A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. 137 



The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted 

 with Linncea. I had never seen it in such profusion. 

 In early summer, the period of its bloom, what a charm- 

 ing spectacle the mossy floors of these remote woods 

 must present ! The flowers are purple rose-color, nod- 

 ding and fragrant. Another very abundant plant in 

 these woods was the Clintonia borealis. Uncle Na- 

 than said it was called " bear's corn," though he did 

 not know why. The only noticeable flower by the 

 Maine roadsides at this season that is not common in 

 other parts of the country is the harebell. Its bright 

 blue, bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid the 

 dry grass and weeds all along the route. It was 

 one of the most delicate roadside flowers I had ever 

 seen. 



The only new bird I saw in Maine was the pileated 

 woodpecker, or black "log cock," called by Uncle 

 Nathan " wood cock." I had never before seen or 

 heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods 

 about Moxie was a new sound to me. It is the wild- 

 est and largest of our northern woodpeckers, and the 

 rarest. Its voice and the sound of its hammer are 

 heard only in the depths of the northern woods. It 

 is about as large as a crow, and nearly as black. 



We stayed a week at Moxie, or until we became 

 surfeited with its trout, and had killed the last Mer- 

 ganser duck that, lingered about our end of the lake. 

 The trout that had accumulated on our hands we had 

 kept alive in a large champagne basket submerged in 

 the lake, and the morning we broke camp the basket 



