Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts 2.djvu/39

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

the yellow Tiber, where his descendants were to found Rome; and these may first be catalogued. Writing at St. Anthony, and ranging over the region which is now Minneapolis, Thoreau says:


The redwing blackbird, which I found was the prevailing bird till I reached the Mississippi, is also common here. Here, too, I see or hear the marsh hawk, on the prairie the nighthawk, swallows (in the bank), martins (?) a sereepa note, (the particolored warbler, Maryland yellow-throat and night warbler). The horned lark is here very tame,—white on the end of the tail, chestnut head and yellowish. The bluebird, the thrasher and cat-bird, and the robin; the bay-wing, white-throated sparrow, chewink, tanager, lark, black-throated waxwing, and tufted kingfisher; pigeons, and I heard the flicker, who is such a telltale when near. The phœbe was on Nicollet Island; also the wood pewee and humming-bird,—the pewee seen in coming up the Mississippi. The redstart, summer yellowbird, and thrasher,—the latter in the oaks behind St. Anthony.

[ 29 ]