50 CEDAR-BIRD. 



bird, also, as a degenerate and not a distinct species from their own , 

 yet they must aUow that the change has been very great, very uniform, 

 and universal, all over North America, where I have never heard that 

 the European species has been found ; or even if it were, this would only 

 show more clearly the specific difference of the two, by proving that 

 climate or food could never have produced these differences in either, 

 when both retain them, though confined to the same climate. 



But it is not only in the color of their plumage that these two birds 

 differ, but in several important particulars, in their manners and habits. 

 The breeding place of the European species is absolutely unknown ; 

 supposed to be somewhere about the polar regions ; from whence, in 

 •winter, they make different and very irregular excursions to different 

 parts of Europe ; seldom advancing farther south than the north of 

 England, in lat. 54° N., and so irregularly, that many years sometimes 

 elapse between their departure and reappearance ; which in more super- 

 stitious ages has been supposed to portend some great national calamity. 

 On the other hand, the American species inhabits the whole extensive 

 range between Mexico and Canada, and perhaps much farther both 

 northerly and southerly, building and rearing their young in all the 

 intermediate regions, often in our gardens and orchards, within a few 

 yards of our houses. 



In some parts of the country they are called Crown-birds ; in others 

 Cherry-birds, from their fondness for that fruit. They also feed on 

 ripe persimmons, small winter grapes, bird-cherries, and a great variety 

 of other fruits and berries. The action of the stomach on these seeds 

 and berries does not seem to injure their vegetative powers ; but rather 

 to promote them, by imbedding them in a calcareous case, and they are 

 thus transported to and planted in various and distant parts by these 

 little birds. In other respects, however, their usefulness to the farmer 

 may be questioned ; and in the general chorus of the feathered songsters 

 they can scarcely be said to take a part. We must therefore rank them 

 far below many more homely and minute warblers, their neighbors, 

 whom Providence seems to have formed, both as allies to protect the 

 property of the husbandman from devouring insects, and as musicians 

 to cheer him, while engaged in the labors of the field, with their innocent 

 and delightful melody. 



