Eiccbird or Bobolink. He examined great numbers of 

 them by dissection in autiinm, and declared all of them to 

 be females ! He likewise expressed an opinion, that this 

 bird was not to be found in the country, previous to the cul- 

 tivation of rice in the United States ; and in this belief 

 he was also mistaken. Dr. Gordon found great fault 

 with Catesby, whose whole work, he says, but especially 

 the second volume, is so incomplete, and abounds with such 

 gross errors, that it would be no small task to amend and 

 complete it; and that he never consulted it without indig- 

 nation and disgust, at seeing the most beautiful works of 

 creation so miseral^ly defaced and mutilated, and so illy 

 represented. 



In tlic year 1748, Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist, and 

 pupil of Limiaeus, visited tliis country, and spent three years 

 in examining its natural productions. He was a vigilant 

 observer, and an industrious collector of plants, and gave 

 considerable attention to the study of our birds, and in 1753 

 published his travels in North America, in two volumes ; 

 wherein he has given us a figure of the Mocking-bird, Red- 

 breasted Thrush or Rol)in, Purple Jackdaw or Crow Black- 

 bird, Red wdnged Stare or Blackbird, American Migratory 

 Pigeon, Ground Squirrel, Flying Squirrel, Raccoon, and 

 American Pole Cat or Skunk. Kalm still retains to this 

 day, considerable reputation as a naturalist, and his name 

 has become enduringly associated with a genus of our most 

 elegant evergreen shrubs. 



Capt. Jonathan Carver, an enterprising traveller in the 

 interior of North America in 1766, published a Journal of 

 his travels, wherein he describes the Beasts, Birds, Fishes, 

 Reptiles, and Insects, which are found in that country. 

 He noticed and described the following birds, viz : tlie Eagle. 

 Night Hawk, Whipporwill, Fish-Hawk, Owl, Crane, Ducks, 

 Teal, Loon, Wood-Pigeon, Woodpecker, Blue-Jay Wakou 

 bird. Blackbird, Whet-saw, King-bird, Hawk, Crow-Raven, 

 Parrot, Pelican, Stork, Cormorant, Heron, Swan, Water- 

 Hen, Ileath-Cock, Partridge, Quail, Snipe, Lark, Cuckoo, 

 Swallow, Thrush, Robin, Wren, and Humming-bird. Car- 

 ver describes one bird in his list, which has never as yet 

 been identified, if indeed it ever existed, but in the imagina- 

 tion of the Indian. The Wakon-bird he says, as it is termed 

 by the Indians, " appears to be the same species as the bird of 



