c; 36 :} 



PINCUSHION GALLS 



June 1, 1853. The pincushion galls on young 

 white oaks are now among the most beautiful objects 

 in the woods, coarse woolly white to appearance, 

 spotted with bright red or crimson on the exposed 

 side. It is remarkable that a mere gall, which at 

 first we are inclined to regard as something abnormal, 

 should be made so beautiful, as if it were the flower 

 of the tree; that a disease, an excrescence, should 

 prove, perchance, the greatest beauty, — as the 

 tear of the pearl. 



Journal, v, 210. 



A NIGHTHAWK'S NEST 



June 1, 1853. Walking up this side-hill, I dis- 

 turbed a nighthawk eight or ten feet from me, which 

 went, half fluttering, half hopping, the mottled 

 creature, down the hill as far as I could see. Without 

 moving, I looked about and saw its two eggs on the 

 bare ground, on a slight shelf of the hill, without 

 any cavity or nest whatever, very obvious when once 

 you had detected them, but not easily detected from 

 their color, — a coarse gray formed of white spotted 

 with a bluish or slaty brown or umber, a stone — 

 granite — -color, like the places it selects. I advanced 

 and put my hand on them, and while I stooped, seeing 

 a shadow on the ground, looked up and saw the bird. 



