No sooner has the bird reached its destined abode, than whenever a fair morning occurs, it mounts the topmost twig of a detached tree, and pours forth its loud, richly varied, and highly melodious song. They seem to move rather heavily, on account of the shortness of their wings, the concavity of which usually produces a rustling sound, and they travel very silently. They fly low, or skip from one bush to another, their longest flight seldom exceeding the breadth of a field or river. They migrate by day, and singly, never congregating, notwithstanding their abundance. Those which breed in the Middle and Eastern Districts return to the south about the beginning of October, having been absent fully six months from that genial region, where more than half of the whole number remain at all seasons. It is the most numerous species found in the Union, excepting the Robin or Migratory Thrush. They also enter the British provinces, and are sometimes seen in Nova Scotia but I observed none farther north.
During spring and summer they are met with in all our Eastern States. Indeed some spend the winter in Virginia and Maryland.
The Brown Thrush, or Thrasher, by which names this bird is generally known, may be said to be a constant resident in the United States, as immense numbers are found all the year round in Louisiana, the Floridas, Georgia, and the Carolinas. I was happy in contributing my share to the general jor, for, on taking the almost expiring bird into my hand for a few minutes, she recovered in some degree, and I restored her to her anxious mate. But the snake was finally conquered, and a jubilee held over its carcass by a crowd of Thrushes and other birds, until the woods resounded with their notes of exultation. The birds in the case represented were greatly the sufferers: their nest was upset, their eggs lost, and the life of the female in imminent danger.
MISSISSIPPI KITE BIRDS SKIN
See a third grappling with the snake, and with all its might tearing the skin from its body! Should this alliance of noble spirits prove victorious, will it not remind you that innocence, although beset with difficulties, may, with the aid of friendship, extricate herself with honour? With open bill he is already prepared to strike a vengeful blow at the reptile, his bright eye glancing hatred at his foe. Another male of the same species, answering the call of despair from his "fellow creature," comes swiftly downwards to rescue the sufferers. READER, look attentively at the plate before you, and say if such a scene as that which I have attempted to portray, is not calculated to excite the compassion of any one who is an admirer of woodland melody, or who sympathizes with the courageous spirit which the male bird shews, as he defends his nest, and exerts all his powers to extricate his beloved mate from the coils of the vile snake which has already nearly deprived her of life.
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