Birds and Trees of North America is Rex Brasher's seminal work, comprised of 862 watercolor paintings bound in an encyclopedic set. Between 1929 and 1932, he created 100 twelve-volume sets—1,200 individual books—and sent them to patrons across North America. Volume 7 contains 85 hand-colored plates, depicting woodpeckers, nightjars, swifts, hummingbirds, and flycatchers.
Order, Macrochires: suborder, Caprimulgo; family, Caprimulgidae
NIGHTJARS have small bills but long wide mouths with stiff rictal bristles. Feet weak, wings and tail long and of ample swing. They are insectivorous; feeding at night, resting on ground or lengthwise on limbs of trees during daylight. Their pepper and salt protective coloration is so perfect that detecting a bird on the ground is generally impossible. Eggs are always two; beautifully marked and spotted with various shades of brown, except the POORWILLS, which are white. They build no nests — laying on the ground, in deep woods or open fields. Incubation from 16 to 20 days. One brood a year.
Order, Macrochires: suborder, Cypseli; family, Micropodidae
SWIFTS are compactly feathered with linear narrow wings extending at right angles to their bodies in flight. Tails of stiff feathers, ending in sharp points, help support them in Woodpecker-position against trees or rocks. They never perch across limbs. They hold the speed record for small birds and flying hours exceed resting periods. Mucilagenous saliva is used by some species as glue to fasten twigs of nests together and some Oriental Swifts build homes entirely of this secretion which are considered edible delicacies.
Order, Macrochires: suborder, Trochili; family, Trochilidae
Altho the smallest, HUMMINGBIRDS are the most extraordinary group of birds in the world. The alchemy which produced these winged jewels from flower and insect dust is one of the most inscrutable mysteries. They are vital beyond all other forms of life, loving fighting and frolicking thru the span of their existence with an unequalled abandon and devil-may-care spirit. Their strength is relatively about three times as great as that of our strongest birds. The long bill and split tongue are admirably adapted for gathering insects or nectar while poised on “humming” wings before the receptacle. Wing feathers are narrow and oscillated with such speed as to show merely a blur. That bodies so small can contain enuf energy to drive their motive power so swiftly is perhaps the most amazing attribute of all.
Feet are small and used only for perching. Most species have a gorget around the neck of erectile feathers acting as a shield in fighting. Supremely confident in perfect aerial control they fear nothing which walks or flies.
Most species are brilliantly colored with short metallic feathers, green predominating. Of some five hundred species inhabiting the western hemisphere, only eighteen are found in North America.
The nests are beautiful examples of perfection in avian architecture. They are built of plantdown, with lichens, bark or other adornments and often so perfectly camouflaged that discovery is difficult.
EGGS: Usually 2; rarely 1; pure white; about the size of a small bean.
Order, Passeres: suborder, Clamatores; family, Tyrannidae
TYRANT FLYCATCHERS are exclusively American birds and are a remarkably homogeneous family. With few exceptions they are dressed in subdued colors and the species grade into one another with slight changes of structure and coloration. The short legs are encased in long scales. Wings and tails of strong ample feathers give extreme aerial agility. Bills broad and flattened, tapering to a sharp downcurved point. Incubation period averages twelve days and young leave the nest fourteen days after hatching.
Birds and Trees of North America is a vivid record of taxonomy in motion. The scientific and common names within these volumes do not always align with modern standards, nor do they always align with historical standards. While Rex followed the 1910 checklist of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU), he occasionally deviated from it according to his own observations and convictions. He disagreed with the “hair-splitting fad” of systematists and the possessive form of bird names, yet maintained the necessity of a standard language for understanding the avian world. Where Rex intentionally diverged from standard classification, we have preserved his work in its original form.