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Bird-Lore 



as Thamnophilus when any one of them becomes thoroughly familiar. Until 

 one has had real experience with tropical birds, it is hard to work up much 

 of an interest in the great mass of dull-colored brown and gray birds that 



form such a large pro- 

 portion of the whole. 

 In a case of South Am- 

 erican birds, the eye 

 alights on the brilliant 

 Tanagers, Callistes, 

 Trogons, Cotingas, and 

 Hummingbirds, and ig- 

 nores all the myriad Fly- 

 catchers, Ant-thrushes, 

 Furnarian birds, and 

 other dullish and nega- 

 tive-colored things. 

 But, in the field, the 

 sense of sound enters 

 and combines with the 

 very interesting habits 

 of the more obscure 

 species. I can hardly 

 subscribe to the popu- 

 lar idea that tropical 

 birds are as a rule 

 bright-colored and 

 devoid of song after 

 listening with an ap- 

 preciative ear to the 

 morning chorus in a 

 Mexican or South 

 American forest. 



One of the most 

 extensive and typical 

 families is that of the 

 Dendrocolaptidai, or 

 Woodhewers. They 

 are, in actions, over- 

 grown Brown Creep- 

 ers. There are many 

 genera and almost endless species. As a family it is nearly as exten- 

 sive and varied as the family of Finches, though all have a single 

 general type of coloring that is hardly departed from. The great, Flicker- 



WOODHEWER {Picolaptes lacrymiger) 



