Bates, the naturalist of the Amazon, speaks of a little thrush he used to hear in his rambles that showed the American quality to which I have referred. "It is a much smaller and plainer-colored bird," he says, "than our [the English] thrush, and its song is not so loud, varied, or so long sustained; here the tone is of a sweet and plaintive quality, which harmonizes well with the wild and silent woodlands, where alone it is heard in the mornings and evenings of sultry, tropical days."

I append parallel lists of the better-known American and English song-birds, marking in each with an asterisk, those that are probably the better songsters; followed by a list of other American songsters,

some of which are not represented in the British avifauna:—

Old England.New England.
*Wood-lark.Meadowlark.
Song-thrush.*Wood thrush.
*Jenny Wren.House wren.
Willow wren.*Winter wren.
*Redbreast.Bluebird.
*Redstart.Redstart.
Hedge-sparrow.*Song sparrow.
Yellow-hammer.*Fox sparrow.
*Skylark.Bobolink.
Swallow.Swallow.
*Blackcap.Wood wagtail.
Titlark.Titlark (spring and fall).
*Blackbird.Robin.
Whitethroat.*Maryland yellow-throat.
Goldfinch.Goldfinch.
Greenfinch.*Wood sparrow.
Reed-sparrow.*Vesper sparrow.
Linnet.*Purple finch.
*Chaffinch.Indigo-bird.
*Nightingale.Water wagtail.
Missel thrush.*Hermit thrush.
Great titmouse.Savanna sparrow.
Bullfinch.Chickadee.

New England song-birds not included in the above are:—

Besides these, a dozen or more species of the Mniotiltidæ, or wood-warblers, might be named, some of which, like the black-throated green warbler, the speckled Canada warbler, the hooded warbler, the mourning ground-warbler, and the yellow warbler, are fine songsters.