4 THE BIRDS OF SPRINGFIELD AND VICINITY. 



locks, and on the east side the pitch pines are quite numerous. 

 Along the streams may be seen the willows, elms, red and 

 white maples, river poplars, alders, pin oaks, and button- 

 woods. In Russell and Montgomery there is quite a growth of 

 tulip trees ; on the trap rock range the red cedars are common, 

 and here and there in the valley can be found black and red 

 oak, sassafras, black and paper birch, and many other kinds 

 not generally common ; on the hills to the west of Westfield 

 there is an immense growth of mountain laurel, and considerable 

 is found on the Wilbraham hills, and a little in the river towns. 

 One of the great attractions to bird life near Springfield in 

 late Summer and Autumn, particularly to the water birds, lies 

 in the wild rice, Zizania aquatica, that grows so profusely along 

 the banks of the Connecticut river. About twenty years ago 

 many bushels of the seed of this plant was brought from Wis- 

 consin and Canada and scattered along the shores of the Con- 

 necticut, and in some of the ponds ; in all the latter the attempt 

 to introduce proved a failure ; whether the large quantity that 

 now grows along the banks and in the river is due to the seed 

 that was so distributed, it is pretty hard to say. Prior to 18y8 

 there was quite a little growing here, as had always been the 

 case down the river towards the Sound ; about that time the 

 dam across the Connecticut at Knfield, ten miles below Spring- 

 field, was raised, which decidedly slackened the current above, 

 making the conditions much more favorable for wild rice to 

 thrive ; very likely the rapidly increasing growth here, that 

 began just about that time, was owing to that fact rather than 

 to the planting of the seed; anyway, it then seemed to appear on 

 the river in every suitable place, whether seeded by man or in 

 other ways. Wild celery, vallisneria spiralis, the root of which 

 is a favorite food of some of the duck family, is common here, 

 both in the river and ponds. In order to attract some of the 

 water birds, roots and seeds of this plant were brought here 

 from the West about eighteen years ago and planted in the 

 river, and it w r as successfully propagated in both ways; which 

 was an unnecessary step, as there was plenty of it here before. 

 Kotweed, Polygonum Amphibium, arrow head, Sagittaria 

 variabilis, button bush, Cephalanthus Occidentalis, ground 



