500 HISTORY OF THE 



more Oriole, and rather more prolonged and musical than that 

 of the Scarlet Tanager. 



Their food consists of insects and berries; the first are caught 

 largely upon the wing. Beetles are the favorite, and, as they 

 are largely nocturnal, the birds are often seen actively darting 

 for them, here and there, until the shades of eve darken into 

 night. The berries are plucked from the bushes and vines, and 

 are also readily picked up from the ground. In flight they are 

 strong, even and quite rapid. 



Their nests are usually placed near the extremity of horizon- 

 tal or drooping branches. I have occasionally found them on 

 the river bottom lands, in the tops of a thick growth of bushes, 

 where hidden beneath the wild, overhanging grapevines; a 

 loose, frail structure, composed mostly of stems of weeds, leaves 

 and strippings from plants, and lined with fine grasses, and oc- 

 casionally rootlets, etc. Eggs three or four, .95 x. 68; light em- 

 erald green, speckled and spotted with various shades of purple 

 and dark brown, thickest and running together around the larger 

 end; in form, oval. 



FAMILY HIRTINDINDJE. SWALLOWS. 



11 Bill short, triangular, very broad at base (nearly as wide as long) and much 

 depressed, narrowing rapidly to a compressed, notched tip; mouth opening nearly 

 to the eyes. Primaries nine, graduating rapidly from the exterior one; tail 

 feathers twelve. Feet weak; tarsi scutellate, shorter than middle toe and claw. 

 Number of joints in toes normal; basal joint of middle toe partially or entirely 

 adherent to lateral toes. Wings long, falcate. Tail forked. Eyes small. Plum- 

 age compact, usually lustrous. All the American species with a white patch on. 

 the sides under the wing, and with the iris hazel or brown."* 



GENUS PEOGNE BOIE. 



"Body stout. Bill robust, lengthened; lower or commissural edge of maxilla 

 sinuated, decidedly convex for basal half, then as concave to the tip, the lower 

 mandible falling within its chord. Nostrils superior, broadly open, and nearly 

 circular, without any adjacent membrane, the edges rounded. Legs stout. 

 Tarsus equal to middle toe without claw; the joint feathered; lateral toes about 

 equal; the basal joint of the middle toe half free internally, rather less so exter- 

 nally. Claws strong, much curved." 



*Birds of this truly insectivorous family have occasionally been known to eat small berries. 



