probably belonging to a different genus. From the same locality,
and also in the Yale Museum.
LAMELLIROSTRES (p. 677).
CYGNUS PALOREGONUS.
Cygnus paloregonus, Cops, Bull. U. 8. Geol. Surv. Terr., iv, no. 2, May 3, 1878, p. 388.
Represented by numerous bones, especially by four metatarsals, two of which are nearly
perfect, indicating a species very near those now existing, but apparently distinct. From the
Pliocene of Oregon. Remains in Prof. Cope’s Collection.
BERNICLA HYPSIBATES.
Anser hypsibates, Cope, Bull. U. 8. Geol. Surv. Terr., iv, no. 2, May 3, 1878, p. 387.
Based upon a metatarsal bone lacking the hypotarsus, indicating a goose nearly related to
Bernicla canadensis, but probably larger or with longer legs. From the Pliocene of Oregon.
Remains in Prof. Cope’s Collection.
STEG-ANOPODES (p. 718).
SULA LOXOSTYLA.
Sula loxostyla, Cop, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., xiv, Dec., 1870, p. 2386. — Couss, Key,
1872, p. 349.
A gannet, not so large as the common living species (S. bassana), from the Miocene of
North Carolina. The remains are preserved in Professor Cope’s Collection.
PHALACROCORAX IDAHENSIS.
Graculus ,idahensis, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 216. — Couzs, Key,
1872, p. 349.
A typical cormorant, rather smaller than P. carbo. From the Pliocene of Idaho. Most
of the known remains are deposited in the Yale Museum.
. PHALACROCORAX MACROPUS.
Graculus macropus, Cope, Bull. U. 8. Geol. Surv. Terr., iv, no. 2, May 3, 1878, p. 386.
From the Pliocene of Oregon, in which it appears to have been numerous; represented by
various bones, those upon which the species is based being three nearly perfect metatarsals in
the collection of Prof. Cope, indicating a bird somewhat larger than the living Phalacrocorax
dilophus, and agreeing closely in size with Ph. idahensis.
22.
23.
24.
25.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS. 825
LONGIPENNES (p. 732).
PUFFINUS CONRADI.
Puffinus conrad, Marsxu, Am. Journ. Sci., xlix, Mar., 1872, p. 212.—Couxs, Key,
1872, p. 350.
A shearwater about the size of P. cinereus. From the Miocene of Maryland, and now
preserved in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy.
P'YGOPODES (p. 787).
LOMVIA ANTIQUA. :
Catarractes. antiquus, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 213. — Covss, Key,
1872, p. 350. :
A guillemot rather larger than the common murre (LZ. @roile). From the Miocene of
North Carolina. Deposited in the Philadelphia Academy. ,
LOMVIA AFFINIS. ;
Catarractes affinis, MarsH, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 259.—Couns, Key, 1872,
p- 350.
A species about as large as the preceding, and nearly related. From the Post-pliocene of
Maine. The original specimen is in the Philadelphia Academy.
RATITE (p. 288).
GASTORNIS GIGANTEUS.
Diatryma gigantea, Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1876, p. 11.— Rep. Surv. W. 100th Merid.,
iv, pt. ii, 1877, pp. 69-71, pl. xxxii, figg. 23-25.
From the Eocene of New Mexico, of the Wahsatch epoch; based upon a tarso-metatarsal
bone lacking a part of the shaft and the external condyle. The species was of great size, the
proximal end of the bone being nearly twice the diameter of that of the ostrich. “Its discovery
introduced this group of Birds [Ratite] to the known faune of North America, and demon-
strates that this continent has not been destitute of the gigantic forms of birds now confined to
the southern hemisphere faune” (Cope). The proximal end of the bone is described as resem-
bling the same part in the ostriches (Struthionide) and moas (Dinornithide); while the distal
end, as far as that is preserved, is similar to that of Gastornis of the corresponding horizon in
France.
B.— Cretaceous Birds.
The following synopsis is based upon that given in the appendix of Marsh’s great work
already cited (‘Odontornithes’). The nine genera and nineteen species presented are supposed
to be referable to one or the other of the two types exemplified by Ichthyornis and Hesperornis
respectively ; but, as many of them are still known only by remains so fragmentary that it is
impossible to say whether they are Odontotorme or Odontolce, an alphabetical arrangement
of the genera is followed.
Most of the known remains of Cretaceous birds of North America have been discovered
on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, in beds of middle Cretaceous age which have
been termed by Marsh ‘Pteranodon beds,” from the genus of toothless Pterodactyles found
in them. These Western Cretaceous birds were all found in Kansas, excepting some from
corresponding strata in Texas. The Hastern Cretaceous forms from the green-sand of New
Jersey, all of which are distinct from the western ones, are from a higher horizon, representing
a division of the upper Cretaceous. No jaws or teeth of these birds having been found, it is
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
826 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS.
impossible to say as yet whether or not they are odontornithic. All the deposits of Cretaceous
age in North America, in which birds have been found, are marine, and the species appear to
have all been aquatie.
APATORNIS CELER.
Ichthyornis celer, Marsa, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Jan., 1873, p. 74.
Apatorms celer, Marsa, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Feb., 1873, p. 162.—In., tbid., v, Mar.,
1873, p. 230. — In., ibid., x, Nov., 1875, p. 404.—Ip., Am. Nat., ix, Dec., 1875, p. 626.—
Ib., Geol. Mag., iii, Feb., 1876, p. 5U.—Woopw., Pop. Sci. Rev., Oct., 1875, p. 349. —
Marsu, Odont., 1880, p. 192, pll. xxviii-xxxiii.
A bird about the size of a pigeon, from the middle Cretaceous of Western Kansas ; related
to Ichthyornis. The two known specimens are preserved in the Yale Museum.
BAPTORNIS ADVENUS.
Baptornis advenus, Marsa, Am. Journ. Sci., xiv, July, 1877, p. 86. —Ip., Journ. de
Zool., vi, 1877, p. 387. —Ip., Odont., 1880, p. 192, figg. 37-39.
Based upon a nearly perfect tarso-metatarsal, closely resembling the same part of Hesper-
ornis, and indicating an aquatic bird about as large as a loon. From Western Kansas, in the
same Cretaceous beds with Odontornithes and Pteranodontia. The type, and a second spevi-
men referred to the same species, are preserved in the Museum at Yale College.
GRACULAVUS VELOX.
Graculavus velo, Marsu, Am. Journ. Scei., iii, May, 1872, p. 363. —Ip., ibid., v, Mar.,
1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont., 1880, p. 194. — Couzs, Key, 1872, p. 349.
A bird about two-thirds as large as a cormorant. The remains were found in the green-
sand of the middle marl bed, or upper Cretaceous, near Hornerstown, New Jersey, and are all
preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
GRACULAVUS PUMILUS.
Graculavus pumilus, Marsu, Am. Journ. Scei., iii, May, 1872, p. 364. —Ib., ibid., v,
Mar., 1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont., 1880, p. 195. — Cougs, Key, 1872, p. 350.
A smaller species than the foregoing, from the same formation and locality. Remains
also in the Yale Museum.
Note. Several western species, provisionally referred to the genus Graculavus, have since
been identified with Ichthyornis, which see.
HESPERORNIS REGALIS. (See p. 63, fig. 15.)
Hesperornis regalis, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iii, Jan., 1872, p. 56.—Ip., ébid., iii,
May, 1872, p. 360. — Ip., ébid., x, Nov., 1875, p. 403. —In., ibid., xiv, July, 1877, p. 85, pl.
v.—Ib., Am. Nat., ix, Dec., 1875, p. 625.—In., Geol. Mag., iii, Feb., 1876, p. 49, pl. ii. —
Ip., Odont., 1880, pp. 1-117, p. 195, pll. i-xx. —Cougs, Key, 1872, p. 195.— Woovw., Pop.
Sei. Rev., Oct., 1875, p. 387. —Seetzy, Journ. Geol. Soc., xxxii, 1876, p. 510. — Hux3.,
Pop. Sci. Monthly, x, 1876, pp. 215-218. — Voer, Revue Scient., xvii, 1879, p. 247.— Dana,
Man. Geol., 1880, pl. iv.
Reference to p. 238, antea, will show the essential characters of the order or subclass
Odontolce, of which the present species is a type. Hesperornis may be tersely characterized
as a gigantic diver, some six feet in length from the point of the bill to the end of the toes,
standing over three feet high in the position represented in the above-cited figure. While the
general configuration of the skeleton may be likened to that of a loon, the conformation of the
sternum is ratite, like that of struthious birds, and the wings are rudimentary or abortive, only
a remnant of a humerus being left; other struthious characters are noted in various parts of
the skeleton; the jaws are long and furnished with sharp recurved teeth implanted in grooves,
but the vertebre are heteroeclous, or saddle-shaped, and the coceyx is short, as in ordinary
birds ; most of these characters separating this odontoleous type of Odontornithes sharply from
both Odontotorme and Saurure. Comparison of the three Mesozoic genera, Hesperornis,
31.
32.
34.
35.
36.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS. 827
Ichthyormis and Archeopteryx, shows greater diversity from one another than that existing
among all known birds of later geologic and of the present epoch.
The first remains of this now famous species were found by Prof. Marsh in November,
1870, inthe yellow chalk of the Pteranodon beds, near the Smoky Hill river in Kansas. The
type specimen was found in July, 1871, on the south bank of the same river, about twenty
miles east of Fort Wallace, imbedded in gray calcareous shale. Many other remains have
also been collected, representing in all some forty different individuals, all from the same
geologic horizon in Western Kansas, and most of them near the locality of the original ones.
They are all preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
HESPERORNIS CRASSIPES.
Lestornis crassipes, MaRsH, Am. Journ. Sci., xi, June, 1876, p. 509.
Hesperornis crassipes, MARSH, Odont., 1880, p. 196, figg. 40 a-d, pll. vii, xvii.
Based upon a nearly complete skeleton from the yellow chalk of Western Kansas, indicat-
ing a bird considerably larger than H. regalis, and one that may prove to be generically
distinct. Deposited in the Yale Museum.
HESPERORNIS GRACILIS.
Hesperornis gracilis, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., xi, June, 1876, p. 510. — Ip., Odont., 1880,
pp. 99, 197.
A third species, from the same horizon and locality, represented by two specimens, one of
them a nearly complete skeleton. Deposited in the Yale Museum.
. ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR,
Ichthyornis dispar, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iv, Oct., 1872, p. 344. — Ip., ibid., v, Feb.,
1873, p. 161. — Ip., ebid., Mar., 1878, p. 230. — Covzs, Key, 1872, p. 350.— Owsn, Journ.
Geol. Soc. Lond., xxxix, 1873, p. 520.— Woopw., Pop. Sci. Rev., Oct., 1875, p. 348. — Marsa,
Am. Nat., ix, Dec., 1875, p. 625. —Ip., Geol. Mag., iii, 1876, p. 49. — Hux.., Pop. Sci.
Monthly, x, 1876, pp. 215-218. —Marsu, Journ. de Zool., iv, 1875, p. 494, pl. xv; vi, 1877,
p- 385.— Ip., Odont., 1880, pp. 119-183, 197, pll. xxi-xxvi.
This remarkable bird, forming a type of the whole group Odontotorme (p. 237) of Odont-
ornithes, with general characters of the skeleton like those of ordinary birds, yet with socketed
teeth and biconcave vertebrae, was discovered in 1872 near the Solomon river in Northwestern
Kansas, in the Pteranodon beds of the middle Cretaceous. It was about as large as a pigeon.
The remains of about nine individuals, all from the same region, are preserved in the Museum
at Yale College.
ICHTHYORNIS AGILIS. ;
Graculavus agilis, MarsH, Ai. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 230.
Ichthyornis agilis, MarsxH, Odont., 1880, p. 197.
From the same horizon in Western Kansas, on Butte Creek, a tributary of the Smoky
Hill river, where discovered in October, 1872. The remains are preserved in the Yale College
Museum.
ICHTHYORNIS ANCEPS.
Graculavus anceps, MarsH, Am. Journ. Sei., iii, May, 1872, p. 364.— Couzs, Key,
1872, p. 350.—Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont., 1880, pp.
124, 198.
Resembling I. dispar, but with slenderer jaws and more teeth. The right lower jaw of
the type specimen of I. dispar shows twenty-one distinct sockets. Discovered in November,
1870, in the gray shale of the middle Cretaceous, on the north fork of the Smoky Hill river in
western Kansas, where other specimens have since been found. All are preserved at Yale.
ICHTHYORNIS LENTUS. ;
Graculavus lentus, Marsa, Am. Journ. Sci., xiv, Sept., 1877, p. 253.
Ichthyornis lentus, Marsu, Odont., 1880, p. 198.
37,
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
828 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS.
Based upon part of a tarso-metatarsus from near Fort McKinney, Texas, in beds of middle
Cretaceous age. Deposited in the Yale Museum.
ICHTHYORNIS TENER.
Ichthyornis tener, MarsH, Odont., 1880, p. 198, pl. xxx, fig. 8.
From the Pteranodon beds of the middle Cretaceous, Wallace County, Kansas ; two speci-
mens, secured in 1876, and now preserved at the Yale College Museum.
ICHTHYORNIS VALIDUS.
Ichthyornis validus, MARSH, Odont., 1880, p. 198, pl. xxx, figg. 11-14.
Discovered in 1877, in the yellow chalk of the middle Cretaceous, near Solomon River, in .
northwestern Kansas. The known specimens are deposited in the Museum of Yale College.
ICHTHYORNIS VICTOR. (See p. 64, fig. 16.)
Ichthyornis victor, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., xi, June, 1876, p. 511.—Ip., Odont., 1880,
p- 199, pll. xxvii-xxxiv. —Dana, Man. Geol., 1880, pp. 466-468, pl. v.
A species of the genus rather larger than a pigeon, of which more than forty specimens
have been found in various localities in Kansas, all apparently from the same geological horizon
in the middle Cretaceous. These are preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
LAORNIS EDVARDSIANUS.
Laornis edvardsianus, MarsH, Proc. Phila. Acad., Jan., 1870, p. 5. —In., Am. Journ.
Sci., xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 206.— Ip. ibid., v, Mar., 1873, p. 230.— A. MILNE-Epw., Rech.
Ossem. Foss., ii, 1871, p. 540.— Couns, Key, 1872, p. 350. — Marsu, Odont., 1880, p. 199.
This species was nearly as large as a swan. The remains by which it is represented were
found in the middle marl bed, of upper Cretaceous age, at Birmingham, New Jersey, and are
now in the Museum of Yale College.
PALZZVOTRINGA LITORALIS.
Palaotringa littoralis, Marsu, Proc. Phila. Acad., Jan., 1870, p. 5.—Ip., Am. Journ.
Sci., xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 208. A. Mitnz-Epw., Rech. Ossem. Foss., ii, 1871, p. 540. —
Cougs, Key, 1872, p. 349. —Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont.,
1880, p. 199.
A bird about as large as a curlew. The remains representing it were discovered in the
green-sand of the upper Cretaceous, near Hornerstown, New Jersey, and are preserved in the
collection at Yale College.
PALZOTRINGA VAGANS.
Paleotringa vagans, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., iii, May, 1872, p. 365.— Couns, Key,
1872, p. 349. — Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229.
From the same formation and locality as the last; of smaller size, being intermediate
between the other two species of the genus. The specimens upon which this species is based
are preserved in the Yale College Museum.
PALZOTRINGA VETUS.
Scolopax, Morton, Syn. Organic Remains of the Cret., U. S.,.1834, p. 32. — Harian,
Med. and Phys. Res., 1835, p. 280.
Paleotringa vetus, Marsu, Proc. Phila. Acad., Jan., 1870, p. 5.—Ip., Am. Journ. Sci.,
xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 209. —A. Mitnz-Epw., Rech. Ossem. Foss., ii, 1871, p. 540. —Covuzs,
Key, 1872, p. 349. — Marsn, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont., 1880,
. 200.
The first fossil bird of North America appears to have been noted by Dr. Morton in 1834,
as that of a snipe-like species. The specimen, consisting of a femur imperfect at the upper
extremity, was presented by S. W. Conrad to Dr. Harlan, who remarks that ‘the bone
appears to be perfectly mineralized.” It was found near Arneytown, New Jersey, in the lower
marl bed of, the Cretaceous formation. This same specimen (which meanwhile had been
generally regarded as of a recent species, notwithstanding its condition and the position in which
45.
46.
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS. 829
it had been found) furnished Prof. Marsh the basis of his Palzotringa vetus, a smaller species
than either of the others of this genus. The known remains are in the Philadelphia Academy.
TELMATORNIS PRISCUS.
Telmatornis priscus, Marsu, Proc. Phila. Acad., Jan., 1870, p. 5. — Ip., Am. Journ. Sei.,
xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 210. —A. Mitne-Epw., Rech. Ossem. Foss., ii, 1871, p. 541. — Cougs,
Key, 1872, p. 349. — Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229.—Ip., Odont., 1880, p.
200.
A species about as large as the king rail (Rallus elegans) ; from the middle marl bed cf
the upper Cretaceous formation. The remains were found near Hornerstown, New Jersey, and
are preserved in the Museum of Yale College.
TELMATORNIS AFFINIS.
Telmatornis affinis, Marsu, Proc. Phila. Acad., Jan., 1870, p.5.—Ip., Am. Journ. Sci.,
xlix, Mar., 1870, p. 211.— A. Mitnn-Epw., Rech. Ossem. Foss. ii, 1871, p. 541. — Couns,
Key, 1872, p. 349. — Marsn, Am. Joum. Sci., v, Mar., 1873, p. 229. —Ip., Odont., 1880,
p- 201.
The known remains are in the Yale Museum.
C.— Jurassic Birds.
The single representative of birds at present known from this formation is odontornithic.
LAOPTERYX PRISCUS.
Laopteryx priscus, Marsu, Am. Journ. Sci., xxi, Apr., 1881, p. 341.
From the upper Jurassic beds of Wyoming. The known remains are deposited in the
Museum of Yale College.
The interest attaching to this fossil induces me to transcribe the original description : —
“The type specimen of the present species is the posterior portion of the skull, which
indicates a bird rather larger than a blue heron (Ardea Herodias). The braincase is so
broken that its inner surface is disclosed, and in other respects the skull is distorted, but it
shows characteristic features. The bones of the skull are pneumatic. The occipital condyle
is sessile, hemispherical in form, flattened and slightly grooved above. There is no trace of a
posterior groove. The foramen magnum is nearly circular, and small in proportion to the con-
dyle. Its plane coincides with that of the oeciput, which is slightly inclined forward. The
bones around the foramen are firmly co-ossified, but the supra-occipital has separated somewhat
from the squamosals and parietals. Other sutures are more or less open. On each side of the
condyle, and somewhat below its lower margin, there is a deep, rounded cavity, perforated by
a pneumatic foramen.
‘The cavity for the reception of the head of the quadrate is oval in outline, and its longer
axis, if continued backward, would touch the outer margin 'of the occipital condyle. This cav-
ity indicates that the quadrate had an undivided head. The brainease was comparatively
small, but the hemispheres were well developed. They were separated above by a sharp
mesial crest of bone. A low ridge divided the hemispheres from the optic lobes, which were
prominent.
“The following measureimeuts indicate the size of the specimen : —
‘6 Width of skull across occiput (approximate). . 2... 00 1 ee we ee eee 24 mm
“Transverse diameter of occipital condyle . te) CaS Fhe vino ae E- pket Uee laae > 6 SE
“Vertical diameter . . . ae ire ae =: : we je det Lage eat BS ae A at
‘Width offoramenmagnum ...... eS Sa es ee er ae ea ee 5“
“Height «2 «se ee woe : 6*
“ Distance from occipital condyle to top of supra-occipital me 0 ite eth oe li ‘“
830 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF FOSSIL BIRDS.
“ Tn its main features, the present specimen resembles the skull of the Ratite, more than
that of any existing birds. Other parts of the skeleton will doubtless show still stronger
reptilian characters.
“In the matrix attached to this skull, a single tooth was found, which most resembles the
teeth of birds, especially those of Ichthyornis. It is probable that Laopteryx possessed teeth,
and also biconcave vertebra.
“The speciinen here described, and others apparently of the same species, were found in
the upper Jurassic of Wyoming Territory, in the horizon of the Atlantosaurus beds.”
INDEX.
Nore. —(1) Scientific names of birds consisting of two terms are entered but once, under the genus; as,
Turdus mustelinus. (2) But vernacular names of two terms are entered twice; as, Wood thrush, and Thrush,
wood. (3) Anatomical and other technical terms are fully indexed as occurring in Part II., where they are
defined and explained; but not as occurring in Parts III. and IV., where they are simply used in describing
birds. (4) Names of birds, both scientific and vernacular, are fully indexed as occurring in Parts IIT. and IV.
but usuatly not as incidentally occurring in Parts I. and II. in illustration of the zoological and anatomical
characters there noted. (6) Names merely appearing in the text, not as headings, are usually not indexed; many
such, however, will be found, especially such as are not elsewhere formally treated. (6) Synonyms, both scientific
and vernacular, are indexed. (7) Matters of field-work and taxidermy treated in Part I. are fully indexed by
one or more leading words; as
quoted are not indexed. (9) The whole
terminology of ornithology. (10) All the figures refer to pages.
ABDOMEN 95, 96
Abducent nerves 177
Abduction of wing 108
Abert’s towhee 398
Acadian owl 518
Acanthisitta 269
Accentor
aquatic 309
golden-crowned 3808
Accessory
bone of shoulder 107
metatarsal 119
Accidents from the gun 19
Accipiter 527
cooperi 528
fuscus 528
nisus 194, 527
Accipitres 496, 498, 517
Accipitrinze 526
Accommodation of eye 178
Acetabulum 119, 148
Acromial process 146
Acromion 146
Acromyodi 240
Acromyodian 205, 239
Acropodium 124
Acrotarsium 124
Acryllium vulturinum 575
Actodromas 625
acuminata 628
bairdi 625
bonapartii 627
cooperi 627
maculata 626
minutilla 625
Adduction of wing 108
Adrenals 46, 216
Xchmophorus 793
clarki 794
occidentalis 793
Aichmorhynchus parvirostris 618
4Agialites 600
cantianus 603
circumcinctus 602
Aigialites
curonicus 603
hiaticula 603
melodus 602
microrhynchus 603
nivosus 603
semipalmatus 602
vociferus 600
wilsonius 601
AXgiothus 352
exilipes 353
holboelli 353
hornemanni 353
linaria 252
Aigithognathism 172
Atgithognathous skull 172
Agotheles 448
Aipyornis maximus 65, 221
Aétomorphe 496
Afferent function of nerves 174
After-shaft 84
Age, recognition of a bird's 46
Ageleinz 400
Agelaus 403
gubernator 404
pheeniceus 404
tricolor 404
Agelastes meleagrides 575
Agyrtria linnei 459
Air-bone 168
Air-cells 200
Air-gun 3
Aix 697
galericulata 698
sponsa 698
Ajaja 651
rosea 651
Alaskan
jay 425
winter wren 279
Ala spuria 109
Alauda 282
arvensis 283
Alaudide 69, 239, 280
ests, and Pests, insect. (8) Names of persons mentioned or of authors
work is so fully indexed that the Index will serve as a glossary of the
Alaudinz 282
Albatross
black 776
black-footed 775
short-tailed 775
sooty 776
Albatrosses 774, 776
Alca 819
impennis 819
Alcedinide 468
Alcedininz 469
Alcedo ispida 469
Alcide 797
Alcinz 810
Alcohol, use of 21
Alcyone 126, 127
Alectorides 665, 823
Alectoromorphx 171, 572
Alectoropodes 573
Aletornis
bellus, 824
gracilis 824
nobilis 823
pernix 824
venustus 824
Aleutian
auk 810
sandpiper 629
tern 768
Alexander humming-birc 462
Aliethmoid 153
A imentary canal 209
Alinasal 153
Aliseptal 153
Alisphenoid 158
Alle 810
nigricans 810
Allen’s rosy finch 350
Allied robin 244
Altrices 88
Aluco 501
flammeus 502
pratincola 502
' Aluconide 500
8382
Alula 106, 107, 109
Amazili hummers 466
Amazilia 466
cerviniventris 466
fuscocaudata 466
Ambiens 193
American
avocet 611
bittern 664
black scoter 713
black-tailed godwit 636
brown pelican 722
continental gyrfaleon 5382
coot 676
crow 417
cuckoos 474
dipper 255
dunlin 631
eider duck 712
flycatchers 428
golden plover 599
goldfinches 354
goshawk 530
green sandpiper 639
green-winged teal 695
harrier 521
hawfinches 342
hawk owl 511
herring gull 743
jabiru 653
Janner falcon 534
long-eared owl 507
marsh hawk 521
mealy red-poll 353
merlin 5387
mew gull 746
oyster-catcher 606
night-jars 450
nutcrackers 417
partridges 588
pochard 702
quail 588
raven 416
red cross-bill 349
red flamingo 679
red-necked grebe 794
redstart 316
rough-legged buzzard 549
shrike 338
siskin 354
snipe 617, 621
spoonbills 651
starlings 399
stint 625
swan 682
titlark 286
vultures 557
warblers 287
white-fronted goose 684
white pelican 722
wigeon 694
woodcock 619
wood owl 509
wood stork 653
Amherstian pheasants 575
Ammodramus 367
caudacutus 368
maritimus 367
nelsoni 368
nigrescens 368
Ammunition 4
Amotus 128
Ampelidz 325
Ampelis 325
cedrorum 327
garrulus 826
INDEX.
Amphicceelous vertebre 138
Amphimorphe 677
Amphispiza 375
belli 376
bilineata 376
nevadensis 376
Ampulle 189
Analogy 67, 68
Anarhynchus frontalis 597
Anas 691
auduboni 691
boscas 691
breweri 691
fulvigula 692
glocitans 691
maxima 691
obscura 691
Anastomus 652
Anatide 679
trachea of 50:
Anatinz 689
Anatomical structure 133
Anatomy 183
Anchylosis 134
Ancon 106
Ancylochilus 631
subarquatus 632
Angeiology 195
Angle of the
jaw 98
mandible 166
mouth 105
wing 109 |
Angular bone 166
Angulus oris 105
Ani 472
groove-billed 472
Animalia 81
Animation 174
Anis 471
Ankle joint 120
Ankylosis 134
Anna humming-bird 464
Anoez 756
Anomalogonatous birds 195
Anorthura 278
alascensis 279
hiemalis 278
pacificus 279
troglodytes 278
Anoiis 771
stolidus 771
Anser 684
albifrons 684
gambeli 684
hypsibates 824
Anseranas melanoleuca 684
Anseres 679
Anserine 683
Anserine birds 677
proper 679
Anteorbital region 97
Anthracite buzzard 552
Anthinz 285
Anthus 285
ludovicianus 286
pratensis 285
spinoletta 285
Anthrenus scrofularie 55
Athropoides 666
paradissea 666
virgo 666
Antiz 105
Antibrachium 106, 107
Antitrochanter 148
Anutrorse 105
Antrostomus 450
arizone 452
carolinensis 451
vociferus 452
Aorta 197
Apatornis celer 826
Aphelocoma 423
arizonx 424
californica 424
floridana 423
sordida 424
ultramarina 424
woodhousii 423
Aphriza 605
virgata 605
Aphrizide 605
Aphrizina 605
Aplomado falcon 539
Apophyses 134
Appendicular skeleton 134
Apteria 87
Aquatic accentor 309
Aqueous humor 179, 183
Aquila 553
‘chrysaétus 554
danana 822
Arachnoid 176
Aramide 667
Aramus 668
pictus 668
Arch
pectoral 145
pelvic 147
post-oral 152
pre-oral 152
scapular 145
2 ee ae ‘ :
rcheopteryx _ litho: ica 62,
88, O37, sat :
Archetypes 76
Archetypic characters 76
Archibuteo 549
ferrugineus 551
lagopus 549
sancti-johannis 549
Archsaurian 112
Arctic
american saw-whet owl 512
blue-bird 258
Jager 738
tern 764
towhee 396
Arctonetta 710
Ardea 657
cinerea 655, 658
herodias 147, 657
occidentalis 658
wardi 658
Ardeidx: 654
Ardeine 654, 656, 657
Ardetta 664
exilis 664
Argus pheasant 575
Argusanus giganteus 575
Arine 495, 496
Aristonetta 703
Arkansaw
goldfinch 355
tyrant flycatcher 433
Arizona
enippine sparrow 380
gold neh 855
jay 424
quail 593
summer finch 874
thrasher 252
Arizona
whippoorwill 452
Arm-bone 107
Arquatella 628
couesi 629
maritima 629
ptilocnemis 630
Arsenic 26, 57
Arsenical soap 26
Arrie 817
Artemisia sparrow 376
Arterial system 195
Arteries 197
Articular bone of jaw 166
Articulation of bones 134
Artificial ‘‘ Keys ’’ 227, 230, 231
Arytenoids 204
Ash-colored sandpiper 632
Ash-throated
crested flycatcher 436
flycatchers 434
Asiatic golden plover 600
Asio 507
accipitrinus 507
otus 507
wilsonianus 136, 507
Astragalinus 354
arizone 355
lawrencii 355
mexicanus 355
notatus 356
psaltria 355
tristis 354
Astragalus 120
Astur 530
atricapillus 530
palumbarius 530
striatulus 531
Asturina 551
plagata 551
Asyndesmus 490
torquatus 490
Atlas 139
Atmosteon 168
Atthis 465
helois 465
Attic hummers 465
Attypic characters 76
Audition 184
Auditory
meatus 97
nerve 177, 187
Audubon's
oriole 410
thrush 247
warbler 302
Auk
aleutian 810
crested 807
reat 819
orn-bill 805
least 808
knob-nosed 808
parroquet 806
pug-nosed 806
razor-billed 818
ted-nosed 808
snub-nosed 807
temminck’s 812
unicorn 805
whiskered 808
Auks 797
parrot 800
rhinoceros 805
snub-nosed 806
wrinkle-nosed 809
INDEX.
Aural region 97
Auricles of heart 196
. Auricular region 97
Auriculars 97
Auriparus 269
aviceps 269
Auris 97
Autumnal tree duck 689
Aves (see also Birds) 237
definition of the class 61
aérez 81
aquatica 81
terrestres 81
Avian
foot, modifications of 129
sternum 143
Avocet, american 611
Avocets, 609, 610
Axial skeleton 134, 185
Axilla 111
Axillars 111
Axis 139
Azure warbler 301
BACHMAN’S
summer finch 373
warbler 294
Bahaman honey creeper 317
Baird's
cormorant 729
rosy finch 351
sandpiper 625
savanna sparrow 360
Baking birdskins 57
Baleeniceps rex 654
Balenicipitidee 654
Balearica pavonina 666
Bald eagle 555
Bald-pate 694
Baltimore oriole 408
Band-tailed buzzard 546
Bank
pigeon 565
swallow 324
Baptornis advenus 826
Barbicels of feathers 84
Barbs of feathers 84
Barbules of feathers 84
Barn
owls 500, 501
swallows 321
Barnacle geese 686
Barred owl 509
florida 510
western 510
Barrow’s golden-eve 704
Bartramia 641
longicanda 641
Bartramian sandpiper 641
Bartram’s tattler 641
Basal phalanyes 127
Basibranchial 167
Basihyal 167
Basilinna 460
xantusi 460
Basioccipital 156
Basipterygoid processes 159, 1638
Basis cranii 149
Basisphenoid 158
Basisphenoidal rostrum 158
Basitemporal 155, 156
Bastard
baltimore 407
quills 109
wing 109
Batrachostumus 448
53
833
Bay-breasted warbler 304
Bay-winged
bunting 364
longspur 359
summer finch 375
Beak of birds 106
Beaked savanna sparrow 363
Beardless flycatcher 443
Beards 99
Bee-martin 432
Bell’s
finch 376
greenlet 335
Belly 95
Belted kingfisher 470
Bend of the wing 109
Benzine 57
Bernicla 686
brenta 687
canadensis 688
hutchinsi 689
hypsibates 824
‘ leucoparia 689
leucopsis 687
nigricans 688
occidentalis 688
Bewick’s
swan 683
wren 277
Bicarotidin
abnormales 198
normales 197
Big black-head 701
Bile 215
Bill of birds 100
Bill-hook 52
Bills classified 101
Binomial nomenclature 79
Biogen 192
Biogenation 192
Biology 65
Birdskins
baking 57
how to make 28
instruments for making 25
Bird of washington 555
Birds and reptiles 60
Birds of prey 496
Birds
anatomy of
classification of 80
carrying home safe 18
class of 61
contour of 91
cretaceous 825
definition of 60
exterior parts of 82, 92
fossil 821
eologic succession of 62
andling bleeding 17
how many of a kind wanted 12
how to approach 15
how to find 10
how to mount 40
how to skin and stuff 28
jurassic 829
illing wounded 16
recovering 16
structure of 59
synopsis of n. american 237
tertiary’ 822
topography of 91
Bittern
american 664
least 664
Bitterns 663, 664
834
Bitterns ;
dwarf 664
Biziura lobata 699
Black
albatross 776
brant 688
duck 691
grouse 578
guillemot 814
hawk 549
oyster-catcher 607
petrel 781
pewit flycatcher 437
rail 674
red-tail 545
scoter 713
skimmer 772
snow-bird 377
tern 770
white-winged tern 770
vulture 560
warrior 543
witch 472
Black-and-white
creeper 290
spotted woodpeckers 480
Black-and-yellow
oriole 409
warbler 304
Black-backed three-toed wood-
pecker 485
Black-bellied
plover 598
sandpiper 631
Black-billed cuckoo 475
Blackbird 404
brewer's 411
marsh 404
red-winged 404
red-winged marsh 404
red-and-buff shouldered marsh
40
4
skunk 400
red-shouldered marsh 404
red.-and-white shouldered
marsh 404
savanna, 472
thrush 411
white-winged 387
yellow-headed 404
Blackbirds etc. 399
crow 410, 412
marsh 400, 403
thrush 411
ellow-headed 404
Black-breasted
longspur 359
sandpiper 630
woodpecker 487
Blackburnian warbler 302
Black-capped
flycatching warbler 313
gnat-catcher 261
greenlet 336
petrel 779
titmouse 265
Black-chinned sparrow 381
Black-crested titmouse 265
Black-crowned night heron 662
Black-eared bush-tit 268
Black-faced
grass quit 392
sage sparrow 376
Black-headed
ducks 699
goldfinch 356
INDEX.
