X 



SWALLOW POND 



EVERY lover of Nature has a certain 

 spot to which he always wanders 

 when a few hours, or even minutes, are 

 granted him to pursue his studies of bird 

 or flower. The few acres of country to 

 which I have paid innumerable visits at 

 all seasons of the year and under all con- 

 ditions of weather, I know as the Swallow 

 Pond region, and I feel to-day as if it 

 almost belonged to me. 



This bit of country, where Nature still 

 holds sway, is composed of the wilder por- 

 tions of three estates, and though diminu- 

 tive in the extreme, it yet offers to the 

 birds all the attractions of marsh, thicket, 

 upland, orchard, and wood. In the east- 

 ern corner lies the pond itself, only some 

 hundred feet in diameter, resembling an 

 enormous bulb, its greater roots extending 

 toward the west, in the form of two small 

 and sluggish brooks. The very eastern 



