THE ORNITHOLOGIST ANB BOTANIST. 



ed was to put it mildly. Then 



" When day declining, sheds a milder gleam. 

 What time the May-fly haunts the pool or stream; 

 When the swallow skims round the grassy mead. 

 What time the timorous hare limps forth to 

 feed :" 



I wended my way slowly, happily, 

 through the oft frequented country 

 paths, home. 



The other day, the colored womam, 

 Annie liee, living with us, remarked, 

 " There are plenty of crows going over 

 to-day." In the evening you may 

 hear the cawing of the crows, as they 

 are wending their way to New Jersey, a 

 member of the Union east of the Dela- 

 aware river, and when morning comes, 

 they travel back to their living grounds 

 on this side. There is an island in 

 the upper reaches of Delaware bay, 

 called Buddy Island, that was a famous 

 roosting ground for them, and quite 

 likely is yet. The solitude of this is- 

 land, and the pine forests, and other 

 woods of New Jersey, afford them se- 

 cure roosting places. When I was a 

 boy, it used to stir the poetical feeling 

 within me, to see them in flight; a line 

 of black, moving objects, projected 

 against a gorgeous sunset sky, their 

 voices coming through the evening air. 

 Wm. Bikminghuest. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



FLORA OF BUCK MOUNTAIN. 



For a time I had been contemplating 

 spending a day on Buck mountain, a 

 peak near the southern limits of the 

 Adiroiulacks. Its bold and rocky sum- 

 mit rises to the height of 2, 500 feet. 

 At the base on one side lies the histor- 



ic and picturesque sheet of water called 

 Lake George; while on the other is a 

 long and rolling narrow valley, bound- 

 ed on both sides by high mountains. 

 In it is to be found forests, and a 

 dozen beautiful little ponds and streams. 

 On the 25t.h of June with a friend, I 

 drove with an early start, nearly to the 

 base of this mountain through the val- 

 ley heretofore described, 



On the ascent up the mountain in 

 the thickets grew the handsome wild 

 lily, LiUu'in Philadelphicum, with its 

 bright orange-red blossoms turned to 

 welcome the morning sun. About one- 

 half way up the mountain the trees 

 gave way to a mass of pure rocks, while 

 here and there was a solitary tree of 

 ( Pinui Besinosa ) Eed Pine. This 

 pine is quite rare in this section being 

 found chiefly in high regions. Its 

 chief beauty is its long and slender 

 leaves, in twos, about one-half a foot in 

 length. Its cones are also pretty. 



On the rocks grew the ( Geranium 

 Carolinium) with its pale rose fiveand- 

 rous flowers; with it was found the yel- 

 low-purple irregular corollas of [Cory- 

 dalis Glanca). On the summit, {Po- 

 fentUki Tridentaia ), three toothed 

 cinque-foil was plenty, also a few 

 stragling bush of [Pyrus Americmui) 

 Mountain Ash was just out of bloom. 



In a sphagnum bog near the summit 

 was found Eriopiiorum polystachyon 

 with its cottony fruit; quantities of 

 vaccinum pensylvcmicum and V. vacill- 

 ans grew everywhere. 



In woods at the base was foiand | Or- 

 alis aceiosella \ wood sorrel; [Corcdlor- 

 hiza innaia] coral root; in flower Ara- 



