82 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



" My good friend," said Mr. Bergeron^ witli all the 

 enthusiasm of a man of business, " I should like you 

 to visit one of our places in Canada, especially 

 Chateau Guy, Napierville, or Beauharnais. Then 

 you'd begin to understand the importance of maple 

 sugar. I'm told that they are cultivating the maple 

 now both in France and Germany, and I've heard 

 that in Bohemia, the Prince of Arenberg, whose 

 ancestors have planted forests of maple, gathers 

 every year from twelve to fourteen thousand hun- 

 dred-weights of sugar." 



We talked all day about sugar and the methods of 

 making it, and then (purely by way of parenthesis) 

 I introduced the subject of sporting, which was my 

 only object in visiting Wyaconda Bottom. 



" Oh, yes ! "Wait till evening, and when night 

 comes on you'll see something new that will astonish 

 you. You shall judge for yourself. Be patient; 

 wait for sunset, and I'll find a very good gun, and 

 so on." 



About nightfall, when all the workmen were round 

 the fire and eating their supper, we heard some 

 strange noises in the maple plantation. At first 

 they resembled the swell of the sea at a distance, 

 and then growing more distinct as they came nearer, 

 they were like the roaring and squealing of wild 

 beasts. For all reply to my questions, my host 

 pointed out a black object on the top of a high 

 branch, about as large as a magpie's nest. 



