128 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



these sketches. The remarkable 

 Xjart of thisbird encounter however, 

 was the fact that it was photo- 

 irraphed on a huge for^test oak 

 tree stem, which in itself was a 

 phenomenon, hardly ever wit- 

 nessed again in a lifetime, as this 

 enormous and century old oak tre 

 showed another tree — a hackberry 

 tree fully ingrown in the entire 



berry tree was even deeper in- 

 grafted around the upper right 

 side. trunk of the oak tree as well 

 as inside the bifarcation, where, 

 in its broad central part only 

 about one-third of _the hackberry 's 

 body could be seen — with its two 

 main branches, seen also on the 

 photo, spreading out and branch- 

 ing off in all directions. In 



Picturesque Forest Scenery Near the Salado River Bend, Below San Antonio 



length of the oak tree stem, and 

 it resembled a large broad vine, 

 encircling the oak like a huge 

 snake. 



The photograph of the grand 

 old oak tree shows part of the 

 main outer root of the hackberry 

 tree, perfectly ingrafted at the 

 base part, and the all 

 arottnd ingrown part of the hack- 



spite of its jammed in condition 

 inside both trunks of the oak, the 

 hackberry was in fully normal 

 condition otherwise; and the 

 smaller branches were covered 

 ^vith dried up leaves (being mid- 

 winter) ; and the smaller branches 

 were all around loaded with the 

 red hackberries. 

 There are several hundred other 



