SINGING BIRDS. 555 
South or bobolink, as it is called in the North, wakes up the 
“meadows with his lively notes. The-finches with their 
conical beaks are succeeded, in the ascending series, by the 
English sparrow, a bird useful in the cities in destroying 
canker-worms, but a nuisance in 
the country. Our song-sparrow 
(Melospiza fasciata) is widely 
distributed, and everywhere 
commends itself by its pleasant 
notes. Quite opposed in its 
habits is the butcher-bird or 
shrike (Fig. 479), a quarrelsome, 
rapacious bird, which feeds on 
Toe Zoblony S Vte0-—From insects or small mammals, often 
impaling them on thorns or sharp 
twigs, and leaving them there. The group of vireos or 
greenlets (Fig. 480) are peculiar to America ; their bills are 
hooked, with a notch at base ; they are warblers. The wax- 
wing (Ampelis cedrorum, Fig. 481) is the type of an allied 
family. The swallows and 
martins are interesting from 
the change made in the nest- 
ing habits of the more com- 
mon species which rear their 
young in artificial nests or 
in barns, or under the eaves 
of buildings. 
Another group character- 
istic of North America is 
the warblers, Dendreca (D. 
virens, Fig.. 482) being the 
representative genus. On 
the other hand, the larks 
are an Old World assemblage (Fig. Feb: Chala, Waxwing Rom 
of birds, but few species ‘ 
occurring in this country, while the wrens (Fig. 483) are 
mostly restricted to America. 
The smallest bird in the United States, éxcept the hum- 
ming-bird, is the gold-crested kinglet (Regulus satrapa 
