ing birds resort. The lower portions of the meadows nearest 

 the river I are frequented by blackbirds. Along the bushy 

 borders of the higher fields birds of both upland and lowland 

 mingle. Here the quails and pheasants lead their tender broods, 

 always alert to guard them from the low-flying marsh hawk or 

 the sneaking fox. 



\fc North of the garden the lowland is grown up mainly with 

 birch andjmaple, hedged about with a thicket of shrubbery 

 in which are mingled alders, berry bushes and fruiting vines. 

 This tract is largely covered with thick undergrowth, where 

 the treesjare scattering. It is backed to the east by a few tall, 

 lone pines, beyond which lies a high, sandy, open field, and 

 then a small orchard. To the north it is bounded by a small 

 cranberry bog, and beyond this a sandy knoll rises to the road. 

 This low-lying open woodland, with its rich soil, dense under- 

 growth and tangle of vines, furnishes a good wind-break for 

 the garden, shutting off the cold northwest winds. It also 

 provides a sheltered, sunny retreat for birds in the piercing 

 cold, but usually pleasant, winter weather when these winds 

 are very searching on the open fields. Such a retreat is equally 

 grateful to birds on cold days in spring and fall; and it forms 

 an admirable breeding place for thrushes, robins, vireos, to- 

 whees, song sparrows, and warblers. 



East of the garden the ground rises gradually, the soil chang- 

 ing from a bluish-black to a dark brown, then from brown to 

 yellow, until, as we reach the hilltop, we find what was un- 

 doubtedly once a sand dune, like those of Cape Cod or Cape 

 Ann. Here the only soil is almost a pure sand, and little 

 grows but poverty grass and other primitive plants. Most of 

 this rise is covered with a rather thin growth of pitch pines 

 and white pines, but a thick belt of trees on the north gives 

 additional protection to the garden and the poultry houses. 

 Fowls do well here, for the exposure is sunny and the soil 

 sandy. In the scrub oaks along the hillside, towhees, brown 

 thrashers and cuckoos thrive. Here the notes of the pine 

 warbler, wood pewee and field sparrow are heard in spring. 

 East of this wood an open field with scattering trees leads to 

 a neighbor's house on the hilltop. 



South of garden, house and barn lies the "robin roost," a 



