A world of green hills : $b Observations of nature and human nature in the Blue RidgeTorrey, Bradford
History
A world of green hills : $b Observations of nature and human nature in the Blue Ridge
Torrey, Bradford
Bird watching; Blue Ridge Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Outdoor books
River, out of which the tourist is supposed to have drunk at the only
point where it shows itself (and there only to those who look for it),
a quarter of a mile back. Another all-pervasive thing is the wholesome
fragrance of arbor-vitæ. It is fitting, surely, that the tree of life
should be growing in this floral paradise. There are few places, I
imagine, where it flourishes better.
On my way back toward the bridge I discovered, as was to be expected,
many things that had been overlooked on my way out; and every
successive visit was similarly rewarded. A pleasing sight at the
bridge itself was the continual fluttering of butterflies--Turnus and
his smaller and paler brother Ajax, especially--against the face of
the cliffs, sipping from the deep honey-jars of the columbines. Here,
too, I often stopped awhile to enjoy the doings of several pairs of
rough-winged swallows that had their nests in a row of holes in the
rock, between two of the strata. Most romantic homes they looked, under
the overhanging ledge,--a narrow platform below, ferns and sedges
nodding overhead, with tall arbor-vitæ trees a little higher on the
cliff, and water dropping continually before the doors. One of the
nests, I noticed, had directly in front of it a patch of low green
moss, the neatest of door-mats. The holes were only a few feet above
the level of the stream, but there was no approach to them without
wading; for which reason, perhaps, the owners paid little attention
to me, even when I got as near them as I could. In and out they went,
quite at their ease, resting now and then upon a jutting shelf, or
perching in the branches of some tree near at hand. Once three of them
sat side by side before one of the openings, which after all may have
admitted to some sizable cavern wherein different pairs were living
together. They are the least beautiful of swallows, but for this time,
at all events, they had displayed a remarkably pretty taste in the
choice of a nesting-site.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account