A WINGED CHUM 171 



Wills, are two other families, Swifts and Hum- 

 ming-birds. Then comes the last big Order — the 

 Perching Birds. I remember there are twenty 

 families but I haven't learnt them yet. '* 



He pored over the book. 



"Oh, yes," he said, "the twenty families are 

 Flycatchers, Larks, Jays and Crows, Starlings, 

 Blackbirds and Orioles, Finches and Sparrows, 

 Tanagers, Swallows, Waxwings, Shrikes, Vireos, 

 Warblers, Wagtails, Thrashers and Mockingbirds, 

 Wrens, Creepers, Nuthatches, Titmice and, for the 

 last. Thrushes and Bluebirds. You see, Bull," he 

 continued, "if I can get into my head the names 

 of all those families and then the species and re- 

 member what birds they fit, the minute I spot a 

 bird, if it's near enough to see at all, I'll be able 

 to tell where it belongs. ' ' 



"How so?" 



"Well, I can tell at once if it's a diving bird, a 

 swimming bird, a wading bird, or a perching bird, 

 by the feet and legs. I can tell a bird of prey by 

 the hooked bill, a seed-eating bird by the stout 

 crushing bill, an insect-eating bird by the sharp 

 bill. K it's a bird that spends most of its time on 

 the ground, like the Black Rail, I can tell it by the 

 short wings; if it's one which stays in the air 



