THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



27 



unexpectedly. I cracked both barrels and was 

 disgusted to see " M. americanus," for such it 

 was, keep on flying down stream. 



Since then I have tried a good many times to 

 get the bird in my hand. On January 28, 1891 

 a fine female specimen in full winter plumage 

 Was sent to me by a friend. 



The head of the male is greenish-black; chest 

 and lower parts, rich creamy white. The head 

 and neck of the female is tawny brown; chin 

 and throat whitish; upper parts, ash-gray; lower 

 parts, creamy white. There is a conspicuous 

 crest on the head. A specimen in my collection 

 exhibits the following measurements. Length, 

 25 inches; wing, 1 1 inches; tail, 2 inches. The 

 eggs are ovate and pale buffy-white in color. 

 The bird inhabits the whole of North America, 

 breeding south to the northern border of the 

 United States. 



MORE ABOU T VIOLETS. 



BY ADELINE S. KEITH, BRIDGEWATER, MASS. 



The article on Our Common Violets in your 

 February number was very interesting to me. 

 Not that I know so very much about violets, as 

 a botanist, but because I have always lived where 

 thty grow in abundance, and was glad to know 

 how my native town compared with others as to 

 her flowers. In naming the common varieties 

 of violets, the writer omits all mention of the 

 bird-foot violet; a fact which leads me to think 

 that it does not grow everywhere, as, in my 

 ignorance, I had supposed. 



In this town there are a great many sand- 

 hills; in fact, the road seems all the time lead- 

 ing one uphill or down. On these hills the 

 Viola pedata reigns for a shorftime in the early 

 summer, and in some places blooms in such 

 profusion, that, at a short distance, the ground 

 seems covered with a purple cloud. Each plant 

 . is like a beautiful gem in the golden setting of 

 the yellow sand. The rich, dark green leaves 

 form a little, airy mound, and thro' the lobes of 

 the curiously divided leaves, spring forth a clus- 

 ter of long, slender stems, each bearing aloft a 

 large purple flower to face the sun. 



Watch the effect of a light breeze passing 

 over the nodding blossoms. This picture, once 

 ene, who longer envies Wordsworth his visions 



of the daffodils? And again, if you closely 

 watch them thro' one sunny day, you will see 

 how their faces follow the sun in his race through 

 the sky. They " keep an eye on him," as it 

 were. 



If Mr. Clute had known this violet he could 

 not have said that the white one alone is sweet. 

 For altho' the fragrance is not so great, the pur- 

 ple flower has a pleasing odor. And speaking 

 of Viola blanda — about here we seldom find it in 

 swamps or shady woods, but nearly always in 

 damp places in our fields and about our ponds 

 or " mud holes." And as for the yellow violets, 

 if there are any here, they are so shy that I never 

 found one, nor do I know of any one who has. 

 But the blue ones are very common. 



Our earliest, blossom at the same time as the 

 early cinquefoils and, like them, have very short 

 flower stems. The plant is small and found in 

 sunny, sandy places. The flowers are of a very 

 dark blue, and bearded. It seems to me to 

 answer the description of Viola sagittata. This 

 violet often blossoms again very late in the fall, 

 and when the frosts have destroyed all the flow- 

 ers, then I have been surprised to see empty 

 seed-pods. Yet I never remember having seen 

 so many blossoms in their places. 



I have often questioned if the coloied blos- 

 soms produce these seed pods. Does any one 

 know about it ? What makes me think that this 

 may not be so, is that there is another variety of 

 violets whose fruitful pods are formed from a 

 green blossom that looks very much like a violet 

 with its petals pulled off. It is a large, wild- 

 flower of most intense blue, and is not very 

 common. Its name I do not know. 



In their season, our swampy places are filled 

 with the varying colors of the common blue vio- 

 let (Viola cucuUata). Did any one ever hear 

 of a pansy crossing with a violet? Some one 

 who has had them planted side by side says 

 they do. Has she not made a mistake? 



The vegetable life does not content itself with 

 casting from the flower or tree a single seed, 

 but it fills the earth and air with a prodigality 

 of seeds, that if thousands perish, thousands 

 may plant themselves, that hundreds may come 

 up, that tens may live to maturity, that, at least, 

 one may replace the parent. ^ — Emerson. 



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