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a tropical cast wherever they occurred in any numbers. In 
most places, however, they were scarce or wanting, and the 
forest trees when viewed hastily were not strikingly dif¬ 
ferent in appearance from ours. Indeed, I saw one small 
tree growing on the banks of the creek which in foliage, 
bark and habit was exceedingly like an American elm. Other 
trees in these woods closely resemble in the general 
character of their foliage our ash, hickory, live oak, and 
magnolia. Save the palms there are few that have very 
large or in any way peculia.r leaves. This is a surprise 
to me. I saw one tree in this bottom which was remarkable 
for the glossiness of its leaves. As they tossed in the 
sunlight, they shone like the most highly burnished silver. 
It actually made my eyes ache to look at them long. The 
sheen of our oak foliage is dull in comparison. 
The stems of these tropical trees are, almost with¬ 
out exception, smooth-barked and most of them are very 
light gray or whitish with dusky blotches. As I walk 
through the woods merely looking at the trunks of the trees, 
I often fancy myself in a grove of northern beeches yet so 
great is the vamiety of species here that it is rare to find 
two trees of the same kind in close proximity. For this 
reason chiefly lumbering is unprofitable, although many trees 
yield very valuable timber. 
On the way home we walked fast and steadily but I shot 
a Dove (Engy ptila ) and a Mptmot, We reached the house at S.30 
p. M. and spent the afternoon preparing our specimens. I 
brought in fifteen birds in all. 
