158 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



ing to her progeny her extensive knowledge of the world, 

 some gallant lover worshiping at the shrine of his devotion, 

 or possibly a half-starved unfortunate desirous of gaining 

 some retreat where appetite could be gratified. 



The first bear I ever shot was doubtless suffering from 

 the last. I will narrate the circumstance. In the State of 

 Wisconsin, near Green River, there are situated some beau- 

 tiful retired sheets of water. These spots had long enchant- 

 ed me with their attractiveness, for game abounded in their 

 vicinity ; the scenery was beautiful, and, above all, you were 

 entirely free from man's intrusion. Could it be wondered, 

 then, that seldom a week passed that I did not find time 

 to visit them ? Summer had unconsciously glided into au- 

 tumn, the dark, dense covering of the trees had changed to 

 all the gaudy hues of the rainbow, and the enlarged ripples 

 on the water, and occasional sighings of the wind, predict- 

 ed that at no distant period another shroud than the green 

 grasses would cover the surface of the earth. 



On the day in question, when I left my couch, immense 

 numbers of wild fowl were migrating southward evident 

 signs that cold weather had made its appearance north. 

 So, hoping possibly to kill a swan, or a scarce specimen of 

 wild duck, I determined to visit my lakes once more ere 

 they were frozen up. At noon, when I started to fulfill my 

 purpose, large flakes of snow were noiselessly descending, 

 but not in sufficient numbers to obliterate the trail. The 

 water reached, the first glance exposed a sight only seen 

 by those who reside beyond the verges of civilization, 

 where the wild denizens of the air or inhabitants of the 

 land reign supreme. The surface of the lakes was covered 

 with ducks of every variety moving room even looked 

 scarce; still phalanx after phalanx came swooping down 

 before the wind with the well-known velocity that a wild 

 duck's wings command. Quack, quack, quack, went the 



