THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



77 



well do I recall the time when 

 but a babe, comparatively speak- 

 ing", I delighted in g-athering- the 

 beautiful flowers, in such beauti- 

 ful shapes, and painted such ex- 

 quisite colors by an allwise Creator 

 and how in after years as soon as 

 old enoug-h to ramble to the wood- 

 land and watch and study His 

 animated creatures, especially 

 the beautiful birds. Ah yes; 

 those were happy days- Time 

 may erase many pleasant instan- 

 ces which have happened since, 

 but while life and reason continue 

 those beautiful memories can 

 never be forgotten. When ten 

 years of ag-e (Nov. 1854) I moved 

 from old Vermont, the land of my 

 nativity, to Kingston, Wis. where 

 I met a kindred spirit in Andrew 

 Alverson, a fine boy and a 

 Genuine Naturalist, who was deep- 

 ly interested in birds; but whose 

 g-reatest possession at that time 

 was his faithful dog Ring; half 

 Shepherd and half Water-spaniel. 

 Talk of intelligence in animals, 

 I really think she far excelled 

 anything- I have ever met, 

 for she would hunt anything 

 from mice to badgers in the 

 animal line and all kinds of birds 

 and their nests upon the ground 

 and even the fish in the water. 

 To illustrate, we were out hunt- 

 ing- one day and on coming to a 

 stream a big-, black bass, weigh- 

 ing- some three and one-half 

 to four pounds made an attempt 

 to cross a small ripple in the 



stream, and m less time than I 

 can write it Ring plunged in and 

 broug-ht Mr. Bass out althoug-h 

 the thorns upon its back lascerat- 

 ed her mouth so that it bled. 

 My friend lived on a farm only 

 eig-hty rods from my own home, 

 and one-half mile from his home 

 was the edg-e of what was known 

 as "the Big- Marsh" situated in 

 Marquette Co. (now Green Lake) 

 between the towns of Marquette 

 and Kingston. As I remember 

 it, the marsh was from one-half 

 to two miles wide in places, by 

 some fifteen miles long, and sup- 

 posed by many to have been a big 

 lake at one time, for there are 

 localities where you could teeter 

 the sod for several rods around 

 and I have often taken my heel 

 forced it throug-h the sod and 

 when throug-h there seemed to be 

 no bottom for I could run my leg 

 down full leng-th. how much 

 further I am not prepared to say, 

 the quagmire seemed however to 

 be soft mud, not water. This 

 used to be iii those days fine hunt- 

 ing g-rounds for boys like us and 

 many a happ}^ find, through the 

 keen scent of Ring-, have I taken 

 here. Meadow Larks, Bobolinks, 

 Rails, Ducks, Marsh-wrens; and 

 once, (Oh! how my heart bound- 

 ed) a fine set of two eg-gs of the 

 Sand-hill Crane. While near 

 the marsh were g-roves and mead- 

 ows, where we found Killdeers, 

 Plovers, Grass Finches, Wood- 

 peckers, Robins, Blue Jays, 



