166 
1881. 
Oporonis atn.lis, 
Middles ox Couritjr^ Mass 
(f.op 
t.l6) 
in tlio v/ettor plaeos along t;:o edges. These "oods ’;ern 
insectod by a labyrinth of paths made by I knov/ not vdiat— 
for tiiero was no cattle t '>r 0 — but possibly by hunters 
and collectors like ourselves. In the spring the ground 
beneath the trees vras covered simply -.vith dry leaves but 
in September it boro o. luxuriant growth of various annu¬ 
als most 
deadly n 
This ,ras 
obtained most 
vdiich './ere Jumnations fulv; 
conspicuous amoi 
ghtsiiado, snake’s head, and soap\Yort gentiaii. 
the character of the place in 1870-71 when v/o 
of our birds by quietly follov/ing th ; paths 
and shooting them as they flew up into !:ho bushe-, 
To-day I found the Iiaiints sadly changed. One is¬ 
land (the north-eastern one) has been entirely eloarod 
although the undergrowth is gro .dng up again. In anoth¬ 
er (the one nearest the railroad) the maples have been 
thinned and the bushes beneath are nearly all dead or 
gone. The oiiird islann bordorii^g Alewi'^o Brook remains 
precisely as of yore \,n.th perhaps an increased area of 
Imipatiens 
do not re; 
and some 
;ember in 
3catt!ri.ng cardinal flowers whic' 
bhe old time 
Hera wo s t.?,r tod five 
several in 
Gonnaetieut V/arblors and killed four of th ^ _ 
tne [jrecise spots v/here wo used to find them years ago. 
The^/ were very tamo eifid all save one flev/ up into the 
busnas '.ylien sta,rted_ The exception ached very oddly; 
it rose under foot in a tangle of Impatiens and after 
being shot at on wing, dropped like a rail in the rank 
vegetation. Upon being flushed a second time it again 
dropped, and although this time unshot at coTild not ' 
be started again. All the individuals seen to-day wore 
silent. When in the bushes they wore a’wkv/ard ar.d slow 
of mouion, porcliirig shyly like Th'^ushes or slo\/ly rais¬ 
ing tAoir tails like 0_.fo rmosu _&p whicli thev greatly r 
semble in manners. They apparently seond most of -'heir 
tinn on the ground and the orange bells of the Impatiens 
or scarlet berries of the nightshade can rarely nod 
over more retiring, unobtrusiveelitele visitors than 
these mysterious travelers from unknown ro:^ions to the 
northv/ard. Consodering their liabits it is scarcely to 
be v/ondeiod at that fewupersons over see them or know 
of their brief presence with us in thebright Sentemb-r 
days When two harvests are ripening in the fields and 
goldenrods and asters blooming by the v/ayside. 
^ Upox. vi.-^ibing tlio Pino Sv/aixiu I found the ulace sad- 
y cnangod. The pines, maples, and inde-d a]1 the old- 
Six. or seven years ago and the 
area wxiicn ouoy covered has grown up to dense thickets 
of shrubuy red-maples, Olethra, blaet: alder, shad bush 
olaer o c. Over these thickets nightshade; noisin iv^ 
trail in rank pro.fusion and the' 
imuaJie'r' ;--.eath is covered by luxuriant beds o£ 
aad Wrb.-.ra..s dotatun brin.^ng tagr fl ^ f 
ri-i td’Xoo . n b..,. ir 00 . OS, and broad 
i.CA.o, now nearly dry, along whieli the nightshade 
