Ma? :;l, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



343 



Now, tobacco smoke they don't mind a bit. while a black- 

 tail iir.ii ■ .. like 



Tin rest of the dtty was spent in studying the lay of the 

 hunt, and ill planning the morrow's campaign, It was de- 

 nial Ignotus and The Rhymet should essay the cap 

 lniiii would ''keep camp" in their ,-ibsi uce. as 

 the exertions of the last, two days, joined to the exposure of 

 the night before, had brought him a visit from his old friend, 

 "the mountain gout." 



The moon was only fairly above the horizon when the 

 pair stole carefully from their blankets and started for the 

 peaks, looming dimly in the distance. The morning was 

 phenomenal — neither clear nor cloudy, light nor dark. 

 There was no perceptible mist, yet all 'things bad a hazy, 

 uncertain look. The shadows cast by The tiees were as clear 

 and pitchy-black as though produced by the electric arc, 

 yet the moon shone but pale and wan. There was no sign 

 of hoar-frost on I be ^rass', vet the stinging air fell damp and 

 raw The stars glittered like sparks" of tire, yet the sky 

 was sodden and gray. Everything was incongruous and 

 oi 11 1 ir:, i',b :,,,". r- tin. .ugh Chaos was just departing, and the 

 New Earth hall not yet been born. 



\- ili, hunters threaded their way silently through the 

 alder groves, or crossed the mesa from one woody island 

 to another, they seemed to themselves like shades of tin i 

 parted. flitting around the place which had been their accus- 

 tomed haunt in life. Each wished the oilier would speak, 

 but neither felt bold enough to break the uncanny stillness. 

 Tlie sense, of something mysterious, of a vague intangible 

 "one-knows-nol-what," a feeling that "it is the unexpected 

 which always happens. ' seemed to weigh do.-, n and oppress 

 them. Weak ghosts, of sounds quavered around them, yet 

 it' one turned to listen, thev censed, and nothing was beard 

 but silence; the silence of 'the Cosmos, which, maddened at 

 its own dumbness, flung itself upon the ear with a muffled, 

 pulsating roar, wherein were mingled the plunge of the surf 

 upon the shore, the moan of the wind in the bending tree- 

 tops, and the low reverberation of the dying thunder-peal. 

 ffhosts of thing.-' . I here seemed to he. as well as gliosis of 

 sounds; spectral forms vanished behind the somber spruce 

 boles; white wraiths floated over the mesa, fading away as 

 soon as looked at: intangible somethings which eluded 

 Sight, and dim shadowy presences flitted before, behind and 

 cry side of them, plainly felt, though all unseen: so 

 that it was with a sigh of relief that, tliey finally reached 

 the throat of the mesa, where it narrowed to enter the peaks. 

 forming through which (he huntet instinct of 



1 gnotus told him the elk would most likely pass on their way 

 to the pasture below. But, led by their suspicious nature, 

 they might vary their usual routine, and crossover the "roche 

 moutonne" or '"sheep-back." which formed one side of the 

 throat, so The Rhymer was left there that he might have a 

 double chance, while Ignotus went further up, following a 

 trail so broad that it might have been a cow-palh or a New 

 England hillside. 



idling down between two boulders, with bis back to 

 the cliff, yet so situated that, he could watch both the pass 

 above and the rounded sheep-back before him. The Rhymer 

 proceeded to make himself comfortable while he kept the 

 morning watch. His "dead-leaf" corduroy matched so 

 well with the hue of the rocks behind and around him, that 

 he had no fear of being seen by the wary eye of "him-that- 

 walks-with-a tree-ou-his-head." as the fanciful red man calls 

 1'ileretl elk. The place and the hour were productive 

 of fancies. Around were the everlasting hills, and above 

 stretched the gray arch of the eternal skies The un- 

 canny feeling was gone from the air, and in its place was a 

 soothing nimbus of peace and rest. There was still a 

 sense of preparation — an expectation of something about to 

 happen, but something wouderful, and not terrible; majes- 

 tic, but not awful. "Nature was preparing herself for the 

 working of a miracle — none the less marvellous because it is 

 repeated over and over again — the miracle of the birth of a 

 new day. 



