74 FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



" In August, 1832, I reached the delightful little village of 

 Dennisville, about eighteen miles distant from Eastport. There 

 I had the good fortune to become an inmate of the kind and most 

 hospitable family of Judge Lincoln, who has resided there for 

 nearly half a century, and who is blessed with a family of sons 

 equal to any with whom I am acquainted, for talents, persever- 

 ance and industry. Each of these had his own peculiar avoca- 

 tion, and I naturally attached myself more particularly to one 

 who, ever since his childhood, manifested a decided preference 

 for ornithological pursuits. This young gentleman, Thomas 

 Lincoln, offered to lead me to those retired woods, where the 

 Spruce Partridges were to be found. We accordingly set out 

 on the 27th of August, my two sons accompanying us. Thomas, 

 being a perfect woodsman, advanced at our head, and I can as- 

 sure you, reader, that to follow him through the dense and 

 tangled woods of his native country, or over the deep mosses of 

 Labrador, where he accompanied me afterward, would be an 

 undertaking not easily accomplished. We, however, managed 

 to follow our guide the whole day, over fallen trees, among 

 tangled brushwood, and through miry ponds ; yet not a single 

 Grouse did we find, even in the places where he had before seen 

 them ; and great was my mortification when, on our return, 

 toward sunset, as we were crossing a meadow belonging to his 

 father, not more than a quarter of a mile from the village, the 

 people employed in making hay informed us that about half an 

 hour after our departure, they had seen a fine covey. We were 

 too much fatigued to go in search of them, and therefore made 

 for home. 



' ' Ever ardent, if not impatient, I immediately made arrange- 

 ments for procuring some of these birds, ofiering a good price 

 for a few pairs of old and young, and in a few days renewed my 

 search, in company with a man, who had assured me he could 

 guide me to their breeding-grounds, which he actually did, to 

 my great pleasure. These breeding-grounds I cannot better 

 describe, than by telling you that the larch forests, which are 

 here called ' Hackmetack Woods,' are as difficult to traverse 



