242 Bird -Lore 



Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick its northern limit during the breeding 

 season. 



Family 7 is by far the largest in this Order, and it might be well to learn 

 its scientific name, Fringillidce, since the adjective fringilline is frequently 

 applied to the species of this group. A study of the bills of the fringilline 

 birds is most instructive, but remember that, however much the bill of one 

 species may differ from that of another, the fringiUine bill is always a seed- 

 cracking bill, for the Fringillidae is made up of seed-eating birds. Grosbeaks, 

 Finches, Crossbills, Redpolls, Snow Buntings, Longspurs, Sparrows of many 

 kinds, Juncos, Towhees, the Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxias, Buntings, Seedeaters, 

 Grassquits and the Dickcissel represent this extremely valuable family in 

 America. No single species of the six hundred or more which are included in 

 the Fringillidm is more familiar in this country than the Song Sparrow. Sea- 

 coast and mountain, desert and marsh, open clearings, fields, and even road- 

 sides, claim some form of this widely distributed Sparrow as a breeding or 

 resident species. 



No fewer than twenty subspecies are known, differing considerably in 

 size, degree of coloration and song. From Alaska, Prince William Sound, 

 southern Mackenzie around Great Slave Lake, central Keewatin, northern 

 Ontario, central Quebec and Cape Breton Island, down through mountains, 

 coasts and prairies to the Gulf of Mexico, this sprightly bird is found. In 

 winter the eastern form is found from about the latitude of the Middle States 

 to the Gulf Coast. 



Of the three hundred and fifty species of Tanagers which belong exclusively 

 to the western hemisphere, only four species and two subspecies visit North 

 America. The brilUant Scarlet Tanager, or "Firebird," as it is sometimes 

 called, ranges throughout eastern North America, from a line drawn through 

 southeastern Saskatchewan, southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, as far as north- 

 ern South America. This species regularly migrates through Cuba, Jamaica 

 and Yucatan, although it sometimes strays to the Bahamas and Lesser Antilles 

 on the east, or to Wyoming and Colorado on the west. Much remains to be 

 learned about this large and little-known family, which for the most part 

 is confined to the tropics. If all Tanagers are as useful, attractive and attentive 

 to their young as the Scarlet Tanager, we may well wish that more representa- 

 tives of this group visited temperate latitudes. The Scarlet Tanager is an 

 excellent example of the changes in color which appear during the period of 

 molting. 



The Barn Swallow belongs to a family which is distributed throughout 

 the world. Upon first sight, a Swallow, particularly the fork-tailed Barn 

 Swallow, seems quite unlike other perching birds. The long, pointed wings, 

 large mouth, small, weak bill and feet, suggest at once marked adaptation to 

 life in the air. It is not strange that Swifts are often confused with Swallows 

 because of their similarity in habit and appearance. Careful observation, 