Struck by the marvel, Jupiter passed for a moment 

 on the top of Dos Heruianos, and Orion, shifting .his hand 

 from bis sword-hilt, shaded his eyes to see what, was to take 

 place on his sister. Terra. But iutiuity cannot stand still, 

 and they wheeled onward again in their planetary march, 

 while a thrill of vague unrest stirred the. bosom of the earth 

 goddess, as she waited for the first, kiss of her coming lover, 

 the SuA 



And then, from the sky above, from the air around, from 

 the silver trumpet of some distant star, from everywhere and 

 from nowhere, comes a low, distant, plaintive note, rising, 

 swelling, falling, echoing from rock to crag, and dying away 

 in the pass beloV. 



'• hark! O hear! how shrih and clear, 

 And shriller, i-learer, further going: 

 How fan.! ami far. from elili and sear, 

 The horns of Elfland faintly blowing:" 



Nature bends her ear to listen, as it comes again, like the 

 long drawn strain of an JSolian harp, or the first doubtful 

 note blown by the great god Pan from the reed he cut by 

 the river. Once, twice, thrice it comes, borne on pulsating 

 ether waves, echoing, echoing from clilf to cliff, note and 

 echo so blended that the ear cannot separate the one from 

 the other. In its evanescent strain are suggestions of all 

 supernal music beard since the world began: the glad cry 

 that broke from the lips of Memnon's statue when touched 

 by the first sun-rays flashed across the Egyptian desert; the 

 wild, heart-broken wail that went shuddering through the 

 vineyards and olive groves of the Mediterranean isles, an- 

 nouncing to a heathen world that the old pagan gods were 

 dead, and the hew Christ was come; the angelic sadness of 

 that seraph strain that held the sin-worn Lancelot mute, 

 as, before bis raptured sight., slow swam the Holy Grail; or 

 the wild, defiant outburst of Scandinavian Thor. challeng- 

 ing the new faith to battle, "while King Olaf still went sail 

 iliug up through Dronthciin Fiord." 



With half closed eyes and parted lips, The Rhymer holds 

 his breath to listen. When the last sweet echo has died 

 away, he comes back lo earth again, opens bis eyes, and lo' 

 on the crest of the rounded hill opposite him, outlined upon 

 the sky and thrown into high relief by the faint phik glow 

 behind, he sees, through the gray haze of the morning, the 

 dim adumbration of a mighty head, crowned by branching 

 antlers, an arrow's flight from tip to tip. 



Silently and spectrally, while he gazes, another giant, bead 

 takes shape and form out of the curling mist, and another, 

 and another, each materializing slowly and each more life- 

 like than its predecessor, till life whole background of the 

 sky is crossed and recrossed by the huge palmate horns, 

 beneath which a vivid fancy almost, distinguishes shapeless 

 bulks which might pass for the bodies to which those giant 

 heads belong. Here, be thinks, is :i capital illustration of 

 the way in which 80 many ghost stories take their rise. 



Given a fantastic imagination prone to play tricks upon 

 its more matter-of-fact brother. Common Sense, and sur- 

 roundings a little out of the commonplace beat of eveiy-day 

 life, and what more natural than that the subjective should 

 dominate over. Or even usurp the throne of, the objective, 

 liferent ideational be merged into the efferent sen- 

 sational? By one who has not, like himself, been accus- 

 tomed to tile practice of cool, mental analysis, and 

 has thus learned to recognize intuitively the line 

 which separates illusion from fact, these ghostly shapes 

 would be taken for real, instead of. as they truly are. 