Black-headed
gull 750
jay 422
oriole 410
song grosbeak 389
turnstone 609
Black-footed albatross 775
Black-necked stilt 612
Black-poll warbler 303
Black-shouldered
kite 525
longspur 358
Black-throated
blue warbler 300
bunting 387
diver 791
pacific 791
gray warbler 300
green warbler 298
murrelet 811
Black-vented shearwater 786
Black-whiskered greenlet 332
Bladder 217
Blade-bone 146
Blanding’s finch 398
Blasipus 741, 747
Blastoderm 225
Blastodermic membrane 225
Blastula 225
Blastulation 225
Bleached yell.-wing’d sparrow 366
Blood 196
corpuscles 196
a stains 87 fa
owing eggs
Bienen 3
Blow-pipe 51
Blue
crow 418
golden-winged warbler 294
grosbeak 390
rouse 579
awk 521
hen hawk 530
jay 421
quail 593
snow goose 685
yellow-backed warbler 290
Blue and white herons 661
Blue-bill 701
Blue-bird
arctic 258
mexican 258
rocky mountain 258
western 258
Blue-birds 256, 257
Blue-eyed yellow warbler 298
Blue-fronted jay 422
Blue-gray gnat-catcher 261
Blue-headed
grackle 411
greenlet 333
quail dove 571
quake-tail 284
saw-bill 468
Blue-stocking 611
Blue-throat, red-spotted 258
Blue-throated redstart 258
Blue-throats 258
Blue-winged
teal 696
yellow warbler 293
Boat-billed heron 654
Boat-tailed
crow blackbird 412
grackle 412
Bobolink 400
Bob-white $77 * 5¢
Body proper 92, 93
topography of 94
Bog-bull 664
Le eae 619
Bohemian waxwing 326
Bonaparte’s rosy gull 751
Bonasa 584
betulina 578
sabinii 585
umbelloides 585
umbella 585
Bone, structure of 184
Bone-breaker 777
Bone-tissue 149
Bones
of the hind limb 118
of the wing 106
Bony basis of the tail 114
Booby 720
Book-keeping, ornithological 22
Booted tarsus 124, 125
Botaurinz 654, 656, 663
Botaurus 664
mugitans 664
Boucard’s summer finch 375
Bow-billed thrasher 252
Bower-birds 224
Brachial plexus 177
Brachium 106
Brachyotus 507
Brachyrhamphus 812
‘brachypterus 814
craverii 814
hypoleucus 813
kittlitzi 813
marmoratus 813
Brain of birds 175, 176
Brandt’s
cormorant 728
vosy finch 351
Brant
geese 686
goose 686
Brant, white 685
Brant-bird 609
Brass
cowbird 403
grackle 413
Breast 95
Breast-bone 143
Breech-loader 2
Brewer's
blackbird 411
sparrow 381
Brewster’s linnet 353
Bridal ducks 697
Bride 698
Bridled
tern 769
titmouse 265
Bristle-bellied
curlew 646
woodpeckers 490
Broad-tailed humming-bird 463
Broad-winged buzzard 548
Bronchial syrinx 205
Bronchiales 205
Broncho-tracheal syrinx 205
Broncho-tracheales 205
Bronzed
cowbird 403
crow blackbird 413
Brotherly-love greenlet 332
Brown crane 667
Brown
creeper 273
gannet 720
jay 419
ark 286
owls 508
thrush.251
towhee 397
Brown-back 622
Brown-backed oyster-catcher 606
Brown-headed
cactus wren 275
nuthatch 271
woodpecker 486
Bubo 503
arcticus 504
leptosteus 822
pacificus 504
saturatus 504
virginianus 504
Bubonine 503
Bucconide 446
Bucephala 704
Bucerotide 212, 446
Budytes 284
flavus 284
taivanus 285
Buff flycatchers 443
Buff-breasted sandpiper 642
Buffle-head 705
Bugs 55
to destroy 57
Bulla ossea 50
Bull-bat 454
Bullfinch
cardinal 393
cardinals 393
cassin’s 344
Bullfinches 344
pine 343
purple 346
‘Bull-head 599
Bull-head plover 598, 599
Bullock’s oriole 409
Bulweria 780
Bulwer’s petrel 780
Bunting (see Finch)
bay-winged 364
black-throated 387
lark 386
le conte’s 366
painted 391
silk 387
snow 356
towhee 395
townsend’s 388
varied 391
Benge (see Finches)
lark 386
towhee 395
Burion 347
Bush warblers 309
Bush-quails 571
Bush-tit
black-eared 268
least 268
plumbeous 268
Bush-tits 267
Bustard, gular pouch of 210
‘Bustards 597, 665
Butcher-bird 337
Buteo 541
abbreviatus 546
albocaudatus 542
albonotatus 546
bairdi 548
INDEX.
Buteo
borealis 544
brachyurus
calurus 545
cooperi 543
elegans 546
fuliginosus 549
utturalis 548
arlani 543
harrisi 542
insignatus 548
krideri 545
lineatus 545
lucasanus 545
montanus 548
obsoletus 548
oxypterus 548
pennsylvanicus 548
swansoni 546
unicinctus 542
vulgaris 547
zonocercus 546
Buteonine 541
Butter-ball 705
Butorides 665
virescens 662
Buzzard
american rough-legged 549
anthracite 552
band-tailed 546
broad-winged 548
common american 546
cooper’s 543
ferrugineous rough-legged 551
fuliginous 549
gray star 551
uber’s 553
arlan’s 543
harris’s 542
red-shouldered 545
red-tailed 544
rough-legged 549
swainson’s 546
. turkey 559
western red-shouldered 546
white-tailed 542
Buzzards 541
anthracite 552
clawed 552
hare-footed 549
star 551
CABINETS 56
Cacatuine 495
Cactus wren
brown-headed 275
st. lucas 275
Cactus wrens 274
Caducous parts of bill 103
Czeca or cecum 214
Cairina moschata 684
Calamospiza 386
bicolor 387
Calamus 84,
Calandritine 281
Calecaneum 120 «
Calear 114, 133
Calico-back 609
Calidris 683
arenaria 633
California
clapper rail 672
condor 558
gnome owl 514
gull 745
jay 424
835
California
partridge 592
sage sparrow 376
screech owl 506
squirrel hawk 551
thrasher 254
towhee 397
woodpecker 489
Caliology 227
Callichen 700
Calliope humming-bird 465
Callipepla 598
squamata 593
Calcenas nicobarica 5638
Calothorax 466
lucifer 466
Calypte 464
anne 464
coste 464
Calyx of ovisac 221
Campephilus 479
principalis 479
Camphor 57
Camptolemus 706
abradorius 706
Campylorhynchine 274
Campylorhynchus 274
affinis 275
couesi 275
brunneicapillus 275
Canace 578
canadensis 578
falcipennis 578
franklini 579
fuliginosa 580
obscura 579
richardsoni 579
Canada
warbler 314
Cancroma cochlearia 654
Cancromide 654
Cane-gun 3
Cafion towhee 397
Cafion wren
dotted 276
mexican 276
speckled 276
Cafion wrens 276
Canthus of eye 97, 180
Cantores 204
Canvas-back 703
Cape may warbler 305
Cape pigeon 779
Capercaillie 578
Capitonide 446
Capitulum of rib 143
Caprimulgide 447
Caprimulgine 448
Caps for gun 4
Capsules, supra-renal 46
Caput 97
Caracara 539
Carau 668
Cardellina 314
rubra 314
Cardinal
bullfinch 393
grosbeak 393
red-bird 393
fiery-red 394
texas 393
Cardinalis 393
836
Cardinalis
igneus 394
virginianus 393
Care of a collection 54
Cariama cristata 665
Cariamidz 665
Carine 103
Carinate 238, 822
Carinate
birds 238
sternum 143
Carle 665
Carolina
chickadee 266
crake 673
dove 568
nuthatch 269
parroquet 496
rail 673
waxwing 327
wren 277
Carotid
arteries 197
canal 159
Carpal
angle 109
bones 106. 107, 108
Carpodacus 346
cassini 347
frontalis 347
purpureus 346
thodocolpus 348
Carpophaga 564
Carpus 106, 107, 108
Carrion crow 560
Cartilage 134
Cartridges 2
Caruncles 98
Caruncile 103
Casarca rutila 684
Cases for storage 56
Caspian tern 757
Cassidix 411
Cassin’s .
bullfinch 344
greenlet 333
purple finch 347
summer finch 374
tyrant flycatcher 433
Casuarius 170
Catarractes
affinis 825
antiquus 825
Cat-bird 250
Catharista 560
atrata 560
Cathartes 558
aura 559
burrovianus 561
umbrosus 822
Cathartide 557
Cathartides 497, 557
Catharus 243
Catherpes 276
conspersus 276
mexicanus 276
punctulatus 276
Cat owl 508
Caudal vertebree 141
Cayenne tern 759
Cecomorphe 171
Cedar-bird 327
Cedar waxwing 327
Centre of gravity 91
Centrocercus 58
urophasianus 107, 580
INDEX.
Centrophanes 357
lapponicus 357
ornatus 358
pictus 358
Centrum of vertebrae 137
Centurus 487
aurifrons 488
SSE ae
uropygialis
Ceral 103°
Cerato-bronchial 167
Cerato-hyal 167
Ceratorhina 805
monocerata 805
Cere 102
Cerebellum 175
Cerebral vesicles 175
Cerebro-spinal system 174
Cerebrum 175
Cereopsis nove-hollandie 684
Certhia 273
americana 273
britannica 273
fusca 273
mexicana 273
montana 273
occidentalis 273
rufa 273
Certhiida 272
Certhiina 272
Certhiola 317
bahamensis 317
flaveola 316
Cerulean warbler 301
Cervical
region 96
tibs 138
vertebrae 92, 188
Cervix 96
Ceryle 469
alcyon 470
americana cabanisi 470
Ceyx 126, 127
Chachalaca 573
Cheetura 457
pelasgica 457
vauxi 458
Cheeturine 457
Chaffinch 339
Chalazx 222
Chalaziferous membrane 222
Chama 262
fasciata 262
henshawi 262
Chameidz 262
Chamepelia 569
passerina 569
pallescens 569
Chaparral cock 474
Characters
anatomical 71
attypic 76
archetypic 76
embryological 70
etypic 76°
prototypic 76
seasonal 71
teleotypic 76
valuation of 74
zoological 70
Charadriidse 597
Charadriine: 597
Charadriomorph 171, 596
Charadrius 599
dominicus 599
fulvus 600
Charadrius
pluvialis 600
sheppardianus 823
virginicus 599
at
long-tailed 312
yellow-breasted 312
Chats 242, 256, 311
Chatterers 325
Chaulelasmus 693
streperus 693
Chauna 665
chavaria 665
derbiana 665
Cheek 98
Chelidon urbica 320
Chelonia 62
Chen 685
albatus 686
ceerulescens 685
hyperboreus 685
rossi 686 *
Chenalopex egyptiaca 684
Chenomorphe 677 ©
Chenopsis atrata 682
Cherry-bird 827
Chestnut-backed titmouse 267:
Chestnut-collared longspur 858
Chestnut-headed warbler 298
Chestnut-sided warbler 304
Chettusia 597
Chewink 396
Chiasm of optic nerves 176
Chickadee 265
carolina 266
long-tailed 266
mexican 266
mountain 266
western 266
Chicken hawk 528, 530, 545
Chimney
swallow 457
swift 457
Chip-bird 380
winter 379
Chipping sparrow 380
arizona 380
Chipping sparrows 879
Chippy 380
Chlamydodera maculata 224
Cholornis 126, 127, 238
Chondestes 384
grammica 384
Chordediles 453
acutipennis texensis 454
henryi 454
minor 454
popetue 454
Choroid membrane 182
Chroicocephalus 749
atricilla 750
franklini 751
philadelphia 751
Ch:
_Chrysolophus 575
amherstie 575
pictus 575
Chrysomitris 353
pinus 354
Chrysotinz 495
Chuck-will’s-widow 451
Chunga burmeisteri 665
Chyme 212
Cicatricle of egg 221
Ciceronia 806
Cichlopsis 328
Ciconiide 652
Ciconiiformes 653
Ciconiinz 653
Ciliary
ganglion 177
ligament 183
muscle 183
processes 183
Cincinnati warbler 298
Cinereous
shearwater 784
snow-bird 379
song-sparrow 372
Cinclinae 242, 255
Cinclus 255
aquaticus 254
mexicanus 255
Cinnamon teal 696
Circe hummers 467
Circe humming-bird 467
Circine 521
Circle of willis 198
Circulatory system 195
Circumorbital region 97
Circus 521
~ hudsonius 521
.cyaneus 522
Cistothorus 280
stellaris 280
‘Cladorhynchus-pectoralis 610
Clamatores 239, 427
Clangula 704
albeola 705
glaucium 704
islandica 106, 119, 202, 704
Clapper rail 672
Clarke’s crow 418
Clark’s grebe 794
Class 72, 73
of birds 61
Classes of birds’ bills 101
Classification
of birds 59, 80
of N. Am. birds 234
machinery of 78
principles and practice of 65
morphological 66, 68
Clavicles 147
Clavicular process 146
Clawed buzzard 552
Claws
of foot 132
of wing 108, 114
Clay-colored sparrow 881
Cleavage
cavity 225
cell 224
Clefts, visceral 152
Cleido-trachealis 202
Cliff swallow 323
Climacteris 272
Clinoid walls 153
Cloaca 214
Cloud swifts 457
Cnemial process 119
Cobb 742
Coccothraustes 342
Coccygeal vertebra 114, 141
Coceygine 474
Coccygus 474
americanus 476
erythrophthalmus 475
seniculus 476
Coccyx 114, 142
Cochlea 151, 188
Cock
chaparral 474
INDEX.
Cock sage 580
Cock of the plains 580
Coeca 214
Coecum 214
Coereba 317
Ceerebidx 317
Coffin-carrier 742
Colaptes 491
aurato-mexicanus 113, 492
auratus 493
ayresi 492
chrysoides 493
hybridus 492
mexicanus 493
Coliide 446
Collar-bones 147
Collared woodpecker 490
Collecting
birds 1
nests and eggs 50
Collecting-chest 27
Collection, care of a 54
Collector, to be a good 9
Collectorship, hygiene of 19
Collocalia 224, 456°
Collum 96
Colorado screech owl 506
turkey 653
Columba 564
erythrina 565
fasciata 565
leucocephela 565
livia 565
cenas 565
palumbus 562
Columbe 561
Columbide 562
Columbinz 564
Columbine birds 561, 562
Columella auris 185
Colymbidz 789
Colymbus 789
adamsi 790
arcticus 791
pacificus 791
septentrionalis 791
torquatus 789
Combatant 640
Combs 98
Commissural
line 105
point 105
Commissure 105
Common.
atlantic shearwater 785
brown crane 667
caracara 539
cormorant 726
cow-bird 402
crow blackbird 413
european buzzard 547
gallinule 675
gannet 720
kittiwake 748
loon 789
puffin 802
quail of europe 595
rail 673
red-poll 352
savannah sparrow 863
sharp-tailed grouse 581
tern 762
wild goose 688
Common american
buzzard 546
crow 417
837
Common american
gull 745
shrike 338
Complicate tail 118
Complications in skinning 34
Compressed tarsus 125
Conditions of environment 72
Condor, californian 558
Condyles
occipital 156
of femur 119
of humerus 107
Conirostral 101
Conjunctiva 179, 181
Conjuncto-carotidine 198
Connecticut warbler 309
' Consciousness 174
Conspecies 79
Contopus 438
borealis 488
pertinax 439
richardsoni 440
virens 439
Contour of a bird 91
Contour-feathers 85
Contractor trachez 202
Conurus 496
carolinensis 496
Cooper’s
buzzard 543
crested flycatcher 435
hawk 528
sandpiper 627
tanager 318
Coot
american 676
european 677
sea 718, 714
Coot-foot phalaropes 614
Coot-footed tringa 614
Coots 676
Copper-tailed trogon 468
Coraciide 446
Coracoid bone 107, 146
Coracomorphe 172
Cormorant
baird’s 729
brandt’s 728
common 726
double-crested. 727
florida 727
mexican 728
pallas’s 728
red-faced 728
tufted 728
violet-green 729
white-tufted 727
Cormorants 723
Corn crake 675
Cornea 179, 182
Corneous covering of bill 102
Cornua of hyoid 167
Corona 97
Coronoid process 166
Corpora bigemina 175
Corpus
callosum 176
striatum 175
Corrosive sublimate 57
Corvide: 414
Corvine 415
Corvus 415 ,
caurinus 417
corax 416, 172
cryptoleucus 416
floridanus 417
838
Corvus
frugilegus 206
frugivorus 417
monedula 414
maritimus 417
Cory’s shearwater 784
Coscoroba anatoides 682
Costa humming-bird 464
Costal process of sternum 148, 144
Costiferous part of sternum 145
Cotile 323
riparia 324
Cotton, use of\26
Coturniculus 365
henslowi 366
jecontii 366
manimbe 365
passerinus 365
perpallidus 366
Coturnix 594
dactylisonans 595
Couch’s flycatcher 434
Coues’ flycatcher 439
Courlan, scolopaceous 668
Courlans 667, 668
Coursers, night 449
Covering of bill 102
Coverts
tail 115
wing 110
Cowbird
brass 403
bronzed 403
common 402
dwarf 402
red-eyed 403
Cowbirds 401
Cracidze 572
Cracinee 572
Crake
carolina 674
european spotted 674
farallone black 674
little black 674
yellow 674
Crakes 673
Crane
common brown 667
northern brown 667
sandhill 667
white 666
whooping 666
Cranes etc. 665, 666
Cranial bones proper 160
nerves 175, 176
Craveri’s murrelet 814
Creeper
ahaman honey 317
black-and-white 290
brown 273
honey 316
mexican 273
small-billed 290
Creepers 272
Creeping warblers 290
Crescent swallow 828
Crested
auk 807
blue jays 421
ebe 794
apwing 605 —
titmice 264
Crested flycatcher
ash-throated 436
cooper's large-billed 435
great 434
INDEX.
Crested flycatcher
lawrence’s 436
rufous-tailed 435
Crested flycatchers 434
Crestless blue jays 423
Crests of birds 99
Cretaceous birds 61, 62, 63, 825
Crex 674
pratensis 675
Crimson finch 346
Crimson-fronted finch 347
Crimson-headed tanager 319
Crissal
thrasher 255
towhee 397
Crissum 96
Criste 99
Crop of birds 212
Cross-bill
american red 349
mexican 350
white-winged 348
Cross-bills 348
Crossoptilon 575
Crotaphyte depression 157
Crotophaga 471.
ani 472
sulcirostris 472
Crotophagins 471
Crow
blue 418
carrion 560
clarke’s 418
common american 417
northwestern fish 417
southeastern fish 417
Crow blackbird 410 °
boat-tailed 412
bronzed 413
common 413
fan-tailed 412
Boris 414
purple 413
Crow-duck 676
Crown of the head 97
Crown sparrow
intermediate 383
gambel’s 383
‘olden 383
ooded 3884
white-browed 383
white-throated 382
Crown sparrows 381
Crows 414, 415
Crows, blue 418
Crura cerebri 175
Crural 119
feathers 123
Crus 119, 125
Crying-bird 668
Crypturi 574
Crystalline lens 183
Cuban
night-hawk 454
sparrow hawk 588
Cubit 107
Cuculide 470
Cuculiform birds 467
Cuculiformes 466, 467
Cuculus canorus 471
Cuckold 402
Cuckoo
black-billed 475
ground 474
mangrove 476
yellow-billed 476
Cuckoos 470
american 474
ground 478
tree 474
Culmen 104
Cultrirostral 101
Cuneiforme 106, 107, 108
Cupidonia 583
cupido 123, 583
pallidicincta 584
Cupola 188
Curassows 572
Curlew
bristle-bellied 646
eskimo 646
hudsonian 645
jack 645
dome billesd 645
otahiti 646
spanish 651
Curlew sandpipers 631
-Curlews 618, 643
Cursorial foot 129,180
Cursoriinse 597 _
Curve-billed thrasher 252
Cyanecula 258
suecica 258
Cyanocitta
annectens 422
coronata 322
cristata 421
diademata 422
florincola 421
frontalis 422
macrolopha 422
stelleri 421
Cyclarhis 330
Gyonines 681
Cygnopsis cygnoides 684
Cyguus 682
bewicki 683
buccinator 682
columbianus 682
musicus 683
nigricollis 682
olor 681
paloregonus 824
Cymochorea 781
homochroa 781
leucorrhoa 781
melena 781
Cypselidae 455
Cypseliformes 446, 447
Cypselinze 456
Cypselus 456
apus 87
. Cytula 224
Dascuick 797
Dacelonine 469
Dafila 692
acuta 692
Damier 779
Danger’s method 51
Daptium 779
capense 779
Daptrius 539 .
Dark-bodied shearwater 787
Darters 729
Darwinian logic 60
Day owl 511
Decomposition 89
Degrees of likeness 71
Demoiselle egrets 660
Dendragapus 578
Dendrocygna 689
autumnalis 689
fulva 689
Dendreeca 296
adelaide 297
eestiva 298
albilora 306
auduboni 302
aureola 297
blackburnz 302
bryanti 298
capitalis 297
castanea 304
chrysoparia 300
coerulea 301
ceerulescens 300
coronata 301
discolor 305
dominica 306
eoa 297
precede
hypochrysea 307
Intland) 308
maculosa 304
nigrescens 306
occidentalis 299
palmarum 307
pennsylvanica 304
petechia 297
pharetra 297
pinus 3807
pityophila 297
striata 303
tigrina 305
townsendi 299
vieilloti 298
virens 298
Dendrortyx 588
Dentary bone 166
Dentirostral 101
Derby flycatcher 430
Dermestes lardarius 55
Design, evidences of 477
Desmameeba 192
Desmognathism 171, 172
Desmognathous skull 171
Determination of sex 45
Development
of feathers 82
of skull 151
Diabolic petrels 779
Diaphragm 193
Diapophyses 137
Diatryma gigantea 825
Dicholophus 144
Dichroic egrets 661
Dichromanassa 661
rufa 661 .
Didactyle birds 126
Didi 562
Didunculus strigirostris 563
Didus ineptus 65, 562
Diedapper 797
Digestive system 209
Digiti 126
Digits ‘
of foot 121, 128
of wing 106
Diglossa 317
Dinornithes 65
Dinosaurs 63, 821
Diomedea 774
. brachyura 775
nigripes 775
Diomedeine 774
Dipper 705, 797
INDEX.
Dipper
american 255
european 254
Dippers 242, 254
Directions for using the keys 227
Discogastrula 225
Dissoura maguari 653
Distal phalanges 127
Distichous arrangement 114
Diurnal birds of prey 517
Diver
black-throated 791
great northern 789
pacific black-throated 791
red-throated 791
Diving birds 787
Dodo 65, 562
Dogs 9
Dolichonyx 400
oryzivorus 400
Domestic
duck 691
pigeon 565
Dorsal vertebrae 189
Dorso-lumbar vertebree 140
Dorsum 94
Dotted cafion wren 276
Double-crested cormorant 727
Double-forked tail 117
Double-rounded tail 117
Dough-bird 646
Dove
blue-headed 571
carolina 568
ground 569
Inca 570
key west 571
mourning 568
quail 571
scaled 570
sea 810
white-fronted 567
white-winged 569
wild 568
zenaida 569
Dovekie 810
Doves
dwarf 569
love 568
lustre 570
pin-tail 568
pin-wing 567
quail 571
shell 570
white-wing 569
Dowitcher 622
Down-feathers 86
Downy woodpecker 483
Draco 82
Drills for eggs 51
Dromezognathe 69, 170
Dromezognathism 168
Dromeognathous skull 169, 170
Dromeus 170
Drum of ear 185
Drumstick 119
Ducal tern 761
Duck :
black 691
black-head 701
‘ buffle-head 704 .
canvasback 703
crow 676
domestic 691
dusky 691
» eider 708, 710, 712
839
Duck
florida dusky 692
gray 693
golden-eye 704
ae scaup 701
arlequin 707
labrador 706
lesser scaup 701
long-tail 706
pied 706
pin-tail 692
raft 700
red-head 762
ring-neck 701
rudder 715
ruddy 715
shoveller 696
summer 698
st. domingo 755
surf 714
wild 691
white-winged surf 714
wood 698
ks
blackhead 699
bridal 699
eider 708
fishing 716
pintail 697
redhead 699
river 689
rudder 715
sea 698
spoonbill 696
surf 713
teal 694
tree 689
Duck hawk 534
Dunlin -
american 631
european 631
sandpipers 631
Duodenum 213
Dura mater 176
Dusky
duck 691
horned owl 504
grouse 579
shearwater 786
Dusky-tailed humming-bird 466
Dwarf
bitterns 664
cowbird 402
doves 569
Dynamameebe 215, 218, 219
Dysporus 720
Duc
arpy 9
ring-tailed 554
sea 555
white-headed sea 555
white-tailed sea 555
Ear of birds 92, 184
Eared grebe
american 796
european 795
Eared owls 507
840
Eastern
bluebird 257
fox sparrow 385
hermit thrush 247
house wren 278
snow-bird 377
Eaves swallow 323
Kedysis 88
Ectoderm 226
Ectopistes 565
migratorius 566
Educabilia 76
Efferent nerves 174
Egg 216
anatomy of 222
Egg-drills 51
Egg-laying 228
Egg-pod 222
Egg-shell 223
a reinforcing 53
BES
collecting 50
labeling 53
preparing 51
shapes of 223
Egret
a white 658
ittle white 660
louisiana 661
peale’s 661
reddish 661
Egrets
demoiselle 660
dichroic 661
Eider
spectacled 710
steller’s 709
european 710
american 712
pacific 712
king 712
Eiders, 708
Elzodochon 86
Blanoides 525
forficatus 526
Elanus 525
glaucus 525
Elbow-joint 106, 107
Elegant tern 760
Elf owls 515, 516
Emargination of remiges 112
Emberiza hortulana 401
Embernagra 398
Tufivirgata 398
Embry ological characters 70
Embry oleg y 216, 224
Embryos te, 217
extracting 52
Emperor goose 686
Empidonax 440
acadicus 441
difficilis 442
flaviventris 442
hammondi 443
minimus 442
obscurus 443
pusillus os
pygmeus
subviridis 441
trailli 441
wrighti 443
Encephalon 175
Endoderm 226
cells 225
Endolymph 190
Endoskeleton 134
INDEX.
Endysis 88
English .
pheasant 574
snipe 614, 621
sparrow 344
hee 567
albifrons 567
Environment, conditions of 72
eet ai 64 haan
papophysis cerebri
Epiblast 396
Epibranchial 167
Epicleidium 147
Epidermic structures 82
Epididy mis 217
Epigastrium 96
Epiglottis 204, 210
Epignathous bills 101
Epiotic 157, 187
Epiphyses 134
Epipleural processes 142
Epipubic bone 149
Equilibration 190
Equivalence of groups 73
Eremophila 281
alpestris 281
chrysoleema 282
leucolama 282
Ereunetes 624
occidentalis 625
pusillus 624
Erismatura 715
rubida 715
Erythrocnema 542
Esacus 597
Eskimo curlew 646
Ethmoid 160
Etypic characters 76
Eudocimus 651
albus 651.
ruber 651
Eugenes 461
fulgens 461
Euplocomus 575
Eupodotis australis 212
Eupsychortyx 588
European
black-tailed godwit 636
blue heron 658
coot 677
cuckoo 471
curlew 644
duulin 6381
eared grebe 795
eider duck 710
great white egret 659
golden plover 600
goshawk 529
poole teal 695
awk owl 512
herring gull 743
jackdaw 414
jay 419
kingfisher 469
land-rail 675
lesser ring plover 603
little white egret 660
mew gull 746
oyster-catcher 606
partridge 588
ting plover 603
snipe 621
sparrow owl 5138
spoonbill 650
spotted crake 673
spotted woodpecker 477
-
European
whimbrel 645
white-fronted goose 684
wigeon 694
woodcock 620
wren 273
Eurynorhynchus 634
pygmeus 634
Eurypyga helias 665
| Eustachian tube 158, 185, 210
Evening grosbeak 342
Everglade kite 523
Evidences of design 77
Evolution, theory of 60, 62, 66
Exanthemops 686
Exoccipital 156
Exoccetes 82
Exoskeletal structures 82
Exoskeleton 134
Explanation of frontispiece 236
Extension and flexion of wing 106,
109
Extensor muscles 199
“Extent ’’ 24
Exterior of a bird 82, 92
Extinct birds 64
Eye 92, 178, 179
Eye-water 38
Eyes, glass 44
Facrau
bones 161
nerve 177, 187
Faleate bill 102
Falco 532
zsalon 537
candicans 533
columbarius 536
fusciceerulescens 539
‘yrfalco 532
isabellinus 538
islandicus 5382
labradora 533
lanarius 534
mexicanus 534
obsoletus 532
pealii 536
peregrinus 534
polyagrus 534
richardsoni 537
sacer 532
sparverioides 538
sparverius 537
suckleyi 587
Falcon
aplomado 539
femoral 539
peale’s peregrine 536
peregrine 534
rusty-crowned 537
Falconidx 519
Falconine 531
Falcons 519, 531
Fallopian nerviduct 187
False cere 102
Family 72, 73
Fan-tailed
crow blackbird 412
wrens 274
Farallone black crake 674
Fascie 192
Fat, fatness 37
Fatigue and hunger 20
Fauces 210
Feathered tracts 86
Feather-leg sandpipers 628
Feathers 82, 84, 85, 109
Feet of birds 118
Females, full suites of 14
Femoral falcon 539
Femoro-caudal 195
Femur 119
Fenestra
ovalis 158, 154, 185
rotunda 185
Ferrugineous
buzzard 551
owl 514
sandpiper 632
Fibula 119
Fibulare 120
Field
lark 406
naturalist’s duties 21
ornithology 1
plover 598, 599, 641
sparrow 380
work 9
Fiery-red cardinal 394
hting sandpipers 640
loplumaceous feathers 85
Filoplumes 86
Finch
allen’s rosy 350
arizona summer 374
bachman’s summer 373
baird’s rosy 351
blanding’s 398
brandt’s rosy 351
boucard’s summer 375
bay-winged summer 375
black-throated 376
bell’s 376
cassin’s purple 347
cassin’s summer 374
crimson 346
crimson-fronted 347
florida sea-side 368
grass 364
reen 398
ouse 347
illinois summer 378
indigo 391
lazuli 391
lincoln’s 370
nelson’s sharp-tailed 368
painted 391
pallas’s rosy 352
pine 354
purple 346
purple painted 391
ridgway’s rosy 350
rufous-crowned summer 374
sea-side 367
sharp-tailed 368
swainson’s rosy 351
western grass 365
Finches 339
painted 390
tosy 350
summer 373
Fire-bird 408
Fire-crowned flycatchers 444
Fish
crow 417
hawks 556
Fisher’s petrel 780
Fishing
ducks 716
eagles 554
Fissirostral 101
Fixtures 25, 27
Fi
Fi
INDEX.
