ORCHID-HUNTING 147 



I had first found this orchid while hunting for a 

 veery 's nest in the marsh. At that time nothing was 

 showing except the leaves, which grow on tall, 

 round, downy stems. They were beautifully curved 

 at the margin, and were of a brilliant green, a little 

 lighter on the under side than on the upper, and, 

 at first sight, much like the leaves of the well-known 

 marsh hellebore. That day was the beginning of a 

 ten-year tryst which I kept every summer with 

 this wood-queen. Then, alas, I lost her! 



It came about thus. The marsh in which she hid 

 was part of a thousand acres owned by a friend of 

 mine, who was an enthusiastic and rival flower-hunter. 

 Each year, when I visited my colony of these queen 

 orchids, I sent him one with my compliments and the 

 assurance that the flower belonged to him because 

 it was found on his land. I accompanied these gifts 

 with various misleading messages as to where they 

 grew. He would hunt and hunt, but find nothing 

 but exasperation. Finally, he bribed me, with an 

 apple-wood corner cupboard I had long coveted, to 

 show him the place. It was not fifty yards from the 

 road, and when I took him to it he was overcome with 

 emotion. 



"I'll bet that I have tramped a hundred miles," 

 he said plaintively, ' 'through every spot on this farm 

 except this one, looking for this flower. Nobody who 

 knew anything about botany would ever think of 

 looking here. " 



The next year my wood-lady did not meet me, 

 nor the next, and I strongly suspect that she has 



