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(716) 482 - 0300 - Phone

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GAGE'S LITERATURE SERIES

SHARP EYES AND
OTHER ESSAYS

BY

JOHN BURROUGHS

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

H. Mcintosh, b.a.

ST. John's technical high school, Winnipeg

Wiih an Appendix containing Notes on

the Birds, Animals, Fishes, and Plants

Mentioned in the Essays

W. J. GAGE & COMPANY, LIMITED

TORONTO

Cli^l

m,

CtoPTriglit, CaiuuU, MIS^ br

^. J. OaOB ft COMPAWT, LmiTBD

CONTENTS

iMTBODnOnON y

Sharp Etbs i

Turn ArriM 21

A TAvra OF Mainb Bibch 35

WnfTXR NaioHBorss 57

Nom BT THa Wat 74

Nona ............ 87

Appbhdix gg

INTRODUCTION

The writer of the Essays contained in this little book
has been for many years the most popular American
writer on fields and woods and their inhabitants. His
popularity as an essayist has depended largely on two
things — his power of seeing interesting things in com-
mon places, and his power of telling clearly what he has
seen. His best-known writings are essays of the nature
of those here collected, but he has written as well a num-
ber of poems and some essays on literary subjects; in
fact, his w: iting career began more than fifty years ago
with a book on Walt Whitman, the American poet.

John Burroughs was born in Roxbury, New York, on
April 3rd, 1837. Roxbury is a little town in the Catskill
Mountain region, some forty miles west of the Hudson
River. Every reader of Irving's Rip Van Winkle re-
members the Catskill Mountains. Burroughs was one of
a fairly large family, and his boyhood was spent under
conditions somewhat similar to those existing a genera-
tion or two ago in the older provinces of Canada. One
feature of this life was a fairly steady supply of work
for every person — ^young and old.

Attendance at the local school and two winters spent
at higher schools in nearby towns made up all of Bur-
roughs's formal education. The money needed for his
two terms at high school he earned by teaching and doing
farmwork. It would not be correct to say that this made
up all of his education, for it is very evident that school
attendance was with him only a start on an education
that has gone on throughout his life.

After two years spent in Illinois, Burroughs returned
to his native region, married, and settled down to teach-
ing. It was during the eight years he spent as a teacher

▼i

INTRODUCTION

in Iw^iJ.!! '""'""T '" "^*"^^ ^^»*"- Y«« ^i» notice

Naturalfst ^It Ll""'T *' ,'^"^"'""' *^^ American
A.X r . . ""' P*^*'^' ** ^east, a stray volume of

Burroughs went to Washington to oifrhir»ervTco, and
«.e« was „.ss,g„ed a position in the TreasuT; D pa,t

spent the greater part of his lifp Thn «i T •
field T„ w-",""' rr.""' '""""P' ""-""tain, wood, and

eommg weU-acquainted with his "neighbours °

S up into th. M •'"''' ^"* ^' ^'^' occasionally wan-
vea^ a?o ?r„*j! Mame woods and into Canada. Many
years ago he made two trips to Europe A fpw nf *hi

v«t to Engand and France; Fresh Fields gives a
.a"nd in'S' "' " *''"''-'"°""' '"'"<"'^ ^P»* i'"n«

Though we travel the world over to find th TbeCiful;

INTRODUCTION

vii

f

we must carry it with us, or we find it not." BurrouRhs's
record of his trip to Enjjlar.d deals, as we might expect,
mainly with the English countryside. "I had come to
Great Britain," he tells us, "less to see the noted sights
and places than to observe the general face of nature."
The first things he mentions in Fresh Fields are the
smell of peat-smoke as the ship approached Ireland and
the alighting of a chimney-swallow on the deck of the
steamer. Up the Clyde he noted in particular the
strange and intimate mixture of factories and quiet
country pastures. Everywhere he went in Scotland and
England he studied bird and plant life as closely as his
limited time allowed — usually depending on some of the
boys of the district for guidance. In one place he spent
several days trying to find and hear the nightingale. His
comparisons of England and American birds are par-
ticularly interesting. He had often met with the state-
ment, that the birds of this continent are, when com-
pared with their European relations, rather songless.
With this he by no means agrees. He insists that the
main difference lies in the fact that our song-birds are
less accustomed to man, and so harder to come into touch
with. This is only one of the many subjects Burroughs
follows up in this record of his trip. In general the
English landscape delighted him.

Not all of his attention, however, was devoted to
nature. An interest in English literature took him to
places made famous by some of its greatest writers. Two
of his own favourites were Carlyle and Wordsworth, so
he made his journey take in Ecclefechan, the birthplace
of Carlyle, and the Lake coUntry, which is always asso-
ciated with Wordsworth.

One other little journey is of some inteiest. In 1903
Burroughs visited Yellowstone Park with the late Presi-
dent Roosevelt. In a little book. Camping and Tramp-
ing with Roosevelt, he gives an account of this trip and
a friendly estimate of Roosevelt. Each of these men

vin

INTRODUCTION

uneventful. He has nnS.TK , ^^^"^ *1"^®* ^^^

tervals almost up to tC— t^t "^^ '' ^°-

most recent books ar^ in ..L?o- ^' *°^ ^^'"^ of his

interesting. '"^ ''"^^^'^ "'^P^<^*« «»iong his most

^^aZR:L!!:m::^^^^ t^-^ou,^^'^ books are
and Wild HoZvPefn^^ I' ^r!''^' "^^ ^''*'' locusts
sons, S,ui7relZ7Z^^^^^^^^^^^ fields Si^^s and Sea-
The Summit of Z Teat. .ZtTV' ^""^^ ^^ ^^*^''^'

Of the Essays i^ Ithoa^Zl' ^Z''^ '^ ^f^'
Locusts and /»7iUr.^«Th. a""^ ^^•''" '' ^«^"*^ '^^
shine, "Notes by t^Twa;»Tn p^^Y ^° ^^*^'^'' ^«»^-
of Maine Birch" and '^L^vr^^.'^'^^S^^d "^ Taste

Seasons. ■""^^'^ Neighbours" in Signs and

SHARP EYES AND OTHER ESSAYS

SHARP EYES

Noting how one eye seconds and reinforces the
other, I have often amused myself by wondering what
the effect would be if one could go on opening eye
after eye to the number say of a dozen or more. What
would he see? Perhaps not the invisible— not the
odours of flowers nor the fever germs in the air — not
the infinitely small of the microscope nor the infinitely
distant of the telescope. This would require, not more
eyes so much as an eye constructed with more and
different lenses ; but would he not see with augmented
power within the natural limits of vision? At any
rate some persons seem to have opened more eyes
than others, they see with such force and distinctness ;
their vision penetrates the tangle and obscurity where
that of others fails like a spent or impotent bullet.
How many eyes did Gilbert White open? how many
did Henry Thoreau? how many did Audubon? how
many does the hunter, matching his sight against
the keen and alert sense of a deer or a moose, or a fox
or a wolf? Not outward eyes, but inward. We open
another eye whenever we see beyond the first general
features or outlines of things — whenever we grasp the
special details and characteristic markings that this
mask covers. Science confers new powers of vision.
Whenever you have learned to discriminate the birds,
or the plants, or the geological features of a country,
it is as if new and keener eyes were added.

Of course, one must not only see sharply, but read
aright what he sees. The facts in the life of Nature

10

15

20

SHARP EYES

ttt z sn t: ■" '"'*<' -'«-■» ""'OS

'occupied under a Zrt 1^.1'""^"^ """^ "'"<='' P«-

fowls, scolding Them iarnfvi..'^ """"^ ""^ ''«™
her. The stable Tark IS J !1 " ""'^ "^' ^ """^
yond. The bird nnt fl„r T*"'"."'"' ""^ J™* be-

" Wdly vemuredC tt 'X^^^^ "'-»^ »"'»'''«.
tared by the farmer What if-lK ''"'™''y "'P"
?»ery. What, but a L^That ffr W S wV If *"'
■•nVorttTha"" ''^.' r »»-- - bent n^r

■'one out of he ho™.',"*'' -."t* ft "'"''^ •"'™ *^^^^
Laterin tietason I .«™-^1 J" '"'° '" "« '^We-
^ewed through and th^^Z"*^-,";." "''* "'"' ^"""d it

hairs, so thafthe bird StS'L tr' 'T •^"'■
hair was found. Pe"«ted in her search till the

'^ha''™"t:rfsrsTen«''ar:X*^ ^''^ '"'"■«^-- ««'»
lives of the birds tf„r.t*^' H'"* ^''"etedm the

them. Some cW Z.^'^ "* '''*'^ ^"""^^ «» see

Played amongtme EnXr '"" *'' "«'* °<»»«''y

"'account of it in Ms „pw. ' "*•"""'" ""* ^»'e «»

be true: A maL bL t! '^ J!""' 'I '^ *<"> ^ood not to

iroose fea.tr whichls'Zia fl°.^'? '^^ " "^'' «»«
much coveted Aftpr l! f !•/"'' .''"" * «P"™«' «"<>

chattered hfeeTatuTatinn^ ^""-f^^ *" P"'^« ""d
bird, seeing S chance "'f.^-^r^^^hbour, a female

the feathe^irnte't?:';'!^ „f PPft". ""'' "'^'''
for insteadof oarrvin/it lift i^ "f ''"'d "*"« "«*■
it to a near tree^dhVu" ^'""r? '•»''*<'«"' with

SHARP EYES 3

out of his box in a high state of excitement, and, with
wrath in his manner and accusation on his tongue,
rushed into the cot of the female. Not finding his
goods and chattels there as he had expected, he
stormed around a while, abusing everybody in general *
and his neighbour in particular, and then went away
as if to repair the loss. As soon as he was out of sight,
the shrewd thief went and brought the feather home
and lined her own domicile with it.

I was much amused one summer day in seeing a'"
bluebird feeding her young one in the shaded street of
a large town. She had captured a cicada or harvest-
fly, and after bruising it a while on the ground flew
with it to a tree and placed it in the beak of the young
bird. It was a large morsel, and the mother seemed to '•
have doubts of her chick's ability to dispose of it, for
she stood near and watched its efforts with great
solicitude. The young bird struggled valiantly with
the cicada, but made no headway in swallowing it,
when the mother took it from him and flew to the^"
sidewalk, and proceeded to break and bruise it more
thoroughly. Then she again placed it in his beak, and
seemed to say, "There, try it now,'' and sympathized
so thoroughly with his efforts that she repeated many
of his motions and contortions. But the great fly was "
unyielding, and, indeed, seemed ridiculously dispropor-
tioned to the beak that held it. The young bird flut-
tered and fluttered and screamed, "I'm stuck, I'm
stuck," till the anxious parent again seized the morsel
and carried it to an iron railing where she came down '"
upon it for the space of a minute with all the force
and momentum her beak could command. Then she
offered it to her young a third time, but with the same
result as before, except that this time the bird dropped
It; but she was at the ground as soon as the cicada ^^
was, and taking it in her beak flew some distance
to a high board fence where she sat motionless for

SHARP EYES

«ome moments \xru'i

'*«' »y ^»oX TtoCT' "■* P"""e», how

„,f ^-urrinTJ^il: ''"^•: ^-^^ -<» I am never tired

\-d ;h'ar»tte'''''C' -"f "he ite^'Slf f^

about a week in ^ ^^ ^^^^ sprW the m!^ ^^^
lm«^ -. ^ ^^ advance of +].r * , males came

paintive far-away manner H^ ""'S ^"'"^^t i° a
j^^^gs, and twinkle then eL5 T^"^^ half-open his
J^s mate to his heart n'''°^^'^' «s if beckoninl
but was shv an/! ?°^ morning she h«T ^

knnf 1, 1 . ^ reserved Tfi« f^ 1 ^^** <^t)me,
-side t\'" '" o'd-appl" J*"' ^»"d "■»'" flew to a

a°d got some dry ffra.. ^T^ °°*^- ^^e male wenf

-S- ^*^^ ^^^^ ^' tfe :m trt " '." '^«^' -d flew
mittmg devotion, but th^tl^' ^.""^ Promised unre

^,^:'^^iTZ'z t^id*r " Su^:

up for them, but

not

SHARP EYES

until they had changed their minds several times As
soon as the Srst brood had flown, and while they were
yet under their parents' care, they began another nest
in one of the other boxes, the female, as usual, doing
aU the work, and the male all the complimenting. »

A source of occasional great distress to the mother-
bird was a white cat that sometimes foUowed me
about. The cat had never been known to catch a
bird, but she had a way of watching them that was
very embarrassing to the bird. Whenever she ap-^"
peered, the mother bluebird would set up that pitiful
melodius plaint. One morning the cat was standing
by me, when the bird came with her beak loaded with
building material, and alighted above me to survey
the place before going into the box. When she saw "
the cat, she was greatly disturbed, and in her agitation
could not keep her hold upon all her material. Straw
after straw came eddying down, till not half her origi-
nal burden remained. After the cat had gone away,
the bird s alarm subsided, till, presently seeing the
coast clear, she flew quickly to the box and pitched in
her remaining straws with the greatest precipitation,
and, without going in to arrange them, as was her
wont, flew away in evident relief.

In the cavity of an apple-tree but a few yards off,
and much nearer the house than they usually build
a pair of high-holes, or golden-shafted woodpeckers!
took up their abode. A knot-hole which led to the
decayed interior was enlarged, the live wood being cut
away as clean as a squirrel would have done it. The
mside preparations I could not witness, but day after
day, as I passed near, T heard the bird hammering
away, evidently beating down obstructions and shap-
mg and enlarging the cavity. The chips were not
Jjrought out, but were used rather to floor the interior «
The woodpeckers are not nest-builders, but rather
nest-carvers.

30

30

6

SHARP EYES

The time seemed very short before the voices of the
young were heard in the heart of the old tree, — at
first feebly, but waxing stronger day by day until
they could be heard many rods distant. When I put

' my hand upon the trunk of the tree, they would set
up an eager, expecitant chattering; but if I climbed
up it towards the opening, they soon detected the un-
usual sound and would hush quickly, only now and
then uttering a warning note. Long before they were

*"full fledged they clamjbered up to the orifice to re-
ceive their food. As but one could stand in the open-
ing at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing and
struggling for this position. It was a very desirable
one aside from the advantages it had when food was

'"served; it looked out upon the great shining world,
into which the young birds seemed never tired of gaz-
ing. The fresh air must have been a consideration
also, for the interior of a high-hole's dwelling is not
sweet. When the parent birds came with food the

*" young one in the opening did not get it all, but after
he had received a portion, either on his own motion or
on a hint from the old one, he would give place to the
one behind him. Still, one bird evidently outstripped
his fellows, and in the ra^^e of life was two or three

*' days in advance of them. His voice was loudest and
his head oftenest at the window. But I noticed that
when he had kept the position too long, the others
evidently made it uncomfortable in his rear, and, after
"fidgeting** about a while, lie would be compelled to

""'Tjack down.** But retaliation was then easy, and I
fear his mates spent few easy moments at that look-
out. They would close their eyes and slide -back into
the cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all its
charms for them.

This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest;
For two days before that event he kept his position in
the opening most of the time and sent forth his strong

SB

SHARP EYES

voice incpssantly. The old ones abstained from feed-
ing hiui almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his
exit. As 1 stood looking at him one afternoon and
noting his progress, he suddenly reached a resolution,
—seconded, I have no doubt, from the rear,— and*
launched forth upon his untried wings. They served
him well and carried him about fifty yards up-hill the
first heat. The second day after, the next in size and
spirit left in the same manner; then another, till
only one remained. The parent birds ceased their"*
visits to him, and for one day he called and called till
our ears were tired of the sound. His was the faint-
est heart of all. Then he had none to encourage him
from behind. He left the nest and clung to the outer
bole of the tree, and yelped and piped for an hour ''
longer; then he committed himself to his wingr and
went his way like the rest.

A young farmer in the western part of Ne^ York,
who has a sharp, discriminating eye, sends me some .
interesting notes about a tame high-hole he once had. "*

"Did you ever notice," says he, "that the high-
hole never eats anything that he cannot pick up with
his tongue ? At least this was the case with a young
one I took from the nest and tamed. He could thrust
.out his tpngue two or three inches, and it was amusing "
to see his efforts to eat currants from the hand. He
would run out his tonj^ue and try to stick it to the
currant; failing in that, he would bend his tongue
around it like a hook and try to raise it by a sudden
jerk. But he never succeeded ; the round fruit would "
roll and slip away every time. He never seemed to
think of taking it in his 'beak. His tongue was in
constant use to find out the nature of everything he
saw; a nail-hole in a board or any similar hole was
carefully explored. If he was held near the face he '*
would soon be attracted by the eye, and thrust his
tongue into it. In this way he gained the respect of

* SHARP EVES

II numW of half-prown vnts that worn Rroiind tho

M^'ZJ '''tl^ ^? """^ *'"'"^ ^«"''''«»' ♦" ^'H^h other,
•0 there would be lesa dauffer of thoir klllin,? him. So

•Lnn '^ '"''" '-'"^ u^"''' "" '"•^' •*"*•«' ^hen the bird
would ««onnohce the kitten h eyc«. and leveilinR bin

wn .M '""'^"^' ^ * marksman levels his rifle, ho
would remain so a minute, when he would dart his
tonjrue into the eat s eye. This was hohl by the caU
«.!^Jl*K"'^.'"*''*^f?""'^ ^*''"» -^"'^k in the eye by
Zh 1 r '"%"l^ ' *; *''*•"*• '^»^«y «""" ««n"ired
Tn »«, ""^ "' ^'"^ **^*** *'''y ^"»'d «^<»d him, and

aLTJ ''«"''''" *^'^ ""'^ ^"« ^^'^ *""»«^^ in their
direction. He never would swallow a Krasshonner

»hImlT?'";*. r.^L^'t^ ^" *^'« *^^'^*' •''^ ^"»W «hl
W inl!J"*'' ^^ ^"^ **^''^^" '* "»* «f »"■« ™""th. His
♦k!^ a ""** *"**• "*" "«^®^ ^"^ surprised at any-
dr vp\S^ ♦ "r'' was afraid of anything. He would
drive the turkey gobbler and the rooster. He would
advance upon them holding one wing up as high as

ground towards them, scolding all the while in a harsh

i!^' } T^ ** ^"* ^^'"^ **»^y °»'»ht »^i» him, but
I ^n found that he wan able to take care of himself.

"him «i r ^T;. '!'?'' *"^ ^^'^ ^"*« *"*-hi"« for

st^;™ nf ?K "'^'"^^ ^'f ".P ***^ *"*« «« f««* that a
stream of them seemed going into his mouth unceas-

ingly. I ktvf him till late in the fall, when he disap-
peared probably going south, and I never saw him
again.*'

" My correspondent also sends me some interesting
observations about the cuckoo. He says a large goose-

. berry bush standing in the border of an old hedge-
row, m the midst of open fields, and not far from his
^^.house, was occupied by a pair of cuckoos for two sea-
sons in succession, and, after an interval of a year for
two seasons more. This gave him a good chance to
observe them. He says the mother-bird lays a single

.SUA HP KVKS

n

PW. ami NitH upon it a miinl»'r of iIji.vh Iwforo Iji.viip/
thi' Koj'ond, w) that ho has m'cu orio younjr hird iioarly
irrowii, a hccoikI junI hatched, and a whole vuk all in
tlir ncNt, at on«M'. "Ho far as I hav(! wen, this is the
Nettled |)ra<'tiee,— the yoiinj; leavwr^ the nest one at ■
a time to the niimher of six op ei^jht. The ycniriur
have (|iiite the look of the youn^' of the dove in many
respeetH. When nearly triown they are eovered with
lonjr hliie pin-fealhers as lon^j as darninj^-needles,
without a l»it of plinnaM:e on them. They part on the"*
back and hanj^ d«»wn on ejieh side l»y their own weight.
With its eurious feathers and misshai)en body the
younjr bird is anythinj,' but, handsome. They never
open their mouths when approached, as many youni?
I'irds do, but sit perfecily still, hardly movintr when"'
touched." He also notes the unnatural inditTerence
of the mother-bird when her nest and y«ii:' ire ap-
proached. She makes no sound, but sits fpii iy on a
near branch in apparent perfect unconeern.

