ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SONG-BIRDS. 
_ But judging from Gilbert White’s and Bar- 
mngton’s lists, I should say that our bird-choir 
was a larger one, and embraced more good 
songsters, than the British. 
White names twenty-two species of birds 
that sing in England during the spring and 
summer, including the swallow in the list. A 
list of the spring and summer songsters, in New 
York and New England, without naming any 
that are, characteristically, wood birds, like the 
hermit thrush and veery, the two wagtails, the 
true warblers and the solitary vireo, or including 
any of the birds that have musical call-notes, 
and by some are denominated songsters, as 
the bluebird, the.sandpiper, the swallow, the 
red-shouldered starling, the pewee, the high- 
hole, and others, would embrace more names, 
though, perhaps, no songsters equal to the 
lark and nightingale, to wit: the robin, the 
cat-bird, the oriole, the orchard starling, the 
song-sparrow, the wood-sparrow, the vesper 
sparrow, the social sparrow, the purple finch, 
the wood-thrush, the scarlet tanager, the 
indigo-bird, the goldfinch, the bobolink, the 
summer yellow-bird, the meadow lark, the 
house-wren, the brown thrasher, the chewink, 
the chat, the red-eyed vireo, the white-eyed 
vireo, the Maryland yellow-throat, and the 
rose-breasted grosbeak. Our bird-choir is far 
richer in sparrow voices than the British. 
There appear to be but two sparrows in that 
country that sing, the hedge-sparrow and reed- 
sparrow—both, according to Barrington, very 
inferior songsters; the latter without mel- 
lowness or plaintiveness, and with but little 
sprightliness, or compass, and the former 
evidently lower in the scale than either of 
our birds. What a ditty is that of our song- 
sparrow, rising from the garden-fence or the 
road-side so early in March, so prophetic 
and touching, with endless variations and 
pretty trilling effects; or the song of the ves- 
per sparrow, full of the repose and the wild 
sweetness of the fields; or the strain of the 
little bush-sparrow, suddenly projected upon 
the silence of the fields, or of the evening 
twilight, and delighting the ear as a beautiful 
scroll delights the eye. The white-crowned, 
the white-throated, and the Canada sparrows 
sing transiently spring and fall, and I have 
heard the fox-sparrow in April when his song 
haunted my heart like some bright, sad, deli- 
cious memory of youth—the nchest and most 
moving of all sparrow-songs. Our wren-music, 
too, is superior to anything of the kind in the 
Old World. Our house-wren is said to be a bet- 
ter songster than the British house-wren, while 
our winter wren, in sprightliness, mellowness, 
plaintiveness, and execution, is surpassed by 
but few songsters in the world. His summer 
haunts are our high, cool, northern woods, 
359 
where, for the most part, his music is lost on 
the primitive solitude. 
The British fly-catcher, according to White, 
is a silent bird, while our species, as the 
phoebe-bird, the wood-pewee, the kingbird, 
the little green fly-catcher, and others, all 
have notes more or less lively and musical. 
The great crested fly-catcher has a harsh 
voice, but the pathetic and silvery note of the 
wood-pewee more than makes up for it. 
White says the golden-crowned wren (Regulus 
cristatus ) is not a song-bird in Great Britain, 
but the corresponding species here (2. sa- 
trapa) has a rich, delicious, and prolonged 
warble. In the Northern States, its song is 
noticeable about the evergreens for a week or 
two in May, while the bird pauses to feed, on 
its way to Canada and beyond. In its breed- 
ing haunts the ruby-crowned kinglet, tiny as 
it is, fills the solitudes with music. 
There are no vireos in Europe, nor birds 
that answer to them. With us, they con- 
tribute an important element to the music 
of our groves and woods. There are few 
birds I should miss more than the red-eyed 
vireo, with his cheerful musical soliloquy, all 
day and all summer, in the maples and locusts. 
It is he, or rather she, that builds the exqui- 
site basket-nest on the ends of the low, leafy 
branches, suspending it between two twigs. 
The warbling vireo has a stronger, louder 
strain, often more continuous, but not quite so 
sweet. The solitary vireo is heard only in the 
deep woods, while the white-eyed is still more 
local or restricted in its range, being found 
only in wet, bushy places, whence its vehement, 
varied, and brilliant song is sure to catch the 
dullest ear. 
The goldfinches of the two countries, though 
differing in plumage, are perhaps pretty evenly 
matched in song; while our purple finch, or 
linnet, I am persuaded, ranks far above the 
English linnet, or lintie, as the Scotch call it. 
In compass, in melody, in sprightliness, it is a 
remarkable songster. Indeed, take the finches 
as a family, they certainly furnish more good 
songsters in this country than in Great Britain. 
They furnish the staple of our bird-melody, 
including in the family the tanager and the 
grosbeaks, while in Europe the warblers lead. 
White names seven finches in his list, and 
Barrington includes eight, none of them very 
noted songsters, except the linnet. Our list 
would include the sparrows above named, and 
the indigo-bird, the goldfinch, the purple finch, 
the scarlet tanager, the rose-breasted grosbeak, 
the blue grosbeak, and the cardinal bird. Of 
these birds, all except the fox-sparrow and the 
blue grosbeak are familiar summer songsters 
throughout the Middle and Eastern States. 
The indigo-bird is a midsummer and an all- 
