534 Natural History of the N.E. Extremity 



been borne and its toils have ceased; — after all hands have been 

 busy about " the camp," each to his individual task, some in 

 erecting the temporary sleeping place, or shanty, by some 

 pleasant stream ; one cutting logs and bringing in a substan- 

 tial stock of fuel for the night, another barking trees for our 

 roof; one making up a fire large enough to roast an ox, and 

 preparing the evening meal, while another catches trout, which 

 abound in all these mountain streams, and the hunter brings 

 in, perchance, the newly killed venison ; — after all these pre- 

 liminary duties have been despatched, as well as the meal, the 

 refreshed geologist, or naturalist, as he reclines on his fragrant 

 couch of hemlock, and basks before a cheerful fire some ten 

 feet long in his front, and has, like myself, the good taste to 

 luxuriate in a cigar, and the good fortune to possess one, feels 

 well inclined to thank his stars for the comparative comforts 

 and enjoyments of that evening. And then the peculiar 

 charms that pervade those calm and beautiful nights, in the 

 depths of the forest, when the fire flies glance around him ; — 

 when the whip-poor-will enlivens the solitude with his voci- 

 ferations, for song it is not, yet always seeming the voice of 

 a friend ; when the blazing night fire illuminates the outspread 

 canopy above, and brings into relief each drooping branch of 

 birch or maple, of tulip [Liriodendron Tulipifera] or cucum- 

 ber [Magnolza acuminata], or some of a hundred other 

 native forest trees ; and the bat flits around, and the woods 

 resound with the chirp of the cricket and Cicada ; and, per- 

 chance, he listens with excited interest to the distant bark of 

 some wolf or fox, who has scented from afar the evening's 

 repast. Long before daybreak he hears the shrill peculiar 

 notes of one little early songster. I never could obtain a 

 sight of this punctual warbler, who failed not to announce the 

 approach of day. His song is seldom of so long duration as 

 an hour, and he ceases at the rising of the sun. The Cicada 

 and the cricket, and the Caprimulgus are silent; but other 

 voices are uplifted around, and new sounds fill the woods. 

 The squirrels, grey, and red, and black, chirp, and chase each 

 other among the branches ; the pheasant seeks his accustomed 

 log, on which he commences to drum; and flocks of the pas- 

 senger pigeon, in search of their morning meal, come sweeping 

 by with a rushing sound. Numerous species of the thrush 

 itribe have commenced their song from the topmost branches, 

 and chaunt their early matins ; and it is time for us ramblers 

 of the forest to be up and stirring likewise. The trout now 

 bites greedily in the neighbouring stream: in half an hour a 

 supply for half a dozen hungry fellows is brought into the mess. 

 We toast them at the fire, or, if we have the luxury of a 



