362 Swainsoti and Richardson^s 



described in his Natural History of Rare Animalsy which 

 reached 7 volumes in quarto. Edwards presented a copy of 

 this work, coloured by his own hand, to Linnaeus. This copy 

 is now in the library of the Linnaean Society of London, with 

 the Linnaean specific names added to it in manuscript. 



Climate and soil, affecting habits as well as migration, 

 divide the birds of North America into migratory and re- 

 sident; though comparatively few in the fur countries are 

 strictly entitled to be called resident. The raven and Cana- 

 dian and short-billed jays were the only species recognised as 

 being equally numerous at their breeding-places in winter 

 and summer, and they pair and begin to lay eggs in the 

 month of March, nearly three months earlier than any other 

 bird in those parts. Many of the species which raise two or 

 more broods within the United States rear only one in the 

 fur countries, the shortness of the summer not admitting of 

 their doing more. The passenger pigeons do not visit the 

 fur countries, where they breed, until after they have reared 

 a brood, and quitted the breeding-places in Kentucky. The 

 hawks and owls are numerous and beautiful. The white- 

 headed eagle (^'quila leucocephala) inhabits the fur coun- 

 tries as well as the United States. Although celebrated 

 beyond all other eagles, by Wilson's admirable description 

 of his mode of pursuing and robbing the fish-hawk, the 

 upright and independent mind of Dr. Franklin induced him 

 to wish that this eagle had not been chosen as the represent- 

 ative of America, because he was a bird of a bad moral cha- 

 racter, and did not get his living honestly. 



The shrikes, and other insect feeders, varying greatly in 

 size, may be said to swarm particularly in tropical America ; 

 so much so, that several individuals of three or four different 

 species may be seen on the surrounding trees at the same 

 moment, on the watch for passing insects; each, however, 

 looks out for its own particular prey, and does not interfere 

 with such as seem destined by nature for its stronger or more 

 feeble associates. 



The song-birds are numerous, and vie with each other in 

 pouring forth their melodious notes to welcome each return- 

 ing summer. The trees spread their foliage with magical 

 rapidity, and every succeeding morning opens with agreeable 

 accessions of feathered songsters to swell the chorus. The 

 most verdant lawns and cultivated glades of Europe fail in 

 producing that exhilaration and joyous buoyancy of mind 

 which was experienced in treading the arctic wilds of Ame- 

 rica, when their snowy covering has been just replaced by an 

 infant but vigorous vegetation. It is impossible (the authors 



