Key to Summer Birds 



2. Upper parts, throat and breast black; tail black and white; 



sides chestnut red ; female brown Towhee 



3. Body bright scarlet; wings and tail black ; female and young 



greenish Scarlet Tanager 



4. Conspicuously blue above; below red or speckled Bluebird 



5. Black with chestnut brown head and neck; walks; female 



plain gray Cowbird 



6. Plain slate gray, cap darker ; in thickets Catbird 



7. Back grayish black ; underparts pure white ; white band 



across end of tail Kingbird 



8. Back olive brown; underparts white with round spots 



Wood Thrush 



9. Patchy black, white and buff ; females and young streaky 



yellow brown ; in open fields Bobolink 



10. Crested; color grayish brown; yellow band at end of tail. . 



Cedar Waxwing 



11. Body gray; wings and tail black; white wing bars; outer tail 



feathers white ; hawk beak Migrant Shrike 



E. About the size of the English sparrow (5^-7 ins.). 



1. In flight most of the time, circling in the air; never in the 



woods ; swallows and swifts. 



a. Sooty gray all over; never seen perching Chimney Swift 



b. Tail deeply forked ; back deep blue ; rich chestnut below . . 



Barn Swallow 



c. Underparts brown ; conspicuous light patch on rump .... 



Eave or Cliff Swallow 



d. Underparts gray, conspicuous brown band across breast; 



no rump patch Bank Swallow 



e. Underparts pure white; upperparts very dark. .Tree Swallow 



2. Usually seen climbing the trunks or large branches of trees. 



a. Conspicuously black and white ; male with red on head . . 



Downy Woodpecker 



b. Black blue-gray ; underparts white ; often head down .... 



White-breasted Nuthatch 



3. Neither habitually circling in the air or climbing trees. 



a. Bright yellow; black cap, wings, and tail; female greenish 



Goldfinch 



b. Deep indigo-blue ; black wings and tail Indigo Bird 



c. Back olive green ; black mask over eyes ; throat and breast 



rich yellow Maryland Yellow-throat 



d. Light grayish-olive above ; white beneath ; white line over 



eye Red-eyed Vireo 



27 



