Page:Birdlifeguide00chap.djvu/146

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
80
FIELD KEY TO COMMON BIRDS.


IV. Plumage conspicuously black, or black and white. 1. Black and white birds.

A. Throat black.

a. Length over 00 inches.

a. Entire under parts black; nape buffy ; rump white; a musical dweller of fields and meadows ; frequently sings on the wing ; May to Sept Boboline, page 134.

a2. Breast rose-red; rest of tlie plumage black and white; song rapid, loud and musical ; call-note, peek ; a tree dweller in rather open woodland ; May to Sept. Rose-BREASTED Grosbeak, page 150.

a3. Sides reddish brown; rest of the plumage black and white ; call- note, chewink or towhee ; inhabits the undergrowth : often seen on ground scratching among fallen leaves ; Apl. 25 to Oct. Towhee, page 151.

b. Length under 6-00 inches.

b1. Crown black ; cheeks white ; back ashy ; unstreaked ; call, chick-a-dee, or a musical, double-noted whistle ; a permanent resident. Chickadee, page 179.

B. Throat and other parts white or whitish.

a. Length 8-50 inches ; upper parts blackish slate-color ; tail tipped with white ; a bird of the air, catching its insect food on the wing, and occasionally sallying forth from its exposed perch in pursuit of a pass- ing Crow ; note, an unmusical, steely chatter ; May to Sept. Kingbird, page 122.

b. Length 6-90 inches : upper parts washed with rusty ; generally seen in flocks : terrestrial ; Nov. to Mch Snowflake, page 147.

2. No white in the plumage.

A. Length 19-00 inches; jet black Am. Crow, page 128.

B. Length 12-00 inches; black with metallic reflections; iris yellowish; migrates in flocks ; nests usually in colonies in coniferous trees ; voice cracked and reedy; tail "keeled" in short flights; a walker; Mch. to Nov Purple Grackle, page 133.


C. Length 9-50 inches ; shoulders red ; haunts marshes ; call, kong-querree Mch. to Oct Eed-winged Blackbird, page 132.

D. Length 7-90 inches ; head and neck coffee-brown ; frequently seen on the ground near cattle ; Mch. to Nov Cowbird, page 137.

V. Birds not included in the preceding sections that is, plumage without either yellow, orange, red, or blue; not conspicuously black, or black and white).

1. Under parts white or whitish, all one color, without streaks or spots.

A. Back without streaks or spots.

a. Back olive-green ; gleaners, exploring the foliage for food or flitting about the outer branches.

a1. Length 6-25 inches ; a white line over the eye bordered by a nar- row black one ; cap gray ; iris red ; song, a rambling recitative : " You see it — you know it — do you hear me ? " etc. ; May to Oct. Red-eyed Vireo, page 164.