256 VIRGINIA 



bier I found spoken of by Dr. Rives as 

 " accidental or very rare ; " in the light of 

 which entry the dozen or so of specimens 

 seen and heard during the forenoon acquired 

 a fresh interest. 



The second jaunt, because it ivas a second 

 one, could be taken more at leisure ; and as 

 the birds gave me less employment, my eyes 

 were more upon the trees. These, as I had 

 felt before, were a wonder and a comfort ; it 

 was a benediction to walk under them, as if 

 one were within the precincts of a holy 

 place : oaks for the most part (of several 

 kinds), with black walnut, shagbark, tulip, 

 chestnut, and other species, §et irregularly, 

 or rather left standing irregularly, two or 

 three deep, beside the road on either hand ; 

 a royal uphill avenue, which near the top 

 became an open grove. Except in Florida, 

 I had never seen a more magnificent growth. 

 Some of the trees had grapevines and Vir- 

 ginia creeper clinging about them. Up one 

 huge oak, with strange flaky bark, like a 

 shagbark-tree's (a white oak, nevertheless, 

 to judge from its half-grown leaves), a grape- 

 vine had mounted for a height of forty feet, 

 as I estimated the distance, not making use 



