Color Key to North American Birds Part 6

Legs short; feet small; toes, three in front, one behind; third and fourth toes joined; bill, stout and long.

Order XV. Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs. PICI.

(1 family, 24 species, 22 subspecies.)

Climbing birds with stout, pointed bills, bristly nostrils, pointed, stiffened tail feathers, strong feet and nails; two toes in front and two behind, except in _Picoides_, which has two in front and one behind. Prevailing colors, black and white, the males usually with red on the crown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOOT OF THREE-TOED WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PILEATED WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.]

Family 43. WOODp.e.c.k.e.rS. Picidae.

Characters the same as those of the Order.

Order XVI. Goatsuckers, Swifts, and Hummingbirds. MACROCHIRES.

(3 families, 27 species, 6 subspecies.)

Bill, in the Goatsuckers and Swifts, small; mouth large; in the Hummingbirds, bill long, slender, needle-like; wings and tail variable; feet, in all three groups, small and weak. Color, in Goatsuckers, mixed brown, buff and black; in Swifts, black and white; in Hummingbirds, usually s.h.i.+ning green above with resplendent throat-patches of varied hues.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHIP-POOR-WILL.]

Family 44. GOATSUCKERS, ETC. Caprimulgidae.

Feet usually small and weak; toes, three in front, one behind; middle toe-nail pectinate or combed; bill small; mouth very large and usually beset by long bristles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHIMNEY SWIFT.]

Family 45. SWIFTS. Micropodidae.

Bill small, triangular when seen from above; mouth large, no bristles; tail variable, in _Chaetura_ with projecting spines; wings long and narrow; feet small and toes short; plumage usually dark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD.]

Family 46. HUMMINGBIRDS. Trochilidae.

Bill long and slender; feet slender; wings large and pointed; tail exceedingly variable, often a.s.suming the most striking shapes.

Order XVII. Flycatchers, Jays, Blackbirds, Finches, Swallows, Warblers, Thrushes, and Other Perching Birds. Pa.s.sERES.

(18 families, about 325 species and 226 subspecies.)

Bill, wings, and tail variable; feet with four toes not connected, the hind-toe as long as the middle one; its nail generally longer than that of the middle toe. This Order contains more species than the remaining sixteen Orders put together. In it will be found over 80 per cent. of the birds commonly seen by field students. It is difficult of definition, but almost any small perching bird may, with more or less certainty, be referred to the _Pa.s.seres_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOOT OF ROBIN.--(a typical Pa.s.serine foot.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHOEBE.]

Family 48. FLYCATCHERS. Tyrannidae.

Bill broad, flat, hooked at tip, its base with bristles; wings rather pointed, the second to fourth primaries longest; tarsus rounded behind as well as in front; feathers of crown generally somewhat lengthened, forming when erected, a small crest; pose, when perching, erect; food of insects usually captured on the wing; voice generally unmusical.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORNED LARK.]

Family 49. LARKS. Alaudidae.

Hind toe-nail much lengthened; bill rounded, straight; tarsus rounded behind as well as in front; our species with a tuft of feathers on either side of the head; outer primary short or rudimentary; walking birds, singing while on the wing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLUE JAY.]

Family 50. CROWS AND JAYS. Corvidae.

Large perching birds, usually twelve inches or more in length; bill stout; nostrils covered by projecting bristles; feet heavy; outer tail-feathers usually shortest; fourth to fifth primary longest, first about half as long.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PURPLE GRACKLE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE.]

Family 52. BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Icteridae.

Base of bill, between nostrils, extending back and dividing feathers on forehead; nostrils not concealed by bristles; first three primaries of equal length.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REDPOLL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SONG SPARROW.]