62 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



represent different branches, or genera. Chippy 

 goes into No. 4 to wait for the other "finches, 

 sparrows, etc.," the barn swallow will go into No. 

 6, which belongs to " the swallows," the catbird 

 into No. 10, the chickadee into No. 12, and the 

 robin and bluebird into No. 14, the last hole, 

 as they belong to the most highly developed fam- 

 ily of all the birds, that of the " thrushes, blue- 

 birds, etc." 



This simplifies matters. The chimney swift 

 belongs to an entirely different order from the 

 swallows, a much lower one, and so was put 

 in the drawer, together with the kingfisher, whose 

 feet are weak and who nests in the ground. Now 

 all the " perching birds " we have had fall readily 

 into place. The crow is by himself in No. 2, as 

 the blackbirds in No. 3 differ from him in having 

 wives smaller than themselves, and in anatomical 

 and technical peculiarities that are the foundation 

 of all the divisions we have. 



But here is chippy in No. 4 ; let us see how he 

 is related to the other birds. First, what does he 

 look like? Although one of those "little gray 

 birds " that vex the spirit of the tyro, he is well 

 known as the smallest and most friendly of our 

 sparrows. All the sparrows are small, dull colored 

 birds, none of them being much more than half as 

 large as a robin. But he is marked by a reddish- 

 brown cap, edged by a delicate white line over eye 

 and cheek. His back is streaked with grayish- 



