djay, often repeated; but it will mock the hawk until its own life pays the penalty; will mock the owl, and, emboldened by numbers, attack him. It imitates many other birds, and frequently suffers for its mockery, as well as for its thefts. It can even pronounce some words, and apparently mimics the hawk to frighten small birds, although dumb in the presence of the hawk. Its curiosity is as inveterate as that of Paul Pry, and leads it into the snares and springs and traps set for it. It will steal things which it cannot use-spoons and bits of glass, and whatever is bright. It kills bats, and flies before the wrath of the red thrush, mockingbird and cardinal grossbeak, whose nests it has plundered. It eats berries, buds, birds, eggs, insects, fruit and grain, with charming indifference; builds in low pines and cedars in secluded spots, and has one annual brood of four or five young. It moves by day, stealing as it goes; and collects in great numbers around Southern plantations, and on Northern farms. In the lumber regions, its insatiable curiosity leads it into tents and camps, where it is killed, if caught, before it has committed a larceny. On the other hand, it is conspicuously beautiful, intelligent, and half-ration.al. Its natural timidity has given way to a certain confidence in mankind. It seems to enjoy the perplexity its mockeries arouse in some, and the alarms they create in other birds and animals; and it destroys countless injurious insects. It can be taught easily, and its longevity compares with that of the "many-wintered crow Which leads the clanging rookery home." And it is a faithful mate and good parent. Bartram mentions one that placed a nut in the corner of its cage to gain aid in cracking it; and there are countless similar anecdotes of its sense. Like the crow in its ingenuity and permanent abode, the jay is a fearful thief of grain and fruit; but compensates for its robberies by destroying insects that would work greater evil. If taken from the nest, it can be made an amusing pet. It is not gregarious, and is always apprehensive of hawks. The feathers are a mercantile commodity, and have cost the bird a price its song would never call for. There are few birds better known in all this country; and, despite their low moral tone, their absence would be felt as a severe loss. Tradition asserts that the jay falls into a trance during thunder storms. He is also credited with being considered a mimic and jester by all other birds-a sort of feathered Pukawaugun. His flesh is popularly believed to be good for consumptives, and in times past it was declared that witches and warlocks wear the jay's wings at their midnight incantations. The cockatoo is confined to Australia and the Eastern Archipelago, and belongs to the parrot tribe. Its general color is a deep-black, with a greenish gloss given from a powder carried in the quills. The golden-aratoo, found in New Guinea and adjacent islands; leadbeaters, inhabiting the same region; the Philip Island; the Great White, of Van Dieman's land, and the sulphur-crested, are the principal varieties. The Australian is the best known, and its bright, yellow crest is not strange anywhere. It flies in flocks of thousands; is good-tempered, and seeks notice. When wild, it nests in old trees; tearing holes with its powerful beak for a habitation. Its food is seeds and fruit, and it is a foe to cornfields. The Great White attains the size of a common fowl, and ruffles its wings in anger-laughing like the melodious hyena. dious hyena. The leadbeater, named for the naturalist who first described it, has a soft, bluishwhite plumage, and can erect its crest at will. The feathers of his crown are long and pointed, crimson at the base, and broadly-barred with golden-yellow and crimson, the remainder white. The neck, breast, flanks and lining of the wings are crimson. The beak is a pale-white, and the eyes are brown. The beak is strong enough to break shells and crack nuts, and the claws are powerful. The cockatoo has a full, loud voice, and some species are good talkers. They are humorists, too. A lady having shown her alarm at the yell of her pet, it always after yelled with all its force when she appeared. The natives of Australia hunt it with the boomerang among their fields and lagoons, and kill many for food, and some for their feathers. Its pinky-white plumage flashing through the deepgreen foliage of the Maori land, are said to create a picture rarely seen elsewhere. The cockatoo is more prized for its singular beauty than for its intelligence; and the several varieties are well and widely known. The temper of the bird is as soft and pleasing as its cry is harsh. The titmice are very widely distributed. The black cap is a permanent citizen of Pennsylvania. The crested is scarcely less abundant, and the chickadee is universally known. The latter, chickadee or windows, and sounds its "whip-tom-Killy-day-da- | and it runs along the topmost twigs of the tallest it-tscheeka-dee-da," and its "Katy-did-did-did," trees, gathering eggs and larvæ free from danger, continuously, without ever revealing what Katy did. It rarely flies north of New York, but is common through the South, and as easily domesti sometimes hanging to, and sometimes standing on the support, and sometimes darting away for an unlucky beetle or fly. By some, it is pronounced solitary in its habits; by others, gregarious. It❘ largest in North America, and the most extensive often troops with the kinglets and cedar-birds, in all ornithology, having about five hundred and follows men with a constant scolding, though silent when feeding. It associates with other birds, particularly in spring and autumn; but this habit is diminishing, and the "tit" is being enrolled as a stay-at-home all the year, save when food is scarce. The crested tit is a hermit and recluse, and will fight vigorously to