2 RED-AND- WHITE-WINGED TROOPIAL. 



feelings, as thoughts of the past and the future blend themselves in 

 their anxious minds ! But now I see them, brother-like, with lighter 

 steps, descending toward the head waters of the famed Oregon. They 

 have reached the great stream, and seating themselves in a canoe, shoot 

 adown the current, gazing on the beautiful shrubs and flowers that or- 

 nament the banks, aud the majestic trees that cover the sides of the 

 valley, all new to them, and presenting a wide field of discovery. The 

 melodies of unknown songsters enliven their spirits, and glimpses of 

 gaudily plumed birds excite their desire to search those beautiful thick- 

 ets ; but time is urgent, and onward they must speed. A deer crosses 

 the stream, they pm-sue and capture it ; and it being now evening, 

 they land and soon form a camp, carefully concealed from the prying 

 eyes of the lurking savage. The night is past, the dawn smiles upon 

 the refreshed travellers, who launch their frail bark ; and .as they 

 slowly float on the stream, both listen attentively to the notes of the 

 Red-and- White-winged Troopial, and wonder how similar they are to 

 those of the " Red-winged Starling :" they think of the affinities of 

 species, and especially of those of the lively birds composing this beau- 

 tiful group. 



Indeed it is not a little interesting to the practical ornithologist to 

 see the amalgamation as it were of species belonging to certain families, 

 and of none more than of the birds formerly known by the names of Quis- 

 cali and Icteri. He who attends to the manners of these birds will be 

 inclined to assimilate them on the one hand to the Crows, and on the 

 other to the Finches, while many of their habits indicate that they are 

 quite dififerent from either. 



The first striking resemblance between Quiscalus major, Q. versico- 

 lor ; Icterus tricolor, I. phoeniceus, I. Guhernator, I.ferrugineus, and the 

 Cow Bird, is found in the circumstances of their all moving in flocks, 

 mixing more or less with one another, and shewing a decided attach- 

 ment to man, founded entirely on self-interest, and the benefit which 

 results to them from his agricultural labours. They are all loqua- 

 cious, fly in dense whu'ling masses, alight equally well on trees, poles, 

 or fences proper for roosting, as well as on the rank plants of marshes 

 and meadows. They walh with ease, indeed with a considerable degree 

 of grace, and are never seen to hop or leap. Although some of these 

 species may give a preference to the more immediate neighbourhood of 



