Canada; and there is such a degree of weakness in every human mind, that no man, who is doomed to the endurance of any thing which may not be exactly pleasing but which yet is very trivial, can avoid the indulgence of occasional repining.

LETTER XV.

THE AMPHIBIA AND FISHES OF CANADA-THE BULL-FROG AND ITS VARIOUS AFFINITIES TOADS-THE MUD-TORTOISE OR TURTLE THE RATTLE-SNAKE, ITS POWER OF FASCINATION-ACCOUNT OF A GENTLEMAN WHO WAS BITTEN BY ONE-THE BLACK SNAKE -THE WATER-SNAKE, &C.-FISHES OF VARIOUS KINDS IN THE RIVERS OF CANADA-THE SALMON-STURGEON-MUSKINUNGE

CAT-FISH-PIKE-PICKEREL AND MULLET-DOG-FISH-SUCKER -BLACK AND WHITE BASS-HERRING-TROUT WHITE FISHSWORD-FISH-EEL, &C.

ALTHOUGH the birds of America are not exceedingly musical, yet the forests of Canada may truly be said to "ring with nature's music" from the beginning of Spring, to the end of Summer. The sameness of the Canadian thrush's notes, and the absence of the black-bird's whistle, are, in some degree compensated, both with regard to variety and novelty, by the roaring of the bull-frog, and the howling, quacking, groaning and screeching of its numerous affinities. These animals, which have been ludicrously termed "Dutch Nightingales," because, like one of those birds

-that all day long

Had cheered the village with his song,

Nor yet at eve his note suspended,

Nor yet when even-tide was ended,

they never cease night or day, during the whole Summer, to send forth their hideous yells, with such force and effect, that it is difficult to hear any thing but frog-music, from the beginning of May to the close of September. The forests in all moist and swampy places are literally covered over with them. It is impossible to conceive any thing equal. to the noise and variety of their notes. The loud bellowing of some, which, from their superior size and strength of lungs, appear to be chiefs, the quacking of others of a less size, the melancholy groanings of a few scattered up and down as if to mingle sorrow with rejoicings; and the harsh screeches of a fourth party,-produce altogether such a singular combination of sounds as beggars all description. Some of them roar as loudly as à lion, and appear to lead the concert; for the moment they commence, you hear every incongruity of sound, from the harsh lowing of an ox, to the almost inaudible chirrup of a humming-bird. A person listening to this music, without knowing by what instruments it was produced, would feel inclined to suppose, that all the beasts of the fieldand the fowls of the air had assembled together, and were tuning their voices preparatory to the commencement of a grand chorus in celebration of the grata vice Veris et Favoni,-the release of nature from the cold grasp of Winter, by the grateful return of Spring.

Irishmen who arrive in Canada, late in the fall of the year or in Winter, and who are unacquainted

with the cause of the uproar with which they are greeted, may frequently be seen, in the succeeding Spring, stealing to these frog-orchestras with guns well-loaded and ready-cocked, their hearts bounding at the idea of bringing to the earth a buffalo, bear, or wolf. When they arrive at the spot from which the sounds seemed to issue, and perceive no animals larger than vast frogs upon the ground, they direct their attention upwards and reluctantly relinquish all present ideas of a buffalo, for a shot at a wild turkey, a racoon, or an opossum. On discovering that neither birds nor beasts are to be found, they imagine that there must be a subterraneous cavern in the neighbourhood, in which such animals as lie torpid during the Winter, having just become roused from their lethargy, are busily debating some important points concerning their Summer excursions. Impressed with this idea, or with some other equally plausible and strange, they return to their wives, and, in communicating the history of their disappointment, forget not to include an authentic report of the cave which their own imaginations have created, under the misguiding influence and ventriloquistic deception of the noisy frogs.

The largest bull-frogs weigh about five pounds each, and are able to destroy a gosling of a month old: There is every variety of the frog-genus in Canada, from this size down to that of a wren's egg. Toads are also very numerous; and although

vulgar prejudice considers them as enemies to man, and capable of emitting some poisonous matter from their bodies, the communication of which would prove injurious to human health, they are perfectly harmless and inoffensive. Their general contour is not very pleasing; and perhaps that is partly the reason why they are killed, whenever they make their appearance.

The MUD TORTOISE, or Turtle, when full-grown, is about two feet in diameter. Its flesh is said to equal in flavour that of the West India Turtle. But as it is one of those delicacies which my palate is not so far refined as to appreciate, I leave the determination of its true taste and flavour to city Aldermen: The appearance of the flesh, when dressed, is quite sufficient to satisfy my appetite. These animals will live ten days after having their heads cut off. This I could scarcely believe, when I first arrived in the country; but I have since had ocular demonstration of the fact. They lay their eggs in the sand to the number of fifty, which are round, and about the size of a large crab: The Canadians eat them, and consider them superior in quality to those of domestic fowls. A large turtle is capable of moving with a man upon its back: and some persons assert, that it is equal to the task of carrying two men, without manifesting the least symptom of being over-loaded.

In Lower Canada, there are now very few SNAKES, but in the Upper Province there is a great variety.