384 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



but being an annual it was rapidly destroyed by the cattle, that were 

 turned into the woods by the settlers, before it had time to seed itself. 

 Kalm further remarks : 



However careful economists have got seeds of perennial grasses from 

 England, and other European States and sowed it in their meadows, where 

 they seem to thrive exceedingly well. 



From the same writer it appears that the woods about this Delaware 

 region originally had a scant undergrowth, for he speaks of their open 

 character — " so that one could ride on horseback without inconvenience 

 . . . and even with a cart in most places." 



It is a significant fact that most of the native wild flowers of our 

 Atlantic region, excepting those that grow along the river banks and in 

 wet meadows, are woodland species. We go to the woods to find our 

 early spring flowers — hepatica, bloodroot, the anemones, the may- 

 flower, dogstooth violet, saxifrage, bluets and spring-beauty. These 

 species probably acquired the habit of vernal blooming as a necessity 

 imposed by their forest life — unfolding their blossoms in the sunshine 

 of bare woods before the leafage cast its heavy shade. It is possible 

 also that the habit may be, in part, an inheritance from the glacial 

 time, the then short summer period of vegetative activity correspond- 

 ing with our present spring. 3 In certain groups of plants which are 

 eminently characteristic of eastern North America the larger number 

 of species are of woodland distribution. This is the case with the 

 golden-rods and asters. In glancing over these two groups one is 

 struck by the preponderance of species that are found in woods or 

 along wood borders. Those that grow in the more open lands, as in 

 fields, are for the most part either of northern or western distribution 

 or are inhabitants of moist soil districts, such as meadows and swampy 

 glades. 



Every boy who has indulged a natural propensity to haunt the wild 

 and delectable spots of his neighborhood, to pursue shy birds and pry 

 into the secrets of their nests, knows that there are some birds that dwell 

 in the woods and others that make their homes in the fields. A student 

 of ornithology, likewise, soon learns that certain species of birds are 

 peculiar either to the woods or to the fields, and that the structure and 

 habits of life in each are in accordance with the nature of the sur- 

 roundings. Among eastern North American birds there are several 

 species of sparrows, as the vesper sparrow or grass finch, the savanna 

 and grasshopper sparrows, that are strictly grassland birds. The same 

 is also true of the meadow lark, the bob-white, the cowbird, the red- 

 winged blackbird, and the bobolink. These are all birds of open 



grassland country. 4 



3 " The Origin of our Vernal Flora," Harshberger. Science, Vol. I., p. 92. 

 New Series. 



* These remarks on the origin of our field birds appeared in an article by 

 the present writer under the title " Birds of the Grasslands," in the Populab 

 Science Monthly, February, 1893. 



