THE LAST OF THE THICKET. 
THE LIBRARY 
THE UNIVERSITY 
OF TEXAS 
i 
i 
FAVOURITE DUNDEE WALK. 
’Amongst the many choice spots near the city 
in which Dundonians of many generations have 
been wont to ramble on a summer’s day none 
has been more largely frequented than the piece 
of wood and bush in the neighbourhood of In- 
vergowrie known as “The Thicket.” It would 
be difficult to find a more delectable place 
within walkabl© distance of the west end of the 
city, and since the extension of the tramways 
to Ninewells it has found visitors from more re- 
mote parts of the town. Its beauty lay (for 
they are now no more) in its trees, its bushes, 
and also in its paths, which meandered, rather 
than ran, through its shade. Everything there 
suggested peace and repose. It was a piece of 
wild Nature which agricultural improvements 
had providentially spared, while the builder in 
search of new districts to “open up,” had not 
reached so far west. Birds nested in its trees, 
creeping things found a home amongst the 
grass, while birds and insects made the air 
audible with their singing and humming. Wdd 
flowers in profusion decked the sward and lit 
up the green with their brighter colours. The 
student of natural history and the botanist, and 
also (it must bo sorrowfully admitted) the boy 
whose only interest in the feathered tribe was 
the possession of their eggs, found ample scope 
for the exercise of their energies. Its situation 
was magnificent. It stood on the ground that 
rises out of the river, and the view of the 
estuary and its surroundings was not easy to 
surpass. But the axe of the woodman has been 
busy of late in “The Thicket.” The trees 
have been converted into lumber and carted 
away. Their price has no doubt made the 
heart of some one glad, but those who only 
looked for Nature in its loveliness have other 
feelings. The place may still retain its name, 
and it may long be frequented by Dundonians 
as before, but its glory has departed, and its 
old associations are only a memory. That the 
trees were aged their dimensions sufficiently 
attest. One sturdy oak when cut down showed 
128 rings, while some of its neighbours, especi- 
ally the beeches, had a far greater diameter. 
T AND GRATITUDE 
| , 
* 
I 
3 PRODUCE IT. 
