The Audubon Note Book. 



43 



next moment the report of a gun reverberates through 

 the air. In a second we gaze on one of the grandest 

 and most marvellous spectacles it is given human 

 eyes to behold. 



"From every terrace and cavity in the mountain 

 snow-white birds issue in millions — looking at first 

 like a gigantic foaming torrent — which rise and de- 

 scend in enormous flocks, with deafening cries, and 

 so great is their number that at times mountain, skyi 

 and sun are obscured." 



THEN AND NOW. 



Editor A udubon Magazine: 



Looking over the "Recollections of Mary Somer- 

 ville," the most distinguished of scientific women in 

 the last generation, I observed her statement as to 

 birds, which is so much in the line of your valuable 

 magazine that I venture to copy it: 



"We fed the birds when the ground was covered 

 with snow, and opened our windows at breakfast time 

 to let in the robins, who would hop on the table to 

 pick up crumbs. The quantity of singing birds was 

 very great, for the farmers and gardeners were less 

 cruel and avaricious than they are now — tho' poorer. 

 They allowed our pretty songsters to share in the 

 bounties of Providence. 



"The shortsighted cruelty, too prevalent now, 

 brings its own punishment, for, owing to the reck- 

 less destruction of birds, the equilibrium of nature 

 is disturbed, and insects increase to such an extent 

 as materially to affect every description of crop. This 

 summer (1872) when I was at Sorrento, even the 

 olives, grapes and oranges were seriously injured by 

 the caterpillars — a disaster which I attribute entirely 

 to the ruthless havoc made among every kind of bird . " 



E. 



A CURIOUS FLOATING ISLAND. 



Henry's Lake is one of the wonders of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Directly on the summit of the conti- 

 nental divide, in a depression or gap called Targee 

 Pass, is a body of water that was given the above 

 name in honor of an old trapper who made his home 

 on its borders for several years in the enjoyment of 

 sweet solitude. 



Henry's Lake is oval in shape and has an area of 

 forty square miles. It is entirely surrounded by what 

 seems to be solid land, and one readily concludes 

 that it has no outlet. On the west side lies a level 

 meadow, which floats on the water, and the hidden 

 outlet is beyond it. Near the rim of the basin, which 

 at no distant day must have been the pebbly beach 

 of the lake, is a shallow pool, out from which flows 

 a creek — the source of the north fork of Snake River. 



A species of blue joint grass of luxuriant growth 

 floats upon the water and sends out a mass of large 



hollow white roots, which form a mat so thick and 

 firm that a horse can walk with safety over the nat- 

 ural pontoon. The decayed vegetation adds to the 

 thickness of the mat and forms a mould in which 

 weeds, willows and small trees take root and grow. 

 Back from the new border the new land is firm and 

 supports pine and aspen trees of small growth. 



An island of the same turf formation floats about 

 the lake. The floating body of land is circular and 

 measures 300ft. in diameter. A willow thicket thrives 

 in the center, interspersed with small aspens and 

 dwarf pines. The little trees catch the breeze and 

 are the sails that carry the island on its orbit. One 

 evening it was within a stone's throw of our camp. 

 At daylight next morning it was five miles away. — 

 Cor. San Francisco Examiner. 



The Htonane Journal, of Chicago, is a bright 

 little publication, and fresh and breezy as becomes a 

 journal of established position and recognized worth. 

 Its illustrations are really of a high order of merit 

 and the literature in good tone, and written to good 

 purpose. Mr. Albert W. Landon, the editor, has 

 some very pleasant and appreciative words in the 

 January number, for Mesdames Cause, Meiser and 

 other helpers of the journal, and the cause it repre- 

 sents. The ladies above mentioned have just returned 

 from a tour of Michigan, where they have been stirring 

 up the clergy, the people and the press to practical 

 efforts for the suppression of cruelty to the dumb 

 beast. 



Measures for the collection of the funds for the 

 proposed Audubon monument have been organized 

 and the design selected. AVe hoped to have been 

 able to give a rough sketch ot the design in our cur- 

 rent number, but the absence from the city of Pro- 

 fessor Egleston, President of the Central Committee, 

 has caused delay in getting the electrotypes finished. 

 The general design is a Runic cross, in bluestone, 

 the surface of which will be relieved by figures of 

 typical birds and other allusions to Audubon's labors. 

 The base is to be ornamented by a life-sized me- 

 dallion of the great naturalist. 



A New Year's Offering for the Birds. — An 

 old custom among farmers is to put on the ridge- 

 poles of their barns on New Year's day a sheaf of 

 wheat with heavy heads of grain, intended as a 

 peace offering to the birds. Some of these offerings 

 were seen last New Year's day on New Jersey barns, 

 with flocks of small birds fluttering about them. 



We are indebted to G. Brown Goode, Esq., of the 

 National Museum, and Assistant Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, for the cut 

 of Professor Baird, which has been used to illustrate 

 our notice of that distinguished naturalist. 



