Bird Families 



(The flicker is brownish and yellow instead of black and white.) 

 Stocky, high-shouldered build ; bill strong and long for drilling 

 holes in bark of trees. Tail feathers pointed and stiffened to 

 serve as a prop. Two toes before and two behind for clinging. 

 Usually seen clinging erect on tree-trunks ; rarely, if ever, head 

 downward, like the nuthatches, titmice, etc. Woodpeckers feed 

 as they creep around the trunks and branches. Habits rather 

 phlegmatic. The flicker has better developed vocal powers than 

 other birds of this class, whose rolling tattoo, beaten with their 

 bills against the tree-trunks, must answer for their love-song. 

 Nest in hollowed-out trees. 



Red-headed Woodpecker. 



Hairy Woodpecker. 



Downy Woodpecker. 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, 



Flicker. 



Order Macrochires: GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUM- 

 MING-BIRDS 



Family Caprimulgidce : NIGHTHAWKS, WHIPPOORWILLS, 



ETC. 



Medium-sized, mottled brownish, gray, black, and white 

 birds of heavy build. Short, thick head ; gaping, large mouth ; 

 very small bill, with bristles at base. Take insect food on the 

 wing. Feet small and weak ; wings long and powerful. These 

 birds rest lengthwise on their perch while sleeping through the 

 brightest daylight hours, or on the ground, where they nest. 



Nighthawk. 



Whippoorwill. 



Family Micropolidce : SWIFTS 



Sooty, dusky birds seen on the wing, never resting except 

 in chimneys of houses, or hollow trees, where they nest. Tips 

 of tail feathers with sharp spines, used as props. They show their 

 kinship with the goatsuckers in their nocturnal as well as diurnal 

 habits, their small bills and large mouths for catching insects on 



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