27 



Of Compton people contemporary with Gosse, besides Major Logee, I saw on my first 

 visit to the village, Colonel Pomeroy, magistrate ; A. V. Kendrick, merchant, and Nathan 

 Merrill, hotel-keeper. All are now dead — as are all whom Gosse mentions in his book. 

 Of these the last survivor was Mrs. Bill, who died at Waterville about six u ths ago. 

 Ann Heap, widow of G. E. Jaques, died on December 30, 1891 in her 84th ye r. Her 

 husband had died on the preceeding 12th of July, aged 84 years. The remains of this 

 worthy couple rest in Mount Royal cemetery. 



I have said that in Gosse's work there are many mistakes. Otie of t,he most remark- 

 able of these is his supposition that the piping of the tree-frogs in early spring was pro- 

 duced by lizards (p. 94). He describes the frog (p. 26G), but seems to have rejected the 

 idea that this creature produced the sound, and many persons still, hiving read his book, 

 have strong faith in the lizards. Good old Bishop Oxenden once spoke to me of the 

 "whistling lizards." I begged to assure him that the "whistling" was produced by frogs 

 — that T had kept the creatures and knew certainly that this was the case. I even 

 showed him drawings I had made of the frog with its throat distended preparatory to tho 

 emission of the sound. But all was of no avail. Gosse had said that he believed the 

 sound to be that of lizards. Gosse was once contradicted to his face by believers who did 

 not know him personally.* That my statement should stand for a moment beside an 

 expressed opinion of his was not to be thought of. And the good old bishop in his last 

 work, the " History of my Life," page 142 (by a double error ; by a strange transposition 

 of sight for sound) says, "There" (i.e. in Canada) "are few reptiles, excepting lizards, 

 which seem to take pleasure in exhibiting their antics in public." 



Gosse must often have listened to the chorus from the swampy spot below his barn ; 

 the peep-peep of the tree-frog, the croak of the meadow-frog, the tr-r-r-r-r-ill of the toad 

 and the bompbomp of the bull-frog. A lady-friend of mine compares the reptile assembly 

 to a noisy household, in which the little children are crying to be put to bed, and the 

 elder ones scolding, while the mother endeavours to still their clamour with a hu-s-s-s sh, 

 and the father expostulates with a grumpy voice. 



From the Fauna of Compton County some of its most interesting forms have van- 

 ished since 1838. The caribou (Gerous tarandus) and the Virginian deer (Gervus 

 Virginianus) have long disappeared, and with them their natural foes the wolf (Ganis 

 lupus) and the puma ( Fells concolor ). The moose (Gervus Aloes) approaches no nearer 

 than the swampy portions of Megantic County, and the black bear (Ursus Americanus) 

 than Mount Orford and the neighboring hills of Sutton and Bolton. The cry of the lynx 

 (J^elis Canade7isis) is seldom heard. The last pair of beavers were shot in the Bruld fifty 

 years ago. That objectionable animal, the skunk, (Mephitis Americana), so admirably 

 delineated on page 254 of the Canadian ISTaturalist is, however, still quite sufficiently 

 abundant. Gosse evidently, was well acquainted with it. By way of affording a 

 contrast to his distressful account, I may say that a year ago a clergyman from 

 England came to see me. He was fond of natural history and was seeking information. 

 In the evening,- happening to go to the door, I found that a skunk had crossed the lawn 

 in front of my house. I called my friend and said, " Here is a perfume that you should 

 know of." He sniffed and exclaimed eagerly, "What is that? What is that? Do yov 

 know I rather like that." The otter (Liitra Ganadensis) and the salmon (Salmo salar) 

 are gone from the St. Francis, the Coaticook and the Massawippi. The " Salmon River" 

 no longer bears an appropriate name, but the bald eagle {Falco leucocephalus) still hauntB 

 the lakes, and the snowy owl (Strix wjctea) and the great horned owl are still occasionally 

 heard. The cry of the former resembles Bomp-bomp, that of the latter is very accurately 

 given by Gosse as Ho ! Oho ! Oho ! Waugh ho ! (p. 177). The sound — so mysterious to 

 Gosse (p. 92) — of the saw-whec owl {Nyctale acadica) still rises from the woods in the 

 summer evenings. I have not seen the passenger pigeon (Golumba migratoria) since 1864, 

 and the scarlet tanager {Tanagra rubra) has become scarce. 



■"On one occasion, I recollect, at Livermead, we came across a party of ladies who were cackling so 

 joyously over a rarity they had secured, that curiosity overcame our shyness, and we asked them what they 

 had found. They named a very scarce species, and held it up for us to examine. My father, at once, 

 civilly set them right; it was so-and-so, something much more common place. The ladies drew themselves 

 xip with dignity, and sarcastically remarked that they could only repeat that it u)as the rarity, and "Goaee- 

 is our authority."— Zi/e of P. H. Gosse, p. 288. 