These observations, together with the fact that the'"'
ep^' of the cuckoo is occasionally found in the nests
of other birds, raise the inquiry whether our bird is
slowly relapsing into the habit of the European spe-
cies, which always foists its ejfp upon other birds; or
whether, on the other hand, it is not mendinj? its^*'
manners in this respect. It has but little to unlearn
or to forpet in the one ease, but preat progress to make
in the other. How far is its rudimentary nest— h
mere platform of coarse twi^rs and dry stalks of weeds
— from the deep, compact, finely woven and finely^"
modelled nest of the poldfineh or kin}?-bird, and what
a pnlf between its indifference towards its younj? and
their solicitude ! Its irregular manner of laying also
fieems better suited to a parasite like our cow-bird, or
the European cuckoo, than to a regular nest-builder. "

This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees
plenty of interesting things as he goes about his work.

10

HHAHP KYKH

10

1^

so

.1.^

He on,. ,ln,- Rn,r „ „liilo »,v,ill,»v, «l,i,.|i i, „f „„

;.z:,T';r; ,';: t i ••'• " """'•'•"""' •'•""«"

inm Iho l,„,«eno, ,.,,„t „r ,1,0 ,i„i,„,i|. ||„ „„„ ,,

•ok"* .•of„M^ in „ ™„|| h„|o in „ ,„,o. ,) „ . '^
■• '.v »P--.n« 1.0 saw ,«.„ h..„.I,a«k» th„t wore 0 „.|i, '

!;.Ti;r.S tt":,:; ■-■"'-

f Its lu^np oarer. Fano.v ,his nimhio, flaMmf/,„" J
« ..«o I,fe was pas.0,1 prohin^ ,ho h.movo, opX of

iro^L;".?"-"'"'** «"''• -'*' ^''-■' -"K. e:dtT

a fondod h,m ono fogpr.v day, as he was n.owin7m the
meadow w.th a mowins-maohino. It had bZ foi^
for wo da,-., and the swallou-s were veHnnX
md the mseets stnpid and inert. When tho sonnd?*
I..S maohine ,as heard, the swallow ppSini

4« thor^'™ '"' " "•?'"' "' """^'•^ "S^s He
sa.re there was a eontinued rush of purple win^

over the "eut-har," and jnst whore it was », sinT th^

.rass to tremble and fall Without his ^faS t.

;o

HflAUl* KYKH

11

swhIIows W(»uI(1 doiilitloHH linvp gnno hiinjjry yd ai\-
otlicr dny.

Of the hcn-Iuiwk, Jio Iihh obNcrvcd flint hnih tnnh'
imd female take part in jiiciihatioii. "I was ratluM*
HiirpriHod," he says, "on (»iio (uictmnn, to see how
quickly they cliange place's on tiio nest. The nest was
in a tall beech, and the leaves were not yet fully out.
I could see I he head and neck of the hawk over the
ed^o of the nest, when I saw the other liawk comirur
down throujrh the air at full speed, f expected he
would alight near by, but instead of that he struck
diroctly upon the nest, his mate gettinj? out of the
way barely in time to avoid bein^r hit; it seemed
almost as if he had knocked her off the nest, f hardly
Nee how they can make such a rush on the nest with-
out danger to the eggs."

The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whitTet dog
will worry a bear. It is by his pcrsisteiu-e ami au-
dacity, not by any injury he is capable of dealing his
great antagonist. The king-bird seld«)m more than
dogs the hawk, keeping above and 'between his wings,
and making a great ado ; -but my correspondent says
he once "saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's back.
The hawk flew as fast as possible, .and the king-
bird sat upon his shoulders in triumph until they
had passed out of sight,"— tweaking his feathers, no
doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment.

That near relative of the king-bird, the great
crested fly-eatcher, has one well-known peculiarity:
he appears never to consider his nest finished untilit
contains a cast-off snakeskin. My alert correspond-
ent one day saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin
and make off with it, either deceived by it or else
thinking it a good substitute for the coveted material.

One day in May, walking in the woods, T came
upon the nest of a whip-poor-will, or rather its eggs,
for it builds no nest,— two elliptical whitish spotted

■20

■•iO

:i5

12

SHARP EYES

.10

35

a }{ira ot the mother- brd before she Apw t „,
dervd what a sharp eye would Zeefeuriou, oJ Ta"
actensfe m the ways of the bird, so I eZe to the
pla,.e many tiujes and had a look It was always a

pvo ... ;V . ""'' '""> to •'oar on with his

Oo, as ,t were, and refnse to he baffled The stiel,
and leaves, and bits of blaek or dark-brown barl tere

ImZ s7e'l';f '" '"l^ '''"'' P'-^S"- And Z.
sne am sit so close, and simu ate so well a sbnn.l...

<ieeay,ng piece of wood or bark! Twice I brouLh

the bird was a trying task to any eve. I came the

a leaf Tn""'" *"' "T '""""^ were Vepeated Onc^

hid it The r "'"' "' *''^ •™""^ '''■•''» '"'1 neari;
nid It. The young are covered with a reddish down

Zn^ te'n f--o tco^ t rwal-rrLT;

Casf and 7" "^r, ^''^ P""*' «"<' '»" "Pon her
breast, and a spasm, hke that of death, would run

25

It I

SHARP EYES

13

through her tremulous outstretched wings and pros-
trate body. She kept a sharp eye out the meanwhile
to see if the ruse took, and if it did not, she was quickly
cured, and, moving about to some other point, tried
to draw my attention, as before. When followed*
she always alighted upon the ground, dropping down
in a sudden peculiar way. The second or third day
both old and young had disappeared.

The whip-poor-will walks as awkwardly as a swal-
low, which is as awkward as a man in a bag, and yet '"
she manages to lead her young about the woods. The
latter, I think, move by leaps and sudden spurts, their
protective colouring shielding them most effectively.
Wilson once came upon ♦he mother-bird and her
brood in the woods, and, tuough they were at his very "
feet, was so baffled by the concealment of the young
that he was about to give ud the search, much disap-
pointed, when he perceived something *1ike a slight
mouldiness among the withered leaves, and, on stoop-
ing down, discovered it to be a young whip-poor-will, *•
seemingly asleep." Wilson's description of the young
is very accurate, as its downy covering does look pre-
cisely like a "slight mouldiness.'* Returning a few
moments afterwards to the spot to get a pencil he had
forgotten, he could find neither old nor young. "

It takes an eye to see a partridge in the woods,
motionless upon the leaves; this sense needs to be
as sharp as that of smell in hounds and pointers ; and
yet I know an unkempt youth that seldom fails to
see the bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I*"
think he sees it as soon as it sees him, and before
it suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye
is hunting ! To pick out the game from its surround-
ings, the grouse from the leaves, the grey squirrel from
th mossy oak limb it hugs so closely, the red fox"
from the ruddy or brown or grey field, the rabbit
from the stubble, or the white hare from the snow,

ij. ,^.,

14

SHARP EYES

IB

much like Tlarge sit or 1 ''"';>'' ""''• '"»''' ^'^

knows the difference «t a In" • *'' " '"^" "^
•away. ''''"'™' * 'l"arter of a mih

that a"L\tl?;ir "T " ""«' <" " fo-. «'

or nose."^ Bu in the ST' ^"','";*.™ ^''"'' "" <"«

quicklv th» „M » ,' '■^ "'"'■'' '''" match- How

"BpeetVLVteskv''^ d^eovcrs the hawk, „ mer"

covers ™rif\L, i ' "'^ '""^ I"'"'''-'' the hawk dis-

advanta e'th li rrJfXs^S'ti!' t •""'""•^' *'■"■•
form, structure «SZ-,- ' . . """ '"' ""'"B to the

larger Mdll'JSi'^'Tf "" "•"•''• " ^"^ « much

nearly every dirSHt^f^' '"" • ""'"'''''''y ^'o ™

head ; the bfrd on th^^^ ^i'^""* ^ movement of the
whole spLre ItTgtnee '""'' "^'^ ^'^ ^^^^^ *^^^

'-of the wL a flirt of th/f 1 ^ P"'' *^"""^^ ^^ ^^t

aim. No one ever yet ford"^hf 'TiT- ""'?''''' ■""»
did not have the walk „1 fern '?„ m!'''"^/^" "••»
son whose eve i<i full „fTA- ?• """''• -* P«r-

"evety tieldTc l^ll I'uT """ "'''^ "'^'" '■" »

cianrthrtTn/pTer'rTn' [" ''" r*'"^' -P-
mj^ piper that one hears about the woods

n:.

SHARP EYES

15

and brushy fields— the hyla of the swamps become
a denizen of the trees; I had never seen him in this
new role. But this season, having hylas in mind, or
rather being ripe for them, I several times came across
them. One Sunday, walking amid some bushes, I cap-"
tured two. They leaped before me as doubtless they
had done many times before; but though I was not
looking for or thinking of them, yet they were quickly
recognized, because the eye had been commissioned to
find them. On another occasion, not long afterwards, '"
I was hurriedly loading my gun in the October woods
in hopes of overtaking a grey sciuirrel that was fast
escaping through the tree-tops, when one of these
lilliput frogs, the colour of the fast-yellowing leaves,
leaped near me. I saw him only out of the corner of'
my eye and y bagged him, because I had already
made him my oivn.

Nevertheless, the habit of observation is the habit
of clear and decisive gazing. Not by a first casual
glance, but by a steady deliberate aim of the eye are=''
the rare and characteristic things discovered. You
must look intently and hold your eye firmly to the
spot, to see more than do the rank and file of man-
kind. The sharp-shooter picks out his man and knows
him with fatal certainty from a stump, or a rock, or a "
cap on a pole. The phrenologists do well to locate, not
only form, colour, and weight, in the region of the eye,
but alsc a faculty which they call individuality— that
which separates, discriminates, and sees in every object
its essential character. This is just as necessary to''"
the naturalist as to the artist or the poet. The sharp
eye' notes specific points and differences,— it seizes
upon and preserves the individuality of the thing.

Persons frequently describe to me some bird they
have seen or heard and ask me to name it, but in most "''
cases the bird might be any one of a dozen, or else
it is totally unlike any bird found on this continent.

ft!:

16

SHARP EYES

10

They have either seen falsely or else vaguely N
80 the lann youth who wrote'^me on wintTd^y th
he had seen a single pair of strange birds, whfch 1
describes as follows: "Thev were Ahm,f A; •
•the .ehippio' the tops otLrLttrTrT.:

tnat of the female was much lighter; their rumr
were also faintly tinged with red. If I have deS

meir names. There can be little doubt but th
young observer had seen a pair of red-poUs-a bin
related to the goldfinch, and that oceasioCly come
down to us ,n the winter from the far north Anothe'
toe, the same youth wrote that he had seen a Strang
.if V t,-"''""' °* * 'P""""' that alighted on fenc!^
wle^ 'Sr/;'\*'\"P<"' *'"' «'^'""'- -d thai
n^^g -eyir ^e'tt^Td' SZl''\ Cel'VfoT''

■rTheiitrrv^r™" '^' sL^Toiurre^n:

etc., tne tit-lark. But how many persons would h»v^
t-reV'^V^/'rl ""'ked inst^ead of hTpp^T
Some fnends of mine who lived in the country tried
to describe to me a bird that built a nest in a tite
within a few feet of the house A, it ».. ° t
"bird I should have taken it for a wlTrush S
not the nest been described as so thinVud W th^
from beneath the eggs could be distinctly seT Th.
most pronounced feature in the deser ptVn ^.s !he
"iZ aPP^a^-ee of the under side of the bird?tln
I was quite at sea, until one day, when we were driv
mg out, a cuckoo flew across the road irfronJof il"
when my friends exclaimed. "There is our bird"" I
had never known a cuckoo to build near a ho^' and
I had never noted the appearance the tailT^ents
when viewed from beneath, but if the bird had b«„
descnbed in its most obvious features, as slender wUh
a long tail, cinnamon brown above and white teneah

20.

~I

SHARP EYES

17

with a curved bill, anyone who knew the bird would
have recognized the portrait.

We think we have looked at a thing sharply until
we are asked for its specific features. I thought I
knew exactly the form of the leaf of the tulip-tree,"
until one day a lady asked me to draw the outline of
one. A good observer is quick to take a hint and to
follow it us. Most of the facts of Nature, especially
in the life of the birds and animals, are well screened.
We do not see the play because we do not look in-'"
tently enough. The other day I was sitting with a
friend upon a high rock in the woods, near a small
stream, when we saw a water-snake swimming across
a pool towards the opposite bank. Any eye would
have noted it, perhaps nothing more. A little closer '°
and sharper gaze revealed the fact that the snake bore
something in its mouth, which, as we went down to
investigate, proved to be a small cat-fish, three or
four inches long. The snake had captured it in the
pool, and, like any ouher fisherman, wanted to get its ^"
prey to dry land, although itself lived mostly in the
water. Here, we said, is being enacted a little tragedy,
that would have escaped any but sharp eyes. The
snake, which was itself small, had the fish by the
throat, the hold of vantage among all creatures, and^°
clung to it with great tenacity. The snake knew that
its best tactics was to get upon dry land as soon as
possible. It could not swallow its victim alive, and it
could not strangle it in the water. For a while it
tried to kill its game by holding it up out of the"'"
water, but the fish grew heavy, and every few mo-
menta its struggles brought down the snake's head.
This would not do. Compressing the fish's throat
would not shut off its breath under such circum-
stances, so the wily serpent tried to get ashore with it, '"
and after several attempts succeeded in effecting a
landing on a flat rock. But the fish died hard. Cat-

18

SHARP EYES

'• 'heir scrutiny, and the ZL , ^ '"""" «"'» "''^e i

from the PMiZJenZslnT''""^ '" *'""''•'"

to its own notionT B,u ^ "'* ,'"''''"^™ "' ''a^

ra.«,.,trated with i; jv i- !" ?';""^' >"" ^"nly «

Jt dropped thel7a^d J^;"!*'"' |'!\'''"ki„«ii„i

'"'■eath a stone in the KX '" ''*h dudgeon bo

0 swollen and angr/ throat IjT''- ^'" ^^' «"'!

Birds, I sav Lu. V . " "" ""^ a'so.

a/resi/bL:vr;ier''rmei^;''™^^- "r'-"

«'"ter, and see how ,°1 ,1,^ "P"" ""> '*"<>«' i"
■■•""d be on hand. IfitTe n^r ,TT *'" •^'"""'" >t
erow that first discovers it ^n the house or barn, the
«ure he is not dSd then ?'*''M"""" "• *« ""^e
soon return with a eomp'aiLn T,"" ' «" »*«y' «"d
. 3ards from the bone and -f' " "'*'" ' *«*

-"which the vicinity "sshar^lv T-" ''''"y- "J"""?
crows advai.ces boldly t„'^,hT*T''' ™» "^ th?
coveted prize. Here he pU f'" / ./^^ ^"^t of the
covered, and the meat beTd^A . ."" *"* " dis-
malces off. ' "^ '"^^^ "eat, he seizes it and

-PPlM^et'^thl tre'a"7 '"^ '"- ""-J- -
there I had not t^a "1%^"' J""'' ™">
very day one found my corn an/.f, *^' ^'' ""«'
came daily ana partook of if H/"'*' '^''^eral

'"".uler their feet upon the limb, 'ofl'''?^ "■* "''"•"els
'"K them vigorously "^ """ *''^«^ ^fd peck-

ere^- s^I wa\%XSror J"' '='"<' ""- ^-arp
,, found out some bone? hat ^r^laeTd ?'"*'^' """"-^
"place under the shed f „ L '^, ™^ '" » convenien"

In^oin^outtothebtnT Cdw' r/f '"^ '■^''«-
" '"^^= "* '"^ "'- "^ ■»- t^™ S'Xtir ttm^

25

SHARP EYES

m

"Look intently enough at anything,*' jsaid a poet to
me one day, "and you will see something that woiild
otherwise escape you." I thought of the remark as I
sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one sprin;:
day. I saw a small hawk approaching; he flew to a
tall tulip-tree and alighted on a large limb near the
top. He eyed me and I eyed him. Then the bird
disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped alonj?
the limb to a small cavity near the trunk, when Iir
thrust in his head and pulled out some small object
and fell to eating it. After he had partaken of it for
somi minutes he put the remainder back in his larder
and flew away. I had seen something like feathers
eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, and on approach-
ing the spot found the feathers of a sparrow here
and there clinging to the bushes beneath the tree. The
hawk then— commonly called the chicken hawk— is as
provident as a mouse or a squirrel, and lays by a
store against a time of need, but I should not have
discovered the fact had I not held my eye on him.

An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual
sound or commotion among them. In May or June,
when other birds are most vocal, the jay is a silent
bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the
groves as silent as a pickpocket ; he is robbing birds' '
nests and he is very anxious that nothing should be
said about it ; but in the fall none so quick and loud to
cry "Thief, thief!" as he. One December morning a
troop of jays discovered a little screech-owl secreted
in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree near my='
house. How they found the owl out is a mystery, since
it never ventures forth in the light of day ; but they
did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. 1
suspect the t.uebirds first told them, for these birds
are constantly peeping into holes and crannies, both
spring and fall. Some unsuspecting bird had probably
entered the cavity prospecting for a place for next

35

20

SHARP EVKS

news. A boy who »h„,,M ■"'. °"' *'"> ™Port>
. bear', den wirCin was aThf"'''^ venture imc
•astonished and alaranM .\ "vT """"'^ •">* be ni,
finding itself fn the^avitvTf" ^^"'^'"^ '"'"^^ ^
"wl. At any rate the W °^*,''««y«d tree with ,
filing the /tt^^noUnT"'''-!'''"'^^ *^' W"
'he fact that a cu°nrit 'f . " ""^'" «<"'««™

"thelightof dayinlr; ifa^Xtr T 'Ij':"/ '"
of warning and alarm «n^ . ■' '"""■<* 'he noti

shot. The bluebirds^et! "PP^-^hed to within ey,

uttering theirp^„w ?„r''"™ """ '"»'"«• ahol

were bolder an^ook t„™, Pv? "'"'' """ *"" Jav

"and deriding the poor "hw„i"^'"^ " «* t*"' ""vit,

"light in the entraCe'of the i°f ""'^ / ^^^ woul.

and attitudinize, and then flv ^"^ ^"^ "'"' P"^'

thef thief ," at ihe^op^f his U^ "'"'' "^'"^'

'•»o„.dSti:;;:j,^,K±'°.*''i "p^--^- -''

tfee. I reached in and ?oolf V *" *''^ '™"« "' the

heed to the threatening Jna^t^ „7t '^T"? ''"'«
was as red as a fox «„/ ™*PP'n8 of his beak. He
made no effort to la^^ f yel ow-eyed as a eat. He

"forefinger and clurgX™ ^ith r'' ■ "'l "='""» » "^
uncomfortable. I placed hT™- f'P}^^*^ ^oon grew
house in hopes of gettw hpH '" '** M' »* «" out-

By day he was a ^ry ^Uk ' ' •''•^"'''"'^'' "'"> ^^""■
ing at all, even Jw T ^ Prisoner, scarcely mov-

»the hand,b:rLkL;\rrnfh ""' ir""'^ -'"•

closed, sleepy eves R„t .\ "^ ?. ""t "^""^^ with half-
alert, how'^ifrhow aetL°! R "* " ''"'"^'' '""^
bird; he darted kbouTJth^L / 7' '"'^ au<"her
warded me like a cornered 011%"^"^ '^"^' "'"'» '«-
and swiftly, but as slw? „ 1 "1'"'^'^ '""o window,
into the congeniallartoel 'n/^'^r' ''^ ^"■^'^'J »
revenged himself upon the Z. ^■'"'^^?'' ''' "'«• has
that first betrayed hfahidingp^lTer '"^ " ""''"'d

8S

li

THE APPLE

Lot sweetened with the summer light,
The full-juieed «pplo, waxing over-mellow,
Drops in a silent autumn night.— r^nny/on.

Not a little of the sunshine of our northern win-
ters 18 surely wrapped up in the apple. How could
we winter over without it ! How is lif ^ sweetened by
Its mild acids! A cellar well filled with apples is
more valuable than a chamber filled with flax and»
wool. So much sound ruddy life to draw upon, to
strike one's roots down into, as it were.

