88 THE RETURN OF THE NATIVES. 



a pitiful spectacle is presented to me. If an artist 

 had been here to have caught the spirit of the 

 scene ! A dead bird arrested by the thorns as it 

 was falling to the ground, its limp head resting on 

 a bunch of young, tender leaves, and its wings out- 

 stretched for the last time. This I suspect is the 

 work of the cruel shrike, although no marks of 

 violence are seen on its body. Those black and 

 white stripes, clearly defined on the crown, so 

 different from the markings on the back, signify 

 its connection with the genus of finches called 

 zonotriehia or " striped heads." The yeUow streak 

 from the base of the biU, along the cheeks to the 

 middle of the eyes, the white throat, and bars 

 across the wings, distinguish it from the other 

 species of the group. It is the white-throated 

 sparrow or Peabody bird, and this is its mate, no 

 doubt, now perched overhead, that I have followed 

 to find bereaved. Were these birds belated in their 

 journeyings to more northern woods, where the 

 white throats generally visit, or were they pros- 

 pecting for a home in this bush ? 



By the last of May every bird is in fuU song. 

 The cat-bird medley to his lady-love is a poor per- 

 formance when compared to the finer efforts of his 

 southern cousin, the mocking-bird, and it is comical 



