March 18, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



125 



direct/on of my own camp, and a tramp of two hours 

 brought us to the white sandy beach of West Musquash 

 Lake, whereupon I fired a shot and was answered. Soon 

 we mot Mr. Benson, and I rushed forward and grasped 

 his hand, he expressing the same feelings of joy at meet- 

 ing me. Three shots were then fired at intervals, as a 

 signal that I had returned. The men returned one by 

 one, for my friend Benson had spared no trouble in the 

 effort to find me, engaging the whole crew of lumber- 

 men, under Joseph Neal, who had just arrived, to begin 

 operations. Mr. Neal, with all of his men, gave up their 

 time, and absolutely refused pay. When Mr. Thornton, 

 our guide, and Mr. Neal were nearing our camp, I went 

 down to meet them. Thornton sprang forward to me, 

 saying, "My Clod, is it you?" and Mr. Neal came up and 

 gave me his hand as though I were an old friend. Men 

 with such hearts and generous impulses are not always 

 at hand to help the lost and distressed. After a good 

 dinner, the remainder of the day was devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of the catastrophe. 1 then knew how faithfully 

 my friends had continued to hunt for me. 



To those who have followed this account I will add its 

 lesson as I see it. Do not leave your compass in camp as 

 I did, oven when going out with' a. guide. Always have 

 a map. When you feel you know the course, do not let 

 water seen in another direction divert you from your 

 course. If lost at night, retrace your steps in the morn- 

 ing. I would have so done, but supposed the lake one of 

 a chain upon which I was camped ; it proved one of an- 

 other cham of lakes. 



It seems to me that people in the rural districts are 

 more generous and willing to lend aid to others, without 

 reward, than people living in our cities. My misfortune 

 became known in Bangor before fmy return, and a Bhort 

 notice appeared in the Whig, hut I'had written my wife 

 a note saying I was out safe. A hound followed me out 

 of the woods against my expressed wish ; therefore with 

 two dogs, one led by rope, and with torn shoes and shabby 

 clothing, I presented quite a figure. 



Joseph Jefferson was that very evening to appear in the 

 city as Rip Van Winkle. My wife greeted me at my 

 liouse door, when I pulled the hell, and after surveying 

 me for a moment, said, "Well, old Rip, you have come." 



Bangor, Me,, January, 1880. H. N. Fairbanks. 



We supplement our correspondent's experience with 

 this account of what, in the " sporting " parlance of the 

 day, might he termed a six days' go-as-you-please walk. 

 There was no purse up, hut the man was walking for his 

 life:— 



This hybrid individual was by occupation a voyageur 

 in summer and a trapper and hunter in the winter season. 

 His mental caliber was very ordinary, being unable to 

 read or write, and his habit apathetic, living much alone. 

 Some of his pouies having strayed off upon the prairie 

 during the winter months, he went in quest of them. 

 The prairie was the native heath to hirn, which he had 

 trodden from infancy with the same assurance that ordi- 

 nary mortals walk the pavement. He had no fear of 

 being lost ; every depression in the snow-clad earth, every 

 stunted Bhrub, was a landmark to guide him on his way. 

 Yet, after an absence of half a day a storm arose which 

 obscured the landscape, and, despite his prairie craft, he 

 found himself lost. He accepted the situation, and know- 

 ing that any efforts to extricate himself until after the 

 subsidence of the storm would only prove fruitless, set 

 about making preparations for his safety from freezing. 

 He attached himself to a clump of cottonwood trees as a 

 land-mark, and walked in a circle about it. Night came 

 on, and he still walked. Day followed, and night again 

 found him still walking and the storm unabated. At 

 length his moccasins wore off his feet. He took the long 

 " uiilitaires" from his hands and tied them on in lieu of 

 shoes. Then he walked on through the third, fourth and 

 fifth days and nights, supporting life by chewing his 

 leather hunting shirt. The sixth morning found his feet 

 frozen and striking the beaten path like bits of wood ; his 

 hands were in a like condition, and his face but little bet- 

 ter. During that day, however, some wandering Indians 

 discovered him in an apparently dying condition. They 

 took him to a neighboring fort, and after the surgeon had 

 bereft him of portions of both hands and feet, and taken 

 a piece from his face, he got well, 



When found by the Indians, it is worthy of remark 

 that, with the exception of exhaustion, the man was 

 mentally more acute than when he was first lost. During 

 all those fearful days and nights the combination of ter- 

 ror, despair, and, above all, longing for human compan- 

 ionship, had striven against that dull intellectuality and 

 apathetic temperament in vain. There was an indiffer- 

 ence to, and ignorance of, the finer parts of the torture 

 which effectually shielded him from danger. He simply 

 did not know enough to experience any of the feelings 

 which would have wrecked a higher order of intelligence. 



