282 



THE OOLOGlST. 



with an accession of sixty-two subscrib- 

 ers and a lai'ge amount of specimens. 



On Audubon's return from the upper 

 Mississippi, he found himself obliged to 

 cross one of the wide prairies, which in 

 that part of the United States vary the 

 appearance of the country. His march 

 was of long duration, and he saw the 

 sun sinking beneath the hoiizon long 

 before he could perceive any appear- 

 ance of woodland, and nothing in the 

 shape of a man had he met the whole 

 day. Soon, however, he saw a fire- 

 light and moved towards it, full of con- 

 fidence that it proceeded from the 

 camp of some wandering Indians. He 

 was mistaken, however, and discovered 

 by the glare that it was from the hearth 

 of a small log cabin, and that a tall fig- 

 ure passed and repassed between him 

 and the fire. Reaching the spot he re- 

 quested a night's lodging, and was an- 

 swered that he could stay if he wished. 

 He walked in and took a stool by the 

 fire. A young Indian was in the room, 

 who at Audubon's approach pointed to 

 one of his eyes, which was covered with 

 blood. While in the act of discharging 

 an arrow at a raccoon the shaft had 

 split upon the cord and sprung back 

 with such violence as to destroy his 

 right eye. It being rather late, as Au- 

 dubon observed by a tine gold watch 

 which he took from his pocket, which 

 attracted the covetous eyes of the hag 

 who owned the cabin, he inquired for 

 his bed. The woman wished to see the 

 watch, and taking it from the chain, 

 Audubon handed it to her. She was in 

 ecstasy over it. The Indian rose from 

 his seat and passed Audubon several 

 times and pinched him silently. His 

 eyes met those of the naturalist and his 

 look instantly put Audubon on his 

 guard. It then flashed across Audu- 

 bon's mind that he was in peril. He 

 asked the woman for his watch, wound 

 it up, and under pretense of wishing to 

 see how the weather was, picked up his 

 gun and walked out of the cabin. As 



soon as he was outside he slipped a 

 couple of bullets in his gun, renewed 

 the primings and scraped the edges of 

 the flint. A short time elapsed after 

 Audubon went to bed, when two stal- 

 wart youths made their appearance. 

 They asked for whiskey and at the same 

 time asked who the stranger was. The 

 woman told them and at the same time 

 made mention of Audubon's watch. 

 Soon the woman took up a huge butch- 

 er knife and with the greatest coolness 

 proceeded to sharpen it. Her task fin- 

 ished she walked to her reeling sons 

 and said, "There, that'll soon settle 

 him!" Audubon turned silently, whis- 

 pered to his dog and lay ready to start 

 up and shoot his assailants. The in- 

 fernal hag was advancing slowly, prob- 

 ably contemplating the best manner in 

 which to dispose of her victim. Audu- 

 bon was several times on the point of 

 rising and shooting her, but as he was 

 about to do so the door opened sudden- 

 ly and two stout travellers entered, 

 each with a long ritie on his shoulder. 

 Audubon bounded to his feet and told 

 them of his peril. The drunken sons 

 were secured and the woman shared 

 the same fate. In the morning they 

 unbound the feet of the captives, 

 marched them into the road, set fire to 

 their cabin and gave all the skins and 

 implements to the young Indian. This 

 Avas the one and only occasion when 

 Audubon was in danger of his life from 

 his fellowmen. 



Fred W. Parkhurst, 

 Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y. 

 (to be continued.) 



Crane Island. 



In one of the fairest of the Minnesota 

 lakes, not very many miles from the 

 Twin Cities, there is situated a small 

 island, perhaps forty acres in extent, 

 where large numbers of Great Blue 

 Heron and Double-crested Cormorant 

 congregate to breed. 