 mere phantasms of the brain, projected upon a back- 

 ground of fog and sky. In fact,' the method of their 

 appearance is proof of their unreal character. If they were 

 solid flesh and blood, the tips of the horns would first be 

 seen rising gradually over the crest ,,f the bill, tiil the whole 

 head came into view, as the while topsails of a ship appeal- 

 over the curve of the sea before the vessel herself swims 

 into the watcher's ken. Instead of which the whole head 

 comes into view at once; first as a dint, shadowy outline, 

 then gathering form and shape as the actinic rays of fancy 

 impingc upon" the sensitive plate of the mental camera. As 

 The Rhymer dreamily contemplates these eidola of the 

 mind, and lazily smiles to think how- a less keen psycholo- 

 gist than he might be duped by these airy visions, a long 

 lance of light from the rising sun behind flashes over Ins 

 head, breaks upon the slope opposite, the gray mist vanishes 

 as by magic, and — by the spear of Nimrodl what be has 

 taken for the idle stuff of dreams proves to be the veritable 

 drove.ofeltforwhose coming he has been waiting) Mo- 

 tionless they stand, within fair rifleshot — twenty-three of 

 them, the largest drove of bull elks he had ever. or. for that 

 matter, has ever seen. All noble, majestic fellows, too; not 

 a runt or an ignoble head among them. So magnificent they 

 look, so free and wild, and in such perfect keeping with 

 the scene, that for a moment there flashed through The 



Rhymer's head the insane idea of letting them gos 



but the next moment the hunter's instinct of slaughter, or, 

 it may be, the ganglionic nerve centers of the stomach, 

 prevails, and the Sharps .44 rises slowly to the shoul- 

 der, steadies a moment, there is a pressure upon the 

 trigger, a tongue of flame, followed by smoke, leaps out, 

 the "silence of the dawn is shivered 'by a detonution of 

 sound which clashes and clangs from cliff to cliff, there is 

 a rush of feet, forms, and a clatter of hoofs, and when the 

 smoke has drifted away down the pass, the opposite slope 

 is as devoid of life as when it first met The Rhymer's eye 

 two hours before. As devoid of life, but it- smooth outline 

 is now broken by a shapeless russet bulk, and a thin red 

 stream is slow ly' staining the brown shingle and scattered 

 chimps of moss". Death must have been instantaneous, for 

 the elk has simply sunk upon his knees, and except that, the 

 head has fallen to one side, so that the autlers touch the 

 groiind.be looks as though be might, be quietly sleeping. 

 Withhuuiau inconsistency The Rhymer, who would have 

 heartily Cursed his luck bad be missed bis aim. feels a sensa- 

 tion of'half regret because tie did not. In a few moments, 

 Ignotus having heard the shot, appears, picking his way 

 down the pass, and in five minutes more he and The Rhymer 

 are busily at work "gralloching" their quarry. 



"I heard 'em whist] , say- 1 gnotus, holding his bloody 

 knife between bis teeth, whi'le both bands tug at. the tough 

 bide, "and 1 knew from the direction they wewn'l coming 

 my way, so I thought you'd be apt to 'get 'em. Rather 

 early for 'em to be running, though : last year's calves are 

 hardly weaned." 



"Heard 'em whistle!" then the wild music which bad 

 filled The Rhymer's soul was nothing but the amorous call 

 of a four-legged beast to his hairy love. 



To this day Ignotus bus not found out why The Rhymer, 

 after gazing at him for a moment with a look of blank dis- 

 gust, softly murmured, "Oh! that one were here to write 

 me down an ass!" 



^ntmtiil J}i§tow. 



BIRDS- OF NORTHERN OHIO. 



ADDITIONS. 



Cleveland. O., May 31, 1883. 

 Editor Forest "mi t 



Having collected birds in this locality for about twenty 

 years, I feel called upon to offer some comments on the list 

 of "Birds of Northern Ohio" from mv friend Mr. Imrersoll. 

 which appeared in last Forest and 'Stkkavi, as well as to 

 make a number of additions to his list. 



Golden-crowned Kinglet — Eegulus mtrapa. — Very seldom 

 visits us in winter, but is a common spring and fall-migrant. 



Red-bellied Nuthatch — 8Uta oanaden&is, — 1 have never 

 seen it in winter, but it nearly always visits us in spring and 

 fall, and at times iu great abundance. 



Brown Creeper — Ont/iir J\i miliaria. — Is not a common 

 resident, but iu spring and fall and mild winters it is abun- 

 dant. 



Worm-eating Warbler — B. term&voriM. — Rare migrant, f 

 think less than a dozen have been procured from this locality, 



Orange-crowned Warbler — II. ceUifa. — Not rare daring 

 fall migration. 



Kirlland Warbler — IK kirtlumli. — There are now eleven 

 specimens recorded, six of which were laken within five 

 miles of Cleveland, and two of which I shot. 



