136 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



last year's berries waiting for the birds to come 

 and feed, and long before they have finished this 

 supply, the bushes are heavy with a new crop. It 

 is a perpetual and never-emptied larder. It is the 

 Fortunatus ' purse of the birds. 



''Nor are the insect-eating birds less favored 

 in that clime. 



' ' ' The land would be a veritable paradise, ' says 

 Lea, 'but for one fatal drawback — mosquitoes! 

 Nowhere in the world is insect life so prolific. 

 Their numbers beggar description. As soon as 

 the snow begins to thaw, the latent mosquito life 

 begins to stir. Eggs buried in the frozen mud now 

 hatch; in a few days there are mosquitoes, and, 

 thenceforward, generation is heaped upon genera- 

 tion until every blade of grass or. stem of moss 

 seems to produce an inexhaustible supply. 



" 'No white man can exist among them without a 

 mosquito-proof veil. They cover the gun-barrels, 

 they form clusters on his clothing, they rise in bat- 

 talions, like a black cloud, to obscure the sight. 

 If a man remain standing, the cloud thickens about 

 him; if he run, it trails behind him Hke a smoke 

 veil trailing on the wind. The sound of their 

 steady buzzing is like the singing of a tea-kettle. 

 In tropical lands, mosquitoes swarm only by 



