A NATURALIST. 67 



path ; sometimes when he turns his horse to drink at the 

 dark coloured branch, (as such streams are locally called,) 

 he disturbs a solitary rufous thrush engaged in washing 

 its plumes ; or as he moves steadily along, he is slightly 

 startled by a sudden appearance of the towhe bunting 

 close to the side of the path. Except these creatures, and 

 these by no means frequently seen, he rarely meets 

 with animated objects ; at a distance the harsh voice of 

 the crow is often heard, or flocks of them are observed 

 in the cleared fields, while now and then the buzzard, or 

 turkey vulture, may be seen wheeling in graceful circles 

 in the higher regions of the air, sustained by his broadly 

 expanded wings, which apparently remain hi a state of 

 permanent and motionless extension. At other seasons 

 of the year, the physician must be content to live in the 

 most positive seclusion ; the white people are ah* busily 

 employed in going to and from market ; and even were 

 they at home, they are poorly suited for companionship. 

 I here spent month after month, and, except the patients 

 I visited, saw no one but the blacks ; the house in which 

 1 boarded was kept by a widower, who, with myself, was 

 the only white man within the distance of a mile or two. 

 My only compensation was this, the house was pleasantly 

 situated on the bank of Curtis's creek, a considerable arm 

 of the Patapsco, which extended for a mile or two beyond 

 us, and immediately in front of the door expanded so as 

 to form a beautiful little bay. Of books I possessed very 

 few, and those exclusively professional ; but in this beau- 