And here is the story of a man who was lost on the 

 plains in February, 1878 : — 



This unfortunate person was an officer of the company, 

 and had started in the depth of winter, along with 

 four others, to visit a distant post. Their means of con- 

 veyance were horse-sleds, instead of the ordinary winter 

 vehicles of the country, snow-shoes and dog-sleds. The 

 gentleman was a first-rate traveler, and accustomed 

 from boyhood to such work. He knew the country well, 

 and tor 'a man of his strong constitution the severity of 

 the winter's cold had too few terrors. At the crossing of 

 the White Mud River he volunteered, as the party with 

 which he traveled had run short of provisions, and their 

 sleds, in consequence of deep snow, traveled heavily, to 

 push on alone, with the intention of sending back assist- 

 ance from the. fort. He followed the track correctly 

 until nightfall, when he lost his way, probably in an at- 

 tempt to find a shorter route. The following morning 

 he resumed his journey, but in the wrong direction, and, 

 after another uight spent on the plains, running about in 

 aoircle to preserve warmth, the third day's travel brought 

 him within thirty miles of the fort, and very far distant 

 from the track. Here hope seemed to desert him ; and, 

 after having hung a portion of his clothing upon a tree to 

 attract the attention of any passer-by, he lay down and 

 was frozen to death. When his dead body was recovered, 

 he lay with one hand on his heart, the other contain- 

 ing a compass, 



The half-breeds who found his body read by his tracks 

 in ths snow the whole history of this fierce fight for life- 



read it with the same ease that you read the account 

 from the page before you. There was not a foot-print or 

 mark anywhere but formed a link hi the chain of evi- 

 dence. They knew from the varied hardness of the snow 

 about the man's tracks just how long before they had 

 been marie ; from the length of the stride when he was 

 walking deliberately and when excitedly, and adduced 

 therefrom the state of mind he was in at the time. They 

 knew he had not taken proper precaution to sustain 

 his failing strength, because the leather of his mittens 

 and moccasin tops, which lie might have eaten, was 

 untouched. It was very easily comprehended by these 

 experienced plain-dwellers, too, that the poor victim, 

 on realizing himself as lost, must have grown so excited 

 as to lose his presence of mind, or he would have known 

 his necessary general position with regard to the river, 

 and have acted otherwise than he did. With his practi- 

 cal knowledge of the use of a compass, and of the country 

 over which he traveled, he could have brought himself 

 to any point he chose. But the dread terror of being 

 lost had deprived him of reason in three days. 



>nl fkforg. 



NOTES ON THE PINE GROSBEAK, 



(Pinicola Fnucleator.) 



