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elegance of diction, the sedentary philosopher, Buffon, 

 must yield the palm to the naturalist who studied 

 God's creatures on the mountains, prairies, sea shores, 

 plains, fields and forests of our continent. 



I now hold in my hand a most gorgeously-habited 

 little songster, who pays us a welcome visit in July. 

 His azure mantle has bestowed on him the name of 

 Indigo Bird. Buff on calls him " Le Ministre," probably 

 because he was, like the French Ministers of State,, 

 robed in blue : our own Cabinet Ministers, as you 

 know, on the visit of the Prince of Wales in I860,, 

 chose blue for their grande tenue ojfjfhcielle. Never 

 shall I forget one bright July morning walking in my 

 garden, shortly after sunrise. In the centre there stood 

 an old apple tree, bearing pink and white buds and green 

 leaves ; close to it my children had grown a very large 

 sunflower : its corolla was then lovingly expanding to 

 the orb of day, whose rays streamed through the over- 

 hanging canopy of dew-spangled blossoms. In the fork 

 of the apple tree a pair of Eobins had built their clay- 

 cemented nest, in which, protected by soft hay, rested 

 four emeralds of pure sea-green, whilst the male Kobin 

 was caroling forth his morning hymn from the topmost 

 branch of a neighboring red oak. I was in the act of 

 peering in the nest, when my eye was arrested by the 

 resplendent colors of an azure bird nestling in the sun- 

 shine on the saffron leaves of the sunflower. The bright- 

 ness of the spectacle before me was such, its contrasts 

 so striking, that I paused in mute astonishment at so 

 much splendor. Was it a realm of dream-land spread 

 out before me ! a vision painted by a fairy ! It was, 

 my friends, the Indigo Bird of Canada, in his full 

 nuptial plumage, seen amidst the bright but every- 

 day spectacle of a Canadian landscape. 



What a charming musician, the Vireo or Eed-eyed 

 Fly Catcher, during his protracted stay from May to 

 September ? scarcely visible to the naked eyed, amidst 

 the green boughs of a lofty elm, he warbles forth his 



