When its fluttering wings are in motion, it makes a noise like that of a spinning-wheel, which is the reason why it is called "the humming-bird." Notwithstanding the diminutive size and fragile appearance of this beautiful creature, it is one of the irritabile genus, and a most fatal enemy to birds of a superior size. It will not scruple, when provoked, to attack even a raven; it darts, with the speed of lightning, its slender bill, into the body of its sable antagonist, and makes him fall lifeless to the ground.

Crows, Sparrows and Wrens are rarely seen in the Western parts of Upper Canada: But in the Eastern Districts, and in the Lower Province, they are common, though by no means numerous.

Eagles, Ravens, Owls, Kites, Falcons, Bitterns and Hawks are common in both Upper and Lower Canada.

The BALD EAGLE,-Falco Leucocephalus,-is by far the largest bird which I have seen in this country. Some of them measure seven feet from the extremity of one wing to that of the other. Dr. Dwight says, a bird of this kind was killed in: Brookfield, Vermont, which measured nearly nine feet.

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LETTER XIV.

INSECTS OF VARIOUS KINDS BUTTERFLY GRASS-HOPPER AND LOCUST THE HORSE-FLY, MUSQUITO, SAND-FLY AND BLACKFLY- THE SHAD-FLY, SNOW-FLY, AND FIRE-FLY-THE BLACK BEETLE THE BED BUG, HIVE BEE AND WASP, &c.

SNAKES of every description are much dreaded by the Irish on their first arrival in this country. But, before they have spent a single Summer in it, they meet with enemies of whose existence they had never heard, which are far more obnoxious and much more to be dreaded: I allude to the numerous and teasing insects with which Canada abounds. A man may reside in any part of America for half a century, without sustaining the slightest injury from a snake of any description, though he may daily behold hundreds of them. But it is impossible to remain a single summer in the country, without experiencing the most unpleasant effects. from a variety of insects, many of which are sufficiently virulent and painful in their attacks, to embitter one's life during the only season of the year, which possesses attractions sufficient to allure one from the threshold. To give you a systematic entomological description of the insects of Canada,

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238

BUTTERFLIES.

is a task which I am little inclined, and less qualified, to undertake. You must therefore be content with a cursory notice of such as are the most remarkable. These are the Butterfly, the Grasshopper, and the Locust; the Horse-fly, the Musquito, the Sand-fly and the Black-fly; the Shadfly, the Snow-fly, and the Fire-fly; the Black Beetle, the Horse-fly, and the Bed-bug; the Hivebee, the Field-bee, the Hornet and the Wasp; the Tick, the Ant, the Spider, &c.

Some of the Canadian BUTTERFLIES are very large, and all of them exquisitely beautiful. When Nature was employed to give them existence, one would think, she determined to exhibit on their wings all the brilliant colours and finelycontrasted shades, which her incomparable skill alone could produce. If the grades of distinction among butterflies, are regulated according to their different degrees of beauty, Sir Joseph Banks, had he lived in America, would have enjoyed many a fine chace, and have had numerous occasions of exclaiming, "An Emperor! an Emperor! by all that's lucky!" without any danger of that grumbling reprobation, from botanical enthusiasts, to which he was liable in his own country, for his want of respect to their variegated beds of tulips or gay parterres of pinks and auriculas, when he dashed through every intervening obstacle in pursuit of the vagrant, yet fascinating insects. Many of the Canadian butterflies, appear, when flying, as large as a bat; but the largest species are, I think," the most beautiful.

LOCUSTS and GRASSHOPPERS infest the whole country, and are often as destructive to the corncrops in Canada, as Sampson's foxes were to the standing wheat of the Philistines. Some of the Grasshoppers in these Provinces are as large as a field-mouse; and all of them are much larger than any I ever saw in Europe. They seldom appear before the end of July, when they assemble in such multitudes, that a single person with a waggoner's whip might drive ten thousand of them before him, with as great ease as a shep-› herd can drive a flock of sheep. The whole face of the earth appears so thickly covered with: them, that crops of every description seem destined to immediate destruction. Mr. Lambert gives an account of their ravages for two successive seasons, on the Island of Orleans. He says, their numbers were so great, that, after destroy- : ing every vegetable production on the island, they were forced to leave it for fear of starvation; and, having assembled in bodies upon the water, they floated over with the flood-tide to . Quebec, passed through the town, stripped the ramparts of the grass as they went along, and then proceeded in separate columns through the country to the Southward. In Upper Canada, they sometimes destroy whole fields of grain and meadow-grass; but I never heard of ravages so extensive as those which they commit in the Lower Province. Dr. Dwight asserts, that the Locusts make their appearance in New England, only

every seventh year: If this be really the case with regard to that part of North America, we^ must presume, that they come to spend their long vacation in Canada; for I have seen them in this country for six successive years.

The HORSE-FLY is larger than an humble-bee, and is the most formidable and relentless foe to whose cruel inflictions the poor quadrupeds of Canada are doomed to submit. His bite is nearly as severe as the sting of a wasp; and he never ceases, from June to September, from tormenting every animal of the brute creation. The Horse, the Ox, and the Deer, are, however, the objects of his greatest longings, upon which he exercises his most refined cruelties. In vain do they seek the breezy plain, the woody shade, or the purling brook: He follows them to every retreat, and is their implacable enemy every summer's day, from sun-rise, till evening kindly comes to grant them a few hours' respite. I have frequently observed horses turned out to pasture of excellent quality, in the month of June, in good condition; and have seen them brought back in October, greatly reduced in flesh: And no wonder; for, instead of being permitted quietly to feed, they are every moment employed in defending themselves against the unceasing attacks of Horse-flies, and other vexatious insects.

But of all the creatures that disturb the peace of man and beast, the MUSQUITOES are the most insupportable. They are " your days' companions and