56 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
were but two eggs in it. Several times I had caught 
some of the little birds—there were nearly twenty, 
counting the old ones. I thought what a woods full of 
partridges we should have the next year, but in the fall, 
after the leaves fell, two pot hunters, with guns and 
bird dogs, visited the place, and before leaving they 
killed the entire brood of these pretty creatures. 
Every man who loves the fields and woods ought 
earnestly to protest against a further slaughter of 
grouse and quail in our nearly cleared country. - 
Another favorite locality was yet to be explored. 
On the west ide of this enchanted woods, a shaded 
highway separates it from a meadow. For some cause 
the arbutus still clings to this frontier. Here we found 
many patches of it in bud and blossom, and with it 
quantities of Gaultheria and Mitchella, with their shin- 
ing green leaves decorated with red berries. Flowers 
and berries were all uncovered, and in plain sight of 
any who might pass by. It seemed a little curious that 
they had not been disturbed, but it is fortunate for 
some of us that travelers do not always see the most 
attractive objects along the way. Perhaps those who 
have been along this road were actuated by the same 
feelings that caused us to leave most of these pretty 
flowers to sweeten the air about them. A pair of 
brown thrashers came skulking across the road, and 
perching on an old stump fence opposite, began scold- 
ing in tones so much resembling those of the tree toads. 
They will not sing until some days later, when the trees 
are in fuller leaf. 
