30 
INSESSOIiES. 
CHAPTER IT. 
INSESSORES: PASSERES — OSCINES. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BOBOLINK BY ‘‘WASHINGTON IRVING” 
COW-BIRD RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD — BALTIMORE ORIOLE 
— BULLOCK’S ORIOLE — ORCHARD ORIOLE — MEADOW LARK 
— RAVEN. 
There are comparatively few persons wlio are 
aware of the pleasure that is to be derived from a 
morning ramble in the woods, for the purpose of ob- 
serving the habits of the countless feathered beings 
which abound on every hand. There is a real enjoy- 
ment in watching their incessant activity, the beauty 
and singular ease of their motions : to trace the gaudy 
colors in which some are clothed, and the plainer 
though no less pleasing tints of others ; to examine 
the beautiful and delicate structure of their nest; 
and, above all, to listen to the sweet and mellow ca- 
dences of their many-toned voices. A few hours 
thus spent can hardly have any other than a happy 
effect. There is one thing which cannot fail to strike 
us as a prominent feature among Birds, that is, va- 
riety — not only in their plumage and song, but in 
their habits : a variety which ends only with the spe- 
cies, each seeming to possess a distinct character of 
its own. 
Passing from the Pinches we come to the Black- 
