HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 329 



niffht later. On the Ttli of May, in 1827, it was seen 

 at Fort Chepewyan, in lat. 58|°, and in the distant 

 parallel of 6i>°, at Fort Franklin, on the 20th of that 

 month. In the 54th degree, they begin to hatch by 

 the end of May ; but 11 degrees f^irther to the. north, 

 they do not commence incubation until the 11th of 

 June. The snow even then partially covers the 

 ground ; bu.t there are, in those latitudes, abundance 

 of the berries of the alpine arbutus, crow-berry, 

 (Empetrum y^igrum,) whortle-berry and cow-berry, 

 [Vaccinium uUginosum, and V. Vitis idoea,) besides 

 those of some other plants, which, after having been 

 frozen u.p all the winter, are exposed, on the melting 

 of the snow, again to view, full of juice, and retain- 

 ing their original flavor. Dr. Eichardson remarks, 

 that the notes of the Robin " resemble those of the 

 common thrush [Turdus musicus), but are not so 

 loud. Within the Arctic circle the woods are silent 

 in the bright light of noon-day, but towards midnight, 

 when the sun travels near the horizon, and the shades 

 of the forest are lengthened, the concert commences, 

 and continues till six or seven in the morninir. Even 

 in those remote regions, the mistake of those natu- 

 ralists who have asserted that the feathered tribes of 

 America are void of harmony might be fully dis- 

 proved. Indeed, the transition is so sudden from the 

 perfect repose, the death-like silence of an arctic i 



winter, to the animated bustle of summer ; the trees j 



spread their foliage with such magic rapidity, and i 



every succeeding morning opens with such agreeable j 



accessions of feathered sonojstcrs to swell the chorus — I 



their plumage as gay and unimpaired as when they 

 enlivened the deep-green forests of tropical climes, 

 that the return of a northern spring excites in the 



28* 



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