KEY, OR TABLE, FOR CLASSIFYING BIRDS (Class Aves) INTO ORDERS
Orders A_{1} Wings not suited for flight, 2 or 3 toes Runners A_{2} Wings suited for flight (except the penguin) B_{1} Toes united by a web for swimming, legs short
C_{1} Feet placed far back; wings short, tip not Divers
reaching to base of tail (Fig. 300)
C_{2} Bill flattened, horny plates under margin Bill-Strainers
of upper bill (Fig. 323)
C_{3} Wings long and pointed, bill slender Sea-Fliers
C_{4} All four toes webbed, bare sac under Gorgers
throat
B_{2} Toes not united by web for swimming
C_{1} Three front toes, neck and legs long, tibia Waders
(shin, or "drumstick") partly bare
C_{2} Three front toes, neck and legs not long
D_{1} Claws short and blunt (e, Fig. 300)
E_{1} Feet and beak stout, young feathered, Scratchers
base of hind toe elevated
E_{2} Feet and beak weak, young naked Messengers
D_{2} Claws long, curved and sharp, bill Robbers
hooked and sharp
D_{3} Claws long, slightly curved, bill nearly Perchers
straight
C_{3} Two front and two hind toes (Fig. 300)
D_{1} Bill straight, feet used for climbing Foot-Climbers
D^1 Bill hooked, both bill and feet used for Bill-Climbers
climbing
The Food of Birds.—Extracts from Bulletin No. 54 (United States Dept. of Agriculture), by F. E. L. Beal.
The practical value of birds in controlling insect pests should
be more generally recognized. It may be an easy matter to
exterminate the birds in an orchard or grain field, but it is an
extremely difficult one to control the insect pests. It is certain,
too, that the value of our native sparrows as weed destroyers is
not appreciated. Weed seed forms an important item of the
winter food of many of these birds, and it is impossible to estimate
the immense numbers of noxious weeds which are thus annually
