328 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May %% 1880. 



on the. topmost cliff and gazed in unbounded wonder and 

 delight, We stood probably six hundred feet above the 

 water aud in the clear atmosphere overlooked the whole 

 lower end of the lake; the islands winch had been united 

 to our eyes before, now stood each in its separate setting 

 of water, blue and beautiful as the ocean itself. The 

 seventeen which lay at our feet were grouped a 

 harmony, and though many new ones had arisen in rhe 

 west, beyond which there seemed to be a ridge of hills 

 making' the snores, our guide William, brought upon 

 the lake, Btill told us that these were other islands and 

 that the lake extended far beyond. Insome places the 

 water, sheltered from the lightest breeze, reflected the 

 island shores as from a mirror of burnished steel, aad car- 

 ried the clouds suspended in its liquid depths, and slowly 

 moving in glorious procession. In others we saw, as 

 it were, a lake ol ice, frozen in some places clear as crys- 

 tal, in others with a wa ving rippling appearance as though 

 the ice-king had surprise'! a summer breeze upon it3 

 surface; and again there were those broken lines and nar- 

 row angular crevices peculiar to a sheet of ice newly 

 broken in the upheaving spring, and shining lines of 

 water at the cracks. To the north the noble lake still 

 refused to disclose to our searching gaze any boundary 

 sky to her horizon. To the south stretched the 

 unbroken wilderness, except at a single point where the 

 river stole out from behind a range of hills, soon losing 

 h 33 s I E a gain in the f'< .rest, The sky was worthy of Italy, 

 with the add d inspiration of its northern character. 



To add to the inn ; i he scene, we knew that 



every shore washed by these waters was still as designed 

 by nature ; that no woodman's axe has ever resounded in 

 these forests ; that no steam whistle had ever broken 

 their solitude ; that no path leads through them, except 

 the trail of the Hudson Bay Company and the Indian; 

 that no keel has ever plowed through these waters: and 

 no sail held by a white man has ever been unfurled upon 

 their waves. Finding on our Standing place no evidence 

 of previous visitations, King suggested that it should be 

 named; and as the ascent, which to us had been a pleasure, 

 was to his ankle a constant torment, his heroic endurance 

 and boundless enthusiasm entitled him to the honor. So 

 ■• King's Peak "it was named, and one of Bonfield's empty 

 cartridges in the center of a mound of stones contains 

 the record of its christening. Each of the party standing 

 with a boulder at his feet, at the edge of the rock, rolled it 

 over the cliff, at the signal given, after the manner of the 

 Titans of old on Mount Othrys. and all gave three cheers 

 for the place. Then, as master of ceremonies, I commanded 

 that silence should be observed until the last echoes had 

 died away, aud fired a salvo of Bonfield's artillery toward 

 the north. Each island took up the sound, and every 

 shore repeated the reverberation, until rolling along the 

 shore of the Nepigon it died away in the distance. 



Since sighting Thunder Cape, towering majestically 

 nearly 1,400 feet of solid rock above Lake Superior we 

 have been constantly reminded of the rough volcanic 

 origin which geology ascribes to these regions, and so 

 long as we remained on the lake, the islands, however 

 wooded, showed along every shore a narrow strip of 

 trap, the armament of the forest against the waves when 

 lashed by the storm. But gazing from this peak the 

 fringe of rocks had apparently withdrawn into the forest 

 or sunk beneath the quiet water, and all was harmony, 

 confidence and peace. In the whole circuit of our vision 

 there was not a broken outline or a rough shore, save at 

 one island headland far in the distance, which rose bold- 

 ly from the water, and showed a part of its side rough 

 and bare as though unwilling that the rigors of this 

 latitude should be wholly forgotton even under the be- 

 witching influences of a perfect summer's day. 



One essential part of the ceremony was lacking still. 

