Massachusetts Audubon Society 7 



every hue, and along the upper slope bordering our "Trail of the Big 

 Pine" are beautiful little cedars and many other fruit-bearing trees and 

 shrubs where the birds love to linger. 



Along our "Ferny Trail," which leads directly from the office to the 

 summit of Moose Hill through an attractive bit of swamp and rocky 

 woodland, have been placed many of the rarer ferns and flowers, — several 

 oi" these being the gifts of visiting friends, while a few have been pur- 

 chased. The rattlesnake fern, ostrich fern, climbing fern and others find 

 natural settings among the great clumps of swamp azalea and sweet pepper- 

 bush, while the walking fern, maidenhair, rusty woodsia and spleenworts 

 seem at home about the rockery and bird-bath here. Thirty-two species of 

 ferns may now be found growing here in convenient places for study. 



Trail-making has been undertaken with a view of facilitating bird 

 study and making these natural attractions more accessible. More than two 

 miles of trails have now been completed, providing a most beautiful and 

 varied walk through the woodland from Sharon Station to the summit of 

 Moose Hill, over land entirely under our control and with a variation in 

 altitude of three hundred feet. Fern-bordered streams, scrubby knolls, open 

 marsh-land, a bit of primeval forest with many ancient pines, sphagnum- 

 covered swamps, gurgling brooks and rocky hillsides, — each with its own 

 peculiar forms of life, — here combine to make a sylvan trail of rare beauty 

 for the nature lover. 



Along this trail have been identified two hundred and fifty species of 

 plant life, many of these being fruit-bearing shrubs especially attractive to 

 our migrating birds. Deer tracks have also been seen here on several 

 occasions. 



These trails are maintained through the kindness of Mrs. Emma J. 

 Glazier, Mr. John G. Phillips, Mr. Henry P. Kendall and Mr. Albert F. 

 Flanders, whose lands they cross, and to whom the grateful thanks of our 

 society are due for their generosity and co-operation. 



Since our change of location the name "Moose Hill Bird Sanctuary" 

 refers solely to land owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the sur- 

 rounding areas which are being posted through co-operation of the owners, — 

 and which now total nearly one thousand acres, — being termed the "reserva- 

 tion" or "protected area." 



A total of One Hundred and Four species of birds have been noted from 

 our sanctuary grounds so far this year. 



NEW EXHIBITS AT SANCTUARY 



Among recent additions to our exhibition room are a series of water- 

 color Drawings of birds' eggs, the gift of Miss Nathalia Bent of Canton, 

 a collection of birds' eggs representing about a hundred species, by A. R. 

 Hanks of Needham, Indian arrow and spear-heads, by Fred R. Gushing 

 of Sharon; aigrettes, by the State Department of Ornithology, and bird- 

 skins, by H. J. Hope of East Milton. Also four framed colored original 

 Audubon prints — of the courlan (limpkin), golden plover, godwit and 

 snowbird (junco), loaned by the Superintendent, who is also arranging 

 exhibition cases here of some of his specimens of mounted birds. 



We should be glad to confer with any one having books or speciinens 

 of interest which they would be willing to give or loan to the Society foi 

 its work here. 



