August 8.
P. M. — To Ledum Swamp.
I see at Clamshell Hill a yellow-browed sparrow sitting quite near on a haycock, pluming itself. Observe it a long time in all positions with my glass, within two rods. It is probably a this year’s bird. I think it must be the Fringilla passerina, for its breast and beneath is the clear pale ochreous white which Wilson speaks of, and its wing-shoulder is distinctly yellow when not concealed in the feathers of the side. Its legs and bill, except the upper side of the upper mandible, are quite a reddish flesh-color. The yellow on its temple is quite bright, and the pale-brownish cheeks. The crown is blackish with a distinct white line along the midst. I see what I call chestnut with the black and whitish on the back and wings. It stands very upright, so that I can see all beneath. It utters no note, i. e. song, only a faint, short, somewhat cricket-like or trilléd chip.
I see that handsome fine purple grass now, on Hosmer’s hillside, above where he has mowed; not yet in perfection.
You see now in the meadows where the mower’s scythe has cut in two the great oval and already black fruit of the skunk-cabbage, rough as a nutmeg-grater, exposing its numerous nuts. I had quite forgotten the promise of this earliest spring flower, which, deep in the grass which has sprung up around it, its own leaves for the most part decayed, unremembered by us, has been steadily maturing its fruit. How far we have wandered, in our thoughts at least, since we heard the bee humming in its spathe! I can hardly recall or believe now that for every such black and rather unsightly (?) capsule there was a pretty freckled horn which attracted our attention in the spring. However, most of them lie so low that they escape or are not touched by the scythe.
Saw yesterday a this year’s (?)marsh hawk, female, flying low across the road near Hildreth’s. I took it to be a young bird, it came so near and looked so fresh. It is a fine rich-brown, full-breasted bird, with a long tail. Some hens in the grass beneath were greatly alarmed and began to run and fly with a cackling to the shelter of a corn-field. They which did not see the hawk and were the last to stir expressed the most alarm. Meanwhile, the hawk sails low and steadily over the field away, not thinking of disturbing them.
I find at Ledum Swamp, near the pool, the white fringed orchis, quite abundant but past prime, only a few, yet quite fresh. It seems to belong to this sphagnous swamp and is some fifteen to twenty inches high, quite conspicuous, its white spike, amid the prevailing green. The leaves are narrow, half folded, and almost insignificant. It loves, then, these cold bogs.
The rusty wool-grass is in bloom there with very short wool. Is it ever long?
The Gaylussacia dumosa var. hiriella is the prevailing low shrub, perhaps. I See one ripe berry. This is the only inedible species of ' Vaccinieaz that I know in this town.
The peculiar plants of this swamp are, then, as I remember, these nine: spruce, Andromeda Polifolia, Kalmia glauca, Ledum latifolium, Gaylussacia dumosa var. hirtella, Vaccinium Oxycoccus, Platanthera blephari glottis, Scheuchzeria palustris, Eriophorum 'vaginatum.
I see there, especially near the pool, tall and slender huckleberry bushes of a peculiar kind. Some are seven feet high. They are, for the most part, three or four feet high, very slender and drooping, bent like grass to one side. The berries are round and glossy-black, with resinous dots, as usual, and in flattish-topped racemes, sometimes ten or twelve in a raceme, but generally more scattered. Call it, perhaps, the tall swamp huckleberry.
The nesaea is fairly begun.
Looking north from Hubbard’s Bridge about 4 P. M., the wind being southeasterly, I am struck by the varied lights of the river. The wind, which is a considerable breeze, strikes the water by a very irregular serrated edge about mid-channel, and then abruptly leaves it on a dis tinct and regular meandering line, about eight feet from the outer edge of the pads on the west side. The rippled portion of the river is blue, the rest smooth, silvery. Thus to my eye the river is divided into five portions, — first the weedy and padded borders, then a smooth, silvery stripe, eight or ten feet wide, and next the blue rippled portion, succeeded by the broader silver, and the pads of the eastern side. How many aspects the river wears, depending on the height of the water, the season of the year and state of vegetation, the wind, the position of the sun and condition of the heavens, etc., etc.! Apparently such is the angle at which the wind strikes the river from over the bushes that it falls about mid-channel, and then it is either obliged to leave t at a nearly similar angle on account of the opposite shore and bushes, or, perchance, the smoothing influence of the pads is felt to some distance beyond their edges. The line which separates the smooth from the rippled portion is as distinct and continuous as that which marks the edge of the pads. I think that there is more oily matter floating on the stiller sides of the river, and this too may have something to do with the above phenomenon. Then there is the watered appearance of the surface in a shower.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 8, 1858
I see that handsome fine purple grass now, not yet in perfection. See September 1, 1857 ("Landing at Bittern Cliff, I see that fine purple grass; how long? "); October 9, 1857 ("Under the pines by the Clamshell, that fine purple grass is now withered and faded to a very light brown which reflects the autumnal light.")
P. M. — To Ledum Swamp.
I see at Clamshell Hill a yellow-browed sparrow sitting quite near on a haycock, pluming itself. Observe it a long time in all positions with my glass, within two rods. It is probably a this year’s bird. I think it must be the Fringilla passerina, for its breast and beneath is the clear pale ochreous white which Wilson speaks of, and its wing-shoulder is distinctly yellow when not concealed in the feathers of the side. Its legs and bill, except the upper side of the upper mandible, are quite a reddish flesh-color. The yellow on its temple is quite bright, and the pale-brownish cheeks. The crown is blackish with a distinct white line along the midst. I see what I call chestnut with the black and whitish on the back and wings. It stands very upright, so that I can see all beneath. It utters no note, i. e. song, only a faint, short, somewhat cricket-like or trilléd chip.
