278 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



mink. The presence of the wild cat is uncertain. Fewer 

 species of the ordinary mi<2;i-atory birds, visitors of the 

 Lower Provinces, are found here. At midsummer, in the 

 neighbourhood of St. John's, I have noticed tlie absence 

 of tlie nioht-liawk, so common a bird on the Continent. 

 Neither were fire-flies, wliich were scintillating in myriads 

 over the swamps in Nova Scotia at the time, to be seen. 

 ]\Iany birds, however, passing over, or merely resting for 

 a week or two on their way, on the eastern shores of 

 Acadie, visit Newfoundland to breed, such as the 

 Canada goose, fox-coloured sparrow (F. iliaca), snipe, and 

 others, whilst migration of American species has a still 

 further range to the north-east, and American birds form 

 a large proportion of the avi-fauna of Greenland, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Roinhardt. The woodcock is not indigenous 

 to Newfoundland ; and, strange to say, the only specimen 

 shot quite recently near St. John's was a Euro})ean 

 bird. 



Considering the immense portion of this island which 

 is claimed by water, bogs, and swamps, the well- ascer- 

 tained absence of reptilia is singular. In the peninsula 

 of Aval(3n I have plodded frequently along the edges of 

 ponds and swani})s, hoping to see some little croaker take 

 a header from the bank, or in search of snakes by sunny 

 Avoodland slopes — situations where they might be found 

 at every few paces on the mainland — but all in vain. 

 Indeed, more than once has the experiment been tried of 

 turning out some of the large green-headed frogs (R. 

 clamitans), to end in failure: in a few days they would 

 all be found stift* on their backs. Cormack met with 

 neither frog, snake, nor toad, on his journey across the 

 main island, and observes that his Indians had never 



