158 



YERTEBRATA : AVES OR BIRDS 



FIG. 179. 



males of which are wholly bright scarlet, except the wings 

 and tail, which are black ; and the Summer Bed bird of 

 the Southern States, a bird whose general color is light red. 

 The Swallows or Hirundinidae, are oscines at once dis- 

 tinguished by their very short, depressed, and triangular 

 bill, long wings, very short tarsi, and, generally, forked tail. 

 The Wax wings or Ampelidae, are so named because the 



inner quills of their wings 

 are furnished with horny ap- 

 pendages that resemble seal- 

 ing-wax. They have a short 

 and broad bill, both man- 

 dibles notched, and the upper 

 one with a tooth behind the 

 notch. Our most common 

 species is the well-known 

 Cedar Bird, which is seven 

 and a quarter inches long. 



The Vireos or Vireonidae 

 are oscines which have the 

 bill stout, compressed, and distinctly notched, and hooked 

 at the tip, and the wings with ten primaries, the first of 



which is short or apparently 

 wanting. They are small, only 

 five or six inches long, of a 

 general olive color above, and 

 white below ; and they are 

 among the most interesting 

 songsters of our groves and 

 forests. They live mostly 

 among the tree-tops and in 

 the thick foliage, where their 

 clear and sweet notes may be heard throughout the day. 



Cedar Bird, 

 Arnpelis ccdrorum, Baird. 



Fio. 180. 



Warbling Vireo or Flycatcher, 

 Vireo gilvus, Bonaparte. 



