wild or tamed. When wild, it roots up the young maize, to come at the seed. When tame, it pilfers and flies away with almost every thing which it is able to carry."

THE SONGSTER OF THE WOODS.

(The Same.)

THE spring-bird, the meadow-lark, and particularly the robin red-breast, sing delightfully. There is, however, a bird incomparably superior to either, and to all other birds in this country, in the sweetness and richness of its notes. I am unable to describe it minutely, having never been sufficiently successful in my attempts to approach it, to become thoroughly acquainted with its form and colouring, although I have seen it often. It is a small brown bird, scarcely so large as the robin. Its notes are very numerous, and appear to be varied at pleasure. Its voice is finer than any instrument, except the Eolian harp. What is remarkable in this bird is, that it sings in a kind of concert, sometimes with one, and sometimes with two of its com. panions. When two of them unite, the voice of one is regularly elevated a third greater above that of the other. When there are three, the third raises his voice a fifth above the first, and of course a third less above the second. In this manner a given set of notes is repeated alternately by them all at equal intervals, and with inimitable sweetness of sound; forming, it is believed, the nearest approach to harmony found amongst the feathered creation. have named this bird the songster of the woods.

THE HUMMING BIRD.

(Taylor's Naturales Curiosa.)

OF all animated beings, says Buffon, this bird is the

most elegant in form, and superb in colours. The precious stones, polished by art, cannot be compared to this jewel of nature. Her miniature productions are ever the most wonderful; she has placed it in the order of birds, at the bottom of the scale of magnitude; bu

all the talents that are only shared amongst the others, she has bestowed profusely on this little favourite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz, sparkle in its plumage, which is never soiled by the dust of the ground. It is inconceivable how much these brilliant birds add to the high finished beauty of the western landscape. No sooner is the sun risen, than numerous kinds are seen fluttering abroad; their wings are so rapid in motion, that it is impossible to discern their colour, except by their glittering; they are never still, but continually visiting flower after flower, and extracting the honey. For this purpose they are furnished with a forked tongue, which enters the cup of the flower, and enables them to sip the nectared tribute; upon this alone they subsist. In their flight they make a buzzing noise, not unlike a spinning wheel, from whence they have their

name.

The nests of these birds are not less curious than their form they are suspended in the air at the extremity of a branch of an orange, a pome-granate, or a citron tree, and sometimes even to a straw pendant from a hut, if they find one convenient for the purpose. The female is the architect, while the male goes in quest of materials, such as fine cotton, moss, and the fibres of vegetables. The nest is about the size of half a walnut. They lay two eggs at a time, and never more, in appearance like small peas, as white as snow, with here and there a yellow speck. The time of incubation continues twelve days, at the end of which the young ones appear, being then not larger than a blue-bottle fly. "I could never perceive" (says Father Duteste) "how the mother fed them, except that she presented the tongue covered entirely with honey extracted from flowers." Those who have tried to feed them with syrups, could not keep them alive more than a few weeks; these aliments, though of easy digestion, are very different from the delicate nectar collected from the fresh blossoms. It has been alleged by various naturalists, that during the winter season they remain torpid, suspended by the bill from the bark of a tree, and are awakened into life when the flowers begin to blow; but these fictions are rejected; for Catesby saw

them throughout the year at St. Domingo and Mexico, where nature never entirely loses her bloom. Sloane

says the same of Jamaica, only that they are more nu. merous after the rainy season. Marcgrave mentions them as being frequent the whole year in the woods of Brazil.

The method of obtaining these minute birds is to shoot them with sand, or by means of the trunk-gun : they will allow one to approach within five or six paces of them. It is easy to lay hold of the little creature while it hums at the blossom. It dies soon after it is caught, and serves to decorate the Indian girls, who wear two of these charming birds as pendants from their ears. The Indians indeed, are so struck and dazzled with the brillancy of their various hues, that they have named them, the Beams, or Locks of the Sun. Such is the history of this little being, who flutters from flower to flower; breathes their freshness, wantons on the wings of the cooling zephyrs, sips the nectar of a thousand sweets, and resides in climes where reigns the beauty of eternal spring.

