TNOHTH AMERICA. 



9?, 



to cherries and other fruits. 



Cedar Bird. 



Great J}meriean Shrike. 



In the spring they render essential service to the farmer by 

 ridding his trees of caterpillars, beetles, and insects. They 

 are very social and affectionate in their intercourse with one 

 another ; flying in large flocks, and even building nests on 

 the same tree. 



The Great American Slirike (Lanius septentrionalis) , or 

 butcher-bird, is full of energy, and his character is entitlea 

 to no small degree of respect. His activity is visible in all 

 his motions ; his courage and intrepidity are beyond those 

 of every other bird of his size, and in affection for his young 

 he is surpassed by no other. He attacks the largest hawk 

 or eagle in their defence, with a resolution truly astonish- 

 ing, so that all of them respect him, and on every occasion 

 decline the contest. He has an extraordinary habit of stick- 

 ing his surplus food on thorns and bushes, where it soon 

 dries, and becomes useless. In confinement, he does the 

 same thing, and hangs up insects, and food upon nails, 

 fixed up for the purpose. He builds his 

 nest of grass and weeds in the deepest for- 

 ests. 



The Tyrant Fly-catcher, or King Bird 

 (Muscicapa tyrannus), has obtained the ap- 

 pellations of king and tyrant, for the extraor- 

 dinary authority he uses over other birds in 

 the breeding time. His extreme affection 

 for his mate, nest, and young, makes him 

 suspicious of every bird that comes near his 

 residence, so that he attacks every intruder 

 without discrimination ; hawks and crows, 

 and the bald eagle himself, all equally dread 

 a rencontre with this merciless champion, who darts down upon their backs with great violence, 

 fixing himself there, and all the time keeping up a shrill and rapid twittering. He annoys the 

 farmer very much by his partiality to bees. These, with other insects, form his princij)al 

 food, and he displays great skill in catching them. He feeds also on berries of ditierent kinds. 



The Mocking Bird (Turdus pohjglotlus) . This celebrated and extraordinary bird is not 

 only peculiar to the new world, but inhabits a very considerable portion of both North and 

 South America. A warm climate and low country seem most congenial to their nature ; they 

 are therefore much more numerous in the Southern States. The berries of the red cedar, myr- 

 tle, holly, gum berries, gall berries, and a profusion of others, with which the luxuriant swampy 

 thickets of those regions teem, furnish them with a perpetual feast. Winged insects, also, which 

 abound there even in winter, form a favorite part of their food. 



The mocking bird builds his nest in different places, accordincr to the latitude in which he resides. 



A soHtary thorn-bush ; an almost impenetrable thicket ; an 

 orange tree, ceJar, or holly-bush are favorite spots. Always 

 ready to defend, but never over anxious to conceal his nest, he 

 very often builds within a small distance of a house ; and not 

 unfrequently in a pear or apple tree, rarely higher than six or 

 seven feet from the ground. The nest is composed of dry 

 twigs, weeds, straw, wool, and tow, ingeniously put together, 

 and lined with fine fibrous roots. During the time when the 

 female is sitting, neither cat, dog, auiinal, nor man, can ap- 



J.,„ ^.^ ^ , proach the nest without being attacked. But the whole ven- 



m '""^ii^^^^ geance of the bird is directed against his mortal enemy the 



/ black snake. Whenever this reptile is discovered, the male 



darts upon it with the rapidity of an arrow, dexterously eluding 

 its bite, and striking it violently and incessantly against the 

 head, where it is very vulnerable. The snake soon becomes 

 aensible of his danger, and seeks to escape ; but the intrepid bird redoubles his exertions, and as the 

 snake's strength begins to flag, he seizes and lifts it up from the ground, heating it with his wings, 



Mockins Bird. 



