NATURE STUDIES IN AND AROUND WASHINGTON. 



45 



FTG. 2. A SCENE IN NORTHERN \IRGIN1A. 



upon one memorable occasion a party 

 was made up which included Mr. C. \\ . 

 Gilmore. who has charge of the fossil 

 birds and reptiles in the U. S. National 

 ^Museum : Mrs. Gilmore, their three 

 beautiful little daughters, Mrs. Coutant, 

 ]\Irs. Gilmore's mother ; Mrs. Shufeldt. 

 and the subscriber. The latter is respon- 

 sible for perpetuating this squad of true 

 nature lovers, as shown in Figure i, 

 wherein Mr. Gilmore declines to apolo- 

 gize for smoking in the presence of la- 

 dies, while the latter told me afterwards 

 that they wished they had taken their 

 hats off, as these were not altogether up 

 to date. 



In these tramps we by no means con- 

 fine ourselves to the District of Colum- 

 bia ; for, owing to the splendid system of 

 electric cars running out from the city in 

 all directions, it requires but short spaces 

 of time to take in much of southern 

 Maryland, northern A^irginia, and by an 

 extra jaunt, soon land at the shores of 

 Chesapeake Bay, which in all respects 

 offers nearly everything that one finds at 

 the seashore. 



Some parts of \^irginia are as attrac- 



tive as anything that can well be imagin- 

 ed. In Figures 2 and 3 we have wood and 

 farm scenes in old Virginia, just over 

 the river from Washington ; and did you 

 ever see such a wealth of daisies as we 

 have in the foreground of Figure 3, or 

 a farmhouse more snugly sheltered in 

 the encircling woodland? 



When wife and I take to the country- 

 side, we are after things. We are not 

 only rigged out for the tramp, but all 

 sorts of collecting traps, a 5 x 8 camera, 

 and other necessaries go along with us. 

 If I chance to be studying box tortoises 

 at home — their life histories, variations, 

 and so on — then box tortoises are in or- 

 der, and five or six of them are duly 

 collected. These are subsequently to be 

 photographed in my study (Fig. 4), and 

 to be observed and examined in various 

 >vays as material for monographic work. 

 In some parts of \'irginia these reptiles 

 are remarkably abundant and exhibit 

 wide variations in their coloring. One 

 day we found where one had crawled 

 into an empty tin preserving-can and 

 (lied there. It was apparently long ago, 

 and only its skeleton was in evidence. 



FIG. 3. A FARMHOUSE IX XOK I lil-.K.\ \ Iki.lMA 



