132 DArS OUT OF DOORS. 



chat flew to an overhanging branch of the same tree and 

 sang, imitating the wren's song to perfection. It did not 

 mingle it with the usual series of uncouth cries, but gave 

 it alone while sitting ; and then, after a distinct pause, 

 commenced the barking, coughing, spluttering, ventrilo- 

 quial medley characteristic of the chat. Familiar as I 

 have been for years with this bird, this is the only in- 

 stance of the kind that has fallen under my observation. 



Our -final landing was at a beautiful point formed by 

 the river turning slightly from a straight course. Here 

 cedars grew in great profusion, and, indeed, to the exclusion 

 of other trees. It was not only a beautiful but a com- 

 manding point, and I was not surprised, directly upon 

 landing, to find abundant traces of the Indian, Chips of 

 jasper and bits of pottery, these were all ; yet they told 

 the story of the " wild Indian," as he is called, as fully as 

 though we had found his weapons, ornaments, and agri- 

 cultural tools. Here, I think, had been a temporary 

 camping ground ; one periodically visited, and not a per- 

 manent village site. I had come here in hopes of finding 

 it the latter, but the absence of village indications, as I 

 have found them elsewhere throughout the State, was com- 

 plete. There was even no considerable accumulation of 

 clam-shells, so that the spot could not even be classed 

 under the somewhat indefinite term of kitchen-midden. 

 But what was found — chips, sherds, and a bit of worked 

 bone — proved sufiicient to spur the imagination, and on 

 the return trip I pictured this river and its banks as 

 they once were, and peopled it with our predecessors, who, 

 as it seems to me, treated it more judiciously than we 

 have done — extracting its sweets without draining its very 

 life-blood. 



And with this thought, we returned the Iva to her 

 owner and became landsmen again. 



