TENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 93 



when April comes, and we catch sight of the handsome cock-bird 

 on some bright morning in his full livery of shaded crimson, perched 

 on the topmost bough of an apple 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 depi'edations on tlie 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 crimson 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 To wee Bunting, or Ground Robin, as it is 

 sometimes called, Pipilo Erythrophthalmus, reaches us early in April. 

 I have generally foimd it in clearings on sandy tracts, siicb as the 

 Humber plains, partly overgrown with scrub oak and pine, where, 

 among the withered leaves and underbrush, it passes much of its 

 time searching for worms, the larva of different insects and uttering 

 the peculiar note of Towee-towee. 



As the power of the sun becomes sensibly felt, and in spite of 

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

 ness and softness in the atmosphere, and 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 

 bhat all frost and cold are over, and warmth and sunshine will now 

 be ours. 



The first to make their appearance of the swallow tribe are the 

 White-bellied Swallow, Irodoprocne B'lcolor, and the Sand Martin, 

 Cotile Riparia. They both arrive nearly at the same time, about 

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

 bellied Swallow noted in ray diary one year on the 30th of March. 



The Barn Swallow, Hirundo Erythrogastra Horreorum, comes next, 

 about 15th of April. The purple Martin, Progne Suhis, and the 

 Swift or Chimney Swallow, Ghetura Felasgica, 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 

 year as reaching us on the 9th of April. 



