211
Antwerp, Belgium.
1897.
Aug. 5-7.
  We returned to Antwerp on the forenoon of the 5th and
spent the next day there.
  During the railway journeys between the Hague and Aster-
dam I got some idea of the general character of this part of
Holland as well as fleeting glimpses at a few of the larger
or more conspicuous birds. The country traversed by the rail-
road appears to be perfectly flat and is said to be consider-
ably below the level of the sea. It is divided by ditches in-
to rectangular fields of varying extent. The surface of the
land is apparently raised only a few inches above that of the
brim-full ditches but it is everywhere reasonably dry and firm
and under the most perfect cultivation. By far the greater
part of the fields are devoted to grass and, at this season
at least, most of them are used as pastures. Ditches take the
place of fences and the numerous black and white Dutch cattle
keep the grass so closely cropped that the eye may often range
for miles over a surface as smooth and uniformly green as that
of a carefully trimmed lawn. There are no bushes, and weeds
are rooted up as fast as the appear but in places one sees
fields of vegetables or grain and every now and then square
plantations of young trees growing very closely together and
resembling, at a little distance, the maple swamps near Fresh