escape captivity. It makes houses of refuge, in wet days, of the deserted holes of woodpeckers, and sometimes appropriates them entirely, raising there its annual brood. The blackcap is as social as the crested and solitary. Leaving his summer haunts with the fall, he enters yards and gardens, and associates with the poultry, and takes whatever food it can find in sheds and outhouses. It generally feeds upon insects, and hunts in couples, declaring its discoveries loudly, though sadly afraid of squirrels and other small deer. The black-cap hides its nest of hair and soft grasses, and leaves the smallest of entrances. The brood rarely exceeds eight in number, and they are patiently watched by both parents. The Carolina tit, living from New Jersey to Florida, selects creeks, marshes, ponds and swamps for its retreat. It is solitary and strictly local; resembling the chestnut-back of Oregon, which lives from Columbia to California, and the chestnut-crowned of the same territory. There is a ground- or wren-tit in that territory, whose grating pee-pee-peep is a scold. It harbors in low fields, and was first described by the late Dr. Gambel of Philadelphia. The peto or tufted species has many notes, and is almost a mocker. Small as the tits are, and insignificant and devoid of melody, they are almost as essential to humanity now as their larger and finer rivals. Their very pettiness commands care, and their activity and music and constant presence have endeared them somewhat as the robin is endeared. The crested breeds in Louisiana; the black-cap likes Pennsylvania and Virginia, and is fearless of the cold; the long-tailed is content with our own hedges, and one and all, sharing the affection here their fellows have in Europe, are daily becoming dearer and more numerous. The little blue-tit or "billybiter" of boyhood is a near cousin of the family, and is fearless of guns. The finches are a world in themselves. They belong to the fringillidae family, which is the species. Two-fifths of this great number can be found almost anywhere in this country. The special peculiarity is the great strength and delicacy of the bill; and buntings and linnets fall within the general classification as well as finches, grossbeaks and cross-bills. They are chiefly granivorous, but also eat insects, berries and tree-buds. The family is divided into four sub-families, or, if the English home-sparrow is reckoned, into five. The pine-grossbeak is only an occasional winter visitor here. He is a recluse, and no eggs of his have ever been found south of Canada and Iceland. It feeds on our fruit orchards, and has grown more abundant in the last quarter of a century. It was unusually numerous in the winter of 1875, owing to the cold. The rose-breasted grossbeak is about as irregular an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, coming in the middle of May and retiring to the tall tree tops of the woods, whence it flies at the slightest alarm. It mates, but does not breed here. Even the pairing is, however, questioned; some observers holding that it is mated when it comes. It is arboreal in its habits, and its flight is long and lofty. It feeds on insect ova and pupa, buds, bugs, and seeds, frozen apples and berries, during its fortnight's stay; then passes to Wisconsin, New England, and Canada to breed. Its notes are loud, cheerful, or pathetic, clear and harmonious, and it has but one superior in its musical ability. The males perform the incute tion, and sing so enthusiastically while sitting as to betray the nest to intruders. The indigo bird reaches Pennsylvania early in May, and nests in thickets. It is insectivorous and granivorous, quick in its motion, mates and builds promptly after arriving in brier bushes, and within six weeks the young can subsist themselves Sometimes a second brood is reared. It thrives in captivity, and is a good singer, sometimes imitating the canary. The cardinal grossbeak is not abundant, but resides here permanently, and is endeared by its conjugal fidelity. It haunts secluded valleys and water-courses, is timid, flies short distances, and the power and variety of its song have undeser edly given it the title of the American nightin gale. The male sometimes sings through whole moonlight nights, and the female is as melodiors. The food is chiefly graminivorous, eked out by nsects, and it is so greedy as to lead to frequent aptures. It nests in bushes, and rears two roods annually. The chewink, or towhee bunting, arrives in locks in mid-April, scours low grounds and forests MI STEEPLE-SWIFT. singly for food, and hides in brambles. When frightened its note resembles its name thrice repeated, its usual note being ko-reet. It has a slight song. It feeds upon insects and berries, and hatches four eggs. The young remain with their parents, and make the flocks small family parties. The purple finch, which is found in Eastern Pennsylvania from October to April, and in Mas sachusetts from February forward, and is often called the linnet, leaves the Wissahickon and its neighborhood while breeding, and either hides or migrates, announcing the spring even in driving storms, northward. It is so tame that it often resorts to houses in winter with the sparrow and snow-bird. It invades the lawn and garden, and is songless here, though tuneful in Washington. It eats seeds, berries, and insects and tree-buds. The song combines the sweetness of the canary with the pathos of the warbling vireo. The nest is usually in apple-, spruce-, or cedar-trees. In singing there is no tune, but the "unpremeditated art" of the skylark; and the finest bursts are on the wing. The male has a crimson head, throat and neck, and is dusky on the back and straw-colored beneath. While singing this finch erects his crest and swells his throat. The American goldfinch is much like the canary in color, habits and song; but he