Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/83

 Jfor Weathers ant 5NDth

How to Name the Birds

STUDIES OF THE FAMILIES OF PASSERES

BY FRANK Mt CHAPMAN

THIRD PAPER

FAMILY 5t BLACKBIRDS. ORIOLES. MEADOWLARKS, BOEOLINKS. ETC. Irllridz

Range—The 150 or more species contained in this family are con» ﬁned to the western hemisphere, where they are distributed from Labrador and Alaska southward to Patagonia, including the West Indies.

Nineteen species and 9 subspecies occur in North America (north of Mexico). 10 species and 5 subspecies being found east of lthe Mis- sissippi.

Samm—The Oriole and Bobolink are found in the eastern United States only from late April to October; our Blackbirds and Grackles winter from about southern New Jersey southward and are our earliest migrants, coming in late February or early March and remaining until November and occasionally later; while the Meadowlark is a permanent resident from lVIassachusetts southward.

Cﬂlﬂl‘,—With the Orioles orange or yellow and black is the prevailing color, the chestnut of our Orchard Oriole being unusual; the Character- istic color of the Blackbirds is indicated by their group name; the colors of the Bobolink, of which there is only one species, and of the Meadow- lark, of which there is also only one species, but eight subspecies. are well known.

Slim—The members of this family vary in length from about 7 inches in the small Blackbirds to 24 inches in the Cassiques or giant Orioles of the tropics Our eastern species range from 7% inches in the Bohe- link to 16 inches in the Boat-tailed Grackle.

External Strutture.—So widely do the members of this family differ from each other in external appearance that no one general description can be applied to them. The Orioles have a rather long, sharply pointed bill; with the Grackles it is somewhat longer, less pointed and heavier; in the Blackbirds it is decidedly shorter, and with the Cowbird and Bobo- link the bill becomes almost like that of a Sparrow. The bill of the Nleadowlark resembles that of the Starling in being ﬂattened and broader than high at the end. In no species are the nostrils concealed by bristles, as with the Crows and Jays, from which birds the members of this family also differ in having the ﬁrst three primaries of equal length. The

(62)