1. Locality--tree: bush: ground. 2. Size--compared to robin: English sparrow. 3. Form--long: short: slender: plump. 4. Beak--high: stout: wide: hooked: long: lobes: drawn down. 5. Tail--length: shape at end. 6. Legs--long: short: scales. 7. Toes--webbed: how turned: hind claw long. 8. Color--bright: striking: dull: plain. 9. Markings--on head: breast: wing: tail: back. 10. Manners--walk: hop: quiet: active: noisy: silent. 11. Habits--eating seeds: berries: insects: from ground: tree trunk: leaves. 12. Song--long: short: continuous: broken. 13. Flight--direct: undulating: fluttering: labored. 14. Nest--where placed: shape: materials: eggs. 15. Young--plumage: behavior. SECOND BOOK THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS I WHAT IS A BIRD FAMILY? IN the "First Book of Birds" I told you about the common life of a bird; what sort of a home he has, and how he is taken care of when little; then how he lives when grown up; what he eats; where he sleeps; and something about how he is made. In this book, I want to help you a step further on in your study of birds. I shall tell you something about particular birds, about the families they belong to, and the different ways in which they live. To begin with: What is a bird family? In life, a bird family is exactly like a human family. It consists of father, mother, and children. But in the books, a family means quite another thing. Men who study the Science of Birds, or Ornithology, have placed the birds in groups which they call families, to make it easier to find out about them, and write about them. This way of arranging them in books is called classification--or forming them into classes. Birds are classified, not by the way they look, but by the way they are made, or their structure, and this is found out by the study of Scientific Ornithology. Birds may look a good deal alike, and act alike, and yet be differently made. There is first the grand class AVES, which includes all creatures who wear feathers. This class is divided into orders. Orders are made by putting together a large number of birds who are alike in one thing. For instance, all birds who have feet made to clasp a perch, and so are perchers, are put in an order together. But many birds have feet for perching who are very different in other ways. So orders are divided into families, which I shall tell you about in this book. In each family I shall tell you about one or more of the best known, or the ones you are most likely to see, and that will help you to know the rest of the family when you begin to study birds out of doors, and use the manual to learn the names.