THE CANADA FLYCATCHER. 15 



van choristers, equally fond of their wild retreats, are skipping in all the 

 freedom of nature around me. Delightful moments have been to me those 

 when, seated in such a place, with senses all intent, I gazed on the rosy tints 

 of the flowers that seemed to acquire additional colouring from the golden 

 rays of the sun, as he rode proudly over the towering mountains, drawing 

 aside as it were the sable curtain that till now hung over the landscape, and 

 drying up, with the gentleness of a parent towards his cherished offspring, 

 the dewy tears that glittered on each drooping plant. Would that I could 

 "describe to you the thoughts that on such a morning have filled my whole 

 soul; but alas, I have not words wherewith to express the feelings of grati- 

 tude, love, and wonder that thrilled and glowed in my bosom! I must there- 

 fore content myself with requesting you to look at the blossoms of the laurel 

 as depicted in the plate, together with two of the birds, which, in pairs, side 

 by side, are fond of residing among its glossy and verdant foliage. 



A comparison of the plate in which I have represented this interesting 

 species, with the next, (Plate 73,) exhibiting the bird named by me Bona- 

 parte's Flycatcher, will suffice to convince you, good reader, that these birds 

 are truly distinct. My excellent friend Mr. William Swainson, is quite 

 correct, when, after describing the present species, he says, "we can per- 

 ceive no character, either in the figure or the description of Wilson, which 

 does not accord with our bird," but is certainly mistaken in supposing me 

 to have informed him that the Canada Flycatcher and that named after the 

 Prince of Musignano are one and the same. 



The Myiodioctes Bonapartii was met with in Louisiana, where, during a 

 residence of many years, I never saw the present species. Nay, the Canada 

 Flycatcher, although a migratory, may be said to be truly a northern bird, 

 never having been observed south of Pennsylvania, east of the range of the 

 Alleghany mountains, or below Pittsburgh, on their broad western slope. 



I first became acquainted with the habits of the Canada Flycatcher in the 

 Great Pine Forest, while in company with that excellent woodsman Jediah 

 Irish, and I have since ascertained that it gives a decided preference to 

 mountainous places, thickly covered with almost impenetrable undergrowths 

 of tangled shrubbery. I found it breeding in the Pine Forest, and have fol- 

 lowed it through Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and 

 the country of Labrador, in every portion of which, suited to its retired 

 habits, it brings forth its broods in peaceful security. 



It no doubt comes from the southern parts of America, or from the West 

 Indies, but the mode of its migration is still unknown to me. In Pennsyl- 

 vania, about the middle of May, a few are seen in the maritime districts, 

 where they seem merely to be resting after the fatigues of a long and tedious 

 journey, before they retreat to their favourite haunts in the mountainous 



