THE SPARROW RIND. 15C 



uhere they constantly have flowers, these beautiful birds are never 

 known to disappear. 



It is a do'jbt whether or not these birds have a continued note in 

 singing. All travellers agree that, beside the humming noise pro- 

 Juced by their wings, they have a little interrupted chirrup ; but La- 

 bat asserts that they have a most pleasing melancholy melody in their 

 voices, though small and proportioned to the organs which produce it. 

 It is very probable that indifferent places their notes are also different; 

 and as there are some that continue torpid all the winter, there may 

 likewise be some with agreeable voices, though the rest may in gene- 

 ral be silent. 



The Indians formerly made great use of this pretty bird's plumage 

 in adorning their belts and head-dress. The children take them in 

 the fields upon rings smeared with bird-lime : they approach the place 

 where the birds are flying, and twirling their rings in the air, so al- 

 lure them, either by the colour or the sound, that the simple little 

 creature comes to rest upon the ring, and is seized. They are then 

 instantly killed and gutted, and hung up in the chimney to dry. 

 Those who take greater care, dry them in a stove, which is not so 

 likely to injure the plumage as the foregoing method. Their beauti- 

 ful feathers were once the ornament of the highest jank of savage 

 noHlity, but at present they take the bird rather for the purpose of 

 selling it as a curiosity to the Europeans, than that of ornament for 

 themselves. All the taste for savage finery is wearing out fast, even 

 s r nong the Americans. They now begin to adopt, if not the dresses 

 rf Europe, at least the materials of which they are composed. The 

 wandering warrior is far from thinking himself fine at present with his 

 bow and his feathered crown : his ambition reaches to higher oroa* 

 merits ; a gun, a blue shirt, and a blanket. 



