BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 4^ 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE FRESH MARSHES AND THEIR BIRDS. 



"This Towne [Ipswich] is scituated on a faire and delighttull River, whose first rise or spring 

 begins about five and twenty Miles farther up in the Countrev, issuing forth a very pleasant 

 pond. But soone after it betakes its course through a most hideous swamp of large extent, even 

 for many Miles, being a great Harbour for Beares."— Johnson, " Wonder-working Providence," 

 1654. 



The fresh marshes are the various regions about the rivers and ponds, for- 

 merly large basins after the glacial period, but now choked with vegetation, yet 

 still flooded in winter and early spring. One of these, probably the same that is 

 alluded to in the " Wonder-working Providence," but no longer a " Harbour for 

 Beares," may be taken as a typical example. This is of large extent, situated 

 within the boundaries of Wenham, Hamilton, and Topsfield, and is threaded by 

 the Ipswich River. In this marsh the growth of rushes and grasses is rank and 

 tall, and among these a multitude of Long-billed Marsh Wrens live and build 

 their nests. The rush-like plants in which they breed are chiefly as follows, be- 

 longing to several widely separated families: great bulrush {Sci)-pus laatstris), 

 horse-tail {Eqiiisetum liinosiim), sweet flag {Acorns C(Tl(imiis), blue joint-grass 

 (Calanmgrostis canadensis), reed canary-grass {Phalaris arunduiacea). 



There are several islands in this marsh, one of which, near the middle, is the 

 site of a friend's camp to which I have made occasional visits. This island is of 

 irregular shape and of most interesting glacial formation, extending in narrow 

 curving ridges through the marsh. It is covered with a tall growth of red and 

 white oaks, beeches, canoe birches, white pines, hemlocks, and several other 

 trees. Early in May the marsh is generally flooded, and the new grass and reeds 

 begin to push up in green islands. The surrounding woods show the prevalence 

 of the red maple in the ruddy tint of the tree tops. The oaks are still bare and 

 wintry on the islands, but the ground below is yellow with the dog-tooth violet 

 [Efythronium americammi), whose mottled leaves are not its least charm. Later 

 in May the regions of grass increase and the water dwindles. The islands are 

 fringed with the delicate green of willow and birch, the line broken here and 

 there by the snowy shad-bushes. Above these rise the white oaks, just putting 

 forth their silvery young leaves, and higher still looms the dark background of 

 white pines, with here and there the candelabra tips of the red pines. 



