8o 



THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



choice of a Dumber of beautifully 

 marked set. One of the Type speci- 

 mens used by Major Bendore in his 

 "Life Histor\ T of North American 

 Birds, ' ' was take from one ot these 

 sets. 



I was a very enthusiastic collector in 

 those days, as your readers may judge 

 from the following anecdote : 



Several days after our arrival, I 

 heard there was a heronry in the 

 swamp about a mile from the fisher- 

 man's house where I was stopping. 1 

 determined to investigate. My route 

 led through a thicket of pines and 

 dwarf oak, the latter covered with a 

 long hanging moss, an ideal place for 

 a nest of the Blue Yellow Back Warb- 

 lers. I could not find the heronry, 

 but during the trip I must have come 

 in contact with a poison sumac (Rhus 

 Venentata), as shortly after I found 

 myself badly poisoned. My face was 

 swollen almost beyond recognition. 

 One eye was closed aud the other I 

 was obliged to hold open with both 

 hands in order to see. In this fashion 

 I walked for miles along the beach, 

 collecting the Sea Bird's eggs. To 

 make matters worse, I have always 

 been very susceptible to sunburn, and 

 the exposure to the sun's rays did not 

 add to my beauty. The fisherman's 

 wife was somewhat of a doctor and 

 suggested that an oyster placed on the 

 eye would relieve the inflammation 

 and reduce the swelling. Anything, 

 thought I, to enable me to proceed 

 with my collecting, so I permitted her 

 to try the experiment. The next 

 morning, in removing the oyster, the 

 skin was so tender that it came oft' 

 with it. I was certainly a sorry look- 

 ing object. 



I obtained many very desirable sets 

 of eggs from this location. I succeed- 

 ed in interesting the fisherman finan- 

 cially in securing sets for me, but as 

 he did not understand how to remove 

 the contents through a single drilled 

 hole, I suggested that he send the 

 fresh eggs to me by express. He fol- 



lowed out this idea, but overlooked 

 the fact that eggs do not improve by 

 age. I will remember the look of 

 disgust on the expressman' face when 

 he delivered the box. When I started 

 in to blow the eggs they would gener- 

 ally explode with the entrance of the 

 drill, and the odor arising was suffi- 

 cient to drive everyone out of the 

 house. I finally overcame the difti 

 culty of breakage by holdiug the egg 

 under water while drilling. In this 

 I way managed to save all the most 

 desirable in the box. 



The Mitchella Repens. 



By W. E. Rotzell, M. D., Narberth, Pa. 



The Mitchella repens, named by Lin- 

 neaus in honor of Dr. John Mitchell, 

 who for a number of years resided in 

 Virginia, belongs to the order Rubi- 

 aceae. It has a number of vernacular 

 names, among which are partridge 

 berry, checker berrj 7 , winter clover, 

 deerberry, sqauw vine, one berry, and 

 possibly others. It is found through- 

 out almost the whole of the United 

 States east of the Mississippi river, 

 from its extreme northern region to 

 the Gulf of Mexico and around into 

 Mexico. 



It is a perennial indigenous ever- 

 green herb, found especially in the 

 woods, the stem is branched and creep- 

 ing. The leaves are variable, being 

 generally round and oviate. It is 

 interesting to note in this connection 

 that between these varieties of leaves 

 an intermediate gradation may some- 

 times be found The flowers are in 

 pairs and rest on a double ovary. 

 The corolla is funnel shape, usualty 

 four-lobed and is either white or some- 

 times tinged with red. It is quite 

 fragrant. 



The fruit is a droup, composed of 

 united ovaries. The berries are 

 double and in color are red, although 

 white ones have at times been found. 

 The origin of the common name, 

 Partridge berry, applied to this plant, 

 seems to have had its origin for the 



