164 WITH THE SEA-LOVERS 



but flowers and trees, often quite as valuable. 

 In that very island no balsam-fir tree is safe 

 from the hand of the destroyer. Branches 

 are rudely broken off, whole trees disfigured 

 and ruined, and often by ladies who would 

 not dream of taking a neighbor's purse. 



While on the subject of the idiosyncrasies 

 of human nature, there is one other point on 

 which I should like to relieve my mind the 

 tribulations that generally overtake a bird- 

 student in the pursuit of her study. In one 

 place where the only birdy spot was a lovely 

 ravine filled with trees which ran along near 

 some houses, the people, one and all, used it 

 - the only beautiful retreat for miles around 

 as a common dumping-ground for all 

 human waste. I cannot defile my pages with 

 a list of the things that turned it into a most 

 repulsive place ; suffice it to say it consisted 

 of all of the thousand and one things we con- 

 stantly throw away. 



If the spot that attracts a bird-student is 

 a grove that might be a paradise for a bird- 

 lover, it is usually turned into a forage- 

 ground for domestic animals : cows roam 

 over it, hens scratch, horses trample, even 