Especially to those whose soil of life is inclined to
be a little clayey and heavy, is the apple a winter
necessity. It is the natural antidote of most of the '"
ills the flesh is heir to. Full of vegetable acids and
aromatios, qualities which act as refrigerants and anti-
septics, what an enemy it is to jaundice, indigestion
torpidity of liver, etc. It is a gentle spur and tonic
to the whole biliary system. Then I have read that"
It has been found by analysis to contain more phos-
phorus than any other vegetable. This makes it the
proper food of the scholar and the sedentary man • it
feeds his brain and it stimulates his liver. Nor is
this all. Besides its hygienic properties, the apple"
IS full of sugar and mucilage, which make it highly
nutritious. It is said, "The operators of Cornwall,
England, consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing as
bread, and far more so than potatoes. In the year
1801— which was a year of much scarcity— apples "
instead of being converted into cider, were sold to the
poor, and the labourers asserted that they could *stand
their work' on baked apples without meat; whereas

21

•>•>

SHARP EVES

I'oan „„,i„,^ The Ubfui ';'''"'".'"""' "' »" «"

'article of f,w<l «„rf ftT'"*" ''''"""' "P<"' Hu-m a.s

"."Pies and bread" ' ^"^'>"'""y "'"'« a dinner of „n,

,„«teeped f„.it ourtdlLXi w'^Tret; Tf T
no sweet apple, I am .,,1,7 . "? *'"*-''«li ha

apparently being le'ral. ,f I *':«.»""'"'""<' eleme
in that sour and el,Hh- ewi; '"/"K""''''" natu
«cU known that th^ P,„ ° ""■" '" »'"• o*"- It
uhile both our bird.! rr """f'" '''"''''' "" '"'.™
" vins. Perhaps t^i, T\ ^"^' ''*™ ™<'<" "' the

love of sweetsfwhi 'htaVT""-^ ^.""^ — »
trait. • ' ""^ '"' """l to be a nation.

andtSra^nt-^tthe r '"^t-'"""""'"""- -<><"'
'"ated from it The n„f°''^'* 'f ""*•"'''" «"■»!"

Duehess of oidenbtglf asTautif T "'"-""
pnneess, with a distraetin„ !!i "'^""''^"l "^ a Tartai
l-it pnekery to the taste '^ •""■' ""'* " ''^ *>'<' I^asl

=' Jst-'b';? ^rfJct'^Lt-f e'" V^ "»' "^ «""■■"

I'OWC, namely that tl f , *? *'"'"» Darwin's

Darwin saw a tiwn there ,?"" ',''"™^ '^^" """'e-

wood of apple trer that, -.r/TP'"'"'^' '""•'■«'' in a

in an orehard. T^ tree .•LlT.\"'"* """'y P""-^

■'"large branches eut off in the w ""'T/'' *<"' ""«
three feet deep „ ,le '^i''^'""^P'«'««dtwoor

develop into Z M^^ZiX tt tl"? """

-white and fineIyrvoureds.^'irit ^^ ^T *•"= '•»^''^'' «
<^ess a sweet treaellT, If V *^'' ''^•"'her pro-
children and thT:t " IMe '"'^ ''°''"-^-- The
0 pigs eat httle or no other food. He

THE APPLE

2.T

does not add that the people arc healthy and temper-
ate but I have no doubt they arc. We knew the apple
had many virtueg, but these Chilians have really
opened a deep beneath a deep. We had found out
the eider and the spirits, but who guessed the vine-^
and the honey, unless it were the bees? There is a
variety in our orehards called winesap, a doubly
liquid name that suggests what might be done with
this fruit.

The apple is the commonest and yet the most varied '"
am' beautiful of fruits. A dish of them is as becom-
ing .0 the centre-table in winter as was the vase of
flowers in the summer,— a boutpiet of spitzenbergs
and greenings and northern spies. A rose when it
blooms, the apple is a rose when it ripens. It pleases '^
every sense to which it can be addressed, the touch,
the smell, the sight, the taste; and when it falls in the
still October days it pleases the ear. It is a call to a
banquet; it is a signal that the feast is ready The
bough would fain hold it, but it can now assert its
independence ; it can now live a life of its own

Daily the stem relaxes its hold, till finally it'lets go
^ojr^etely, ami down comes the painted sphere with a
mellow thump to the earth, towards which it has been
nodding so long. It bounds away to seek its bed to
hide under a leaf or in a tuft of grass. It will now
take time to meditate and ripen! What delicious
thoughts it has there nestled with its fellows under
the fence, turning acid into sugar, and sugar into
wme I

How pleasing to the touch! I love to stroke its
polished rondure with my hand, to carry it in my
pocket on my tramp over the winter hills, or through
the early spring woods. You are company, you red-
cheeked spitz, or you salmon-fleshed greening ! I toy
with you ; press your face to mine, toss you in the air,
roll you on the ground, see you shine out where you

20

30

Si

24

SHARP EYES

«• animated I aW „L7 .^ ^°''""- "^<"» J°°
postpone the ea?Sr of 3' *° '"' ^o" ""ve.
•How compact- W.. ^°"' /»" «« so beautiful

the sun r/U^i^edC^'f tie'''' ^'T^ ^■

pendent vegetable existe^r^- I*""" -*° '""J*

?wn flesh, fapable rf S ^o^^dTd ir^}"' «« -^

ing away, and almost n* ,? ''?<^ded, bleeding, wast

" How it resiV, Ih! V;, rj^f'^^ damages [

as the ^CuX-^''^^'^!^ ""t almost as long

stroys the pottos anSlT ^"\ ^ '«* that de'

apple more crisp Mdv!„o^f ™u'' ""^^ "^es the

the chance NovfmW J,f^ ''' 'K^P^ ""t from

"thefrui^vendc^?n theXZr''''''''^- ^«° ^ «««
and be.. Ing his hands tot. T^ ''""P^^ "^ ^'et
naked .pp4 ,;4*°**°''««^^^^^ warm, and his

they do not ache to^fo M.„ rt •* ?*'*/' ^ ''""^e'' «

their circulation But tl,l^ I"" ''*'"^' ""^ e°"™n

"as the vender can ^ "'"' '*"■* " "^arly as long

lov^fl^s^Si^^ ';?' ^t°?-'' """ "-^ --t

wherever he iocs H?, W i^'/i" ^"^^ <"■ ^^ «ow,
yon are planted vour™^. "*!***'' " ""t planted til

"ing best where 'hrthr'mSrr';* ^'* ''«'• «''ri^-
and the frost, the p W „^?'a '"""» .*« ""estone
are indeed suigitivl of h j \' P™n>ng-knife, you
a iealthy Ii?f S t^e onen^':' """T*"' ■■"''''«*'y and
f rait I you mean nelthTr ,„ " '^^'"P^'-ate, chaste

satiety nor indolence nel?!..^"^ °°'" ''""■• ^'ther
Frigid Zones. Ce Xg J^ifrf "? ''"'*' »''■• *»»
is the open air, whoSlIJ « ^™" "'"«« ""^^t sauce
taste is sharpened by bn",? ^T""" °"'^ h* "hose
winter fruit, whin the 'i* 'J''^,'"- walking knows;
"•fruit always aZleh^ir "^ ''f* ••«"" brightest

-ust cune from the norih, Z\LZfl^:^ h^

90

THE APPLE

25

est, so sturdy and appetizing. You are stocky and
homely like the northern races. Your quality is
Saxon. Surely the fiery and impetuous south is not
akin to you. Not spices or olives or the sumptuous
liquid fruits, but the grass, the snow, the grains, the '
coolness, is akin to you. I think if I cculd subsist on
you or the like of you, I should never havr .,,i I r tem-
perate 01 ignoble thought, never be fe^orish or de-
spondent. So far as I could absorb ' • iransmiir*
your quality I should be cheerful, continei:- :, equitable, ^^
sweet-blooded, long-lived, and should thed warmth
and contentment around.

Is there any other fruit that has so much facial ex-
pression as the apple ? What boy does not more than
half believe they can see with that single eye of theirs ? ^^
Do they not look and nod to him from the bough?
The swaiir has one look, the rambo another, the
spy another. The youth recognizes the seek-no-fur-
ther buried beneath a dozen other varieties, the
moment he catches a glance of its eye, or the bonny- ^°
cheeked Newtown pippin, or the gentle but sharp-
nosed gilliflower. He goes to the great bin in the cellar
and sinks his shafts here and there in the garnered
wealth of the orchards, mining for his favourites, some-
times coming plump upon them, sometimes catching a ''
glimpse of them to the right or left, or uncovering them
as keystones in an arch made up of many varieties.

In the dark he can usually tell them by the sense
of touch. There is not only the size and shape, but
there is the texture and polish. Some apples are coarse- '"
grained and some are fine ; some are thin-skinned and
some are thick. One variety is quick and vigorous
beneath the touch ; another gentle and yielding. The
pinnoek has a thick skin with a spongy lining, a bruise
in it becomes like a piece of cork. The tallow apple"
has an unctuous feel, as its name suggests. It sheds
w ccr like a duck. What apple is that with a fat

26

SHARP EYES

2-t";^' f'teSS". -"" it^ own fle
ti line,— weather-stained f^ fl ? ""P''"'ss me as m

tZiaJ'T"*'' '''"■temeated ifrV.''^''™". ^h'^-i"

a tot-shaped mound^tvortrr Tf '',"^^' *'« ""=-6 wa.
I ^^uit. Then wrnr%r>;», -x ^ "^^'^"iiMflrvarip

,,^Pri=. appZhesMe buried^' *"""* ^"'^ ^"^ and
are remembered. With J'f ^'T"^'^' '" the garden
|;;'n^trate fhroURh thfsX!'! ""'', »« '-e Ro „^t and

"'"» dressing „f strawTla d ba^V''^'' «" *"'

™re. It ,s not quite

30

THE APPLE

27

f „ w ^^ J*""'?^* ^' '^^'^'^ ^<^ Placed it there last
fall, but the fruit beneath, which the hand soon e^-
poses, IS just as bright and far more luscious. Then
as day after day you resort to the h. le, and, removing
the straw and earth from the opening, thrust your ■
arm into the fragrant pit, you have a better chancS
than ever before to become acquainted with your
favourites by the sense of touch. How you feel for
them, reaching to the right and left ! Now you have
got a Tolman sweet; you imagine you can feel tliat '"
single meridian line that divides it into two hemi-
spheres. Now a greening fills your hand, you feel its
fine quality beneath its rough coat. Now you have
hooked a swaar, you recognize its full face: now a
Vandevere or a King rolls down from the apex above '"
and you bag it at once. When you were a school-
boy you stowed these away in your pockets and ate
them along the road and at recess, and again at noon-
time; and they, m a measure, corrected the effects
of the cake and pie with which your indulgent mother-'
nlled your lunch-basket.

The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not
to be questioned how he came by the fruit with
which his pockets are filled. It belongs to him. His
own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple =^'
Sap draws sap. His fruit-eating has little reference
to the state of his appetite. Whether he be full of
meat or empty of meat, he wants the apple just the
same. Before meal or after meal it never comes
amiss. The farm-boy munches apples all day long »»
He has nests of them in the hay-mow, mellowing, to
which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old
«rindle, having access through the open door, smells
them out and makes short work of them.

In some countries the custom remains of placing a ^'^
rosy apple in the hand of the dead that they may find

28

SHARP EYES

IS

it when they enter paradise r„ .u

.--oMt^rlratrtVti"^'^"''"- ^ '
When you are ashamed to b?» "'' ""'''«>™ sig

freet; when you ean car„ ...'"'"""S "-em on t1
>^«r hand not eou^tJn^BndT '" ^■°'"' Po^""^' «"

J^'m-neighbouriaaapZand " ?^ '" ""''».• who

, »ake no noetnrnal vSto If " ''r'""'"«. "ndjo

"lunch-basket is wilhont ,J orchard; when you

W'nter-s night b/Ji'^Lwe'";-'' 'It "»° P"- "

fruit at your elbow, then be „. , "" "'™8''t "f th.

« b^, either in heart oTjtrT""' *■"" "'' "° '«««e.

■appIeTtrerser^'-^-Jof himself with a„
When he has nothin/else ,„ / '' " P'P" »■• « eigar
«" apple. While he^is wai? i" '^ ^''^' l>e eats
«" apple, sometimes .e.eTa'o/tf'" *'"',''^"' ^e eat
.a walk he arms himself wlh f""' ^''n he takes
-bag is full of app "' Viffei""'''- "'^ "•"«"•■.?
Pamon and takes one hLsdf "ti^'P"" '» ^"^ «»">
solaee when on the road H. 1 ?'^" "« W^ chief
the route. He toss^te^l?? '^'V'"^ «« along
and from the top of the J! """ *'"^ car-window

«;.t taste.'\«\^^^^^^^^^^^ hist t, Z^^
?tely beneath the skin and th»t • ^*™'"" « ''"""edi-

of bahng it, by all means lea^?' '!"• ^y'- ^^'cad
proves the colour and vl!!i ? ! "'e skin on. It ;„
the dish. ""<' ^«^"y heightens the flavo„r °f

,,Po- apTetJUTbet '7'^?^""^ ~ ""

0^- Who, on i:^^:zi''j:^,T^^!i^yT'' ^ -d

THE APPLE

29

10

IB

midst of his discourse, pulled out two bouncing apples
with it that went rolling across the pulpit floor and
down the pulpit stairs. Th -se apples were, no doubt,
to be eaten after the sermon on his way home, or to
his next appointment. They would take the taste of
it out of his mouth. Then, would a minister be apt
to grow tiresome with two big apples in his coat-tail
pockets? Would he not naturally hasten along to
"lastly,'* and the big apples? If they were the domi-
nie apples, and it was April or May, he certainly
would.

How the early settlers prized the applet When
their trees broke down or were split asunder by the
stonns, the neighbours turned out, the divided tree
was put together again and fastened with iron bolts.
In some of the oldest orchards one may still occasion-
ally see a large dilapidated tree with the rusty iron
bolt yet visible. Poor, sour fruit, too, but sweet in
those early pioneer days. My grandfather, who was
one of these heroes of the stump, used every fall to *°
make a journey of forty miles for a few apples, which
he brought home in a bag on horseback. He frequently
started from home by two or three o'clock in the
morning, and at one time both he and his horse were
much frightened by the screaming of panthers in a"
narrow pass in the mountains through which the road
led.

Emerson, I believe, has spoken of the apple as the
social fruit of New England. Indeed, what a pro-
moter or abettor of social intercourse among our rural '"
population the apple has been, the company growing
more merry and unrestrained as soon as the basket of
apples was passed round! When the cider followed,
the introduction and good understanding were com-
plete. Then^ those rural gatherings that enlivened "
the autumn in the country, known as "apple cuts,"
now, alas ! nearly obsolete, where so many things were

30

SHARP EVES

l^^'^X'tLt'V'''''''' T"e larger and

/".<'«ed, ,he orchard' "' ^^"'ement of 1 1 ?""
'W, tends ,„J,na"d? """" "'most „t fr

»M erandmo t. •:r'i''PP'''-''«" t«^ ^--'^ ■* i» to
been sad an/ f :,' "'"> ''"'e seen tr„ .f ^ ' regular

-"rs, who ,faf "L""""^'' ^° --y w?„ t "\" ""^
sweeter than .?c T"""''<i till the a!-" i *"'' ^m-

"•-neath th^erhStr' """ =>»«« Cit t," ,,*''^™ '^

«e«p"red hfe/'"^' '""^ *»i» fr^mft"''" !?* '» the
■•-fleert ttTer^XT'r^ "» '^^en'^^^anl

' aaa making the

THE APPLE

31

orchard a sort of outlying part of the household. You
have played there as a ehild, mused there as a youth
or lover strolled there as a thoughtful, sad-eyed mau.
\ our father, perhaps, planted the trees, or reared them
from the seed, and you yourself have pruned and"
grafted them, and worked among them, till every
separate tree has a peculiar history and meaning in
your mind. Then there is the never-failing crop of
birds —robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds
hair-birds, orioles, starlings— all nesting and breeding'"
in Its branches, and fitly described by Wilson Plagg
as "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." Whether
the pippin and swcetbough bear or not, the "punc-
tual birds" can always be depended on. Indeed
there are few better places to study ornithology than"
in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, many
of the birds of the deeper forest find occasion to visit
it during the season. The cuckoo comes T.r the
tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen apples, the ruffed
grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds' eggs the
woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the
high hole for ants. The red-bird comes too, if only
to see what a friendly covert its branches form; and
the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the grove
near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin -•
The smaller hawks know that this is a most likely
spot for their prey; and in spring the shv northern
warblers may he studied as they pause to feed on the
fine insects amid its branches. The mice love to
dwell here also, and hither come from the near woods ^»
the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter will put his
head through the boy's slipper noose any time for a
taste of the sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chip-
munk esteem its seeds a great rarity.

All the domestic animals love the apple, but none "•=*
so much so as the cow. The taste of it wakes her up
as few other things dr, and bars and fences must be

20

82

SHARP EYES

^ell looked after \r

;>»t the ripe on^'for^V'l *' '^°^* '^^^ or pi

'^^^ is BO best about t* f i/^?^ ]« »^ «PPle, a

^ree. While rubbing herse?f J T /°^° ^^om tl
an apple sometimes fell ?^. '^.^ ^^^ observed th
a little harder. wh?n ^ ^"^ stimulated her tn in!

planting. She browse. tZ ™^^a«' are mostly of htt

•Ston^'." vigoro^'^y «» .'o™ as by ita
like th« f?P'°' "" ^"^'i* apple T^?"""' « 'h*

^ore pendent top <rf thf ben fl ''• ^^ t*"* ««* and
-hen bake7areTCr /."^ ""»^' »«««ons and

'^"^svt:siEl«-::.er^^^^^^

„»o-white fled. hfrCehed !*?'■« •'^^'^fo'^t

20

SS

THE APPLE

33

IS

spitz. I recently saw a barrel of these apples from
the orchard of a fruit-grower in the northern part of
New York, who has devoted especial attention to this
variety. They were perfect gems. Not large, that had
not been the aim, but small, fair, uniform, and red to"
the core. How inte ise, how spicy and aromatic I

But all the excellences of the apple are not eon-
hned to the cultivated fruit. Occasionally a seedling
springs up about the farm that produces fruit of rare
beauty and worth. In sections peculiarly adai>ted to ^
the apple, like a certain belt along the HuJsoa River
I have noticed that most of the wild, unbidden trees
bear good, edible fruit. In cold and ungenial districts,
the seedlings are mostly sour and crabbed, but in
more favourable soils they are of tener mild and sweet
I know wild apples that ripen in August, and that do
not need, if it could be had, Thoreau's sauce of sharp
November air to be eaten with. At the foot of a hill
near me, and striking its roots deep in the shade, is a
giant specimen of native tree that bears an apple that=«
has about the clearest, waxiest, most transparent com-
plexion I ever saw. It is a good size, and the colour of
a tea-rose. Its quality is best appreciated in the
kitchen. I know another seedling of excellent quality
and so remarkable for its firmness and density, that
It is known on the farm w-here it grows as the "heaw
apple." ^

I have alluded to Thoreau, to whom all lovers of
the apple and its tree are under obligation. His
chapter on Wild Apples is a most delicious piece of «°
writing. It has a "tang and smack" like the fruit it
celebrates, ard is dashed and streaked with colour in
the same manner. It has the hue and perfume of the
crab, and the richness and raeiness of the pippin But
Thoreau loved other apples than tho wild sorts and
was obliged to confess that his favourites could not be
eaten in-doors. Late in November he found a blue-

25

35

34

SriARp EYES

pearmain two ™^ •

he my, -dTA^ "'"''• "You »„„?! "' * '"»"

'Those wS u! """^ »"« looH corl'*'!"' »« '

"'f ^£Z/^ /"^ wet C: "Tvl^f.t'
iMve^ ' d T""*' "' the rocks i\^["'"«i «edg<

"nf " "°"ows long sincp «n^ "^ "® concealed faUo
of the tree itself ""l ^"^ f^^^^ed up by 4^ t

at lea J „ ^^?^^' b«t still with a v,' ?; , * n^onasterys
'■'> b" e,: S^;-^. -« iept if "i^ \ -rr '*'P
.. "sources M t?Sr ^J^^'^ than th:;"'i? It"^
from somo !,„ • '"e snckcrs wh.Vi, ?*" to look

Wges th";t"fn^' '™''' f- now'ar?,*'""*^
where fh^. ^^ *h® very mi/icf * " *hen one

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH

The traveller and eamper-out in Maine, unless ho
penetrates its more northern portions, has less reason
to remember it as,a pine-tree State than a birch-tree
State. The white-pine forests have melted away like
snow in the spring and gone down stream, leaving*
only patches here and there in the more remote and
maccessible parts. The portion of the State I saw—
the valley of the Kennebec and the woods about
Moxie Lake— had been shorn of its pine timber more
than forty years before, and is now covered with, a '"
thick growth of spruce and cedar and various decid-
uous trees. But the bird' abounds. Indeed, when
the pine goes out the birc k -es in ; the race of men
succeeds the race of giants, i .is tree has great stay-
at-home virtues. Let the sombi e, aspiring, mysterious '"
pine go; the birch has humble everyday uses. In
Maine, the paper- or canoe-birch is turned to more
account than any other tree. I read in Gibbon that
the natives of ancient Assyria used to celebrate in
verse or prose the three hundred and sixty uses to="
which the various parts and products of the palm-tree
were applied. The Maine birch is turned to so many
accounts that it may be well called the palm of this
region. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was made
especially for the camper-out; yes, and for the wood-«
man and frontiersman generally. It is a magazine, a
furnishing store set up in the wilderness, whose goods
are free to every comer. The whole equipment of the
camp lies folded in it, and comes forth at the beck of
the woodman's axe; tent, waterproof roof, boat, camp^"

35

36

® * ^P EVK8

"tensils, buckets

«joth, paper f„;,etr^I;-».«P«on,, „apk,„,_ ,„,

you ita v"':"* *<«<'' ««d fuel Th"."""'' ""•'=''«. ""
'i^^ „."'""""» with the uL 7?,'""'»e-W«-ch yiel,

IndVlt *'*•' "«e- We «» l*^"" ''^"- «nd come

?»d sweeten it a little? and Tthi IT""»" '" mollify
co<ree\:ra b'^'l"' ^^"- »£ dra'tln-" "»

7/,««y a go^ tti.XXn^?'- «»'^«' w^"

A TASTE OF MAINK BIRCH 37

oatmeal with the maple syrup in one of these dishes,
and the stewed mountain cranberries, using a birch-
bark spoon, and never found service better. Uncle
Nathan declared he could boil potatoes in a bark ket-
tle, and I did not doubt him. Instead of sending our»
soiled napkins and table-spreads to the wash, we rolled
them up into candles and torches, and drew daily upon
our stores in the forest for new ones.

