40: 



ZOOLOGY 



family have salivary glands, whose secretions aid in cementing 

 the nest. Our common representative of this group is the 

 chimney-swift, or chimn(\v-swallow.' Certain Chinese species 

 malvc nests entirely of the mucilaginous secretion of the sali- 

 vary glands ; these constitute the edible birds'-nests of the 

 Chinese. The goat-suckers include night-flying birds, with 

 exceedingly broad gape and insectivorous habits. The night- 



FiG. 300. — Nest of (■liiinni;\--s\\"ift. Phnto. looking down chinmej", by 



D. and S. 



hawk of North America, and the whippoorwill, named for its 

 characteristic night cry, are familiar examples. 



The order of perchers, or Passeres, is the most important for 

 us l:)ecausc of the ahundance of species and indiviiluals included 

 in it, and because of the intimacy that many of them have cul- 

 tivated with man. The representatives of the order that live 

 in the United Staters are arranged into about fifteen families, 

 concerning each of which a Ijrief account follows : 



The flycatchers (or Tvranni(ho) are an exclusively American 

 famil_y, feeding on insects. The best-known representatives are 



' Fig. 369. 