I see that handsome fine purple grass now, on Hosmer’s hillside, above where he has mowed; not yet in perfection.
You see now in the meadows where the mower’s scythe has cut in two the great oval and already black fruit of the skunk-cabbage, rough as a nutmeg-grater, exposing its numerous nuts. I had quite forgotten the promise of this earliest spring flower, which, deep in the grass which has sprung up around it, its own leaves for the most part decayed, unremembered by us, has been steadily maturing its fruit. How far we have wandered, in our thoughts at least, since we heard the bee humming in its spathe! I can hardly recall or believe now that for every such black and rather unsightly (?) capsule there was a pretty freckled horn which attracted our attention in the spring. However, most of them lie so low that they escape or are not touched by the scythe.
Saw yesterday a this year’s (?)marsh hawk, female, flying low across the road near Hildreth’s. I took it to be a young bird, it came so near and looked so fresh. It is a fine rich-brown, full-breasted bird, with a long tail. Some hens in the grass beneath were greatly alarmed and began to run and fly with a cackling to the shelter of a corn-field. They which did not see the hawk and were the last to stir expressed the most alarm. Meanwhile, the hawk sails low and steadily over the field away, not thinking of disturbing them.
I find at Ledum Swamp, near the pool, the white fringed orchis, quite abundant but past prime, only a few, yet quite fresh. It seems to belong to this sphagnous swamp and is some fifteen to twenty inches high, quite conspicuous, its white spike, amid the prevailing green. The leaves are narrow, half folded, and almost insignificant. It loves, then, these cold bogs.
The rusty wool-grass is in bloom there with very short wool. Is it ever long?
The Gaylussacia dumosa var. hiriella is the prevailing low shrub, perhaps. I See one ripe berry. This is the only inedible species of ' Vaccinieaz that I know in this town.
The peculiar plants of this swamp are, then, as I remember, these nine: spruce, Andromeda Polifolia, Kalmia glauca, Ledum latifolium, Gaylussacia dumosa var. hirtella, Vaccinium Oxycoccus, Platanthera blephari glottis, Scheuchzeria palustris, Eriophorum 'vaginatum.
I see there, especially near the pool, tall and slender huckleberry bushes of a peculiar kind. Some are seven feet high. They are, for the most part, three or four feet high, very slender and drooping, bent like grass to one side. The berries are round and glossy-black, with resinous dots, as usual, and in flattish-topped racemes, sometimes ten or twelve in a raceme, but generally more scattered. Call it, perhaps, the tall swamp huckleberry.
The nesaea is fairly begun.
Looking north from Hubbard’s Bridge about 4 P. M., the wind being southeasterly, I am struck by the varied lights of the river. The wind, which is a considerable breeze, strikes the water by a very irregular serrated edge about mid-channel, and then abruptly leaves it on a dis tinct and regular meandering line, about eight feet from the outer edge of the pads on the west side. The rippled portion of the river is blue, the rest smooth, silvery. Thus to my eye the river is divided into five portions, — first the weedy and padded borders, then a smooth, silvery stripe, eight or ten feet wide, and next the blue rippled portion, succeeded by the broader silver, and the pads of the eastern side. How many aspects the river wears, depending on the height of the water, the season of the year and state of vegetation, the wind, the position of the sun and condition of the heavens, etc., etc.! Apparently such is the angle at which the wind strikes the river from over the bushes that it falls about mid-channel, and then it is either obliged to leave t at a nearly similar angle on account of the opposite shore and bushes, or, perchance, the smoothing influence of the pads is felt to some distance beyond their edges. The line which separates the smooth from the rippled portion is as distinct and continuous as that which marks the edge of the pads. I think that there is more oily matter floating on the stiller sides of the river, and this too may have something to do with the above phenomenon. Then there is the watered appearance of the surface in a shower.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 8, 1858
I see that handsome fine purple grass now, not yet in perfection. See September 1, 1857 ("Landing at Bittern Cliff, I see that fine purple grass; how long? "); October 9, 1857 ("Under the pines by the Clamshell, that fine purple grass is now withered and faded to a very light brown which reflects the autumnal light.")
At Ledum Swamp, near the pool, the white fringed orchis. See August 11, 1852 ("Platanthera blephariglottis, white fringed orchis.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White Fringed Orchis
The Gaylussacia dumosa var. hiriella . . . the only inedible species of Vaccinieoe that I know in this town. See August 30, 1856 ("I have come out this afternoon a-cranberrying, chiefly to gather some of the small cranberry, Vaccinium Oxycoccus . . . “I noticed also a few small peculiar-looking huckleberries hanging on bushes amid the sphagnum, and, tasting, perceived that they were hispid, a new kind to me. Gaylussacia dumosa var. hirtella . . .. Has a small black hairy or hispid berry, shining but insipid and inedible, with a tough, hairy skin left in the mouth.”); July 2, 1857 (“The Gaylussacia dumosa var. hirtella, not yet quite in prime. This is commonly an inconspicuous bush, eight to twelve inches high, half prostrate over the sphagnum in which it grows, together with the andromedas, European cranberry, etc., etc., but sometimes twenty inches high quite on the edge of the swamp. It has a very large and peculiar bell-shaped flower, with prominent ribs and a rosaceous tinge, and is not to be mistaken for the edible huckleberry or blueberry blossom.”) --- Dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia bigeloviana or Gaylussacia dumosa is a northern plant that occurs in bogs and fens. Its delicate, bell-like flowers tinged in pink mature into juicy black fruits, which are eaten by ruffed grouse, quail, turkeys, foxes, and squirrels.~ GoBotany
August 8. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August 8
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau"A book, each page written in its own season,out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2021
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