170 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 101 



nel changes from time to time. The country on either side 

 is level and low, and the water from the stream spreads out 

 and the stream dissipates itself among the bushes and trees. 

 A large slough is formed over which the water varies in 

 depth from a few inches to 2 or 3 feet, and the ground is very 

 soft and muddy indeed. Along the border is a fringe of small 

 bushes and vines, and a few oaks, nearly all of which lean in- 

 ward toward the swamp. Inside this fringe of bushes is a 

 border of marsh-grass and button-bushes. Then come cat- 

 tails (Typha), tall water-weeds (Scirpiis), and water-lilies. 

 Lower down is a dense growth of underbrush and a pretty 

 heavy forest of swamp ash, soft maple, and willows. The 

 yellow pond lily is abundant, growing in the more open shal- 

 low places where the bottom is of soft, black mud. Patches 

 of Iris or blue flag are seen here and there. In one place, 

 where there are springs in the bottom and the water is cold, 

 is a patch of that most magnificent of Indiana wild flowers, 

 the beautiful showy Lady's slipper (Cypripedium regince). 



We drive to the swamp on a pleasant morning in late May 

 (21st). We put our horses in the barn of a farmer who 

 kindly permits us to do so. We change our clothes for older 

 suits, suitable for wading. 



The Great Blue Heron, or " Big Blue Crane," is said to 

 nest in this swamp. " Why," said the man who first told us 

 about it, and who had seen the place in winter, " the nests 

 in the tree-tops look like small haycocks ! I saw them plainly 

 as I drove by in my ,sleigh. I counted over a hundred of 

 them." So we are impatient to see if the nests are occupied 

 this spring. We begin wading out into the marsh. The 

 water is very cold and, as if to add to our unpleasant sensa- 

 tions, the bottom is very uneven, and we often suddenly step 

 into holes deeper than any before ; our feet become entangled 

 and we fall headlong into the water. And now we find areas 

 of quicksand into which we are kept from sinking only by 

 catching hold of some prostrate log or nearby limb. Hardly 

 have we entered the swamp when a Great Blue Heron is seen 

 coming from the north. He is high in the air, and approaches 



