And
you know it is always nice to have polite neighbors."

The Cedar Waxwing.

Length about seven inches.

Upper parts quiet Quaker brown, very smooth and satiny, with a fine
long, pointed crest on the head.

Rich velvety black about the beak and in a line through the eye.

A yellow band across end of tail, and some little points like red
sealing-wax on the inner wing-feathers, from which it takes the name
"Waxwing."

A Citizen of North America from the Fur Countries southward, visiting
all but the most southern of the United States.

Belonging both to the Tree Trappers and Fruit Sowers.

CHAPTER XIV

THE SWALLOWS

"'Rap has been watching the Barn Swallows," continued the Doctor, after
the children had been over to the cedar belt to see if the flock of
polite birds were there still. "He thinks there are a great many cousins
in the Swallow family, but can't tell them apart.

"There are ten species of North American Swallows, four of which are
very familiar birds in all parts of the United States. These are the
Purple Martin; Barn Swallow; Tree Swallow; and Bank Swallow.

"As a family it is easy to name the Swallows from their way of flying.
All are officers who rank high in the guild of Sky Sweepers, being
constantly in the air seizing their insect food on the wing; thus they
kill all sorts of flies, flying ants, small winged beetles, midges, and
mosquitoes. They have lithe and shapely bodies, strong, slender wings,
wide mouths, and flat, broad bills coming to a sharp point, which makes
it easy for them to secure whatever they meet in the air. So swift and
sure is their flight that they can feed their newly flown nestlings in
mid air; but their feet are small and weak, so that in perching they
usually choose something small and easy to grasp, like a telegraph wire.

"Though they nest in all parts of the country, some species going to
the Fur Countries, as far north as any trees grow, yet they all seek a
very warm climate for their winter home, because it is only in such
places that the insects of the air are found. The distance, therefore,
between the summer and winter homes of the Swallow family is very great,
and these brave little birds are wonderful travellers.

"They are so swift on the wing that they do not fear to fly in the
day-time, and so escape a great many of the accidents that overtake
birds who travel by night. They come to the middle parts of the United
States during the month of