wants the compass and variety of the canary. He is permanent in Eastern Pennsylvania, and is found in pairs and in small flocks, seeking houses for food in winter, and afterwards feeding upon maple-trees, apples and cherries. The female is exceedingly coquettish. In the warm months this finch haunts brooks. Both sexes can be trained to sing. Like the sparrow, it is counted a harbinger of spring in places. The nest of the "thistlebird" is in fruit trees, and is very fine. The young are hatched about the first of September, and remain with the old birds. It is a feature of this finch that it assembles in choirs and gives free concerts daily a week before building. It will sometimes destroy the first nest utterly, and build anew. There is a strong likeness of this species to the English green finch. California has another variety, where, too, and in Colorado, the house and crimsonfronted finches are found. The pine goldfinch is occasionally found in Pennsylvania alders, but lives in the interior of the continent north and south. family; but the latter is the only one seen in Eastern Pennsylvania. It comes between the middle and end of October with the snow, and first resorts to meadows and the edges of forests, afterwards associating with poultry, and obtruding everywhere. Its note is a low tsic. In spring and summer it resorts to trees, and probably nests in near mountains now, as in New York and New England and other provinces. The swamp-, tree-, chipping-, song-, field-, white-throated and white the black-throated bunting, and some other varieties of this great family have been named. They share leading characteristics, and their variations are too slight to deserve notice here. The whole sparrow family are meek and lowly, generally musical, and wonderful architects on grassy banks. They tarry briefly on their way to Canada. Wilson saw it, and reports its note as swe-er. Audubon was among the first to find the common red crossbill, another finch, here. It flies from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, is fond of conifer-seeds, is gentle, easily caught in traps, and even knocked over with sticks. Large flocks visit Pennsylvania during winter, and seek the protection of houses from storms. The whitewinged crossbill is also met, as it is everywhere from Sitka to Canada, frequently hanging by its feet. The lesser red poll, good for clearing green-crowned and fox-colored sparrows, Lincoln's finch, houses of aphides, resembles the goldfinch, is occasionally encountered, and winters here often. The snow-bunting, a true finch, is permanently enrolled here, as he is from Georgia to the Pole, and in Europe and Asia. He visits the ice-gatherers, and haunts outlying barns and stacks of grain. The house-sparrow, a finch, was imported from England in 1869, when one thousand were loosed by the city government to destroy the measuring-worm. Portland, Maine, had made the experiment eleven years previous, and Boston one year before. The acclimation has succeeded; but it is found that the bird brings an English pugnacity and readiness to interfere with its neighbors' concerns; that it plunders cherry-trees, and attacks the robin to obtain the food it cannot procure itself, and renders no service commensurate with its noisy disservice. It is fearless, and fond of its young, and prolific. The Savannah sparrow, ranging from the Atlantic to the plains, and exceedingly abundant at Great Egg Harbor, is so remarkably terrestrial that it rarely rises higher than the top of a rail fence. It nests among dry grasses on the ground, and lays half a dozen eggs. It is migratory. The yellow winged bunting, found from Guatemala and Jamaica and Mexico northward, and particularly along the Jersey coast in June, is a grass sparrow. It has an unmusical note or ditty; lives on the ground upon seeds, and is never seen in flocks. It abounds at Newark. The sharp-tailed bunting, essentially maritime, flies hither from the Jersey coast. It is most numerous in Carolina; has a call note like tweei, and rears two annual broods. The white-crowned sparrow is occasionally met in Eastern Pennsylvania; but more abundantly in the Western countries, and all the way from Greenland and Labrador to Utah. The Westernwhite crowned and the white-throated sparrow and the familiar snow-bird belong to this great The wren, for some sufficient cause no doubt, has not taken that place in American regard he has in Europe. It is found in the garden and orchard more than in the field, and is winning favor. Four varieties are most numerous: the house-, winter-, marsh-, and mocking-wren. The house-wren is migratory between Virginia and Labrador, but breeds chiefly in the Middle States. It builds in hollow trees, boxes, jars, cans, and almost anything accessible; hatches two broods annually; pours out his music incessantly, and particularly at a noonday concert given by itself, the song-sparrow, and red-thrush, the linnet, catbird, preacher and bob-o'link, when the oven-bird is singing in the woods. The wren's song has no variety of tone, but has great compass and animation, moving from a chirp to high notes. The mocking-wren nests in hollow trees early in June and largely in Delaware County, but is not common. Its best imitations are those of the bluebird, grakle, kingfisher, meadow-lark, groundrobin and tufted titmouse, some of which are very fine counterfeits. Half a dozen eggs are hatched. The house-wren prefers an oriole's or pewee's nest to the work of building, and will even dispossess the woodpecker and disturb the bluebird. A fortnight is spent in house furnishing before the close of May, and while the hen is sitting the cock provides her freely with food and music. The food is insectivorous. Its note is a simple twit, and it has a sharp little song. It seeks winter quarters at the close of September. The winter-wren summers in Northern New |