THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 13 
eastern end of the island are so covered that when softened by a veil of fog 
the effect is not unlike that of the rolling prairie lands of the West. The 
Crowberry is the more abundant and the more generally distributed of 
the two species. Rose bushes, apparently /tosa nitida Willd., and 
blueberry bushes, apparently Vacczntum pennsylvanicum Lam., abound, 
especially in the vicinity of the little ponds, where all vegetation is more 
luxuriant and where late in the season great beds of roses are to be 
seen. Large numbers of Cranberries (Schollera macrocarpa_ (Ait.)) 
grow wild, and the yearly crop that is gathered amounts sometimes to 
several hundred barrelfuls. From the trailing vines in the damp hollows 
among the hills the large and juicy berries of last year were still to be 
gathered at the time of my visit. The blueberry bushes were blossom- 
ing the second week in June, many of the tiny sprigs trailing in the sand, 
partly covered by it, and the leaf buds of the rose bushes were little more 
than half unfolded. Strawberries (/ragarta canadensis Michx.) grow 
in profusion, and the plants were in full blossom during my stay. The 
Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens L.), the Bunchberry (Cornus cana- 
densts L..) and the Bayberry (Myrica cerifera L.) are also found. 
No trees grow on Sable Island, and efforts to introduce them have 
proved futile. To be sure a stunted willow bush stands in the superin- 
tendent’s dooryard, protected by a board fence, but each winter the icy 
winds nip the few shoots that dare to push above this shelter. All the 
bushes of every kind are much dwarfed, few of them reaching half way to 
the knee, but forming very dense clumps in sheltered situations. Frequently 
the clumps catch the drifting sand; grass, weeds, and moss soon find a foot- 
hold, and some day a turfy hummock is the result. This perhaps gradually 
extends its limits and joins its neighbor, and in the course of time the charac- 
teristic hummocky ground of certain parts of the island is formed. At the 
time of my arrival all looked bare and brown. Before my departure nearly 
the whole surface had acquired a visibly greener tinge with here and there the 
ruddy glow of blossoming Sorrel (/tumex acctosella L..), while such weeds 
as the Beach Pea (Lathyrus maritimus (L.)), Everlasting (Guaphalium 
sp.?), and Meadow-rue ( Thalictrum sp.?) were becoming conspicuous. 
Blue violets (Viola obliqua Hill) and white ones (V. Janceolata L.) were 
abundant, and many inconspicuous plants were pushing above the ground 
and unfolding their early buds or blossoms, the majority of them too young 
for accurate determination. This is to be regretted, for my specimens 
show that not less than forty species occur. Several mosses and lichens 
are found, among them a Sphagnum. Eel-grass (Zostera marina L.) 
abounds in the lagoon, and occurs as drift along its shores, associated 
with green filmy sheets of Sea Lettuce (Ulva sp.?) that soon become 
