FOR 1827. EMBELLISHMENTS. FEMALE Rice Bunting, facing page 1. Rev. John Ewing, D.D. 353. A Addison, selections from his papers, 440. Anecdotes of the Hindoos, 377. B Barrington's Sketches reviewed, 134–Ex- Biography of the Signers of the Declara- Blue Beard, a real personage, 345. D'Istria, Count Capo, Life of, 411. E Epicurean, The, reviewed, 54. Ewing, Samuel, Reflections in Solitude Ewing, Rev. John, D. D., Biographical Exile of Scio, The, 257. F Fables, Northcote's, reviewed, 379. Flat Rock Dam, 160. France, On the South of, 10-Climate of, Frazer's Travels in Persia, reviewed, 42. German Lyrics, 375. G Burr, Aaron, designs to revolutionize Peru, Goderich, Lord, Memoirs of, 399. 159. Butcher Bird described, 3. Beechey's Travels, 485. C Canning, George Charles, Inscription on Canning, Mr., Extracts from his Poems, Channing's Character of Buonaparte, 440. Carroll, Charles, one of the signers of the # Cyrenaica, Travels in, 485. D Declaration of Independence, Biography Good, John Mason, Life of, 401. Gordon, Thomas, Map of New Jersey, 158. Grossbeak, The Pine, 7. Gerry, Elbridge, one of the signers of the H Hindoos, Anecdotes of the, 377. Hale, Sir Matthew, Extract from, 360. Hewes, Joseph, one of the signers of the Hemans, Mrs., Poems, Extract from, 445 I Indian Life, Tales of, 128. Irish Character, On the, 134. J Jefferson, remarks on his character, 18. L Ledyard, John, Memoirs of, reviewed, 408 158. Leslie, Hope. reviewed, 28. Literary Intelligence, 156. Sheridan, Preposterous similes of, 159. M Parry's attempts to reach the North Pole, York Springs described, 177. POETRY.-The Blush, 347-The Broken The Port Folio. BY OLIVER OLDSCHOOL, ESQ. VARIOUS; that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, may be indulged.-Cowper. FEMALE RICE BUNTING. [The present number of the Port Folio is embellished with a portrait of the Female Rice Bunting, engraved and coloured from Wilson's Ornithology by Miss Lawson. For a description of this bird, the reader is referred to our last number.] RUBY-CROWNED WREN. Le Roitelet Rubis, De Buff, v, 373.-Edw. 254.-Lath. Syn. ii, 511.-Arct. Zool. 320,-Regulus Crystatus alter vertice rubini coloris, Bartram, p. 292. Peale's Museum, No. 7244. From Wilson's Ornithology. THIS little bird visits us early in the spring from the south, and is generally first found among the maple blossoms, about the beginning of April. These failing, it has recourse to those of the peach, apple, and other fruit trees, partly for the tops of the sweet and slender stamina of the flowers, and partly for the winged insects that hover among them. In the middle of summer I have rarely met with these birds in Pennsylvania; and as they penetrate as far north as the country around Hudson's Bay, and also breed there, it accounts for their late arrival here in the fall. They then associate with the different species of the Titmouse and the Golden-crested wren; and are particularly numerous in the month of October and beginning of November in orchards, among the decaying leaves of the apple trees, that at that season are infested with great numbers of small, black winged insects, among which they make great havoc. I have often regretted JULY, 1827.-No. 291. 1 the painful necessity one is under of taking away the lives of such inoffensive, useful little creatures, merely to obtain a more perfect knowledge of the species; for they appear so busy, so active, and unsuspecting, as to continue searching about the same twig, even after their companions have been shot down beside them. They are more remarkably so in autumn; which may be owing to the great number of young and inexperienced birds which are then among them; and frequently at this season I have stood under the tree, motionless, to observe them, while they gleaned among the low branches, sometimes within a foot or two of my head. They are extremely adroit in catching their prey; have only at times a feeble chirp; visit the tops of the tallest trees as well as the lowest bushes; and continue generally for a considerable time among the branches of the same tree, darting about from place to place; appearing, when on the top of a high maple, no bigger than humble bees. The Ruby-crowned Wren is four inches long, and six in extent; the upper parts of the head, neck, and back, are of a fine greenish olive, with a considerable tinge of yellow; wings and tail, dusky purplish brown, exteriorly edged with yellow olive; secondaries and first row of wing-coverts edged and tipt with white, with a spot of deep purplish brown across the secondaries, just below their coverts; the hind head is ornamented with an oblong lateral spot of vermillion, usually almost hid by the other plumage; round the eye a ring of yellowish white; whole under parts of the same tint; legs dark brown; feet and claws yellow; bill slender, straight, not notched, furnished with a few black hairs at the base; inside of the mouth, orange. The female differs very little in its plumage from the male; the colours being less lively, and the bird somewhat less. Notwithstanding my utmost endeavours, I have never been able to discover their nest; though, from the circumstance of having found them sometimes here in summer, I am persuaded that they occasionally breed in Pennsylvania; but I know several birds, no larger than this, that usually build on the extremities of the tallest trees in the woods; which I have discovered from their beginning before the leaves are out; many others, no doubt, choose similar situations; and should they delay building until the woods are thickened with leaves, it is no easy matter to discover them. In the fall they are so extremely fat as almost to dissolve between the fingers as you open them; owing to the great abundance of their favourite insects at that time. |