PARCHING Birds. 



long wings and small, weak feet; while their small bills and broad, 

 widely opening mouths indicate their manner, of feeding. 



In spite of their poor equipment of tools, .Swallows take high rank 

 as nest builders, and it is interesting to observe that although the birds 

 are structurally much alike, their nests often differ widely in character. 

 Compare for instance, the mud-made dwellings of the Barn and Cliff 

 Swallows with the tunneled hole of the Bank Swallow and one realizes 

 how little the character of a bird's home may depend on the structure 

 of it's builder. 



The food of Swallows, remarks Professor i Heal, ''consists of many 

 small species of beetles which are much on the wing, many species of 

 diptera (mosquitoes and their allies), with large quantities of flying 

 ants and a few insects of similar kinds. Most of them are either inju- 

 rious or annoying, and the numbers destroyed by Swallows are not 

 only beyond calculation, but almost beyond imagination." 



, The true Waxwings, (Family Amp^Izdds) number only three species 

 with representatives in the northern parts of both hemispheres. Their 

 notes, as a rule are limited to a few unmusical calls, which, with our 

 Cedar Waxwing, are usually uttered when the bird is about to fly. 



Waxwings are found in small flocks during the greater part of the 

 year and roam about the country as though they were quite as much at 

 home in one place as in another, provided food be plenty. Small fruits, 

 chiefly wild ones, constitute their usual fare, but they also feed ou 

 insects, the injurious elm beetle being among their victims. 



The Shrikes, (Family Laniid^) are represented in America by only 

 two species, the remaining two hundred or more members of this family 

 being found in the Old World. Shrikes are noted for their singular habit 

 of impaling their prey on thorns or similarly sharp-pointed growths, 

 or occasionally they may hang it in the crotch of a limb. This proceed- 

 ing enables them to tear it to pieces more readily, for it will he observ- 

 ed that while Shrikes have a hawk-like bill, their feet are comparatively 

 ■weak and sparrow-like and evidently of no assistance to them in dis- 

 secting their food. 



Our Northern Shrike, or Butcherbird, feeds chiefly on small birds 

 and mice, while the southern species, or Loggerhead, is a great de- 

 stroyer of grasshoppers and he also eats lizards and small snakes. 



The Vireos, (Family Vireonidee) number fifty species, all American. 



166 



