JULY 
245 
heads: a field of timothy^ or, as the people here call it, 
herd's grass/' has not the beautiful appearance which one 
of Redtop ( Agrostis V ulgaris ) has. 
F, — Perhaps not^ but it is more profitable ; generally 
producing a greater weight of nutritive matter to the acre ; 
and this is a subject to which a farmer is much more alive 
than their respective claims to beauty. Here is a fine 
flower^ which possesses far greater pretensions than either of 
the grasses : it is vulgarly called Indian Wickup (ILpilo-s 
bium Latifolium J ; its leaves are large and lanceolate^ and 
its tall and elegant pyramidal spike of pink flowers, continu- 
ing in blossom till late in autumn^ would form no mean ob- 
ject in a garden. Long before the upper buds are blown, 
the lower flowers have yielded their place to long narrow 
pods, having a partition down the centre, and bearing winged 
seeds. This plant is common in Newfoundland; but not 
in such abundance as here : with us it frequently covers 
a large space of ground. The caterpillars of the Panther- 
moth f Spilosoma Acria), Royal Tiger C Arctia Virgo J, and 
I believe of some other moths, feed on its leaves. Another 
handsome flower, the Orange-lily ( Lilium Canadense ), is 
now, and has been for some time, in bloom : the brilliant 
colour and the graceful drooping of the bell- shaped corolla, 
entitle it to our admiration. It grows commonly here, par- 
ticularly in meadows near the river. 
C, — Have you seen a thick-set bird, shaped like a spar- 
row, hopping about, of a bright rust-colour, slightly mottled 
with dusky brown ? I saw three or four of them a few days 
ago on the ground, at the edge of the maple woods. 
F. — I have not met with it here ; but I am very fami- 
liar with the bird, as it is in Newfoundland one of the most 
common species. It is the Fox -coloured Sparrow (Frin- 
gilla Rufa J ; in its manners fearless and familiar, resembling 
