ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BIRDS. 97 



in this country, and the Duke, who is a 

 most accompHshed ornithologist, did not 

 forget the birds. He writes that, though 

 he was in the woods and fields of Canada 

 and the States in the richest moment of 

 spring, he heard little of that burst of song 

 with which he had been familiar in Eng- 

 land. I was surprised, however, in read- 

 ing these articles to find that some of our 

 finest singers he does not seem to have 

 heard at all. He makes no mention what- 

 ever of the wood-thrush, or the veery, or 

 the bobolink, or the rose-breasted gros- 

 beak, or of many others of our best 

 singers. He does admit that the Ameri- 

 can robin, though, as he maintains, inferior 

 to the English blackbird, is much more fa- 

 miliar, and therefore much oftener heard. 

 His letters, on the whole, are delightful, 

 and I am sure will amply repay any one 

 who takes the trouble to read them. The 

 humming-bird, which he had searched for 

 long in vain, he at last discovers during a 

 trip to Niagara Falls, and his delight is 

 infinite. He thinks the bird sets off the 

 7 



