BiiiDS. 249 



a difFerent cadence, now interrupted by a break, then changing 

 into a new note by an unexpected transition ; now seeming to 

 renew the sanne strain, then deceiving expectation ! She some- 

 times seems to murmur within herself; full, deep, sharp, swift, 



work of a very beautiful and perfect bird. The eggs are five, white, 

 slightly tiuged with flesh colour, marked on the greater cud with purplo 

 dots, and on the other pju-ts with long- hair-like lines, intersecting each 

 other in a variety of directions. I am thus minute in these particulars, 

 from a v/ish to point out the specific difference between the true and bastard 

 IJaltimore, which Dr Latham, and some others, suspect to be only the sanio 

 bird in different stages of colour. 



" So solicitous is the Baltimore to procure proper materials for his nest, 

 that, in the season of building, the women in the country are under the ne. 

 cessity of narrowly watching their thread that may chance to be out 

 bleaching, and the fanner to secure his young grafts ; as the IJaltimore, 

 finding tlie former, and the strings ^vhich tie the latter, so well adapted 

 for his purpose, frequently carries ofi both ; or, should the one be over 

 heavy, and the other too firmly tied, he will tug at them a considerable 

 time before he gives up the attempt Skeins of silk and hanks of thread 

 have been often found, after the leaves were fallen, hanging roinid the Bal. 

 timore's nest ; but so woven up, and entangled, as to be eutirely irreclaim- 

 able. Before the introduction of Europeans, no such material could have 

 been obtained here ; but, with the sagacity of a good architect, he has im- 

 proved this circumstance to his advantage ; and the strongest and best ma- 

 terials are uniformly found in those parts by AA-hich the whole is supported. 



" Their principal food consists of caterpillars, beetles, and bugs, particu- 

 larly one of a brilliant glossy green, fragments of which 1 have almost al- 

 ways found in the stomach, and sometimes these only." 



The Virginian Nightingale, Ked Bird, or Cardinal Grosbeak, has great 

 clearness, variety, and melody in his notes, many of which resemble the 

 higher notes of a fife, and ai-e nearly as loud. He sings from March till 

 September, and begins early in the daw-n, repeating a favourite stanza 

 twenty or thirty times successively, and often for a whole morning together, 

 till, like a good story too frequently repeated, it becomes quite tiresome. He 

 is very sprightly, and full of vivacity ; yet his notes are much inferior to 

 those of the wood, or even of the brown, thrush. 



Another bird of this genus, the I'ine Grosbeak, sings extremely clear, 

 mellow, and sweet, though not so loud as birds of its size generally do. A 

 tame one sung, during the months of May and June, with much entbusiasm, 

 for whole mornings together ; and it acquired several notes of the Virginian 

 nightingale, one of which hung near it. 



The American Goldfinch, or Yellow Bird, sings very much like the Euro- 

 pean goldfinch ; but so weakly, that, even when perched o\er your head, 

 the notes appear to come from a distance. In a ca^e he sings with great 

 energj' and animation. They are migratory bii'ds ; and, when they arrive 

 in spring, great niunbers of them assemble on the same tree, to bask ami 

 dress themselves in the morning sun, singing at the Siune time, in concert, 

 most delightfully, for half an hour together. 



The Indigo Bird is fond of perching uu fences about road-sides, and is a 