Snow Bunting— P. nivalis, — An abundant winter visitant. 



Hairy Woodpecker — P. ailUfSlts.-—- Common resident. 



I will now add to the list: 



Gray-cheeked Thrush— Tunhis swaimotd, var 

 Npl uncommon migrant, 



Gtvat Carolina Wren— -Thryothwus !ndodicif(»VS.--'Rntu 



Prothonotary Warbler — Protonotaria citrcea. — 1 kuow of 

 but one instance of its capture here. 



Tennessee Warbler. — II, hiii/it/n/p/inyn ;;, regtina.— Bare 

 migrant. 



White browed Yellow-throated Warbler. — Itendraca domi- 

 nicii, var. iilbilorn. — Not uncommon on river bottoms, 

 ear. ialh among sycamores. 



Water Thrush St tw ft I ■■ — Not uncommon migrant. 



Connecticut Warbler — Opwomis, agitis. — For the" last 

 two or three seasons 1 have found this warbler in 

 able numbers for a "rare" one, having taken from six to 

 twelve each year. 



Lincoln's Finch — Melospim linivlni. — Irregular spring and 

 fall migrant. 



Snowbird — Junto tyenutlii, — Abundant in colder months. 



Black-throated Bunting—: Mtspka amu Hctiim.— Summer 



resident; seemingly rare some seaSOSS, and sometimes abun- 



Yellow-hellied Flycatcher-- , Rare 



migrant. 



Great Horned Owl— . ' .-.—Common resident . 



Goshawk — Aslai- ttti >,• 



Rough-legged Hawk — - 1 nhibvteo lagopus—Nol uucommon 

 dm ing colder months. 



Golden Eagle— Aqatta r/tr>>*,i,f<!«.--y 



Wild Turkey — ,!/■', i a.— For- 



merly abundant here, but now extinct, except in heavily 

 wooded countii 3. 



Avocet — B i . ., i (rostra umt rwanot, — Rare: have nevei 1 1 

 but two specimens, both from vicinity of Sandusky Bay. 



Stilt — Himwntopi . — Rare. 



Northern Phalurope — I ,. -Rare migrant, 



Red Pha la rope- / us — Rare migrant. 



Red-breasted Snipe. — MacrorhimvpMs grtm as. — Rare. 



White-ruinped Sandpiper — Trimjn fusdeoWs, R We Ul 

 grant. 



R) d-breasted Sandpiper — THnga mtbutus. — Rare migrant 



Willett— ToUtn'i* k, iiiijiiihim.tiiii.—BxaB migrant, 



■iv Sandpiper — Tolfiiinsmlitnriug. — Common summer 

 resident. 



Barlramian Sandpiper, Upland Plorei^-AetitwrttS l"ti- 

 tramius, — Common summer resident) 



Wood lbin—Tn.iit<diis londator.—\ know of but a single 

 specimen from this locality. 



Night Heron — Nyciiwfdea grixtii, var. mi eni. — Rare sum 

 nier resident. 



"Whistling Swan — Cygn.us anifrkuiivs. — Not uncommon 

 migrant. 



Blue Goose — Armr m'/'w/i .«vw.— Rare. 



Hutehiu's Goose — Bi'iintii •<i,i<i<h mix, var. hiitrliiusii. — Rare; 

 given on authority of R. K. Winslow, 



Gadwall — ChiuhhismH!. ,*tnp<>-it>. — Not common migrant. 



Greater Blackhead — FtiHgtikt w&r&a.— Not common mi- 

 grant. 



Goklen-eyi — ;, ... >t t la. — Spring and' fall migrant; 



have >(vn them in cracks iu ice on lake in mid-winter. 



Long-tailed Duck— Hm bhi .//.„■/. ■///'*.— Not tare during 

 cold months; abundant at lower end of Lake Erie. 



American Black Scoter — GSdnmia ■umrkttna. — Rare winter 

 visitor. 



Velvet Scoter — CEdtrmiafusca, — Rare .-have only seen them 

 in fall and winter. 



Ruddy Duck— 1 nihij.i.— Not uncommon mi- 



s-rant. 



Red-breasted Merganser — Mergui serrator, - Rare migrant. 