YESTERDAY I saw three of these beautiful birds in- 

 dustriously picking up their dinner in a patch of 

 woods. They were quite tame, and I drove within 

 twenty feet of them, and paused quite a while to observe 

 and admire them, as they are old friendB of mine. Four 

 years ago they were quite plenty in this vicinity, and a 

 large flock of them came regularly every morning to 

 feast upon some frozen apples that hung on a tree within 

 ten feet of my window. They were very tame, aud sang 

 so sweetly that I determined to capture some of them if 

 possible. Fixing a slipnoose upon the end of a fishpole I 

 succeeded in roping in a pair of them ; the male was a 

 young one, and the female I judged to be two or three 

 years old. There was an old male in the flock, gorgeous 

 with his beautiful scarlet plumage, that I tried very hard 

 to capture ; but he was too wary for me. I got the noose 

 over his head several times, but he would twist out of it 

 with scarcely an effort, and never move from his perch 

 nor cease his cheerful song, ne always appeared glad to 

 see me, and to he quite interested in my experiments ; he 

 would nod and wink at me in the most knowing man- 

 ner in the world, and, in spite of my best efforts, he pre- 

 served Iris liberty, and after a few days I saw him no 

 more, 



The pair that I had captured I placed in a large breed- 

 ing cage that was about three feet square ; they did not 

 appear to be at all alarmed, but took kindly to their new 

 home and at once commenced eating, and in less than 

 an hour they were twittering and singing, happy and 

 contented. For many weeks they appeared to thoroughly 

 enj oy themselves, and became so tame that when I let 

 them out in the room they would fearlessly alight upon 

 my head or shouldor and feed from my hand. I never 

 saw such beautiful feathered pets ; they kept up an al- 

 most constant song from early dawn until every one in 

 the house had retired for the night. Their song was not 

 loud but very sweet and musical. 



We were all very happy in their companionship until, 

 alas ! one fatal day, inspired by my evil genius, I brought 

 home a newly made kingbird's nest and oarofully placed 

 it in one corner of their cage, and all of us gathered 

 around to see what they wotdd do. The male did not 

 pay much attention to it, but after a cursory glance set- 

 tled down on his perch and resumed his song, The fe- 

 male from the first appeared to be very much interested ; 

 her eyes glistened, and her head kept bobbing and turn- 

 ing, and as soon as the nest was in place she hopped up 

 and perched upon its edge and critically examined every 

 portion of it. She appeared very much pleased, and with 

 a low expressive chirp alighted upon the perch, and with 

 many knowing nods and smirks and pretty little ruffling 

 of her feathers, she sidled up to her companion, all the 

 while tal k i n g and crooning in her most silvery accents, 

 and throwing her wing over him lovingly nestled close 

 to his Bide, and in dulcet tones, with drooping head was 

 sweetly murmuring the "old, old story," when he — the 

 heartless brute — awkwardly backed out from her loving 

 embrace, and nonchalantly walking over to the feed dish 

 commenced eating. With a plaintive chirp she followed 

 him up and ardently pressed her suit, but when she ap- 

 proached him he would retreat, and after several trials 

 with no better result, he took refuge in one comer behind 

 the bath dish. Then, with a despairing glance at the 

 loved nest overhead, with eaoh particular feather stand- 

 ing on end, and with a harsh, discordant croak that 

 plainly said r-r-r-evenge, she went for him tooth and nail, 

 and whacked and banged him around until, fearing for 

 Iris life, I interfered and made him desist. No sooner 

 did I take my hand from the cage than this incarnate 

 fury pitched into him again, and I was obliged to separ- 

 ate them, 



After a week of solitary confinement, during which 

 neither of them uttered a single note of song, I returned 

 him to the cage with her. No sooner had I shut the door 

 than, with dilated eyes and open mouth, this virago went 

 for him again and knocked him clear across the cage, I 

 picked up a little stick and struck her two or three times 



and made her leave him. He had been very meek and 

 forbearing up to this time, not making the least show of 

 resistance ; but no sooner did he see the effect of my pun- 

 ishment upon her than he boldly asserted his manhood. 

 and bravely sailed in and gave Iter a thrashing that com- 

 pletely subdued her. 



There was no quarreling after this. She sulked and 

 moped in her corner, refusing food and drink, and a few 

 days after we found her dead— a victim of blighted affec- 

 tion. After she was gone a change came over the male ; 

 he uttered no sound save a mournful chirp, aud appeared 

 to miss his companion sadly. He gradually pined away, 

 and in less than two weeks we ' ' laid him gently by her 

 side." I do not propose to adorn my simple tale with a 

 moral, but cannot forbear expressing the hope, dear 

 reader, that neither your end nor mine may be l'ke this. 



