Whatever its work, the ice for this winter has nearly completed it. In early December its crystalline structure was that of ferns, laid flat and interwoven, making it strong and elastic. All semblance of these has vanished, and there remains but a loosely adhering structure built like the Giant’s Causeway in the north of Ireland of vertical irregular columns jammed together side by side. Moisture is all between these, and if the temperature is below freezing cements them firmly together, and it is safe to walk on the surface. The ice is almost a foot thick still, but let a warm spring sun in on it, and this cement softens, and what seems a firm foundation crumbles and fails beneath your foot. All along the edges to-day the process of disintegration was going on, and you could hear the little seeping swan song of these ice columns as they slid apart and lay flat, making mush ice in the open water where they soon dissolved and disappeared. Thus the ice waits the mandate of the spring. Some day, soon, it will fall apart as if at a word, and vanish, and by that token we shall know that the winter has really gone, and we shall go about in a pleasant glow, listening for the first voice of the spring frogs.
INDEX
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W.
A
Actias luna, 14
Afrite, 243
Algonquin, 251
Amina, 10
Apple tree, 110, 116, 132
Arbor vitæ, 210, 211
Arctic barrens, 4
Arethusa, 155, 201
Asplenium trichomanes, 84
B
Bahamas, 70
Barnacle, 165
Beaver, 231
Bedlam, 242
Bee, honey, 36
Beech, 98, 101, 119, 120
Bermudas, 90
Betula alba, 195
—— lutea, 195
Birch, 8, 10, 13, 71, 103, 112, 118, 135, 139, 149, 188, 210
Birch, yellow, 194, 196, 197
—— white, 197
Blackberry, 17
Blueberry, 34, 101
Bluebird, 109, 110, 117
Blue Hill, 89, 95, 98, 101, 102, 105, 217
Bog-hobble, 201
Bream, 239
Buttercup, 127
Buttonball, 101
C
Calamus, 228
Calopogon, 200
Callosamia promethia, 14
Camelot, 174
Carolinas, 92
Cassandra, 204, 205
Cat, 145, 189
Cat-o-nine-tails, 126
Cedar, 113, 139, 140, 186, 194
—— red, 91, 92, 94, 201, 202, 210
—— white, 205, 207, 209, 211
Cerberus, 247
Cherry, wild, 177
Chestnut, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 118, 145
Chickadee, 7, 117, 120, 121
Chicken, 114
Chickweed, 69
Chipmunk, 181, 183
Cranberry, mountain, 95
Crow, 110, 111, 112, 117, 143, 144, 145, 183, 185
D
Dandelion, 69
Deer, 143
Demoiselle flies, 84
Dragon fly, 84
Duck, wild, 55
E
Eliot memorial bridge, 95
Ethiopia, 243
Ettrick Shepherd, 26
F
Fern, 51, 52, 70, 104
—— Christmas, 77, 78, 84
—— cinnamon, 73, 81
—— crested shield-, 80
—— evergreen wood-, 97, 104
—— flowering, 75
—— hay-scented, 82
—— interrupted, 73
—— lady, 83
—— maidenhair spleenwort, 84
—— ostrich, 71, 74, 81
—— polypody, 82, 83, 84, 85, 97, 104, 105
—— royal, 76
—— seed, 176
—— sensitive, 75
—— spinulose wood-, 79
Flag, blue, 127
Flicker, 115, 116, 117
Fly, caddice, 163
—— house, 30, 31, 32, 33
Fox, 33, 143, 145
Frog, 142
G
