The late spring of northern Canada (Lake Nipigon, 50 deg. N. lat.):--About
May 15, the tops of the poplars begin to appear green, with fresh
buds; the hills are changing their hue from a dry straw colour to a
delightful verdure, and fragrant odours greet us.
"Early in March, 1800, in the Assiniboin country (Manitoba, about 29 deg.
N. lat.) the snow was entirely gone, for this winter had been an
abnormally mild one for central Canada. The birds soon realized the
openness of the season, for, on the 7th of March, turkey-buzzards
began to arrive from the south, and cormorants, ducks, swans, and
other spring birds; indeed, by the 24th of March not only had the snow
quite melted, but the meadows had grown so dry with the hot sun that
some accidents set them on fire. By April the 11th the weather had
become excessively hot, and immense flocks of the traveller-pigeon
(_Ectopistes_) flew northwards over the country."
In somewhat similar latitudes (50 deg.) the spring bursts on the Pacific
coast region of British Columbia towards the end of February. "The
tall raspberry bushes were in blossom with a beautiful red flower,
which appeared more forward than the leaf (_Rubus spectabilis_). The
elder had sprouts an inch long, the alder was also beginning to
sprout, and willows were budding."
Although nowhere in Upper and Lower Canada (or in the maritime
provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) are the forests so
splendid as in parts of British Columbia, yet nevertheless when this
region was first discovered the magnificence of its woodlands greatly
impressed even the explorers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, who were not as much given to praise of landscape beauty as
are we of later times.
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