THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 



19 



tlie new clearings, where crops are growing rankly amongst 

 the stumps, roots, and rock boulders which still strew 

 the ground, and the wild tanglement of bushes and briars 

 on half-reclaimed ground — but in the fields and uplands 

 of a thoroughly cleared district he is scarcely reminded 

 of a difference in the scene from that to which he has 

 been accustomed. In the pastures he sees English 

 grasses, with the buttercup, the ox-eye, and the dandelion ; 

 the thistle and many a well known weed are recognired 

 growing by the meadow-side, with the wild rose and the 

 blackberry, as in English hedge-rows. Though the house- 

 sparrow and the robin are missed, and he is surprised to 

 find the latter name applied everywhere to the numerous 

 red-breasted thrushes which hop so fearlessly about the 

 pastures, he finds much to remind him of bird life at 

 home. Swallows and martins arc as numerous, indeed 

 more so ; the tit-mouse, the WTcn, and the gold-crest are 

 found to be almost identical with those of the old 

 country, the former being closely analogous in every 

 respect to the small blue tit, and many of the warblers 

 and flycatchers liaA^e much in common with their Trans- 

 atlantic representatives. The rook is not here, but its place 

 is taken by flocks of the common American crow, often 

 as gregarious in its habits as the former, whilst the 

 various birds of prey present most striking similarities 

 of plumage Avhen compared with those of Europe; and 

 the appropriateness of calling the American species the 

 same common names as are applied to the goshawk, 

 sparrowhawk, or osprey, is at once admitted. The wasp, 

 the bee, and the house-fly, present no appreciable diffe- 

 rences, nor can the visitor detect even a shade of dis- 

 tinction in many of the butterflies. 



