148 AN INDIAN LEGEND. 



in soft and downy plumage, the feathers of his head-dress became 

 blended with his thick black locks, and his robe of dressed skins 

 seemed to clasp him more closely while it slowly changed into 

 a vesture of feathers. Ere he had time to pour his heart's wail 

 over his gentle mistress, a new sense of freedom and bouyancy 

 led him to rise from the earth. Poised on a branch of the old 

 tree which overhung the new-born flower, he carolled his deli- 

 cious and heaven-piercing strains, while the mingled emotions 

 of a soul once human, gave a variety to his notes which still 

 ranks the Ma-ma-twa among the sweetest of all songsters.* 



* The Adder's Tongue Violet bears the name of Mo-na-wing in one of the 

 Algonquin dialects, while the Ma-ma-twa is well known to all urchins under the 

 luckless soubriquet of " Cat-Bird." 



