140 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
ward as Massachusetts and even Connecticut. I have never 
seen them, but I suppose their habits to be in every way like 
those of the Cedar-birds. They are said to be shy and watch- 
ful, but very affectionate. Having forgotten to do so before, 
I may here remark that the Cedar-birds often show a fondness 
for some one tree, to which they persistently return, even if 
disturbed several times. One Sunday I remarked six in a bare 
maple, and, again passing the place on the following Sunday, I 
was surprised to observe them perched in the same tree, as if 
they had not moved for a week. 
§12. The Hirundinids, or swallows, may be distin- 
guished from all our other birds by the following combined 
features. Tail-feathers twelve; primaries nine; tarsi short 
and scutellate ; bill broad, low, short, and with the culmen (or 
upper outline) only half as long as the gape, which extends to 
the longitude of the eye. They have remarkably long wings, 
conformably to their mode of life and ‘“‘constant aerial ac- 
tivity.” Most of our species have a highly metallic lustre (in 
certain parts), which, except in the martins, is similar in the 
two sexes. This feature is not, so far as I know, observable: 
in any other family, unless among the ducks. 
Our insessorian birds may, in regard to color, be classified 
as follows: 
(1). Partly metallic; sexes alike. Certain swallows. 
(2). Partly metallic; sexes unlike. Certain hummingbirds 
(Troch.). 
(3). Partly metallic in male only. Certain pigeons. 
(4). Lustrous or brightly colored; sexes alike. Crows, 
certain jays and warblers. 
(5). Lustrous or brightly colored; sexes unlike; females 
duller, etc. Bluebirds, martins, certain warblers, finches, and 
starlings; also one flycatcher (S. W. of U.S. etc.) (and the 
Blue Crow? ) 
(6). No metallic tints; sexes much alike; male character- 
ized by a color-patch, wanting or much restricted in the female. 
“Wrens” or kinglets, nuthatches, woodpeckers, certain war- 
blers (and finches?). 