Flag of hawks 123
Flamingoves 678
Flammulated owl 506
Flanks 95
Flaps of toes 98
Flesh-footed shearwater 785
Flexion of wing 106, 109
Flexor
digitorum perforatus 195
longus hallucis 193
muscles 109
Flicker 493
mexican 493
Flickers 491
Flight-feathers 88, 109, 111
Flocculus 176
Flocking fowl 701
Florida 661
barred owl 510
coerulea 661
cormorant 727
crow 417
crow blackbird 414
dusky duck 692
gallinule 675
heron, 658
jay 493
quail 591
sea-side tinch 368
screech owl 506
wren 277
Flycatcher
acadian 441
arkansaw tyrant 433
ash-throated crested 436
black pewit 487
beardless 441
cassin’s tyrant 433
coaers large-billed crested
3
couch’s tyrant 484
coues’ 439
derby 430
dirty little 448
forked-tailed 431
gray little 443
great crested 434
green-crested 441
hammond’s 443
lawrence’s crested 436
little buff-breasted 443
little western 442
least 442
olive-sided 438
pewee 437
pewit 437
rufous-tailed crested 435
say’s pewit 437
small green-crested 441
sulphur-bellied striped 431
swallow-tailed 431
traill’s 441
vermilion 444
western wood pewee 440
western yellow-bellied 442
wood pewee 439
wright’s 443
yellow-bellied 442
Flycatchers
american 428
ash-throated 434
beardless 443
crested 434
derby 430
fire-crowned 444
king 432
841
Flycatchers
little olivaceous 440
pewit 436
rufous-tailed 434
striped 431
swallow-tailed 431 L
true tyrant 428
wood pewee 438
Flycatching thrush
townsend’s 329
Flycatching thrushes 328
Flycatching warbler
black-capped 313
canadian 314
hooded 313
painted 315
red-fronted 314
Flycatching warblers 312, 3138
rose 314 ;
Fly-snapper, shining 328
Eyre 327
Fontanelles of sternum 144
Foot 118
integument of 124
modifications of 129
plumage of 122
Foramen
lacerum 160
magnum 156
of monro 175
ovale of skull 156
ovale of heart 196
Forceps 25, 52
Forearm 106, 107
Fork-tail petrels 781
gray 781
hornby’s 782
sooty 782
Forked-tailed
flycatcher 431
gull 753
Forms, generalized 76
specialized 76
Formulation of knowledge 78
Fornix 176
Forster’s tern 763
Fossa, nasal 104
Fossil birds 62, 821
cretaceous 825
jurassic 829
tertiary 822
Four-toed plover 598
Fowls 571, 578
pigeon-toed 572
true 573
Fox sparrow
eastern 385
large-billed 386
slate-colored 386
townserfl’s 385
Fox sparrows 385
Francolinus 576
Franklin’s
rosy gull 751
spruce grouse 579
Fratercula 800
arctica 802
corniculata 801
glacialis 803
Fregetta 782
grallaria 783
Fresh-water
ducks 689
marsh hen 672
Frigates 730
Fringe-footed phalaropes 612
842
Fringilla ccelebs 339
Fringillide 339
Frontal
antie 105
bone 156
Frontlets 99
Frontispiece, explanation ¢f 236
Fronto-facial hinge 156
Fulgent hummers 461
Fulica 676
americana 676
atra 677
Fulicine 676
Fuliginous buzzard 549
Fuligula 699. 700
affinis 701
americana 702
collaris 701
ferina 702
marila 701
rufina 700
vallisneria 703
Fuliguline 698
Fulix 701
Fulmar 777
giant 777
pacific 778
rodgers’ 778
slender-billed 778
Fulmar shearwaters 788
Fulmars 777
gull 778
Fulmarus 777
glacialis 778
pacificus 778
rodgersi 778
Fulvous tree duck 689
Furcate tail 117
Fureulum 107, 147
GaDFLY petrels 779
Gadwall 698
Gairdner’s woodpecker 483
Galbulidee 446
Gall-bladder 215
Galeoscoptes 249
Gallinaceous birds 571
Gallinz 571, 828
Gallinago 615, 620
gallinula 622
ceelestis 622
media 621
wilsoni 621
Gallinula 675
galeata 675
Gallinule
common 675
florida 675
sultan 676
Gallinules 675 e
sultan 675
Gallinuline 675
Gallo-columbine series 571
Gallus bankiva 575
Gambel’s
crown sparrow 382
partridge 593
Gambetta 640
Gamin 344
Ganglia
of brain 175
of nerves 174
Gannet
brown 720
common 720
white 720
INDEX.
Gannets 720
Gape 105
Garrot 704
Garruline 419
Garrulus glandarius 419
Garzetta 659
candidissima 660
nivea 660
Gastornis
giganteus 825
parisiensis 64
Gastreum 94, 95
Gastrula 225
Gastrulation 225
Gaviz 733
Geothlypis 310
macgillivrayi 311
philadelphia 311
trichas 310
Geotrygon 570
martinica 571
Geranarchus 666
Geranomorphe 171
Germinal
spot 220
vesicle 220
Germination 224
Germ-yelk 224
Géant 65
Geese 683
barnacle 686
brant 686
gray 684
painted 686
snow 685
Gelochelidon 756
Gemitores 562
Gena 98
Genera 72, 73
General ornithology 59
Generalized forms 76
Generative orggns 215
Genetic relations 78
Genio-hyoid 211
Genital glands 215
Genus 72, 73
Geococcyx 473
californianus 474
Geologic succession 62
Geopelia 564
Giant fulmar 777
Gigerium 218
Gila woodpecker 488
Gilded
woodpecker 493
woodpeckers 491
Ginglymus 121
Gizzard 212
Glabrirostres 449
Gland, oil 86
Glareolidz 597
Glass eyes 44
Glaucidium 514
ferrugineum 514
gnoma 514
passerinum 514
Glaucous gull 741
Glaucous-winged gull 741
Glenoid
cavity 146
process 146
Glosso-hyal bone 167
Glosso-pharyngeal nerve 177
Gloss
ibis 649
ibises 649
Glottis 204, 210
Gnat-catcher
black-capped 261
blue-gray 260, 261
plumbeous 261
Gnat-catchers 242, 260
Gnathotheca 103
Gnome owl
californian 514
ferrugineous 514
Gnome owls 514
Goatsuckers 447
true 448
Godwit
american black-tailed 636
european black-tailed 636
great marbled 635
hudsonian 685
pacific bar-tailed 636
white-tailed 636
Godwits 616, 634
Golden
crown sparrow 382
eagle 554
eagles 553
pheasants 575
plover 599
robin 408
swamp warblers 291
Golden warbler 298
chestnut-headed 298
Golden-cheeked warbler 300
Golden-crested kinglet 260
Golden-crowned
accentor 308
thrush 308
wag-tail warbler 308
Golden-eye 704
Golden-winged woodpecker 493
Goldfinch
american 354
arizona 355
arkansaw 355
black-headed 356
lawrence’s 355
mexican 355
Goldfinches 354
american 354
Gold-tits 269
Gonys 103, 166
Goosander 716
Goose
american white-fronted 684
barnacle 687
black brant 688
blue snow 685
brant 687
canada 688
common wild 688
emperor 686
european white-fronted 684
hutchins’ 689
large white-cheeked 688
least snow 686
lesser snow 686
painted 686
ross’ 686
smaller white-cheeked 689
snow 685 ‘
Gorget hummers 461
Gorglets 99
Goshawk
american 530
european 529 ‘
western 531
Goshawks 530
Goura 563
Graafian follicle 220
Grace’s warbler 306
Grackle
bluesheaded 411
boat-tailed 412
brass 413
green 414
purple 418
rusty 411
texas 412
Grackles 410
rusty 411
Gracuiavus
agilis 827
anceps 827
lentus 827
pumilus 826
velox 826
Graculus 4
idahensis 824
macropus 824
Gradation of tail 117
Grallatores altinares 648
Grallatorial
anseres 677
foot 129, 130
Granatellus 287, 311
Granulation of podotheca 125
Grass
quit 392
plover 641
sparrows 364
Grass finch 364
western 365
Grasshopper sparrow:365
henslow’s 366
le conte’s 366
Grasshopper sparrows 365
Grass-snipe 626
Gravity, centre of 91
Gray
duck 693
forked-tailed petrel 782
geese 684
greenlet 334
grouse 579
jays 425
ingbird 433
little flycatcher 443
owls 508
phalarope 614
ruffed grouse 585
shrikes 337 ;
snipe 622
song sparrow 372
star buzzard 551
towhee 398
Gray-back 632
Gray‘acheeked thrush 247
Gray-headed snowbird 379
Gray-winged gull 742
Great
black-backed gull 742
blue heron 657
carolina wren 277
crested flycatcher 484
egret herons 658
gray owl 509
herons 657
horned owl 503
marbled godwit 685
northern diver 789
northern shrike 337
white egret 658
white heron 658
INDEX.
Greater
coverts 110
longbeak 623
scaup duck 701
shearwater 785
telltale 638
titmouse 263
yellowshanks 638
Great-footed hawk 534
Grebe
american eared 796
american red-necked 794
crested 794
clark’s 794
european eared 795
horned 795
pied-billed 797
st. domingo 796
western 793
Grebes 792, 794
spear-bill 793
thick-bil]l 796
Green
finch 398
grackle 414
heron 662
jays 424
sandpiper 689
Green-backed humming-bird 463
Green-crested flycatcher 441
Green-head 691
Greenland.
gyrfalcon 583
mealy red-poll 353
Greenlet
bell’s 385
black-capped 336
black-whiskered 332
blue-headed 333
brotherly love 382
cassin’s 333
gray 334
hutton’s 334
least 335
plumbeous 334
red-eyed 331
solitary 333
stephens’ 335
yellow-green 332
yellow-throated 333
warbling 332
western warbling 333
white-eyed 334
Greenlets 329
Green-shanks 639
Green-tailed towhee 898 ,
Groove-billed ani 472
Grosbeak
black-headed 389
blue 390
cardinal 393
evening 342
pine 343
rose-breasted 389
Grosbeaks 340
blue 390
cardinal 893
song 388
Ground
cuckoos 473
doves 566, 569
sparrows 360
warblers 310
Groups
higher than genera 284
taxonomic equivalence of 73
843
Groups
zoological 72
Grouse 576, 577
black’ 578
blue 579
canada 578
common sharp-tailed 581
dusky 579
franklin’s spruce 579
gray 579
gray ruffed 585
northern sharp-tailed 579
oregon ruffed 585:
pale pinnated 584
pine 579
pinnated 583
pin-necked 583
pin-tailed 581
red ruffed 585
richardson’s dusky 579
rocky mountain snow 583
ruffed 584, 585
sage 580
sharp-tailed 581
snow 585
sooty 580
spotted 578
spruce 578
tree 578
willow 586
Gruber’s buzzard 553
Gruidee 666
Gruiformes 666
Grus
americana 208, 666
canadensis 203, 667
fraterculus 667
haydeni 8238
pratensis 667
proavus 823
Guan, texan 578
Guans 573
Guillemot
black 814
briinnich’s 818
californian 817
common 816
pigeon 815
sooty 815
spectacled 815
thick-billed 817
Guillemots 810, 816
Guinea-fowl 574
Guiraca 390
coerulea 390
Gula 96
Gular 96
Gular pouch 210
Gull
american herring 743
american mew 746
black-headed 750
bonaparte’s rosy 751
californian 745
common american 745
european herring 743
european mew 746
fork-tailed 753
franklin’s rosy 751
glaucous 741
glaucous-winged 741
gray-winged 742
great black-backed 742
ice 741, 749
ivory 749
kittiwake 748
844
Gull
ee 750
pallas’s 744
swallow-tailed 753
yeinhardt’s 745
ring-billed 745
ross’ rosy 753
western herring 744
white-headed 747
white-winged 741
Gull fulmars 778
Gulls 783, 789, 740
forked-tailed. 753
hooded 749
ice 749
ivory 749
rosy 749
skua 734
wedge-tail 752
Gull-billed tern 757
Guns 1, 5, 6, 7
Gustation 191
Guttur 96
Gygis alba 755
Gymnocitta 418
cyanocephala 418
Gypetus barbatus 519
Gyparchus papa 557, 561
Gypogeranides 497
Gypogeranus serpentarius 497
Gypohierax angolensis 519
Gyrantes 562
Gyrfalcon
american continental 532
american lanner 534
greenland 533
iceland 533
labrador 532
Gyrfalcons 532
Gyps fulvus 519
Gypsum 27
Hamat
arch 186
spine 187
Hemapophyses 187
Hematameeba cruentata 196
Hematic system 195
Hematopodide 606
Hematopus 606
niger 607
ostrilegus 606
palliatus 606
Hzmatothermal 196
Hair-bird 380
Hairy woodpecker 483
Half-webbed foot 131
Haliaétus 554
albicilla 555
leucocephalus 555
pelagicus 555
Haliplana 756
Hallux 128
Halocyptena 780
microsoma 780
Halodroma 732
Halodrominz 778, 774
Halones of egg 222
Hammond's Gycatcle 443
Hamulate bill 102
Hamuli 84
Hang-nest 408
Harderian gland 179, 181
Hare-footed buzzards 549
Harelda 706
glacialis 706
INDEX.
Harlan’s buzzard 543
Harlequin
duck 707
quail 594
Harpagornis 65
Harporhynchus 250
bendirii 252
cinereus 253
crissalis 254
curvirostris 252
lecontii 254
longirostris 251
palmeri 252
redivivus 253
- rufus ee
arpy eagle 553
Baas Bl
Harris’s
buzzard 542
sparrow 384
woodpecker 483
Haunch bones 148
Haversian canals 134
Hawfinches, american 342
Hawk
american marsh 521
black 549
blue 521
california squirrel 551
chicken 528, 580, 545
cooper’s 528
cuban sparrow 538
duck 534
fish 556
reat-footed 534
en 530
isabel sparrow 5388
marsh 521
pigeon 528, 536
tichardson’s pigeon 537
sharp-shinned 528
sparrow 537
winter 545
Hawk owl 511
american 511
european 511
Hawks 519, 526
sharp-shinned 527
Head of birds 92, 97
Hearing, sense of 184
Heart 196
Heel 120
Heermann’s song sparrow 872
Heliornithide 666
Helmet
hummers 464
quail 591
Helmintherus 291
swainsoni 292
vermivorus 291
Helminthophaga 292
Helminthophila 292
bachmani 294
celata 295
chrysoptera 294
cincinnatiensis 298
lawrencii 293
leucobronchialis 293
lucize 294 -
peregrina 295
pinus 293
ruficapilla 294
virginia: 294
Heloise humming-bird 465
Hemiglottides 648
Hemipodii 571, 572
Hemispheres of brain 175
Heniconetta 709
Hen hawk 544
Hen, sage 580
Hens, marsh 671
Henshaw’s wren-tit 262
Henslow’s
bunting 366
grasshopper sparrow 366
Hepatic tanager 318
Heredity 66
Hermit
thrush 247
warbler 299
Herodiz 648
Herodias 658
alba 659
egretta 658
Herodii 654
Herodiones 647 )
Heron
black-crowned night 662
european blue 658
florida 658
great. blue 657
great egret 658
great white 658
reen 662
ittle blue 661
little white 661
night 662, 663
snowy 660
wiirdemann’s 658
Herons 654
and their allies 647
blue and white 661
great 657
great egret 658
green 662
small egret 659
night 662
thick-bill night 663
true 657
Herpetotheres 519
Herring gull 7438
american 743
european 743
Hesperocichla 243
Hesperophona 342
vespertina 342
Hesperornis 63
crassipes 827
gracilis 827
regalis 63, 826
Heteroccelous vertebr 138
Heterodactyli 446
Heteroscelus 643
incanus 643
Hiator 652
High-holder 493
“High,” in scale of organization 77
Himantopus 611
nigricollis 611
Himantornis hematopus 670
Hind
Hip-joint 118
Hirundinide 319
Hirundo 321
erythrogastra 322
horreorum 322
rustica 319
Histrionicus 707
minutus 707
Hobbies 582
Holbéll’s red-poll 353
Holoblastic eggs 220
Holorhinal 165
Holothecal podotheca 125
Ilomalogonatous birds 195
Homology 67, 68
Honey creeper, bahaman 317
Honey creepers 317
Hooded
crown sparrow 384
flycatching warbler 313
merganser 718
oriole 409
Hoodlum 344
Hooklets of feathers 84
Hooks, for eggs 52
Hoot owl 508, 509
Hoplopterus 597, 669
Horn-bill auk 805
Horned
ebe 795
ark 281
owl, 504
puffin 801
screamers 665
wavy 686
Hornby’s petrel 782
Horns of hyoid bone 167
Horny integument of foot 124
House
tinch 347
martin 320
sparrow 344
wren 278
Hudsonian
curlew 645
godwit 635
titmouse 267
Humero-scapulare 145
Humerus 106, 107
Hummers
amazili 466
attic 465
circe 467
fulgent 461
gorget 461
helmet 464
lightning 462
lucifer 466
queen 460
starry 465
xantus 460
Humming-bird
allen 463
alexander 462
anna 464
broad-tailed 463
ealliope 465
circe 467
costa 465
dusky-tailed 466
heloise 465
lucifer 466
red-backed rufous 462
refulgent 461
tuby-throated 461
rufous-bellied 466
xantus 460
Humming-birds 458
Hunger and fatigue 20
Huschke’s process 189
Hutchins’ goose, 689
Hutton’s greenlet 334
Hyacinths 675
Hyvaloid membrane 184
Hybrid snow-bird 378
INDEX.
Hydralector 669
Hydranassa 660
tricolor 661
Hydrophasianus 669
Hygiene of collectorship 19
Hylocichla 80
Hylophilus 330
Hylotomus 480
pileatus 480
Hymenolemus malacorhynchus 699
Hyoid bone 158, 167
Hypapophysis 137
cerebri 175
Hypoblast 226
Hypochondria 95
Hypocleidium 146, 147
Hypoglossal nerve 177
Hypognathous bill 101
Hyporhachis 84
Hypositta 269
TacueE 467
latirostris 467
Tbidorhyncha struthersi 618
Ibides 648
Ibidide 648
Ibis series 648
Ibis i ‘
ossy 649
aarlet 651
white 651
white-faced 651
glossy 649
wood 653
Ibises 648
glossy 649
scarlet 651
white 651
wood 652
Ibycter 539
Ice gulls 749
Iceland gyrfalcon 533
Ichthyopsida 60
Ichthyornis 63, 64, 70, 77, 237
agilis 827
anceps 827
celer 826
Jentus 827
tener 828
validus 828
victor 828
| Icteria 312:
longicauda 312
virens 312
Icteride 399
Icteriinz 288, 311
Icterinz 406
Icterus 407
affinis 408
auduboni 410
bullocki 409
cucullatus 409
galbula 408
melanocephalus 410
parisorum 409
spurius 407
vulgaris 407
Ietinia 523
subceerulea 523
—-ide (suffix) 78
Ideal plan of vertebra 135
Hlium 148, 213
Illinois summer finch 373
Imperial tern 757
| Impeyans 575
845
Implements for collecting 1
- ine (suffix) 78
Inca dove 570
Inca mystacalis 755
Incubation 226
Incumbent hallux 128
Indian hen 664
Indicatoridz 446
Indigo painted finch 391
Indigo-bird 391
Infra-orbital region 97
Infundibulum
of ear 188
of oviduct 221
Ingluvies 212
Innominate bone 148
| Insect pests 55
| Insessores 238
Insessorial foot 129
Insistent hallux 128
Instruments 25
for eggs 51
Integument of foot 124
Interclavicle 147
Intermaxillary bone 100, 164
Intermediate crown sparrow 382
Intermedium 120
Internasal plate 151
Internodes of foot 121
Interorbital septum 153
Interramal space 97, 104
Interscapulare 95
Intestine 213
Tonornis 675
martinica 676
qnrace savanna sparrow 361
tidoprocne 322
bicolor 322
Iris of eye 183
Tris swallows 322
Isabel sparrow hawk 5388
Ischiac artery 199
Ischium 148
Isomeres 229, 233
Isotomes 229, 238
Isthmus of oviduct 222
Ivory gull 749
Ivory-billed woodpecker 479
Tyngide 446
Tynx torquilla 105
JABIRU 653
american 653
Jacana, mexican 669
Jaganas 669
Jack curlew 645
Jackdaw 412
european 414
Jack-snipe 621, 626
er
arctic 738
longed-tailed 738
parasitic 786
pomatorhine 735
Jagers 734
Japanese murrelet 812
Jaw-bone 166
Jaws of birds 100
Jay
alaskan 425
arizona 425
blue 421
blue-fronted 422
black-headed 422
brown 419
846
Jay
california 424
canada 425
crested blue 421
crestless blue 423
florida 423
long-crested 422
oregon 425
rio grande 424
rocky mountain 425
smutty-nosed 425
steller’s 421
woodhouse’s 423
Jays 414, 419
brown 419
crested blue 421
pec blue 423
ay 425
cree 424
Jejunum 213
Jerfalcon see gyrfalcon
Jugal 4
bone 162
Jugulum 96
Junco 377
aikeni 378
annectens 379
caniceps 3879
cinereus 379
connectens 378
dorsalis 379
hiemalis 377
oregonus 378
Jurassic birds 61, 62, 829
Kapiak song sparrow 372
u 665
Kennicott’s
screech owl 505
warbler 259
Kentucky warbler 310
Berens 582
e
the families 231
to the orders 230
Key west dove 571
Keys
artificial 227
directions for using 227
Kidneys 317
Kildeer plover 600
Kin,
gray 433
ie er
elted 470
texan green 470
Kingfishers 468
elted 469
piscivorous 469
Kinglet
golden-crested 260
ruby-crowned 259
western golden-crested 260
Kinglets, 242, 259
Kirtland’s warbler 306
Kitchenmiddens 64
Kite
black-shouldered 525
everglade 523
mississippi 524
swallow-tailed 526
INDEX.
Kite
white-tailed 525
Kites 522
lead 523
pearl 525
sickle-billed 523
swallow-tuiled 525
Kittiwake
common 748
kotzebue’s 748
red-legged 748
short-billed 748
Kittiwakes 747
Kittlitz’s murrelet 813
Knee 120
cap 119
joint 119
Knives 25, 52
Knob-nosed auk 808
Knot 632
Kotzebue’s kittiwake 748
Krider’s red-tail 545
LABELLING, 21, 23, 53, 79
Labels 23, 24
Labrador
duck 706
gyrfalcon 532
Labyrinth
of ear, 187, 188, 190
of trachea 50, 202
Lacrymal
bone 165
duct 179
gland 179, 181
Lacteals 199
Ladder-backed three-toed wood-
pecker 485
Lady of the waters 661
Levo-carotidinz 198
Lagena 189
Lagopus 585
albus 48, 586
atkensis 588
leucurus 588
mutus 588
reinhardti 588
rupestris 587
scoticus 577
Laletes osburni 330
Lamellate bill 102
Lamellirostral 101
Lamellirostres 677, 824
Lamina
spiralis 188
terminalis 175
Lamine of tarsus 125
Laminiplantar tarsus 125
Laminiplantation 126
Lampornis mango 459
Land rails 674
Laniide 336
Laniins 336
Lanius 337
borealis 337
excubitorides 338
ludovicianus 338
Lanner, american 534
Lanners 582
Laopteryx priscus 829
Laornis edvardsianus 828
Lapland longspur 357
Lap owl 509
Lapwing, crested 605
Lapwings 604
Lark
Large-billed
fox sparrow 386
puffin 803
wag-tail warbler 309
Larger white-cheeked goose 688
Laridx 733
fave 739
ar’
bunting 387
finch 384
savanna sparrow 363
sparrows 384
brown 286
field 406
horned 281
meadow 406
meadow mexican 406
meadow western 406
shore 281
western 282
southwestern 282
sky 282, 283
Larks, 280
meadow 405
Larus 740
affinis 745
argentatus 743
brachyrhynchus 745
eachinnans 744
californicus 745
canus 745
delawarensis 745
glaucescens 741
glaucus 741
heermanni 747
kumlieni 742
leucopterus 741
marinus 742
occidentalis 744
smithsonianus 743
Larvee of insects 55
Larynx 202
lower 204.
Latitores 665
Laughing gull 750
Law of priority 80
Lawrence’s
crested fly-catcher 436
goldfinch 855
stilt petrel 783
warbler 293
Lawyer 611
Lazuli painted finch 391
Leach’s petrel 781
Lead kites 523
Least :
auk 808
bittern 664
bush-tit 268
flycatcher 442
greenlet 335
petrel 780
sandpiper 625
snow goose 686
tern 766
Le conte’s
bunting 366
grasshopper sparrow 366
eg
plumage of 122
relative length of 123
Leguatia gigantea 65
Length of leg, relative 123
“Lengths” of parts 24, 25,
Leptosomatida 446
Lesser
coverts 110
scaup duck 701
snow goose 686
tell-tale 638
Lestornis crassipes 827
Lestridinz 734
Leucocytes 196
Leucosticte 350
arctoa 352
atrata 350
australis 350
griseinucha 351
litoralis 351
tephrocotis 351
Lewis’ woodpecker 490
paghinine hummers 462
Likeness, degrees of 71
Limicola platyrhyncha 617
Limicole 596, 828
Limosa 616, 634
zgocephala 636
foeda 635
hemastica 635
lapponica 636
nove-zealandiz 636
uropygialis 636
Limpkin 668
Lincoln’s song sparrow 370
Lingula 151
Lining of wings 110, 111
Linnet
brewster’s 353
pine 354
Linnets 340, 353
red-poll 352
Linota 353 :
flavirostris brewsteri 353
Little
black crake 674
black-headed duck 701
blue heron 661
buff flycatchers 443
horned owls 504
olivaceous flycatchers 440
seed-eater 392
western flycatcher 442
white egret 660
heron 661 °
Liver 215
Lobate foot 131
Lobation 181
Lobe-foot phalarope 613
Lobes 98
Lobipes 613 ‘
yperboreus 613
Lobivanellus 597, 669
Loddigesia
mirabilis 115
Loggerhead shrike 338
Lomvia 816:
affinis 825
arra 817
antiqua 825
californica 817
svarbag 818
troile 816
Long-billed
curlew 645
marsh wren 279
Long-crested jay 422
Long-eared owl 507
Long-exserted tail-feathers 116
Longirostral 101
Longipennes 732, 825
Long-legged tattler 683
INDEX.
Long-shanks 611
Longspur
lack-breasted 359
black-shouldered 358
bay-winged 359
chestnut-collared 358
lapland 357
painted 358.
white-tailed 358
Long-spurs 357, 359
Long-tailed.
chat 3812
chickadee 266
duck 706
jager 738
Long- winged swimmers 732
Loon
black-throated 791
pacific black-throated 791
red-throated 791
yellow-billed 780
Peers iy o
oose plumage
Lophodytes 716
Lopholemus 564
Lophophanes 264
atrocristatus 265
bicolor 264
inornatus 264
wollweberi 265
Lophophorus 575
Lophortyx 591
californica 592
gambeli 898
Lophosteon 148
Loral 98
Lords and ladies 708
Lore 98
Lorum 98
Louisiana 5
clapper rail 672
egret 661
pipit 286
water thrush 309
Love doves 568
“Low’’ in scale of organization 77
Lower larynx 204
Loxia 348
americana 349
reucoptera 348
mexicana 350
Loxiine tinches 340
Lucifer
hummers 466
humming-bird 466
Lucy’s warbler 294
Lumbar vertebrz 140
Lunda 803
cirrata 804
Lungs of birds 200
Lustre doves 570
Lymph 199
Lymphatic system 195
Lymphatics 199
Lyre-bird 116
Lyrurus tetrix 578
MACARTNEYS 575
Macgillivray’s warbler 311
Wackowes 640
pugnax 640
Machinery of classification 78
Macrodactyli 665
Macropygia 564
Macrorhamphus 622
847
Macrorhamphus
griseus 622
scolopaceus 622
semipalmatus 616
Magnolia 304
Magnum 107
Magpie 420
yellow-billed 421
Magpies 420
Maize-thief 404
Mala 98
Melecomyocls membranaceous
6
Malar region 98
Mallard 690, 691
Malleus 162
Mammalia 60, 69
Mandible 100, 166
under 103
upper 104
Mangrove cuckoo 476
Mantle 95
Man-of-war bird 731
Manubrium 144
Manus 106, 108
Manx shearwater 786
Marbled murrelet 813
Marble-wing sandpiper 642
Mareca 693
americana 694
penelope 694
Marginal fringes of toes 131
Marlin 635
ting-tailed 636
Marsh
blackbird 404
blackbirds 400, 403
hawk 521 :
hen 672
hens 671
owls 507
robin 396
tern 757
wren 279, 280
wrens 279, 280
Marsupium 184
Martin
house 320
Sa lee yellow-throat 310
Masked woodpeckers 483
Masking puffins 800
Massena partridge 594
Materialization 174
Materials for taxidermy 25, 26
Matrix of feathers 82
Maxilla 98 ;
Maxillary
bone 162
line 98
Maxillo-palatine
bar 152
bone 162
Meadow
pipit 285
starlings 405
Meadow lark 406
mexican 406
western 406
Meadow-wink 400
Mealy red-poll 353
american 353
greenland 353
Measurements, directions for 24
Meatus auditorius 97, 158
848
Meatus
externus 185
internus 187
Mechanism
of leg-bones 121
of wing-bones 106, 107, 108
Meckel’s
cartilage 166, 152
ganglion 177
Median coverts 110
Medio-palatine ossification 178
Medio-tarsal joint 121
Mediterranean shearwater 784
Medulla
oblongata 175
spinalis 176
Megapodidx 572
pearodias 572
Melanerpes 489
angustifrons 490
bairdi 490
erythrocephalus 489
formicivorus 489
Meleagridide 576
Meleagris 576
altus 823
americana 576
antiquus 823
celer 823
gallipavo 576
superbus 823
Melittarchus 432
Melopelia 569
leucoptera 569
Melospiza 369
cinerea 372
fallax 372
fasciata 871
guttata 372
hermanni 372
lincolni 370
palustris 370
rufina 372
samuelis 372
Members of birds 92, 100
Membrana
putaminis 222
tympani 154
Membranous labyrinth 188, 189
Meninges of brain 175
Mentum 98
Menura superba 116
Merganser
hooded 718
red-breasted 49, 717
Mergansers 716
Merginez 716
Mergus 716
cucullatus 718
merganser 716
serrator 717
Merlin, american 537
Merlins 532
Meroblastic eggs 221
Meropide 446
Merry-thought 147
Merula 248
Mesencepbalon 175
Mesethmoid 160
Mesoblast 226
Mesometry 221
Mesomyodi 427
Mesomvodian 205, 289
Mesozoic 62
Messina quail 595
Metacarpus 106, 107
INDEX.
Metagnathous bills 101
Metatarsal
accessory 121
bones 121
spurs 133
Metatarsus 119
Metencephalon 175
Metopodius 669
Metosteon 144
Metovum 221
Mexican
bluebird 258
brown towhee 397
cafion wren 276
chickadee 266
cormorant 728
creeper 273
cross-bill 350
flicker 493
goldfinch 355
jacana 669
meadow lark 406
snow-bird 379
Miasm 19
Micraster 519
Micrathene 515
whitneyi 516
Micropalama 623
himantopus 623
Migratory quail 595
Milvago 539
Milvine 522
Milvulus 431
forficatus 431
tyrannus 431
Milvus 523
Mimine 242, 248
Mimus 249
carolinensis 250
polyglottus 250
Miocene birds 64
Mississippi kite 524
Missouri titlark 286
Mitrephanes 443
fulvifrons pallescens 448
Mitrephorus 443
pallescens 443
Mniotilta 290
borealis 290
varia 290
Moas 65, 825
Mockers 249
Mocking-bird 250
mountain 249
Mocking thrushes 242, 248
Modivlus 188
Molothrus 401
seneus 403
ater 402
obscurus 402
Momotide 468
Momotus ceruleiceps 468
Monerula 224
Monogamy 226
Moose-bird 425
Morelet’s pygmy finch 392
Morphological classification 66, 68
Morphology 67
Motacilla 284
alba 284
ocularis 284
Motacillida 283
Motacilline 284
Moths 55 :
Motor nerves 174
Mottled owl 505
‘
Moult 88
of bill 103
Mound-birds 572
Mountain
chickadee 266
plover 604
mocking-bird 249
quail 591
sparrow 345
Mounting birds 40
Mourning
dove 568
warbler 311
Mouth 92, 210
Mucronate tail-feathers 116
Mud-ben 672
white-billed 676
Mud-hens 675
Mud swallow 323
Miillerian ducts 215
Mummification 47
Murre 816
Murrelet
black-throated 811
craveri’s 814
kittlitz’s 813
japanese 812
marbled 813
short-winged 814
white-bellied 813
Murrelets
nipper-nosed 811
peaked-nosed 812
Murres 810, 816
Muscicapa
acadica 441
fulvifrons 443
querula 441
subviridis 441
Muscles of birds 192, 194
Muscular
sense 191
system 192
tissue 192
Musophagide 446
Mute ewan 681
Mutilation 38
Muzzle-loader 2
Mycteria 653
americana 653
LBs aon 175
yiadestes 329
townsendi 329
striata 192 ~
Myiarchus 434
cinerescens 436
cooperi 485
crinitus 434
erythrocercus 435
lawrencii 436
mexicanus 436
Myiodioctes 313
canadensis 314
mitratus 313
pileolatus 314
pusillus 313
Myiodynastes 431
luteiventris 431
Myiozetetes texensis 430
Mylo-hyoid 211
Myology 192
Myrtle bird 301
Nat of bill 102
Nails of toes 182
Names, scientific 78
Nape 96
Nares 104, 178, 210
Narrow-fronted woodpecker 490
Nasal
bones 165
fossa 104
gland 178
scale 105
turbinal 173
Nashville warbler 294
Natatorial foot 129, 181
Natural
affinities 72
selection 66
Nauclerus 526
Neck 92, 96
Neochloe 330
Neocorys 286
spraguii 286
Neophron percnopterus 519
Nepheecetes 457
niger boyealis 457
Nerve-tissue 174
Nervous system 174
Nesonetta aucklandica 699
Nestor productus 65
Nests and eggs, collecting 50
Nests, plea for study of 54
Netting birds 4
Nettium 695
Neural
arch 135
spines 137
Neurapophyses 187
Neurology 174
Neurameeba
candida 174
cinerea 174
Nevada sage sparrow 376
New york water thrush 309
Nictitating membrane 179, 180
Nidification 227
Night heron
blagk-crowned 662
yellow-erowned 663
Night herons 662, 663
Night-courser, white-throated 450
Night-coursers 449
Night-hawk
cuban 454
texan 454
western 454
Night-hawks 453
Nightingale, virginian 393
Night-jar 452 *
Night-jars 448
american 450
Nipper-nosed murrelets 811
Nocturnal birds of prey 498
Noddies 771
Noddy tern 771
Nomenclature 78
binomial 79
rules of 80
trinomial 80
Nomonyx 715
dominica 715
Non-melodious passeres 427
Nonpareil 391
western 391
Nootka humming-bird 462
North american birds
classification of 234
INDEX.
