MAY. 149 



merit, and renew his outrage as before." They are common 

 here in spring, and the early part of summer ; they probably 

 spend the whole summer with us, but retire into the woods 

 and swamps ; the female is olive coloured, as usual. I once 

 noticed a curious trait in the history of this bird. One 

 day, about the latter part of June, I observed two males and 

 a female of the purple finch, hopping about beneath the 

 window, and was amused by watching the motions of one 

 of the males. He stationed himself close to the female, and 

 looking at her, kept rapidly dancing from side to side, in the 

 space of about a foot, with his wings widely extended and 

 quivering, his crown feathers erected, singing all the time 

 very sweetly ; but so faintly were the notes uttered, as to 

 seem to proceed from twenty or thirty yards' distance, though 

 the bird was only three or four feet from me. The female 

 took no part in the dance, but looked on very complacently, 

 her crest being likewise somewhat erected. 



C. Did the other male take no part in the ceremony ? 



F. No ; he hopped about, apparently minding his own 

 business, and took no notice at all of the dancer. 



C. Here are some bushes of the wild gooseberry, which 

 have begun to leaf ; was this plant introduced from Europe ? 



F. Oh no ! many species of gooseberry and currant are 

 indigenous to this continent. A Black Currant (Ribes Flori- 

 dum ?J is found here, which produces fruit much like the 

 English black currant, but not so large ; both the fruit and 

 leaves have the same rank taste, but in a less degree. In 

 the woods I have found Red Currants (Ribes Albinervium) 

 scarcely to be distinguished from those of our gardens. Both 

 these plants are rare ; but this gooseberry (Ribes Cynosbati) 

 is abundant about the edges of the forest, and in second- 

 growth woods. It bears a middling-sized berry, deep red 

 and sweet, but beset, as is the bush itself, with strong 

 prickles, which make them somewhat formidable in picking 



