468 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



these are the Orders of Diving birds, of Shore birds, of 

 Wading birds, of Waterfowl, of Perching birds, etc., and 

 they are usually arranged serially to indicate their place 

 in the scale of evolution, the Diving birds being the lowest 

 and the Perching birds the highest. 



The Order of Perching birds, or sparrow-like birds, 

 contains nearly half of the known species of birds and 

 has been divided into 65 families, 22 of which have 

 representatives in United States and Canada. These 

 we shall consider first, beginning with the family Tyran- 

 nidx or Xew World Flycatchers. 



The Flycatchers 



The true flycatchers, or tyrant birds (family Tyran- 

 nidas), are confined entirely to North and South America, 

 where over 400 species occur. The European flycatchers 

 belong to a very distinct family (Muscicapidae ) differ- 

 ing, among other ways, in being true singing birds, our 

 American flycatchers lacking the vocal structures typical of 

 true song birds. As a result, none of them have true songs, 

 although many of them, like the kingbird, are noisy birds, 

 and a few, like the wood pewee, have very sweet whistles. 



The majority of the flycatchers live in the tropics, but 

 among them are numbered some of our best known birds, 

 including, in addition to the kingbird and pewee already 

 mentioned, the phcebe, the crested flycatcher and the least 

 flycatcher. They are mostly small dull-colored birds with 

 typical flycatcher structure and habit. Their bills, for 

 example, are broadly triangular, wider than high at the 

 base and armed with stiit bristles at the corners, efficient 

 structures for snapping passing insects from mid-air. 

 They sit more erect than most birds, usually on some 

 dead branch or other exposed perch from which they can 

 sur\'ey the country and dart out after passing insects. 



Their nesting habits show considerable variation. The 

 phcebe builds a bulk)' aff^air of mud and moss on the cliff 

 or under the bridge, the kingbird builds of roots and wool 

 in the orchard, the crested flycatcher builds in a hole in a 

 tree, and for some strange reason, invariably includes 

 the cast skin of a snake, while the pewee. building a 

 shallow compact aft'air saddled on a branch, always covers 

 the outside with lichens to make the nest inconspicuoijs. 



Many of the tropical flycatchers and some of the 

 species of our own Southwest are showy birds and often 

 have the broad bill or other parts specialized to a ridiculous 

 extreme. The vermilion flycatcher is of a most brilliant 

 red with darker wings and tail, and the scissors-tailed 

 flycatcher is largely white with a light gray back and 

 scarlet patches on the head and beneath the wings, and the 

 outer tail feathers are greatly elongated, seven to ten 

 inches in length. 



All of the flycatchers are insectivorous and extremely 

 beneficial birds. The kingbird has been said to destroy 

 honey bees about apiaries, but investigations have shown 

 that the few bees which it floes eat are usuallv drones, and 

 in all other respects he is an extremelv useful bird. Par- 

 ticularly about the poultry yard is he a desirable tenant, 



for he is the self-appointed policeman of the district. 

 Xo crow or hawk can approach without arousing his ire 

 and being jiromptly driven ofl:. 



The pewee and the phoebe, and all the others, are 

 invalualjle allies, particularly because of the large number 

 of moths which thev destrov. the larvae of which, like the 



CROWS FEEDING 



A crow, on tile snow or against tlie slcy or anywhere except in ttie coal hole, is 

 conspicuous from any angle. But the crow has been endowed with an intelli- 

 gence and a wariness which need no concealing coloration to supplement them. 



cut-worm and the tent caterpillar, are ijotential armies of 

 destruction against the agriculture and the forests of 

 our country. 



Being so largely insectixorous, the species which in- 

 habit Northern United States are naturally highly migra- 

 tory, and with the failure of their food supply and the 

 approach of winter, the phoebe is the only one which 

 remains in the United States north of Southern Florida. 

 The others cross the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean 

 Sea to Central America and Northern South America. 



ATLANTIC COAST NATIONAL PARK 



PRESIDENT WILSON, at the instance of Secretary 

 Lane of the Department of the Interior, has created 

 by proclamation the Sieur de Monts National 

 Monument on Mount Desert Island, Elaine. By this act 

 he enables the Department of the Interior to realize its 

 long-time purpose to extend to the people in the east of the 

 United States the benefits of the national parks service. 

 This is the first national park east of the Mississippi River. 

 The new national playground is already known to 

 many thousands for its majestic beauty. It embraces more 

 than five thousand acres of rugged mountain, directly 

 south of Bar Harbor. In fact, its northern boundary lies 

 within a mile of that famous resort. On the east it 

 touches the Schoonerhead Road. On its south it ap- 

 ])roaches within a mile of Seal Harbor. It lies less than 

 a mile northeast of North East Harlior. It is surrounded, 

 in short, by a large summer population. 