North american birds
systematic synopsis of 287
Northern
black cloud swift 457
brown crane 667
phalarope 618
sharp-tailed grouse 581
shrike 387
Northwest tish crow 417
Nostrils 104
Notaum 94
Notiocorys 285
Notochord 151
Notornis 143
woodpecker 486
Nucifraga caryocatactes 418
Number
of phalanges 127
of toes 126
Numbering of toes 127
Numenius 618, 643
arquatus 644
borealis 646
hudsonicus 645
longirostris 645
pheopus 645
taitensis 646
Numida meleagris 574
Numidide 574
Nutcracker
american 417
brown-headed 271
Nuthatch
canadian 271
carolina 270
european 270
my 271
Wrbetiied 271
slender-billed 271
white-bellied 270
poorwill 453
woodpecker 482
Nyctala 512
acadica 513
albifrons 513
richardsoni 512
tengmalmi 512
Nyctea 510
scandiaca 510
Nycterodius 663
violaceus 663
Nyctiardea 662
grisea nevia 662
Nyctibiine 448
Nyctidromus 449
albicollis 450
Oax-woops sparrow 873
Obliquus
inferior 181
superior 181
Observations, record of 21
Obturator foramen 149
Occipital
bone 156
condyles 156
style 725
Occiput 97
Oceanites 782
64
849
Oceanites oceanicus 782
Oceanodroma 782
furcata 782
hornbvi 782
Oculi-motor nerve 177
Ocydrominz 670
Ocyphaps 564
Odontoglossz 677
Odontoid process 139
Odontolcez 68, 238, 821
Odontophorine 588
Odontophorus 588
Odontornithes 821
Odontotorme 63, 237, 821
Cdemia 713
americana 713
fusca 714
perspicillata 714
trowbridgii 715
velvetina 714
Cidicnemine 597
Csophagus 211
Cstrelata 779
bulweri 780
fisheri 780
gularis 780
heesitata 779
Oil-gland 86
Old-tield lark 406
Old-squaw 706
Old-wife 706
Old world
partridges 594
quail 594
vultures 519
Olecranon 107
Olfaction 178
Olfactory
foramen 160
lobes 175
nerves 176
Olivaceous flycatchers 440
Olive warbler 296
Olive-backed thrush 248
Olive-black towhee 396
Olive-sided flycatcher 438
Olor 682
Omos 106
Onychotes 552
gruberi 553
Ontogeny 71
Odlogy
escribed 215
study of 50
QOéphoron masculinum 218
Opetiorhynchus 205
Ophthalmic nerve 177
Opisthocelous vertebre 138
Opisthocomi 571
Opisthocomus. cristatus 148, 571
Opisthotic bone 157, 187
Oporornis 309
agilis 309
formosa 310
Optic
foramina 159
lobes 175, 176
nerves 176, 184
thalami 175
Orange-crowned warbler 295
Orbicularis oculi 180
Orbit of eye 97, 179
Orbital
process of quadrate 162
region 97
Orbito-nasal septum 160
850
Orbito-sphenoid 158
Orchard oriole 407
texas 407
Order 72, 73
snow-bird 3}
song sparrow 372
‘robin 245
ruffed grouse 585
towhee 396
Oreophasinz 572
Oreophasis derbianus 572
Oreophilus totanirostris 597
Organization, scale of 77
Organs
of circulation 195
of digestion 209
of generation 217, 219
of locomotion 109
of respiration 199
of special senses 174
Oriole
audubon’s 410
baltimore 408
black-and-yellow 409
black-headed 410
bullock’s 409
hooded 409
orchard 407
paris’ 409
texas orchard 408
Orioles 406, 407
Ornithichnites 62
Ornithium 443
imberbe 444
Ornitholite 63
Ornithological book-keeping 22
Ornithology defined 59
Ornithoscelida 62
Orortyx 591
picta 591
Oroscoptes 249
montanus 249
Ortalis 573
vetula maccalli 578
Ortolan
(reed-bird) 401
(sora or rail) 678
Ortyx 589
floridana 591
texana 591 .
virginiana 589
Ortyxelos meiffreni 572
Oscine podotheca 125
Oscines 69, 239, 240
Os
humero-scapulare 145
innominatum 148
lacrymo-palatinum 165
magnum 107
prominens 108
uncinatum 165
Ospreys 556
Osseous system 184
Ossicles
of ear 186
of wing 108
Ossicula auditis 136
Ossific centres 134
Ossifraga 777
gigantea 777
Osteameebee 149
Osteological preparations 48
Osteology 184
INDEX.
Osteoses 134
Ostrich, skull of 169
Otahiti curlew 646
Otic
capsule 156
anglion 177
Otidide 597, 665
Otis tarda 210
Otocrane 187
Otogyps auricularis 519
Otoliths 190
Ouzel 255
water 255
Ovaries 45, 46, 215, 219
Oven-bird 808
Oviduct 220
Ovisac 220
Oviposition 223
Ovulation 220
Ovum 216
Owl
acadian 513
american hawk 511
american long-eared 507
american wood 509
arctic american saw-whet 512
barn 502
barred 509
burrowing 56
california screech 506
california gnome 514
cat 503
colorado screech 506
day 511
dusky horned 504
elf 516
european hawk 612
ferrugineous gnome 514
flammulated screech 506
florida barred 510
florida screech 106
florida burrowing 517
great gray 509
reat horned 503
oot 503, 509
kennicott’s screech 505
lap 509
little horned 505
- mottled 505
red 505
saw-whet 513
screech 505
+ short-eared 507
snowy 510
spectral 509
texas screech 506
western barred 510
white horned 504
Owls, 498, 500, 502
barn 500, 501
brown 508
burrowing 516
eared 507
rei horned 503
hawk 511
hoot 503
little horned 604
marsh 507
other a
yemy 5
Tiere 612
screech 504
snow 510
Owls
sparrow 514
Ox-eye 598
Oyster-catcher
american 606
black 607
european 606
Oyster-catchers 606
PAcIFIC
bar-tailed godwit 636
black-throated diver 791
eider 712
fulmar 778
orange-crowned warbler 295
Pagophila 749
eburnea 749
Painted
bunting 391
finch 391
indigo 391
lazuli 391.
purple 391
finches 390
flycatching warbler 315
geese 686
‘oose 686
longspur 858
Paisano 474
Paleoborus umbrosus 822
Paleocyecnus falconeri 682
Paleornithida 495
Paleornithine 495
Paleospiza bella 822
Paleotringa
litoralis 828
vagans 828
vetus 828
Palamedea cornuta 665
Palamedeide 665
Pallas’
cormorant 728
gull 744
rosy finch 352
Palatal
bones 163
structure, types of 168
Palate, hard 163
Palatine bones 163
Pale ring-neck 602
Palm warbler 307
Palmate foot 131
Palmation 131
Palpebree 97
Pancreas 215
Pandion 556
haliaétus 556
Panniculus carnosus 200
Panyptila 456
saxatilis 456
Parabuteo 542
Parachordal cartilage 151
Paradise
tern 766
trogon 467
Paragnathous bill 101
Parasite 344
Parasitic jager 736
Parasphenoid 155, 159
Parauchenia 96
Paridee 263
Paring: 263
Paris’ oriole 409
Parietal bones 156
Parovaria 215
Parra 669
gymnostoma 133, 669
jacana 668
Parroquet auk 806
Parroquet, carolina 496
Parroquets 496
Parrots 494, 496
sea 800
Part I1
TT 59
ITI 237
IV 821
Partridge 576, 585, 590
blue 593
californian 592
european 588
florida 591
gambel’s 593
Massena 594
old world 594
plumed 591
scaled 593
spruce 578
texas 591
virginia 589
Parula 290
americana 290
nigrilora 291
pitiayumi 291
Parus 265
atricapillus 265
carolinensis 266
cinctus 267
evura 267
hudsonicus 267
meridionalis 266
montanus 266
neglectus 267
occidentalis 266
rufescens 267
septentrionalis 266
Passenger pigeon 566
Passer 344
domesticus 344
montanus 345
Passerculus 360
alaudinus 363
anthinus 363
bairdi 360
guttatus 364
princeps 361
rostratus 363
sanctorum 364
sandvicensis 362
savana 363°
Passerella 385
iliaca 385,
megarhyncha 386
schistacea 386
unalascensis 385
Passeres 69, 238
acromyodi 239
mesomyodi 427
Passerina 390
ameena 391
ciris 391
cyanea 391
versicolor 391
Passerine
foot 129
sternum 145
Patella 119
Pathetic nerve 177
Pavo
bicalcaratus 133
cristatus 575
INDEX.
Peabody-bird 382
Peacock 575
Peaked-nosed murrelets 812
Peale’s
egret 661
peregrine 536
etre! 780
Pearl kites 525
Pecten 184
Pectination
of claws 132
of toes 132
Pectoral arch 145 |
of carinate 146
of ratitee 146
Pectoral
muscles 193
sandpiper 626
sandpipers 625
Pectoralis
major 193
medius 193
minor 193
Pectus 95
Pedicle of quadrate bone 162
Pediocorys 285
Pediccetes 581
phasianellus 146, 581
columbianus 581
Pedionomus torquatus 572
Peep 624, 625
Pelargi 648, 652
Pelargomorphz 648
Pelecanide 721
Pelecanus 722
conspicillatus 722
crispus 722
fuscus 722
onocrotalus 722
rufescens 722
trachyrhynchus 722
Pelican, american
brown 722
white 722
Pelicans 721
Pelidna 631
alpina 631
americana 631
pacifica 681
Pelvic arch 147
Pelvis 147
Penelopinz 573
Penguins 788
Pennaceous feathers 85
Penne 85
Pentosteon 107 |
Perchers proper 238
Perdicine 594
Perdix 576
Peregrine falcon 534
Peregrines 532
Perilymph 190
Periosteum 134
Periotic bones 156, 157, 187
Perisoreus 425 °
canadensis 425
capitalis 425
fumifrons 425
obscurus 425
Perissoglossa 297, 305
Peristere 562
Peristeromorphe 562
Peristeropodes 572
Pernis apivorus 523
Pessulus 205
Pests, insect 55
851
Petrel
black 781
black-capped 779
bulwer’s 780
fisher’s 780
pray fork-tailed 782
ornby’s fork-tailed 782
lawrence’s stilt 783
leach’s 781
least 780
peale's ~
pigeon 77;
pygmy 780
stilt stormy 782
stormy 78
white-bellied 783
white-rumped 781
wilson’s stormy 782
Petrels 778, 776
" diabolic 779
gadfly 779
gray fork-tail 782
pigeon 779
sooty fork-tail 781
stormy 7&0
stilt stormy 782
wilsonian stormy 782
Petrochelidon 323
lunifrons 3823
Petrosal bone 157, 187
Peuceea 373
xstivalis 373
arizone 374
boucardi 375
carpalis 375
cassini 374
eremceca 375
illinoensis 373
ruficeps 374
Pencedramus 296
olivaceus 296
Pewee
water 437
wood 439
Pewit 437
Pewit flycatchers 436
Pezophaps solitarius 65
Phaéthon 781
ethereus 732
flavirostris 732
tubricauda 731
Phaéthontide 781
Pheethusa 755
Phainopepla 328
nitens 328
Phaleridinz 800
Phaleris 806
Phalacrocoracide 728
Phalacrocorax 726
albociliatus 728
bairdi 729
bicristatus 728
carbo 726
cincinnatus 727
dilophus 727
floridanus 727
idahensis 824
macropus 824
mexicanus 728
penicillatus 728
perspicillatus 728
violaceus 729
Phalenoptilus 452
nuttalli 453
Phalanges 106, 108
of foot 121
852
Phalanges
number of 127
caprimulgine 127
cypseline 127
Phalanx 106, 108, 124
Phalarope
gray 614
northern 613
red 614
red-necked 613
wilson’s 612
Phalaropes 612
coot-foot 614
fringe-foot 612
lobe-foot 613
Phalaropodidx 612
Phalaropus 614
fulicarius 614
Phalcobeenus 539
Phaps 564
Pharomacrus mocinno 115, 467
Pharynx 210
Phasianide 575
Phasianus
colchicus 574
reevesi 575
Phasidus miger 575
Pheasant (English) 574
«Pheasant ’’ (American) 585
Phegornis mitchelli 597
Philacte 686
canagica 685
Philip sparrow 344
Philohela 615, 619
minor 619
Phlogeenas 564
Phodilus badius 500
Pheebe 437
Pheenicopteride 678
Pheenicopterus 678
andinus 678
ruber 679
Pheenicorodias 678
Phonipara 392
zena 392
Phylloscopus 259
borealis 259
Phylogeny 71
Phylum 66
Pia mater 176
Pica 420
hudsonica 420
nuttalli 421
rustica 420
Picarie 444, 822
Picarian birds 444
Picicorvus 417
columbianus 418
Picidee 477
Piciform birds 476
Piciformes 446, 476
Picoides 484
americanus 485
arcticus 485
dorsalis 485
Picumnide 446
Picus 480
borealis 481
eaten es 483
arrisi 483
Tucasanus 482
major 477
nuttalli 482
pubescens 483
scalaris 481
stricklandi 482
) Pi
INDEX.
Picus
villosus 483
Pied duck 706
Pied-billed grebe 797
Pies 420
smoky 419
Pigeon
guillemot 815
hawk 528, 536
petrel 779
woodpecker 493
Pigeon
band-tailed 565
passenger 566
prairie 641
red-billed 565
sea 814
white-collared 565
white-crowned 565
wild 566
Pigeons 562, 564
Pigeon-toed fowls 572
Pileated woodpecker 480
Pileum 97
ne
bullfinches 343
finch 354
grosbeak 3843
rouse 579
innet 354
warbler 307
Pineal body 175
Pine-creeping warbler 307
Pinicola 343
enucleator 343
Pinion 106. 108
Pink-sided snow-bird 379
Pinnated grouse 583
Pin-neck grouse 583
Pinnatipedes 67
Pintado petrel 779
Pin-tail
doves 568
duck 692
grouse 581
Pin-winged doves 567
Pipilo 395
aberti 398
albigula 397
alleni 396
arcticus 396
chlorurus 398
crissalis 397
erythrophthalmus 396
fuscus 397
maculatus 396
megalonyx 397
mesoleucus 397
oregonus 396
Piping plover 602
Pipit savanna sparrow 363
Pipit
louisiana 286
meadow 285
sprague’s 286
Pipits 283, 285
sky 286
Piscivorous kingfishers 469
Pitangus 430
derbianus 430
Pituitary
hody 175, 176
space 151
Plain tit-mouse 264
Planesticus 80
Planta 124
Plasma 196
Platalea 650
leucorodia 650
| Plataleide 651
Plates of podotheca 124
Platycercine 495
| Platycichla 328
Plectrophanes 356
nivalis 3856
Plectropterus gambensis 684
Pleura 95
Pleurapophyses 137
Pleurosteon J4#
Plegadis 649
falcinellus 649
guarauna 649
| Pliocene birds 64
Ploceids 224, 340
Plotide 729
Plotus 730
anhinga 730
levaillanti 730
melanogaster 730
Plover 597
american golden 599
asiatic golden 600
belted piping 602
Bisel telite 598
pull-head 598, 599
european golden 600
european ring 603
european lesser ring 608
field 599, 641
four-toed 598
golden 599°
grass 641
kildeer 600
mountain 604
piping 602
prairie 604
ring 600, 602
ruddy 633
semipalmated 602
snowy ring 603
swiss 598
upland 641
whistling field 598
wilson’s 601
Ploughshare bone 142
Plume 85
Plumage 82 .
changes of 88, 89
of foot 122
Plumbeous
bush-tit 268
gnat-catcher 261
greenlet 334
Plumed
partridge 591
quail 591
Plumous feathers 85
Plumulaceous feathers 85
Plumule 86
Pneumaticity of skeleton 135
Pneumatocysts 200
Pnenmatology 199
Pneumogastric nerve 177
Pochard -
american 701
red-crested 701
Pochards 699
Pocket-lens 27
Podarginee 448
Podargus 448
Podasocys 604
montanus 604
Podicipedidee 792
Podicipes 794
auritus 795
californicus 796
cornutus 795
cristatus 794
dominicus 796
priests 794
olboelli 794
Podilymbus 796
podicipes 797
Podium 126
Podotheea 124
Point of the wing 114
Poison 26, 40
Pole-backed woodpecker 485
Polioptila 261
californica 262
coerulea 261
melanura 261
plumbea 261
Polioptilinz 242, 260
Pollex 108
Polyboring 539
Polyboroides 521
Polyborus 539
auduboni 539
cheriway 539
Intosus 589
Polyplectron 575
Pomatorhine jager 735
Pons varolii 175, 176
Pocecetes 364
confinis 365
gramineus 364
Poor skins, restoring 47
Poor-will, nuttall’s 453
Poor-wills 452
Pope 391
Pope’s nose 114
Portal system of veins 197
Portio
dura 187
mollis 187 +
Porzana 673
carolina 673
coturniculus 674
maruetta 673
jamaicensis 674
noveboracensis 674
Position of digits 128
Post-frontal
bone 157
processes 156
Post-oral arch 152, 154
Post-orbital region 97
Post-palatine processes 164
Post-sacral verebree 142
Post-zygapophyses 137
Powder, gun 4
Powder-down feathers 86
Preecoces 88
Prairie
chicken of the northwest 581
hen 583
falcon 534
pigeon 641
plover 604
warbler 305
Preening plumage 86
Premaxillary 100, 164
Prenasal cartilage 153, 155
Pre-oral arch 152
Prepalatines 164
Preparations
osteological 48
INDEX.
Preparations
wet 48
Pressirostral 101
Presphenoid 158
Pre-zygapophyses 137
Primaries 112
Primary coverts 110
‘Primary, spurious 113
‘Primordial kidneys 215
Princely tern 760
Priocella 778
tenuirostris 778
Priofinus 783
melanurus 783
Prion 776
Priority, law of 80
Procellaria 780
pelagica 781
Procellariide 773
Procellariine 776
Procelsterna 755
Proccelous vertebre 138
Procoracoid 145, 147
Progne 325
subis 325
Prometheus 302
'Pronation 109
_Pro-otic bone 157, 187
Propubis 149
Prosencephalon 175
Prosobonia leucoptera 618
Prothonotary warbler 291
Protonotaria 291
citrea 291
Protoplasm 196
Prototype 75
Prototypic groups 76
-Protovum 221
Protozoa 70
Proventriculus 212
Frusians oa .
ilov sandpiper 63!
Paalicinaens oer
melanotis 267
minimus 268
plumbeus 268
Pseudogryphus 558
californianus 558
Psilopedic birds 88
Psilorhinus 419
morio 419
Psittaci 494
Psittacide 495, 496
Psophiide 665
Ptarmigan 585
rock 587
white-tailed 588
willow 48, 586
Pteranodon beds 825
Pterocletes 562
Pterodactyls 62
Pterosauria 62
Pterygoid bones 163
Pteryla
alaris 87
caudalis 87
cruralis 87
dorsalis 87
femoralis 87
humeralis 87
spinalis 87 °
ventralis 87
Pteryle 87
Pterylography 86
Pterylosis 86
Ptilogonatina 327
Ptilogonys 328
Ptilonorhynchus 224
Ptilopedic birds 88
Ptilopus 564
Ptilosis 82
Ptinus brunneus 55
Ptychorhamphus 809
aleuticus 810
Pubes, Pubic, Pubis, 149
Pucrasia 575
uffin
common 802
horned masking 801
large-billed 803
tufted 803
Puffins 800
masking 800
tufted masking 803
Puffinus
amaurosoma 787
anglorum 786
borealis 784
conradi 825
creatopus 785
fuliginosus 787
kuhli 784
major 785
obscurus 786
opisthomelas 786
tenuirostris 787
Pug-nosed auk 806
Pullastree 562
Pulmonary organs 199
Pulmonic circulation 195
Pulviplumes 86
Pupil of eye 183
Purple
bullfinches 346
crow-blackbird 413
finch 346
cassin’s 347
gallinule 676
grackle 413
martin 325
painted finch 391
sandpiper 629
Pygmy
finch, morelets 392
finches 392
nuthatch 271
petrel 781
Pygopodes 787, 825
Pygostyle 114, 142
Pylorus 213
Pyramidalis muscle of eye 181
Pyranga 317
estiva 318
cooperi 318
hepatica 318
ludoviciana 319
rubra 318
Pyrocephalus 444
mexicanus 444
rubineus 444
Pyrrhula 344
cassini 344
coccinea 344
Pyrrhuloxia 393
sinuata 393
Pyrrhurine 495
QuaA-BIRD 662
Quadrate bone 161
Quadrato-jugal bone 162
Quadratus muscle of eye 181
853
854
Quail 576,589. See also Partridge
arizona 593
harlequin 594
helmet 591
messina 595
migratory 595
mountain 591
, old world 594
plumed 591
shell 593
valley 591
Quail
doves 571
sparrow 365
Quake-tail, blue-headed 284
Queen hummers 460
Querquedula 694
carolinensis 695
erecca 695
cyanoptera 696
discors 696
Juesal 467
uill-feathers 112
wiscaline 410
uiscalus 412
eeneus 413
agleus 414
macrurus 412
major 412
purpureus 413
Quit, black-faced grass 392
Quits, grass 392
RavI1AceE 106, 107, 108
Radius 106, 107
Raft duck 701
Rail
california clapper 672
carolina 673
clapper 672
common 673
european land 675
king 672
little black 674
louisiana clapper 672
virginia 673
yellow 673
Rails 665, 669, 670, 671
land 674
Rallidz 669
Ralliform birds 669
Ralliformes 669
Ralline 670
Rallus 671
crepitans 672
elegans 672
longirostris 672
obsoletus 672
saturatus 672
virginianus 673
Rami of bill 108
Raptatores 496
Raptores 496, 822
Raptorial foot 130
Rasores 571
Rasoria] foot 181
Ratitee 69, 238, 825
Ratite
birds 238
sternum 143
Raven
american 416
white-necked 416
Ravens 415
Razor-billed auk 818
Record of observations 21
LODO
IN DEX.
Recti muscles of eye 181
Rectrices 115, 116
Recurvirostra 610
americana 611
avocetta 611
Recurvirostride 609
Red
cross-bill 349
flamingo 679
game 577
owl 505
phalarope 614
ruffed grouse 585
Haden alt-stusulderee, blackbird
0
Red-and-white - shouldered black-
bird 404
Red-backed
humming-bird 462
sandpiper 631
snow-bird 379
Red-bellied
nuthatch 271
snipe 623
woodpecker 488
Red-billed
mud-hen 675
pigeon 565
tropic-bird 782
Red-bird
cardinal 393
summer 318
western summer 318
Red-breasted
merganser 717
sandpiper 632
snipe 622
woodpecker 486
, Red-cockaded woodpecker 481
Red-crested pochard 700
Reddish egret 661
Red-eyed
cowbird 403
reenlet 331
Red-faced cormorant 728
Rede froutey flycatching warbler
Red-head 702
Red-head ducks 699
Red-headed woodpecker 489
Red-legged kittiwake 748
Red-necked
grebe 794
phalarope 618
Red-nosed auk 808
Red-poll
american mealy 3538
common 352
greenland mealy 353
holbéll’s 3538
linnets 352
yellow warbler 307
yellow-bellied warbler 307
Red-shafted woodpecker 498
Red-shouldered
blackbird 404
buzzard 545
Red-spotted blue-throat 258
Redstart
american 316
blue-throated 258
Redstarts 315
Red-tail
krider’s 545
st. lucas 545
western 545
Red-tailed buzzard 544
Red-throated.
diver 791
woodpecker 487
Red-winge
blackbird 403
blackbirds 404
thrush 245
Reed-bird 400
Reed wrens 277
Reeve 640
Reflex action 174
Refulgent humming bird 461
Regions of the body 94
Registration 21
Regulinz 242, 259
Regulus 259
calendula 259
olivaceus 260
satrapa 259
Reinhardt’s gull 745
Remiges 111
Reptiles 60
Respiration, organs of 199
Respiratory system 199
Restoration uf poor skins 47
Rete mirabile 199
Reticulate tarsus 124, 125
Reticulations of podotheca 124
Retina 180
Retrorse 105
Rhachis 84
Rhamphastide 446
Rhamphotheca 103
Rhea l70 _
Rhinencephalon 175
Rhinoceros auks 805
Rhinocheetus jubatus 665
Rhinotheca 103
Rhodostethia 752
rosea 753
Rhy acophilus 639
ochropus 639
solitarius 639°
Rhynchza 616
capensis 616
semicollaris 616
Rhynchofalco 589
Rhynchophanes 359
maccowni 359
Rhynchopine 772
Rhynchops 772
nigra 772
Ribs 142
Riblets 138
Rice-bird 400
Richardson’s
dusky grouse 579
pigeon hawk 537
Rictal bristles 99
Rictus 105
Ridgway’s rosv finch 850
Rima glottidis 204
Ring dove 565
Ring plover 602
european 603
lesser european 6038
snowy 603
Ring-neck
duck 701
plover 602
Ring plovers 600
Ring-billed gull 745
Ring-tailed
eagle 554
marlin 636
Rio grande jay 424
Rissa 747
brevirostris 748
kotzebuii 748
tridactyla 748
River ducks 689
Road runner 474
Robin 244
allied 244
golden 408
marsh 396
oregon 245
st. lucas 244
Robin-sandpiper 632
Robin-snipe 632
Rock
ptarmigan 587
swift, white-throated 456
swifts 456
f wrens 275
Rocky mountain
blue-bird 258
garrot 704
jay 425
snow grouse 588
Rodgers’ fulmar 778
Rollulus 576-
Rook, vocal organs of 206
Rose
flycatching warblers 314
tanager 318
Roseate -
spoonbill 651
tern 766
Rose-breasted
finch 348
song grosbeak 389
Ross’
goose une .
ros, 75
Hocithames 523
plumbeus 523
sociabilis 523
Rostrum 100
of sphenoid 158
of sternum 144
Rosy finch
allen’s 350
baird’s 351
brandt’s 351
pallas’s 352
Tidgway’s 350
swainson’s 351
Rosy finches 350
Rosy gull
bonaparte’s 751
franklin’s 751
ross’ 753
Rosy gulls 749
Rough-winged swallow 324
Royal tern 759
Ruby-crowned kinglet 259
Ruby-throated humming bird 461
Rudder ducks 715
Rudders 115 |
plover 633
Ruff 640
Ruffed grouse 584, 585
Ruffs of birds 97
Rufous-bellied humming-bird 466
Rufous-crowned summer finch 374
Rufous-tailed
crested flycatcher 435
flycatchers 434
INDEX.
Rugex 103
Rules of nomenclature 80
Rump 94
Runner, road 474
Russet-backed thrush 247
Rusty
grackles 411
song sparrow 372
Rusty-crowned falcon 587
Ruticilla 258
SacraL
plexus 141
vertebra 140
Sacro-iliac anchylosis 147
Sacr6-sciatic notch 148
Sacrum 140, 141, 147
Saddle-back 742
en 580
Sage sparrow
black-faced 376
california 376
nevada 376
Sage sparrows 375
Sage thrasher 249
Sagmatorhina
lathami 805
suckleyi 806
Saguaro woodpecker 488
Saint domingo
duck 715
grebe 796
Saint lucas
cactus wren 275
red-tail 545
robin 244
savanna sparrow 364
thrasher 253
woodpecker 482
Salivary glands 210
Salpinctes 275
obsoletus 275
Salt-water marsh-hen 672
Samuels’ song sparrow 872
Sanderling 633
San diego savanna sparrow 3868
Sandhill crane 667
Sand-pigeons 562
Sandpiper
aleutian 629
american green 639
ash-colored 632
baird’s 625
bartramian 641
black-bellied 631
black-breasted 630
buff-breasted 642
cooper’s 627
curlew 632
ferrugineous 632
reen 639
least 625
red-breasted 632
pectoral 626
purple 629
prybilov 630
robin 632
semipalmated 624
sharp-tailed 628
spotted 640
spoon-billed 634
stilt 623
855
Sandpiper
western semipalmated 625
white-rumped 627
Sandpipers 617
eurlew 631
dunlin 631
feather-leg 628
fighting 640
marble-wing 642
pectoral 625
purple 628
semipalmated 625
spotted 640
spotty-throat 625
Sandwich tern 761
Sap-sucking woodpeckers 488
Sarcorhamphus yryphus 557
Sasia 126, 127
Saurognathism 173
Saurognathous skull 178
Sauropsida 60
Saurotherine 473
Saururz 237, 821
Savanna blackbird 472
Savanna sparrow
baird’s 360
beaked 363
common 863
ipswich 361
lark 363
pipit 363
san diego 363
st. lucas 363
Savanna sparrows 360
Saw-bills 468, 716
Saw-whet ow] 513
arctic american 512
Saw-whet owls 512
Saxicola 256
cenanthe 256
Saxicoline 242, 256
Sayiornis 436
fusca 437
nigricans 487
sayi 437
Say’s pewit flycatcher 487
Scala
media a sis
f ani
Pantbiell 188
Scale, nasal 105
Scale of organization 77
Scaled
dove 570
partridge 593
Scansores 445
Scansorial foot 130
Scape 84
Scaphoid tail 118
Scapholunare 106, 107, 108
Scapula 107, 146
accessoria 108, 145
Scapular arch 49, 145, 146
Scapulare 94
Scapulars 94
Scardafella 570
inca 570
Scarlet
ibis 651
tanager 318
Scaups 699
Schizognathism 170
Schizognathous skull 170
Schizorhinal nasals 165
Schizothecal podotheca 125
Science defined 59
856
Scientific names 78
Scissors 25, 52
Scissor-tail 431
Scleroskeletal bones 134
Sclerosteous bones 168
Sclerotal bones 182
Sclerotic 180, 182
Scolecophagus 411
cyanocephalus 411
ferrugineus 411
Scolopaceous courlan 668
Scolopacide 614
Scolopax 615, 620, 828
rusticula 620
Scops 504
asio 505
bendirii 506
flammeola 506
floridana 506
kennicotti 505
maccalli 506
maxwellx 506
trichopsis 506
Scopus umbretta 652
Scoter
american black 713
velvet 714
Scoters 713
Screech owl 505
california 506
colorado 506
flammulated 506
florida 506
kennicott’s 505
texas 506
Screech owls 504
Scutella 124
Scutellate podotheca 124
Scutelliplantar tarsus 124
Sea
coot 713, 714
ducks 698
eagles 554
parrot 802
parrots 800
Sea-dove 810
Sea-pigeon 814
Sea-shore sparrow 368
Sea-side
finch 367
florida 368
sparrows 867
Sea-swallow 762
Secondaries 113
Secondary
coverts 110
sexual characters 89, 90
Seed-eater, little 392
Segmentation of the vitellus 224
Selasphorus 462
alleni 462
henshawi 463
platycercus 463
rufus 463
Selection
natural 90
sexual 90
Sella turcica 198
Semen 218
Semicircular canals 188, 189
Semilunar membrane 205
Semipalmate
foot 131
tattlers 636
Semipalmated
plover 602
INDEX.