Galahad, 174
Gareth, 199
Gerardia, 93
Giant’s Causeway, 252
Goldenrod, 6, 11, 13, 19, 93, 127
Goldfinch, 7, 157
Goldthread, 207
Goose, wild, 155
Gosnold, Bartholomew, 92
Grass, purple wood, 95
Grasshopper, 114
Greenbriar, 100
Greenland, 218
Grouse, ruffed, 144, 160, 177
Gulliver, 143
Guy Fawkes, 241
H
Hancock Hill, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105
Hawk, 145
—— chicken, 114
—— sharp-shinned, 113, 115
Hemlock, 195
Hepatica, 69
Hercules, 247
Hickory, 11, 14, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95
Hornet, white-faced, 25, 27, 35, 38
Houghton’s pond, 96, 102
Hudson’s Bay, 218
Hylas, 142, 148
I
Idylls of the King, 199
Indian, 251
J
Juniperus virginiana, 210
K
Kant, Immanuel, 48
L
Labrador, 3, 13, 93, 218
Ladies’ delights, 68
Lemnas, 158
Lilliputians, 143
Lily, yellow pond-, 227
Limpet, 165
Loon, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63
Louisiana, 3
Lynette, 199
M
Maple, 13, 71, 93, 95, 101, 139, 157, 160
Mink, 146, 153, 160, 162, 232
Moth, luna, 15
—— spice-bush silk, 14
Mouse, 114, 147
—— deer, 180
—— field, 133, 148
—— meadow, 144
Muddy Pond, 200
Mullet, 239
Muskrat, 2, 18, 21, 217, 220, 224, 226, 228, 229, 230
Mussascus, 219, 221, 222, 223, 225, 229, 231
Mussel, fresh-water, 228
N
Nantucket, 246
Nebular hypothesis, 47
Nephrodium spinulosum, 81
Nesæa verticillata, 201
Newfoundland, 218
Nuthatch, red-breasted, 120, 121, 122
O
Oak, 13, 14, 17, 120, 126, 134, 142, 148
—— black, 140
—— red, 95, 118, 131, 140
—— scrub, 90, 131, 177
—— white, 5, 93, 95, 118
Old Guard, 218
Orinoco, 193
Osmunda regalis, 74
Owl, 145
P
Palm, 51, 52
Partridge, 143, 178
Partridge berry, 76, 126, 207
Perch, 239
Pickerel weed, 217
Pigeon, 116, 117
Pine, 13, 16, 50, 118, 125, 135, 136, 137, 139, 149, 156, 173, 208
Pipsissewa, 125
Pitcher plant, 200, 204
Pleiades, 49
Plesiosaurus, 52
Polypody, 82, 83, 84, 85, 97, 104, 105
Polystichum acrostichoides, 78
Ponkopoag pond, 3, 217, 233, 249, 250, 251
Pyrola, 76, 126
R
Rabbit, 131, 133, 134, 143
Ranunculus bulbosus, 127, 128
—— repens, 127
Rat, brown, 148
Reservoir Pond, 251
Rose, wild, 211
S
Samia cecropia, 14
Scorpion, 28, 29
Seal, fur, 222
Skunk, 6, 134, 145
Smilax, wild, 15
Smith, Capt. John, 219
Snail, 161
Snow, black, 211
Snowbird, 8
Sparrow, 8
—— song, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117
—— swamp, 187
—— tree, 185
Sphagnum, 200, 204, 205
Spider, land, 239
Squirrel, 121, 133, 143
—— gray, 181
Stephanotis, 193
Stockton, 122
Struthiopteris germanica, 72
Sweet flag, 17, 228
T
Tamias striatus, 182
Telia polyphemus, 14
Teneriffe, 4
Tennyson, 200
Toad, 161
Trout, 146, 161, 162, 163, 164, 166
Turkey, 179
Turtle, 161
Turner, Obadiah, 27
U
Ulysses, 55
V
Venezuela, 193
Vespa maculata, 26, 35
Violet, wood, 13
W
Wasp, common, 26
—— yellow jacket, 26
Water-strider, 239
Watercress, 163
Waterloo, 218
Weasel, 145, 162, 232
Willow, 16
Witch-hazel, 101
Woodchuck, 5, 6, 134
Woodpecker, downy, 122
Wordsworth, 75