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THE WHITE-CROWNED FINCH. 



4-Fringilla leucophrys, Gmel. 

 PLATE CXCIL— 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. Law- 

 rence, while amazed you glance over the wilderness that extends around 

 you, so dreary and desolate that the blood almost congeals 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 mellow notes of a bird, that seems as if it had been sent expressly 

 for the purpose of relieving your mind from the heavy melancholy that bears 

 it down! The sounds are so sweet, so refreshing, so soothing, so hope 

 inspiring, 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 exprience 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 favour- 

 ed. At every step, new objects presented themselves, and whenever I 

 rested, I enjoyed a delight never before experienced. Humbly and fervently 

 did I pray for a continuation of those blessings, through which I now hoped 

 to see my undertaking completed, and again to join my ever-dear family. 



I first became acquainted with the White-crowned Sparrow at Henderson, 



Vol. III. 27 