Semipalmated
sandpiper 624
Semipalmation 131
Semiplumes 86
Semitendinosus 195
Senex 539
Sennett’s warbler 291
Sense of |
hearing 184
sight 178
smell 178
taste 191
touch 191
Sensori-motor nerves 174
Sensory nerves 174
Septo-maxillary 163, 173
Septo-nasal 173 Q
Serrate bill 102
Serration of tarsus 125
Serum 196
Sesamoid bones 134, 168
of wing 108
Setirostres 449
Setophaga 315
picta 315
ruticilla 316
Setophagine 288, 312
Sex, determination of 45
Sexual
characters 89, 90
selection 90
Shaft of feather 84
Shag 726
Shank 119
Shapes of tail 117
Sharp-shinned hawk 527, 528
Sharp-tailed
finch 368
grouse 581
sandpiper 628
Shearwater
black-vented 786
black-tailed 783
cinereous 784
common atlantic 785
cory’s 784
dark-bodied 787
dusky 786
flesh-footed 785
greater 785
manx 786
mediterranean 784
slender-billed 787
smutty-nosed 783
sooty 787
wandering 785
Shearwaters 783
fulmar 783
Shell
doves 570
uail 593
Shining fly-snapper 328
Shoe-bill 654
Shoot, how to 8
Shore-birds 596
Shore larks 281
Short-billed
kittiwake 748
marsh wren 280
Short-eared owl 507
Short-legged tattler 648
Short-tailed
albatross 775
tern 770
Short-winged murrelet 814
Shot 3
Shot- 1
Shoulder 106
Shoulder-blade 146
Shoulder-girdle 145
Shoveller duck 696
Shrike
common american 338
eat northern 337
loggerhead 338
white-rumped 338
Shrikes ae
ay 337
eae 336
Shuffler 701
Sialia 257
arctica 258
mexicana 258
sialis 257
Siberian
titmouse 267
wagtail 284
Sickle-bill 645
Sickle-billed kites 523
Sierra jay 422
Sight, sense of 178
Sigmoid flexure of neck 93
Silk buntings 387
Silver-tongue 371
Simorhynchus 806
cassini 808
cristatellus 807
dubius 807
psittaculus 806
pusillus 808
pygmeus 808
tetraculus 807
Sinciput 97
Singing of birds 206
Sinus rhomboidalis 176
Siskin, american 354
Siskins 353
Sitta 270
aculeata 271
cesia 270
canadensis 271
carolinensis 270
pusilla 271
pygmea 271
Sittella 269
Sittide: 269
Sitodrepa panicea 55
Siurus 308
auricapillus 308
motacilla 309
navius 309
notabilis 309
Skeleton of birds 134
Skeletonizing 48
Skimmer, black 772
Skimmers 772
peimming birds 28
Skua gulls 734
Skull of birds 149
Skull, development of fowl’s 151
Skunk blackbird 400
Skylarks 282, 283
Sky pipits 286
Slate-colored fox sparrow 386
Slit-nosed longwings 738
Slender-billed
fulmar 778
nuthatch 271
shearwater 787
Small
egret herons 659
green-crested flycatcher 441
Small-billed creeper 290
Smaller white-cheeked goose 689
Smell, sense of 178
Smoky pies 419
Sinutty-nosed
jay 425
shearwater 783
Snake-bird 730
Snake killer 474
Snaring birds 3
Snipe 614, 620
american 621
english 621
european 621
grass 626
ray 622
jack 621, 626
red-bellied 623
red-breasted 622
robin 632
stone 638
true 620
web-toed 622
wilson’s 621
Snow
bunting 356
geese 685
goose 685
grouse 585
owls 510
sparrows 377
Snow-bird
black 377
cinereous 379
eastern 377
pray healot 879
brid 378
mexican 379
oregon 378
pink-sided 379
red-backed 379
white-winged black 378
Snow-birds 377
Snowflake 356
Snowy
heron 660
owl 510
ring plover 603
Snub-nosed
auk 807
auks 806
Solan goose 720
Solitaire 65
Solitary
greenlet 333
sandpiper 639
tattler 639
Somateria 708, 710
dresseri 712
fischeri 710
mollissima 710
spectabilis 712
stelleri 709
y-nigrum 712
Somatopleura 226
Song of birds 206
Song grosbeak
i lack-headed 389
rose-breasted 389
Song grosbeaks 388
Song sparrow 371
cinereous 372
ay 372
iak 372
lincoln’s 370
oregon 372
INDEX.
Song sparrow
rusty 372
samuels’ 372
swamp 370
Song sparrows 369, 371
Songless passeres dar
Sooty
albatross 776
fork-tail petrel 781
grouse 580
guillemot 815
shearwater 787
tern 768
Sora 673
Soree 673
Southeast fish crow 417
Southern sand-hill crane 667
South-southerly 706
Southwestern shore lark 282
Spanish curlew 651
Sparrow 344
arizona chipping 380
artemisia 376
baird’s savanna 360
beaked savanna 363
black-chinned 381
black-faced sage 376
bleached yellow-winged 366
brewer’s 381
california sage 376
chipping 380
cittereous song 372
clay-colored 381
common savanna 363
eastern fox 385
english 344
european 344
field 380
fox 385
gambel’s crown 383
golden crown 383
Beasrhoppen 8
gray son
fea? 384
heermann’s song 372
henslow’s grasshopper 366
intermediate crown 338
ipswich savanna 361
kadiak song 372
large-billed fox 386
lark 384
lark savanna 363
le conte’s coe per 366
lincoln’s son,
mountain 34
nevada sage 376
oak-woods 873
oregon song 372
pipit savanna 363
rusty song 372
sage 376
saint lucas savanna 364
samuels’ song 372
san diego savanna 368
slate-colored fox 386
song 371
swamp song 370
texas 398
townsend’s fox 385
tree 379
white-crowned 383
white-throated 383
yellow-winged 365
Sparrow hawk 5387
cuban 538
isabel 538
857
Sparrow owls 514
Sparrows
chipping 379
crown 381
fox 885
grass 364
grasshopper 365
round 360
ark 3884
quail 365
sage 375
savanna 360
sea-side 367
snow 377
song 369
tail-feathers 116
Spear-billed grebes 793
Specialized forms 76
Species 72, 738
Specific
characters 72
names 80
Speckle-belly 684
Speckled carion wren 276
Speckle-tailed. wren 278
Spectacled
eider 710
guillemot 815
Spectral owl 509
Spermatozoa 218
Spermophila 392
moreleti 392
Spheniscomorphe 171, 788.
Sphenoid bone 158
Spheno-palatine ganglion 178
Sphenotic bone 156
Spinal
accessory nerve 177
chord 176
column 187
nerves 177
Spine-tail
grouse 580
swifts 457
Spirit-duck 705
Spiza 387
americana 387
townsendi 388
Spizella 379
agrestis 380
arizone 380
atrigularis 381
breweri 381
domestica 380
monticola 379
pallida 381
Sphyropicus 485
nuchalis 486
ruber 486
thyroides 486
varius 486
Splanchnology 209
Splanchnopleura 226
Splenial bone 166
Spoonbill, roseate 651
Spoonbill ducks 696
Spoon-billed sandpiper 634
Spoonbills 651
american 651
Spotted
grouse 578
sandpiper 640
858
Spotty-throat sandpipers 625
Sprague’s pipit 286
Sprig-tail 692
Spruce
grouse 578
partridge 578
Spurious primary 113
Spurred towhee 397
Spurs
of wing 114
of foot 182, 133
Spur-winged birds 114
Squamosal
bone 157
process 157
Squatarola 598
helvetica 598
Squawk 662
-Stake-driver 664
Stands for birds 44
Stapedial
cartilage 154
elements 186
Stapes 185
Star buzzards 551
Starling 427
Starlings
american 399
meadow 403
old world 426
typical 426
Starnenadine 571
Starncenas 571
cyanocephala 571
Starry hummers 465
Steathornithine 448
Steatornis 448
Steganopodes 718, 824
Steganopus 612
wilsoni 612
Stelgidopteryx 324
serripennis 324
Steller’s
eider 709
jay 421
Stelfula 465
calliope 465
Stenonine duct 210
Stephens’ greenlet 335
Stercorarius 734
buffoni 738
parasiticus 736
pomatorhinus 735
skua 734
Sterna 756
aleutica 768
anesthetica 769
anglica 757
antillarum 766
cantiaca 761
caspia 757
dougalli 766
elegans 760
forsteri 763
fuliginosa 768
hirundo 762
macrura 764
maxima 759
superciliaris 766
trudeaui 767
Sterne 756
Sterning 754
Sterno-tracheales 202
Sternum 143
Sthenelus melanocorypha 682
Stigma of ovisac 221
INDEX.
Stilt 611
petrel 783
sandpiper 623
stormy petrel 782
Stilts 609, 611
Stimulation 21
Stint
american 625
wilson’s 625
Stock-dove 565
Stomach, examining 47
Stone-chat 256
Stone-snipe 638
Storage, cases for 56
Stork series 652
Storks 652, 653
true 653
Stormy
petrel 781
petrels 780
Stragulum 95
Strepsilaine 608
Strepsilas 608
interpres 609
melanocephalus 609
Strickland’s wovdpecker 482
Striges 498
Strigide 502
Strigine 502
Stringopine 495
Stringops habroptilus 76, 238, 495
Striped flycatchers 431
Strisores 445
Strix 508
alleni 510
aluco 508
cinerea 509
lapponica 509
nebulosa 509
occidentalis 510
Struthio 170
Struthious birds 69, 238, 825
Structure :
anatomical 133
epidermic 82
of birds 59
of feathers 84
types of 74
Stuffing birds 40
Sturnella 405
magna 406
mexicana 406
neglecta 406
Sturnelline 405
Sturnide 426
Sturnine 426
Sturnus 426
vulgaris 427
Stylo-hyal 186
Stvlo-hyoid 211
Sub-, the prefix 78
Subgenus 80
Submaxillary line 98
Subocular bar 152
Subspecies 79
Success, qualifications for 5
Sula 720
bassana 720
leucogastra 720
loxostyla 824
Sulcate claws 133
Sulci 103
Sulcus, nasal 104
Sulide 720
Sulphide of carbon 57
Sulphur-bellied flycatcher 431
Sultan gallinules 675
Summer
duck 698
finch
arizona 374
bachman’s 373
bay-winged 375
boucard’s 375
cassin’s 874
illinois 373
rufous-crowned 374
finches 373
redbird 218
tanagers 317
warbler 298
ellow-bird 298
Sun-birds 666
Super-, the prefix 78
Superior maxillary nerve 177
Supernature 59
Superorbital gland 178
Supination 109
Supra-occipital 156
Supra-orbital 97
Supra-renal capsules 46
Surangular bone 166
Surf
duck 714
ducks 713
Surf-bird 605
Surnia 511
funerea 511
ulula 512
Suspensorium of mandible 152
Suture of bones 134
Swainson’s
buzzard 546
rosy finch 351
warbler 292
Swallow
bank 320
barn 322
chimney 457
cliff 323
crescent 323
eaves 323
mud 323
rough-winged 324
violet-green 323
white-bellied 322
Swallows 319
bank 323
barn 321
cliff 323
iris 822
yoda oy meee, 823
violet-velvet 322
Swallow-tailed
flycatcher 431
ull 753
ite 526
kites 525
Swamp
song sparrow 370
warblers, golden 291
Swan
bewick’s 683
common american 682
whistling 682
whooping 688
trumpeter 682
Swans 681
white 682
Swift
chimney 457
northern black cloud 457
Swift
rock 456
vaux’s 458
white-throated 456
Swifts 455, 456
chimney 457
“cloud 457:
rock 456
spine-tailed 457
Swiss plover 598
Sylvia
carbonata 308
montana 3808
Sylvicolide 287
Sylvicolinz 288, 289
Symbolic formulation wanted 78
Symmetrical figures from feathers
83
Sympathetic nervous system 174,
117
Symphemia 636
semipalmata 637
Symphysis
mandibular 166
pubic 147
Syndactyle foot 129
Syngnesious foot 129
Synopsis, systematic
of n. a. birds 237
of fossil birds 821
Synthliborhamphus 811
antiquus 811
umizusume 812
Syrinx 204, 239, 240
Syrnium 511
Systematic synopses 237, 811
TABULAR VIEW of higher groups
34,
Taction 191
Tachybaptes 796
Tachycineta 322
thalassina 323
Tachypetes 731
aquilus 731
Tachypetidz 730
Tadorna vulpanser 684
Tail 114
shapes of the 117
Tail-bones 114
Tail-coverts 115
Tail-sacrals 141
Taking cold 19
Tanager
cooper’s, 318
crimson-headed 319
hepatic 318
louisiana 319
rose 318
scarlet 318
summer 318
western summer 318
Tanagers 317
summer 317
Tanagride 317
Tantalinz 652
Tantalops 653
loculator 653
Tantalus 653
ibis 653
loculator 653
Tarsal
bones 119, 120
cartilages of eye 180
Tarso-metatarsus 119, 120
INDEX.
| Tarsus, 121, 122, 125, 239
Taste, sense of 191
Tattler
ee 641
ong-legged 631
seitiipa lated 637
short-legged 643
wandering 643
Tattlers 618
green 639
semipalmated 636
solitary 639
Taxidermy 28
Tena equivalence of groups
3
Taxonomy 65
Teal 694
american green-winged 695
blue-winged 696
cinnamon 696
european green-winged 696
Tectrices 110, 115
inferiores (tail) 115
inferiores (wing) 110
superiores (tail) 115
superiores (wing) 110
majores 110
medic 110
minores 110
Tegumentary system 82
Telmatornis
affinis 829
priscus 829
Teleotype 75, 76
Teleotypic groups 76
Telmatodytes 279
paludicola 279
palustris 279
Temminck’s auk 812
Temporal
bone 157
region 97
Tendons of wing 109
Tengmalm’s owl! 513
Tennessee warbler 295
Tensor patagii 193
Tenuirostral 101
Terekia cinerea 617
Teretristis 287, 311
Tergum 95
Tern
aleutian 768
arctic 764
black 770
bridled 769
caspian 757
cayenne 759
common 762
ducal 761
elegant 760
forster’s 763
gull-billed 757
imperial 757
least. 766
marsh 757
noddy 771
paradise 766
princely 760
royal 759
roseate 766
sandwich 761
short-tailed 770
sooty 768
trudeau’s 767
white-headed 767
white-winged 770
859
Tern
wilson’s 762
Terns 754, 756
Tertials 113
Tertiaries 113
Tertiary birds 64, 822
Testes, ‘Testicles, 45, 46, 215,
217
Tetradactyle birds 126
Tetraonide 576
Tetraonine 577
Tetrao urogallus 578
Tetrapteryx 666
Texan, Texas
beardless flycatcher 444
cardinal 393
grackle 412
green kingfisher 470
guan 573
night-hawk 454
orchard oriole 408
quail 591
screech owl 506
sparrow 398
thrasher 251
woodpecker 481
wren 277
Thalamencephalon 175
Thalasseus 756
Thalassidroma 776
Thalassornis leuconota 699
Thamnophilus 205
Theory of evolution 60, 62
Thick-billed night-herons 663
Thigh or thigh-bone 119
Thinornis zelandiz 597
Thin skins 36
Thistle-bird 354
Thoracic
duct 199
vertebrae 139
Thorax 142
Thrasher 251
arizona 252
bow-billed 252
crissal 254
california 253
curve-billed 252
st. luge 253
sage 249
venus 251
yuma 254
Thrashers 250
Thrasyaétus 553
harpyia 553
Three-toed
birds of n. am. 126
woodpecker 485
' black-backed 485 -
ladder-backed 485
pole-backed 485
woodpeckers 484
Throat 96
Thrush
brown 251
gray-cheeked 247
golden crowned 308
hermit, audubon’s 247
eastern 247
western 247
new york water 309
olive-backed 248
oregon vlive-backed 247 ©
red-winged 245
russet-backed 247 *
townsend’s flycatching 329
860
Thrush
varied 245
water 309
willow tawny 246
wilson’s (or tawny) 246
wood 246
wyoming water 309
Thrush blackbirds 411
Thrushes 240, 243
flycatching 328, 329
typical 241, 2438
mocking 241, 248
Thryomanes 277
Thryothorus 277
berlandieri 277
bewicki 277
leucogaster 275
ludovicianus 277
miamiensis 277
spilurus 278
Thumb 108
Thyro-arytenoid muscles 204
Thyro-cricoid muscles 204
Thyro-hyal 167
Thyro-hyoid muscles 204
Thyroid cartilage 204
Tibia 119
Tibial Sppuyees 120
Tibiale 120 :
Tibio-tarsus 119, 120
Tichodroma muraria 272 .
Tichodromine 272
Tiga 126, 127
Tigrisoma 654, 655
Timeliidee 262
Times to go a-shooting 11
Tinamide 574
Tinamou, skull of 170
~~Titidmous 69, 574
Tinamus robustus 170
Tinea flavifrontella 55
Tinker 818 '
Tinnunculus 531, 538
Titlarks 285
Titmice 263, 265
Titmouse
black-capped 265
black-crested 265
bridled 265
chestnut-backed 267
european greater 263
hudsonian 267
plain 264
siberian 267
tufted 264
Tobacco, use of 21
Todide 446
pide zone se a
‘opography of birds 91, 94,
amie, Tondem 103, 105
Tongue of birds 210, 211
Tooth-billed pigeon 563
Totanus 618, 638
flavipes 638
glottis 639
melanoleucus 638
Totipalmate
irds 718
foot 131
Totipalmation 129
Touch, sense of 191
Towhee
abert’s 398
arctic 396
brown 397
californian 397
INDEX.
Towhee
cafion 397
crissal 397
gray 398
green-tailed 398
mexican brown 397
olive-black spotted 396
oregon 396
white-throated brown 397
Towhee bunting 396
crissal 397
white-eyed 396
spurred 397
- Towhees 395
Townsend’s
bunting 388
flycatching thrush 329
fox sparrow 385
warbler 299
Trabecule of skull 151
Trachea 201
of ducks 50
of merganser 49
Tracheal
labyrinth 202
syrinx 205
tympanum 202
Tracts, feathered 86, 87
Tragopans 575
Tramp 344
Transocular line 98
Transportation of birds 45
cases for 56
Trapping birds 3
Trays 84, 56
Tread of eggs 221
Tree
cuckoos 474
duck, autumnal 689
fulvous 689
ducks 689
grouse 578
sparrow 379
Treron 564
Treviranus, lamelle of 189
Triassic formation 63
Tricolor woodpeckers 489
Tridactyle
foot 126
birds 126
Trifacial nerve 177
Trigeminal nerve 177
Tringa 617, 632
canutus 632
Tringa, coot-footed 614
Tringoides 640
macularius 640
Trinomial nomenclature 80
Trivia 190
Trochanter 119
Trochilide 458
Trochilus 461
alexandri 462
colubris 461
Troglodytes 278
domesticus 278
arkmani 278
Troglodytidz 273
Troglodyting 274, 277
Trogon 468
ambiguus 468
Trogon, copper tailed 468
Trogonidx 468
Trogons 468
Tropic bird
red-billed 782
Tropic bird
yellow-billed 782
Tropic birds 731
Troupial 467
Troupialis 405
Trudeau's tern 767
Trumpeter swan 682
Trumpeters 665
Trunk of birds 92, 93
Tryngites 642
rufescens 642
Tuberculum of rib 143
Tubinares 773
Tufted
cormorant 729
puffin 804
_ _ titmouse 264
Tulé marsh wren 279
Turbinal bones 160
Turdida 240
Turdine 241, 243, 328
Turdus 244
alicize 247
auduboni 247
confinis 244
fuscescens 246
iliacus 245
migratorius 146, 244
toustelinus 246
nevius 245
nanus 247
propinquus 244
salicicola 246
swainsoni 248
unalasce 247
ustulatus 247
Turkey
eastern wild 576
_ mexican 576
Turkey buzzard 559
Turkeys 576
Turnices 571
Turnicide 571
Turnstone 606, 608, 609
black-headed 609
Turtur 564
Tylari 125
Tylorhamphus 806
Tympanic bone 161
Tympaniform membrane 205
Tympanum
of ear 185
of trachea 202
e 75
pes of structure 74
of feathers 85
of palate 186
Typical and subtypical groups 75
Typical thrushes 241, py
Tyrannide 428
Tyrannine 428
Tyrannus 432
carolinensis 432
couchi 434
dominicensis 433
irritabilis 436
verticalis 436
vociferans 436,
Tyrant flycatchers 423]
Utnrornis lucaris 822
Ulna, 106, 107, 113
Ulnare 106, 107, 108
Umbilicus of feather 84
Unciform bone 107
Uncinate processes 142
Under
mandible 100, 103
parts 94
tail-coverts 115
wing-coverts 110
Unfeathered spaces 86
Unguis of bill 102
Unicorn auk 805
iene plover 641
pper
mandible 100, 104
parts 04
tail-coverts 115
_ Wing-coverts 110
Upupide 446
Ureters 216, 217
Uria 814
carbo 815
ee ae Aa
e
made 815
Urinary
bladder 217
organs 215
Urogenital
organs 215
sinus 214
Uro-hyal 167
Uropygial gland 86
Uropygium 94
Urosacral vertebree 114, 141
Urosteon 144
Urubitinga 552
anthracina 552
Utamania 818
torda 818
Valley quail 592
Valuation of characters 74
Vane of feather 84
Vanellus 604
cristatus 605
Varied
bunting 391
thrush 245
Vascular system 195
Vas deferens 217
Vanx’s swift 458
Veery 246
Velvet scoter 714
Venous system 195
Venter 94, 96
Ventricles
of brain 175
of heart 196
Ventriculus glandulosus 212
Vermilion flycatcher 444
Versatile toes 126
Vertebra, see Vertebrae
Vertebre 137
caudal 141
cervical 138
coccygeal 141
dorsal 139
dorso-lumbar 139
thoracic 139
lumbar 140
plan of 135
sacral 140
urosacral 141
Vertebrarterial canal 139
Vertebrates, Vertebrata 60, 81
Vertex 97
Vesicles
cerebral 175
seminal 218
INDEX.
| Vesicule seminales 218
Vesper-bird 364
Vestibule of ear 188, 189
| Vibrisse 99
Violet-green
cormorant 729
swallow 823
Violet-velvet swallows 322
Vireo, see Greenlet
Vireo 330
altiloquus 332
atricapillus 336
barbatulus 332
belli 335
cassini 333
flavifrons 333
flaviviridis 332
‘ilvus 332
uttoni 334
noveboracensis 334
olivaceus 331
philadelphicus 332
plumbeus 334
pusillus 335
solitarius 833
stevensi 335
swainsoni 333
vicinior 334
Vireolanius 330
Vireonide 73, 329
Vireos 329
Virginia
nightingale 393
partridge 589
quail 589
rail 678
Virginia’s warbler 294
Visceral
arches 152
clefts 152, 158
Vision, sense of 178
Vitelline membrane 220, 221
Vitellus 220
Vitreous humor 180, 183
Vocal
chords 205
organs 204, 205, 206
Vomer
of coccyx 114
of skull 161
Vulture, black 560
Vultures
american 557
old world 519
Vulturine 519
Vultur
monachus 519
umbrosus 822
Waps 4
Wagtail ;
siberian 284
white 284
yellow 284
Wagtails 283, 284, 286
Wag-tail warbler 309
‘olden-crowned 308
rge-billed 309
Wag-tail warblers 308
Wall creeper 272
Wandering
shearwater 785
tattler 643
Warbler
audubon’s 302
861
Warbler
azure 301
bachman’s 294
bay-breasted 304
blackburn’s 302
black-and-yellow 304
plsck sapped flycatching 818
black-poll 303
black-throated blue 300
gray 300
green 298
blue-eyed yellow 298
blue golden-winged 294
blue-winged yellow 293
blue yellow-backed 290
canadian flycatching 314
cape may 305
cerulean 301
chestnut-headed 298
chestnut-sided 304
cincinnati 293
connecticut 309
golden 208
golden-crowned wag-tail 308
golden-cheeked 300
grace’s 306
hermit 299
hooded flycatching 318
kenniecott’s 259
kentucky 310
kirtland’s 306
large-billed wag-tail 309
lawrence’s 203
lucy’s 294
macgillivray’s 311
magnolia 304
mourning 311
nashville 294
olive 296
orange-crowned 295
pacific 295
painted flycatching 315
palm 307
pine 307
pine-creeping 307
prairie 305
prometheus 302
prothonotary 291
red-fronted flycatching 314
rose flycatching 314
sennett’s 291
summer 298
swainson’s 292
tennessee 295
townsend's 299
virginia’s 294
wag-tail 309
western 299
western yellow-rumped 302
western black-eapped flycatch-
ing 314
white-browed 306
white-throated 293
worm-eating 292
yellow-bellied red-poll 307
yellow-crowned 301
yellow red-poll *07
yellow-rumped 301
yellow-throated 306
ellow-throated ground 310
Warblers
american 287, 288, 312
blue yellow-backed 290
bush 309
creeping 290
golden 238
862
Warblers
ground 310
fly-catching 312, 314, 315
old world 259
swamp 291
true rae aa
+ wag-tai
wood 296
worm-eating 291, 292
Warbling
greenlet 332
vireo 332
western 333
Warrior, black 543
Washington, bird of 555
Water
ouzel 255
pewee 437
Water-thrushes 309
Water-turkey 730
Waterwitch 797
Wattles 98
Wavey, horned 686
Waxwing
bohemian 326
carolina 327
cedar 327
Waxwings 325
Weapons for collecting 3
Webbed foot 181
Web-toed snipe 622
Wedge-tailed gull 752
Western
barred owl 510
black-capped warbler 314
bluebird 258
chickadee 266
dowitcher 623
golden-crested kinglet 260
goshawk 531
grass finch 365
grebe 793
hermit thrush 247
herring gull 744
house wren 278
meadow lark 406
night-hawk 454
nonpareil 391
red-shouldered buzzard 546
red-tail 545
shore lark 282
summer redbird 318
warbler 299
warbling vireo 333
winter wren 279
wood pewee 440
yellow-bellied flycatcher 442
yellow-rump 30:
Wet preparations 48
Whale-head 654
Wheat-ear 256
Whippoorwill 452
arizona 452
Whip-tom-kelley 3382
Whiskered auk 808
Whiskey jack 425
Whistler 704
Whistling
plover 598
swan 682
White brant 685
crane 666
gannet 720
heron 658
horned ow] 504
ibis 651
INDEX.
White pelican 722
wagtail 284
White-bellied
murrelet 813
nuthatch 269
petrel 783
swallow 322
wren 278
White-browed
crown sparrow 382
warbler 306
White-crowned
pigeon 565
sparrow 382, 383
White-eyed
greenlet 334
towhee 396
White-faced glossy ibis 649
White-fronted dove 567
White-headed.
guil 747
sea eagle 555
tern 767
woodpecker 484
White-necked raven 416
White-rumped
petrel 781
sandpiper 627
shrike 338
| White-tailed
buzzard 542
‘odwit 636
ite 525
longspur 358
ptarmigan 588
sea eagle 555
White-throated
brown towhee 397
night courser 450
rock swift 456
sparrow 382
warbler 293
White-tufted cormorant 727
‘| White-wing doves 569
White-winged
blackbird 387
cross-bill 348
gull 741
snow-bird 378
surf duck 714
Whooping
crane 666
swan 683
Wigeon
american 694
european 694
wigpone 693
Wild
dove 568
duck 691
pigeon 566
turkey 576
Willet 637
Williamson’s woodpecker 487
Willow
grouse 586
ptarmigan 586
thrush 246
Wilsonian stormy petrels 782
Wilson’s
autograph 58
bluebird 257
phalarope 612
plover 601
school-house 58
snipe 621
Wilson’s
stint 625
stormy petrel 782
tern 762
thrush 246
Windpipc 202
tof merganser 49
Wing-coverts 110
Wing-feathers 109
Wings of birds 106
Winker of eye 180
Winter
chip-bird 379
hawk 545
wren 278
alaskan 279
western 279
Wish-bone 147
Witch, black 472
Wolffian bodies 215
Wood
duck 698
ibis 652, 653
owl, american 509
owls 508
pewee 439
pewee flycatchers 438
stork, american 653
thrush 246
Woodcock
american 619
european 620
Woodcocks 615, 616, 619, 620
Woodhouse’s jay 423
Woodpecker
black-breasted 487
black-backed three-toed 485
brown-headed 486
californian 489
downy 483
gairdner’s 483
gila 488
gilded 493
olden-winged 493
airy 483
harris’ 483
ivory-billed 479
ladder-backed three-toed 485
lewis’ 490
narrow-fronted 490
nuchal 486
nuttall’s 482
pileated 480
pole-backed three-toed 485
red-bellied 488
red-breasted 486
red-cockaded 481
red-headed 489
red-shafted 493.
red-throated 487
saguaro 488
st. lucas 482
strickland’s 482
texan 481
white-headed 484
williamson’s 487
yellow-bellied 486
yellow-fronted 488
Woodpeckers, 477
black-and-white spotted 480
bristle-bellied 490
gilded 491.
masked 483
pileated 480
sap-sucking 485
three-toed 484
Woodpeckers
tricolor 489
zebra 487
Wood-warbler, see Warbler
Wood-wrens 259
Work, a good day’s 15
Worm-eating swamp warblers 291
warbler 292
Wrangel’s murrelet 813
Wren
alaskan winter 279
bewick’s 277
floridian 277
great carolina 277
house, eastern 278
western 278
marsh, long-billed 279
short-billed 280
rock 275
speckled-tailed 278
texan 277
tulé 279
western winter 279
white-bellied 278
winter 278
Wrens 2738, 277
cactus 274
cafion 276
marsh 279, 280
house 278
teed 277
rock 275
true 277
winter 278
Wren-tit 262
henshaw’s 262
Wren-tits 262
Wright’s flycatcher 443
Wrist-joint 106
Wiirdemann’s heron 658
Wyoming water thrush 309
INDEX.
XANTHOCEPHALUS 404
icterocephalus 404
Xanthura 424
luxuriosa 424
Xantus humming-bird 460
Xema 753
furcata 753
sabinii 753
Xenopicus 483
albolarvatus 484
Xiphoid process 144
YELK
of eggs 220
Yellow
crake 674
red-poll warbler 307
wagtail 284
Yellow-backed warbler, blue 290
Yellow-bellied
flycatcher 442
red-poll warbler 307
woodpecker 486
Yellow-billed
cuckoo 476
loon 790
magpie 421
tropic bird 7382
Yellow-bird 354
summer 298
Yellow-breasted chat 312
Yellow-crowned
night heron 663
warbler 301
Yellow-fronted woodpecker 488
Yellow-green greenlet 332
Yellow-headed blackbird 404
Yellow-rumped warbler 301
Yellowshanks 638
Yellow-throat, maryland 310
863
Yellow-throated
greenlet 333
ground warbler 310
warbler 306
Yellow-winged sparrow 365
bleached 365
Yoke-toed birds 126
Yucker 493
Yuma thrasher 255
ZAMELODIA 388
ludoviciana 389
melanocephala 389
Zebra woodpeckers 487
Zebrilus 654, 655
Zenaida 568
amabilis 569
Zenaida dove 569
Zenaidine 566
Zenaidura 568
carolinensis 568
Zona pellucida 220
Zonotrichia 381
albicollis 382
botterii 374
coronata 383
ambeli 383
intermedia 383
leucophrys 383
querula 384
Zoological
ehevactes 70
‘oups
' & table ot Bt
‘apophyses
Zao aetele 445
birds 126
foot 180
Zygodactylous arrangement 126
Zygoma 162
Zygomatic¢ arch 162 i
APPENDIX
EXHIBITING THE NOMENCLATURE OF THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS’
UNION CHECK-LIST IN COMPARISON WITH THAT OF THE KEY, AND
INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF ADDITIONAL SPECIES, ETC.
Note. In the Key List, the numbering is continuous, with few exceptions, and the
letters a, b, etc., and the terms bis, ter, etc., indicate additions to the numeration of the Coues
Check List of 1882, which was preserved in the Key, 1884. In the Union List the numera-
tion is necessarily broken to make the comparison with the Key column, because the
sequence of species in the Union List is different. In the latter, a, b, c, indicate sub-
species; extralimital species have their respective numbers bracketed ; and the daggers (t)
indicate the numbers of the ‘‘ Hypothetical ’’ List.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
1. Turdus migratorius. 761. Merula migratoria.
2 migratorius propinquus ? 76la. © migratoria propinqua.
3. confinis. 762. confinis.
4. iliacus. (760.] Turdus iliacus.
5 nevius. 763. Hesperocichla nevia.
6 mustelinus. 755. Turdus mustelinus.
te fuscescens. 756. fuscescens.
- Ta. fuscescens salicicola. 756a. fuscescens salicolus.
8. unalasce. 759. aonalaschke.
9. unalasce auduboni. 759a. aonalaschke auduboni.
10. unalasce nanus. 7590. aonalaschke pallasii.
11. ustulatus. 758. ustulatus.
12. ustulatus alicie. 757. alicie.
00. (Not admitted in the Key.] 757a. alicie bicknelli.
