1 62 Birds Every Child Should Know 



family wear similar clothes, fortunately for 

 "every child" who tries to identify them. 



You can tell a flycatcher at sight by the way 

 he collects his dinner. Perhaps he will be 

 sitting quietly on the limb of a tree or on a 

 fence as if dreaming, when suddenly off he 

 dashes into the air- clicks his broad bill sharply 

 over a winged insect, flutters an instant, then 

 wheels about and return^ to his favourite perch 

 to wait for the next courS^ to' -fly by. He may 

 describe fifty such loops in\nid-air and make as 

 many fatal snap-shots before his hunger is 

 satisfied. A swallow or a swift would keep 

 constantly on the wing; a vireo would hunt 

 leisurely among the foliage; a w^arbler would 

 restlessly flit about the tree hunting for its 

 dinner among the leaves; but the dignified, 

 dexterous flycatcher, like a hawk, waits 

 patiently on his lookout for a dinner to fly 

 toward him. **A11 things come to him who 

 waits," he firmly believes. 



None of the family is musically gifted, but all 



" make a more or less pleasing noise. Flycatchers 



aresolitary, sedentary birds, never being found 



in flocks; but when mated, they are devoted 



home lovers. 



We are apt to think of tropical birds as 

 very gaily feathered, but certainly many that 

 come from warmer climes to spend the summer 

 with us are less conspicuous than Quakers. 



