The Goldfinches are canary-yellow and black; they travel usually in small flocks; in song they become at times so ecstatic that it seems as if they would burst their little bodies.
The Junco is a small, plump bird. When the summer birds have left for the South the Junco comes from the North.
The Cardinal is one of the gayest of our feathered friends; its plumage is a rosy-red with a little black patch at the throat and the crest; it nests in bushes, the nest being composed of twigs, rootlets and lined with grasses.
The Indigo Bunting is blue as his name. You will find him in old pastures among bushes and clearings. The female of this bird is like a sparrow in marking, except for the tinge of blue which you may discover in her plumage.
are closely related to the finches; all of them have pretty clothes, especially the Scarlet Tanager, who is bright scarlet with black wings and tail. It is well worth a day's tramp to see one.
The Cedar Waxwings arrive late in the spring. They have a black line which runs through the eye; their upper parts are brown, their head is greenish, their tails gray. You will often find them among fruit and shady trees; they like old orchards where they hunt for cankerworms. They have red spots on their wings that look like drops of sealing-wax.
Small insect-eating birds; they do not catch their prey on the wing as do the flycatchers, but search for their food on bark and leaves; they are pleasant songsters and their nests are neat and well-rounded, suspended from the fork of a branch.
The claw of the woodpecker is constructed of two toes forward and two toes backward, which assist them in climbing the tree-trunks; their tail feathers are pointed and stiff and serve as a prop; the bill is adapted for chiseling out the homes of grubs, insects, etc., in the bark.
The Downy Woodpecker. Its upper parts are black, scarlet band on the neck, the middle of the back is white, while the wing feathers are specked with white. You can often see him in an orchard or in the trees on the lawn, picking out the grubs as he climbs the tree-trunks and branches.
The Sapsucker has a scarlet cap; its back is black and yellow, tail black; it feeds largely on tree juices.
Red-headed Woodpecker. Head, neck, throat and principal parts red; back black and white; nests generally in a dead tree.