File:Key to North 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 (14748172541).jpg

Identifier: keytonorthameric00coue (find matches)
Title: Key to North 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
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899
Subjects: Birds -- North America Birds -- Collection and preservation
Publisher: Boston, Estes and Lauriat
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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slender bill, they are really morenearly related to the fissirostral Swifts than these are to the fissirostral Caprimvlgidce, in essentialstructural characteis. Family CAPRIMULGID^: Goatsuckers (So called from a traditional superstition).Fissirostral Picarice. Head broad, flattened;neck inappreciable; eyes and ears large. Billextremely small in its horny portion, which isdepressed, and triangular when viewed fromabove, but with enormous gape reaching be-low the eye, and generally with bristles attain-ing an extraordinary development. NostrilsFig. 289. — Whippoorwill. a setirostral Caprimul- basal, exposed, roundish, with a raised border,gine. (From Tenney. after Wilson.) Sometimes prolonged into a tube. Wings more or less lengthened and pointed, deriving their sweep mainly from elongation of the distaljoints and the feathers, the proximal segment being short; of 10 primaries and more than 0secondaries; the latter not so extremely short as in Cypselidce. Tail variable in shape, of 10
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448 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS — PICA BI^ — CYPSELIFORMES. rectrices. In certain genera, either wing or tail develops a pair of immensely lengthenedfeathers. Feet extremely small; tarsus usually short, and partly feathered; hind toe veryshort, commonly elevated and turned sideways; front toes connected at base by movable web-bing, and frequently showing abnormal ratio or phalanges, the 4th toe having but 4 joints(p. 127, fig. 41); middle toe lengthened beyond the short lateral ones, its claw usually pecti-nate (fig. 291). The oil-gland is nude, and coeca are present. The arrangement of the leg-muscles is anomalogonatous (p. 195); the ambiens and accessory femoro-caudal are bothabsent. A definitely-circumscribed, easily-recognized group of about 14 genera and rather morethan 100 species, of temperate and tropical parts of both hemispheres. They are all more or lessnocturnal, and have a certain resemblance to owls, — particularly the genus Steatornis, which isquite owlish. The flight i

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