WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



XIX 



THE YELLOW-THROAT'S GARDEN 



OWN below the high ledge upon 

 which I sit comfortably in the 

 shade of a hemlock is a little 

 swamp that I am accustomed to 

 call the Yellow- throat's Garden. 

 It is in bigness not much greater 

 than the zone of shadow that 

 ancient oak swings about it in 

 the circle of a summer day, but 

 it is wonderfully crowded with 

 life. How tropical it looks in 

 the fulness of this late - sum- 

 mer fruition! The underbrush 

 is thick with the feathery fronds 

 of ferns — brake and lady-fern — 

 and the royal osmunda; and 

 above and among the leafy 



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