THE CANADA FLYCATCHER. 
15 
sylvan choristers, equally fond of their wild retreats, arc 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 pare nt 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 
gratitude, love, and wonder, that thrilled and glowed in my bosom ! I must 
therefore 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 Sy^ainson, is quite 
correct, when, after describing the present species, he says, “ we can perceive 
no character, either in the figure or the description of W ilson, which does 
not accord with our bird,” but is certainly mistaken in supposing me to have 
informed him that the Canada Flycatcher a'nd 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 
followed 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 Am.erica, 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 
