162 Canadian Record of Science. 
amongst our neighbors was not. We have it on the 
authority of Alexander Wilson, no mean authority, as you 
know, that this brilliant July visitor took its name from 
Lord Baltimore, on whose estates a vreat number of 
Orioles were to be seen. The Baltimore Oriole is a toler- 
ably good musician. You can see how brilliant are the. 
colors of these Canadian birds now exhibited to you! 
I think you will agree with me in saying that few coun- 
tries can furnish a group of brighter ones than those now 
exposed to view, and composed of Canadian birds only :— 
Hermit Thrush, Purple Finch, Canadian Gold Finch, Wood 
Duck, the Golden-winged Woodpecker, or Rain Fowl; Blue 
Jay; Field Officer; Maryland Yellow Throat: Wax Wing; 
Indigo Bird; Ruby-throated Humming Bird; Scarlet Tan- 
ager; Baltimore Oriole; Meadow Lark; Pine Grosbeak ; 
Cardinal Grosbeak; Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Towhe 
Bunting. 
As for song, we may safely assert, with the same Alex- 
ander Wilson, that the fauna of America can compete with 
that of Europe; true, we have not the Skylark nor the 
Blackbird, and the Robin, although very similar to him in 
notes and habits, is still his inferior; but we have the Wood 
Thrush, with its double-tongued flute notes, the Hermit 
Thrush, the Brown Thrush, the gingling, roystering Bobo- 
link, the Canadian Goldfinch, whose warble reminds you of 
the Canary. The far-famed European Nightingale has 
certainly met with a worthy rival in the American Mock- 
ing Bird, whose extraordinary musical powers have been 
so graphically delineated by the great Audubon. 
The lecturer commended the study of Ornithology to the 
young people of his audience in particular, as one of elevat- 
ing tendency, and, in common with other branches of natural 
history, calculated to make men better. Lastly, eloquent 
reference was made to the expediency and need of establish- 
ing a chair of zoology in connection with McGill Univer- 
sity. The following were his closing words: ‘‘ We have to 
admit that the study of natural history in our country has 