But the great triumph of the birch is of course the
bark canoe. Uncle Nathan took us out under his'"
little wood-shed, and showed us, or rather modestly
permitted us to see, his nearly finished canoe; it was
like a first glimpse of some new and unknown genius
of the woods or streams. It sat there on the chips
and shavings and fragments of bark like some shy"
delicate creature just emerged from its hiding-place
or like some wild flower just opened. It was the first
boat of the kind I had ever seen, and it filled my eye
completely. What woodcraft it indicated, and what
a wild, free life, sylvan life, it promised ! It had such a "
fresh, aboriginal look as I had never before seen in any
kind of handiwork. Its clear yellow-red colour would
have become the cheek of an Indian maiden. Then
Its supple curves and swells, its sinewy stays and
thwarts, its bow-like contour, its tomahawk stem"
and stern rising quickly and shamly from its frame
were all vividly suggestive of the race from which it
came. An old Indian had taught Uncle Nathan the
art, and the soul of the ideal red man looked out of
the boat before us. Uncle Nathan had spent two days «"
ranging the mountains looking for a suitable tree
and had worked nearly a week on the craft. It
was twelve feet long, and would seat and carry five
men nicely. Three trees contribute to the making of
a canoe besides the birch, namely, the white cedar for"
ribs and iiumg, the spruce for roots and fibres to sew
its joints and' bind its frame, an?? the pine for pitch

i

38

SHARP EVES

JO,

necessity ever bore ni"^ ">' """•-y pC of

and th "" '"^«'- "'"■•>» and the t! • ""f ' " '««ked

'"i"'f !''«'« added after we reaoS "*"" '*» J"''"*''.
Though we were not inJ^iVl^^^°"'^^««t'nation

»»•• guide. Uncle Nathan »f^'^ '" ">« birch-trif";
country, yet he ma? S'wdl th""" ''•"""•" ■■" "« tt

"atrrt^-rsj^^^^^^^^^^^^

and making it ILT"^' ««d kneelin,. in hi« *

Z r:^^ tdtratxr-"'^ -^-"^'

-•»K . ^ *''« "nnscles of th„ v^'^'^"'« and athletic
^CV'"' "■»'' ~ b'„:? »?,«''ouMc«.X
"e had been a hunter ««/* ^^^ s«nie spirif

^-a'^; he had ^ro^^rayt 1^'^'^^ ^^^^ ^ y
and matured there «n J *"^ ^<^ods, had rinAn^J

" whof '■" V"^ * 'et;oZ7d"S''r ■'r '''-^^^^^^^^

whole mate-uD was in '"."** tne order nir of it-i,'
fhe »<«a and the ]^ hens S-' !> I"?" """^"^ U it
'"5 of the g«n.e,^vemhin^« ?" P'''*""'-^ «oiout
"nd penetrative glance H.*^ ■"" '"'^ quick 4""

in the shade tu , ® ^^*® plants fha*

touched hi^^ith'tnt r. ";' -"'"^-td

-'■-nee, had indeed ^^n;:^CV,;■<•J^-V

15

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH 39

rich deep leaf-mould that was delightful, and that

ff „n i!* . T '■^ "^^^ ^"^ ^°°"^^ ^««k «f a°d beneath
t all but he presented none of the rough and repel-
ling traits of character of the conventional backwoods- =

Knn; K T''? ^' ""^^ * ^"^^^ «^ logs on the

Kennebec usually having charge of a large gang of

men • m the winter he was a solitary trapper and
hunter in the forests.

Our first glimpse of Maine waters was Pleasant
Pond, which we found by following a white, rapid
musical stream from the Kennebec three miles back
into the mountains. Maine waters are for the most
part dark-complexioned, Indian-coloured streams, but
Pleasant Pond is a pale-face among them both in
name and nature. It is the only strictly silver lake I
ever saw. Its waters seem almost artificially white
aiid brilliant, though of remarkable transparency. I
think I detected minute shining motes held in suspen-
sion in It. As for the trout, they are veritable bars
of silver until you have cut their flesh, when they are
the reddest of gold. They have no crimson or other
spots, and the straight lateral line is but a faint pencil
mark. They appeared to be a species of lake trout
peculiar to these waters, uniforn^ly from ten to twelve
inches in length. And these beautiful fish, at the time
of our visit (last of August) at least, were to be taken
only m deep water upon a hook baited with salt pork
And then you needed a letter of introduction to them'
^ey were not to be tempted or cajoled by strangers.'
We did not succeed in raising a fish, although in-
structed how it was to be done, until one of the natives
a young and obliging farmer living hard by, came
and lent his countenance to the enterprise. I sat
in one end of the boat and he in the other; my pork
was the same as his, and I manoeuvred it as di-
rected, and yet those fish knew his hook from mine

10

20

2(1

SO

SS

S,(|

40

SlIAKP KYES

Ked mountains risin.r „„ f,. »«'"t-iir, wiiri lujirh^ r„j^.
Shorn o^ovoir?y^ '?''/'"" '^"^ ^-^-" «-^

tired, 2^;^ t h^/ j:: : ;r':/r r ' t "^^^••

'"margin and gazing d own i„t If n"^ ?'""^' '^'^

lucent denth^ Tit , i '^'^ ">«rvelIousIy trans-
were seen If* I J""''^"''" ""^^ fragments of roeks
sT ewi^ ;"'/ '^''''^\ «^ twent.v-five or thirty feet

he h,s a stone tea ;m«w T.,'" ^'T^' ''"" '^
its arms a little for .?s evenl illlT ""'f T"

Ea:raT„r?;T';j,it « "^ „, jz^.

A TASTE OP^ MAINE BIRCH

41

Theu his strange horse lauglitor by day and his weird
doU'ful cry at night, Kke that of a lost and wandering
spirit, recall no other bird or beast. He snggcsts
something almost supernatural in his alertness and
amazing quickness, cheating the shot and the bullet of
the sportsman out of their aim. I know of but one
other bird so quick, and that is the humming-bird,
which 1 have never been able to kill with a gun. The
loon laughs the shot-gun to scorn, and the ol)]iging
young farmer above referred to told me he had shot '"
at them hundreds of times with his rifle, without
effect,— they always dodged his bullet. We had in
our party a breech-loading rifle, which weapon is per-
haps an appre('iable mcmient of time (luicker than the
ordinary muzzle loader, and this the poor loon could •■•
not or did not dodge. He had not timed himself to
that species of firearm, and when, with his fellow, ho
swam about within rifle range of our camp, letting off
volleys of his wild ironical ha-ha, he little suspected
the dangerous gun that was matched a-iinst him.'"
As the rifle cracked, both loons made the gesture of
diving, but only one of them disappeared beneath the
water; and when he came to the surface in a few mo-
ments, a hundred or more yards away, and saw his
companion did not follow, but was floating on the'*
water where he had last seen him, he took the alarm
and sped away in the distance. The bird I had killed
was a magnificent specimen, and I looked him over
with great interest. His glossy checkered coat, his
banded neck, his snow-white breast, his powerful lance- ^^
shaped beak, his rod eyes, his black, thin, slender
marvellously delicate feet and legs, issuing from his
muscular thighs, and looking as if they had never
touched the ground, his strong wings well forward,
while his legs were quite at the apex, and the neat' "
elegant model of the entire bird, speed and quickness
and strength stamped upon every feature,— all de-

^■4

4Z

SHARP EYES

lighted and lingered in the eve Ti,. i
like anything but a siUv hLl , " '""" »PP<'*«
«.me collection, or in the sh'on 7/°" "' ''™ "
where he usually Cksve^"* "' the ta^tidermist,
•Nature never meant th^ Z^. ""' ""^ ?o°^Hke-
his feet and CTol mUT '" ''""^ "P- "' ^ ^

Indeed, he eaZtl and '"ce^p^tro? V '? r'"'"'"''-

pendicular attitude Wt ■? fZ ?■ ?" *"'' " » P"'-

,.upon his feet like a' ba"rS otrrth'^if-.r"'

"and grace and alertness go out If hil \r '""^'

men sits upon a table as ,J1 ?I? . "• ^^ «P««'-

his feet trailinVbehind C hit T^"^ "^ '^' '"'"•

his head elevated »r,T v u., ^^^ ''"' ""d trim,

.ct of bri^gW tharflert f*'T V""'"' "' '' '" *••«
"vigilance and lower staZ,.T *" ^'' "P"" y»"' «°d
The loon is toX fliS'^ "^ V""" ^^''^ ""eament.

birds; he swo^s do^':: tnL"* '"j" ^ »» *"«
them, and not Vv^nthl "^known depths upon

Unck Nathrsarhe ha72:*T T" *'""''' "'■»•

'"»d in a moment come up w7tt a^ari?? ^T""""''

he would cut in two with 1,1. ?® *""*' "'•'ich

low piecemeal. N!"CJi,''^ '"l"'' ""'^ '"«'■
bolt a fish under the wlterh!™ f *' "««• ««
face to dispose of it Tlo^^^ ""* """^ *" «« ^"f-

"under water in W„„*) T, '"/ "*" «"' « ""k^

~en the parent b^n^^^LX^JJuh TIT "* ""'

;ne upon ite back. When cSy pres'edl? d/"""^

div," as he would have it and ?.ft ^^ •'*'"'*' '"■

sitting upon the water Thenar* j-" ^""^ ^"^

•"when the old one returaed 13 , °5 d'»ppeared, and

the shore. On th" w"g o'rh^JIhe TTl'""^
unlike a very lanre dn-t °™™f° '.*"« '"on looks not

into the wa^eiTe a bir'u'T^'t'l?'""'^'''
not take flirfit from iL , j *«"• " probably can-

"saw and dtrfC^in hi tt'e™ w """■^'f^ ^''*
^ field, unable to launch irsewtS tie r"'" "»> " »

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH

43

From Pleasant Pond we went seven miles through
the woods to Moxie Lake, following an overgrown
lumberman's "tote" road, our canoe and supplies,
etc., hauled on a sled by the young farmer with his
three-year-old steers. I doubt if birch-bark ever made
a rougher voyage than that. As I watched it above
the bushes, the sled and the luggage being hidden, it
appeared as if tossed in the wildest and most tempes-
tuous sea. When the bushes closed above it I felt as
if i* had gone down, or been broken into a hundred
pieces. Billows of rocks and logs, and chasms of
creeks and spring runs, kept it rearing and pitching
in the most frightful manner. The steers went at a
spanking pace ; indeed, it was a regular bovine gale ;
but their driver clung to their ^Ide amid the brush
and boulders with desperate tenacity, and seemed to
manage them by signs and nudges, for he hardly ut-
tered his orders aloud. But we got through without
any serious mishap, passing Mosquito Creek and Mos-
quito Pond, and flanking Mosquito Mountain, but see-
ing no mosquitoes, and brought up at dusk at a lum-
berman's old hay-barn, standing in the midst of a
lonely clearing on the shores of Moxie Lake.

Here we passed the night, and were lucky in hav-
ing a good roof over our heads, for it rained heavily.
After we were rolled in our blankets and variously
disposed upon the haymow. Uncle Nathan lulled us to
sleep by a long and characteristic yarn.

I had asked him, half jocosely, if he believed in
"spooks**; but he took my question seriously, and
without answering it directly, proceeded to tell us
what he himself had known and witnessed. It was,
by the way, extremely difficult either to surprise or to
steal upon any of Uncle Nathan's private opinions
and beliefs about matters and things. He was as shy
of all debatable subjects as a fox is of a trap. He
usually talked in a circle, just as he hunted moose and

10

15

20

25

30

35

44

SHARP EYES

IS

r.;"3A" s. ".szs ^£t s.X'

much ofWs nfi\^r""."' '''''* ''<' "'d »p'"t ™
ground, he was careful that you should not scent ht

Men an7t^ f '™° '""^ '"«'«">• ''"'at he had

seen and known about spooks was briefly this --In

wThT Tf « "^i^hbour he was passing th nigh

'renutatinn .Th • *' "" Englishman, who had the
reputation of having murdered his wife some years be

nis grown-up children, was eking out his davs in nnv
erty amid tliese solitudes. The fhree menTre sleen"

hf/l °.M " ^"'^^ *« "al-in into two rooms At

apartment. Late at night, Uncle Nathan said b,
awoke and turned over, and his mind was oceuoied

'nhe'prrturn hT' t°.° "" '''"'» -""body Sd
ine partition. He reached over and felt that b«f h «f

his companions were in their places b side him Jd

U r TnTe'l"'''""''- ^"^ P^-"' - -"«' "er
n i' [ """^ '''"•°' n«»'«<l about heavilv «n<I

"mS ; !f V""" "^ P''"'^ ''«'--J« the w^Ho the
Unci N^fn". '1 felt 7 '"'^ ""^ dreaming,"*''slM
;„T«, ' . *'* "^ "y «yes twice to make sure

he J,f ""'■f/'lf "P™" ^'•^»"J' the door openrf
he was sensible of the draught upon his head .n^ '

"CrrVr Tr^ "r^"^ p-t ht 'h ffe^^h:

swirl of her skirts as she went bv Ti.L +1,
a bud noise in the room as ifTomete h ad^fa entt™
whole length upon the floor. "It jarred the Toise)"

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH

45

said he, "and woke everybody up. I asked old Mr.

if he heard that noise. 'Yes/ said he, 'it was

thunder.' But it was not thunder, I know that";
and then added, "I was no more afraid than I am
this minute. I never was the least mite afraid in"
my life. And my eyes were wide open," he re-
peated; "I felt of them twice; but whether that was
the speret of that man's murdered wife or not I can-
not tell. They said she was an uncommon heavj-
woman." Uncle Nathan was a man of unusually"'
quick and acute senses, and he did not doubt their
evidence on this occasion any more than he did when
they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear or a
moose.

Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, *•'
and its waters compared with those of the latter arc
as copper compared with silver. It is very irregular
in shape ; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow-
moving grassy creek, then expanding into a broad,
deep basin with rocky shores, and commanding the 2°
noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the pond-
lily and the speckled trout are found together,— the
fish, the soul of the purest spring water ; the flower, the
transfigured spirit of the dark mud and slime of slug-
gish summer streams and ponds; yet in Moxie they"
were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid
the birches, poplars, and white cedars near the head of
the lake, where the best fishing at this season was to
be had. Moxie has a small oval head, rather shallow,
but bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of'"
springs, where the trout lie ; and a very broad chest,
with two islands tufted with pine-trees for breasts.'
We swam in the head, we fished in the neck, or in a
small section of it, a space about the size of the Adam's
apple, and we paddled across and around the broad "
expanse below. Our birch-bark was not finished
and christened till we reached Moxie. The cedar

ii

46

SHARP EYES

10

fj.

lining was completed at Pleasant Pnn^ u
the use of a bateau h„T tM • °^' ^^®^® ^<^ ^^^
to the seams till we reaoLntJ'^r. ^"' °°^ *PP"«d
down in it for thrCiJm. "^ ^^^'' > ^^" ' ^'^^^t
•pie paddle intoX wate! -> ' ^""^ '^'"^'^ '""-
quickness and VeedThI it d.v'T^"^"^ ^'*^ «"«h
I had spurred a more restive an?'^'^-."'," ^° °^^ ''^'^
was used to. In fact I hlTn T'"*"^ '^"^^ **^«" ^
sustained so close a r2r /'' ^'''' ^" * ^''^^t that

'responsive tor;XS wi^^ "^^"v^"' "«^ ^
first large trout from Jt;* ^,^^° ^ ''^"^ht my

closely, and my enSial /Tf*^^'^^ ^ ""le too
ever, with a live coal a'd^ '^ V ^'"^' ^^'«h, how-
mended. You cannot n. % ^'""' '^ ''°'^°' ^^ *« q^icWy

•»in a birch-ba^rVcro K tt'^^artm '' ^ "^^■^^"^'
land. Yet as . h„j» •"<■."" wait till you get on dry

"« I hadVmrgined One'n"^' f ?^ »'''' "««Wi8h»

becomes a spfrtsman an^ ?^ '? •" »" ""* «!««■ «»

ings with it must eharJl 1 • '?f '°T' «"^ » h^ deal-

'"precision, moderatitTJ^'"'*" """ '""^^ *Wi.gs,_

Trout weight fourfnd fi"""'''''"™-

taken at MoJe. but none of. h,f- "'"""'' ''"» I^"
I realized the fondert hlf ?l !."! "*"" *" <»"• hand.

when I hooktd the Lt twn " ^"'^■' *° "^"''^'' '"

"my extreme soIicU«de74the?Z'"'"' f "^ "^«' """J

donable. My friend in r.i.T I'^ ' *"'» "as par-

said I implored h'm to r.ll"'? ""^ *P'''>''« '■"' "amP-

the lake that I mtht have , ^.'"^ '" ""^ ""^"'^ •*

But the slander hfsb.t^t?'"" *" T"'""™ -y feh.

