BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



33 



The bogs are carpeted with cranberry vines ( Vaccinium macrocarpon) which 

 grow and bear luxuriantly without any care. Many berries escape the pickers 

 and can be found on the plants throughout the winter. I have gathered them 

 as late as the first of June, and very good " sauce " they make even at that 

 unusual season. Blue irises {Iris versicolor) and the orchids, Calopogon pulchellus 

 and Pogonia ophioglossoides, bloom abundantly in the early summer among the 

 bogs, where also the sundew {Drosera) flourishes, and the burnet {Poterium 

 canadense) is not uncommon. 



In the dry sand are to be found the beautiful seaside golden-rod {Solidago 

 sempervirens), the purple gerardia {Gerardia purpurea), the joint-weed {Polygonella 

 articulatd), and the curious euphorbia {Euphorbia polygonifolid) . Here also, 

 especially on the edges near the beach, the American sea-rocket {Cakilc ameri- 

 cana), saltwort {Salsola kali), cocklebur {Xanthium), and the halberd-leaved 

 orache {A triplex pa till inn, var. has tat inn) are common and characteristic. The 

 star-shaped puff-ball {Geastcr) is also common among the dunes. 



Although most of the pools of water are stained brown with vegetation, one 

 may occasionally be found in the early spring which is as clear and green as an 

 alpine lake, and the snow-white peaks of sand in the vicinity serve to increase the 

 illusion. Early in May, the bayberry bushes are still gray and wintry, the sweet 

 gale is a rich chestnut brown, and the Hudsonia begins to emerge from its 

 sandy state and show a slight tinge of sage green. The cranberry plant is 

 always beautiful with its varied tones of red, chestnut, and green, and its beautiful 

 berries which, at first green and white, become brilliant red, with deep purple 

 bloom. In June whole acres are golden with the Hudsonia blossoms, and the 

 bogs are dotted with the blue iris and the pink and magenta Pogonia and Calo- 

 pogon. 



The tracks of animals in the sand are always interesting, from the extra- 

 ordinary ones of the grasshopper and the toad, the universal Crow's tracks, 

 and those of many smaller birds, to those of the mice, hares, skunks, foxes, and 

 muskrats, the last-named proclaiming his identity by the groove made by his 

 heavy tail. There are two aliens whose tracks abound in the dunes, the one 

 from the eastern continent, the Ring Pheasant, the other from the western part 

 of our continent, the jack rabbit. The latter animal, when disturbed, bounds 

 off through the dunes, looking almost as large as a calf to the astonished 

 intruder. 



At all seasons the dunes are beautiful, even though in summer they be hot 

 and weary tramping and cold and wind-swept in winter. The sand blows and 

 cuts so fiercely that glass has been ground opaque by the blast in a single storm, 

 and one has to look after his bird -glasses as well as his eyes. The true dune- 

 lover, however, enjoys as deeply the beauty of their winter desolation as he does 

 the glories of their spring loveliness. 



