222 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the sweet acoi'ns, by the sudden ap- 

 pearance of the travellers. Both par- 

 ties were equally surprised and fright- 

 ened, for while the animal was crashing 

 through the neighboring underbrush 

 the hunters were fixed to the ground 

 with surprise. Throughout the jour- 

 ney the three companions frequently 

 experienced such hunting exploits as 

 the above: aid these coupled with mid- 

 night talks around a camp-tire in the 

 lonel^^ forest, or in some settler's lowly 

 hut, made the journey one continued 

 round of excitement and enjoyment. 

 They kept on their march till the bird 

 had sung its evening hymn, and then 

 lying down to rest with no shelter but 

 the star lighted skies. 



They depended on their rifles for 

 subsistence and many were the grouse 

 and quail that fluttered in the dust at 

 their feet from the eti:octs of those 

 deadly weapons. These highly pi'ized 

 game birds were much more plentiful 

 in the woods at that early time than 

 now. Few settlers had undertaken to 

 carve a home out of the wilderness of 

 Northern Pennsylvania, and these few 

 were unacquainted with the destructive 

 influence of the modern breech-loading 

 gun. 



They took their way through the val- 

 ley of the Wyoming with its green 

 banks, where the forest-wandering 

 stream flows over broken x'ocks in 

 whirling foam, and where in July, 1778, 

 the iron-hearted soldiers of Butler, the 

 tory and savage leader "I vow'd to the 

 flames the weak submitting few." 

 Thence they journej'ed along the shores 

 of the Susquehanna. "The river 

 hemmed in by niounta ns," as Wilson 

 called it. At that time fevv huts ap- 

 peared on its banks, and he says that 

 even those few were wretched ones and 

 seemed more like caves where Sloth 

 and Poverty reside than places where 

 human beings dwell. While following 

 the winding course of this river they 

 encountered, amidst a mouldering he^p 



of logs one of those very dangerous rep- 

 tiles so common in that part of the- 

 fcountry— a huge rattlesnake. Accord- 

 ing to Wilson the snake was "three 

 times three feet in length." Wilson 

 quickU' stepping back, levelled his gun 

 and was about tn end the I'eptile's ex- 

 istence at once when Duncan admiring 

 the quickness with which the snake 

 threw itself into a coil prepaiatory to 

 defend itself, entreated Wilson to spare 

 its life, which he did. saj'iug that it was 

 unfair fight — one against three. 



Ascending the Susquehanna the 

 scenerj' is very varied. As they nenr^ 

 the junction of the Chemung and 

 Susquehanna, settlements become 

 more numerous until they reach Athens 

 which was then a small lumbering vil- 

 lage. Leaving the rive^r at the village 

 of Newton on the Susquehanna, they 

 proceeded across the country, a dis- 

 tance of about twenty miles to Cathar- 

 ine's Creek, a small stream forming the 

 head waters of Seneca Lake. All day 

 long they labored through the Great 

 Catharine's Swamp which extends over 

 a great area in the vicinity of that 

 creek. Catharine Creek is navigable 

 for about five miles from its mouth. 

 On either side is a marsh to which mul- 

 titudes of ducks and geese repair to 

 feed while on their northern and south- 

 ern migrations. While Wilson's two 

 companions went around the marsh to 

 the east side of the lake, he procured 

 the assistance of two boys and a boat 

 and they proceeded along the creek to- 

 wards the lake. At a single discharge 

 of the gun countless numbers of water 

 fowls arose from the surrounding marsh 

 and streamed down the lake in l<mg 

 files. His discharged his fowling piece 

 with deadly eft'ect and soon the bottom 

 of the boat was filled. Towards night- 

 fall they returned to the shore and ex- 

 amined the day's shooting. Among the 

 spoils were canvas-back, wood, black 

 and teal ducks, plover, snipe, divers, a 

 white-tailed eagle, blue herons and two 



