54 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



across the creek and over the meadows. Before, tlie 

 meadows were comparatively deserted, bnt not now. 

 From every bush there came a sparrow, winter-wren, 

 nuthatch, or kinglet, and, giving chase, screamed as they 

 followed in the wake of the great gray owl. Would 

 they pursue it closely ? I think not ; but each must en- 

 ter a protest that this supposed enemy should so boldly 

 appear among them. I could not follow this owl, he 

 flew so far; but, later in the day, I found him again. 

 A family of jays, blue as the sky above them, and rest- 

 less as the feathery clouds that scudded by, had stum- 

 bled upon him as he sat in a dense cedar, and forthwith 

 they sought to dislodge him by ceaseless jabbering. In 

 this they failed, but their clamor drew hither the crows 

 of the neighborhood, and all the small fry whose curios- 

 ity was greater than their fear. Such a din from asso- 

 ciated birds I have seldom heard, and yet, probably, not 

 one in a dozen knew why it was there, or why it was 

 making such a noise. I climbed part way up the cedar, 

 to scare the owl. It flew as I approached, and the noisy 

 jays, I noticed, were straightway mum, and soon sneaked 

 away. The little birds, as before, followed a short dis- 

 tance, scolding this unwelcome visitor, but never vent- 

 uring very near. This is the third specimen of these 

 great owls I have seen in New Jersey. 



While it is clear, therefore, that Poaetquissings has 

 bird-life enough to render it attractive even in midwin- 

 ter, such is not its only charm. Southward from the old 

 floodgates the creek has but a short reach of meadow to 

 pass through before it joins the river. This short course, 

 however, has many merits, prominent among which is 



