Snipe, Sandpiper, Plover, Rails and Coots, Bitterns and Herons. XVIII. The Fastest Flyers 265 Gulls, Ducks, and Geese. Index 275 {xi} LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Red-eyed Vireo. Frontispiece FACING PAGE It is Only When he is a Baby that you Could Guess our Robin is Really a Thrush. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 8 Young Bluebirds Taking their First Walk. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 9 Baby Wood Thrushes--Notice the Family Resemblance Between them and the Baby Robins and Bluebirds. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 12 A Wood Thrush Startled by the Click of the Camera. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 13 The Chickadee at her Front Door. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 22 Young Nuthatches Learning their First Lesson in Balancing on a Horizontal Bar. (_W. E. Carlin_) 23 The Noisy Contents of a Soap Box: a Family of House Wrens. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 30 The Marsh Wren's Round Cradle Swung Among the Rushes. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 31 {xii} Like "Brer Rabbit" the Catbird is Usually "Bred en Bawn in a Brier Patch." (_A. R. Dugmore_) 34 Another Tragedy of the Nests: What Villain Ate the Catbird's Eggs? (_Verne Morton_) 35 "Mamma!" Young Mockingbird Calling for Breakfast. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 50 All is Well with this Yellow Warbler's Nest. (_G. C. Embody_) 51 Dinner for One: A Black-and-white Warbler Feeding her Baby. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 51 The Oven-bird who Calls "Teacher, Teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER!" (_William P. Hopkins_) 58 Oven-bird in her Cleverly Hidden Nest-- Some of the Leaves and Sticks Have Been Pulled Away From the Front to Secure her picture. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 59 Young Oven-birds on Day of Leaving Nest. (_A.R. Dugmore_) 59 A Red-eyed Vireo Baby in his Cradle. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 76 Out of It. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 76 Home of the Loggerhead Shrike with Plenty of Convenient Hooks for this Butcher Bird to Hang Meat On. (_R. H. Beehe_) 77 The Cedar Waxwing. (_W. P. Hopkins_) 84 {xiii} The Gorgeous Scarlet Tanager, who Sang in this Tree, Was Killed by a Sling Shot. The Nest Was Deserted by his Terrified Mate. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 85 Young Barn Swallows Cradled Under the Rafters. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 96 Baby Barn Swallows Learning to Walk a Plank. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 97. The Most Cheerful of Bird Neighbours: Song Sparrows. (_A. R. Dugmore_) 116