TENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 93 
when April comes, and we catch sight of the handsome cock-bird 
on some bright morning in his full livery of shaded crimson, perched 
on the topmost bough of an apple tree, and pouring forth a succes- 
sion of sweet, warbling notes, sometimes for half an hour together. 
Like the Pine Grosbeak, the Purple Finch occasionally commits 
great depredations on the buds of our fruit trees ; and later in the 
season, when the cherries are ripe, it rivals the Waxen Chatterer in 
its devotion to that fruit. The plumage of the adult male is very 
handsome: The head, neck, breast, back, and upper tail coverts are 
a rich, deep lake, approaching to purplish crimson on the head and 
neck, and fading into rose colour on the belly. The quills and 
larger wing coverts are deep brown, edged with purplish red ; and 
the tail feathers are deep brown, similarly margined. 
That curious bird, the Towee Bunting, or Ground Robin, as it is 
sometimes called, Pipilo Erythrophthalmus, reaches us early in April. 
I have generally found it in clearings on sandy tracts, such as the 
Humber plains, partly overgrown with scrub oak and pine, where, 
among the withered leaves and underbrush, it passes much of its 
time searching for worms, the larva of different insects and uttering 
the peculiar note of 'Towee-towee. 
As the power of the sun becomes sensibly felt, and in spite of 
cold winds and an occasional night’s frost, there is an increasing mild- 
ness and softness in the atmosphere, and on some bright morning we 
unexpectedly hear a cheery twittering note above our heads, the 
Swallows have come! and despite of the old adage, we are ready to 
welcome the arrival of these harbingers of summer as a sure pledge 
that all frost and cold are over, and warmth and sunshine will now 
be ours. 
The first to make their appearance of the swallow tribe are the 
White-bellied Swallow, Zrodoprocne Licolor, and the Sand Martin, 
Cotile Riparia. They both arrive nearly at the same time, about 
the 9th or 10th of April, though I have the arrival of the White- 
bellied Swallow noted in my diary one year.on the 30th of March. 
The Barn Swallow, Hirundo Erythrogastra Horreorum, comes next, 
abont 15th of April. The purple Martin, Progne Subis, and the 
Swift or Chimney Swallow, Chetura Pelasgica, are generally the last 
to arrive, about the 20th of April, sometimes not until the very end 
of the month, though again I have the Purple Martin down one 
year as reaching us on the 9th of April. 
