The Insectivorous Birds 

 of Manitoba 



A paper delivered before the Manitoba Historical Society by 

 Geo. E. Atkinson, Winnipeg, naturalist to the Manitoba Govern- 

 ment, the University of Manitoba and Consulting Naturalist to 

 the N.W.T. Government. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Accepted authorities define the term 

 insectivorous as insect devouring, conse- 

 quently, generally speaking, an insectiv- 

 orous bird may be by any one of the thir- 

 teen thousand known species of birds 

 which will occasionally devour a few 

 insects, or, more accuratey speaking, 

 one of those few which feed exclusive- 

 ly upon insects. 



To describe the local forms under the 

 former generalization would be an ex- 

 tensive undertaking which is not seri- 

 ously contemplated in this paper. While 

 to accept the more exclusive application 

 of the term we would have altogether 

 less than fifty species to consider. 



Being neither so general or exclusive 

 in our acceptation of the definition we 

 will accept the term as in general use 

 among ornithologists and include in it 

 those locally represented species of the 

 four orders, Macrochires, coccyges, pici 

 and passeres, and while an investigation 

 of the principal characteristics of these 

 groups may not be as extensive as a 

 consideration according to the more 

 sweeping generalization, it will be found 

 to be much more extensive than a mere 

 consideration according to the more ex- 

 clusive application of the term. 



The science of ornithology has of late 

 years made immense upward strides in 

 public favor through the revolution of 

 the methods of ornithological investiga- 

 tion. Formerly it was considered neces- 

 sary to be able to pursue and kill birds 

 and preserve their dry skins with dryer 

 data attached; but the impracticability of 

 private working collections has forced 

 itself so pronouncedly upon the student 

 that the idea is being abandoned and in 

 its stead that of one good public work- 

 ing collection available for study, while 

 the student turns his individual effort to 

 the study of the bird under varied con- 

 ditions in the field, woods and aviary, is 

 being daily more generally accepted. 

 These collections differ from the old 

 museum collection of stuffed birds pre- 

 pared by the fossilized bird-stuffer in 



that they consist of a series of skins of 

 all plumages, ages and sexes of all avail- 

 able species with types wherever pos- 

 sible, mounted characteristic of the 

 species, prepared and arranged under the 

 direction of a scientific naturalist. A 

 label attached to each specimen contains 

 full data regarding locality and date of 

 collection, measurements and other re- 

 marks of interest. The skins are ar- 

 ranged in trays in cabinets in close prox- 

 imity to the display cases containing the 

 mounted types. In this manner the full 

 range of plumage as well as a certain 

 amount of character (as much as can 

 ever be shown in a mounted bird) is 

 displayed for our benefit. 



Live bird photography is interesting 

 the ornithologists to-day. They vie with 

 one another in their attempts to shoot 

 the bird with the camera even as they 

 formerly vied with one another in their 

 efforts to shoot it with the life-destroy- 

 ing gun. 



For these reasons we cannot to-day 

 confine our discussions of the subject in 

 question to the systematically or econ- 

 omically scientific, but must in our life 

 study blend these into the philosophical 

 and aesthetic, considering not only the 

 classification and economic relations of 

 the forms under consideration but also 

 their place in nature, their influence up- 

 on ourselves and our duty to them. 

 Certainly no group of birds lays greater 

 claim to consideration from these points 

 of view than those to be dealt with in 

 this paper. 



Classification. 



Considering briefly the classification of 

 what we have generalized as insectivor- 

 ous birds, we will note the physiological 

 characteristics responsible for this class- 

 ification. First we find that the subject 

 embraces the four highest orders of the 

 avian world. 



Order coccyges — Cuckoos. Toes 4, 

 two in front and two behind; bill slen- 

 der; skull light and thin; tail long; not 

 adapted for climbing. 



