218 THE INVITATION. 



Wilson called the kinglets wrens, but they have little 

 to justify the name, except their song, which is of the 

 same continuous, gushing, lyrical character as that re- 

 ferred to above. Dr. Brewer was entranced with the 

 song of one of these tiny minstrels in the woods of New 

 Brunswick, and thought he had found the author of the 

 strain in the black-poll warbler. He seems loth to be- 

 lieve that a bird so small as either of the kinglets could 

 possess such vocal powers. It may indeed have been 

 the winter-wren, but from my own observation I believe 

 the golden-crowned kinglet quite capable of such a 

 performance. 



But I must leave this part of the subject and hasten 

 on. As to works on ornithology, Audubon's, though 

 its expense puts it beyond the reach of the mass of 

 readers, is, by far, the most full and accurate. His 

 drawings surpass all others in accuracy and spirit, 

 while his enthusiasm and devotion to the work he had 

 undertaken, have but few parallels in the history of 

 science. .His chapter on the wild goose is as good as 

 a poem. One readily overlooks his style, which is 

 often verbose and affected, in consideration of enthu- 

 siasm so genuine and purpose so single. 



There has never been a keener eye than Audubon's, 

 though there have been more discriminative ears. Nut- 

 tall, for instance, is far more happy in his descriptions 

 of the songs and notes of birds, and more to be relied 

 upon. Audubon thinks the song of the Louisiana water- 

 thrush equal to that of the European nightingale, and, 



