374 RELATIONS OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE 



Families of Perchers. The Orders, in turn, contain groups 

 known as Families, hence in the Order Insessores we have many 

 groups represented in part by the ten families given below : 



Tyrannidse, or fly catchers. 



Corvidse, crows, jays and magpies. 



Icteridse, orioles, blackbirds and meadow larks. 



FringillicUc, sparrows and finches. 



Ampelida3, wax wings. 



Vireonidse, vireos. 



Mniotiltidse, wood warblers. 



Turdidae, thrushes. 



TroglodytidaB, wrens. 



Paridae, chickadee, titmice, and others. 



Genera and Species. As in other groups of animals, each 

 family is divided into genera, each genus made up of a number of 

 species, and frequently species have sub-species, or varieties based 

 upon minor variations from the type. 



In the following pages it has seemed best to select from the 

 Class certain of the more common birds for the most part im- 

 portant to the farmer, because of their insect-eating habits, or in 

 some instances because of injurious traits. It appears more suit- 

 able for the purpose at hand to describe these without reference 

 to scientific groupings. 



We have named only a portion of the Orders in the Class and 

 also limited our list of families occurring in one order to those 

 which contain the species described in the following pages. 



Robin (Plate 2, Fig. 1). What would a country home be 

 without robins on the lawn! As a rule, the robin, which is really 

 a thrush, is fairly useful; but a large part of its food is fruit, and 

 it eats many useful beetles. Because of our general attachment 

 to the bird, agriculturists will probably try every possible pro- 

 tective means before having recourse to the shotgun when fruit 

 is to be saved. 



Individuals of this species are found hi the North frequently 

 very late in the fall, and occasionally, where evergreen thickets 

 afford shelter, even in the winter. Generally they begin to arrive 

 in the northern states the latter part of March or early in April 

 welcome harbingers of spring. Two broods are reared. 



Beetles constitute a large part of the robin's diet during the 

 summer. Beal (U. S. Biol. Survey, Bui. 171) gives a list of nearly 

 one hundred plants, the seeds of which have been found in robins' 

 stomachs. Most prominent among them are blueberry, dogwood, 



