27 



RED-AND-WHITE-WINGED TROOPIAL, OR MARSH 



BLACKBIRD. 



+Agelaius tricolor, Jlud. 



PLATE CCXIV.— Male. 



How delightful, I have often exclaimed, must have been the feelings of 

 those enthusiastic naturalists, Nuttall and Townsend, while traversing the 

 ridges of the Rocky Mountains! How grand and impressive the scenery- 

 presented to their admiring gaze, when from an elevated station they saw 

 the mountain torrent hurling its foamy waters over the black crags of the 

 rugged ravine, while on wide-spread wings the Great Vulture sailed overhead 

 watching the departure of the travellers, that he might feast on the salmon, 

 which in striving to ascend the cataract had been thrown on the stony beach ! 

 Now the weary travellers are resting on the bank of a brawling brook, along 

 which they are delighted to see the lively Dipper frisking wren-like from 

 stone to stone. On the stunted bushes above them some curious Jays are 

 chattering, and as my friends are looking upon the gay and restless birds, 

 they are involuntarily led to extend their gaze to the green slope beneath 

 the more distant crags, where thej^ spy a mountain sheep, watching the 

 movements of the travellers, as well as those of yon wolves stealing silently 

 toward the fleet-footed animal. Again the pilgrims are in motion; they 

 wind their pathless way round rocks and fissures; they have reached the 

 greatest height of the sterile platform; and as they gaze on the valleys whose 

 waters hasten to join the Pacific Ocean, and bid adieu, perhaps for the last 

 time, to the dear friends they have left in the distant east, how intense must 

 be their feelings, as thoughts of the past and the future blend themselves in 

 their anxious minds! But now I see them, brother-like, with lighter steps, 

 descending toward the head waters of the famed Oregon. They have reached 

 the great stream, and seating themselves in a canoe, shoot adown the current, 

 gazing on the beautiful shrubs and flowers that ornament the banks, and the 

 majestic trees that cover the sides of the valley, all new to them, and pre- 

 senting a wide field of discovery. The melodies of unknown songsters 

 enliven their spirits, and glimpses of gaudily plumed birds excite their 

 desire to search those beautiful thickets; but time is urgent, and onward they 

 must speed. A deer crosses the stream, they pursue and capture it; and it 

 being now evening, they land and soon form a camp, carefully concealed 



