SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
LAND—BIRDS.
ORDER PASSERES: PERCHING BIRDS.
SUB-ORDER OSCINES: SINGING BIRDS.
The birds of this Order have the most highly complex vocal organs, the term Oscines being derived from the Latin, signifying those birds whose songs were regarded in past times as augural.
Birds of moderate size and stoutish build, hills of moderate length, sexes of nearly similar plumage. Melodious singers, feeding chiefly on the ground. The American Robin and the Bluebird belong to this family. The true Thrushes vary through browns and olives on the back, with light breasts more or less spotted, and tails that are wider at the tip than at the base. Insectivorous birds, also casual fruit—eaters. Hoppers.
Family Sylviidæ: Kinglets. Page 68.
2 Species.
Very small insectivorous birds, feeding in the trees. General tone of plumage olivaceous, with highly coloured crown patch. Song, during the spring migration, rich and powerful for such small birds. Seen here only in autumn, winter, and early spring.
43
- ↑ Number of species described.
