96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
strike upon the ear. Strolling through the garden or the orchard 
we may hear a low, sweet, soft call-note like that of a tame Canary, 
followed immediately by a rapid joyous warbling, it is the American 
Gold Finch, Astragalinus tristis. _ This pretty, elegant, little creature, 
like the Purple Finch, sometimes, though rarely, lingers with us 
through a very mild winter, but generally they move off in large 
flocks to the south at the approach of autumn and do not return to us 
until towards the middle or end of April. The cock bird when in full 
plumage is one of the handsomest of our songsters, and unlike many 
others of our more gaily plumaged birds sings with great sweetness. 
As April draws to a close and we pass into May, if the weather 
be warm and genial, not only the woods but our gardens and shrub- 
beries are suddenly full of a host of charming little visitors, most of 
whom tarry for a very brief space disappearing again in a week or 
two, journeying on towards their northern breeding places. I allude 
to that large family the Sylvicolidae or ‘‘ Warblers.” some of which 
remain with us all through the summer, but large numbers of them 
merely pass through on their way northward in spring, and again on 
their return journey to the south in autumn. 
Among the latter I may refer to a few which I have observed 
both in this neighbourhood and in the woods about Lake Simcoe. 
The Black Throated Green Warbler, Dendieca Virens, and the 
Yellow Rumped or Golden Crowned Warbler, Dendraca Coronata, 
are two most frequently seen and both remarkable for the beauty 
of their plumage, though in this latter respect, that lovely little bird 
the Blackburnian Warbler, Dendreca Blackburnie, surpasses them 
all. 
The pretty little Blue-Yellow backed warbler, Parula Americana, 
is said to breed in Canada, probably in the more northern parts 
of Ontario and Quebec, but I have never met with its nest, nor do 
I remember ever seeing it during the summer months. Two species, 
the Canadian Fly-Catching Warbler, Mycodivetes Canadensis, and 
the Black and White Creeping Warbler, Minotilla Varia, frequently 
breed in our northern woods. Of those who take up their abode 
with us for the summer the best known and most familiar to most 
of us from its short but sweet and cheery song and its social con- 
fiding disposition is the Yellow Warbler, Dendreca Aestiwa. 
It has little fear of man allowing itself to be approached quite 
closely, but during the breeding season the little bird shows great 
. 
