362 COMPARISON OF GROUPS OF BIRDS 



of all the birds we have spoken of in the order in 

 which they belong. The hen-like Grouse and 

 Quail, the Pigeons and Doves, and the mice- 

 destroying Hawks and Owls, carry their pictures 

 with their names. The caterpillar-eating, long 

 brown Cuckoos and the water-haunting blue King- 

 fishers are followed by the forest-preservers, the 

 black and white tree-trunk-loving Woodpeckers. 

 The slender-billed Hummingbird and the gaping- 

 mouthed Swifts and Goatsuckers — Nighthawks 

 and Whip-poor-wills — make the last order be- 

 fore that of the Perching Birds. Of these the 

 Gray Flycatchers match the bare twigs on which 

 they lie in wait for their prey ; the Horned Larks 

 have curious black horns ; the Crows and Jays 

 are powerful birds of strong bills and feet ; the 

 Blackbirds and Orioles, strikingly-colored birds, 

 most of which spend their days devouring insects ; 

 and the Finches and Sparrows, a family which 

 does equal public service by making way with 

 vast amounts of weed seed. The Tanagers are 

 our most brilliantly plumaged birds, our truly 

 tropical visitors ; the Swallows, the birds of the 

 air ; the Waxwings, the fawn-colored, crested, 

 silent, caukerworm-eaters ; the Shrikes, the im- 

 palers of grasshoppers, birds, and mice ; the 

 Vireos, the green caterpillar-birds ; the Warblers, 

 speaking broadly, the parti-colored butterflies ; 

 the Pipits, the ground-colored wagtails ; the 

 Thrashers and Wrens, the brilliant musicians ; 



