A NATURALIST. 67 



No. V. 



HITHERTO ray rambles have been confined to the 

 neighbourhood of a single spot, with a view of 

 showing how perfectly accessible to all, are numerous 

 and various interesting 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 without 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 Chesa- 

 peake bay on the west, and the Severn river on the 

 south. It is in every direction 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 

 mazes nothing but a fox, wild-cat, or weasel could 

 thread The soil cleared for cultivation is very 

 generally poor, light, and sandy, though readily 



