68 THE RETURN OF THE NATIVES. 



The little c heebeck , tliougli he arrived nearly a 

 week ago, forces himself on my notice for the first 

 time. As a musician, he is not a success. He 

 perches on a twig overhead and utters his monoto- 

 nous note, chebeck-chebeck, jerking his head and 

 tail at the same time, as if it was the greatest 

 effort for him to say as much as this. He has 

 the air of a sick bird, till you have looked into 

 his round, full, bright eye, when this impression is 

 at once dispelled. So far as I have observed, he 

 does not capture the flpng insects, Hke his cousins, 

 the pewees and kingbirds, but flits from tree to tree, 

 without returning again to the same post of obser- 

 vation. Once or twice I caught him looking among 

 the leaves and twigs for food. 



What peculiarity is it, in the constitution of a 

 few of our birds, that causes an entire change of 

 color in their plumage during the breeding-season ? 

 Evidently there is some special quality in the 

 nature of the blood that sends the dye-stuff out to 

 the feathers, as air and light operate upon the 

 young leaves of the oaks and walnuts at the time 

 of their unfolding. A male goldfinch flutters up 

 from the pathway, apparently disabled by the 

 unusually backward and severe moulting, and tries 

 to hide himself among some yellowish, stained 



