CLXIV 



ed five feet, that being the point where the first indications 

 of moisture were found. When the "James Mills" excava- 

 ted the hill on the turnpike for a reservoir, they found at 

 a depth of five feet pine logs three feet in diameter at a 

 locality known by tradition as the "Pine Swamp." Lower 

 still, stratified sand was found, and five feet lower, a trunk 

 of a tree within one foot of water. In searching for or- 

 ganic remains he had found gravel cemented to larger 

 stones by lime which had apparently percolated through 

 the strata above from shells. He also referred to the 

 change in the channel in the river, and to the storm which 

 cut off a mile of Salisbury beach, making a channel for the 

 largest ships. 



Rev. A. E. P. Perkins, of Ware, made some remarks on 

 geology. He thought geologists were often mistaken in 

 deducing the age of formations, for, owing to causes which 

 we did not understand, the alluvial formation often accu- 

 mulated in a hundred years as much, as at the slow rates 

 sometimes observed, would indicate ten thousand years. 

 In his native town, not yet a century old, a certain loca- 

 tion was known as the beaver dam though no traces of the 

 dam were found or known to the present generation, till, 

 on digging a ditch, it was discovered four feet below the 

 surface, which proved that that depth of alluvium had ac- 

 cumulated in a hundred years. 



He then made some remarks on the migrations of birds. 

 He included in this term not only the annual migrations 

 but the permanent change of habitat. Birds often appear- 

 ed in great numbers in a region to which they had previ- 

 ously been strangers; and, on the other hand, sometimes 

 disappeared entirely from their accustomed haunts. There 

 were many birds in our woods which not one man in ten 

 had ever seen, whose song could be detected by an ex- 

 perienced ear, but never heard by the chance passer by. 

 He instanced the Indigo bird as an example. 



