LAND BIRDS 



301 



pearance, for think of the bobolink, the magpie, the jay, the 

 grosbeak, the tanager, the cardinal, the oriole, and the modest 

 little wax-wing. Each brings to one's mind a different type of 

 beauty. The temperate zone contains the sweetest singers in all 

 the bird world. The great majority of this order live upon insect 

 food, wherein lies their greatest value. Others live on weed 

 seeds and waste grain, and, lastly, on fruit in its season. 



The fly-catchers (Tyran'nidai) (Fig. 246) are found only in America, 

 being especially abundant in the tropics. They number over 350 species. 



Fig. 246. Phoebe. (Bulletin 17, U. S. Biological Survey, 1902.) 



Of the thirty species that breed here, not more than a half dozen are 

 permanent residents of the temperate region. They feed on insects, mostly 

 injurious ones, which they catch while on the wing. 



The true larks (Alau'didae) are chiefly Old World birds, there being about 

 100 species in Europe, most notably the skylark. We have only about a 

 dozen of this family, the horned and shore larks. The " meadow-lark " 

 belongs not in this family, but with the blackbirds. 



Of the crows and jays (Cor'ridce) we have about twenty-five of the two 

 hundred species. They are migratory only to a certain extent, being 

 winter residents except in the North. They are omnivorous, eating fruits, 

 seeds, insects, and, in some cases, the eggs and young of other birds. This 

 last habit is by far their worst one. They have unusual intelligence. 