 Blue flannel having usurped so large a place in our 

 apparel we could not produce the white flag which 

 • should be planted, as a memorial, on the spot, and it 

 would be presumption in foreigners to plant a colored 

 flag within Her Majesty's Dominions ; so we were pre- 

 paring sadly to return, when a movement of one of our 

 guides attracted our attention, and William having, hi 

 this moment of inspiration, torn out part of the lining of 

 hi, coat, and Baptists producing a pole, we planted the 

 appropriate flag on the peak, and departed. And, though 

 I should travel as widely over other continents as over 

 our own. I never expect to gaze upon another scene 

 which will more ardently call upon the sentiment of love 

 for the beautiful, than this day vision of looking north- 

 ward over the pure waters of the Nepigon, untouched by 

 commerce and undisturbed by man. 



JOSIAH H. BlSSELL. 



Victoria Falls, Head of Nrpigon River, Aug. 28t/t, 1879s 

 [To bo eonluueddj 



bags ; but the syllables harmonize so nicely that after 

 having heard them called out I thought pronunciation the 

 easiest part of them. 



If the traveler is not a very enthusiastic sportsman be 

 can enjoy some ^rood grouse shooting in the immediate 

 vicinity of Fredericton. To be sure " Salmo Fontinalis" 

 must have noticed the quaint old ferry boats 

 Fredericton and the INashwank. I imagine they are after 

 the style of the very ancient New Yorkers ; they run well 

 ashore at one end and have a pole stuck in the mnd to 

 oppose the current at the other. From this up your cor- 

 respondent's description is better than anything I could 

 attempt. My visit was slightly varied by driving about 

 fifteen miles in consequence of the railway being unfin- 

 ished : otherwise I enjoyed all the pleasures which he has 

 experienced. __^^___^_^__ Josephus. 



Iniwdl ^intern. 



Address all communications to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York." 



THE ROUTE TO GRAND FALLS. 



Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 13t7i. 



WITH all deference to " Salmo Fontinalis''" and his 

 very excellent letter in FOKKST AND STREAM for 

 May 0th, which I eagerly read. I beg to offer a few BUT 

 piemen tary remarks about what be baa probably inad- 

 vertently omitted. I went over the route plain 

 in the autumn of '77. and wmild surest to those who in- 

 tend taking his good advice to leave their visit until late 

 in September or early in October, when the 

 the Sfc. John Eitrer last its beBt Bev.rd ioubt the m -t 

 desirable route at that season from St. ,Iohn to Frederic- 

 ton is up the river in one of those beautiful lit) 

 ers built after the style of the Bristol or Providence. 

 True, the steamer lakes the greater part of a day to work 

 against the current, while the train takes only a few 

 hours; but then one is amply ahead on Other scores by 

 taking the boat, as the fare i's only $1 ; and the scenery, 

 as all the Sew Brunswickers put it, "beats anything any- 

 where.'' It is truly grand just after the early frosts have 

 brought the hardwood trees- to their most beautiful tints. 

 From the top of the steamer one can see far up the dif- 

 ferent tributaries of the St. John, which sets him won- 

 dering whence comes all the water. 



The beautiful little c the gems of the 



scenery as the si earner shortens the eighty-four miles to 

 Ol i m. No time is lost in exchanging freights with 

 dler stations; a skillfully managed boat comes 

 alongside', while the steamer keeps on her course ; a small 

 ladder is let down On either side by which passengers, 

 Btc., are transferred and they part. I wondered how 

 those poor little villages struggled under the unpro- 

 nounceable Indian names that I saw printed on the mail- 



SPRING NOTES FROM MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 

 April, 1880. 

 April 1st— 32°, 48°, 41°. Melted but little during the 

 day. New arrivals noted wera killdeer plovers, loggerhead 

 shrike, herring gull, golden- winged woodpeckers and a 

 Wilson snipe. Found first the shore lark's (Eremophila 

 alpestrit) neat to-day. It was on a sandy ridge in the prai- 

 rie ,and contained four eggs, which were fresh. It must 

 have been built about March 26th or 27th, immediately 

 upon the disappearance of the snow of the 85th. Many 

 ducks flying. 



April 2d.— 33°, 48°, 37°. Saw a sharp-shinned hawk 

 and striped sperrnophile (Spermopliilus tridecem lineatus). 