White Pelican— 1 eleea us i achyrltymhus.— Raw migranl 



Pomarine Jaeger — St , - ; ■■. ;«■■■.., .''■■riiii^i*. — Very rare; 



1 know Of but two specimens secured here, both of which 

 are in my collection. 



\\ bite-winged Gull— hu-n* ', if-pt, rus.— Rare winter vis- 

 itor. Given on authority of R. K, Winslow 



ICittawake Gull — Larva tridactylus. — Very rare visitant. 

 Given on above authority; have never seen "a specimen. 



Black-throated Diver— C olymh ti s a retk us, — Accidents 1 vis- 

 itor; have only seen one specimen, which was shot on San- 

 dusky Bay. 



These additions to the list published, are made from actual 

 capture or possession of species mentioned, with four (i) ex- 

 ceptions, of which thiee are given above on authority of R. 

 K. Winslow, and prothonotary warbler, which Dr. .L P. 

 Kirtland showed me, giving locality of its capture, etc. 



The list, as amended, is practically complete. 



H. £. Citrm:. 



"NEW ENGLAND BIRD LIFE." 



vot, one nv* 



IT has become rather the fashion of late years iu this coun- 

 try lo publish works on ornithology in" an incompleted 

 form, The appearance of the first part or volume of some 

 admirable work would excite high hopes in the minds of 

 those interested in the subject, but time would pass on. and 

 the desire to behold the completed work remain unsatisfied. 

 We can think at tnis moment of half a dozen works which 

 are known only by their fragments. The most glaring in- 

 stance of the kind is the case of Baird. Brown andRidg- 

 way's "North American Birds." of which we kuow only the 

 land birds, but there are not wanting others in which the 

 disappointment has been almost equally great. It is very 

 gratifying, therefore, to be able to announce the completion 

 of "New England Birtl Life." the first volume of which was 

 noticed in these columns (Fokest and Stkeam, Vol. wii.. 



Jl.367, Nov. 3, 1881) soon after its appearauee. At 



time we expressed our views on the value of the work and 

 its usefulness to the public, and a perusal of the concluding 

 part shows that it is no less important llian its predecessor. 

 Indeed, in some respects it is much more so, for il treats iu 

 part of the water birels, a group— if we may use that term — 

 which for many years has been sadly neglected. For, with 

 the exception of what i- said of them in the "Bints of the 

 Northwest." nothing systematic has been written on this 

 important division of our birds since the days of Audubon. 



To treat the birds of New- England from' the Tyrannida 1 

 down to the end of the lisl iu a single volume of 400 pages 

 is a task that, few men. either as authors or editors, would 

 (aire to undertake, but Dr. Coues has succeeded marvel- 

 lously well in giving the important facts with regard to 

 each species. As may be imagined, there is no expansion 

 of the biographical notes. Each bird is treated with the 

 utmost conciseness, and yet the references, which enable 

 the reader to look the 'subject up for himself, are never 

 omitted. Notwithstanding this conciseness, one would 

 know, even if Dr. Coues's name did not appear on tin' title 

 page, that be had a hand in the authotship of the work, for 

 it abounds in thosehappy turns of expression and telling 

 phrases for which he is so justly renowned. It is therefore 

 delightful reading, and judged from a scientific standpoint, 

 it is as excellent as we should expect a work of Dr. Coins to 

 be. The importance of having put together iu compact 

 shape, so that they can be readily got at, the scattered mass 

 of notes and records, which, during the past years have 

 been gathered by the large and ever increasing number of 

 New England collectors, e.ui scarcely be over-estimated, and 

 those who are accustomed to much' turning over of books 

 iu their search for such records and notes, will appiccl 

 what has been done for them in this respect by Dr. Don 

 and Mr. Stearns. It would be an agreeable task, did ran 



■. England Pint Lite Being a | Manual | of New England 



Oruitn ■:..-' ■ ■■-.■, m the mauuscrii.i m n 



i, , of the Nutiall Ornithological t'luti, etc. u v 



litli ■'.! Oja.-s >!. '- Part 11. | Nun-wine 



I.. -- .. ■ I ' .. . . ,..'.: . ' . , .:..- ':..-,..... Lee A. 



Khepard, Publishers I New York, Charles T. Dillingham 



