FAMILIES IN BIRD WORLD. 1 71 



same family there may be very plain or very bright 

 birds. It is only by examining the bill that we dis- 

 cover that the bright-colored Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 

 for instance, is really a sparrow. 



Families are often related to other families; the 

 Ducks are related to the Swans and to the Geese. 

 Herons and Storks are related. One of the strangest 

 relationships is that between the Chimney Swift and 

 the Humming Bird, birds so different in appearance 

 and in habits. For a long time the Sw^ift was thought 

 to be a member of the Swallow family, but though 

 his habits are similar, he is not at all a near relation. 



Birds seem to know very little of their family rela- 

 tionships. If different species have the same habits, 

 they flock together. It is true the different species 

 of the swallow family often gather in great flocks, but 

 other flocks are often seen, made up of warblers, 

 vireos. Kinglets, and Chickadees, birds belonging to 

 four different families. 



The Duck family and the Hen family (to which the 

 Grouse, Turkey, and Guinea Fowl belong) have, in one 

 way, been the most useful family to man, for they 

 have supplied so many domestic birds. The haw^ks 

 and owls have probably been the most fiercely attacked 

 by man. The family of perching birds, which include 

 nearly all our singing birds, — sparrows, thrushes, 

 warblers, swallows, etc., — are best beloved by man. 



