268 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[July, 
More About Birds. 
The account given last month of the strange Bower and 
Gardener Birds, has interested not only the youngsters 
for whom it was intended, hut many of our older readers 
have shown much interest in them, and would like to 
know more—especially about the Gardener Bird. That 
being a quite new discovery, we gave the fullest account 
we could find, and we must wait until some other natural¬ 
ist visits the island where it is found. Some of the 
youngsters wish we would tell more about and give more 
almost always very unlike in this. So naturalists, in de¬ 
scribing birds, take characters that are more permanent: 
the form of the head and bill; the legs and feet; the 
wings and tail, as to number of certain quills, and other 
points with which color has nothing to do. You are not 
to understand from this that color is of no importance in 
describing birds, but that while it is the first thing that 
strikes your eye, you should, in observing the birds you 
see, talce notice of other points. The picture here given 
of a group of our native birds, illustrates what has been 
said. If we could show you the birds themselves, you 
rear our young on insects and worms, we like a little 
fruit with our meat, and go to the trees and pick out a few 
wormy cherries—pop—bang—dead Robins! Then what is 
more than all, the fall horticultural meetings pass resolu¬ 
tions against us, and call us rascals ; but some have the 
grace to say that we do make a good pot-pie. If these 
men would only let us mind our own business, we could 
put money in their pockets.”—So much for the Robin’s 
story. Watch him carefully, and see if he is not right. 
The bird on the ground in the picture, though often called 
Ground or Marsh-Robin, does not belong to the same 
pictures of our common native birds, and we are always 
glad to have our young friends express their wishes. 
While the greater number of our junior readers were born 
in, and live in the country (and we hope that they may 
find it best to stay there), still very many go to the coun¬ 
try for a few months only, in the summer; and to these all 
the country objects, the trees and flowers, the birds and 
insects, seem quite different from what they do to those 
who are always among them; and it often happens that 
those who are in the country for a short time only, learn 
more about, and really know more about, country objects 
than those who are constantly among them, just as a 
country person visiting a large city will see more of the 
city’s “sights,” than one who lives there will see in ten 
years. There is one trouble about giving pictures of 
birds. When you see a bird on the wing, or perched 
upon a twig, the first thing that strikes you is its color. 
This is particularly the case with such brilliant birds as 
the Scarlet Tanager, which glows as it flits among the 
green leaves like a ball of fire. When we show you a 
picture of this bird, no matter however carefully it is 
drawn and engraved, you see only black and white, and 
it docs not bring the brilliant Tanager to your mind at 
all. But you must recollect that color is only one of the 
marks by which birds are known, and one of the least 
constant. Birds change their plumage with age, and 
with the season ; while the sexes, male and female, are 
would have a quite brilliant display of colors : red, black, 
yellow, white, and various shades of brown, would catch 
the eye at once. The bird most prominent in the picture 
is one of the best known in nearly all parts of the coun¬ 
try. If its breast were red, you would at once recognize 
the familiar Robin-red-breast. Our Robin is a very dif¬ 
ferent bird from the English Robin, and is not very close¬ 
ly related. When our ancestors came to this country, 
they gave to the plants, the birds, etc., that most re¬ 
sembled those they had left at home, the familiar home 
names, and gave that of Robin-red-breast to a bird about 
twice the size of the English Robin. If the Robin could 
write or speak, what an account he would give of us 
“ featherless bipeds.” It would run something after this 
style: “ These animals called men, who are born with¬ 
out feathers, and arc obliged to rob the poor sheep to 
keep themselves warm, are very glad to see us in early 
spring; they praise our song, and allow us to come upon 
the trees about their houses because we take the cater¬ 
pillars to feed our young; they let us follow the plow, 
for we pick up lots of grubs and worms, and they only 
praise us during the spring months. They print in their 
papers that each one of us destroys a worm every 2y s 
minute; and sometimes tell how far the worms, put end 
to end, would reach, that we require to rear a nest of 
young. We are very lovely birds until cherries are ripe ; 
but then, if after working hard all the spring months to 
family with the common Robin, but to the Finches. Its 
common name in some parts is “ Towhee Bunting,” and 
in others, “Chewink.” Itis common in most of the East¬ 
ern States; its colors are very distinct, being mainly black 
and white, with some chestnut-brown on the sides. It 
builds its rude nest on the ground, and is essentially a 
ground bird. The note of the male is toiu-he'e'che'de , 
which he gives out as a warning when the nest is ap¬ 
proached. The Cow-bird, or Cow Blackbird, the one 
that appears in the center upon a branch, and in a flut¬ 
tered state, is not a very pleasing bird. Its general color 
is shiny black and purplish-brown, and is often to be 
seen in pastures with cattle, following them closely that 
it may get at the insects as the cattle eat away the grass. 
This is a mean and lazy bird, building no nest of its 
own, but dropping its egg in the nest of some other bird, 
usually that of an innocent Warbler, which poor creature 
hatches out the Cow-bird with her own young, and the 
intruder often grows so fast as to crowd the rightful 
owners out of the nest. The bird at the upper right- 
hand part of the picture is one of the numerous Warblers, 
the “Magnolia Warbler,” or “Black and Yellow Warbler.” 
It is well marked by its yellow breast streaked with black. 
The little fellow, looking in from above, is “Blackburn’s,” 
or the “ Hemlock Warbler,” and is the most beautiful of 
all the Warblers, on account of the intense orange or flame- 
color of its throat; the back and crown being black. 
