9 



when Api'il comes, and we catch sight of the handsome cock-bird 

 on some bright morning in his full livery of shaded crimson, j)erched 

 on the topmost bough of an ap])le tree, and pouring forth a succes- 

 sion of sweet, warbling notes, sometimes for half an hour together. 

 Like the Pine Grosbeak, the Purple Finch occasionally commits 

 great depredations on the buds of our fruit trees ; and later in the 

 season, when the cherries are ripe, it rivals the Waxen Chatterer in 

 its devotion to that fruit. The plumage of the adult male is very 

 handsome : The head, neck, breast, back, and upper tail coverts are 

 a rich, deep lake, approaching to purplish crin)Son on the head and 

 neck, and fading into rose colour on the belly. The quills and 

 larger wing coverts are deep brown, edged with purplish red ; and 

 the tail feathers are deep brown, similarly margined. 



That curious bird, the Towee Bunting, or Ground Robin, as it is 

 sometimes called {Pipilo Erythrophthalmiis), reaches us early in April. 

 I have generally found it in clearings on sandy tracts, such as the 

 H umber plains, partly overgrown with scrub oak and [)ine, where, 

 among the withered leaves and underVnnish, it })asses much of its 

 time searching for worms, and the larvaj of different insects and 

 uttering the peculiar note of Towee-towee. 



As the power of the sun becomes sensiV)ly felt, and in spite of 

 cold winds and an occasional night's frost, there is an increasing 

 mildness and softness in the atmosphere, on some bright morning we 

 unexpectedly hear a cheery twittering note above our heads, the 

 Swallows have come! and despite of the old adage, we are ready to 

 welcome the arrival of these harbingers of summer as a sure pledge 

 that all frost and cold are over, and warmth antl sunshine will now 

 [be ours. 



The first to make their appearance of the swallow tribe ai'e the 

 [White-bellied Swallow [Irodoprocne Bicolor), and the Sand Martin, 

 UCotile liiparia). They both arrive nearly at the same time, about 

 [the 9th or 10th of April, though I have the arrival of the White- 

 ibellied Swallow noted in my diary one year on the 30th of March. 



The Barn Swallow (Ilirundo Erythrogastra Ilorreorum), comes 

 next, about 15th of April. The purple Martin {Progne Subis), and 

 the Swift or Chimney Swallov<^ [Chostura Pelasgica), are generally the 

 last to arrive, about the 20th of April, sometimes not until the very 

 end of the month, though again I have the Purple Martin down one 

 ijear as reaching us on the 9th of April. 



