136 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



appearance than any thing we have observed in the 

 ■woods. While the woods are still gleaming with the 

 variegated tints of the sprouting foliage, you may behold, 

 rising up in solitary brightness, arrayed with a pro- 

 fusion of white flowers and silvery green leaves, the tall 

 branches of the swamp pyrus, a shrub that bears the 

 earliest flowers and fruits of the forest. The pyrus is 

 the forerunner of many beautiful flowering shrubs. 

 After this appear in succession the common thorn, with 

 its white rosaceous flowers in lovely circular clusters ; 

 the barberry, with its golden racemes fringing the 

 branches from their extremities, almost to their roots ; 

 the wild dwarf cherry, with its spikes of gaudy but 

 delicate blossoms arranged fantastically at right angles 

 with the twigs that support them ; — all these appear 

 one after another, until at length, as if nature was 

 desirous of concentrating all our admiration upon a 

 single plant, appears the beautiful Canadian rhodora, 

 which marks the era of the departure of spring, and the 

 commencement of the reign of summer. 



In striking opposition to the scenes I have described, 

 we may observe in different parts of the country a 

 densely wooded swamp, with the tops of the trees 

 hardly towering above the level of the surrounding 

 landscape, covered with the dark green sombre foliage 

 of northern cypresses. Even this renders the remain- 

 ing prospect more cheerful, by acting as a foil to the 

 pleasant scenes that everywhere surround us. The 

 very notes of the birds seem to harmonize with the 

 character of the wood, and serve to enliven the con- 

 trasts that are presented to the eye. In the open flow- 

 ery plain we hear thousands of chattering and musical 

 birds — the wren in the gardens, the merry bobolink in 

 the grassy meadows, and the oriole among the bios- 