13. Turdus ustulatus swainsoni. 758a. ustulatus swainsonii.
14. Oroscoptes montanus. 702. Oroscoptes montanus.
15. Mimus polyglottus. 703. Mimus polyglottus.
16. carolinensis. 704. Galeoscoptes carolinensis.
17. Harporhynchus rufus. 705. Harporhynchus rufus.
18. rufus longirostris. 706. longirostris.
19. curvirostris. 707. curvirostris.
20. curvirostris palmeri. 707a. curvirostris palmeri.
21. bendirii. 708. bendirei.
22. cinereus. 709. cinereus.
23. redivivus. 710. redivivus.
24, lecontii. 711. lecontei.
866 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
25. Harporhynchus crissalis. 712. Harporhynchus crissalis.
30. Cinclus mexicanus. 701. Cinclus mexicanus.
26. Saxicola cenanthe. 765. Saxicola cenanthe.
27. Sialia sialis. 766. Sialia sialis.
766a. Sialia sialis azurea.
27 bis. Add: Sialia sialis azurea. AzuRE Biursirp. Similar to S. sialis; the blue
of a greenish shade, and the tail upward of 8.00. Southern Arizona and southward. A slight
variety, scarcely recognizable.
28. Sialia mexicana. 767. Sialia mexicana.
29. arctica. | | 768. arctica.
31. Cyanecula suecica. [764.] Cyauecula suecica.
82. Phylloscopus borealis. 747, Phyllopseustes borealis.
83. Regulus calendula. 749. Regulus calendula.
750 obscurus.
33 bis. Add: Regulus calendula obscurus. Dusky KineLet. Resembling the com-
mon ruby-crown, but with darker and more plumbeous shade of the upper parts, and some
slight differencesin proportions. A dark insular form described from Guadalupe Island, Lower
California. Since the publication of the Key, the A. O. U. Committee has decided to
include ‘‘ Lower California, with the islands naturally belonging thereto,’’ in the ‘“‘ North
American ’’ avifauna, — a decision in which I concur, (Code, p. 14.)
34. Regulus satrapa | 748. Regulus satrapa.
35. satrapa olivaceus? 748a. satrapa olivaceus.
36. Polioptila ccerulea. 751. Polioptila cerulea.
37. melanura. 758. californica.
38. plumbea. 752. plumbea.
39. Chamea fasciata. 742. Chamea fasciata.
39a. fasciata henshawi. 742a. fasciata henshawi.
40. Lophophanes bicolor. 731. Parus bicolor.
000. [Not in the List.]
40bis. Add: Lophophanes bicolor texensis. Texan Turrep Tirmouss. Paler
than the last, with chestnut instead of black frontlet at base of crest; this chestnut corres-
ponding in tint to that which suffuses the sides of the body. Tarsus 0.85; bill 0.45.
Southern Texas. The Auk, Jan. 1887, p. 29.
41. Lophophanes inornatus. 733. Parus inornatus.
733a. Parus inornatus griseus.
41 bis. Add: Lophophanes inornatus griseus. Gray Titmouse. Said to differ from
ordinary inornatus in rather larger size and decidedly grayer color. Wing 2.90; tail 2.55.
Middle Province of the United States; Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Pr. U. 8S. Nat. Mus., v., 1882, p. 344.
| 733). Parus inornatus cineraceus.
41 iter. Add: Lophophanes inornatus cineraceus. Asuy TrrmovusrE. Another alleged
local race, described as even grayer above and paler below than L. i. griseus, with smaller
bill, black in color. Lower California. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., vi., Oct. 1883, p. 154.
42. Lophophanes atrocristatus. 732. Parus atricristatus.
000. [Not in the List. ]
42 bis. Add: Lophophanes atrocristatus castaneifrons. CHESTNUT-FRONTED TitT-
MOUSE. Resembling the last: upper parts plumbeous, faintly tinged with olive; under
APPENDIX. 867
parts pale ashy, washed with chestnut on the sides, with faint trace of the same on breast
and crissum. Crest thin, an inch long, dark brown and ashy instead of black, and with
a chestnut frontlet; lores white; bill black; feet dark plumbeous. Size of P. bicolor, the
bill even larger. Wing 3.12; tail 2.95; tarsus 0.77; bill 0.42. Lately discovered in Bee
County, Texas. The Auk, Jan. 1887, p. 28.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
43. Lophophanes wollweberi. 734. Parus wollweberi.
44. Parus atricapillus. 735. atricapillus.
45. atrica, illus septentrionalis. 735a. atricapillus septentrionalis.
46. atricapillus occidentalis. 735d. atricapillus occidentalis.
47. carolinensis. 736. carolinensis.
879. meridionalis. (737.] meridionalis. [p. 334.)
48. montanus. 738. gambeli. (New name, List,
50. rufescens. 741. rufescens.
51. rufescens neglectus ? 74la. rufescens neglectus.
49. hudsonicus. 740. hudsonicus.
49a. hudsonicus evura 000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
52. cinctus. 739. Parus cinctus obtectus.
58. Psaltriparus minimus. | 748. Psaltriparus minimus.
53. minimus. 748a. minimus californicus.
743d. minimus grinde.
53 bis. Add: Psaltriparus minimus grinde. Grinpa’s Busn-tir. Adult: Cap pale
brown, lightening on sides of head into white on chin and throat; other under parts exactly
as in P. minimus. Upper parts light plumbeous-gray, well contrasted with the brown of the
nape. Bill and feet black. Wing 2.00; tail 2.80 graduated 0.50; bill 0.20. A slight
local variation, combining to some extent the characters of Nos. 53 and 54. Lower Calitor-
nia. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus., vi., Oct. 1883, p. 155.
54. Psaltriparus plumbeus.
55. melanotis.
56. Auriparus flaviceps.
57, Sitta carolinensis.
58. carolinensis aculeata.
59. canadensis.
60. pusilla.
61. pyginea.
62. Certhia familiaris.
62a. familiaris mexicana.
63. Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus.
64. affinis.
65. Salpinctes obsoletus.
744. Psaltriparus plumbeus.
[745.] melanotis.
746, Auriparus flaviceps.
727. Sitta carolinensis.
7274. carolinensis aculeata.
728. canadensis.
729. pusilla.
730. pygmea.
726. Certhia familiaris americana.
726a. familiaris mexicana.
713. Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus.
714. affinis.
715. Salpinctes obsoletus.
716. guadaloupensis.
65 bis. Add: Salpinctes obsoletus guadalupensis. Guapature Rock Wren. An
insular race, differing slightly in the darker coloration, and somewhat in proportions. ,
wing 2.60-2.75; tail 2.20-2.30; bill 0.59; tarsus 0.85: 9, a little smaller. Guadalupe
Island, Lower California.
66. Catherpes mexicanus.
67. mexicanus conspersus.
67a. mexicanus punctulatus.
(717.] Catherpes mexicanus.
717a. mexicanus conspersus.
000. [Not admitted in the List.]
868 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884, UNION LIST, 1886.
68. Thryothorus ludovicianus. 718. Thryothorus ludovicianus.
69. ludovicianus miamiensis. 718a. ludovicianus miamensis.
70. ludovicianus berlandieri. 000. (Not admitted in the List. ]
71, bewicki. , 719. Thryothorus bewickii.
72. bewicki leucogaster. 7190. bewickii bairdi.
73. bewicki spilurus ? 7194. bewickii spilurus.
720. brevicaudus.
78 bis. Add: Thryothorus brevicaudus. GuapaLupe Wren. Resembling T. bewicki
leucogaster (‘‘ bairdi”), but apparently distinct. Above grayest-brown, grayest on the tail,
brownest on the rump; wing-feathers obsoletely and tail-feathers distinctly cross-barred
with dusky, the three outermost of the latter pale dull gray at the ends, with one or two
broad dusky bars. A strong white superciliary stripe, below which a grayish brown loral
and auricular stripe. Below, white, shaded into ashy on the belly and sides; the crissum
with broad black bars. Wing 1.85-1.90; tail 1.80; bill 0.45-0.50; tarsus 0.70-0.75. Gua-
dalupe Island, Lower California.
74. Troglodytes domesticus. 721. Troglodytes aédon.
75. domes icus parkmani. 72\a. aédon parkmanii.
(6. Anorthura troglodytes hiemalis. 722. hiemalis.
77. troglodytes pacificus. 722a. hiemalis pacificus.
78. troglodytes alascensis. 7238. alascensis.
79. Telmatodytes palustris. 725. Cistothorus palustris.
80. palustris paludicola ? 000. [Not admitted in the List.]
81. Cistothorus stellaris. 724. Cistothorus stellaris.
82. Eremophila alpestris. 474. Otocoris alpestris.
83. alpestris leucolema. 474a. alpestris leucoleema,
00. [Not admitted in the Key.] 4740. alpestris praticola.
00. [Not admitted in the Key. ] 474c. alpestris arenicola.
00. [Not admitted in the Key. ] 474d. alpestris giraudi.
84. Eremophila alpestris chrysolema. AT4e. alpestris chrysolema.
85. Alauda arvensis. (473.] Alauda arvensis.
86. Motacilla alba. [694.| Motacilla alba.
86a. ocularis. [695.] ocularis.
87. Budytes flavus ? 696. Budytes flavus leucostriatus.
88. Anthus pratensis. [698.] Anthus pratensis.
89. ludovicianus. 697. pensilvanicus.
[699. | cervinus.
89 bis. Add: Anthus cervinus. ReEp-rHroatep Prpit. Adult: Above, light grayish.
brown, fully streaked with dusky, the streaks broadest and darkest on the back. Wings
and tail dusky, the feathers edged with pale brown, the long inner secondaries with buff,
and the ends of the middle and greater wing-coverts whitish; outer tail-feathers with much
white on both webs, and next feather with a white spot at end of inner web. A pale
and more or less buffy superciliary and malar stripe. Below, whitish, more or less suffused
with fawn-color on the chin and throat, the throat, breast and sides broadly streaked or
longitudinally spotted with brownish-black. aggregated into a stripe on each side of the
throat; the chin, belly and vent immaculate. Bill black, with yellowish base of lower man-
dikle; feet dark brown. Wing 3.36; tail 2 50; bill 0.45; tarsus 0 85. A species of exten-
sive distribution in northerly parts of the Old World, probably occurring in Alaska, and
accidental in California. Pr. U. 8S. Nat. Mus., vi., Oct. 1883, p. 156.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
108.
106.
000.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
1lla.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
128.
124,
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
COUES KEY, 1884.
Neocorys spraguii.
Mniotilta varia.
varia borealis ?
Parula americana.
nigrilora.
Protonotaria citrea.
Helmintherus vermivorus.
swainsoni.
Helminthophila pinus.
lawrencii ?
leucobronchialis ?
cincinnatiensis ?
chrysoptera.
- bachmani.}
lucie.
virginie.
ruficapilla.
(Not admitted in the Key. ]
Helminthophila celata
celata lutescens.
peregrina.
Peucedramus olivaceus.
Dendreeca. estiva.
vieilloti bryanti.?
virens.
occidentalis.
townsendi.
chrysoparia.
nigrescens.
coerulescens.
coerulea.
coronata.
auduboni.
blackburn.
striata.
castanea.
pennsylvanica.
maculosa.
tigrina.
discolor.
graciz.
dominica.
APPENDIX. 869
UNION LIST, 1886.
700, Anthus spragueii.
636. Mniotilta varia.
000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
648. Compsothlypis americana.
649. nigrilora.
637. Protonotaria citrea.
639. Helmitherus vermivorus.
638. Helinaia swainsonii.
641. Helminthophila pinus.
+20. lawrencei?
$21. leucobronchialis ?
$22. cincinnatiensis ?
642. chrysoptera.
640. bachmani.
643. lucie.
644. virginie.
645. ruficapilla.
645a. ruficapilla gutturalis.
646. celata.
646a. celata lutescens.
647. peregrina.
651. Dendroica olivacea.
652. eestiva.
653. bryanti castaneiceps.
667. virens.
669. occidentalis.
668. townsendi.
666. chrysoparia.
665. nigrescens.
654. ceerulescens.
658. cerulea.
655. coronata.
656. auduboni.
662. blackburniz.
661. striata.
660. castanea.
659. pensylvanica.
657. maculosa.
650. tigrina.
678. discolor.
664. gracia.
663. dominica.
1 This rare bird has recently been rediscovered in Louisiana, Mr. C. S. Galbraith having taken a specimen
near Lake Pontchartrain in 1886.
(The Auk, Jan. 1887, p. 35.) Still another specimen, perhaps one of Audubon’s
types, has been found by Mr. William Brewster in the Lafresnaye collection of the Boston Society of Natural
History.
(The Auk, April, 1887, p. 165.)
2 D. bryanti having been described as a variety of D. vieiiloti, and then raised to specific rank, has been more lately
split into two varieties, and that one which is found on the west coast of Mexico, and also in Lower California, has been
named castaneiceps, from the rich chestnut head. It will probably turn out to be identical with vieilloti proper.
870 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
130, Dendrceca dominica albilora. 663a. Dendroica dominica albilora.
131. kirtlandi. 670. kirtlandi.
132. palmarum. 672. palmarum.
133. palmarum hypochrysea? 672a. palmarum hypochrysea.
134. pinus. 671. vigorsii.
000. [See Key, p. 308. ] 728. (Perissoglossa?) carbonata.
000. [See Key, p. 308.] 724. montana.
135, Siurus auricapillus. 674. Seiurus aurocapillus.
136. neevius. 675. noveboracensis.
137. neevius notabilis? 675a. noveboracensis notabilis.
138. motacilla. 676. motacilla.
139. Opcrornis agilis. ' 678. Geothlypis agilis.
140. formosa. . 677. formosa.
141. Geothlypis trichas. 681. trichas.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 681la. trichas occidentalis.
682. beldingi.
141 bis. Add: Geothlypis beldingi. BeLpine’s YELLOW-THROAT. Adult g : Above
nearly uniform olive-green, a little browner anteriorly; below, rich yellow, paler on the
vent, tinged with brown on the flanks and sides. Black mask exactly as in G. trichas, but
bordered behind for its whole extent with rich yellow. Wing 2.60; tail 2.70, graduated
0.50; bill 0.55. Lower California. Quite distinct from any other species in this list. Pr.
U. S. Nat. Mus., v., Sept. 1882, p. 344.
142. Geothlypis philadelphia. 679. Geothlypis philadelphia.
1438. macgillivrayi. 680. macgillivrayi.
144. Icteria virens. | 683, Icteria virens.
145. virens longicauda. 683a. virens longicauda.
146. Myiodioctes mitratus. 684. Sylvania mitrata.
147. pusillus. 685. pusilla.
148. pusillus pileolatus. 685a. pusilla pileolata.
149. canadensis. 686. canadensis.
000. [Not admitted in Key.] ' 425. Sylvania (?) microcephala.
150. Cardellina rubrifrons. 690. Cardellina rubrifrons.
151. Setophaga picta. 688. Setophaga picta.
[689.] miniata.
151 bis. Add: Setophaga miniata. RED-BELLIED RepstTart. Dark bluish-ash above.
A square patch of dark chestnut on the crown. Forehead and sides of head, with the whole
fore-neck and sides of the jugulum, black; other under parts carmine red; lining of wings and
under tail-coverts white; tibis plumbeous. Wing-feathers dusky; tail-feathers black with
much white on the lateral one, and more restricted white areas on the nexttwo. Sexes alike.
Length 5.10; wing 2.50; tail 3.00; tarsus 0.75. Central America and Mexico to Texas. See
Key, p. 318.
152. Setophaga ruticilla. 687. Setophaga ruticilla.
(691.] Ergaticus ruber.
152 bis. Add: Ergaticus rubra. CARMINE Frycatcninc WarBLER. Rich carmine
red, obscured on the back; ear-coverts silvery-white; wing- and tail-feathers dusky, edged
externally with reddish; larger inner wing-coverts rosy white. Sexes alike. Length 4.75;
wing 2.40; the first quill about as long as the sixth; tail 2.50, graduated 0.20; bill small,
parine in shape, but with bristly rictus; tarsus 0.75. A very beautiful species; Mexico to
Texas. See Key, p. 313.
APPENDIX. 87}.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886
(692.] Basileuterus culicivorus.
152 ter. Add: Basileuterus culicivorus. BrasHer’s FLlycaTcHING WARBLER.
Above, greenish-ash, more olivaceous on the back and rump ; below, yellow, tinged with rufous
on the crissum. Top of head striped with black on each side, these stripes separating green-
ish-yellow or yellow areas ; a dusky loral and postocular spot. Length 5.00 ; wing 2.40 ; tail
2.25, graduated 0.15 ; bill 0.50 ; tarsus 0.75. Central America and Mexico to Texas.
| [693.] Basileuterus belli.
152 quater. Add: Basileuterus belli. Brxi’s FirycatcHing WarsBier. Above,
olive-green ; below, yellow, shaded with olive on the sides ; wings edged with yellow and
lined with olive. Crown and cheeks orange-brown ; a broad yellow supeicitiary stripe,
separated from its fellow by a black frontlet which extends more obscurely alonz the crown ;
the yellow stripe continued beyond the rufous of the crown. Bill black ; feet yellowish.
Length 5.10; wing 2.25; tail 2.50; graduated 0.33; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.80. Central
America and Mexico to Texas. ‘
158. Certhiola bahamensis. 635. Certhiola bahamensis.
606. Euphonia elegantissima.
158 bis. Add: TEwuphonia elegantissima. Buiur-HEADED TanacerR. Adult ¢:
Above, black with a purplish gloss ; crown and nape blue ; frontlet chestnut, bordered be-
hind by a black line. Below, deep brownish-orange, the throat black. Lining of wings and
inner edges of wing-feathers white. Bill black; feet light brown. Length 4.50; wing
2.50 ; tail 1.50. Q : upper parts olive-green with blue cap and chestnut frontlet ; below, olive-
yellow, brightest in the middle of the belly ; the throat pale reddish. Mexico to Texas.
See Key, p. 317."
154. Pyranga rubra. 608. Piranga erythromelas.
155. estiva. 610. rubra.
156. zstiva cooperi. 610a, rubra cooperi.
157. hepatica. 605. hepatica.
158. ludoviciana. 607. ludoviciana.
159. Hirundo erythrogastra horrerorum. 618. Chelidon erythrogaster.
160. Iridoprocne bicolor. 614. Tachycineta bicolor.
161. Tachycineta thalassina. 615. thalassina.
162. Petrochelidon lunifrons. 612. Petrochelidon lunifrons.
163. Cotile riparia. 616. Clivicola riparia.
164. Stelgidopteryx serripennis. 617. Stelgidopteryx serripennis.
165. Progne subis. 611. Progne subis.
166. Ampelis garrulus. 618. Ampelis garrulus.
167. cedrorum. 619. cedrorum.
168. Phainopepla nitens. 620. Phainopepla nitens.
169. Myiadestes townsendi. 754. Myadestes townsendi.
170. Vireo olivaceus. 624. Vireo olivaceus.
171. flaviviridis. 625. flavoviridis.
172. altiloquus barbatulus. [623. } altiloquus barbatulus.
173. philadelphicus. 626. philadelphicus.
174. gilvus. $27. gilvus.
175. gilvus swainsoni? : 000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
176. flavifrons. ; 628. Vireo flavifrons.
177. solitarius. | 629. solitarius.
| 000. [Not in the List. ]
872 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
177 bis. Add: Vireo solitarius alticola. Mountain Soritary GReENuET. Like
solitarius proper, but larger, with stouter bill, and of darker colors. In solitarius the upper:
parts are olive-green. contrasting with the pure ash of the head ; in the new variety the
upper parts are nearly uniform blackish-plumbeous, only tinged with olive on the back
Wing 3.00-3.30 ; tail 2.25. Mountains of North Carolina, The Auk, Jan. 1886, p. 111.
178. Vireo solitarius cassini. 629a. Vireo solitarius cassinii.
179. solitarius plumbeus. 6290. solitarius plumbeus.
180. vicinior. 634. vicinior.
181. noveboracensis. 631. noveboracensis.
000. [Not in the List.]
181 bis. Add: Vireo noveboracensis maynardi. Key West GreEenLet. Colora-
tion much as in the last, but grayer above and paler yellow below ; size and proportions as
in V. ecrassirostris, the bill as large and stout as in the latter. Wing 2.20-2.50 ; tail 1.90~
2.05 ; bill 0.55-0.65, its depth at the nostrils 0.18-0.20. Key West, Florida. The Auk,
April, 1887, p. 148.
182, Vireo huttoni.
182a. huttoni stevensi.
183. belli.
184. pusillus.
185, atricapillus.
186. Lanius borealis.
187. ludovicianus.
188. ludovicianus excubitorides.
189. Hesperophona vespertina.
190. Pinicola enucleator.
191. Pyrrhula cassini.
192. Passer domesticus.
193. montanus.
194, Carpodacus purpureus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.]
195. Carpodacus cassini.
196. frontalis.
197. frontalis rhodocolpus (?)
197 bis. Add: Carpodacus amplus.
GuADALUPE House FIncu.
632. Vireo huttoni.
632a. huttoni stephensi.
633. belli.
633a. belli pusillus.
680. atricapillus.
621. Lanius borealis.
622. ludovicianus.
622a. ludovicianus excubitoroides.
514. Coccothraustes vespertina.
_ §15. Pinicola enucleator.
(516.] Pyrrhula cassini. -
000. [Not admitted in the List.]
000. [Not admitted in the List.]
517. Carpodacus purpureus.
517a. purpureus californicus.
518. cassini.
519. frontalis.
5194. frontalis rhodocolpus.
520. amplus.
A large dark
insular form, resembling C. frontalis proper, but with darker tints, and of considerably larger
size. @, wing 3.10-3.35; tail 2.60-2.90; Dill 0.40-0.45 from the nostril, and the same in
depth ; tarsus 0.75-0.85: 9 somewhat smaller.
198. Loxia leucoptera.
199. curvirostra americana
200. curvirostra mexicana.
201. Leucosticte atrata.
202. australis
208. tephrocotis.
204. tephrocotis litoralis.
205. griseinucha.
206. arctoa.
207. giothus linaria.
Guadalupe Island, Lower California.
522. Loxia leucoptera.
521. curvirostra minor.
521a. curvirostra stricklandi.
525. Leucosticte atraza
526. australis.
524. tephrocotis.
524a, tephrocotis ‘ittoralis.
523. griseonucha.
000. [Not admitted in the List.]
528. Acanthus linaria.
APPENDIX. 873
COUES KEY, 1884.
208. Aigiothus linaria holboelli.
UNION LIST, 1886.
528a. Acanthus linaria holboellii.
000. {Not admitted in the Key. ] 5280. linaria rostrata.
209. Agiothus hornemanni. 527 hornemannii.
210. ° exilipes. 527a. hornemannii exilipes.
211. Linota flavirostris brewsteri? 717. brewsterii.
212. Chrysomitris pinus. 533. Spinus pinus.
213. Astragalinus tristis. 529. tristis.
214. lawrencii. 581. lawrencei.
215. psaltria. 530. psaltria.
216. psaltria arizone. 530a. psaltria arizone.
217. psaltria mexicanus. 5805. psaltria mexicanus.
218. notatus. [582.] notatus.
219. Plectrophanes nivalis. 534. Plectrophenax nivalis.
535. hyperboreus.
219 bis, Add: Plectrophanes hyperboreus. PoLtar SNowFLAKE. McKay’s Snow
Bunting. Adult in spring: Pure white, excepting the tips of the wings, which are black
for about an inch and a half, and a small black spot on the end of the middle tail feather ;
bill dull brown, with blackish tip; feet black. In winter: washed with rusty brown on the
crown, ear-coverts, throat, and rump; the bill yellowish with dusky tip. Wing 4.65; tail
8.10; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.90. A beautiful ‘‘ snowflake,’’ apparently quite distinct from the
last, lately discovered in Alaska, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus., vii., 1884, p. 68.
220. Centrophanes lapponicus. 536. Calcarius lapponicus.
221. pictus. 587. pictus.
222. ornatus. 538, ornatus.
223. Rhynchophanes maccowni. 539. Rhynchophanes mecownii.
224. Passerculus bairdi. 545. Ammodramus bairdii.
225. princeps. 541. princeps.
226. sandvicensi.. 542. sandwichensis.
227. sandvicensis savana. 542a. sandwichensis savanna.
228. sandvicensis anthinus. 542c. sandwichensis bryanti.
229. sandvicensis alaudinus. 5426. sandwichensis alaudi-
543. beldingi. [nus.
229 bis. Add: Passerculus beldingi. Brrpina’s Savanna Sparrow. ‘ Similar to
the darker form of P. sandwichensis (i. e. bryanti), but much darker, with decidedly heavier
dark spotting on lower parts, the bill larger and more elongated.’’ Salt marshes of the
Pacific coast, from Santa Barbara south to Todos Santos Island, Lower California. Accord-
ing to the A. O. U. Committee, what ornithologists have been calling ‘* Passerculus anthinus”
includes two distinct forms, one of which is now called ‘‘ Ammodramus sandwichensis bryanti,”’
and the other is this Passerculus beldingi. P.“ bryanti’’ is described from San Francisco Bay,
as ‘‘ differing from P. sandwichensis alaudinus in decidedly smaller size and much darker
coloration of the upper parts. There is little probability that such attempted discriminations
will survive the official etiquette of the present flutter in American Ornithology.
230. Passerculus rostratus. 544. Ammodramus rostratus.
231. guttatus. 544a. rostratus guttatus.
232. Pocecetes gramineus. 540. Poocetes gramineus..
233. gramineus confinis. 540a. gramineus confinis.
234. Coturniculus passerinus. 546. Ammodramus savannarum passerinus.
235. passerinus perpallidus. 546a. savannarum perpallidus
874 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
236. Coturniculus henslowi. 547. Ammodramus henslowii.
237. lecontii. 548. leconteii.
238. Ammodramus maritimus. 550. maritimus.
239. maritimus nigrescens. 551. nigrescens.
240. caudacuatus. 549. caudacutus.
241. caudacutus nelsoni. 549a. caudacutus nelsoni.
242. Melospiza lincolni. 583. Melospiza lincolni.
243. palustris. 584. georgiana.
244, fasciata. 581. fasciata.
245. fasciata fallax. 58la. fasciata fallax.
5810. fasciata montana.
245 bis. Add: Melospiza fasciata montana. Mountain Sone-SparRow. Resem- |
bling M. f. fallax, and scarcely distinguishable. Upper parts umber-brown with gray
margins of the feathers, giving a strong grayish cast to the plumage; the back streaked with
blackish-brown, and the streaks of the under parts also of this color. This is the form
occurring in the Great Basin at large. The Auk, July, 1884, p. 224.
246. Melospiza fasciata heermanni. 581c. Melosviza fasciata heermanni.
247. fasciata samuelis. 581d. fasciata samuelis.
248. fasciata guttata. 581e. fasciata guttata.
249. fasciata rufina. 581f. fasciata rufina.
250. cinerea. 582. cinerea.
251. Peucea estivalis. 575. Peucewa estivalis.
282. eestivalis illinoénsis. 575a. estivalis bachmanii.
253. estivalis arizone. 576. arizone.
577. mexicana.
253 bis. Add: Peuczea mexicana. Mexican SUMMER FINCH. Upper parts gray suf-
fused with bay, streaked on most of the back with bold black bay-edged stripes; crown similar,
rather darker, in smaller pattern of the markings and without lighter median line. Bend of
wing yellow; coverts blackish, with broad grayish-bay edgings; flight-feathers dusky, several
inner secondaries blackish, with firm light edgings. Tail-feathers dusky, with obsolete
scarcely discernible cross-waves, the middle pair with paler edges their whole length, the
lateral ones fading toward their ends. Under parts pale grayish-brown, blanching on the
throat and abdomen, unstreaked excepting for a slight pair of black maxillary stripes. Bill
dark corn-color; feet light brown. Length 6.30; wing 2.65; tail 2.80; tarsus 0.80. (Described
from Mexican specimens.) Mexico to the Valley of the Lower Rio Grande in Texas; a late
addition to our Fauna.
254.. Peucsea cassini. 578. Peucea edssini.
255. ruficeps 580. ruficeps.
256. ruficeps boucardi. 580a. ruficeps boucardi.
00U. [See Key, p. 375. 5800. ruficeps eremceca.
257. Peucea carpalis. 579. carpalis.
258. Amphispiza bilineata. 573. Amphispiza bilineata.
259. belli. 574. belli.
260 belli nevadensis. 574. belli nevadensis.
261. Junco hiemalis.* 567. Junco hyemalis,
262. hiemalis aikeni. 566. aikeni.
1 The snow-bird which breeds on the mountains of North Carolina has been named as a variety, J. h. caro-
linensis, but the characters adduced do not seem satisfactory. The Auk, Jan. 1886, p. 108.
APPENDIX. 875
COVES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
262a. Junco hiemalis connectens. 000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
263. hiemalis oregonus. ! 567a. Junco hyemalis oregonus.
264. hiemalis annectens. 568. annectens.
265. hiemalis caniceps. | 569. caniceps.
266. hiemalis dorsalis. 570a. cinereus dorsalis.
267. hiemalis cinereus. 570. cinereus palliatus.
571. bairdi.
267 bis. Add: Junco hiemalis bairdi. Barrp’s Snow-prrp. Head.and neck
ashy-gray, paler on throat, tinged on hind-head with brown, the lores distinctly blackish.
Back, scapulars and adjoining wing-feathers, pale rufous-brown, tinged with olivaceous;
rump and upper tail-coverts, with the lesser, middle, and outer wing-coverts grayish-
olive; inner webs of tertials dusky; primaries gray, edged with paler, the outermost with
white; outer tail-feather mostly white, two next with white in diminishing amount.
Jugulum pale buffy-gray, contrasting with the white of the abdomen; sides and flanks
cinnamon-buff; crissum dull whitish. Upper mandible dark brown, lower yellow; iris
yellow; feet pale brown. Wing 2.80; tail 2.75; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.80 A form lately
discovered in Lower California, resembling a bright-colored 9 J. oregonus, presenting the
peculiar combination of ‘‘pink’’ sides with yellow eyes and under mandible. Pr. U. S.
Nat. Mus., vi., Oct. 1888, p. 155.
| 572. Junco insularis.
267 ter. Add: Junco insularis. GuapaLuPE SNow-BIRD. Resembling the so-called
J. annectens ; darker, and with somewhat different proportions. Crown and nape dark slate;
lower tail-coverts dusky, the feathers edged with whitish; lores blackish. Wings and tail
relatively short: wing 2.55-2.85; tail 2.30-2.60; bill 0.87 long, 0.27 deep. (In annectens,
etc., wing and tail about 3.00.) Added to our Fauna by the inclusion of Guadalupe Island.
268. Spizella monticola. 559. Spizella monticola.
559a. monticola ochracea.
268 bis. Add: Spizella monticola ochracea. WerstTERN TREE Sparrow. Like the
last: above, paler, with sparser, sharper and narrower dorsal streaks, sides and throat more
ochraceous. Washington Territory. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Oct. 1882, p. 228.
269. Spizella domestica. 560. Spizella socialis.
270. domestica arizone. 560a. socialis arizone.
271. agrestis. 563. pusilla.
000. | Not admitted in the List.’
971 bis. Add: Spizella agrestis arenacea. Texan Fietp Sparrow. Like S.
agrestis, bub with the rufous replaced by brownish-ash; slightly larger, with longer tail and
somewhat stouter bill. Wing 2.50; tail 2.90: culmen 0.35. A form lately described as
migratory, or perhaps a winter resident, in Southern Texas. The Auk, April, 1886, p. 248.
| 564. Spizella wortheni.
271lter. Add: Spizella wortheni. WorTHEN’s FisLp-sparrow. Resembling S.
agrestis. Much less rufous, with broader black dorsal streaks, no rufous auricular streak
nor lateral pectoral spot, a distinct white eye-ring, and slenderer bill. Wing 2.70; tail
2.50; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.70. Western Texas and New Mexico. Apparently a good species,
approaching S. atrigularis in some respects, especially the coloration of the upper parts. Pr.
U. S. Nat. Mus., vii., 1884, p. 259.
272. Spizella pallida. 561. Spizella pallida.
273. breweri. 562. breweri.
274. atrigularis. 565. atrigularis.
876 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884.
275. Zonotrichia albicollis.
276. leucophrys.
277. leucophrys intermedia.
278. gambeli.
279. coronata,
280. querula.
281. Chondestes grammica.
282. Passerella iliaca.
283. iliaca unalascensis.
284. iliaca schistacea.
285. iliaca megarhyncha.
286. Calamospiza bicolor.
287. Spiza americana.
288. townsendi.
289. Zamelodia ludoviciana.
290. melanocephala.
291. Guiraca coerulea.
292. Passerina ciris.
293. versicolor.
294. amoena.
295. cyanea.
296. Spermophila moreleti.
297. Phonipara zena.
298. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata.
299. Cardinalis virginianus.
UNION LIST, 1886.
558. Zonotrichia albicollis.
554. leucophrys.