 The " gopher " had just opened his hole, and was airing 

 himself at the entrance after his long winter sleep. Song 

 sparrows have become numerous. Some poplar and 

 illow catkins are bursting their covering. 

 April 3d.— 36°, 51 s , 40°. Rusty blackbirds. Gadwall 

 ducks. A small flock of Northern waxwings (A. garrulus) 

 has been about the yard all day, the attraction being a 

 quantity of rotten apples that I placed as a bait for them. 

 They are very fond of this kind of food, and will regu- 

 larly frequent a plaoe where it is to be obtained. The 

 (lock would alight on the ground, and feed eagerly and 

 rapidly, until each bird was full, fairly to the mouth, 

 when they would ascend by easy stages to the top of an 

 oak tree standing close by. Here a brief period was spent in 

 cleaning and arranging then - plum age, and in quiet repose, 

 while the food they had eaten digested with astonishing 

 rapidity. Soon they would begin to bestir themselves 

 again, and drop one by one onto the ground to again 

 gorge themselves, and then re-ascend to the tree-top as 

 before. This was continued all day with but little in- 

 terruption. A shb*t or any sudden noise would scare 

 them off only for a short time, when they would return 

 apparently as hungry as ever. The soft, unsubstantial 

 character of the food, and consequent rapid digestion, 

 is probably the explanation of the gluttony displayed, 

 though the waxwings are in general very hearty eaters, 

 let the food be what it may. An attempt at feeding 

 them on orange failed; they would not touch it. 



April 4th.— 34°, 45°, 34". A cold, windy day. A 

 second shore lark's nest, containing three eggs slightly 

 incubated. Contrary to the usual custom, the female 

 in this instance showed much 'anxiety for the safety of 

 her nest, keeping close at hand and going into the nest 

 whenever opportunity offered. The coldness of the day 

 may have had some influence. The Waxwings re- 

 mained about until they had eaten all the apples. 



April 5th.— 81°, 40°. A cold day, with light flurries of 

 snow. Visited a small lake near the city in which the 

 fish have died from some cause unknown. Hundreds 

 upon hundreds of dead fish of eight species, together 

 with many frogs, lay all around the shore or floated in 

 the water, Some of them were of large size : pickerel 

 three feet long, black bass eighteen inches in length, and 

 suckers two feet or more. They had been dead some 

 time, as was evident from their appearance ; but as they 

 were in various stages of decomposition it was evident 

 they did not all die at the same time. The lake is of 

 small dimensions, lies ill a meadow, and is rather shallow 

 around the edges, but deepens abruptly and is said to be 

 forty feet deep in the middle. It is fed by springs, and 

 has a small outlet, which, however, is often dry of late 

 years. The water is always clear as crystal, and stagna- 

 tion can hardly be advanced as an explanation. What- 

 ever the cause, it must have been something very vital to 

 kill not only all the fish indiscriminately, but even frogs 

 and turtles. The dead fish consisted of the following 



need about in the order of their abundano 



Sunfish (Eupomotis aureus)-, common sucker {.Catostoin 

 Cominersonii), yellow perch, golden shiner | Xufemigonu* 

 chryioleucus), black bass (M. pallidas), catfish (A 

 vulgaris), pickerel ( E 1 . Indus), an 



anyone who may read this can, from such brief data, 

 offer any explanation of such wholesale destruction of 

 the inhabitants of a lake, it will be received with interest 

 by many persons here. 

 'April *Gth.— 31", 38°, 37°. 

 April 7tb,— 24", 40*. 27°. Saw a flock of fifteen or 



eighteen evening grosbeaks on Nicollet Island, a locality 

 near the heart of the city where these birds ?, r 

 tomed to appear. These are the first that I have seen 

 this winter, though several were reported at 

 times during March, 



April 8th.— 28°, 51", 42°. A winter wren, a bittern 

 and two loons. Heard the frogs croaking for 

 time. Fox-colored sparrows have become numerous. 



