100 AD1RONDAC. 



Birds of any kind were rare in these 

 woods. A pigeon-hawk came prowling by 

 our camp, and the faint piping call of the 

 nut-hatches, leading their young through the 

 high trees, was often heard. 



On the third day, our guide proposed to 

 conduct us to a lake in the mountains where 

 we could float for deer. 



Our journey commenced in a steep and 

 rugged ascent, which brought us, after an 

 hour's heavy climbing, to an elevated region 

 of pine forest, years before ravished by lum- 

 bermen, and presenting all manner of obsta- 

 cles to our awkward and encumbered pedes- 

 trianism. The woods were largely pine, 

 though yellow birch, beech, and maple were 

 common. The satisfaction of having a gun, 

 should any game show itself, was the chief 

 compensation to those of us who were thus 

 burdened. A partridge would occasionally 

 whir up before us, or a red squirrel snicker 

 and hasten to his den ; else, the woods ap- 

 peared quite tenantless. The most noted 

 object was a mammoth pine, apparently the 

 last of a great race, which presided over a 

 cluster of yellow birches, on the side of the 

 mountain. 



About noon we came out upon a long, shal- 



