Many people are accustomed to think of the orchid as a tropical flower which grows in our country only in cultivation and under highly artificial conditions. It is, however, true that many of the most attractive species of this beautiful group are endemic to most parts of the United States. There are to-day, according to conservative reports, from twenty-seven to thirty genera and from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty species of native orchids found in North America, north of Mexico. Most of these are terrestrial or earth-loving. There are eleven epiphytes, all of which are found only in the Southern States. The range of the North American orchids extends wherever sunshine and moisture prevail, nearly as far north as the Arctic Circle. Four Cypripediums grow between latitudes 54° and 64°, and from fifteen to eighteen species of the Orchid Family are natives of Alaska. The North Atlantic region, covering northeastern United States and Canada, produces seventy-one species of Orchidaceæ; of these from forty-eight to fifty-six are reported for New England, and from forty to forty-two are found in the Hoosac Valley. Of the seventy-one North Atlantic orchids only fifteen or sixteen have not been found within Vermont. The most widely-known genus—_Cypripedium_, or Moccasin-Flower—is represented by thirteen species on the North American continent. This includes the single Mexican species. Six of this number have been collected in Connecticut, and five grow in the Hoosac Valley. The excursions which I have recorded in this book were made particularly in search of orchids; but I have collected and observed all other flowers of interest which grow in the region which I have traversed, for the purpose of showing the natural environments of orchids, and introducing their near neighbors of swamp, forest, and rocky pasture-land. G. G. N. WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS. Contents CHAPTER PAGE _First Season_ I. OFF TO THE HILLS OF BERKSHIRE AND BENNINGTON 3 II. BALL BROOK AND THE BOGS OF ETCHOWOG 15 III. THE HAUNTS OF THE RAM’S-HEAD MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 39 IV. THE STOLEN MOCCASINS 44 V. THE QUEEN OF THE INDIAN MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 55 VI. HAIL STORMS AT ETCHOWOG 72 VII. SWEET POGONIAS AND LIMODORUMS 83 VIII. A COLONY OF RAM’S-HEADS IN WITCH HOLLOW 95 IX. OVER THE HUCKLEBERRY PLAINS 115 _Second Season_ X. WESTVILLE SWAMPS AND MOUNT CARMEL, CONNECTICUT 125 XI. MAY SHOWERS AND WHITE MOCCASIN-FLOWERS 137