The Tree Swallow.

(Or WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW)

Length six inches.

Upper parts sparkling green, with darker wings and tail, the latter but little forked.

Under parts snow-white.

A sweet, twittering song.

Nests in the hollows of dead trees, usually in old Woodpeckers’ holes, but occasionally in bird-boxes.  Eggs pure white.

[Illustration:  Tree Swallow.]

A good Citizen of the United States, but more shy than the Martin and Barn Swallow; these two often return, year after year, to some favorite nesting place, but the Tree Swallow is not so reliable.

A Sky Sweeper.

The Bank Swallow

(Or SAND MARTIN)

The smallest Swallow, only five inches long.

Upper parts dusty brown, darker on the wings, and tail forked a little, like the Tree Swallow’s.  Under parts white, with a brown band across the breast.

Song a sort of giggle—­like some little girl’s we know.

Nests many together in holes in a clay or loamy bank, lined with feathers and straw.  Eggs pure white.

A Citizen of most parts of the world—­northerly in summer, southerly in winter.

A Sky Sweeper

[Illustration:  Bank Swallow.]

“Bankey is a sociable, useful little bird, living usually in great colonies.  I have seen a hundred of their holes in a single bank, all dug by these industrious little Swallows with no other tools than their feeble beaks and claws.  When the young from these nests are learning to fly the old birds are darting to and fro all day long to teach them how to use their wings, and the bank seems like a bustling village; every bird has something to do and say, and they always try to do both at once.  If any one asks you why House People should love and protect Swallows, even if you have forgotten the names of many of the insects they destroy, remember to answer—­’Swallows eat mosquitoes!’”

CHAPTER XV

A BRILLIANT PAIR

THE SCARLET TANAGER

“That is my beautiful red bird!” cried Dodo, clapping her hands.  “I never shall forget the looks of his bright red coat with black sleeves and tails.  I saw a sort of green bird in the same tree, but it was so different I never thought it could be his wife, till I came to think—­for the green one stayed near the nest when I came nearer and looked up, but the red bird flew away and hid behind some leaves.”

[Illustration:  Scarlet Tanager]

“You are quite lucky to have seen a Scarlet Tanager in his home woods,” said the Doctor, “for he is a shy bird who does not often venture to show his tropical colors in open places.  He knows enough not to make himself a target for cannibal birds or House People either.  Except in his journeys to and from his winter home he lives in the shelter of the tallest forest trees, where it is very difficult to see him, showy as he is in his flashing colors, and even if you know by his song that he is there.  He may say, as some people think he does, ’Pshaw! wait—­wait—­wait for me, wait!’ but he does not wait a moment if he thinks he is seen.