214 THE CANADIAN NATUIIALIST. 



a great distance^ and has some resemblance to the bellow of 

 a bull. It is supposed that the sound is caused by the air 

 rushing into their capacious open mouths, as into the top of 

 a barrel. They feed on moths and other night-flying insects, 

 and are rarely seen by day. 



C. — Is the Whip-poor Will f Cap'imulgus VociferusJ 

 an inhabitant of this part of Canada ? 



F. — I have been told that it has been sometimes heard, 

 but I have never heard nor seen it myself, and at all events, 

 it must be considered a very rare visitor. 



C — Our neighbour here is clearing some forest land. 



F. — Observe the remarkable appearance of it : if we look 

 at the forest at the edge of an old clearing, yonder field for 

 instance, we see it green and leafy to the very ground j but 

 if we look at it where a portion has been recently cut away, 

 a very different aspect is presented. We see nothing but tall, 

 slender, upright stems of different sizes, with scarcely a leaf, 

 except at the top, where there is a small and scanty surface 

 of foliage, quite out of proportion to the height of the trees : 

 the eye can penetrate a long way into the gloomy depth, as 

 there is no foliage to intercept the vision ; nothing but this 

 host of straight grey sticks. There is certainly a little under- 

 brush, on the ground, but it is meagre, and extends only to 

 the height of a very few feet, consisting of a few scattered 

 shrubs. 



C. — What is the cause of this remarkable manner of 

 growth ? 



F, — The want of light ; without which there is no folia- 

 tion : those trees which grow on the edge of the forest shoot 

 out side-branches into the light, and bushes and shrubs 

 spring up, which are profusely covered with leaves. But 

 those that spring up within, continue to shoot upward and 

 upward, until they reach the top of the forest (the only situa- 

 tion in which they can reach the light), before they shoot 