THE KAIMAN ALLIGATOR.

(Various Authorities)

THE Kaiman, a species of the alligator, or crocodile,

is found in the southern rivers of the United States of America. Some of the Kaimans are of so monstrous a size as to exceed five yards in length. They devour all living animals that they can catch. They are fond of the flesh of hogs and dogs. When basking on the shore they keep their huge mouths wide open till they are filled with musquitoes, flies, and other insects, when they suddenly shut their jaws, and swallow their prey. They are great destroyers of fish in the rivers and creeks, which they catch with the same address.

Eight or ten of these lie at the river or creek, whilst others go to a distance up the river, and chase the fish downward, by which means none of any bigness escape them. They are said, however, to remain torpid during the winter, in dens which they find in the banks of of the rivers, having previously swallowed a large quan

tity of pine knots, which form their only sustenance till the period of their revival or waking. The kaiman constantly flies when on land; but in the water it is fiercer; it frequently attacks dogs. Sometimes, when hounds, in pursuit of a stag, swim through the water, the kaiman will seize both the hounds and deer, and pull them down to the bottom, without their ever appearing again.

At a wedding among the independent Indians, the bride retired from the company, in order to go down to the river to wash her feet. As she was thus employed, an alligator seized her. Her shrieks brought the people to the place, who saw her between the monster's teeth, and just drawn under the water. The bridegroom instantly plunged after, and, with his dagger in his hand, pursued the monster. After a desperate conflict, he made him deliver up his prey, and swam to the shore, with the body of his dead wife in his arnis!

THE BULL FROG.

(Various Authorities.)

THIS is an animal that frequently measures from the nose to the hind-feet a foot and a half, or upwards. The colour of its body is a dusky olive or brown, marked with numerous dark spots, lighter beneath than above. The external membranes of the ears are large, round, and of a brownish red, surrounded by a yellowish margin. The interior parts of America are the principal residence of this species, where, at the springs or small rills they are said to sit in pairs. In Virginia they are in such abundance, that there is scarcely any where a spring that has not a pair of them. When suddenly surprised, they leap into their hole, at the bottom of which they lie perfectly secure. The inhabitants fancy that these frogs purify the water, and they accordingly respect them as genii of the fountains.

Their croaking somewhat resembles the hoarse lowing of a bull; and when, in a calm night, many of these animals are making a noise together, they may be heard to the distance of a mile and a half. The night is the

time when they croak, and they are said to do this at intervals. In this act they are either hidden among the grass or rushes, or they are in the water, with their heads above the surface. Kalm informs us, that as he was one day riding out he heard one of them roaring before him, and supposed it to be a bull hidden in the bushes at a little distance. The voice was indeed more hoarse than that of a bull, yet it was much too loud for him to imagine that it could be emitted by so small an animal as a frog, and he was in considerable alarm for his safety. He was undeceived a few hours afterwards, by a party of Swedes, to whom he had communicated his fears.

When alarmed, these animals leap to a most surprising distance at each exertion. A full grown bull frog will sometimes leap three yards. The following story respecting one of them is well authenticated. The American Indians are known to be excellent runners, being almost equal to the best horse in its swiftest course. In order, therefore, to try how well the buli frogs could leap, some Swedes laid a wager with a young Indian that he could not overtake one of them, provided it had two leaps beforehand. They carried a bull frog which they had caught in a pond, into a field, and burnt its tail. The fire, and the Indian who endeavoured to outrun the frog, had together such an effect upon the animal, that it made its long leaps across the field as fast as possible. The Indian pursued it with all his might. The noise he made in running frightened the frog: pro bably it was afraid of being tortured with fire again, and therefore it redoubled its leaps, and by that means reached the pond, which was fixed on as the goal, before the Indian could overtake it.

In order to give the reader some idea of their great numbers and of their frightful cries, the following cir cumstance is related, having been vouched for an absolute fact by a native of the place.-Vide Literary Chronicle, No. 150.

"One summer-night, in the month of July, 1751, the town of Wyndham, which stands on the borders of the Winnomantic river, in Connecticut, was greatly alarmed by a number of these reptiles, which were marching,