NATURE ADVENTURES IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. S. 



PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 



IT IS remarkable how much pleasure there is to be to nature, than to find results of the acts of the despoilers 

 derived from short outings into the neighboring of her charms. Chief among the former are the little 

 country surrounding almost any of our large cities, huts for spring and summer occupation ; they need no 

 and how much there is to be learned from them. Any description, and the charming life one may lead in such 

 one possessing a strong leaning toward what the outdoor a habitation can readily be conjectured. No one ever 

 world of nature has to offer, may try the experiment in loved such a life more than did our typically American 

 the less frequented parts of the environs of our National 

 I "apital in the timbered and open country of the District 

 of Columbia. One of the best times of the year for 

 such an outing is during spring or early in the summer; 

 although each and all of the 

 seasons have their charm. 

 For a region so well within 

 the more densely populated 

 part of the United S.tates,. it 

 is wonderful what an inter- 

 esting flora and fauna it 

 possesses ; and how much of 

 it all we still have with us ! 

 When this is said, a distinct 

 reference is made to the 

 vandalism of many who re- 

 sort to the woods for appar- 

 ently no other purpose. 



Only too often, at the very 

 outstart of the exploration, 

 one is confronted with the 

 most ruthless examples of 

 destructiveness. We see 

 whole beds of trailing arbu- 

 ' tus torn up, quantities of 

 bird-foot violets gathered, 

 roots and all, only to be 

 thrown aside almost as soon 

 as taken, and entire limbs of 

 flowering dogwood broken 

 off, generally by the auto- 

 mobilists, who seem to de- 

 light in returning to the city 



displaying to the public these evidences of their mode 

 of studying nature. 



It is even still more harrassing to see, upon one's 

 very entry into the nearby woods, lying upon the ground, 

 some beautiful bird of the spring, which has fallen to 

 the only too certain aim of some thoughtless boy with 

 his vicious air gun, having been doubtless more bent 

 upon testing his marksmanship than to consider the 

 result of his wanton ruthlessness. 



But we hasten through this depressing area, and in a 

 very little while we are in a region which, although 

 visited, is not visited nearly so often, nor by so many 

 people. Here we are more likely to discover evidences 

 of the occasional presence of those who love to live close 



THE SECLUDED RETREAT OF THE LATE JOAQUIN MILLER, 

 AN AMERICAN POET, WHO LOVED TO LIVE CLOSE TO NATURE 



Fig. 1. His real name was Cincinnatus Heine Miller (born November 

 10, 1841), he having adopted the pseudonym he did from having written 

 in defense of Joaquin Murietta, a Mexican brigand. 



poet of the woods, the late, much beloved Joaquin Miller. 

 Although his modest little house now stands close to a 

 roadway where scores of automobiles pass every day, yet 

 the hut and the surroundings are held in the greatest 



respect ; even the rural van- 

 dal has apparently said to 

 himself: "I lands off;" the 

 place is sacred. 



When we come to consider 

 what a small area of terri- 

 tory the District of Columbia 

 actually includes, it is quite 

 sir prising to find how diver- 

 sified much of its physical 

 character or topography real- 

 ly is. Some parts of it are 

 markedly hilly, the hills of- 

 ten supporting fine growths 

 of timber composed of a 

 great variety of trees. Then 

 there is plenty of low, flat 

 land, marshes, swamps, and 

 nigged ravines, and it is 

 t. a versed by one big river, 

 the Potomac, into which 

 empty many small creeks 

 and one or two sizable 

 streams. The Anacostia 

 River is another good 

 stream, with interesting 

 country along its banks. 

 What one misses more than 

 anything else, however, are 

 good ponds and lakes; there are very few of these, and 

 so there is considerable lack of opportunity to observe 

 pond life, although it is by no means entirely lacking. 

 Across from the rocky shores of the Potomac, the 

 land topography is precipitous and studded with great 

 masses of granite rock (Figs. 3 and 4) ; and specimens 

 of one kind or another are to be collected there that may 

 or may not occur in the District. 



With respect to the flora and fauna of the latter, there 

 is a great deal to be met with in either that any nature 

 lover or naturalist will find of more than passing interest. 

 Among the mammals, there are plenty of racoons, opos- 

 sums, woodchucks, skunks, weasels, various shrews and 

 mice, squirrels, muskrats, mink, and others. As for the 



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