558 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Fig. 460. — Winter-wren (Anortheura troglodytes). 



to any one. Some are exceedingly familiar with man, making their nests 

 in his house or in his fence-posts, while others are more retiring; but all 

 are cheery little bodies, and the little form figured comes at winter to sing 



his animated and pretty song. 



In singing powers the mocking- 

 bird is superior, and is very familiar 

 to all from its living so well in con- 

 finement. His own song has a me- 

 tallic sweetness, but to this it adds 

 the notes of almost every other bird, 

 and so perfectly that one cannot help 

 being deceived by him. He is, in 

 fact, a performer on the ' variety ' 

 stage ; he gives you a medley of everything, sometimes introducing his 

 notes in the most incongruous manner. A near relative of the mocking- 

 bird is the cat-bird, familiar to all with its plaintive, sometimes almost 

 exasperatingly reiterated ' mew,' exactly like that of the cat. But when 

 it sings its own song, perched on some high tree, one can but wish that 

 he would stick to that part of its performance and drop the rest. Its 



voice is not so strong as that 

 of the mocking-bird, but it 

 is very melodious ; and the 

 bird is considerable of a mimic 

 withal. 



All of the swallows are 

 much alike in both habits 

 and structure. There is little 

 chance of confusing them with any other group 

 of birds, except with the swifts, already men- 

 tioned. Like them they have a strong, swift 

 flight, and like them they live largely on the 

 insects, which they capture on the wing. Most 

 familiar are our barn-swallow, whose mud nests, 

 plastered beneath the eaves of barns, are every- 

 where to be found ; and the bank-swallow, or 

 sand-martin, whose burrows are seen in high, 

 sandy cliffs and river-banks. The elliptical 

 hole leads to a nest some two or three feet 

 from the surface. 

 The cedar-birds and the waxwings are really beautiful birds. They 

 have crests on their heads, and, most striking of all, some of their wing- 



Fig. 461. — Bank-swallow (L'livicola 

 riparia). 



