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THE WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW 



Fringilla leucophrys, Bonap. 



PIATE CXIV. Male and Female. 



It is to the wild regions of Labrador that you must go, kind reader, 

 if you wish to form a personal acquaintance with the White-crowned 

 Sparrow. There in every secluded glen opening upon the boisterous 

 Gulf of St Lawrence, while amazed you glance over the wilderness that 

 extends around you, so dreary and desolate that the blood almost con- 

 geals in your veins, you meet with this interesting bird. Your body is 

 sinking under the fatigue occasioned by your wading through beds of 

 moss, as extraordinary for their depth, as for the brilliancy of their tints, 

 and by the difficulties which you have encountered in forcing your way 

 through the tangled creeping pines, so dwarfish and so stubborn, that 

 you often find it easier to trample down their branches than to separate 

 them so as to allow you a passage. In such a place, when you are far 

 away from all that is dear to you, how cheering is it to hear the meUow 

 notes of a bird, that seems as if it had been sent expressly for the pur- 

 pose of relieving your mind from the heavy melancholy that bears it 

 down ! The sounds are so sweet, so refreshing, so soothing, so hope in- 

 spiring, that as they come upon the soul in all their gentleness and joy, 

 the tears begin to flow from your eyes, the burden on your mind becomes 

 lighter, your heart expands, and you experience a pure delight, produced 

 by the invitation thus made to ofFer your humblest and most sincere thanks 

 to that all-wondrous Being, who has caused you to be there no doubt for 

 the purpose of becoming better acquainted with the operations of his 

 mighty power. 



Thus it was with me, when, some time after I had been landed on the 

 dreary coast of Labrador, I for the first time heard the song of the 

 White-crowned Sparrow. I could not refrain from indulging in the 

 thought that, notwithstanding the many difficulties attending my attempts 

 — my mission I must call it — to study God's works in this wild region, 

 I was highly favoured. At every step, new objects presented themselves, 

 and whenever I rested, I enjoyed a delight never before experienced. 



