CHAPTER X 

 The American Rockies 



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On my return to New York, after my trip to Canada 

 in search of moose and beaver, my friend Dr. Overton 

 suggested that, if I could spare the time, I should go 

 with him to see the ospreys on Gardeners' Island. The 

 latter place, it appeared, was a small island off Long 

 Island, and had a kind of local fame as being the spot 

 on which the first settlers landed. I was told that there 

 was a museum there, a house and its furniture, preserved 

 just as it had been in the early days, and that one could 

 see specimens of the garments worn by the long-dead 

 founders of New York. 



This sounded fairly promising, but the prospect of 

 seeing ospreys at their nests was far more alluring 

 to an Englishman, who could see any number of 

 infinitely more precious relics of the past at home, 

 but, alas ! could not study this interesting bird in the 

 British Isles where it has now ceased to breed. 



After I had been shown the relics of the pioneers 

 we started for the haunt of the ospreys. The nests 

 were dotted along the shore for about a mile and a 



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