240 Bird - Lore 



The Cotingas, or "Chatterers," and the Honey-Creepers are subtropical, 

 and therefore we may pass over them as families very sparingly represented 

 in the extreme southern portion of the United States. The Cotingas are found 

 from Southern Mexico to Argentina, but, of the hundred or more species in 

 this family, only one enters our borders in Arizona, along the edge of Mexico. 

 The Honey-Eaters, or "Quit-quits," as they are commonly called from their 

 weak call-note, range from the Bahamas to the southeastern part of Brazil, 

 the Andes in Bolivia, and the Antilles, as well as the Galapagos Islands. Only 

 the Bahama Honey - Creeper has been once recorded from Indian Key, 

 Florida. 



The Flycatcher family numbers over three hundred and fifty species, all 

 of which belong to the Western hemisphere, as do also the Tanagers, Vireos, 

 Wood Warblers, Thrashers, Mockingbirds, Gnatcatchers, and the large 

 Blackbird family. A comparatively small number of Flycatchers visit North 

 America, although thirty species and twenty-two subspecies seem a goodly 

 number. The Kingbird has an unusually extensive range throughout North 

 and South America, breeding, as it does, from a line drawn through the south- 

 ern part of British Columbia, Mackenzie, Keewatin, along northern Ontario, 

 central Quebec and Newfoundland, down to central Oregon, northern New 

 Mexico, central Texas and central Florida. This species occasionally strays 

 as far north as Greenland, and, in migration, as far east as Cuba. Being 

 insectivorous, like all the Flycatchers, it is a migratory species, and in winter, 

 we may look for it from southern Mexico as far south as Bolivia, Peru, British 

 Guiana and Colombia. What is probably its usual route in migration, judging 

 from the foregoing statements? 



The Larks may be called an Old World family, for we have only one species 

 with its numerous subspecies in America. It is true that the Skylark has 

 been introduced into the United States and Hawaii, but it has not increased 

 much, if any, nor has it spread over the country as the English Sparrow has 

 done, and as the Starling bids fair to do. The Horned or Shore Lark ranges 

 over North America, Europe and Asia as far as the northern parts of South 

 America and Africa. The various subspecies found on our continent are 

 scattered in their distribution, forming a series of Larks, all of one species, 

 but differing somewhat in coloration, and restricted to particular ranges. 

 The Horned Lark proper is found in eastern North America, the PaUid Horned 

 Lark in northwestern North America; the Prairie Horned Lark, once a bird 

 of the prairies of the West, has made its way to the northeastern United 

 States and Canada; the Desert Horned Lark inhabits the Great Plains and 

 Great Basin of the interior, the Texan form, a part of the coast of Texas and 

 Tamaulipas, and so on, through the California, Ruddy, Streaked, Scorched, 

 Dusky, Sonora, Hoyt's, Montezuma, and Island Horned Larks. The Larks 

 are ground-birds, and are noticeable for the fact, that, unlike most passerine 

 birds, they run instead of hop. In winter, they make their way to the southern 



