A NATURALIST. 65 



NO. V. 



Hitherto my rambles have been confined to the neigh- 

 bourhood of a single spot, with a view of showing how 

 perfectly accessible to all, are numerous and various in- 

 teresting natural objects. This habit of observing in the 

 manner indicated, began many years anterior to my visit 

 to the spots heretofore mentioned, and have extended 

 through many parts of our own and another country. 

 Henceforward my observations shall be presented with- 

 out reference to particular places, or even of one place 

 exclusively, but with a view to illustrate whatever may be 

 the subject of description, by giving all I have observed 

 of it under various circumstances. 



A certain time of my life was spent in that part of 

 Anne Arundel county, Md. which is washed by the river 

 Patapsco on the north, the great Chesapeake bay on the 

 west, and the Severn river on the south. It is in every di- 

 rection cut up by creeks, or arms of the rivers and bay, 

 into long, flat strips of land, called necks, the greater part 

 of which is covered by dense pine forests, or thickets of 

 small shrubs and saplings, rendered impervious to human 

 footsteps by the growth of vines, whose inextricable 



