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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