62 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



Wordsworth says, "It is my faith that every flower 

 which blows enjoys the air it breathes." Some late~ 

 writers go farther, and have written books about the 

 " Sagacity and Morahty of Plants and Flowers." 



Besides the arbutus, there were in blossom the blue, 

 yellow and white violets, — the last small but quite fra- 

 grant, — trilliums, erythroniums, dentarias, dicentras, 

 cardamines, wild ginger, aralia-trifolia, hepaticas and 

 anemones. Here the hepaticas are all trilobas, instead 

 of acuti lobas, as they are in the neighborhood of Buf- 

 falo. Many of them were very blue, and possessed an 

 agreeable odor. One of the prettiest little blossoms 

 found was the hen and chickens {Anemone thalictroides), 

 as Gray calls it from the flower, and (Thalictrum ane- 

 monoides)^ named by Wood from its thalictrum-like 

 leaf. It is called " hen and chickens," as it has a hand- 

 some white flower in the center, surrounded by several 

 smaller ones which blossom later than the one in the 

 center. Those acquainted with this region know how 

 rich and varied are its flora and fauna. Later will 

 come azaleas, pyrolas, sweet-scented crab, several species 

 of wintergreen, including the beautiful flowering one 

 with purple fringe, Mitchella, Clintonias, orchids, lady's 

 slippers, fringed gentian, and many others. The rare 

 and interesting birds are equally numerous. Within 

 the radius of a hundred yards I have found the nests 

 of six different species of thrushes. Among the Avar- 

 blers here at present I noted the Blackburnian, black- 

 throated green, black and yellow, yellow rumped, bay 

 Tvinged, chestnut sided, Canada and summer warblers. 



