162 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
meteoric gleams, and gem-like flashes of one to 
which I shall presently allude, are scarcely less 
characteristic and distinctive, than the wedged 
beak and horny tail of the one, or the tubular 
tongue and falcate wings of the other. 
There seems something recondite in this : the 
modifications of form which the bodily organs 
assume, we can generally connect with some ob- 
vious end ; we see and admire the beautiful adap- 
tation of the form to the instincts and habits of the 
animal ; the wedge-like beak to chisel away the 
hard wood of the tree, the barbed tongue to fetch 
out the ensconced grub, and the horny tail to 
support the perpendicular position during the act ; 
— but what bearing have the peculiar tints of the 
plumage on the mode of life? — is a woodpecker 
better fitted to get his living because he is clothed 
in black and white and scarlet ? I dare not say he 
is not : for though I can trace no possible connexion 
between the colours and the instincts, the constancy 
of such an appropriation, evidently anything but 
arbitrary, or unintentional, and the wide prevalence 
of the principle in all the orders, convince me that 
it is not a reasonless or accidental circumstance. 
Others may perhaps see more deeply into the 
matter than I can, and may discover another link 
in that mighty chain, which, traversing all orders 
of being, compels us to recognise in each the All- 
wise God. 
But to return : the other tree to which I alluded 
as a denizen of our dry and sandy yards, is one 
cultivated for the beauty of its appearance, the 
Althea. It rises to the height of twelve or fifteen 
feet, with a full, spreading body, profusely covered 
with pink flowers, much resembling those of the 
