The Wilderness 49 
thrush is a true wilderness motif—its great- 
est and most exalted one; others are the lonely 
and terrible hoot of the horned owl, the mys- 
terious drumming of the ruffed grouse, the 
wildest of wild cries, that of the loon, and the 
wildest of songs—those of the winter wren and 
the water thrush. 
To those who have been much in the 
mountains and the woods—to true naturalists 
and sportsmen that is—the impression which 
a certain sensational reporting of Nature aims 
to give to the ignorant, that the woods are 
quite populous with wild creatures, ready to 
be observed, is as false as itis absurd. If 
there is a Law of the Woods—it is conceal- 
ment. To be precise, it is a tendency under 
which all wild animals with the exception 
of skunks, porcupines, and friendly squirrels 
act, and as normal to them as the instinct of 
self-preservation to which it is due. They 
avoid being seen as naturally as man seeks 
to be observed. The impression one really 
-receives in the wilderness is, thus, not of its 
being populated with animals, but rather of 
its being depopulated or uninhabited. How 
many eyes are watching him, the novice would 
never suspect. They see him but he does not 
see them and, unless there is snow on the 
4 