"water near nf^W ^ ^ ^.™'° "^ ''"th " 't. The

justbel"o:"th?s: S'/ndrnv^h '"^f ''""'» °"
wrap my leader aW.'„ ??u * ""^ determined to

for ^heX'rTp:^"! rw"y.MTfarth? ' " 7^''^
, Pfayed. It was not longafter that ™w °"*. *>' ^

he had -■tL^^tr.tr^^rn^.irht'/tr

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH

47

ity he atretched his tall form into the air and lifted
up his pole to an incredible height. He checked the
trout before it got under the boat, but dared not come
down an inch, and then began his amusing further
elongation in reaching for his reel with one hand,"
while he carried it ten feet into the air with the other.
A step-ladder would perhaps have been more welcome
to him just then than at any other moment during his
life. But the trout was saved, though my friend's but-
tons and suspenders suffered. "

We learned a new trick in fly-fishing here, worth
disclosing. It was not one day in four that the trout
would take the fly on the surface. When the south
wind was blowing and the clouds threatened rain, they
would at times, notably about three o'clock, rise hand- "
somely. But on all other occasions it was rarely that
we could entice them up through the twelve or fifteen
feet of water. Earlier in the season they are not so
lazy and indifferent, but the August languor and
drowsiness were now upon them. So we learned by»*
a lucky accident to fish deep for them, even weighting
our leaders with a shot, and allowing the flies to sink
nearly to the bottom. After a moment's pause we
would draw them slowly up, and when half or two-
thirds of the way to the top the trout woald strike, "
when the sport became lively enough. Most of our
fish were taken in this way. There is nothing like
the flash and the strike at the surface, and perhaps
only the need of food will ever tempt the genuine
angler into any more prosaic style of fishing; but if »"
you must go below the surface, a shotted leader is the
best thing to use.

Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than
one; from its embers and flickering shadows, Uncle
Nathan read us many a tale of his life in the woods. "•»
They were the same old hunter's stories, except that
they evidently had the merit of being strictly true, and

48

SHARP EYES

M

I

IB

SO

SB

JTthaJsTJr' ''''^ ''•'•"•"*^ «^ marvellou.,. Unci.
XNathans tendency was rather to tone down and C
little hi8 experiences thnn ♦« "'"" "own and be-

ever brairired A «li ? f t ^^«'fff^»*«t<^ them. If he
» Xn f!S- i ^"""^ ^ ""'^P^^'t »»o did just a little

thro";h the e wtX'Tc^d^^^^^ ^ "«^ '^"'^'"«

about wavth-fT ' \ ^1^ '* '" ''"^^ « «^y. »-«"n'l-

passage with the riflemnn referred to shows thp A\f
trVj^r. ''""'»". ''-i-ff tl'e chaIIon!r«I party "a,l

and ™ted evJry"™': """' '■"'™"" *"»" "" «-•
.J?'' '"I!"!'/' '"'•' """'^ Nathan, -I was sorrv I

hh 'orKn;"",'!' ™ *" """^ ^ ""dThTiH

1W ffi ' • "* ''"* "'•* «'" o^'^i- i' for a week "
BuH^ ^LZ7 .p.omi„i„us was the failure „Tm;
Bulls Eje when he saw his first bear. They were

A TASTE OP MAINE BIRCH

49

hand moved liko the hand of n clock/' naid Uncle
Nathan, "and I could hardly keep my seat. I knew
the bear would see us in a moment more, and run."
Instead of layinpr his jfun by his side, where it be-
lonfired, he reached it across in front of him and laid'
it upon his rifle, and in trying to get the latter from
under it a noise was made; the bear heard it and
raised his head. Still there was time, for as the bear
sprang into the woods he sto|)pcd and looked back, —
*'a8 I knew he would," said the guide ; yet the marks- '"
man was not ready. **By hemp! I could have shot
three bears," exclaimed Uncle Nathan, "while he was
getting that rifle to his face!"

Poor Mr. Bull's Eye was deeply humiliated. "Just
the chance I had been looking for," he said, "and my"
wits suddenly left me."

As a hunter Uncle Nathan always took the game
on its own terms, that of still-hunting. He even shot
foxes in this way, going into the fields in the fall just
at break of day, and watching for them about their ="*
mousing haunts. One morning, by these tactics, he shot
a black fox ; a fine specimen, he said, and a wild one,
for he stopped and looked and listened every few yards.

He had killed over two hundred moose, a large
number of them at night on the lakes. His method"
was to go out in his canoe and conceal himself by
some point or island, and wait till he heard the game.
In the fall the moose comes into the water to eat the
lai^e fibrous roots of the pond-lilies. He splashes
along till he finds a suitable spot, when he begins feeu-
ing, sometimes thrusting his head and neck several
feet under water. The hunter listens, and when the
moose lifts his head and the rills of water run from
it, and he hears him "swash" the lily roots about to
get off the mud, it is his time to start. Silently as a
shadow he creeps up on fhe moose, who by the way,
it seems, never expects the approach of danger from

30

S5

50

SHARP EYES

•of the moo» can t dU i„„fl '' '"'* "" ^""^ 'o™
the hunter sees this dart^ i^i^'^? "•»" "• When
tie «ky and «t. th« ,»^ ^'•'^T ""^ "^*" his gun to
it taiTt coterth'^rrrand'^™"' *''«°^-"

moose was reposing udoIT. '"ow^boes. The

.tretched out in ?4nt^f ht ^'""'^' "'"' h" head
««e a cow resting Th!, J^- *"" """^ "onetimes
'• a quartering iofihJu^hZX:^.™"'' 'I^' <""y
Its heart Studyini, the n.v>M ! '* *•"'<* «»eh

his own time. l^hunt^fZ'^'lf'-"'^'^'^
■nto the air, turned, and camera Irl T' "^"^
tnigbt towards hhn "iTn!^ i.^!''^''""»trides
"-ee„;«, „e,» «id Uncle n'^^ \tf r.-^ «'
WMhed myself somewhere eSffa.* ^S ' ''^. '""'P' ^
lying right down in his wth^ C! .1 "'' '" ^ *<«
•topped a few yards ZJt^l7:A »^, i *''i' """e animal
^, hole through his hts^ "^ '"' '''^^ "'^h a bullet-

th.?:LtrSr^^*;felti^'»ter,that is, restrict
or mountain, trampW dT^!? **°"°° "' the forest

. P«.thB in aU dir^^iLXTro^X^-^'"'""*
dainty morsels flrat: whentl,.? """^ *he most

"second time they crop a Ll7i^ """ *** ground a
they sort still cW tfll W /^f ' ^^ '"rd time
Spruce, hemlock, popla" tL^^y'' r"""* is left.
everytningwithikZh'isto^jS "/ ™™S? *""•
hunter come, upon one „f "h J^'^ "Ir ^"' *he

So he eonsidel^ the"^!^; ^rfheVn^ '^^^^

10

A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH 51

H^? i i^'^T' ***^ ''^PP"^ *^'K«' «»<! «tudie« eiery
n«^i/° * "^^^^® * detective. Uncle Nathan said he
could not explain to another how he did it, but he could
usually tell m a few minutes in what direction to H*
for the game. H,. experience had ripened into a kind
Of mtuition or winged reasoning that was above rules
He said that most large game, deer, caribou, moose
bear when started by the hunter and noi mTch
scared, were sure to stop and look back before disap-
•nST^ T sight; he usually waited for this laat
and best chance to fire. He told us of a huge bear

tLSfir\''''t ""^""^"^ ^^"^ still.hunting foxes in

Wni h«' * M^'"! "^^ ^'"^^ *°^ ««* i"t« the woods
before he could get a good shot. In her course some -

dwtance up the mountain was a bald, open spot, and
he felt sure when she crossed this spot she would
pause and look behind her; and surV enough Hke
,^ r!'' ^' '""r*y «'' *h« ^«tt«r of her; she

JKud^h^r ' '°^^ ^^^'' ^"^ '- ^--^« ^^'^^

Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many
bears, and some of his experiences revealed an un
usual degree of sagacity in this animal. One April

old bear left her den in the rocks and built a large
warm nest of grass, leaves, and the bark of the white
cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood in a low
sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she
conducted her two cubs, and the family beZ iTfe in-o

tree above them was for shelter, and for refuge for
the cubs in case danger approached, as it soon did in
IVT 'L^Z^' ^'^*°- H« happened that way
Z ""J^" ^r ^'^^ ^«^^^- Seeing her track in -
the snow, he concluded to follow it. When the bear
had passed, the snow had been soft and sposhy, and

10

i

-r

f

I y'fi

'if"

52

SHARP EYES

10.

lb

she had "slumped," he said, several inches. It was
now hard and slippery. As he neared the tree the
track turned and doubled, and tacked this way and
^ that, and led through the worst brush and brambles
to be found. This was a shrewd tliought of the old
uZ'\ff^ could thus hear her enemy coming a long
CI ^'^° V! ^r^ ""''y ''^^^' When Uncle Nathan

^rm^ Xn h K "'"'' ^' *'""^ '' '"^P'y^ ^"t «t*"
ZI^' >c ^^^^eran to circle about and look for

snow "" N Z^^'P^^"^ «^ nail-prints upon the frozen
snow. No finding them the first time, he took a
larger circle, then a still larger; finally' he made a

i f r fu^.'P^""^ °'«'^y "^ ^^«"^ searching for
some clue to t^ie direction the bear had taken, but all
to no purpose. Then he returned to the tree and
scrutinized it. The foliage was very dense but pr^'

=0 Jf foH '^' ^"'i*^'" ''^''^ «"^y ^^^«aled a mass
of foliage apparently more dense than usual but a
bullet sent into it was followed by a loud wStmper ng
and crying and the other baby bear came tumbl ng

«7ollL.f fr' fJ^' "^^*^'^ ^^«''' Uncle Nathan

a ar^t °f ''f ^'" ^"^'^ *^^^^^' «"d «'ter about

Jreshfrail LT^I""^^^''^*^" ^*' "P^'^ ^^^ «"«^' the
fresh trail he had been m search of. In making her

Z?" ?T ^«/.«t^PP«d exactly in her old tracL

- ie trok'toTh "' "^' '^^ "'^^ *'"^ ^«^* "« --k tm
sne looK to the snow again.

During his trapping expeditions into the woods in

pa^rtTe'niir ""'"' '' '"^^ ^^" ^^^^ NaTha"
cold at fh«?^ ' ^' ^' ""'"^ *^^'" P'"«^«^^ ^ith the
cold at that season m our tent and blankets Tt

™th:r'"f ' ^'^*^^ ^^i ^^ -^' in tt coldi
weather. As night approached, he would select a
place for his camp on the side of a hill. With one of

A TASTE OP MAINE BIRCH

53

his snow-shoes he would shovel out the snow till the
ground was reached, carrying the snow out in front,
as we scrape the earth out of the side of a hill to level
up a place for the house and yard. On this level
place, which, however, was made to incline slightly'
towards the hill, his bed of boughs was made. On the
ground he had uncovered he built his fire. His bed
was thus on a level with the fire, and the heat could
not thaw the snow under him and let him down, or
the burning,' logs roll upon him. With a steep ascent^"
behind it the fire burned better, and the wind was not
so apt to drive the smoke and blaze in upon him.
Then, with the long, curving branches of the spruce
stuck thickly around three sides of the bed, and curv-
ing over and uniting their tops above it, a shelter was '^
formed that would keep out the cold -and the snow,
and that would catch and retain he warmth of the
fire. Rolled in his blanket in such a nest. Uncle
Nathan had passed hundreds of the most frigid winter
nights. »'>

One day we made an excursion of three miles
through the woods to Bald Mountain, following a dim
trail. We saw, as we filed silently along, plenty of
signs of caribou, deer, and bear, but were not blessed
with a sight of either of the animals themselves. I*»
noticed that Uncle Nathan, in looking through the
woods, did not hold his head as we did, but thrust it
slightly forward, and peered under the branches like
a deer or other wild creature.

The summit of Bald Mountain was the most im-'"
pressive mountain top I had ever seen, mainly, per-
haps, because it was one enormous crown of nearly
naked granite. The rock had that gray, elemental,
eternal look which granite alone has. One seemed to
be face to face with the gods of the fore-world. Like "
an atom, like a breath of to-day, we were suddenly
confronted by abysmal geologic time,— the eternities

M

SHARP EYES

past and the eterniticR in fnmo tk-

place w« noticed .everal deep parallel groove- made
by the old glaeier,. I„ „,o depre»,i„,„ „„ ZZm

mdcscriUably aneient and unfamiliar. Out »t this

-rate Ifet' "'^"' '"'^'' •""»•' f"«» «"= mooVor tt

berries and blueberries, or huckleberries. We were

orbi^h'?:it^^:vr.^l~;rtnrtr-

the lookout for the bea«, but M^" to^X^™

»h.i ^i"' •"'"•"""•'^»'"'«'n««oofourparty,^u,rn«l
here and encamped upon the mountain, they mH^
during their stay, but failed to get a wcSThoT The
nfle wa, in the wrong pl.ee efch tZ The Jan
with the shot-gun saw an old bear and wo cubs Wt

around for his scent, and then shrink awav TW
were too far off for hi. buckshot. I must^i fo,^^

w^isTi? wi^L'r :Lrrayrth:\^-"-'

be wen, and in a cleareratmospherethefMtof Moose
head Lake would have been visible. The higheTtTa

low, rwing above Dead River, far to the west and rT.
-«w.^r "^^ tl'"*^ *"« •«•"«"' '*e eno'^ou
• bug* tou der on the top of the mountain thatTd
been aclit m two vertically, .nd one of the hahr*

A TASTK OF MAINK HIUCII

65

raoml n few feet out of its bed. It look^-d recent
and f'-miliHr, but HUK^eHted f?odH inHteiid of men. The
force that moved tlie rock had pbiirdy come fr.,m the
north. I thought (.f a similar Ix.uldcr 1 had seen not
onK before on the highest point of the Shawangunk*
Mountains, in New York, one side of which is propped
up with u large stone, as walLbuilders prop up a rock
to wrap a chain around it. The rock seems p,)ised
lightly, and has but a few points of bearing. In
this instance, too, the power had come from the "•
north.

The prettiest botanical specimen my trip yielded
was a little plant tliat bears the ugly name of horned
bladderwort {Utricularin cornuta), and which I found
growing in marshy jilaces along the shores of Moxio'»
Lake. It has a slender, naked stem nearly a foot
high, crowned by two or more large deep-yellow
flowers,— flowers the shape of little bonnets or hoods
One almost expected to see tiny faces looking out of
them. This illusion is heightened by the horn or 8pur=''
of the flower, which projeds from the hood like a long
tapering chin,— some masker's device. Then the
cape behind,— what a smart upward curve it has
as if spurned by the fairy shoulders it was meant to
cover! But perhaps the most notable thing about the"
flower was its fragrance,— the richest and strongest
perfume I have ever found in a wild flower This
our botanist, Gray, does not mention, as if one should
describe the lark and forget its song. The fragrance
suggested that of white clover, but was more rank and'"
spicy.

The woods about Moxie Lake were literally carpeted
with Linnae. I had never seen it in such profu-
sion. In early summer, the period of its bloom, what
a charming spectacle the mossy floors of thest; remote «
woods must present! The flowers are purple rose-
colour, nodding and fragrant. Another very abundant

56

SHARP EYES

1^

10

18 '

iff

Uncle Nathan said it was called "heart corn/' though
he did not know why. The only noticeable flower by
^the Maine roadsides at this season that is not com
monin other parts of the country is the harebeU. Its
brighc blue, bell-shaped corolla shone out from amid
the djy grass and weeds all along the route. It was
one of the most delicate roadside flowers I had ever
seen.

w.!5^ "^ u ^ ''^'^ ^l*^ ^ «*^ ^" ^«'"e ^M the Plicated
woodpecker, or black 'log cock." called by Uncle

^«?^?.- ?"^ '''^" ^ ^«^ "«^«^ before seen or
heard this bird, and its loud cackle in the woods about

largest of our northern woodpeckers, and the rarest.

il\T''^ """l^ *\^ '''""*' ""^ 'ts hammer are heard only
m the depths of the northern woods. It is about ob
large as a crow, and nearfv as Hack.

surfeited with ,ts trout, and had kiHed the last Mer-
ganser duck that lingered about our end of the lake,
ine trout that herl accumulated on our hands we had
S!r 1 \!''^ '". * J*''^^ champagne basket submerged in

feasted our eyes upon the superb spectacle, every

••«^7J V '^^«"^|y'° couples and in trios, and were

pect that the divinity who presides over Moxie will
see to It that every one of those trout, doubled in
weight, comes to our basket in the future

WINTER NEIGHBOURS

The country is more of a wildenicas, more of a wild
solitude, in the winter than in the summer. The wild
comes out. The urban, the cultivated, is hidden or
negatived. You shall hardly know a good field from
a poor, a meadow from a pasture, a park from a forest. •
Lines and boundaries are disregarded; gates and bar-
ways are unclosed; man lets go his hold upon the
earth; title-deeds are deep buried beneath the snow;
the best-kept grounds relapse to a state of nature;
under the pressure of the cold all the wild creatures"
become ou£aw8, and roam abroad beyond their usual
haunts. The partridge comes to the orchard for
t>uds; the rabbit comes to the garden and lawn; the
crows and jays come to the ash-heap and com-crih,
the snow-buntings to the stack and to the barn-yard : »
the sparrows pflfer from the domestic fowls; the pine
^sbeak comes down fx^om the north and shears yonr
?^^ of their buds; the fox prowls about yonr
premises at night, and the red squirrels find your
gram m the bam or steal the butternuts from your-

TlLJl f\ '"'"i^''' '*® ^**™« ^** calamity,
A^S. 2lS ^***"* ^^ "*'«* creatures and sete them
adrift Winter like poverty, makes us acquainted
with strange bedfellows.

For my part my nearest approach to a strange bed- »
fellow is the little grey rabbit that has taken up her
abode under my study floor. As she spends the day
here and is out larking at night, she is not much of a
bedfellow after all. It is probable that I disturb her
slumbers more than she does mine. I think Ae is-
some support to me under there-a sflent, wild^yed

17

58

SHARP EYES

f|:

ft

.that touch is of cl"i;^™'''« /»»» <" "e". .nd
• of emulation. I think I !„ fc ? .. *^' *" worthy
the floor, ,nd I hoM L* ^^ *^-'''" trough

kvpy thought I i,S^,t! r '"""'• ■^^ I ""'o «
when I think of t^et toH *');?<"',' "^P^^My
doorway at nieht T „„ / •/ """ P'»«« ^7 her

'•to eatch a gli^J^ of hTthe 1 *'"*• '^^ ""»"««•
stealthily leaped over th!f °"'"' °«ht when he
«Iongbetween^he Zdy'JdXr' "f^-J "Iked
one could read that "t w« not « ,T'.^»"' "'^'•'y

, passed there. There wTr.nlf..-'"'^^'* """t had

"track; it shied off awav7^mTi"'«^ *"'""''« '" «he
•» ifeyeing it suspS,^^ ''"27?^''"? f™"'"' '*-
and deliberation of the f,;, t M\".5"'*''««'"tion
hold; wariness was in e«.^7 ? '• ^^' •"" ""t too
a little dog that hl^ !^^ footprint. If it had been

"when he e^eS my^pathTe „*°mT'''' *»' ^^■
np to the bam and W. "" """^ ^o^owed it

a bone; but this S«™ !/r* ™*""» "oo-d for

house, up the hill, icrL tb. v ? ™* '""» the

"neighbouring farmstead^lrt •. *'"•'' *»''"d. s

^t. *...and L-^^^'^t^ "«»• - the air and

-ttd.rrwhotx tdrii"''''"' ' - »'-

«nd, is a little Mdow^ wk ^' ™PP»"^ «*ter hia

"of an old appL7ree W * " !!"*/' " ™ the heart

keeps himself in s^rLTr "" ^T*" '^«" he

but late every f^fana^^T""? ^ ^^ "•» know,

hiding.p,aee?rdSov:^g'Seri''.''" '"^. hi.
, and proclaimed from tte fri. ! •'^/"^ ""'"''"tchesi

"half an hour or »?^4 .im *"■" ^'"' *•"> «Paee 7t

ean eommand. Pon7«ml !? P""*" "' '<"« they

cn«» «.e out to bZiz .uru"usi*;.s^*^

WINTER NEIGHBOURS 59

LU\r'Vh°''''°''TT "°' «PPl«-tree, sometimes in
^rih^' ^^^T-^ I *»eard their cries, I knew my

^Zf^^^ T ^'.""^ ^''^''^' The birds would take
tu^ at looking m upon him and uttering their alarm-
notes. Every jay within hearing would come to the-
?^^K *"*l«*.*;°c« approach the hole in the trunk or
S/wl'**" * ^^°^ °* breathless eagerness and ex-

ontoT^ V^ '* '^' °^^' ^"^ *»»«^ J«i" the
« fl^^*i u'^J approached they would hastily take
a final look and then withdraw and regard my move-"

Stnt r'°i!f ''^K ^^*'^ accustoming my eye to the
^r«V'^ V°^ ^^^ '^""'^y ^«'' « ^^^ '"^"^ent;, I could
fS""*!^' '"V^' "^* «* *^« ^«"°°^ f"?ning sleep.
T flST' «*y' ^^a^se this is what he really did, as
I first discovered one day when I cut into his retreat"

L .l!.-T\ ?^' ^""*^ ^''^^^ «"^ the falling chips
did not disturb him at all. When T reached in a stick
and pulled him over on his side, leaving one of his

Sl/^w^ "*"*' ^^ """^^ '^^ attempt to recover
himself, but lay among the chips and fragments of«»
decayed wood, like a part of themselves. Meed, h
nrSl J V ^"^ ?i.® ^ distinguish him. Nor till I had

itrf lw!S'^ .'t!™:^^**'^ «'^«P ^'^ ^««th. Then,
Inl!^ ' r*^ pickpocket, he was suddenly trans--
fomed into another creature. Tis eyes flew wide

^Sl 'J'" J"*"' °^"*^^^^ °»y ^"^e'-' h" ears were de-
pressed, and every motion and look said, 'TTands off.

irr """"^C T'*"^^°^ '^^ «?«°^^ ^^d ^^' work.!;
soon began "to play possum" again. I put a cover"

over my study wood-box and kept him captive for a

week. Look m upon him any time, night or day, and

he was apparently wrapped in the profoundest slum-

««: M ' l'""* ?'.'f '"^^''^ ^ P"t ^"to his box from
time to time found his sleep was easily broken: there ••
^^aV^ a^8«dden rustle in the box, a faint squeak,
and then sflence. After a week of captivity I gave

eo

SHARP EYES

I'

ff-

h

10

IS

livts forthfr 7 """1 '"'"""y than with the Lt,
'ivcs farther away. I pass his castle everv niahf „„

' hi» iltl * • """ P""y ™" to »ee him standinir in

h.8 doorway surveying the passers-by and the ifnd

scape through narrow slits in his eves FW f™., .

