CHAPTER X 



A month's encampment in the wilderness 



Our guide, Achil Quelle, knew this district generally, 

 but could give it no particular name. A few spots he 

 designated with trapper's nomenclature ; but the place 

 was, and probably still is, a completely out-of-the-way 

 wilderness, never visited by any beings but Indians and 

 hunters, and but by comparatively few of them, for it 

 was not generally known. According to Achil, however, 

 it was a splendid spot for game; and so it proved. I 

 suppose it to be situated about midway between Play- 

 green Lake and the Hill River, and some fifty miles from 

 either ; but the map I had was not sufficiently good to 

 locate the spot with precision. 



The night of our arrival I was much struck with the 

 peculiar cry of some bird which I was told was the whip- 

 poor-will, and which was answered by another at an 

 apparently considerable distance. As I had never before 

 heard the cries of these birds I could not judge for my- 

 self, but I had not the least doubt that the notes were 

 those of a crepuscular hawk of some kind, though I had 

 hitherto thought that the whip-poor-will was confined 

 to the warmer parts of America. On this and subse- 

 quent nights I heard the birds calling and answering 

 for hours, but it was a long time before I caught sight 

 of them. At length I shot one, and from its skin I sub- 

 sequently learned it to be the Chordeilcs Virginia) nis of 

 Americans, Caprimulgus virginianus of the English. I 

 believe that this bhd has never been found so far north 



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