BIRDS OF 



HAB. United States, south into Mexico. Rare from New Jersey, the 

 Valley of the Ohio, Colorado and California northward. 



Nest, in bushes and low trees ; composed of twigs, leaves, grass, etc., put 

 together in a slovenly manner. 



Eggs, 4 to 6 ; bluish-green, heavily marked with several shades of brown. 



Among birds, as among men, individuals differ greatly 

 in natural ability, some being much more highly endowed 

 than others and their gifts are also as varied. Some, representing 

 the architects of the community, excel in building their homes, 

 which have not only all the necessary requirements for the 

 comfort and safety of the inmates, but exhibit a skill and taste 

 in their construction, and in the selection and arrangement of 

 the materials, which never fail to excite our admiration. One 

 of the most complete nests which come under our observation 

 is that built by the Summer Yellow-bird. It is often placed in 

 the fork of a lilac bush near our houses, and is not only luxuriously 

 comfortable, but it is so well put together that it stands the 

 blasts of winter and is in good shape in the following spring, 

 though the birds do not use it a second season, but are seen 

 tugging pieces out of the old to help to build the new. Another 

 interesting specimen of bird architecture is the curious, pensile, 

 purse-like nest of the Baltimore Oriole, which is quite a familiar 

 object as it is seen swaying at the end of a slender twig of a 

 drooping elm, while in the solitudes of a cedar swamp the 

 Winter Wren provides a wonderfully cosy home for her numerous 

 family in the centre of a ball of green moss. 



Others may be regarded as the poets, the musicians of the 

 feathered tribes, and it would be a curious study for us to try to find 

 out whether those who cannot sing enjoy the singing of those 

 who can. To human ears the melody of many of the birds is as 

 pleasing perhaps as it is to their own species, and in this re- 

 spect there is none more fascinating than the Mockingbird, 

 whose rapturous music excites admiration wherever it is heard. 



One of America's most gifted poets, who evidently knew and 

 appreciated the musical powers of the bird, thus describes it in 

 words well worthy of the subject. The scene is on the lower 

 Mississippi, a band of exiles is descending the river on a still 

 evening in the early summer. 



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