A Book of the United States / Exhibiting its geography, divisions, constitution, and government ... and presenting a view of the republic generally, and of the individual states; together with a condensed history of the land, from its first discovery to the present time. The biography of about two hundred of the leading men: a description of the principal cities and towns; with statistical tables

by Unknown

Tanager.

Finches.—The Song Sparrow is the most generally diffused over the United States, and is the most numerous of all our sparrows; and it is far the earliest, sweetest, and most lasting songster. Many of them remain during the whole winter in close-sheltered meadows and swamps. It is the firstsinging bird in spring. Its song continues through the summer and fall, and is sometimes heard even in the depths of winter. The notes or chant are short but very sweet, and frequently repeated, from a small bush or tree, where it sits chanting for an hour together. It is fond of frequenting the borders of rivers, meadows and swamps; and, if wounded and unable to fly, will readily take to the water, and swim with considerable rapidity. There are other familiar species of sparrows, as the Chipping, Field, and Tree, Yellow-winged, and White-throated sparrows.

The Indigo Bird is numerous in the middle and eastern states, and in the Carolinas and Georgia. Its favorite haunts are about gardens, fields of clover, borders of woods, and road sides, where it is frequently seen perched on fences. In its manners it is extremely neat and active, and a vigorous and pretty good songster. It mounts to the tops of the highest trees, and chants for half an hour at a time. Its song is not one continued strain, but a repetition of short notes, commencing loud and rapid, and falling by slow gradations till they seem hardly articulate, as if the little minstrel were quite exhausted; but after a pause of half a minute, it commences again as before. Notwithstanding the beauty of his plumage, and the vivacity of his song, the indigo bird is seldom seen domesticated. Its nest is built in a low bush among rank grass, grain, or clover, suspended by two twigs, one passing up each side, and is composed of flax, and lined with grass. This bird is five inches long, the whole body of a rich sky-blue, deepening in color toward the head, and sometimes varying to green.

The Yellow Bird, or Goldfinch, bears a great resemblance to the canary, and in song is like the goldfinch of Britain, but it is in general weak. In the spring, they associate in flocks, to bask and dress themselves in the morning sun, singing in concert for half an hour together; the confused mingling of their notes forming a kind of harmony not at all unpleasant. Their flight is not direct, but in alternate risings and sinkings, twittering as they fly at each successive impulse of the wings. They search the gardens in numbers, in quest of seeds, and pass by various names, such as lettuce-bird, sallad-bird, thistle-bird, yellow-bird. They are very easily tamed.

The goldfinch is four inches and a half in length: the male is of a rich lemon color. The wings and tail are black, edged with white. In the fall, this color changes to a brown olive, which is the constant color of the female. They build a nest in the twigs of an apple tree, neatly formed of lichen and soft downy substances.

The Cardinal Grosbeak is one of our most common cage birds, and is very generally known both in this country and in Europe. Numbers of them have been carried to England and France, in which last country they are called Virginia nightingales. They have great clearness and variety of tones; many of which resemble the clear notes of the fife, and are nearly as loud. They begin in the spring at daybreak, and repeat a favorite passage twenty or thirty times. The sprightly figure and gaudy plumage of this bird, with his vivacity and strength of voice, must always make him a favorite.

The Crossbill is an inhabitant of almost all the pine forests situated north of forty degrees, from the beginning of September to the middle of April. The great pine swamp in Pennsylvania appears to be their favorite rendezvous. They then appear in large flocks, feeding on the seeds of the hemlockand white pine; have a loud, sharp, and not unmusical note; chatter as they fly; alight during the prevalence of the deep snows before the door of the hunter, and around the house, picking off the clay with which the logs are plastered, and searching in corners where any substance of a saline nature had been thrown. At such times, they are so tame as only to settle on the roof of the cabin when disturbed, and a moment after, descend to feed as before. They are then easily caught in traps. When kept in a cage, they have many of the habits of the parrot, often climbing along the wires, and using their feet to grasp the cones in, while taking out the seeds.

Carolina Parrot.—This is the only species of parrot found native within the territory of the United States. The vast luxuriant tracts lying within the torrid zone seem to be the favorite residence of those noisy, numerous and richly plumaged tribes. The Carolina parrot inhabits the interior of Louisiana and the shores of the Mississippi and Ohio, east of the Alleghanies. It is seldom seen north of Maryland. Their private places of resort are low, rich, alluvial bottoms along the borders of creeks; deep and almost impenetrable swamps filled with sycamore and cypress trees, and the salines or licks interspersed over the western country. Here too is a great abundance of their favorite fruits. The seeds of the cypress tree and beech nuts are eagerly sought after by these birds.

Carolina Parrot.