555. intermedia.
556. gambeli.
557. coronata.
558. querula.
562. Chondestes grammacus.
585. Passerella iliaca.
585a iliaca unalaschcensis.
585c. iliaca schistacea.
585b. iliaca megarhyncha.
605. Calamospiza melanocorys.
604. Spiza americana.
718. townsendii.
595. Habia ludoviciana.
596. melanocephala.
597. Guiraca cerulea.
601. Passerina ciris.
600. versicolor.
599. amoena.
598. cyanca.
602. Sporophila morelleti.
603. Euethea bicolor.
594. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata.
593. Cardinalis cardinalis.
593a. cardinalis superbus.
299 bis. Add: Cardinalis virginianus superbus. AkIzONA CARDINAL: Like the
last, but larger, and the female more richly colored. ¢, wing 4.10; tail 5.00; tarsus 1.05;
bill along culmen 0.85; its depth at base 0.70: 9 smaller. Arizona; hardly recognizable.
The Auk, Oct. 1885, p. 344.
800. Cardinalis virginianus igneus.
301. Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
302. erythrophthalmus alleni.
303. maculatus oregonus.
304. maculatus arcticus.
305. maculatus megalonyx.
593). Cardinalis cardinalis igneus.
587. Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
587a. erythrophthalmus alleni.
588d. maculatus oregonus.
588. maculatus arcticus.
588a. maculatus megalonyx.
589. consobrinus.
305 bis. Add: Pipilo maculatus consobrinus. GuapaLupe Townxr. Adult ¢:
Head, neck, throat, and upper parts black: white on outer webs of scapulars usually bor-
dered with black; two well-defined white wing-bars; inner secondaries and a middle por-
tion of the primaries narrowly edged with white; two or three lateral tail-feathers with
terminal white patch. Below white, with chestnut sides and buff crissum. 9 similar, but
dull-brownish black where the male is black, and smaller white tail-spots. @, wing 3.10-
3.25; tail 3.50-3.75: Q somewhat less. An insular race, one of many into which the very
variable P. maculatus is divisible. Guadulupe Island, Lower California.
306. Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus. 591. Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus.
307. fuscus albigula. 591a. fuscus albigula.
308. fuscus crissalis. | 51D. fuscus crissalis.
309.
310.
311.
312.
000.
318.
814.
315.
316.
317.
318.
319.
320.
821.
322.
323.
324.
325.
326.
327.
328.
ing
329
330.
331
332.
333.
334.
335.
336.
337.
338.
339.
340.
341.
342
343.
344.
345.
346.
347.
348.
349.
COUES KEY, 1884.
Pipilo aberti.
cehlorurus.
Embernagra rufovirgata.
Dolichonyx oryzivorus.
{Not admitted in the Key.]
Molothrus ater.
ater obscurus.
eneus.
Agelzus pheeniceus.
tricolor.
Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.
Sturnella magna.
magna mexicana.
neglecta.
Icterus vulgaris.
spurius.
spurius affinis.
galbula.
bullocki.
cucullatus.
pheeniceus gubernator.
APPENDIX. 877
UNION LIST, 1886.
592. Pipilo aberti.
590. chlorurus.
586. Embernagra rufivirgata.
494. Dolichonyx oryzivorus.
494a. oryzivorus albinucha.
495. Molothrus ater.
495a. ater obscurus.
496. eeneus.
498. Agelaius phoeniceus.
499. gubernator.
500. tricolor.
497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus.
501. Sturnella magna.
50la. magna mexicana.
5016. magna neglecta.
[502.] Icterus icterus.
506. spurius.
000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
507. Icterus galbula.
508. bullocki.
505. cucullatus.
505a. cucullatus nelsoni.
828 bis. Add: Icterus cucullatus nelsoni. ArizoNA HoopEp ORIOLE. A paler-
colored race, in which the yellow is not supposed to become orange or flame-color, from
Arizona, California, and southward to Mazatlan. The distinction is trivial, hardly indicat-
a geographical race. The description in the Key, p. 409, covers both this and the true
cucullatus, which latter occurs in Texas and southward.
. Icterus parisorum.
. Scolecophagus ferrugineus.
eyanocephalus.
Quiscalus macrurus.
major.
purpureus.
purpureus eneus.
purpureus aglzus.
Corvus corax.
cryptoleucus.
frugivorus.
frugivorus floridanus.
caurinus.
maritimus.
Picicorvus columbianus.
Gymnocitta cyanocephala.
Psilorhinus morio.
Pica rustica hudsonica.
nuttalli.
Cyanocitta cristata.
melanocephalus auduboni.
504. Icterus parisorum.
503. audubonii.
509. Scolecophagus carolinus.
510. cyanocephalus.
512. Quiscalus macrourus.
518. major.
511. quiscula.
5110. quiscula zneus.
51la. quiscula agleeus.
486. Corvus corax sinuatus.
487. eryptoleucus.
488. americanus.
488a. americanus floridanus.
489. caurinus.
490. ossifragus.
491. Picicorvus columbianus.
492. Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus.
000. [Not admitted in the List.]
475. Pica pica nudsonica.
476. nuttalli.
477. Cyanocitta cristata.
878 : APPENDIX.
COUES KEY,’ 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
349a. Cyanocitta cristata florincola. | 477a. Cyanocitta cristata florincola.
350. stelleri. 478. stelleri.
361. stelleri annectens. | 000. [Not admitted in the List.]
353 stelleri frontalis. 478a. Cyanocitta stelleri frontalis.
352. stelleri macrolopha. | 478d. stelleri macrolopha.
354. Aphelocoma floridana. | 479. Aphelocoma floridana.
355. . floridana woodhousii. 1 480. woodhousei.
356. floridana californica. | 481. californica.
* 000. [Not admitted in the List.]
356 bis. Add: Aphelocoma floridana insularis. Santa Cruz Jay. — Above, dark
azure blue, including exposed surface of wing- and tail-feathers, this color deepest on the
crown, and extending on the sides of the head and well down on the neck and breast; the back
dark sepia brown. A white superciliary line; a black loral and auricular spot. Feathers of
throat and breast ashy-white edged with blue; crissum blue; other under parts dull white.
Wing 5.35; tail 6.25; tarsus 1.80; bill 1.25. Santa Cruz Island, one of the Santa Barbara
group, off the Coast of California. The Auk, Oct. 1886, p. 452.
357. Aphelocoma ultramarina arizone. 482. Aphelocoma sieberli arizone.
358. Xanthura luxuriosa. 483. Xanthoura ‘luxuosa.
359. Perisoreus canadensis. 484. Perisoreus canadensis.
360. canadensis fumifrons. 484d. canadensis fumifrons.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 484c. canadensis nigricapillus.?
361. Perisoreus canadensis obscurus. 485. obscurus.
362. canadensis capitalis. 484a. canadensis capitalis.
363. Sturnus vulgaris. [493.] Sturnus vulgaris.
364. Pitangus derbianus. 449. Pitangus derbianus.
364 bis. Myiozetetes texensis. (450.] Myiozetetes texensis.
365. Myiodynastes luteiventris. 451. Myiodynastes luteiventris.
366. Milvulus tyrannus. [442.] Milvulus tyrannus.
367. forficatus. 443. forficatus.
368. Tyrannus carolinensis. 444. Tyrannus tyrannus.
369. dominicensis. 445. dominicensis.
370. verticalis. 447. verticalis.
871. vociferans. 448. vociferans.
372. melancholicus couchi. 446. melancholicus couchii.
373. Myiarchus crinitus. 452. Myiarchus crinitus. ;
880. crinitus cooperi. 453a. mexicanus magister.
374. crinitus erythrocercus. 453. mexicanus.
375. cinerescens. 454, cinerascens.
376. lawrencii. [455.] lawrenceii.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 455a. lawrencei olivascens.
377. Sayiornis sayi. 457. Sayornis saya.
378. nigricans. 458. nigricans.
379. fuscus. 456. phoebe.
380. Contopus borealis. 459. Contopus borealis.
381. pertinax. 460. pertinax.
1 An alleged variety, said to differ from the true canadensis in altogether darker coloration, blacker crown
black auriculars, lesa extensive white front, and more marked contrast of the white and dark areas of the head
and neck. Probably inhabits the coast region of Labrador, and most likely is only a specimen a little darker
than usual. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus., v., 1882, p. 15.
APPENDIX. 879
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
382. Contopus virens. 461. Contopus virens.
383. virens richardsoni. 462. richardsonii.
384. Empidonax acadicus. 465. Empidonax acadicus.
385. trailli. 466a. pusillus traillii.
386. pusillus. 466. pusillus.
387. minimus. 467. minimus.
388. flaviventris. 463. flaviventris.
389. flaviventris difficilis ? 464. difficilis.
390. hammondi. 468. hammondi.
391. obscurus. 469. obscurus.
392. Mitrephanes fulvifrons pallescens. 470a fulvifrons pygmeus.
70. fulvifrons.
392 bis. Add: Mitrephanes fulvifrons. Futvous Frycatcuer. Specimens of the
true fulvifrons, differing from the Arizona form in much heavier fulvous coloration, and
agreeing with Giraud’s type, are said to be found N. to Texas.
393. Ornithium imberbe. 472. Ornithion imberbe.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 472a. imberbe ridgwayi.
394. Pyrocephalus rubineus mexicanus. 471. Pyrocephalus rubineus mexicanus.
395. Nyctidromus albicollis, 419. Nyctidromus albicollis.
396. Antrostomus carolinensis. 416. Antrostomus carolinensis.
397. vociferus. 417. vociferus.
881. vociferus arizone. 417a. vociferus arizonz.
398. Phalenoptilus nuttalli. 418. Phalenoptilus nuttalli.
000. [Not admitted in the List. ]
398 bis. Add: Phaleenoptilus nuttalli nitidus. FrRostep Poor-WiiL. Similar to
the last, but with the dark markings of the upper parts fewer and sharper on a much paler
ground, and the crossbars on the under parts finer and paler. Described as a bleached desert
race from Texas and Arizona. The Auk, April, 1887. p. 147.
399. Chordediles popetue. 420. Chordeiles virginianus.
400. popetue henryi. 4200 virginianus henryi.
401 popetue minor. 420b. virginianus minor.
402. acutipennis texensis. 421.. texensis.
403. Panyptila saxatilis. 425. Micropus melanoleucus.
404. Nephcetetes niger borealis. 422. Cypseloides niger.
405, Chetura pelasgica. 423. Chetura pelagica.
406. vauxi. 424. vauxi.
407. Basilinna xantusi. 440. Basilinna xantusi.
408. Eugenes fulgens. 426. Eugenes fulgens.
427. Coeligena clemenciz.
408 bis. Add Cceligena clemenciz. BiLure-THROATED Humminc-Birp. Bill longer
than head, straight; wings long and ample; tail large, rounded, with broad feathers, tarsi
feathered; sexes unlike. @: above, bronzy-green; below, ashy-gray, the feathers more or
less tipped with green. A white stripe behind the eye. Gorget metallic azure blue. Tail
black, the two outermost feathers tipped with white. Upper mandible blackish, lower flesh-
colored. Length 5.40; extent 7.50; wing 3.10; tail 1.90; culmen from nostril 0.88. &
fine large species lately found in Southern Arizona. The Auk, Jan. 1885, p. 85.
409. Trochilus colubris. 428. Trochilus colubris.
410. alexandri 429, alexandri.
880
411.
412.
418.
414.
415.
416.
417.
418.
419.
420.
421.
422,
423.
424.
425.
426.
427.
428,
429.
430.
431.
COUES KEY, 1884.
Selasphorus rufus.
alleni.
platycercus.
Calypte anne.
cost.
Atthis heloisz.
Stellula calliope.
Calothorax lucifer.
Amazilia fuscocaudata.
cerviniventris.
Tache latirostris.
Trogon ambiguus.
Ceryle alcyon.
americana cabanisi.
Crotophaga ani.
sulcirostris.
Geococcyx californianus.
Coccygus erythrophthalmus.
americanus.
seniculus.
Campephilus principalis.
432, Hylotomus pileatus.
433. Picus borealis.
434. scalaris.
435. scalaris nuttalli.
436. scalaris lucasanus.
437. stricklandi.
438. villosus.
438a. villosus major.
438c. villosus minor.
439. villosus harrisi.
440. pubescens.
441. pubescens gairdneri.
442. Xenopicus albolarvatus.
443. Picoides arcticus.
444. americanus.
PEC
Alaska and northern British America.
445. Picoides americanus dorsalis.
APPENDIX.
UNION LIST, 1886.
433. Trochilus rufus.
434. alleni.
432. platycercus.
431. anna.
430. coste.
435. heloisa.
436. calliope.
437. lucifer.
438. Amazilia fuscicaudata.
439. cerviniventris.
441. Iache latirostris.
(389.] Trogon ambiguus.
390. Ceryle alcyon.
391. cabanisi.
(383.] Crotophaga ani.
384. sulcirostris.
385. Geococcyx californianus.
388. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.
387. americanus.
386. minor.
392.- Campephilus principalis.
405. Ceophlceus pileatus.
395. Dryobates borealis.
396. scalaris.
397. nuttalli.
_396a. scalaris lucasanus.
398. stricklandi.
393. villosus.
398a. villosus leucomelas.
393d. villosus audubonii.
398c. ‘— villosus harrisii.
394, pubescens.
394a. pubescens gairdnerii.
399. Xenopicus albolarvatus.
400. Picoides arcticus.
401. americanus.
40la. Picoides americanus alascensis.
444 bis. Add: Picoides americanus alascensis. ALASKAN THREE-TOED Woop-
KER. Resembling the last: back more broadly barred with white, the bars more or less
confluent; the white postocular stripe more distinct; the dark bars of the sides narrower.
446. Sphyrapicus varius.
447.
448.
449.
450
451.
452.
varius nuchalis.
varius ruber.
thyroides.
. Certurus carolinus.
aurifrons.
uropygialis.
The Auk, April, 1884, p. 165.
401d. Picoides americanus dorsalis.
402. Sphyrapicus varius.
402a. varius nuchalis.
403. ruber.
404. thyroideus.
409. Melanerpes carolinus.
410. aurifrons.
411. uropygialis.
APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884.
453. Melanerpes erythrocephalus.
454. formicivorus bairdii.
455. formicivorus angustifrons.
456. Asyndesmus torquatus.
457. Colaptes auratus.
458. chrysoides.
459. mexicanus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key. ]
459 bis.
881
UNION LIST, 1886.
406. Melanerpes erythrocephalus.
407. formicivorus bairdi.
4074. formicivorus angustifrons,
408. torquatus.
412. Colaptes auratus.
414. chrysoides.
418. cafer!
4134. cafer saturatior.?
415. rufipileus,
Add: Colaptes mexicanus rufipileus. GUADALUPE FiickER. Resembling
C. mexicanus: terminal black of the tail broader, occupying 2.50 instead of about 2.00
inches.
Rump of a pale pinkish shade instead of pure white.
tawny anteriorly, instead of grayish. Wings and tail much shorter ; bill longer.
Crown cinnamon, becoming
Wing
5.90-6.25 ; tail 4.75-5.25 ; bill 1.35-1.60. An insular form approaching C. chrysoides in
some respects, as the color of the crown.
460. Conurus carolinensis.
461. Aluco flammeus pratincola.
462. Bubo virginianus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.]
463. Bubo virginianus arcticus.
464. virginianus pacificus.
465. Scops asio.
466. asio kennicotti.
466a. asio bendirii.
467. asio maxwelle.
* 468. asio maccalli.
469. asio floridanus.
470. trichopsis ?
471. flammeola.
472. Asio wilsonianus.
473. accipitrinus.
474. Strix cinerea.
475. cinerea lapponica.
476. nebulosa.
477 nebulosa alleni.
478. occidentalis.
479. Nyctea scandiaca.
480. Surnia funerea.
481. funerea ulula.
482. Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni.
483. acadica.
484, Glaucidium gnoma.
485. ferrugineum.
486. Micrathene whitneyi.
487. Speotyto cunicularia hypogea.
488. cunicularia floridana.
| (377.
Guadalupe Island, Lower California.
382. Counurus carolinensis.
365. Strix pratincola,
375. Bubo virginianus.
375a. virginianus subarcticus,
373d. virginianus arcticus.
875e. virginianus saturatus.
373. Megascops asio.
373d. asio kennicottii.
873c, asio bendirei.
378e. asid maxwelliz.
373d. asio mccallii.
373d. asio floridanus,
3738f. asio trichopsis,
374. flammeolus,
866. Asio wilsonianus.
367. accipitrinus
370. Ulula cinerea.
[870a]. cinerea lapponica,
368. Syrnium nebulosum.
368a. _ nebulosum alleni.
369. occidentale.
376. Nyctea nyctea.
377a. Surnia ulula caparoch
ulula.
371. Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni.
372. acadica.
79. Glaucidium gnoma,
380. phaloenoides.
381. Micrathene whitneyi.
878. Speotyto cunicularia hypogea.
378a. cunicularia floridana.
1 An alleged dark-colored form occurring on the North West coast, from the Columbia River to Sitka,—a
region of heavy rain-fall, where the tendency of the whole ornis is to acquire heavier coloration. See Pr. Biol.
Soc. Washn., ii., Apr. 1884, p. 90.
56
882 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
489. Circus cyaneus hudsonius. 331. Circus hudsonius.
490. Rosirhamus sociabilis plumbeus. 330. Rostrhamus sociabilis.
491. Ictinia subecerulea. 329. Ictinia mississippiensis.
492. Elanus glaucus. 328. Elanus leucurus.
493. Elanoides forficatus. 827. Elanoides forficatus.
494. Accipiter fuscus. 332. Accipiter velox.
495. cooperi. 333. cooperi.
496. Astur atricapillus. 334. atricapillus.
497. atricapillus striatulus? 334a. atricapillus striatulus.
498. Falco sacer. 354a. Falco rusticolus gyrfalco.
499. sacer obsoletus. 3540. rusticolus obsoletus.
500. islandicus. 354. rusticolus.
501. candicans. 353. islandus.
502. mexicanus. 355. mexicanus.
503. peregrinus. 356. peregrinus anatum.
504. peregrinus pealii. 356a. peregrinus pealei.
505. columbarius. 357. columbarius. :
506. columbarius suckleyi? 357a. columbarius suckleyi.
507. columbarius richardsoni. 358. richardsonii.
508. sparverius. 360. sparverius.
509. sparverius isabellinus ? 000. [Properly omitted from the List.]
510. sparverioides. [361.] Falco sparverioides.
511. fusciccerulescens. 359. fusco-ccerulescens.
535. Polyborus auduboni. 862. Polyborus cheriway.
3638. lutosus.
535 bis. Add: Polyborus lutosus. GUADALUPE CaARkacARA. As stated in thee
Key, p. 540, this species is quite distinct, nearly the whole plumage being barred. The
diagnostic marks are tabulated by its describer as follows: “Scapulars plain dusky brown.
Tibie and flanks light isabella-color, barred with dark brown. Wing coverts (middle and
_ greater) marked with wide bars of brown and pale isabella-color, of equal width. Tail-
coverts and rump with broad bars of light isabella-color and grayish-brown. Tail with
broad bars of pale isabella-color and grayish-brown, separated by zigzag lines of dusky.
Abdomen isabella-color, with small sagittate bars of dark brown.” Wing 15.00-16.50; tail
10.50-11.50; bill 1.25-1.85; tarsus 3.50-3.75. Guadalupe Island, Lower California,
512. Buteo unicinctus harrisi. 335. Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi
518. albocaudatus. 341. Buteo albicaudatus.
514. cooperi? ¢id. cooperi.
515. harlani. 338. harlani.
516. borealis. 327. borealis.
517. borealis calurus. 337). borealis calurus.
518. borealis lucasanus. 337c. borealis lucasanus.
519. borealis krideri. 3374. borealis kriderii.
520. lineatus. 339. lineatus.
339a. lineatus alleni.
520 bis. Add: Buteo lineatus alleni. FLoripa Rep-SHouLpDERED Hawk. As stated
in the Key, p. 546, there is much variation in size, Florida and Gulf specimens being very
small. Such examples, having the wing 12.50 or less, tail 8.00 or less, etc., in the male,
have received the above name. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., vii., Jan. 1883, p. 514.
APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884.
521. Buteo lineatus elegans.
522. abbreviatus.
523. swainsoni.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.]
524. Buteo pennsylvanicus.
882. brachyurus.
883. fuliginosus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key. ]
525. Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis.
526. ferrugineus.
527. Asturina plagata.
. Urubitinga anthracina.
529. Onychotes gruberi.!
|. Thrasyaétus harpyia.
532, Aquila chrysaétus.
- Haliaétus albicilla.
534. leucocephalus.
. Pandion haliaétus.
536. Pseudogryphus californianus.
. Cathartes aura.
538. Catharista atrata.
589. Columba fasciata.
540. erythrina.
541. leucocephala.
548. Ectopistes migratorius.
542. Engyptila albifrons.
. Zenaidura carolinensis.
545. Zenaida amabilis.
- Melopelia leucoptera.
. Chamepelia passerina.
passerina pallescens?
549. Scardafella inca.
. Geotrygon martinica.
551. Starnoenas cyanocephala.
552. Ortalis vetula maccalli.
553. Meleagris gallipavo.
554. gallipavo americana.
555. Canace canadensis.
556. canadensis franklini.
557. obscura.
558. obscura richardsoni.
559. obscura fuliginosa.
560. Centrocercus urophasianus.
ma
fos
=
. Pedicecetes phasianellus-
1 This bird, long a puzzle to ornithologists, has proved.to be the Buteo solitarius of Peale.
883
UNION LIST, 1886.
8390. Buteo lineatus elegans.
340. abbreviatus.
342. swainsoni.
(336.] buteo.
343. latissimus.
[844.] brachyurus.
15. fuliginosus.
| [347.] Archibuteo lagopus.
347a. lagopus sancti-johannis.
348. ferrngineus.
346. Asturina plagiata.
345. Urubitinga anthracina.
000. [Properly removed from the List. ]
[850.] Thrasaétus harpyia.
349. Aquila chrysaétos.
[351.] Halizétus albicilla.
352. leucocephalus.
364. Pandion haliaétus carolinensis.
324. Pseudogryphus californianus.
825. Cathartes aura.
826. Catharista atrata.
312. Columba fasciata.
313. flavirostris.
314. leucocephala.
315. Ectopistes migratorius.
318. Engyptila albifrons.
316. Zenaidura macroura.
317. Zenaida zenaida.
319. Melopelia leucoptera.
820. Columbigallina passerina.
000. [Properly omitted from the List. }.
821. Scardafella inca.
[322.] Geotrygon martinica.
[328.] Starncenas cyanocephala.
311. Ortalis vetula maccalli.
310a. Meleagris gallopavo mexicana.?
310. gallopavo.
298. Dendragapus canadensis.
299. franklinii.
297. obscurus.
2975. obscurus richardsonii.
297. obscurus fuliginosus.
309. Centrocercus urophasianus.
808. Pediocetes phasianellus.
It is not a North
American species, but was originally described from the Sandwich. Islands, and afterward described and apured
by Cassin as Pandion solitarius.
See Pr. U. §. Nat. Mus., 1885, p. 86.
2 The A. O. U. Committee has reversed the proper names of the wild turkeys, reverting to an old error long
since exposed. See Key, p. 576.
884 APPENDIX.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886.
562 Pedicecetes phasianellus columbianus. 808a. Pediocetes phasianellus columbianus
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 308d. phasianellus campestris.
563. Cupidonia cupido. 305. Tympanuchus americanus.
306. cupido.
563 bis. Add: Cupidonia cupido brewsteri. N. Brewsrer’s Heata HEn.
This is the variety of the prairie-hen peculiar to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., differing appre-
ciably from the common stock, as pointed out by Mr. Brewster (Auk, 1885, p. 82), whose
inconclusive argument that Linneeus based his name Tetrao cupido exclusively upon this
form, leaves me the pleasure of dedicating the variety to the accomplished ornithologist who
first called attention to its characters,
564. Cupidonia cupido pallidicinctus. 307. Tympanuchus pallidicinctus.
565. Bonasa umbella. 300. Bonasa umbellus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 300a. umbellus togata.
-566. Bonasa umbella umbelloides. 8000. umbellus umbelloides.
567. umbella sabinii. 801e. umbellus sabini.
568. Lagopus albus. 301. Lagopus lagopus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 301la. lagopus alleni.}
569. Lagopus rupestris. 302. rupestris. ‘
000. [Not admitted in the Key.]} 302a. rupestris reinhardti.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] - 3020. rupestris nelsoni.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 302c. rvpestris atkensis.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 803. welchi.
570. Lagopus leucurus. 304. leucurus.
571. Ortyx virginiana. 289. Colinus virginianus.
572. virginiana floridana. 289a. virginianus floridanus.
573. virginiana texana. 2890. virginianus texanus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 290. graysoni [a mistake].
291. ridgwayi.
573 bis. Add: Ortyx ridgwayi. Arizona Boxn-wuiTE. Maskep Bos-wuHitr,
Hoopep Quart. Adult ¢: Front, and sides of head and neck, black, with or without a nar-
row white frontal line and superciliary stripe. Under parts chestnut or cinnamon (about the
color of the breast of a robin), varying much in shade, generally unspotted, except on the
flanks, where the feathers are usually tipped with an oval white spot, preceded by a subter-
minal black bar; lower tail-coverts with a V-shaped Black spot bordered with whitish ; occa-
sionally small touches of black and white along the sides. Crown, hind head, and nape mixed
black, white, and pale brown, or yellowish-white; hind neck and interscapulars reddish-brown,
usually with a grayish cast; back, ramp, and upper tail-coverts minutely variegated with black-
ish, pale brown, and grayish-white, the black usually prevailing, but variable in amount.
Wing-coverts rufous, each feather barred with blackish and edged and tipped with whitish ;
primaries dusky, edged and scalloped internally with whitish; secondaries externally dusky,
barred and freckled with pale brown and yellowish-white; inner secondaries and scapulars
edged with yellowish-white (very broadly so on the inner edges), and otherwise variegated.
Tail above bluish-gray, minutely freckled and waved with whitish; tail below gray, faintly
and irregularly barred and waved with grayish-white. Bill black; feet horn-color; iris brown.
Length 9.75; extent 14.25; wing 4.50; tail 2.75; tarsus 1.20. The female resembles that
1 Tt is not easy to account for the perversity of the Committee in insisting upon recognizing by name among
the ptarmigan characters which have repeatedly been shown to be elusive. Parallel perversity extended to birdg
at large would be ornithological anarchy. See Key, p. 568.
APPENDIX. 885
sex of C. virginianus texensis so closely as not to be distinguished with certainty. The species
is closely related to C. graysoni of Mexico, and may be found in fact to intergrade with the
latter. It inhabits southern Arizona and adjoining portions of Mexico, where it has long
been known to the natives, though only recently recognized by ornithologists. From the
first accounts which reached us, the bird was supposed to be C. graysoni, and it was entered
under this name in the A. O. U. List. It was first named C. ridgwayi by Brewster, The
Auk, April, 1885, p. 199. A monograph of the species and its allies, illustrated by a colored
plate, is given by Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., July, 1886, pp. 273-290, pl. 23.
COUES KEY, 1884. UNION LIST, 1886,
574. Orortyx picta. 292. Oreortyx pictus.
000. [Not admitted in the Key.] 292a. pictus plumiferus.
575. Lophortyx californica. 294. Callipepla californica.
000. [Not admitted in the Key. ] 294a. californica vallicola.
576. Lophortyx gambeli. 295. gambeli.
577. Callipepla squamata. 298. squamata.
298a. squamata castanogastris.
577 bis. Add: Callipepla squamata castaneiventris. CHESTNUT-BELLIFD SCALED
PartripGe. Like the last, but the general coloring deeper and richer ; crown concolorous
with the back, and cheeks with the breast, both much darker than the throat; and belly
with a conspicuous central patch of uniform Chestnut. The @Q lacks this patch, and is
much paler than the ¢. While the true C. squamata inhabits the Mexican table lands and
thence into Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas, this form appears to characterize the
lower lands, extending into the lower Rio Grande valley. Bull. Nuttall Club, viii., Jan.
1883, p. 34.
578. Cyrtonyx massena. 296. Cyrtonyx montezume.
579: Coturnix dactylisonans. 000. [Not admitted in the List.]
580. Squatarola helvetica, 270. Charadrius squatarola.
581. Charadrius dominicus. 272. dominicus.
582. dominicus fulvus. 272a. dominicus fulvus.
583. pluvialis. (271.] apricarius.
584. Aigialites vociferus. 273. Egialitis vocifera.
585. wilsonius. 280. wilsonia.
586. semipalmatus. 274. semipalmata.
587. melodus. 277. meloda.
588. melodus circumcinctus ? 277a. meloda circumcincta.
589. hiaticula. 275. hiaticula.
590. curonicus. (276.] dubia.
591. cantianus nivosus. 278. Nnivosa.}
(279. ] mongola.
591 bis. Add: Aigialites mongolicus. MonGoLtraAN PLover. Adult &@, in sum-
mer: Above, brownish-gray; below, white, with a broad cinnamon or chestnut pectoral bar,
extending more or less along the sides, encircling the neck behind, and somewhat tinging
the pileum. A long black subocular stripe, involving the lores and auriculars, reaching to
the bill, continuous in front of the eye with a black frontlet, in advance of which is a
white area divided by a narrow median line of black which connects the black frontlet with
1 A proper change, giving this species full rank, as distinguished from 2. camtianus, a8 suggested in the
Key, p. 604. ‘
886
APPENDIX.
the base of the cuimen. Wing-feathers dusky; shaft of first primary white; several inner
primaries with white area along their outer
webs; the secondaries and greater coverts
tipped with white. Tail-feathers like the
back, tipped with white, and successively
paler laterally, till the outermost are nearly
white; upper tail-coverts also tipped with
whitish. Bill and feet black. The young
lack the distinctive chestnut and black mark-
ings, though the breast may be somewhat
suffused with pale cinnamon, and at an early
age all the feathers of the upper parts have
pale edgings. Wing 5.25; tail 2.25; bill
0.70; tarsus 1.15; middle toe 0.75. .
22. . Wwumizusume.
23. Brachyramphus marmoratus.
24. kittlitzii.
25. hypoleucus.
26. craveri.
00. [Not admitted in the List.]
27. Cepphus grylle.
28. mandtii.
APPENDIX:
COVES KEY, 1884.
871 bis. Add: Uria grylle mandti.
Manpt’s GUILLEMOT.
895
UNION LIST, 1886.
Similar to the last, and
probably only the perfected plumage of it, having the white on both sides of the wing pure
and unbroken; the bill said to be smaller.
A circumpolar range is ascribed to this form,
which is said to come south in winter as far as New Jersey and Norton Sound, Alaska.
872. Uria columba.
873. carbo.
873 his, Add: Uria carbo motzfeldi.
29. Cepphus columba,
3. carbo.
72. motzfeldi.
MortzFre.Lp’s GuitLemort. Like the last, but
lacking the whitish patch on the side of the head. North Atlantic; Greenland.
874. Lomvia troile
875. troile californica.
876. arra.
876 bis. (See Key, p. 818.]
877 Utamania torda.
878. Alca impennis.
30. Uria troile.
30a. troile californica.
81a. lomvia arra.
81. lomvia.
32. Alca torda.
83. Plautus impennis.
SECOND APPENDIX.
Since the publication of the Third Edition of the Kry, in 1887, the American Orni-
thologists’ Union has continued its active work upon North American Birds. A Committee
of the Union published in 1889 a ‘* Supplement to the Code of Nomenclature and Check-list
of North American Birds adopted by the American Ornithologists’ Union” (New York,
pp- iv., 23). The same Committee published in January, 1890, a ‘*Second Supplement ”’
(The Auk, VII., No. 1, pp. 60-66). Each of these Supplements treats briefly of —
J. Additions; II. Eliminations ; III. Changes of Nomenclature; the Second Supplement
also of —IV. Species and Subspecies considered as not entitled to recognition (being a few
published in 1889 which the Committee disapprove).
Some of the changes made in these two Supplements of 1889 and 1890 support the stand
taken by the Key List of 1887 against the Union List of 1886 ; some are merely synony-
matic ; others are-actual additions to our knowledge of North American Birds.
The foregoing “ Appendix” (pp. 865-895 of the Key), shows in double columns the
differences between the Kmy List of 1884, and the Union List of 1886, and introduces such
changes as I saw fit to make in the third edition of 1887.
The present ‘‘ Second Appendix ’’ notes every further change reported by the Union’s
Committee from 1887 to January 1890 inclusive. In most cases J prefer to express no
individual opinion, for the judgment of the Committee is presumed to be final so far as
present evidence is concerned. But the names of species and subspecies which I am fully
prepared to admit to the Ky as additions or emendations are printed in thick type.
E. C.
SMITHSONIAN InstTiTUTION, WAsHINGTON, D. C., April, 1890.
