DECEMBER BY LAND AND SEA 15 



The rain seemed to have brought out 

 the colors of fallen leaf, twig, and meadow. 

 The tops of the young birches looked 

 smoky and purple, the orange shoots of 

 the willows stood out against the gray 

 woods, the bay bushes of the fallow land 

 were silvery and gave light to the cedars 

 they stood over against on the hill. 



A migration of crows flew in wavering 

 line from the woods on the western slope 

 of the Mount in a southwest- 

 erly course, beating into the 



V. 



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Storm all day long. Hundreds 

 must have passed over during 

 the hours of daylight. By a 

 wayside pond I started a flock 

 of myrtle warblers and a few scattered 

 chickadees. This species of warbler win- 

 ters in fair numbers throughout these 

 Mount Hope lands. They were in the 

 open, as the weather although stormy was 

 mild, but we find them under the protec- 

 tion of the cedars when winter rages. 



As I entered a strip of dark oak woods, 

 where last summer I gathered the death- 

 like flowers of the Indian pipe, the wind 

 hauled to the northwest and a great dark 

 cloud poured down rain and wind, swing- 



