NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. Jol 
we occasionally see a blue crane, and another larger bird of the heron 
species, describing that peculiar motion attributed by negro min- 
Strelsy to Nelly Bly, — 
“ When she walks she lifts np foot, 
And ts she puts- it dow 
and get they treat their long red iia as something to be careful 
of, to be deposited gingerly upon the mud, rue lifted again with due 
deliberation. In strong contrast is, the mo of the sandpiper, two 
three varieties of which are always to vi ‘<a gliding so quickly 
over the rocks, that whether they run or fly is almost a problem. In 
one of our drives we once captured an infant piper, and I have seen 
few things more comical than that minute kariai ball, adorned with 
bill and legs, seemingly out of all proportio ot having always lived 
on the sea-shore, the foregoing birds are Ea ely new to me, but 
I do not mean to neglect the more familiar ones who haunt the trees 
and bushes directly about the house, — the chipping sparrow who 
seeks his daily meal of crumbs upon the piazza, sometimes joined by 
the cat-bird, gn oh robin, niese and the cuckoo, — the pewee, martin, 
and swallow, who all have nests within our precincts, — the noisy 
bobolink, and in the season a cherries, which are abundant here, a 
countless crowd of chatterers which it would be needless to enume- 
e 
saw this spring one bird which I had never before seen, — the 
American Redstart, — which remained poised for a moment upon the 
piazza rail, so that we had a fair view of it. The ferruginous thrush, 
Which seems quite as tame here as the robin, is almost new to me. 
A ason advances, the gollen-winged woodpecker and quail site 
themselves airs among the flower-beds on the lawn, so confide 
they of not being molested ; but at present we are interes fam- 
There are six in the family: the two whom we suppose to be the pa- 
rents, rather object to si looked at, so that I have only had a good 
view of one, of which the following is a papasi back and wings 
of a sandy-red, with a white marking on the front t of the wing similar 
to that on the wax-wing or PEPA ears prominent, breast 
ish speckled. and face ditto, with two dark lines extending aias the 
base ears to the bill and enclosing the eyes. The four young 
ones, who generally sit side by side, and stare at us as long as we 
choose to stare at them, are all over of a silvery-grey, with less prom- 
inent ears. None of the company appear to be over seven inches 
high, and seem to haunt certain trees, where we can generally find 
them at any hour of the day, and they begin to be lively before sun- 
grey: 