Springfield, Mass., Jan. 15th. Shadow, 



White Deer.— The Richmond (Va.) State has recently 

 contained a number of notices of the kflling of white deer 

 in Virginia, and has devoted some space to speculations 

 as to the origin of this new "species" and the causes 

 which brought it into existence. The strain on the intel- 

 lect of the scientific, editor of our contemporary ought to 

 be relieved, and we therefore take pleasure In assuring 

 him that white deer are not very uncommon, scarcely 

 more so than white robins, and that they are killed not 

 infrequently in all sections of the country. Albinism is 

 a freak of nature too commonly observed to excite much 

 surprise, 



— ♦ 



Bird Notes from Pennsylvania.— From the Daily 

 Local Neics, of West Chester, dated Feb. <th, 1880, the 

 following mention of the bluebird is taken : — 



Mr. Speakman Gray, of Cain Township, erected a bird 

 box on his premises, which was taken possession of during 

 the warm weather we had a few days ago by a pair of 

 bluebirds. Three eggs were laid by one of them in this 

 box, which was blown down in the recent storm and tho 

 eggs broken. Tho birds were hovering around the prem- 

 ises for several days in search of their nest, and were ap- 

 parently in great tribulation over their loss, 



Hawks, other than sparrows (T. sparvcrius), and red- 

 shouldered, are rather scarce. 



I have this winter seen or obtained twenty odd of the 

 red-shouldered species, all of which were in tho adult 

 plumage ; not one young bird was noted. 



Other season's collectors hereabouts considered them- 

 selves fortunate if two or three adult red-shouldered 

 hawks were taken. An immattire bird of this species, 

 however, was not looked upon as rare or specially de- 

 sirable. The query with the writer is, what has produced 

 the unusual presence of only the adult red-shouldered 

 hawks ? 



Sparrow hawks and an occasional sharp-shinned hawk 

 almost daily enter into West Chester and regale them- 

 selves on English sparrows, to the great satisfaction of 

 the citizens of this place. 



Crow blackbirds and robins are now abundant. Birds 

 of these species in limited numbers ma3 r be found as res- 

 idents nearly every winter. 



A lady, whose veracity is unquestionable, tells me that 

 some few winters since she caught alive a number of 

 snow-birds (J. hyemalis). One of the number got so tame 

 as to follow her about the house and yard ; when called 

 it would come and alight on her hand . 



One day, in her yard, our informant was engaged in 

 feeding her pet, it sittiug on and eating from her band. 

 While thus occupied a cooper's-hawk swooped down and 

 snatched tho bird from the lady's hand. The hawk after 

 committing the depredation flew to a tree a few yards 

 distant, and ouly vacated it after several stones had been 

 hurled (no doubt wide of the mark) at him. B. H. W. 



West Chester, Pa., Feb. 10th, 1880. 



About the Bohemian Waxwino.— Brockport, N. Y., 

 March 2d— Editor Forest and Stream:— In Dr. Sterling's. 

 notice of the Bohemian waxwing (Ainpclhi garrulu,t\ 

 (Forest and Stkeam, Feb. 26th) are several errors. 

 So far from " never before been taken in hand by an 

 American naturalist" previous to 1839, it was a well- 

 known though rare visitor to several States. Audubon 

 in 1888 mentions it as occurring in Pennsylvania and 

 Long Island, several bemg shot in 1831 and 1W32. In the 

 latter year it also occurred in Boston. Several were shot 

 in Nova Stctia in 1824, From t hsse specimen;; Audut on a 

 figures and description were takeu. Dr. Sterling is also 

 in error about any doubt existing respecting Richardson's 

 specimens. Mr. Drummond shot several in March, 1826, 

 near the Athabasca River, and Richardson met with it the 

 same year at Great Bear Lake in flocks May 24th, Ho also 

 saw a flock of several hundred on the Saskatchewan the 

 following year in May. Bonaparte describes and figures 

 the bird from Athabasca specimens in 1828 and Richard- 

 son in 1829. 



Ab to Audubon's letter and Dr. Portland's skin there 

 must be some mistake, as Audubon was well acquainted 

 with A. garrulus as an American bird before 1839. 



FBkeobihe, 



We thank our correspondent for so promptly calling, 

 our attention to this .very manifest error, and feel our- 

 selves to blame for the inadvertence which allowed it to* 

 appear in these columns. 



The statements of Audubon and Richardson are so pos- 

 itive as to the occurrence of the bird at tho dates they 

 mention that there seems to be no possibility of a doubt 

 as to Dr, Sterling having made some mistake. Rich. 



