96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



strike upon the ear. Strolling through the garden or the orchard 

 we may hear a low, sweet, soft call-note like that of a tame Canary, 

 followed immediately by a rapid joyous warbling, it is the American 

 Gold Finch, Astragalinus tristis. This pretty, elegant, little creature, 

 like the Purple Finch, sometimes, though rarely, lingers with us 

 through a very mild winter, but generally they move off in large 

 flocks to the south at the approach of autumn and do not return to us 

 until towards the middle or end of April. The cock bird when in full 

 plumage is one of the handsomest of our songsters, and unlike many 

 others of our more gaily pli^maged birds sings with great sweetness. 

 As April draws to a close and we pass into May, if the weather 

 be warm and genial, not only the woods but our gardens and shrub- 

 beries are suddenly full of a host of charming little visitors, most of 

 whom tarry for a very brief space disappearing again in a week or 

 two, journeying on towards their northern breeding places. I allude 

 to that large family the Sylvicolidae or " Warblers." some of which 

 remain with us all through the summei-, but lai'ge numbers of them 

 merely pass through on their way northward in spring, and again on 

 their return journey to the south in autumn. 



Among the latter I may refer to a few which I have observed 

 both in this neighbourhood and in the woods about Lake Simcoe. 

 The Black Thi'oated Green Warbler, Dendroeca Virens, and the 

 Yellow Rumped or Golden Crowned Warbler, Dendroeca Coronata, 

 are two most frequently seen and both remarkable for the beauty 

 of their plumage, though in this latter respect, that lovely little bird 

 the Blackburnian Warbler, Dendroeca Blackburnice, surpasses them 

 all. 



The pretty little Blue- Yellow backed warbler, Parula Americana, 

 is said to breed in Canada, probably in the more northern parts 

 of Ontario and Quebec, but I have never met with its nest, nor do 

 I remember ever seeing it during the summer months. Two species, 

 the Canadian Fly-Catching Warbler, Myoeodivetes Canadensis, and 

 the Black and White Creeping Warbler, Minotilla Varia, frequently 

 breed in our northern woods. Of those who take up their abode 

 with us for the summer the best known and most familiar to most 

 of us from its short but sweet and cheery song and its social con- 

 fiding disposition is the Yellow Warbler, Dendroeca Aestiva. 



It has little fear of man allowing itself to be approached quite 

 closely, but during the breeding season the little bird shows great 



