102 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



annually killed, for the hunters, taking advantage of 

 their then combative disposition, secrete themselves, 

 and imitate, by means of a roll of birch bark, the 

 challenge note of an excited male. Some gallant lord 

 of the wilderness hears the false, deceptive call, and, 

 believing that his demesne has been invaded by a rival? 

 towering with rage, he rushes in the direction whence 

 the sound proceeds, intent on repelling the invader. 

 Listening to the repeated calls, again and again 

 the bull answers, till at length he is drawn within the 

 range of the rifle of the secreted hunter. My maiden 

 effort at moose shooting was made in such a manner. 

 As if it were but yesterday, the whole adventure is 

 written plainly on my memory. I had only been 

 in America a few months. The attractions of Saratoga 

 I could not avoid, and when there became acquainted 

 with a family of St. Francis Indians, earning a pre- 

 carious subsistence by basket-making. Before this I 

 had never met any of the aborigines of the American 

 continent, and hour after hour I passed idling around 

 their encampment, listening to stories of the chase, 

 and more especially of moose hunting. The dark- 

 skinned race got my spare pocket-money, and I in 

 return all their knowledge of woodcraft that could be 

 theoretically imparted. The spirit of adventure had 

 become excited within me, and ere I left Saratoga I had 



