98 ADIRONDAC. 



in great numbers. The Canada grouse was also com- 

 mon. I shot eight of the latter in less than an hour 

 on one occasion ; the eighth one, which was an old male, 

 was killed with smooth pebble stones, my shot having 

 run short. The wounded bird ran under a pile of brush, 

 like a frightened hen. Thrusting a forked stick down 

 through the interstices I soon stopped his breathing. 

 Wild pigeons were quite numerous also. These latter 

 recall a singular freak of the sharp shinned hawk. A 

 flock of pigeons alighted on the top of a dead hemlock 

 standing in the edge of a swamp. I got over the fence 

 and moved toward them across an open space. I had 

 not taken many steps, when on looking up I saw the 

 whole rlock again in motion flying very rapidly around 

 the butt of a hill. Just then this hawk alighted on the 

 same tree. I stepped back into the road and paused a 

 moment in doubt which course to go. At that instant 

 the little hawk launched into the air and came as straight 

 as an arrow toward me. I looked in amazement, but 

 in less than half a minute he was within fifty feet of my 

 face, coming full tilt as if he had sighted my nose. Al- 

 most in self-defense I let fly one barrel of my gun, and 

 the mangled form of the audacious marauder fell liter- 

 ally between my feet. 



Of vvild animals, such as bears, panthers, wolves, 

 wild cats, etc., we neither saw nor heard any in the Adi- 

 rondacs. " A howling wilderness," Thoreau says, "sel- 

 dom ever howls. The howling is chiefly done by the 

 imagination of the traveller." Hunter said he often saw 



