482 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



remarkable in the plumage of the tropical birds. The sing- 

 ing birds that generally frequent the shrubbery are of a 

 brown, or an olive brown, of different shades. They are 

 dressed in colors that blend harmoniously with the general 

 tints of the ground and herbage, while they are sitting upon 

 their nests, or searching for their food. Almost all birds 

 are of a grayish or whitish tint beneath, that, while sitting 

 on a branch, the reptiles that are lurking for them may, when 

 looking upward, not easily distinguish them from the hues 

 of the clouds and sky, and the grayish under-surface of the 

 leaves of plants. 



Nature works on the same principle in guarding insects and 

 reptiles from the observation of their foes. Thus, the toad 

 is colored like the earth ; while the common frog, that lives 

 .^mong the green rushes and other plants of the shore, is 

 gr&cn, and the tree frog of a mottled gray, like the outer 

 surface of the bark of trees. Almost all grasshoppers are 

 greep ; but there is a species found among the gray lichens, 

 on our rocky hills, which is of the color of granite. Among 

 the singing birds of this country, which are remarkable for 

 the brilliancy of Iheir plumage, are the golden oriole and 

 the redbird. These birds are seldom seen upon the ground, 

 but seek their food and build their nests upon trees. The 

 little hemp-bird, or American goldfinch, lives upon the seeds 

 of the compound flowers, which are mostly yellow. His 

 plumage of dark olive and yellow allows him to escape the 

 observation of a lurking enemy, while pecking his repast 

 from the disk of a sunflower, or from a cluster of golden 

 chrysanthemums. 



The nightingale, though unrivalled in song, is exceeded 

 by almost all other birds in beauty of plumage. This is not 

 to be explained on the principle of compensation, but by the 

 necessity of plain colors for protection. Birds of this species 

 do not frequent tall trees, but delight in shrubbery, and take 

 the greater part of their food from the ground. Their neu- 

 tral tinted feathers, harmonizing with the general tints of the 

 surface of the earth, are one of the means given them by 

 .nature for their security. The northern woodpeckers, the 