«;«i™/'""f" "ow have I obsess I^ Z^L

w.l«ht begins to deepen he rises out of LisTaviHv

Pletely framed by iUo^tllnro Ur ff^/j tZ

Ku eveiy eye tnat does not know he is therp Pi.«k.

«vl^JZ:Z^ *' "^^ ''^'' *•"* ""^ -er P^net^
nis secret, and mine never would have done «. 1,7^

t«lt a^lr «■"«-««»» to -e hL ™ave hlle'

•£:w?ttJ^\';^;i^.-X-:d5'

htiTor'oVtii.Vnrfr" ""*'"' '^^-'"«

..;« in the day, burhetgfXSTo" 'Z^

••^%rjuVr:fe-L-rd;:pt"i?i

WINTER NEIGHBOURS

61

ner. When he is not at hig outlook, or when he
18, It requires the best powers of the eye to decide the
point, as the empty cavity itself is almost an exact
image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully
studied it could not have answered its purpose better. »
The owl stands quite perpendicular, presenting a front
of light mottled grey; the eyes are closed to a mere
slit, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak buried in the
plumage, and the whole attitude is one of silent,
motionless waiting and observation. If a mouse'*
should be seen crossing the highway, or scudding over
any exposed part of the snowy surface in the twilight,
the owl would doubtless swoop down upon it. I
think the owl has learned to distinguish me from the
rest of the passers-by; at least, when I stop before »»
him, and he sees himself observed, he backs down into
his den, as I have said, in a very amusing manner.
Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches and chickadees-
birds that pass the night in cavities of trees— ever
run into the clutches of the dozing owl, I should be =»
glad to know. My impression is, however, that they
seek at smaller cavities. An old willow by the road-
side blew down one summer, and a decayed branch
broke open, revealing a brood of half-fledged owls,
and many feathers and quills of bluefbirds, orioles^ and "
other songsters, showing plainly enough why all birds
fear and berate the owl.

The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly
increasing among us, and that must add greatly to the
food supply of the owls and other birds of prey, seek =«»
to baflBe their enemies by roosting in the densest ever-
greens they can find, in the arbor-vitee, and in hem-
lock hedges. Soft-winged as the owl is, he cannot
steal in upon such a retreat without giving them
warning.

These sparrows are becoming about the most
tieeable of my winter neighbours, and a troop of tli

ss

i

62

SHARP EYES

ft

their neighbourliM^'!"inL?^''TT°""««' "-em in

under a favZue dW ^^ ^ discovered tlie snow

• Perehed coS w^th ti-. '^'""^*'"'y »«»« frequently

investigating I w^""! T ? "' ">« f ruit-buda. On

stripped «f iia bur^ave'rUtci^h.'"',*^" "'"'^
part of the soarmw. „/"J''?'""8hbourIyact on the

eom I had S^ for Xm"*«"^T '" '"' ""*''
"notice on them tharnn^ ?' ^? ' *' "»«« served
an end. And a WmT ^"^ """''"'«"'''■"« »»« at
bird. The stont I k, fjf ^"^ *' " '''«k with this
with which I followed ilT"'' *'"",™' ""-J «•"> »«
•a a kick; hn1^LfZl7'.T?V\^'" "k™
• that stood ready in th7^„^^ t"*' "^ *■■« «hot-gnn
high dudgeontTnd we« 1?^ J*"" • P'-™^ '*" »
and were thei veryX L!?^ tf ? '" «"»» ^«y«.
at hand wher wIsTall hi ^ ^""^^ *'"' ""« ia near
these sparro^ as thiv ,r V'^V"'""' ^^ "P""
■continent of E^^pe *^nd «?»* •n!*'!'''' »" '■"
the little wretches th. 7fi aiV'J"" "* """^ *» kill
When I t^aownmv^y, t T^J'' *•'"* *« have.

ably rememberTatYpsa^fsr^S^' ^fl,''"^
am as a sparrow alonA r,^^ \ ' ^ watch, and
be the recoEon ;^u"^" J*^ J'»7-top /• "-d »«y-

The sparrows have tllJ OM w Tf .'" '"^ "^ '"nd.

ahall find it L7ndZ ^f T""" "' "'«• •"d "«

in eheek. Onr nativf W^ '" ""*'" "* ''^P *bem

"prolific, les^^sUwriet .„"" ""°'' <'"'^™"*' '™«

the rwi nr.ii *v . HHore-iarJc, the pme ffrosbpslr

red-poll, the e«lar-bird,-feeding\pon^S

2S

I

WINTER NEIGHBOURS 68

apples in the orchard, upon cedar-berrieg, upon ma-
ple-buds, and the berries of the mountain ash, and
the eeltis, and upon the seeds of the weeds that rise
above the snow in the field, or upon the hay-seed
dropped where the cattle have been foddered in the*
barn-yard or about the distant stack; but yet taking
no heed of man, in no way changing their habits so
as to take advantage of his presence in Nature. The
pine grosbeak will come in numbers upon your porch
to get the black drupes of the honeysuckle or the "»
woodbine or within reach of your windows to get the
berries of the mountain ash, but they know you not;
they look at you as innocently and unconcernedly as
at a bear or moose in their native north, and your
house 18 no more to them than a ledge of rocks »•

The only ones of my winter neighbours that actually
rap at my door are the nut-hatches and woodpeckers
and these do not know that it is my door. My retreat
IS covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and
the birds, I suspect, mistake it for a huge stump that"
ought to hold fat grubs (there is not even a book- '
worm mside of it), and their loud rapping often
makes me think I have a caller indeed. I place frag-
ments of hickory-nuts in the interstices of the bail
and thus attract the nut-hatches; a bone upon my"
window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and the downy
woodpecker. They peep in curiously through the win-
dow upon me, pecking away at my bone, too often
a very poor one. A bone nailed to a tree a few feet
m iront of the window attracts crows as well as lesser ««
birds. Even the slate-coloured snow-bird, a seed-eater
comes and nibbles it occasionally.

The birds that seems to consider he has the best
right to the bone both upon the tree and upon the sill
18 the downy woodpecker, my favourite npiffhbour"
among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote
the remainder of this chapter. Hia retreat is but a few

I

\ 5?

64

SHARP EYES

!i

" TK- t ^- , °' *"® previous year,
yean Z. Th . 1.^ •po e-tree one fall four or five

hToS'^^fr.'^ri:!"' ' '?■"' took posL:ir 0

to en««^™., "° """^v *» "y that this seemed
wenrage the male very much, and he persecuted th.

Sr^d St !t T"" ?^*/PP»^ upon ttrSene He
"limv m' "J""" 'P't^'-^'y '"d drive her off One

K*.o„- *!. - "^ airaid to come forth nn^

brave the anger of the male Not till T h^A ?

zz rift ""- ""t -^ '««" ^'^^"e-
-.^trr^'S'thrmt'vtrK™

WINTER NEIGHBOURS tf

the branches. A few days after, he rid hinuelf of
his unwelcome neighbour in the foUowing ingeniooa
manner : he fairly icutUed the other cavity ; he driUed
a hole into the bottom of it that let in the night and
the cold, and I saw the female there no more. I did*
not see him in the act of rendering this tenement
uninhabitable; but one morning, behold it was punc-
tured at the bottom, and the circumstances all seemed
to point to him as the author of it. There is probably
no gallantry among the birds except at the mating^'
season. I have frequently seen the male woodpec^r
drive the female away from the bone upon the tree.
WTben she hopped around to the other end and timid!/
nibbled it, he would presently dart spitefully at b ~
She would then take up her position in his rea- una '=
wait UU he had finished his meal. The posit '.n of
the female among the birds is very much the sam > a?
that of woman among savage tribes. Most of the
drudgery of life falls upon her, and the leavings of
the males are often her lot. m

My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I
value him as a neighbour. It is a satisfaction during
the cold or stormy winter nights to know he is warm
and cosey there in his retreat. When the day is bad
and unfit to be abroad in, he is there too. When I«
wish to know if he is at home, I go and rap upon his
tree, and, if he is not too laay or indifferent, after
some delay he shows his head in his round doorway
about ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon
me— sometimes latterly I think half resentfully, as«»
much as to say, «I would thank you not to disturb me
so often. After sundown, he will not put his head
out any more when I call, but as I step away I can
^t a glimpse of him inside looking cold and reserved.
He 18 a late riser, especially if it is a cold or disagree-
able morning, in this respect being like the bam fowls ;
it is sometimes near nine o'clock before I see him

tn

f

li"

•• 8HABP BYES

He uV«^S)ne to S^^ " •"»'«?»»' by four p.™

his example. m,ii*if. ""r". ^ •*» "•» """"nend

•know. *"" '^ ""te is I should like to

lead. I like Sr^We"' OnelA'if ' '^ "«""' «""
. « dry limb within euy rear „/ T "? "'=»'"'*«*
"work also in Septemterfittlr^. •""''•/'"»« ""•

not a good one- thriimi. *"'*''« "hoice of tree was

the woCan"h;d'; 'd^thTcaX^r ^'*"^' '"^
had come out, makinir a hnl. f^ .k^ '*"**• » «••*
he went a fe^ inch« down ?h. i l""'"' """• Then
and excavated a I.™ „Zm^-""'* l""* '«'««'' «««'".
•gain come too n^llZ^^""" '"'«""«r. but had

the bark protectrhim fn onf nlj """"i'^ "«"' «'«"
very much weakened The "L*^^"!! '"^ ""^ "'»'' "a'
atill farther downTie Um? anT dHri'''"'"'""^'
or two, but seemed to M,.„ 1- ""* '" an inch
stopped, and I c"^Iuded thfh^^u'^"''' «"> '»*
doned the tree ?»»,"„„ ti. "^ "^ *'»«'y aban.

her day, I th™t irmy^tw^Tn"'" «"".' "'"y Novem-
to feel something .of? LJ **" '"^ *•« ^"fpriiied '
»hju.d the bird c"4rl: atr™/, " „^ '"* "•^ -^
"■••■n I was. It had decX Tl^ T "T ""■•Pfiaed
m 'he old limb, a decWo„ ii l.!?' ** "'*'* "* ''»"'«
for not long aft^r, on a stormy'^th^'rT *" r^"''
way and fell to the ground ' ^'^""^ «*"«

18,

SO

80

"SI'S ass. ■-.^ A^i

WINTER NEIGHBOURS 67

covered fre«h yeUow chips gtrew ng the new-fallen

"o«r, and at onee thought of my woodpeckt« On

ookmg .round I «,w where one had £. a? work

nee was about fifteen feet from the ground, and an.
peared aa round aa if atruck with a eompai uZ
on the east aide of the tree, so as to avoid the orevaU
ng west and north-west winds. As it was 3y?;,
nchea m duimeter, it eould not have been the work «?••
the downy, but must have been that of the hrirv or
'\'l^ y'""*-""!"^-! woodpecker. His hom7h«d
probably been wrecked by some violent wind and he
was thus providing himself another. I„ diggi'g ou?
these retreats the woodpeckers prefer a dry brittk"
trunk, not too soft. They go in horizonteJh; to the
eentre and then turn do»,nwards, enlarging the tunnel

dXTe.*?.' *"' "■"» "■"^'^ " ^ »"• Ip'e o/XI
Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears
them to me and that has never been pointed yTotfc^
by our ornithologists, is their habit of dr«Sln
the spring. They are songlesa birds, and yet «II a«
musicians ; they make the dry limbs eloquent of Z
coming change. Did you think that lo2d, sonorous"
hammering which proceeded from the orchard or from
the near woods on that still March or April morS
was only some bird getting its breakfast f It isXwLy
but he IS not rapping at the Coor of a grub j he i° ™^'
p.ng at the dwr of spring, and the dry 1 mb S

Zi ,r m" ■»«¥» ™d ri'ythmic beat that breaks
upon the silence, first three strokes following each
other rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with longer
mterviUs between them, and that has an effect 3n
the alert ear a. if the solitude it«,lf had at last found^^

SO

, »o

. SA

ff

68

(
4

SHARP BYES

10

l\i

voice-does that suggest anything less than « A^Uh

mi.^ . , ",>y "™" a^out the size of one's wrist

was Hard and resonant. The bird wouir? ir*-,. i,:-
«tion there for .„ hour .t . tlm^ Z^AZZ

delivering h« blows upo" theTmb I%T. '.H I' '"*

higher, shriiler nZXZ\ 'Z^t TeUlL:
his drum he was much disturhpd T a.a * f^*™\'^e
w« in the vieinity, bufit «et ll^'t^Z'"'
near tree, «nd eome in haste tnfkf" mc from a

"^'-"'«. -d with spread pTn,ageltjrC"S
arum, i was mvadmg his privacy, desecrating

Jim.

WINTER NEIGHBOURS 69

his shrine and the bird was much put out. After
«>me weeks the female appeared; he had literX
drummed up a mate; his urgent and of t-repeated aJ
vertisement was answered. Still the drumming Sid
not cease but was quite as fervent as before. If a
Td ITili • Vk"" ^^ drumn-ing she could be kept
nnt 1 1 •♦'^^ ^^ "^'^ drumming; courtship should
not end w.th marriage. If the bird felt musical be
fore, of course he felt much more so now. Besides
that the gentle dcties ne. :.d propitiating in behalf
of the nest and young as well as in behalf of the mate.
After a time a second female came, when there was
war between the two. I did not s'ee them come to
blows but I ;,aw one female pursuing the other about
the place, and giving her no rest for several days »
She was evidently trying to run her out of the nei^-
bourhood Now and then, she, too, would drum briefly,
as if sending a triumphant message to her mate.

The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry
imb to which they resort at all times to drum, like"
the one I have described. The woods are full of
suit^le branches, and they drum more or less here

f^r^- Tv ''"' ^^' '*' favourite spot, like the grouse,
to which it resorts, especially in the morning The"
sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that this
sound proceeds from the same tree or trees about his
canip with great regularity. A woodpecker in my
vicinity has drummed for two seasons on a telegraph-
pole and he makes the wires and glass insulators rinir "
Another drums on a thin board on the end of a lone
grape-arbour, and on still mornings can be heard a
long distance.

«.A'"ri ""^ ?'*°V" * Southern city tells me of a
red-headed woodpecker that drums upon a lightning-"
rod on his neighbour's house. Nearly every clear, stSl
mommg at certain seasons, he says, this musical rap-

70

ff

II

r

m

ki

:■?*?-

SHARP EYES

10,

like m„™ij, i, veVrpl^i;^^"' "" " •=-'' -'-»■>-

call. «*«i_„A,i^XA- J- i""*^' '»"'' »""»«
gins to rap with hi. hlV ,■''' ""^ ""en be-

'«t note C rltd^oure^r'^lT'' '•^'''"' ""■
<lrum sitting upon the S- '/".u J'™ '«''' k™
'eock, or piloted woo.Wkfr .h f" ^""- '^''e log
of our northern "pec r I h '"'^'"' '"'' "'"^t
His blows should rkHhoeehZ"""' '""'' '»™»-

inS't'^sre'sst rr.!;'"^ '"^ *'-- - "'^-

-mer is dead or.muffled and l\ %T°"* »' •>« hai-

It is only upon d^^Be^^^ ,• k"'' J"" " ''="' J''-^-

that he b^s his rev^ul t^^ •'^"'"*»'"""'A.
mate. ™'"'' *" "P""? and woos his

»drrxrth:w's"L:rf: ^'"' *"» — «>

it. Speaking of the r^d belHM ""•"* "»»"terpreta
rattles like the rit of th. k ""*"*' ■>« »J^= "It
and with sueh vioTenee as ,V^^ "",'•'"' ^"^ "■"'".
more than half a mfle off- L,d rf "^ '" """ *««>■«'

"sect it has alarmS '• H.' T. '^"^ '" '"'«'• 'he in-
drum of his riv^^'the bril?."^ """^ *» •>""• «>»
female; for there arenl L^t^" ?7 '^'P«'^ »' «he

On one oeeasion ?saw D^^ ."'..''° ^"^ "■»•«•
female flew quicUy thrleh f7 ? *"' '''•"■" "hen a

"few yards beyond hi ?I* '"' »"'' ""shted a

kept hi, Pl.ce%pparemly°withmr™ '""''""^■' ""O
The female, I took it h«ZJ! i."""'"" « """sele.
She flitted aCt f;l'fjlTT'^,''\'''^*'^'«°'ent

be known by the aCncl of ,hi"°^ '"•" '™«'^ "^y

"back of the head) apna~„tv?. fHT .'P"' "' t^e

own, and now and ?hen w™i^ 'f «f business of her

«ve manner. The ':::ie''rtirh: 7"^^^

WINTER NEIOHBOUES

71

out of this little flirtation I cannot say.

