96 The Pond-Meadow. 



are spread on trees to attract moths, and sip the beer and 

 molasses as greedily as they do human blood. But mos- 

 quitoes in the winged state are not without enemies, and 

 in walking across the meadows I have been attended by 

 one of the larger dragon flies (Aeschna), that flew close 

 about me and captured them as my disturbing feet caused 

 them to rise. Sometimes the jaws of a darning-needle 

 may be heard grating against each other, as they open 

 and shut to receive the tiny Cukx. 



The small Berenice dragon-fly, occurs in vast numbers 

 on the meadows, at certain seasons, and they are very 

 useful in devouring the mosquitoes at headquarters. At 

 evening, if it is calm, these dragon flies settle quietly on 

 the grass stems, where they spend the night. 



Even at the time of their greatest numbers, the wood- 

 land and meadow scenes may be enjoyed by climbing a 

 tree, for the higher you ascend the less abundant is Culex. 

 The trestle itself is an excellent refuge from them, they can 

 find but little hiding there, and one walks, as it were, 

 through the meadow grass on stilts. 



The bitterns were once numerous on the pond-meadow, 

 but persecution has driven most of them away. The gun- 

 ners stationed themselves at evening in a secluded place, 

 often by the side of the railroad embankment on the edge 

 of the meadow, and when the slow-flying bittern came 

 unsuspectingly from the woods over the opening, he was 

 fired at from below. A long tongue of flame shot upward 

 from the gun, the bittern sometimes screamed most 

 piteously if wounded, and the large yellow eyes flashed fire 

 as he lay helpless among the weeds. One summer served 



