1879 
General observations. 
Maine (Laic o Ilmbag og ). 
.•Jane 13. 
24. 
Vegetation advancing very slov;ly. Lilacs s^ill in 
bloom and on the 9th I sav/ a fev; apple blossoms, nov-r^ 
theloss ■'vecds and various annual plants are gro’Ting fast 
and choking the fields and forest verdure. 
Leaving the Lake House at 5 A.M. a heavy fog enve¬ 
loped everything, chilling us to the very bone and cc.st- 
ing and indiseribable gloom over the scene. In the som¬ 
bre evergreen vegetation bordering the Lake a fovr Sv/'ain- 
son’s Thrushes v/ore singing and the ringi-.g notes of the 
White-throated Sparrov/ came at intervals " -oro the road¬ 
side thickets 0 .s wo ascoi.ded the hill. Nearing its top 
Y-ro gradually emerged from tlio fog and on the extreme sumi- 
mit found the sun shining brightly and the sky perfectly 
clear. Looking back over the Lake, the eye rested on a 
vast sea of billovray fog that concealed e "orything be¬ 
neath and beyond, its upper border beautifully tinted 
\Yith rose and salmon by the sunlight ’vYhich, hov/ever, 
failed to penetrate tlie denser masses belov/. The re¬ 
mainder of the drive to Bethel vras delightful. In pla¬ 
ces where the mountains still tl-irov; their protecting 
shadows over the ground the grass was frosted v/ith boad- 
like d.ev/-drops, and the loaves in tlie forest fresii and 
v/et Y/ith moisture. The mountain maple v/as in full 
bloom evoryv/riere but the roadside. 
On reaching Massachusetts late in the afterr..oon, 
I found the farmers everyv/'\ore at v/ork in the iiay fields 
many of which had been already movm, a striking contrast 
with the condition of the season at the Lake, v7hore Hay¬ 
ing i\0Vor begins before July. 
1880. 
Bethol-Upton. The vegetation backward; along the 
stream the leaves faintly green ?/ith svmlling buds and 
snail leaflets; the paper birches thickly hung \Yith 
graceful catkins. The shad bush is the only shrub in 
blossom; its scattered v/hito bells looking pale and for- 
loirxi amid their leafless surroundings. On the mountain 
sides bordering the Notch to a height of perhaps two hun¬ 
dred feet above the valley the poplars were veilod in 
tender green, the piaples just beginning to unfold, giving 
the effect of salrnon-tinted haze among the darker firs 
and spruces. Higher up the deciduous trees v/ero abso¬ 
lutely bare and, gray. The poplar is tki3 ecirliest tree 
to loaf in this region, the ash the latest. 
16 . 
The v'oods and thickets nearly as-bare as in winter; 
the shad bush the only shrub in bloom. 
:i A large fi&ck of birds in a sheltered swamp contain- 
!! 6d numbers of Dendroeca - blackburniae , D. macul osa, D. cas tar- 
D. ponX is y 1 V3,i:iieag D . virons; one each of Tur dus SY;aix>- 
■: spni , T . fuseesce ns . Vireo solitarius , Paru la amoricana , 
( and a few Rogulus cal end ula . 
