KEY TO THE BIRDS. 



I. BIRDS OF THE AIR, CONSTANTLY UPON THE WING 

 AND FEEDING AS THEY FLY. 



* With plumage more or less iridescent or tinted with metallic 



colours. 



a. Birds flying over low meadows, streams, and beaches ; tails more 

 or less forked ; wings sharply pointed. Bills dark, widely 

 triangular. 



Swallow Family. See page 125. 



h. Very small birds, feeding about flowers ; bill long and needle-like. 

 Metallic green above, grayish below ; glistening ruby throat, 

 and deeply forked tail. 



Ruby-throatecl Hummingbird. See p.ige 194. 



** Plumage not iridescent or metallic, but sooty brown, olive, 

 or grayish above, and white, gray, or yellowish below. 



c. A Swallow-like bird, building in chimneys. Deep sooty brown. 



Wings longer than the tail, which is nearly even, the shafts of 

 the quills ending in sharp spines. 



Swift Family. See page 193. 



d. Birds of small and medium size, with plumage ranging through 



browns and olive, with yellow or gray breasts, with and without 

 erectile crests. Perching with drooping tail and wings vibrat- 

 ing and suddenly dashing into the air in pursuit of insects. 



Tyrant Flycatchers. See page 18!J. 



295 



