The small perching-birds and the difficulty of distinguishing them--The wagtails--The finches--The buntings--The redstart-wheatear, Stonechat--The thrushes--The warblers--The tit-mice--The nuthatch, and tree-creeper--The spotted flycatcher--The red-backed shrike--Swallows, martins, and swifts--The night-jar--Owls--Woodpeckers. VII. How to tell Birds on the Wing 97 (_continued_) Falcons--Golden eagle--Harriers and sparrow-hawk--The heron--The cormorant, shag, and gannet--The petrels--Guillemots, razor-bills, and puffins--The ducks--The great crested grebe and dabchick--The pigeons--The "plover tribe"--The gulls and terns--The game birds. VIII. The Wings of Nestling Birds 117 The wing of the unhatched bird--Of the coots and water-hen--The hoatzin's wings--The wing of Archæopteryx--Moulting--The nestling game-birds and ducks--Teaching the young to fly. IX. Flightless Birds 127 The steamer duck--The owl parrot--The flightless grebe of Titicaca--The dodo and solitaire--The ostrich tribe--The penguin's wings. ILLUSTRATIONS Coloured Plates Kingfisher and Young _Frontispiece_ Jays _Facing Page_ 6 Pheasants " " 22 Brown Owl " " 30 Wild Duck " " 38 Woodcock carrying Young " " 54 Herons " " 64 Chaffinch and Young " " 76 Gold-crested Wrens " " 86 Great Spotted Woodpeckers " " 92 Some Types of Wings and Tails " " 102 Grouse " " 118 Black and White Plates Swans, Heron, Geese _Facing Page_ 4 Black-game " " 26 Ducks " " 42 Lapwings " " 58 Some Common Birds _Facing Page_ 72 Some Types of Birds in Flight " " 80 Birds of Prey " " 106 Flightless Birds " " 130 Line Illustrations