OCTOBER. 481 



flitting about among the blossoms of the trees? I am per- 

 suaded that each of these purposes is served by this provision 

 of nature. She has clothed individuals of the same species 

 and the same sex in uniformity, that they may easily identify 

 their own kindred, and has planted in their breasts an innate 

 susceptibility to derive pleasure from the sight of those colors 

 and those arrangements of colors that predominate in the plum- 

 age of their own kind. She has likewise distinguished the 

 small birds that live on trees by beautiful colors, while those 

 species that run upon the ground are marked by a plainer 

 dress ; that the former may be unobserved by their enemies, 

 among the blossoms of the trees, and that the neutral hues 

 of the latter may cause them to be less conspicuous while 

 sitting or running upon the ground. 



It is well known that the males of most species are more 

 beautifully and brilliantly decorated than the females, and 

 that the singing birds in general have less beauty than such 

 as are not endowed with the gift of song. As an explana- 

 tion of this fact, it may be remarked, that the singing birds 

 are more humble in their habitats than the other tribes. The 

 brightly colored birds are mostly the inhabitants of forests 

 and lofty trees. Such are the woodpeckers, the parrots, the 

 troupials, and most of the tropical birds. The northern tem- 

 perate latitudes are the regions of the grasses, which by their 

 produce of seeds afford sustenance to a large proportion of 

 the singing birds of the same parallels. These species, in- 

 cluding the sparrows and finches, are usually plainly dres'sed, 

 and seeK" their food upon the ground, on which, or in a low 

 bush, many of them build their nests. The same remark 

 will apply to the thrushes that build their nests near the 

 ground, and though they do not feed upon seeds, are sup- 

 ported by the grubs and worms that are found upon the sur- 

 face of the earth, and by the fruits of low trees and shrub- 

 bery. Between the tropics, on the other hand, the birds of 

 almost all species live upon grubs and insects that infest the 

 trees. The ground, in that part of the globe, not being cov- 

 ered with grasses, could afford them but little sustenance. 

 Hence we may account for the greater variety and beauty so 



VOL. XXI. NO. X. 61 



