SINGING-BIEDS AND FLOWEES, ETC. 173 



half a dollar, or if the cage had some extra ornamenta- 

 tion about it, a dollar would be the price. 



The grasshopper warbler, Calamodyta pragmitis, I 

 found in Yesso, but never remember seeing it further 

 south. I do not mention this bird as classing it with 

 the true songsters, but merely copy from my journal 

 the fact of it occurring in the north and not in the 

 south. One other bird I must mention is the hedge- 

 sparrow. Accentor modularis. On looking one day for 

 a pigeon I had fired at, I picked up one of these little 

 birds, stunned, and unable to rise. It had no mark on 

 it, and made an excellent specimen for my collection. 



There are no other birds which, from my own 

 experience, I can note as songsters. I often wondered 

 at the scarcity of song-birds, and, in fact, of the paucity 

 of small birds that are to be found in the country. For 

 these species (small birds generally), Japan always 

 appeared to me admirably adapted. At the same time 

 I should add, that I have been struck with the absence 

 of those insects which birds of this class are so fond of. 



The largest variety of the feathered tribe is to be 

 found amongst the ducks, or Natatores, the waders 

 following. 



Before saying anything about the scented flowers, I 

 should like to mention a little incident which is stUl 

 fresh on my mind. 



