VARIOUS PARASITIC PLANTS; WITH AN OWL STORY 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT 

 FELLOW AMERICAN ORNITHOL. UNION, ETC. 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR) 



TO THOSE who chance to reside in the District of 

 Columbia, and are famihar with the adjacent terri- 

 torial regions of Virginia and Maryland, it is hardly 

 necessary to point out that all through this part of the 

 country winter frequently holds nearly everything in 

 nature in a very firm grip during the entire month of 

 March. It is quite the exception when the reverse of 

 this happens to be the case; and, as a matter of fact, 

 should this first lap of spring be open or hard, the state 

 of affairs with respect to flowers and other vegetation, in 

 localities where they are so abundant in the woods and 

 fields in spring, summer, and autumn, is the same — they 

 have vanished. The trees are bare ; and should there be 

 snow on the ground, the only evidences of the plant life 

 of the previous season are, here and there, the lifeless 

 remains of the stalks of golden-rod, burdock, turtle-head, 

 and a few other plants. But, as in other lands, there 

 are winters and winters, and to this Washington forms 



no exception. Some are practically of spring-like mild- 

 ness from beginning to end, so that when March comes 

 around, the month really begins and ends with days like 

 those of the middle of April. 



In and around the celebrated Rock Creek Park of 

 Washington, we may see, in a stormy March, just such 

 scenes as we have in Figure i ; or, within the limits of 

 the "Zoo," such a wintry one as is depicted in Figure 2. 

 When this chances to be the kind of season that comes to 

 pass, it is idle to think of such a thing as a botanizing 

 trip. So we must resort to the next best thing, and go 

 carefully over our last year's notes and photographs, 

 selecting some interesting group or two wherewith to 

 fill in a March story. For example, such a group may be 

 seen in the one to which the Cancer-roots and Broom- 

 rapes belong. 



In suitable localities, the One-fiowered Cancer-root may 

 be found from Newfoundland to Virginia, thence across 



Sim''' MT^'^^'^ '^'y ^ 



.^zmnix 





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WILD FOWL IN THE WASHINGTON "ZOO" 



Fig. 1— Were we to leave out the little bridge and the rail fence, this wild swan and the Canada geese would make a very correct representa- 

 tion as to how these elegant game birds appear in their native haunts in the winter time. 



