trunks, the owl hoots from their tops and 
watches down for the field mice speeding along 
their runways in adjoining fields. The crow, 
the jay and an occasional shrike hie hither for 
observation. All of Pine Hills, a large part of 
the city, and much of the surrounding country 
can be seen from these Seven Pines. 
Northwest from here, crowning a ridge just 
across and above Pine avenue, is a larger group 
of trees, mostly oaks and pines. The pines oc- 
cupy the upper ridge, the oaks the lower quite 
to the meadow flat. Some of the pines tower 
skyward a hundred feet and more, while the oaks 
stretch out gnarled arms a distance quite equal 
to their height. These oaks are not hoar with 
age, but they have passed their three-score and 
ten. 
A pine standing on the cliff of the ridge fac- 
ing north also has the honor of years and stature. 
Its history would take us back of the early days 
of our oldest inhabitant. Oaks, pines and Nor- 
way spruces in an easy, straggling line occupy 
the ridge from the avenue back to Holler’s 
orchard. There are few native trees about Pine 
Hills that surpass in suggestive beauty those 
growing here. No views, near or distant, that 
surpass those seen from the upper ridge. East 
over Petersburg Hills is Hancock Mountain and 
the Berkshires; west the Helderbergs and the 
blue peaks of the Catskills. Oak ridge is a veri- 
table parquet for the nature lovers of Pine Hills. 
14 
