66 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
tipulee yet its larva destructively thrives and luxuriates in the hollow 
stems of the most valuable of our graminez. 
The weather has, on the whole been mild for December and 
the two inches of snow seems melting away. A walk in our woods 
just at present seems a rather tame affair. Many youngsters roam 
through the forest with guns shooting at birdor quadruped or any 
wild creature that comes in range. This causes the victims’ tribes 
to retire to the most difficult and inaccessible parts of the bush, such 
as cedar swamps and boggy thickets, where berries and similar food 
yet abound. The ilex verticillata bushes were loaded with crimson 
berries until a few days ago ; now the frosts have caused many of the 
rich looking berries to fall to the ground, but a few of the hawthorn 
trees still have a showering of fruit and the hips of the wild swamp 
rose are abundant and are made more juicy and bird-temptiug by 
frost. The ilex (or prinos) verticillata is deciduous, but were the 
leaves, as also the crimson berries, more persistent this shrub would 
be one of the most interesting of Canadian shrubs. 