Our smaller woodpeckers arc sometimes accusnl of
.njuring. the apple and other fruit trees but thede™
dator IS probably the larger and rare; ye low beC

LT; f "•" ."'"T" ^ """«'" »"« "f these fc"lows in -
he act of sinking long rows of his little wellsTtho

Z^ n"" "PP'«-"-™- There were series of rinl „?

fThcr.h''e .Mrrof*""' f'"'^ ^"""^ "■" »'»■ --
1 mem tne third of an inch across. They are evi

:r/h;^t,riLtrnr'"--^''^-

t.nli'"' '""""'"S »•'"««>• the same bird (probably)
tapped a nuple-trce in front of my window in flfTvI^i

P^'^' rt '"«° 'he d»j was sunny, Tnd the Mn
oozed out, he spent most of his time there He kn?£
the good sap.days, and was on hand prorntlv for hu
Upple; eold and cloudy days he did not appeal He

u^oles failed to sup^y"^;;^ -he wouTdrkirhe"/
dr^lmg through the bark with great e«,e and qS
u«s Then, when the day was warm, and the san ran
freely, he would have a regular sugar-map edrbaueh-
Bitting there by his wells hour after hour, andt hst"
as they became filled sipping out the sip TWs h,

^tive''H':",i'*;,™"""^"""'""'' ••"" -» ve!? su^!
gestive. He made a row of wells near the foot of the

up and down -he trunk as these became filled H^
would hop down the tree backwards with the „ta«t

20

■^sism?i^^^!mm

W^^M^W;

72

SHARP EYES

'oX:'' 's" "' "«* '""> '- t::l?.ix side

tf t. 1 Mw whe * ^rK l'*^ i" *'P «'«' 'here to

fat bone near his sap-worta- ft. ^ ™"''/ °P *

came there several HmZ j ? ?.'""'y woodpecker

"orthe*^u''rx!:^tr"hr%r'''^ i*' »^-'«'

not Breed or XuriH t » • •^.'"' woodpecker does

men, .re now «„d th" ^^r"""'^' 9'^^ »*"y «P*«i-
month. 7^ • *° ''^ "«* with in the colder

Toasts depizr """^"^- «" «- 1 «'- to

"doirrtheSSf ^""si'in jL?r "'?'*'•• *-

add the following „„t«Th w% '^.°'™' y*" '

w» bright and spri^;Se7i\ «rd the filf'""""^

. sing that momine and th, w • "' »P«n-ow

" cling hawks TnT.t / "* "creaming of the cir-

tain and"f long inter^i buTh '' "?f ?" ""■'''-

up «.d beat a lively tett' 1. •,r'' ""^ ^' ^'"^^

be ceased to lodm ^.h^ m ""^ '**»'"' «dvanced

"and find noboS^'at hom/ w'T"*- ^ """M "P

•• .'K^in'-rs;.- '■?'' ''%^^ed"a''w^arrfS
•ion also left his winte^f^rtc Jinfhe"s"pX"'"C

WINTER NEIGHBOURS

73

then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and
the nut-hatches and chickadees succeed to these aban-
doned cavities, and often have amusing disputes over
them. The nut-hatches frequently pass the night in
them, and the wrens and chickadees nest in them I
have further observed that in excavating a cavity 'for
a nwt the downy woodpecker makes the entrance

f^ tJ^— "^^'u ?' ^«/*««^«ti«K his winter quar-
ters. This is doubtless for the greater safety of the
young birds. ^

The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in
the old apple-tree, but had not got his retreat quite
finished when the large hairy woodpecker appeared
upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, early
one frosty November morning. There was something
impatient and angry in the tone, that arrested my
attention. I saw the bird fly to the tree where Downy
had been at work, and fall with great violence r

10

IS

./n

Tiips

the entrance to his cavity. The bark and tl -, ups
flew beneath his vigorous blows, and before I fairly
woke up to what he was doing, he had completely de-
molished the neat, round doorway of Downy. He had
made a large ragged opening large enough for himself
to enter I drove him away and my favourite came
back, but only to survey the ruins of his castle for a
moment and then go away. He lingered about for a
day or two and then disappeared. The big hairy
usurper passed a night in the cavity, but on being
hustled out of it the next night by me, he also left, hai
not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity in
a neighbouring tree where Downy and his mate had
reared their brood that summer, and where I had
hoped the female would pass the winter.

20

35

SO

il

I

NOTBS BY THE WAT
I. Th» Wkatbeb-wisb lixjsauit

» I ^JT^, "^ '','" PentUMjed that the muskrat
weaUer, especially, he possesses some secret that T

that he built unusually high and massive nwto I
noticed them in several different localit.M iH shal
^ .I«gg»h pond by the roadside, whfck I uU ,„'
pass dai y in my walk, two nests ^ere in pr,^ „J

£.«et:t:f:;:hT^te„^/,rrdiS^^^^

directions where the material had bj?„ br^ghtne
"houses were placed a little to one side o? fh.-,.7
channel, and we« constructed enSrei; of / s^X

oJl^a^^Tth'eltrrio^'ca'vt oTLf w "IT
"excavated afterwards, as'^ott^r^ "SL'Jhe^

snape of a miniature mountain vprv h^i/i o«^ *

»^fd « ?hat"th'1-.« **" r?"' »" ""« nortt-X
tS un tM. !i '"' "*''"~* ''""''^ «« his ma.
.~ J .^ ? **''' ''"P'- •nd thrust it out boldiv

defined. After they were two feet or more above Uie

'-W^T

NOTES BY THE WAY

75

water, I expected each day to see that the finiahing
stroke had been given and the work brought to a
cloae. But higher yet, said the builder. December
drew near, the cold became threatening, and I waa
apprehensiye that winter would suddenly shut down
upon those unfinished nests. But the wise rats knew
better than I did; they had received private advices
from headquarters that I knew not of. Finally, about
the 6th of December, the nests assumed completion;
the northern incline was absorbed or carried up, and
each structure became a strong massive cone, three or
four feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever
seen^ Does it mean a severe winter! I inquired. An
old farmer said that it meant "high water," and he was
right once, at least, for in a few days afterwards we
had the heaviest rainfall known in this section for
half a century. The creeks rose to an almost unprece-
dented height. The sluggish pond became a seething
turbulent watercourse; gradually the angry element
crept up the sides of these lake dwellings, till, when
the nm ceased about four o'clock, they showed above
the flood no larger than a man's hat. During the
night the channel shifted till the main current swept
over them, and next day not a vestige of the nests was
to be seen; they had gone down-stream, as had many
other dwellings of a less temporary character. The
rats had built wisely, and would have been perfectly
secure against any ordinary high water, but who can
foresee a flood T The oldest traditions of their race
did not run back to the time of such a visitation

Nearly a week afterwards another dwelling was
begun, well away from the treacherous channel but
the architects did not work at it with much heart-
the material was verj- scarce, the ice hindered, and be
fore the basement-story was fairly finished, winter had =
the pond under his lock and key.

10

IS

90

ss

I

^J

76

PHARP EYES

*!•'

I^'!

10,

•i'

m

were placed on the banks of rtreama. they were huiHa

s Tr'.*'^ 'r^ '^ ^^-^ biiuTrnM*: ran

»«^* ""^ ^"'^ *^« '*" «' 1879 camerthe
muakrate were very tardy about beginning their hoiT

aymg the corner-stone-or the coLr-sod-aCtTe'

Irt of December, and continuing the work sIoX and

inddTerent y On the 15th of the month the „«rt wm

•L^ri^en"'- JJ^' ' "^'' '^^'^^'^ * mild ^Snt^r"

k^nw^J "*^' *^^ **"'^° ^'^ «"« o' the mildest

tWhoul"'"^ ^'*"- ^""^ ™*- '^-^ "*«« -- '-

Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise

were wagging their heads, some forecasting a i^M

X.K °',.'"^J""'^'»*'- ^»>«"t November Ist a
month earlier than the previous year, they began their

hate' ]^t iTmt' '' TV "^"- ''^^y-P^^r^l
=of„J ^^ S *'^'"^ *^' ^^«* ^as coming. If I had

nave Deen frozen in the ground, and my aoDles inmahi
m unprotected place,. When the cold w^ve sZck

'•™w .1, °r ? «°?P'«*«d «>«■• dwellinj, it ladted
only the ridge-board, «. to apeak; it ne^ed a liW^
"topping ont," to give it a finished I^tfiSttht
.t never got. The winter had come to stay and

»?.W i * ^.'^ "' December must have aston-

ished even the wise muskrats in their snug mm,"

upon the white, deeply frozen surface of the pond and
wondered ,f there was any life in that appaTnt'ip
„"'«•"•«• I tl"""'' my walking-stick sha^lytato ft
"when there was « rustle and a splash intTt'Le ™ter'
M the occupant made hia e«,ape. What a damp Ce
ment that house has, I thought, and what a pityTo

NOTES BY THE WAT

n

rout a peaceful neighbour out of his bed in this wea-
ther, and into such a state of things as this I But water
does not wet the muskrat ; his fur is charmed, and not
a drop penetrates it. Where the ground is favourable,
the muskrats do not build these mound-like nests, but '
burrow into the bank a long distance, and establish
their winter-quarters there.

Shall we not say, then, in view of the above facts,
that this little creature is weather-wise f The hitting
of the mark twice might be mere good luck,; but three "
bull's-eyes in succession is not a mere coincidence; it
is a proof of skill. The muskrat is not found in the
Old World, which is a little singular, as other rats so
abound there, and as those slow-going English streams
especially, with their grassy banks, are so well suited '^
to him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller, but of
similar nature and habits. The muskrat does not
hibernate like some rodents, but is pretty active all
winter. In December I noticed in my walk where
they had made excursions of a few yards to an orchard •"
for frozen apples. One day, along a little stream, I
saw a mink track amid those of the muskrat ; follow-
ing it up, I presently came to blood and other marks
of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking
in between the stones, I found the oarcass of the luck "
less rat, with its head and neck eaten away. The
mink had made a meal of him.

II. Cheatinq thb Squirrels

For the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall
I was indebted to the grey squirrels. Walking through
the early October woods one day, I came upon a place '*
where the ground was thickly strewn with very large
unopened chestnut bun?. On examinatmn I found
that every bur had been cut square off with about an
inch of the stem adhering, and not one had been left

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78

SHARP EYES

lit!

, ! .

10

fine chestnuts, a.d l^^nt'^tZLT^lZ^'^^tt
burs open on the tree the crows aid iavs „ H hi

"and the pi~ to come t ?„f f,,"°"'l''« °* *« ^-'y^
forestall e'lfn'ts a IM , ? ^i , fut'off th^h"" ^ T"
they have matured An/^ /* i „ *^® ^"^^ ^^en

wea^ther wTutt'^ve^^'Tnf S 1™ f '^ ««""-
the ground- I shall C™ i, ! • , "" *" "P™ o"
"gather up iy nut"" tL l""*- "•'"■"/'^'^ "^ «■"« to
take the ch/nces of « ^.^r"?,' «* «»«««. had to
along, butt: had fify Z» I ^'^ T^l*. """■"■'f

so

NOTES BY THE WAY

79

III. Fox AND Hound

I stood on a high hill or ridge one autumn day
and saw a hound run a fox through the fields far be-
neath me. What odours that fox ikiist have shaken
out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily,
and how great their specific gravity not to have been'*
blown away like smoke by the breeze 1 The fox ran
a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few
feet of a stone wall; then turned a right angle and
led off for the mountain, across a ploughed field and a
succession of pasture lands. In about fifteen minutes »»
the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air,
and never once did she put it to the ground while in
my sight. When she came to the stone wall she took
the other side from that taken by the fox, and kept
about the same distance from it, being thus separated "
several yards from his track, with the fence between
her and it. At the point where the fox turned
sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few yards,
then wheeled, and feeling the air a moment with her
nose, took up the scent again and was off on his trail *»
as unerringly as fate. It seemed as if the fox must
have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, and
that his scent was so rank and heavy that it settled
in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes
and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have "
caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some
minutes later, but I did not. But I suppose it was
not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself
upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of
the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these =«'
tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not
have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for sev-
eral hours. For the time being she had but one
sense : her whole soul was concentrated in her nose.

n

I

.1

80

SHARP EYES

.»■•,.

i

?^'

. ':■ ' ■

€^

m t

10

ter llr"'l°^ ''^?'' *^^ ^"°t«^ «t«rts out of a win-

•abZ thfn ". ""T *" »' '0 ""'"de the air from
effluvium of the ^orthe'ho/nd wm JS it % hT

ihrt^-o^tr: ::ruttSt-/?^ -

enouffh of himsplf fr. k«+« i!- ® ^"* ^^^^e

■•forho„„ awird^ men th'e T"',*" I'l.* '""'"''
hounds', the hare^ttteratf p^^tr' T ^^r'
to the pursuers, but he scatter himself muelmor

„^3^'et^;^^:ti.»ir4eTrizr5

^i^ieshttTs^^^t-^^^^^^^^^
baffles the hound most upon a hard crust of fL!
..^ow;_^he scent will not hold to thelmS, t/S ,

««.attte:c'tS:it„fAit;itr ^^^

of fur conceals the muscular ^ay and efl?,.^ 7™PP'"S

NOTES BY THE WAY

81

pasture fields. At times the fox has a pretty well-
defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to intercept
him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite beyond
the systems of hills and ridges upon which he was
started, and his return is entirely a matter of conjee- '
ture ; but if the day be not more than half-spent, the
chances are that the fox will be back before night,
though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that
long.

The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn '■'
and long-visaged he is — how peaceful and well dis-
posed! lie is the Quaker among dogs. All the vic-
iousness and currishness seem to have 'been weeded
out of him; he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays,
like other dogs. Two strange hounds, meeting for"
the first time, behave as civilly towards each other as
two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrin-
kled, human, far-away look that reminds one of the
bust of Homer among the Elgin marbles. He looks
like the mountains towards which his heart yearns so "**
much.

The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog; the
latter, attracted by his baying, comes harking and
snarling up through the fields bent on picking a quar-
rel; he intercepts the hound, snubs and insults and"
annoys him in every way possible, but the hound
heeds him not; if the dog attacks him he gets away
as best he can, and goes on with the trail; the cur
bristles and barks and struts about for a while, then
goes back to the house, evidently thinking the hound »"
a lunatic, which he is for the time being — a mono-
maniac, the slave and victim of one idea. I saw the
master of a hound one day arrest him in full course,
to give one oi the hunters time to get to a certain
runaway; the dog cried and struggled to free him-"
self and would listen neither to threats nor caresses.
Knowing he must be hungry, I offered him my lunch,

m

i 1

I'M

82

SHARP BYES

but he would not touch it T r^..^ u • i..
he threw it coutcmXtl/ [rl''hTm " w""*' ''".'
and potted and ivaLurcd him tof 1^' * "^""^
"Pell; he was bereft of all thUhf - ?" ""'^•'" "
•one pas.,io„ to pur,„e Ihat trai^ " """"' '"" "■"

■» *• 1 UK WooiX'HirCK

uraThS^Cke'rlntf '" Vf "" ^''"'"- "«-

chuck. In Eurone tW» .^- ". ' '"•™'" "■■ '««»'■

to the high mountainol Sr' T"" *" •" """""'■I

"slope, bu^rowinnr V'ow i'ne" It ?'" ''"""'"

.nd Eaatern'stlte'Vur^Sifek^ak:^ t "'f"'"

m some respects, of the eS rabh^f h^* ^^'^'

"m every hillside ami „bj™ ratJOit, burrow ng

tiug ledge and 1««; Z^L'J'F ''""« "»» «"d jut
raids u^n the Sand 1' ''''"" "h™"" i* makes
the garden ve«faC ?» ° ^^ '"'* sometimes upon
its, seldom Se1h!n onV'Ti^ ^^'^^^ ■" "^ hab-
"unless it be a m^tTar/heffou^'^ *l\\"""'I "-•
so much a ivood chuck ao » «!,i/ ?^u I "^ ""* ""^
however, one seems t„prtfer1hi"l*^ Occasionally,
seduced by the sunny slopes and th!,'' 1"* '' "<"
but feeds, as did his fatheiw \. "'"'"'=■" ^^'
"and twigs, the bark of yot^ }±" ^T' "•»" "<"»
wood plants ' '^ *"**'' """J "P™ various

dee^" v^rr't'hf -cii^elr iTcTTrr " ^™«<'-

woods, I saw one of^these sv.l f ?'*"<' '" «''e

"rocks but a few feet fJ™ !t ^/"^ ."'""'^ amid the

I proposed to tou^ h" "^* »' 'he water where

NOTES BV THE WAY

83

feet of him an* lifted myself up. Then he did not
know me, having, perhaps, never seen Adam in his
Himplicity, but he twisted his nose around to catch my
scent; and the moment he had done so he sprang like
a jumping-jack and rushed into his den with the ut- '
most precipitation.

The woodchuck is the true serf among our animals;
he belongs to the soil, and savours of it. He is of the
earth, earthy. There is generally a decided odour about
his dens and lurking places, but it is not at all dis- '"
agreeable in the clover-scented air, and his shrill
whistle, as he takes to his hole or defies the farm dog
from the interior of the stone wall, is a pleasant sum-
mer sound. In form and movement the woodchuck
is not captivating. His body is heavy and flabby."
Indeed, such a flaccid, fluid, pouchy carcass, I have
never before seen. It has absolutely no muscular ten-
sion or rigidity, but is as baggy and shaky as a skin
filled with water. Let the rifleman shoot one while
it lies basking on a sidelong rock, and its body slumps '"
off, and rolls and spills down the hill, as if it were a
mass of bowels only. The legs of the woodchuck are
short and stout, and made for digging rather than
running. The latter operation he performs by short
leaps, his belly scarcely clearing the ground. For a "
short distance he can make very good time, but he
seldom trusts himself far from his hole, and when sur-
prised in that predicament, makes little effort to es.
cape, but, grating his teeth, looks the danger squarely
in the face. so

I knew a farmer in New York who had a very large
bob-tailed churn-dog by the name of Cuff. The
farmer kept a large dairy and made a great deal of
butter, and it was the business of Cuff to spend nearly
the half of each summer day treading the endless"
round of the churning-machine. During the remainder
of the day he had plenty of time to sleep, and rest.

84

SHARP KYKS

■ji.

= f

and 8it on h,s hip.s and siirvoy iho Iniulsrnpo. Ono

Iwiv" V"? ^''"'; ^'? <li«<'ovorod a w<„uldn...k alK,„i;
forty rods from the house on a stiM-p side-hill, feeding
about ,K^r h.s hole, which was beneath a hrt,. roek
The old doR, forgettinff his stiffness, a.ui remembering
the fun he had had with wo.nlehueks in his earlier
days fitartod ofT at his highest speed, vainly hoping to
oateh this one before ho could get to his hole. Hut
the woodehuck, seeing the dog eome labouring up the
"hdl, sprang to the mouth of his den, and, when his
pursuer was only a few rods off, whistled tauntingly
and went in. This oecurred several times, the old
dog marehing up the hill, and then marehing down
nga.n having had his labour for his pains. I suspect
that he revolved the subject in his mi.id while he re-
volved the great wheel of the churning-maehinc, and
that some turn or other brought him a happy thought
for the next time he showed liimself a strategist. In-
^^ stead of giving ehase to the woodehuck when first dis-
covered he crouched down to the ground, and. resting
his head on his paws, watched him. The woodehuck
kept working away from the hole, lured by the tender
clover, but not unmindful of his safety, lifted him-
self up on his haunches every few moments and sur-

b«HlfV-*^^,r.'^''- r^^^^""^' after the woodehuck
had let himself down from one of these attitudes of
observation, and resumed his feeding. Cuff started
swift y but stealthily up the hill, precisely in the at
litude of a cat when she is stalking a bird. When
the woodehuck rose up again, Cuff was perfectly mo-
tionless and half hidden by the grass. Whenheagrn -
resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before
this time crossmg a fence, but in a low place and sn
nimbly that he was not discovered. Ag^ the wood

'chuck was on the outlook, again Cuff ;as motionless
and hugging the ground. As the dog nears his victim

he ,s partially hidden by a swell in the earth, but stm

as.

so

NOTKS ItY TIIK WAY

85

tin- woodrhiM'k I'ndn his oiittook reports "hII ri(fht/'
wImmi CiitV, haviiijr not twi«u«aH fur 1«j run hm the 'chuck,
IhrowH all Hlr'althinesH asido arid rushcH directly for
thn hole. At. that monieut the woodcliuck diseovers
his darijrcr, and, socin^c that it is a race for life, InapH'^
as 1 never saw a marmot leap before. But ho m two
Heeon<ls too late, his retreat is eut ofT, and tho powerful
jaws of the old dog cIono upon him.

The next s. .ison Cuff tried the same tactics ajfain
with like success; btit when u third woodcbuck had'"
taken up his abode at the fatal hole, the old churner's
wits and strength had bcfriui to fail him, and he was
baffled in each attempt to capture the animal.

The woodcbuck always burrows on a side-hill. This
erudiles him to K'lnrd aj?ainst beinj? drowned out, by ' •
nuikinf? the termination of the hole higher than the
entrance, lie diffs in slantingly for about two or three
feet, then makes a sharp upward turn and keeps nearly
parallel with the stirface of the j?round for a distance
of eipht or ten feet farther, according to the grade.'"
Here he makes his nest and passes the winter, holing
up in October or November and coming out again in
April. This is a long sleep and is rendered possible
only by the amount of fat with which the system has
become stored during the summer. The fire of life"
still burns, but very faintly and slowly, as with the
draughts all closed and the ashes heaped up. Res-
piration is continued, but at longer intervals, and all
the vital processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig one
out during hibernation (Audubon did so), and you'"
find it a mere inanimate ball, that suffers itself to be
moved and rolled about without showing signs of
awakening. But bring it in by the fire, and it pres-
ently unrolls and opens its eyes, and craWls feebly
about, and if left to itself will seek some dark hole "
or corner, roll itself up again, and resume its former
condition.

