27 
RED- AND- WHITE- WINGED TROOPIAL, OR MARSH 
BLACKBIRD. 
Agelaius tricolor, Aud . 
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 Y ulture 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 1 
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 they 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 de- 
sire 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 
