Reptiles and Birds / A Popular Account of Their Various Orders, With a Description of the Habits and Economy of the Most Interesting

by Louis Figuier

IV. Cantores.

Singing birds. Legs short and slender, three toes before and one behind. In this order, according to Professor Owen, the brain attains its greatest proportionate size, and the organs of the voice their greatest complexity.

I. Dentirostres, Shrikes, Wrens, Wagtails, Thrushes, Warblers, Manakins.

II. Conirostres, Birds of Paradise, Crows, Tits, Starlings, Buntings, Larks, Finches, Grosbeaks.

III. Tenuirostres, Nuthatch, Creeper, Sunboard.

IV. Fissirostres, Swallows, Martins.