Myology and Serology of the Avian Family Fringillidae

Myology and Serology of the Avian Family Fringillidae, A Taxonomic Study, is by William B. Stallcup, with figures 1-23 and 4 tables. The text cites Beecher as pointing out that the richmondenine finches arise so uninterruptedly out of the tanagers that ornithologists have had to draw the dividing line between the two groups arbitrarily. Tordoff concludes, therefore, that the carduelines are not fringillids but ploceids, their closest affinities being with the ploceid Subfamily Estrildinae.

The writer decides to use such extracts in these investigations, since the small sizes of the birds to be tested made it impracticable to obtain enough whole sera. The text says most of the birds used were obtained by shooting, but a few were trapped and the exotic species were purchased alive from a pet dealer. The text says that when a bird was killed, the entire digestive tract was carefully removed to prevent the escape of digestive enzymes into the tissues and to prevent putrefaction by action of intestinal bacteria.