Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 5, December 1900: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 5, December 1900: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
The writer was no exception to this rule, and he will endeavor to
describe a certain "Deserted Limestone Quarry," which, in his case, was
the favorite haunt of childhood. A perusal of the following will give
my readers an idea of the general appearance of the locality. In the
center was a large body of deep water, bounded on three sides by steep
banks, interspersed with huge rocks and sandstone boulders. On the
fourth side was a cart road leading to the double stone lime kiln, then
out of use. The south bank was bordered by a piece of woodland, through
which ran a little rippling brook, and the other three sides by pasture
fields. Within the deep gulch, and extending around about two-thirds of
the body of water, was a combined cart road and pathway, at the extreme
end of which, lying under two large, overhanging rocks, was a spring
of most delicious water. It was quite deep, but you could see the
golden sand and white pebbles at the bottom very plainly. Hanging from
the banks above mentioned were numerous sumach bushes and blackberry
briars. Such were the natural surroundings of my favorite haunt. A
charming place, indeed; quiet, retired, and a veritable paradise for
the admirer of nature's beauties.
Now a few words regarding the many little friends with which I
associated, and whose habits and daily lives I studied. Within the
lime kiln a pair of Pewees built their nest; among the briars on the
bank, the Song Sparrows reigned; in the piece of woodland referred to
were the nests of a Green Heron, of Blue Jays, Crows, Cat Birds, Wood
Thrushes, Crested Flycatchers, etc. I also observed Belted Kingfishers
on many occasions, but never found a nest. Owing to the large number of
insects around the water the quarry was a favorite feeding ground for
King Birds, Pewees and Swallows, and they could be seen skimming over
the surface of the water from early dawn to the twilight of evening.
Aside from this large bird population, there were land and water
turtles, snapping turtles, frogs in all stages of transformation,
sun and catfish, many beautiful butterflies, and a family of little
gray rabbits. I had the pleasure of seeing the latter when they were
scarcely larger than small kittens. Along the borders of the woods were
gray squirrels, ground squirrels and ground hogs. Thus, in this one
particular, opportunity was afforded for the study of a large number
of natural history subjects. Here, too, was the pleasant odor of fresh
green spearmint and the sweet scent of wild roses. In the early spring
time a profusion of wild violets (blue and yellow), dog-tooth violets,
blood roots, spring beauties, anemones, "jack-in-the-pulpit," belwort
and hare-bell were to be found in the strip of woodland, and later in
the season the pasture fields were covered with buttercups and daisies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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