362 THE ADIRONDACK. 



the sounds of the aroused camp arose over the distant 

 tree-tops, and I turned back. The fog began to lift in 

 the clear morning air, and soon the lake lay without 

 a ripple, smooth as a polished mirror in the clear sun- 

 light. The cry of a loon, evidently not far from me, 

 had kept the mountain-sides ringing with echoes ever 

 since I set out, and now, there being nothing to obstruct 

 my vision, I saw it within close range of my boat. I 

 thought its actions were rather singular, and observing 

 it more narrowly, discovered it to be a female bird with 

 two young ones, which from the size were apparently 

 just hatched. This I had never seen before in the 

 woods. The wildest of birds, it chooses the loneliest 

 waters, and hides its nest and its young where the keen- 

 est hunter cannot find them. I determined at once to 

 catch one of the little fellows from mere curiosity, and 

 rapidly rowed towards where the three were sitting. 

 The young ones were black as a coal, and scarcely 

 bigger than my fist. They allowed me to get very near 

 them, when with a dip like a flash of lightning they dis- 

 appeared under the water. The mother had gone under 

 long before, and now came up a little distance off, utter- 

 ing that prolonged cry so unlike anything else heard in 

 the forest. Seeing her young ones dive, she again went 



