“This beautiful species is the most common and abundant that visits the state of Louisiana and those situated on the borders of the Mississippi.  In Kentucky it is much less common, and in the state of Ohio, scarcer still.  It is an extremely active and lively bird.  It is found in all the low grounds and damp places near water-courses, and generally among the tall rank weeds and low bushes growing in rich alluvial soil.  Continually in motion, it is seen hopping in every direction from stalk to stalk, or from one twig to another, preying upon insects and larvae, or picking small berries, seldom, however, pursuing insects on wing . . .

It arrives in the southern states, from Mexico, about the middle of March, and remains with us until the middle of September, during which time it rears two broods . . .

The branch on which two of these birds are represented, is that of the tree commonly called the White Cucumber, a species of Magnolia.  It flowers as early in the season as the Dog-wood.  The flowers open before the leaves are expanded, and emit an odour resembling that of a lemon, but soon becoming disagreeable, as the blossom fades.  This tree seldom grows to a height of thirty feet, and is consequently disregarded as a timber-tree.”

–J. J. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, I (1831), 196-197 [excerpted].