' f-

oi
he

)

^»ge 1 , ^SARp EYES

-/"ir^ir- ''ie.;r°;?j>.'* ^i^?^^--;^^^^^^^^

ttarva J fr ^"'"n at^^'^^'^H. tr, '" « very

-»•>* o/^^^° and is^Q .^'•^^a and » ..T*» educijf?- . He wa.

1

88

SHARP EYES

-! i

to Amerlc fc became 'M.uthoriJvS: w 5^«'**^*'' '••""^•<>

whll?:x«U?n;?KSjS^*f*J?^*^«^ It i. worth

•nimal.. I. t'poMibK ?«?/♦-♦ k*TJ° ^^*««"»' Wrd. and
of vision to thenLbit-f I. th«r^/'^"?*" *»» *''«*' fl«'d
difference between those that are hiKu.^ instance, any wneral
that are hunted by othlr SiLJlsf '^"""'"^ ^"°**" *"^ *'>«'-

8wtfPin''^C?i^V^^tl.^?"P'^*7"J^« °'^» «Jv«»» ^y De*»
people we?^b^u^^LTntei^S/°'"«'°"^ "°""*'^ ^»>«" *»«•

to^!ffgeVtfe d'i?dJp2SS^f?ir'''°^-*^ *^'^» *» ^« «^1«
by observinff the aha^ fn!i «,« ?»*"«nt powers of the mind
the head. ^ ^® *''** prominence of different regions of

THE APPLE.

iz S; I. ii. ':s. ^e ^^ordoTs'^ ? r ^ -'''^"*-

hejive .0 commonly^J l^t Tf t ls\tj^; lo^n^^-
inSSL^ the^^s'te^p^Tjf soaVhe^rT''''- ""'' ^""^« P«°Ple

priiicess, Canace: ^«»«*''6i.ry Tafo, describes the Tartar

rA^t "f* °5 ™y *«»»"® °o' my cunninff
I dare not undertake eo high a thing ''*^'

NOTES

89

noferEn^i Hi.^^T^.r. f^t^a^"}': iTrl'fl ^S^^
nyh l.e recorded many obH.rvatio„« in%llogy a ,d niurf i
woHd'''m.^L^rw&1 fly«-:^«" voyage (iSai.&r round" '■
T/ 3,,;c<2. °'°'* ''*^'''^ ''"°'*" *'°«'* " » ^«t«^ one, The Origin

»"• f?' ?• • ^* ""*"•• Koundnesa. The word is archaic.
Page 24, 1 7. Taacular. Well provided with blood-vessels.

vawXs^f thf .nnV"* ***" UnwtO". «tc. Some of the best

the north wind," and so belonging to cold region ^

♦.iTS?*? ' A ^- ?•" **^*- ^ fe^"'-"'"'' to the famous son^ writ-
i?,hr^K*i'' A°»5"?an Bong-writer, Thomas Dunn English. It wa,

?S?set« JXws'f " ''' ""^ '''"'* ^•"'"^ ^» ^■««- ThVfim

"Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt-
Sweet Alice whose hair was so brown,

Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile.
And trembled with fear at your frown t

In the old churchyard in the valley, Ben Bolt,
In a corner obscure and alone.

They hav« fitted a slab of the granite so gray.
And sweet Alice lies under the stone."

^pf-*!?l?\K ^'?'^ *?^** •** »WlM. Iduna, the Norse god-
ihe^Ll^^^r^ Spring, was the guardian of the apple, which
the gods ate to preserve their eternal youth. The ifiants thi»
enemies of the gods through the instrumentality of^Lok?; one
«nnl. ^tJ"' succeeded in capturing Iduna and stealing the
apples. The gods, however, finding that Loki was the fuilty
one, compelled hun to procure the restoration of the apples.

Page 29, 1. 28. Emerson, italph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
ranks among the moat noted of American writers and thinkers.

?™.f""^' *•! Y'^f/u^.''°T^° »"^ 80 also are some of his poems.
Emerson resided all his life at Concord, Massachusetts, and

of ThoMfu.*^" * ^'^^ '""" *^"^- ^^ ^" * near neighbSSr

Page 30, 1. 5. Horace Greeley. Horace Greeley (1811-1873)

v*'i.V.t ''°°'? ^'^i**": """^ ''"^'•- He established the New
York Tribune and made it the best-known paper in America. In

90

SHARP EYES

Page 31, ]. 11. wilBon FlsLgg wno„ «

or wearing a wreath of them ^ ^"^ ^*°^ * ^'O'" of fruits

£^"^^ (ll{'6-???ira?t;*li^h"Si'°".*-°*^ ^"O'^ de
Eppt and Palestine to search ?tn I**".."*" ^''^ ^"ited
libraries for ancient and inJerestinJ ^'^ *''*. '»''* monastery
researches led him to AlhiiXlnArLTV-'''"^^'- Later his
of these trips is a rather notable^oorl^nrHfF^^ ^^ ««°o"nt
'^''"«"*"- m the X.«a„e, puSSeS°?n IWg!'"^' ^ ^"« '<> '*•

A TASTE OF ATAINE BIKCH

the SUte^fMkS^'*5^^®^*«- A „7°*« commonly applied to
for Provinces or States? °^ *°^ *'*''«'• P0P"lar name

r^r^^^^^^ (^l^^-^m atands.

deal of his life on his TA* n£./l- J /^ *» ^- ^e spent a m-eat
Speaking of AssyZle ^tl'^'^.^t^" ''^ '/L^^^
interspersed with innmnSabie nalm trtt °^ ^\^ «°"°*ry ^as
natives celebrated eith«r /« .t Paim-trees; and the diligent

and sixty uses to ^h cj*[he trunT th« r^"'.*''" *^'«« hun1r°]
juice, and the fruit, were skfey' ap'pHe'd -''''' *'" ^^^^««' *he

Page 37 !' t ^ '"I *^ ''^•*- «- ^««*- v, 40. .
i-age 37, I. 4. boU potatoes, eto Tr^r *«i^' .

o.f "/!„!* '• '• • *«-««^ A "oat made by shaping a„J h„i„g

them along. """aer on their backs, but they took

United States of Americl* ' "" establishment of the

«ff«ra,*cLe''g„*S;tS11S ''?!?"»' '•■"I- I»«''" '«?«.«>

NOTES

91

Adam' ^'""" '' *'* ''forbidden fruit" stuck in the th-oat of

of ^pXtou t'on'triinr '" "^ "^"^'^^ *^""^ ^^ ^-^-^

on mf*e. ' ' '^^ °»°'»*^-»«'«ts. Foxes live to quite an extent

wh^Jfis^hi'st^V^^S^**- '^' '^^P^**' °^ t''^ State of Maine,
wnere is the fetate House, or Legislative Buildings '

Page 50. 1. 25. Yard. The word is here a verb.

Page 51, 1. 2. spoor. Animal tracks.

Page 51, I. 19. Lot's wife. See Genesis xix, 26.

WINTER NEIOHBOUBS
wh^n*^cap?ured.°- "*° ^^"^ ^°'''""-" ^^^^ 'P'''^^ ^'^^^ death

NOTES BY THE WAY

"Her «yes a bashful azure, and her hair
In gloss and hue the chestnut, when the shell
Divides threefold to show the fruit within "

Gree?^ "tJ; »" ?°""- "^^^ "°^* ^^™°»« ?<>«* of ancient
Greece. The Iltad, an account of the Trojan War and thi
Odyssey, an account of the wanderings of Ulysses are ?h« tw«
great poems credited to him i^'^sses, are the two

92

SHARP EYES

, ^•'?„5i' *• ^®- ^*<^ MwWes. The seventh Earl of Elirin was
from 1799 to 1«02 British ambassador at Ooastantinopfe He
obtained permisaion from the Turkish government to excavate
Snl, T °v-*'i "a'b'e Jcu'Ptures in the ruins of Athens, then
under Turkish rule. Those sculptures are now in the British
Museum, London, and are known as the "Elgin Marbles."
..^*'* ^ ^' 7. serfs. Serfs were considered as belonging to
the estate on which they worked and could with it be trans-
ferred to a new owner.

P'

APPENDIX

NOTES ON THE BIRDS, ANIMAiLS, PISHES, AND PLANTS
MENTIONED IN THE ESSAYS

Perhaps the most interesting of Burroughs', observations are
those on birds. It is rather fortunate that most of the birds
he mentions are found over a wide range of territory. In many
cases our opportunities for observing these birds are rather
better than his were, for we are far enough north to be within
the nesting range of many birds which he could see only briefly
on their spring and faU migrations. Even our Prairie Prov-
inces are by no meanfl poor in variety of bird life. In the city
of Winnipeg, Mr. Gowanlock, of the University of Manitoba
has personally noted 170 species, and the total number so far
listed is over 300. No doubt this number will be increased by
further observation and record. A great deal remains to observe
concerning the bird-4ife of many parts of Canada.

Birds are of the utmost importance to our agricultural coun-
try. It is questionable, indeed, if human life would remain
possible on our earth if birds disappeared from the fields and
forest. If the Essays in this book arouse the interest of their
readers in our out-door life, the following list of birds men-
tioned in the text may be of some use.

In studying birds, identification is the first step. One of the
httle pocket bird-guides (Chester Reed's) will serve in most
cases. Larger books, such as Chapman's Colour Kty to North
American Bird* or McClement's Ntw Canadian Bird Book, are
very useful.

Bladderwort Bladderworts are water or marsh plants, some
of them growing immersed in water and possessing little air-
fllled bladders which float the plant and enable it to flower
above the surface. Others, such as the one Burroughs mentions,
are marsh plants of the same family, but with showier flowers
and no bladders.

93

94

SHARP EYES

throat and brea>t. It i, very w^i k' i„ '"^'"' "'"■ '""^ ""
M«,it„b.. Parther west rjl?"!?; fh' ""' " '"'""

«.ht.bi„e eCour .ar.ed tit^b a ^and 'w'!" "i"" °' " ""l"

woodland «.imal L„"'%°/„;°ltr ^"'S^ "^ """" " »

«.l-«A„ aJ "Ld wT,„' " °'°"'"' "■' '"<'»"'• Many

gerou, woua • " '"""»' '"P'^e of Inflictiag a dan

tipped tail (ea.ht;td red ,?^ifk':7tt ";?"'/'*' ''"""
on some of the win. feath ' T ''"'\''*» "' 'ealing-wai

o. Canada, po.s.„ isT Z. ^d'^r ^.1^-" -«

Oo^lrd. Why does Burroujrhs <• +>,5« i,: ^
Watch for Us egg in the nests of o. J' "s Note'wCf ''
pens when the eggs hatch Yn,. mo,. « / ^^* ^*P-

bird egg has beel^hrown• on^o.Zt : er IIT' "" °°-

.^. ist^nis^t;' er "bt ^:'d^^:r nr;

APPENDIX

95

uncanny note, and waging fierce warfare upon its feUows." In
both the male and the female the head feathers form a pointed
crest The throat is gray, sulphur-yellow below and extZ ng
beneath the wmgs. The colour above is grayish olive.

Cuckoo. The cuckoo is rather larger than the robin, white
beneath, grayish-brown above. It has a long tail and fairly
slender, somewhat curved -beak. The black-billed cuckoo nests
in eastern Canada and west past Manitoba. The European
cuckoo is a well-known bird in England. Look up Words-
worth s To the Cuckoo, and his reference to its song in The
Solitary Reaper.

Dore. The mourning dove nests over a verv wide stretch of
country from Maine to British Columbia at least. It is quite
common m the Prairie Provinces. It is somewhat larger than
the robin and rather pigeon-like in appearance. The whistling
sound It makes as it flies up from the ground readily identifies
It. You will often see it feeding on the ground in thistle-
patches and weed-beds.

Ooldfljach This little bird is well-known, particularly the
male which is bright yellow, with cap. wings, and tail of black.
Its feeding habits and nest-building are easily observed. The
nest IS a very graceful cup, lined with grass and plant down,
and frequently with hair.

Orosbo^. The pine grosbeak is a winter visitor in many
parU of Canada, even west well into the Prairie Provinces. It
summers and nests in New Brunswick and farther north. The
size and reddish colour of the male make many careless observers
take him for a robin. His very stout beak gives him his name.
A relative, the rose-breasted grosbeak, nests from Nova Scotia
west to the prairies. The male of this bird is black with white
markings and a conspicuous breast-patch of rose-red. The rose-
breasted grosbeak has a clear, pleasing song.

Oroiwe. The grouse that is most widely known in Canada is
the ruflfed grouse, commonly, but wrongly known as the part-
ridge. One often hears in the wood the drumming of the male
How IS the sound produced! This bird is found alike in eastern
woods and western bluffs.

H^rblrd. This is our common chipping sparrow, a little black
and brown bird with reddish-chestnut crown.

96

SHARP EYES

High-hole. 8ee woodpeckers.

K, narrow oeak into some deepthroated flower It »ni -
times come to a bunoh «# ««-. v i^ . newer, it will some-

Bjl*. A tree-frog, oftm cafled the .prUi Mener P..» „.
ZZ ■'"" '" '■°°'"- " " " '"""^ •/».«t7.r.,^"'.He'

cuiucu/ mat uurrougha mentions. The nnst nf fi.- u- v ^ .

^=';St:;-'srS;iS^

on. .h.t ,^, beea'eoa.p.re'dto t'e iLl" :, rH^TyoTe'
C^- "" """" " '"""^ '» •""'-•"r evT province of

omfrrnrotns,.':-,: !n:r ei^teVt/'-r " -

woods and i. quite mdely dialributed. It i, a small bird with

wst "a^"™' « to whether it is head or taU upper-

hJ^'; '^' ''"'■°»" "rf""" "Jways attr^it, attention by it,
b.aut.f.1 orange and black colouring and by its clear" musical

APPENDIX

97

8ong. It nests with us, and its nest is a particularly interesting

Prairie Dog. The prairie dog must not be confused with the
gray gopher of the western plains. It is slightly larger than
the gopher, of a brownish colour, and with a taU about two
inches m length and black towards the end. It is about a foot
long dwells in colonies, and burrows in the earth. It is found
in the dry plains east of the Bocliies in the United States.

Bed-bird. This name is often given to the scarlet tanager.
The male is acarlet with black wings and tail. It nests as far
north as Manitoba, but only rarely.

Red-poU. The redpoll is a small, gparrow-like bird. It is
blackwh-brown above with a red crown-cap. The male haa
some rose colour on the breaat. It nests far north and would
reach Burroughs 's couttry only as a winter viaitor.

Bobto. In certain parts of Saskatchewan, particularly near
Swift Current and in the Cypress Hills district, the robin found
there has no white tips to the tail feathers, and the male bird
has no black spots on the back.

Screech-owl. The screech-owl does not quite deserve its name.
M Its call is rather pleasing. The bird is a trifle hard to
identify at times, as it has two colour phases. In one of the9e
It is gray above, marked with black; in the other it is brown
with some black streaks. Before condemning any owl or hawk
as a pest, it is well to investigate its feeding habits. Most
hawka and owls have pretty good records as destroyers of mice
and other small rodents.

Shorelark. The shorelark is perhaps more generally known as
the horned lark. It commonly reaches us early in the spring
and 18 easily recognized by the peculiar black markings undnr
the eyes and on the throat, and the bla^-k tufts above the eyes.

Shrew-mouse. The shrew-mouse is a small animal very mouse-
like in appearance, but with a long, pointed snout. There are
several species. They live on insects and worms and are harm-
less little creatures.

Shrike. Our white-rumped shrike is slightly larger than a
kingbird. It is ashy-gray above and white below; the winga
and tail are mainly black. Note the resemblance between its

i\

if
11

98

SHARP EYES

beak and that of a hawk «t.^ *\. j--

bird i. d.A.gr.y .boy. and ,™v V °""^ J""""' '''"• "'"•
belly i, wMte .L r«r. ,J ^^. ^?° °"' "« *""'• The
cleariy when the bird ml " ""' '""""• "'■«'' -bow

.no'^w^r^fjatt:."" wur'u'r./' """ ".' °"™" -"•<> '»•

pipage, whi,., b,„w.anTbtkTh7 .'■•;" " '" '" "'"'"
.picuoua colour when Jbo birdt 7 I ■ " " "" '"°" «■>»-
plumage i, white and blLk '"^ '""""■ '^' '"«"»"

Am'^riSS^Ld^alitineTr". ""'.*'" '"™''°-« '■"»
the last afteen or .we"; ! L^Ta^ [f" ""^- " " ""'J- -"bin
Manitoba. It wae originaUv n.ttn 7" ''°°°°'° """"■"■" '-
would beeome n^faHrWii ' .^ ^^ "'"' "" ""^ ""' "
fruit-tree.. The general effect „/,"• ""'^° "="»'»««'» »"
drive awa, f ron, Ihr^^ /h Wh^or,;"': '"°"°'' "" -■" ">
more beautiful and useful ,hl ■.■ T" """^ ■""'« birds
published in «^°'jtl'J^'n"U >['»'-. ^•'»«»»«" was
that the English arrow wr, .h « . 'utereating to note
Burroughs', districf *"' «""""'K " '""bold in

..*'"Sp,umarr°fve°'!,°"r h'.""""^" " '-« -'•^»-
below yellow. wS the sides^rf T """^ "'"" black,

It has a blaci crescent on the bis" °°'' '''"'' "'"' '"°™'

ass*r:rthfs:x:st;,n:urtrerhr- "r-" -"

/ ^ pursuing it on the wingf

pipu'-'^he'c'oUr'rvrirrr'b'r"""""."' "^ ^■»™-'"

edged With pa,e brow, and t^" la^lTalinri^t/, --

APPENDIX

99

white on the outer feather.. It is a bird of pawage, breeding
in the aub-Arctic regions. *^ -« . «

TnU^twe. The tulip-tree is commonly called the "yellow
poplar," but it is not related to the poplars. It is a mag-
mficent forest tree, frequently growing to a height of one
hundred feet The leaves are of a peculiar shape. Its blossoms
resembling those of the tulip, have a fragrant perfume.

Walkiag-fcn. The walking-fern is a small evergreen fern
found in the eastern United States. The fronds lengthen out to
long narrow tips, which sometimes reach down, take root, and
establish new plants, much as strawberry runners do.

Warblers. We have with us a good assortment of these active
and useful little birds. Some common ones are the summer or
yellow warbler, the redstart, the myrtle WRrbler, and the yellow-
throat. "^

WWp-poor-wlU. The whip-poor-will is fairly common in East-
ern €anada and in some parts of the West, where it may some-
times be heard on a summer evening. Its name describes its
call particularly well. The plumage of the bird is dusky, much
spotted with black and gray. The wings are mottled with
shades of brown.

Woodpeckers. Burroughs mentions six woodpeckers, four of
which are rather common with us. The high-hole, or golden-
shafted woodpecker is very common, but perhaps better known
as the flicker. One of its wing-feathers will show you the
reason for the name "golden-shafted." This is the only wood-
pecker you will see spending any time on the ground. Bur-
roughs suggests the reason— look for ant-hills where you see
flickers feeding. Telephone-poles are favourite nesting-places
with flickers. Do they prefer any particular side of the polef
The downy woodpecker and the hair>' woodpecker are tree-
living birds and very useful, for they extract from the trees
borers and other injurious insects. Both are black and white,
but the downy is not much larger than an English sparrow,'
while the hairy is about as large as a robin. The male of the
yellow-bellied sap-sucker is readily identified by his red crown
and throat, black breast-patch, and yellow belly. The wood-
pecker is not wholly harmless to trees. Look in the spring for

100

SHARP BYES

wn*rl "*? "'• <" hole, punched in the bark. Thew ar« Ki
work. Note whether any other bir.1 J™ . " *•**

.«ckertoti*..dv«»tiigeoMheVwen..^^ "^^^^^ *"' "P"

--th, w.t'ifT^;; !:.„\r.^::j— ^^^^ -: -pir ^^^