UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 329 



tectors; and incitements and rewards held out for their destruction ! 

 Lei us examine better into the operations of nature, and many of our 

 mistaken opinions, and groundless prejudices, will be abandoned for 

 more just, enlarged and humane modes of thinking. 



The Belted Kirigsfishcr is a general inhabitant of the banks and 

 shores of all our fresh water rivers from Hudson's Bay to Mexico; 

 and is tne only species of its tribe found within the United States. 

 This iast circumstance, and its characteristic appearance, make it as 

 universally known here, as its elegant little brother, the common 

 Kingshshe. of Europe, is in Britain. Like the love-lorn swains of 

 whom poets tell us, he delights in murmuring streams and falling 

 waters ; not however merely that they may sooth his ear, but for a 

 gratification somewhat more substantial. Amidst the roar of the ca- 

 taract, or over the foam of a torrent, he sits perched upon an over- 

 hanging bough, glancing his piercing eye in every direction below for 

 his scaly prey, which with a sudden circular plunge he sweeps from 

 their native element, and swallows in an instant. His voice, which 

 is not unlike the sound produced by the twirling of a watchman's rat- 

 tle, is naturally loud, harsh and sudden ; but it is softened by the sound 

 of the brawling streams and cascades about which he generally ram- 

 bles. Mill-dams are particularly visited by this feathered fisher; and 

 the sound of his pipe is as well known to the miller as the rattling 

 of his own hopper. 



Marsh Wren. This little bird is remarkable for its notes, and cu- 

 riously constructed nest. Standing on the reedy borders of the Schuyl- 

 kill, or Delaware in the month of June, you hear a low crackling 

 sound, something similar to that produced by air bubbles forcing their 

 way through mud or boggy ground when trod upon : this is the song 

 of the Marsh Wren. But as among the human race it is not given 

 to one man to excel in every thing, and yet each, perhaps, has some- 

 thing peculiarly his own ; so among birds we find a like distribution 

 of talents and peculiarities. The bird now before us, if deficient and 

 contemptible in singing, excels in the art of design, and constructs a 

 nest, which, in durability, warmth and convenience, is scarcely infe- 

 rior to one, and far superior to many, of its more musical brethren. 

 This is formed outwardly of wet rushes mixed with mud, well inter- 

 twisted, and fashioned into the form of a cocoa nut. A small hole is 

 left two-thirds up, for entrance, the upper edge of which projects like 

 a pent-house over the lower, to prevent the admission of rain. The 

 inside is lined with fine soft grass, and sometimes feathers; and the 

 outside, when hardened by the sun, resists every kind of weather, 

 This nest is generally suspended among the reeds, above the reach 

 of the highest tides, and is tied so fast in every part to the surround- 

 ing reeds, as to bid defiance to the winds and the waves. The eggs 

 are usually six, of a dark fawn colour, and very small. The young 

 leave the nest about thje twentieth of June, and they generally have 

 a second brood in the same season. They migrate to the southward 

 in the month of August, and return to Pennsylvania in May. 



Humming-bird. Though this interesting and beautiful genus of 

 birds comprehends upwards of seventy species, all of which, with a 

 very few exceptions, are natives of America and its adjacent islands, 

 it is yet singular, that the species now before us, the Trochilus colu- 

 bris, should be the only one of its tribe that ever visits the territory of 

 the United States. According to the observations of Mr. John Abbot 

 of Georgia, this species makes its first appearance at Savannah, from 



