FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA. BIRDS 55 



CHAPTER IX. 

 TANAGERS, SWALLOWS, WAXWINGS AND VIREOS. 



Families Described. 



There is no special reason why these four families should be grouped 

 together except that they are near together in the present system of 

 the classification of our North American birds. Each one of these 

 families is quite distinct from the others in many ways. The character- 

 istics may be summarized as follows: (1) The Tanagers. These are 

 arboreal, forest-inhabiting birds, of brilliant plumage and mostly of the 

 tropical regions. Only four of the more than 350 species reach the 

 United States, and of these four, only two are found in West Virginia. 

 These are the Scarlet Tanager and the Summer Tanager., (2) The 

 Swallows. Six members of the Swallow family occur in our State. They 

 are all small birds that spend practically all their time in the air where 

 they gather their insect food. They are strong of wing and fly long- 

 distances. Though of almost the same size these birds differ very much 

 in habits, especially in the matter of nest-building. Some build in holes 

 in the ground, others make their nests of *mud on the rarters of barns, 

 and the Purple Martin makes it nests in houses provided for that purpose. 

 The six species present in cur State are the Purple Martin, Cliff Swallow, 

 Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Bank Swallow and Rough-winged Swallow. 

 (3) The Waxwings. This family has one lone representative in this State 

 and that is the well known Cedarbird or Cedar Waxwing. Only one 

 other species, the Bohemian Waxwing, is to be found in North America. 

 The Cedarbird is very fend cf fruit of many kinds, is songless, and 

 may be readily distinguished from other species by the red wax-like 

 substance en their wings the erectile crest, and the yellow band across 

 the end of the tail. These birds are about the size of the Bluebird. (4) 

 The Vireos. This is one of our most interesting families. Like the 

 Warblers the Vireos are nearly all birds of the woods, though one or 

 two species may be found in our orchards or along the streets where 

 shade tres grow. As the Latin name, vireo. indicates these birds are 

 greenish in color, though some are rather gray than green. All are 

 of dull colors and none of them has very striking marks of any kind. 

 The species found in West Virginia are, the Red-eyed Vlreo, Philadelphia 

 Vireo, Warbling Virea, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Moun- 

 tain Vireo and White-eyed Vireo. Further characteristics of these various 

 families will appear in the more detailed studies given below. 



The Tanagers. 



The males of both species of Tanagers found in this State are bril- 

 liantly red, the Summer Tanager being entirely red, though of a rather 

 pale shade, while the male Scarlet Tanager is most gorgeously red with 

 black wings. The females bear very dull plumage cf an olive-green 

 color, their wings being fuscous. Both species live on insects and fruit. 

 In some sections of the country the Summer Tanager is called the 



