JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 7 



the press. Of his writing I may mention one characteristic. He 

 never overstated. His two longest writings, each of which filled 

 several instalments of Forest and Stream, A Maine Woods Walk in 

 '61' and 'A Fall Fur Hunt,' might have been much expanded if he 

 had chosen to dilate upon his incidents. But he condensed as much 

 as possible even while telling a story. In the 'Fall Fur Hunt,' he 

 left out some of the most effective episodes, incidents full of color 

 and woods life. There was one day when he had had three hair- 

 breadth escapes, and he put in but one of them. I remonstrated 

 with him upon this and told him that the others were interesting, 

 too. 'I didn't want to make the broth too thick,' was his character- 

 istic response. Not more than an hour before he took to his bed, 

 dying the next day, he finished an article for Forest and Stream 

 upon the otter. He was in great pain ; he knew that the end was 

 probably near, but he felt that he must stick to this article and fin- 

 ish it. It is the last thing that ever will appear from his pen. He 

 left no notes, no manuscripts of any kind, and all his journals were 

 very brief. 



"Nearly all that father wrote had to do with Indians, the 

 Maine woods or mammals. He wrote very little about birds unless 

 it was in reference to changes of habits or to their intelligence. He 

 felt that while birds were his special hobby, yet what he knew about 

 animals was the rare part of his lifetime's acquisitions. This was 

 unique, and though he did not enjoy the labor of writing he often 

 felt it a duty to record what he and he alone knew. But by far the 

 greater part of his information and almost all of his rich experience 

 in the woods never was committed to paper." 



Mr. Hardy's writings were relations of observations on little or 

 obscurely known matters, and therefore stand as lasting contribu- 

 tions to the subjects on which he wrote. He also felt compelled to 

 write occasionally in criticism or correction of matters in print cal- 

 culated to prejudice or mislead readers of his favorite journals. In 

 such cases his word was usually, if not always, final. In writing he 

 responded to the generous impulses which governed his life and 

 quite as often wrote for the benefit of inquiring correspondents as he 



