SCARLET TAKAGEE AND SNOW-BU]S'TING 



195 



S^ 



yT" 



BARN -SWALLOW. 



Hi-run'do e-ryth' ro-gas-tra. 



in our protection that they permitted their ad- 

 mirers to approach within ten feet of them. 



The female of this species is widely different 

 in color from the male, being dull olive-green 

 above and greenish-yellow below. 



THE FINCH AND SPARROW FAMILY. 



Fringillidae. 

 This Family is a large one, and it embraces 

 the perching-birds with strong beaks, such as the 

 finches, sparrows, snow-birds and their near rela- 

 tives, and one group of grosbeaks. By their 

 beaks you shall know them, — short, and wide at 

 the base, like the jaws of a pair of pliers. They 

 are made for cracking all seeds which the owner 

 does not wish to swallow entire. 



The American 

 Cross-bill' is a dull-red 

 bird with brown wings 

 and tail, and its bill is 

 so emphatically crossed 

 it seems like a deformity 

 which must necessarily 

 be fatal to a seed-eater. But Nature has her 

 own odd ways; and it seems that the scissor 

 arrangement of this bird's beak is to promote 

 the husking of pine cones, and the cracking of 

 the seeds. 



This is a bird of the North, and in the East 

 comes no farther south than a hne drawn from 

 ' Lox'i-a cur-vi-ros'ira minor. Length, 6.50 inches. 



Colorado to Washington, D. C. In the West it 

 descends to Arizona, but everyw'here in the 

 United States it is only a winter visitor. With 

 an opera-glass it is always easily recognized by 

 its crossed bill. 



The American Goldfinch^ is a conspicu- 

 ously yellow bird, though quite small. It is a 

 plump-bodied, fluffy little bird, all sulphur yel- 

 low except a circular black cap atop of its head, 

 and black trimmings on its wings and tail. It 

 is exquisitely pretty, and, like a feathered co- 

 quette, loves to pose on the steep side of a tall 

 muUen stalk, with no leaves about to cut off the 

 admirers' view. It is sociable, also, and loves 

 the garden, orchards and meadows of the self- 

 elected "lord of creation," man. 



As a weed-destroyer, this bird has few equals. 

 It makes a specialty of the seeds of members of 

 the Order Compositae, and is especially fond of 

 thistles, ragweed, wild lettuce and wild sun- 

 flower. (Sylvester D. Judd.) 



The Snow-Bunting'^ comes down from the 

 far North, in the dead of winter, when the snow 



SCARLET TANAGER. 

 Male iind female. 



falls fluffy and deep, and the song-birds of sum- 

 mer are basking in the sunshine of the South. 

 They do not appear every winter, however. 



'' As-lrag-a-W nvs tri^'tis. 

 ^ Pas-ser-i'na ni-val'is. 



Length, 5 inches. 

 Length, 6J inches. 



