180 



ORDERS OF BIRDS— PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



Scapulars 



Fovehea-d.. 



Secondaries 



..Ztsser 



.Jtfiddle I Coverts. 



THE PARTS AND PLUMAGE OP A PERCHING-BIRD. 



we, then, be so utterly barbarous and mean as 

 to engage in, or permit, the killing of our song- 

 birds in order that they be used either as food 

 for biped pigs, or to adorn(?) the cheap millinery 

 of servant-girls? Never! 



Let it not be thought, however, that the Order 

 Passeres has not a good share of birds of beauti- 

 ful plumage. In our own fields and forests, be- 

 hold the waxwing, the oriole, the cardinal, the 

 tanager, the grosbeak, the magpie, the jay and 

 the bobolink. The tropics contain the wonder- 

 ful birds of paradise, and a bewildering array of 

 humming-birds, cotingas,finches,ground-thrushes 

 and many others. 



If the temperate zone lacks anything in perch- 

 ing-birds of brilliant plumage, that lack is more 

 than made up by the singing-birds. With all its 

 wealth of bird-life, brilliant and plain, the tropics 

 are generally silent, and a joyous or musical bird- 

 song is rarely heard. Of the bird-cries that one 

 occasionally hears, the majority are harsh and 

 unpleasant squawks. The tropical day has 

 neither robin nor mocking-bird, the night no 

 whippoorwill. True, there is the awful "brain- 



fever " bird of the Indian night, but it is neither 

 musical nor joyous. One may spend months 

 in the tropics, both of America and of the Far 

 East, and in all that time hear less of real bird- 

 song than can be heard on many an American 

 farm in one day. 



As might be expected in a large Order of birds, 

 the food habits of the perchers cover a wide 

 variety of foods. The great majority prefer to 

 live upon insects, and the young of all species 

 are absolutely dependent upon soft-bodied in- 

 sects, larvae and earth-worms. Many birds 

 are really limited to insect-food, and can sub- 

 sist on no other kind. Next in importance, 

 and for the longest period, perhaps, come seeds 

 and grain, especially the seeds of weeds that are 

 a pest to the farmer. As a rule, fruit is taken 

 in its brief season more as a dessert than as a staff 

 of life. 



A very few species, like the crow, magpie and 

 jay, eat meat whenever opportunity offers it, 

 and welcome the discovery of raw meat or eggs. 



The great value of the perching-birds lies in the 

 enormous quantities of insects which they con- 



