— 500 — 



Magnus, Bishop of Upsal, in Sweden, few dared to 

 doubt but that Swallows, instead of going to Senegal 

 and the Gold coast, to spend their Christmas and Easter 

 holidays, dived before winter into the bosom of lakes, 

 and hybernated under the ice till spring, with no gayer 

 companions than a few meditative trout or gudgeon. 

 This was another absurd theory, but which had many 

 great names to prop it up. The Eeverend Gilbert 

 White, in his History of Selborne, a nicer book than 

 which you could not read, eloquently demonstrated 

 how absurd, how impossible such a thing could take 

 place. 



You recognize at one glance that little fairy, dipped 

 in a sunbeam, begemmed with opals, rubys, and living 

 sapphires ; it is the Ruby-throated Humming Bird. 

 One species (1) only frequents our province though it 

 constitutes a numerous family in South America and 

 in the West Indies. How often in the dewy morn have 

 you not noticed the little sylph, ecstatic with delight, 

 hovering over the honeysuckle and bright geranium 

 blossoms, and inserting in their expanded corollas his 

 forked tongue in search of insects and honey ? Need I 

 dwell at length on all his loveliness, his incomparable 

 beauty, when you can refer to the glowing descriptions 

 which two great masters, Audubon and Buffon, have 

 left, Audubon's especially ? In spite of his finished 



(1) J. F. Whiteaves F. E. S. C. writes, apprising rne of the 

 additions made to the Ottawa Museum during the last six 

 years by Professor Macoun, F. R. S. C. ; " our series of birds for 

 British Columbia, the N. W. Territories and Manitoba is as 

 nearly complete as that of the east. Thus we have native 

 examples of all the five Canadian humming-birds and of all 

 the owls, but the Barn owl, if that is truly Canadian — includ- 

 ing the Burrowing owl of the N. W. T. and the Pigmy owl of 

 Vancouver Island." 



J. F. Whiteaves. 



This is a good news, for Canadian ornithologists, whilst it 

 reflects creditably, on Professor Macoun and his able staff. 



