Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/600

564 extent of our wide territories. Then, reader, will you not agree with me in believing that even now, discoveries remain to be made in a region so vast that no individual, whatever might have been his exertions, could truly say of it that he had explored it all ?

The bird represented in the plate before you was discovered by my friend, John Bachman, near Charleston in South Carolina, while I was in another part of our continent, searching for the knowledge necessary to render ntiy ornithological biographies as interesting as possible to you : — it was in the spring of 1832, when I was rambling over the rugged coun- try of Labrador, that my southern friend found the first specimen of this bird, near the banks of the Edisto River. I have been favoured by him with the following account of it.

" I was first attracted by the novelty of its notes, four or five in num- ber, repeated at intervals of five or six minutes apart. These notes were loud, clear, and more like a whistle than a song. They resembled the sounds of some extraordinary ventriloquist in such a degree, that I sup- posed the bird nuich farther from me than it really was ; for after some trouble caused by these fictitious notes, I observed it near to me, and soon shot it.

"The form of its bill I observed at once to differ from all other known birds of our covmtry, and was pleased at its discovery. On dis- section it proved to be a male, and in the course of the same spring, I ob- tained two other males, of which the markings were precisely similar. In the middle of August of that year, I saw an old female accompanied with four young. One of the latter I obtained : it did not differ materially from the old ones. Another specimen was sent to me alive, having been caught in a trap. I have invariably found them in swampy muddy places, usually covered with more or less water. The birds which I opened had their gizzards filled with the fragments of coleopterous insects, as well as some small green worms that are fovmd on water plants, such as the pond lily (Nymphoea odorata) and the Nelumbhim (Cyamus jlavicomus). The manners of this species resemble those of the Prothonotary Warbler, as it skips among the low bushes growing about ponds and other watery places, seldom ascending high trees. It retires southward at the close of summer."

The Azalea and Bvitterflies accompanying the figure of this species were drawn by my friend's sister, Miss Martin, to whom I again offer my sincere thanks.