DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 27 



chorus of the mosquitoes. A damp fog was rising from the 

 marsh below, and this with the fact that the thermometer was 

 well down in the fifties did little to gladden our hearts. Nor 

 was our party cheered to any noticeable extent when the horse, 

 which had apparently been of unsettled mind the whole even- 

 ing, suddenly broke halter and started ofif in the dark towards 

 Medford. However, our party was again united somewhat less 

 than a mile from camp and the rest of the night was passed in 

 a less exciting manner. 



We arose in the morning with a feeling comparable to the 

 physical pangs of Rip Van Winkle awakening from his twenty 

 years' sleep on a granite bed, except possibly for the fact that 

 the latter did get some sleep. The notes of the Whip-poor-wills, 

 which had kept up almost incessantly during the night, had 

 now, as the sun rose, subsided to a gentle murmur. 



After breakfast and a hurried preparation, we left behind us 

 the pine region surrounding the Batsto and struck out across 

 the barrens. 



It was well into the afternoon of our second day that our 

 party, tired, hungry and eager for an excuse to rest, arrived 

 at the little town of Speedwell. After the weary stretches of the 

 barrens, this little village presented to one's eyes a very pleasing 

 contrast. Though its entire population numbers now but four 

 persons, Speedwell occupies a very considerable clearing on the 

 edge of a cedar swamp in the very heart of the Jersey Barrens. 



Some fifty years ago, the little village was a thriving settle- 

 ment, owing its existence to the iron which was then extracted 

 from the soil of the neighboring bog. When this industry no 

 longer paid. Speedwell declined until it is now but a few dilapi- 

 dated houses and the remnant of the old iron furnace. 



The clearing, however, with its meadows, orchards and shade 

 trees remains, and so affords shelter for many birds which, 

 however common they may be in our own farm lands, are 

 strangers to the immediately surrounding country. Here we 

 found the Dove, Chimney Swift, Humming bird. Red-eyed 

 Vireo, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Purple Martin. 



It was in this almost home-like region then that we decided 

 to take up our headquarters and made preparation accordingly. 



