when perceived floating in the air. This seems to be the Lophanthus anisatus or scrophulariæfolius, which must yield the fragrance mentioned. Parry calls it " a characteristic northwestern species."
Thoreau had never seen it, nor was it then much known by that name; some botanists called it a hyssop. Gray describes it as having a "stem with strong obtuse angles," which accounts for the term "square-stemmed." Less agreeable were the nettles he found growing around Mrs. Hamilton’s ice-house (a prairie nettle), or the catnip and plantain seen near the settlers cabins. These and the common Shepherd’s-purse were said to be introduced by the white men. He next noticed the birds seen about these lakes,—the turkey buzzards at a distance; the loons "are said to nest in old muskrat houses, and elsewhere around Lake Harriet." One afternoon, going to the old Prairie Fort, he found "a night-hawk’s nest with two eggs in it, well advanced towards hatching." The western lark "has a note very plaintive; if heard at the same time with the common
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