No. 18 a, p. 248. Turdus sequoiensis, An- No. 36 a, p. 261. Polioptila cerulea ob-
thony, Proc. Cala. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., IL,
June, 1889, is deferred for final action by the
Committee, owing to insufficient evidence.
No. 18, p. 251. Harporhynchus rufus longi-
yostris becomes H. longirostris sennetti, Ridg-
way, Pr. U. &. Nat. Mus., Aug. 1888, p.
506.
No. 28, p. 258. The Committee decline
to recognize Sialia mexicana anabele of An-
thony, Proc. Cala. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., IL,
Oct. 1889, p. 79, deeming the ascribed char-
acters insufficient.
scura, named by Ridgway in 1883 (Pr. U. S.
Nat. Mus., V., p. 535), is now recognized by
the Committee, and assigned a local habita-
tion in California, Arizona, and western
Mexico.
No. 40 bis, p. 866. Lophophanes bicolor
texensis, which I recognized in 1887, is con-
firmed under the original name, Parus bicolor
texensis.
No. 49 a, p. 267. Parus hudsonicus stoneyi
is a new subspecies described from the Kowak
River in Alaska as P. stoneyi by Ridgway,
898
Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 591.. It is said
to be “similar to P. hudsonicus, but much
grayer above, sides of neck purer ash-gray,
sides much paler rusty, and throat clear
slate-black instead of sooty blackish.”’ As
only three specimens were known, the char-
acters adduced may not be confirmed when
larger series from the same locality show
how great may be the range of individual
variation in shades of coloration.
No. 47 a, p. 266. Parus carolinensis agilis
is a new subspecies described from eastern
and central Texas by Sennett, Auk, Jan.
1888, p. 46.
No. 54 a, p. 268. Psaltriparus santarite isa
new species from the Santa Rita Mountains
of Arizona, described by Ridgway, Pr. U. S.
Nat. Mus., Sept. 1888, p. 697.
No. 55, p. 268. Psaltriparus melanotis be-
comes P. Hoydi, Sennett, Auk, Jan. 1888,
p. 43.
No. 61 a, p. 271. Sitta pygmeea leuconucha is
described from the San Pedro Mountains of
Lower California by Anthony, Pr. Cala. Acad.
Sci., 2d ser., II., Oct. 1889, p. 77, and re-
cognized as a subspecies by the Committee.
No. 62 8, p. 278. Certhia familiaris mon-
tana, Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., July,
1882, p. 114, is recognized as a valid sub-
species, inhabiting the Rocky Mountains
from northern Mexico to Alaska. It is said
to differ from the common Creeper in being
grayer above, with more distinctly contrasted
tawny rump, and longer bill, wings, and tail.
No. 62 ¢, p. 278. Certhia familiaris occi-
dentalis, Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., July,
1882, p. 114, is recognized as a valid sub-
species, inhabiting the Pacific Coast from
California to southern Alaska. It is said
to be darker and more rusty in general cast
of plumage, with the lateral lower parts more
or less strongly tinged with brownish, the
supercilliary stripe browner, and the wing-
markings buffy.
No. 67 a, p. 276. Catherpes mexicanus
punctulatus, the Dotted Cafion Wren, which
I admitted to the Key in 1884, but which
the Committee disallowed in the Union
List of 1886, is recognized in the List of
1889.
SECOND APPENDIX.
No. 70 a, p. 277. Thryothorus ludovicianus
lomite is described by Sennett, Auk, Jan.
1890, p. 58, from Lomita, southeastern Texas,
and recognized by the Committee. It appears
to be intermediate between T. ludovicianus
and T. 1. berlandieri.
No. 75 bis, p. 278. Add: Troglodytes
domesticus aztecus. AzTEC House-WREN.
(T. aédon aztecus, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864,
p. 189.) This is the form of Western House-
Wren which has usually been called ‘‘ Park-
man’s Wren.’’ It occurs from Illinois west-
ward and south into Mexico, but not on the
Pacific coast of the United States, where it
is replaced by 7’. d. parkmani. The descrip-
tion of the latter in the Kry includes aztecus.
See Allen, Auk, April, 1888, p. 164.
No. 80, p. 279. This subspecies of Marsh
Wren, admitted with a query in the Kry, is
confirmed under its original name, Cistothorus
palustris paludicola of Baird, Rev. Am. Birds,
1864, p. 148.
No. 80 bis, p. 279. Add: Telmatodytes
marianz. Marran’s Marsy Wren. Like
T. palustris ; coloration olivaceous instead of
rufous brown; under parts darker; upper
and under tail-coverts and flanks barred.
A dark form, apparently resident. Tarpon
Springs, southwestern Florida. Cistothorus
mariane, Scott, Auk, April, 1888, p. 188.
No. 111 a, p. 298. Dendroica [lege Den-
dreeca] estiva sonorana, Brewster, Auk, Aprii,
1888, p. 1387, of western Texas, southern
Arizona, and northwestern Mexico, is ad-
mitted by the Commitiee.
No. 141 a,p. 310. Geothlypis trichas ignota
is described by Chapman, Auk, Jan. 1890,
p- 11, from Florida and Georgia, as like
G. trichas, but with longer tarsus, tail, and
hill, shorter first primary, and deeper colora-
tion. This local race is admitted by the
Committee.
The G. trichas roscoe revived by Has-
brouck, Auk, April, 1889, p. 167, is rejected
by the Committee, on the ground that
‘* Sylvia”? roscoe of Audubon is a mere syn-
onym of G. trichas, and that what Mr. Has-
brouck called G. t. roscoe should be G. t.
wgnota.
No. 158, p. 817. Certhiola bahamensis be-
SECOND APPENDIX.
comes Coareba bahamensis. See Ridgway,
Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 590.
No. 157 bis, p. 318. Piranga rubriceps.
A South American Tanager which has acci-
dentally occurred in Santa Barbara Co., Cali-
fornia. See Bryant, Auk, Jan. 1887, p. 78.
It was originally named by the late Mr.
George Robert Gray, in Gray and Mitchell’s
Genera of Birds, Vol. I1., 1844, and figured on
plate 89 of that great work.
No. 165 bis, p. 8325. Progne eryptoleuca of
Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, May, 1865, which I
have never admitted to the Kany, and which
was not allowed in the Union List of 1886,
is now recognized by the Committee as a
good species. It may perhaps stand as a
smaller race of the common house martin,
to be known as P. subis eryptoleuca. The
tail is said to be narrower, and relatively
more deeply forked ; and the adult male
to have the feathers of the ventral region
marked beneath the surface with white,
whence the name eryptoleuca. The size is
less than that of P. subis. This race occurs
in Florida, Cuba, and probably in Central
America.
No. 165 ter, p. 325. Progne subis hesperia.
This western Martin is described from Cali-
fornia by Brewster, Auk, April, 1889, p. 92.
The male is said to be indistinguishable from
the ordinary P. subis, and the female to differ
from that of P. subis in having the belly,
vent, and crissum white, nearly or quite im-
maculate; the flanks, breast, throat, forehead,
and nuchal collar grayish-white, the feathers
of the back and rump edged with grayish or
pale brown, the bend of the wings and un-
der wing-coverts spotted with white.
No. 177 bis, p. 872. Vireo solitarius alticola,
Brewster, Auk, Jan. 1886, p. 111, admitted
-to the Key in 1887, is confirmed by the
Committee.
No. 181 bis, p. 872. Vireo noveboracensis
maynardi, Brewster, Auk, April, 1887, p. 148,
admitted to the Kry in 1887, is confirmed
by the Committee.
No. 188 a, p. 338. Lanius ludovicianus
gambeli, Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887,
p. 467, is named as a new subspecies from
the coast of California, and approved by
899
the Committee. The author names and at-
tempts to characterize it ‘‘ with extreme
reluctance,” yet has felt ‘‘compelled to do
so, or else drop L. excubitoroides.”
No. 196, p. 347. Carpodacus frontalis is
reduced to C. mexicanus frontalis, Ridgway,
Man. N. A. Birds, p. 391.
No. 196, p. 847. A new subgenus Burrica
is based on Carpodacus mexicanus (Fringilla
mexicana, Miiller, Syst. Nat. Suppl. 1766, p.
165) of Ridgway (Pr. Biol. Soc. Washing-
ton, 1885, p. 111), Man. N. A. Birds, 1887,
p. 890.
No. 196 a, p. 847. Carpodacus mexicanus
ruberrimus is doubtfully named by Ridgway,
Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 392, as the St.
Lucas House Finch, a subspecies inhabiting
Lower California and parts of Sonora.
No. 197, p. 848. Carpodacus frontalis
rhodocolpus, which IJ reluctantly admitted as
an ‘alleged variety,’”’ is properly eliminated
by the Committee.
No. 219 a, p. 356. Plectrophanes nivalis
townsendi is described from the Prybilof and
Commander Islands by Ridgway, Man. N. A.
Birds, 1887, p. 403, as a new subspecies of
Plectrophenaz, differing from P. nivalis in
being larger, with a longer bill.
No. 283 a, p. 865. Poocetes [lege Pow-
cetes] gramineus affinis, Miller, Auk, Oct.
1888, p. 404, is admitted from California
and western Oregon, as the Oregon Vesper
Sparrow. It is compared with the eastern
form in the color of the upper parts, and with
the western conjinis in the slender bill and
narrow dorsal streaks.
No. 239 a, p. 869. Ammodramus maritimus
peninsule, Allen, Auk, July, 1888, p. 284,
is a new subspecies of the Seaside Finch
described from southwestern Florida and
along the Gulf coast to Louisiana. It is
compared with A. nigrescens.
No. 289 6, p. 868. Ammodramus maritimus
sennetti, Allen, Auk, July, 1888, p. 286, is
described as a new subspecies from Corpus
Christi, coast of Texas. In this form, as in
A. m. peninsule, the young birds appear to
be more readily distinguishable from allied
races than the adults are.
No. 240 a, p. 368. Ammodramus caudacu-
900
tus subvirgatus, the Acadian Sharp-tailed
Sparrow, is described as a new subspecies
by Dwight, Auk, July, 1887, p. 233, and the
Committee give its range as the coast of
southern New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, probably Nova Scotia, and south-
ward at least to Long Island. It is said
to be ‘similar in size and coloring to A.
eaudacutus, but paler and much less conspicu-
ously streaked beneath with pale greenish
gray instead of black or deep brown. Bill
averages smaller. Compared with nelsoni it
is much paler and grayer, generally larger
and with a longer bill.’’
No. 242 bis, p. 370. Add: Melospiza lincolni
striata. Forpusn’s Sparrow. Similar to
M. lincolni; superciliary stripe and whole
upper parts more strongly olivaceous, with
the dark streaks coarser, blacker, and more
numerous, especially on the pileum, back,
and upper tail-coverts. British Columbia.
Brewster, Auk, April, 1889, p. 89.
No. 247 a, p. 872. Melospiza fasciata rivu-
laris, Bryant, Proc. Cala. Acad. Sci., Sept.
1888, p. 197, is a new subspecies of Song
Sparrow described from Lower California,
and recognized by the Committee.
No. 261 a, p. 874, note. Junco hiemalis caro-
linensis, Brewster, Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 108, is
now recognized by the Committee as a valid
species under the name J. carolinensis. It is
that form of eastern Snowbird which breeds
in the southern Alleghanies.
No, 267 quater, p. 379. Junco hiemalis
townsendi. Anthony, Proc. Cala. Acad. Sci.,
2d ser., Oct. 1889, p.76, describes a new Snow-
bird from the San Pedro Mountains as J.
townsendi, the full specific rank of which is
allowed by the Committee in the Second Sup-
plement, 1889.
No. 271 bis, p. 875. This subspecies, ad-
mitted to the Kry in 1887, is confirmed by
the Committee, under the name Spizella pusilla
arenacea, Western Field-Sparrow.
No, 291 bis, p. 890. Add: Guiraca cerulea
eurhyncha, described by me in Amer. Nat.,
Sept. 1874, p. 578, but never taken into the
Key, through deference to the opinion of the
Committee, is now recognized by them as a
valid subspecies inhabiting Mexico, north to
SECOND APPENDIX.
Colorado and California. It is somewhat
larger than the common Blue Grosbeak, of a
rather paler blue, and has a disproportionately
larger bill, as implied in the name.
No. 293 a, p. 891. Passerina versicolor pul-
chra, the “ Beautiful Bunting,’’ is described
as a new subspecies from Lower California
and northwestern Mexico by Ridgway, Man.
N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 448. The length as-
signed (5.50 inches) is identical with that
ascribed to P. versicolor; the wings and tail
are said to be shorter; the male is said to
have the ‘red on occiput brighter, purple on
throat less reddish (never decidedly red ?),
flanks brighter plum-purple, and rump more
purplish-blue or lavender.’’
No, 296, p. 892. Spermophila moreleti be-
comes Sporophila morelleti sharpei, Law-
rence, Auk, Jan. 1889, p. 53.
No. 277, p. 388. Zonotrichia leucophrys in-
termedia. The Committee now revert to this
nomenclature, which the Kry has preserved
in its 2d and 3d editions, 1884 and 1887,
against the Union List of 1886.
No. 278, p. 883. Zonotrichia gambeli. The
Committee now revert to Z. leucophrys gam-
beli of the orig. ed. of the Kny, 1872, p. 145.
No. 297 bis, p. 392. Add: Euetheia
canora, MeELopious GrassquiT. A small
West Indian Grassquit, originally named
Loxia canora by Gmelin in the 18th edition
of the Systema Naturg, 1788, p. 858, and
referred to its proper genus by Dr. John
Gundlach in Cabanis’ Journal fiir Ornithol-
ogie, 1874, p. 123, has been found on Som-
brero Key in southern Florida. See Merriam,
Auk, July, 1888, p. 322. So far as known
it is only a straggler to our fauna.
No, 298 a, p. 8938. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata
beckhami, Ridgway, Auk, Oct. 1887, p. 347, is
a@ new subspecies described from western
Texas to southern Arizona and south into
northwestern Mexico.
No. 298 6, p. 398. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata pen-
insule, Ridgway, Auk, Oct. 1887, p. 347, is a
new subspecies described from Lower Cali-
fornia.
No. 315, p. 408. Molothrus eneus becomes
Callothrus robustus, Ridgway, Man. N. A.
Birds, 1887, p. 589. (See Cabanis, Mus.
: SECOND APPENDIX.
Hein., I., 1851, p. 198, note.) The genus
Catlothrus of Cassin, Pr. Phila. Acad., 1866,
p- 18, is adopted.
No. 316 a, p. 404. Ageélaius [lege Ageleus]
pheeniceus bryanti is named by Ridgway, Man.
N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 370, as a subspecies,
the Bahaman Redwing, occurring also in
southern Florida. It is said to be smaller
than the common Marsh-blaékbird, and the
female to be lighter colored.
No. 3168, p. 404. Agelaius [lege Ageleus]
pheniceus sonoriensis is also named by the
same author in the same place. It is said to
differ from A. pheniceus in the same way that
A. p. bahamensis does, but to be larger than
the latter, with a smaller bill, and to have
the upper parts lighter colored.
No. 888 a, p. 416. Corvus coraz principalis
is a large northern Raven named by Ridgway,
Man. N, A. Birds, 1887, 861, but the assigned
dimensions are well within the known range
of individual variation of the common Amer-
ican bird. I am inclined to think that the
latter is distinguishable from C. coraz of
Europe, and its tenable subspecific name is
probably sinuatus of Wagler, failing which
for any reason the next appears to be carni-
vorus of Baird, 1858.
No. 350, p. 421. The Committee decline
to recognize Cyanocitta stelleri litoralis of May-
nard, Ornith. and OGl., April, 1889, p. 59.
No. 851, p. 422. Cyanositta stelleri annecténs
of Baird (1874), which is in both the later
editions of the Key, but was rejected from
the Union List of 1886, is now confirmed
by the Committee.
No. 856 a, p. 424. Aphelocoma californica
hypoleuca is described by Ridgway, Man. N.
A. Birds, 1887, p. 356, from Lower California,
in the vicinity of Cape St. Lucas; it is said
to be smaller than A. californica, with larger
bill and feet, paler blue back and whiter
under parts.
“901
No. 356 6, p. 424. Aphelocoma floridana
vbscura is described from the San Pedro
Mountains of Lower California as A. cali-
Jornica obscura by Anthony, Proe. Cala. Acad.
Sci., 2d ser., Oct. 1889, p. 75, and admitted
by the Committee, under the latter name, in
their Second Supplement, 1889.
No. 356 bis, p. 878. Aphelocoma floridana
insularis is now recognized by the Conimittee
as of specific validity.
No. 380, p. 488. A new subgenus Nuttal-
lornis, Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887,
p. 337, is adopted for that section of the
genus Contopus of which C’ borealis, the Olive-
sided Flycatcher, is the type.
No. 3889 bis, p. 442. Add: Empidonax
cineritius. St. Lucas FrycatcHer. Most
like E. difficilis: general coloration much
duller; upper parts scarcely tinged with
greenish ; no decided yellow below, except-
ing on jugulum and abdomen; wing-bands
brownish-white. Sexes similar, Wing 2.65;
tail 2.40; tarsus 0.68. Lower California.
Brewster, Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 90.
No. 391, p. 448. Empidonaz obscurus, The
alternative name E. wrighti (after Baird,
B. N. A. 1858, p. 200) is now adopted by the
Committee (see Brewster, Auk, April, 1889,
p. 89). This is best, because Swainson’s
name obscura (Phil. Mag., 1827, p. 367) is
not accompanied by a description which en-
ables us to identify his bird.
No, 391 bis, p. 448. Add: Empidonax
griseus. Gray FLycatcHer. Nearest E.
wrighti (of Baird; obscurus of American orni-
thologists) ; larger and much grayer, the bill
longer, the lower mandible fiesh-colored on
the basal half, in contrast with the blackish
terminal portion. #, wing 2.68; tail 2.45;
tarsus 0.72; bill 0.62; 9 somewhat smaller.
Lower California and probably Arizona.
Brewster, Auk, April, 1889, p. 87.
20 A. Family COTINGIDA: Cotingas.
An extensive family of tropical and sub-
tropical American Clamatorial Passerine
Birds, to be now formally added to the North
American Fauna, in which the Clamatores
have long been held to be represented only
by the Tyrannide. The Cotingide, though
related to the Tyrannide, may be distin-
guished, so far as the two following genera
902
are concerned at least, by the extensive co-
hesion of the inner and middle toes, the
reticulation of the posterior face of the tar-
sus, and especially by the shortness of the
first primary in the male, together with. the
slight hooking of the bill.
126.4. PLATYPSARIS, (Gr. mharis,
platus, broad; dp, psar, a starling. Bona-
parte, 1854; Sclater, P. Z.S.,1857, p.72. Type
Pachyrhamphus latirostris, Bonap.) BECARDS.
Nostrils hidden by bristly feathers; hook of
bill very slight, and bill not much flattened;
rictal bristles long ; head somewhat crested;
Ist primary short; 2d emarginate in the
male; tail rounded; tarsus with large scutella
on the inner side. Sexes dissimilar. Two
species occur on the Mexican border of the
United States.
No. 394 bis, p. 444. Add: Platypsaris
aglaiz. RosE-THROATED BEcARD. ¢ adult:
above, slate-gray, with the crown glossy
black; below, ashy-gray, with a rosy patch
on the throat. 9 above dark rusty brown,
becoming slaty on the crown. Length 6.60;
wing 3.50; tail 2.75; bill 0.65. Eastern
Mexico, north to the valley of the Rio Grande.
(Pachyrhynchus aglaie, Lafresnaye, Rev.
Zool., 1839, p. 98; Pachyrhamphus aglaie,
Baird, Birds North America, 1858, p. 164,
and Mex. Bound. Survey, 1859, II., pt. ii., pl.”
ix., fig. 1; Platypsaris aglaie, Sumichrast,
Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. I., 1869, p.
558.)
No. 394 ter, p. 444. Add: Platypsaris
albiventris, WHITE-BELLIED Brcarp.
@ adult: resembling the preceding, but
lighter and more ashy-gray above, the crown
slaty, the under parts pale grayish, whitening
on the belly. 9 correspondingly paler than
that of P. aglaie. Western Mexico, north
into southern Arizona. (Hadrostomus albi-
ventris, Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist.,
VIII, 1867, p. 475; Platypsaris albiventris,
Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 325.)
126 B. PACHYRHAMPHUS, (Gr. rays,
pachus, thick; pdydos, rhamphos, beak. G. R.
Gray, List Genera Birds, 1838, p, 41.) Re-
sembling the preceding; bill more flattened,
with shorter rictal bristles; tail graduated
about 4 an inch; tarsus naked on inner side.
SECOND APPENDIX.
Sexes very unlike. One species found on
the Mexican border of the United States.
No. 394 quater, p. 444. Add: Pachy-
rhampus major. GREATER BecarpD. ¢ ad-
ult : above, ashy-gray, becoming glossy black
on the back and crown, and white on the
scapulars; below, pale ash, whitening on
throat, belly, and crissum; wings black,
with white edging or tipping of the coverts
and some inner secondaries ; tail black, with
white tips of the feathers. 9 mostly chest-
nut brown, paler below, black on the crown
and ends of the tail-feathers.. Length 6.50;
wing 3.25; tail 2.65; bill 0.60. Eastern
Mexico, north to the valley of the lower Rio
Grande ; introduced to our fauna by Baird in
1858 under the name of Bathmidurus major,
and figured in Report of the Mexican Boun-
dary Survey, 1859, pl. ix, fig. 2, but like
Platypsaris aglaie lost sight of for some years,
and not yet recognized in the Committee’s
list. (See Sclater, P. Z. 8., 1857, p. 78;
Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 326.)
No. 395, p. 450. Nyctidromus albicollis be-
comes WN. a. merrilli, Sennett, Auk, Jan.
1888, p.44. The Texan form is distinguished
by its larger size (wing and tail each averag-
ing 7.00 inches), prevailing gray coloration
of the upper parts, and in the male the re-
duction or extinction of the white on the
outer tail-feather.
No. 398 bis, p. 879. Phalenoptilus nuttalli
nitidus, the Frosted Poor-will, is confirmed by
the Committee.
No, 898 bis, a, p. 453. Phalcenoptilus
nuitalla californicus is proposed as a new
subspecies from the coast of California by
Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 588,
note, and confirmed by the Committee. Two
skins are said to be “altogether darker than
any from elsewhere.”
No. 400 bis, p. 454. Add: Chordediles
popetue sennetti, Coues, Auk, Jan. 1888, p.
37. This is that pale subspecies of the Night-
hawk which is characteristic of the un-
wooded country from Texas to Dakota. It
is recognized by the Committee under the
name of Chordeiles virginianus sennetti after-
ward bestowed by Chamberlain, Syst. Tabl.
Canadian Birds, 1888, App. A, p. 14.
SECOND APPENDIX.
No. 401, p. 454. Chordediles popetue minor
becomes Chordeiles virginianus chapmani,
(Sennett MSS.), Coues, Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 37. |
No. 410 dis, p. 462. Add: ‘ Trochilus
violijugularis. V1ioLET-THROATED Hum-
MING-BIRD. @ adult: above, metallic golden
green; sides dull green; flanks less green,
the feathers tipped with brown; gorgelet
violet glancing to steel-blue; wings dusky
purplish with a buff line along the edge of
the manus, the coverts dull green ; primaries
broad to the tip, that of the first recurved;
tail slightly forked; its feathers broad ex-
cept the last pair, which are narrowly linear ;
shafts of the outer pair abruptly angulated ;
middle feathers and base of second pair metal-
lic green ; rest dusky purplish ; under tail-
coverts white with green spots. Length 3.60;
wing 1.80; tail 1.20; bill 0.75. Santa Bar-
bara, coast of southern California. Trochilus
violajugulum [sic] Jeffries, Auk, April, 1888,
p- 168; A. O. U. Committee’s Suppl. List,
1889, p. 10.
No. 413 bis, p. 464. Add: Selasphorus
floresii, FLOREsI’3 HUMMING-BIRD. A
Mexican species which has also been found
in California near San Francisco. (Gould,
Mon. Troch., III., Sept. 1861, pl. 1389; Trochi-
lus floresii. Loddiges), Gray, Handl., I., 1869,
p. 144; A. O. U. Committee’s Suppl. List,
1889, p.10. See Bryant, Forest and Stream,
dune 24, 1886, p. 426.)
No. 429 a, p.476. Coccyzus (or Coccygus)
americanus occidentalis is described by Ridg-
way, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 278, as
larger than C. americanus, with proportion-
ally larger and stouter bill. Its habitat is
given as the: western United States, east
to New Mexico and Colorado, north .to
Oregon, and south over the tablelands of
Mexico.
No. 480 a, p. 476. Coccygus seniculus
maynardi is a subspecies inhabiting the
Bahamas and Florida Keys, possibly dis-
tinguishable from the ordinary Mangrove
Cuckoo. It appears to be somewhat smaller,
on an average, and paler buff on the under
parts. It was named as a full species by Mr.
Ridgway, Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 274,
and was reduced to a subspecies by Allen,
903
with the approval'of the Committee, under
the name Coccyzus minor maynardi.
No. 434, p. 481. Picus scalaris is changed
to Dryobates scalaris bairdi (after Picus
| bairdi, Sclater, in Majherbe’s Mon. Pic.,
1861, p. 118, pl. 27).
No. 487, p. 482. Picus stricklandi is
changed to Dryobates arizone, Ridgway,
Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 286 (after Picus
arizone, Hargitt, Ibis, April, 1886, p. 115).
No. 489 bis, p. 483. Add: Picus villosus
hyloscopus. (P. hyloscopus, Cabanis and
Heine, Mus. Hein., IV., pt. ii:, 1863, p. 69;
Dryobates villosus hyloscopus, Brewster, Auk,
July, 1888, p. 252). This is the white-bellied
race of Harris’s Woodpecker which occurs
in most parts of the western United States
and southward into Mexico, as distinguished
from the smoky-bellied form from the north-
west coast. The distinction is noted in the
Key, p. 483, and I am inclined to think it
worthy of recognition by name.
No. 441, p. 483. The Committee decline
to recognize Dryobates pubescéns fumidus of
Maynard, Ornith. and Odl., April, 1889, p.
58, which they regard as a synonym of
gairdneri.
No. 441 a, p. 483. Add: Picus pubescens
oreecus. BATCHELDER’S WooDPECcKER.
Described by Mr. C. F. Batchelder in the
Auk, July, 1889, p. 253, as Dryobates pubescens
oreacus, from the Rocky Mountain region
of the United States. As compared with
pubescens or gairdneri, it seems to offer a
parallel case with that of hyloscopus, and the
Committee have probably been right in re-
cognizing it in the Second Supplement.
No. 458, p. 569. Under the name Colum-
bigallina passerina pallescens, this pale form of
the Ground Dove, which I have doubtfully
kept in all the editions of the Kry, and which
was rejected by, the Committee in 1886, is
restored in the Supplementary List of 1889,
with the assigned habitat of Mexico and ad-
jacent border of the United States from Texas
to Arizona. It was originally described by
Baird in 1859 as Chamepelia passerina ? var.
pallescens, from Cape St. Lucas, according to
my recollection of the original Xantus speci-
mens which I examined in that year.
904
No. 474, p. 509. Strix cinerea becomes
Scotiaptex cinerea, Swainson, Class. B. 1837,
p. 217.
No. 475, p. 509. Strix cinerea lapponica be-
comes Scotiaptex cinerea lapponica, Ridgway,
Man. N. A. Birds, 1887, p. 260 (after Strix
lapponica, Retzius, Fn. Suec., 1800, p. 79).
No. 4844, p. 514. Glaucidium gnoma cali-
fornicum (G. californicum Sclater, P. Z. S.,
1857, p. 4) is recognized as the Pacific Coast
form of G, gnoma, from California to British
America.
No. 485 bis, p. 515. Add: Glaucidium
hoskinsi. Hosx1ns’s Premy Ow.. Simi-
lar to the preceding, but smaller and grayer;
upper parts less distinctly spotted; forehead
and facial disk with more white. Wing 3.30;
tail 2.50; tarsus 0.75; chord of culmen 0.50.
An interesting addition to our fauna lately
discovered in Lower California. G. gnoma
hoskinsii, Brewster, Auk, April, 1888, p. 136,
but later accorded full specific rank by its
describer with the approval of the Committee.
No. 486, p. 516. Micrathene whitneyi be-
comes Micropallas whitneyi, Coues, Auk, Jan.
1889, p. 71, the generic name originally be-
stowed being antedated by Micrathena of
Sundevall, a genus of arachnidans.
-No. 507 bis, p. 587. Add: Falco regulus.
EuRoPEAN MERLIN. (fF. regulus, Pallas,
Reise Russich. Reichs., II., 1773, p. 707;
F. esalon of most authors.) This well-known
European and Asiatic Falcon, belonging to
the subgenus salon, is recorded as acciden-
tal at sea off Greenland. See Kumlein, Auk,
Oct. 1887, p. 345.
No. 510 bis, p. 588. Add: Falco tinnun-
eulus. European Kestret. This well-
known bird of Europe and Asia has been
detected as a straggler in Massachusetts. See
Cory, Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 110, and April, 1888,
p- 205.
No. 518, p. 542, The subgenus Tachytri-
orchis of Kaup, Class. Siug. und Vég., 1844,
recognized by Cassin in Birds N. A., 1858,
p. 31, is now applied to that subgenus of
Buteo of which B. albocaudatus of Vieillot
(Falco pterocies of Temminck) is the type
species.
Nos. 882, 883, p. 549. Buteo “ fuliginosus,”’
SECOND APPENDIX.
as here intimated, is the same as B. brachyurus,
and it has been eliminated from the Union
List. See Scott, Auk, July, 1889, p. 243;
Ridgway, Auk, Jan. 1890, p. 90.
No. 589 bis, p. 565. Add: Columba fasciata
viosce. Vrosca’s Picron. Similar to C.
fasciata, but with the tail-band wanting or
only faintly indicated, the general coloration
lighter and more uniform, the vinaceous tints,
especially, being more or less replaced by
bluish-ash. Lower California. Brewster,
Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 86.
No. 550 bis, p. 571. Add: Geotrygon
montana. Ruppy QUAIL-DovE. (Columba
montana, Linn., 1758; Geotrygon montana,
Bonap., Consp. Av., I., 1850, p. 72.) A long
and well known inhabitant of tropical and
subtropical America, including the West
Indies and Mexico, lately found at Key West,
Florida. See Scott, Auk, April, 1889, 160;
July, 1889, p. 246.
No. 572 bis, p. 591. Adds Ortyx virginiana
cubanensis. Cusan Bopwuits. Under the
name Colinus virginianus cubanensis the Com-
mittee recognize a second variety in Florida
and identify it with the Cuban form. In this
the black marking of the under parts is in
great excess, the male having the breast chiefly
. if not entirely black.
No. 574 a, p. 591. Oreortyx picta confinis
is described by Anthony, Proc. Cala. Acad.
Sci., 2d ser., II., Oct. 1889, p. 74, from the
San Pedro Mountains of Lower California,
and accredited by the Union’s Committee as
a recognizable subspecies in the Second
Suppl. 1890. Ihave seen no specimens; but
geographical considerations favor the view
that this subspecies may be tenable.
No. 596 bis, p. 606. Add: Hematopus
frazari. FRazar’s OyYsTER-CATCHER. Re-
sembling H. palliatus and H. galapagensis ;
differs from both in the broad zone of mottled
black and white feathers across the breast;
differs from H. palliatus in the stouter and
more depressed bill, little or no white on the
eyelids, darker back and wings, less varied
upper tail-coverts, and some other respects;
from H. galapagensis in the rather shorter
bill, brown instead of black mantle, dark
markings on the under tail-coverts, and
SECOND APPENDIX.
greater amount of white on the under primary
coverts. Both coasts of Lower California.
Brewster, Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 84.
No. 614 bis, p. 886. Fringa damascensis,
the Long-toed Stint, which I admitted to the
8d edition of the Key, 1887, though the
Union List of 1886 declined it, has been
reafiirmed by the Committee. See Ridgway,
Auk, April, 1886, p. 275, and Man. N, A.
Birds, 1887, p. 158.
No. 682 bis, p. 887. Symphemia semipal-
mata inornata, admitted in the third edition
of the Kxy, is confirmed by the Commitiee.
Nos. 636, 637, p. 639. The name of the
genus Rhyacophilus is changed~to Helodyro-
mas, Kaup, Naturl. Syst., 1829, p. 144,
No. 663 a, p. 662. Add: Butorides vires-
eens frazari. FRrazar’s GREEN HERON.
Larger than JZ. virescens; darker colored and
more uniform in color; neck more purplish,
its sides as well as the forehead strongly
glaucous; the light throat line more re-
stricted. Wing 7.00; tarsus 2.25; culmen
9.50. From Lower California, in the vicinity
of La Paz, Ardeavirescens frazari, Brewster,
Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 83.
No. 665, p. 668. The name of the genus
Nycterodius (or Nyctherodius) is changed to
Nyctinassa, Stejneger, Pr. U. S. Nat, Mus.,
1887, p. 295. '
No. 667 bis, p. 888.