April 9th. — 48°, 74, 35". Alder (Alnus i.ncana) in bloom 

 and pollen ripe. Some slight signs of starting 

 tion in the woods, but the ground, in most placo3, still 

 frozen hard. 



April 10th.— 32°, 42°, 81°. A purple martin. Ice about 

 all out of the larger lakes. 



April 11th.— 32°, 45", 33 Q . Soft maples in bloom. Spent 

 some time watching evening grosbeaks on Nicollet Isl- 

 and. Their principal food at present is the last year's 

 seed of the sugar maple. The island is timbered in part 

 with maple trees, and on the ground are quantities of the 

 keys, which are now swelling and beginning to sprout. 

 These the grosbeaks seek for, and, taking out the kernel, 

 remove the dry, brown covering, and have a fresh green 

 morsel, which they seem greatly to relish. They are also 

 very fond of the keys of the box-elder, and during winter, 

 when the snow is on the ground, make this a regular ar- 

 ticle of diet, for as the seeds remain hanging on the trees 

 in bunches, they are easily obtained. With the sharp, 

 overlapping edges of their powerful beak they clip the 

 dry keys in two as neatly as it could be done with a pair 

 of scissors, and then with the same instrument, clumsy 

 looking as it is, manipulate the parts and remove the 

 small, slender kernel. 



April 12tk.— 40°, 70 Q , 51°.— The first yellow-rump war- 

 bler and a grass finch. Saw the Bohemian waxwings. A 

 trumpeter swan was shot to-day on the Minnesota Fiver, 

 about ten miles from Minneapolis, by Mr. G. A 



The first pasque flowers (Anemone patens, var. Nutlal- 

 iana) in blossom. 

 April 13th.— 53°, 74°, 43°. Several martins. 

 April 11th.— 51", 64°, 81°. Wind blew very heavy all 

 day, hot and exhausting in the morning, the thermome- 

 ter reaching 77° ; then turned cooler, and by evening was 

 freezing. Red-headed duck shot. Saw many yellow- 

 rumps, ruby-crowned wrens, white-bellied swallows and 

 the evening grosbeaks and Bohemiau waxwings on Nic- 

 ollet Island. (The waxwings left us about this date, as 

 this was tho last time they were seen). 

 April 15th.— 28", 50", 38°. 

 April 16th.— 38°, 00°, 45°. 

 April 17th.^8°, 68 Q , 52°. 

 April 18th.— 46°, 72°, 04°. 

 April 10th.— 33°, 38 Q , 37°. Snow. 

 April 20th.— 40°, 60°-, 48". Ground white with snow 

 that fell last night. Two unfinished loggerhead shrikes' 

 nests. Meadow larks paired. Early crowfoot (Ranun- 

 culus rhomboidens) in bloom. 



April 21st.— 54°, 78", 45°. White-throated sparrows, 



A phuebe bird's nest containing one egg. Bank swallows 



in great numbers excavating their holes. A small flock 



of Lapland longspurs. Liver-leaf iJIcpatica acutildbtt)i 



bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis) and Isopyrum bi. 



tcrnatum in bloom. Ground plum (Astralagns caryocar- 



pvs) in bud. 



April 22d.— 42°, 00", 48?, 



April 23d.— 44^, 52", 47°. 



April 24th.— 36", 45", 43°. Large number of Wilson's 



snipe. 



April 25th.— 42°, 50°, 39°. Bonaparte's gulls. A crow 

 blackbird building its nest behind a water pipe under the 

 eaves of a house located in the central part of 

 Two bluejays' nests, one with one ogg. English sparrow 

 nesting about City Hall. These sparrows are incruasing 

 quite rapidly here, and will without doubt become i 

 great nuisance before many years. 



April 26th.— 39°, 45°, 42°. Geums triflorum and Anten- 



nana, plantaginifolia, in bloom. 



April 27th.— 41", 64", 50". Brown thrashes. 



April 28th.— 50", 54", 44", A chipping sparrow. 



golden-winged woodpecker nesting. A bluejays nest 



containing three eggs. 



Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra Cucullaria) at 

 flowered crowfoot (Ranunculus abortivus) in bloom. 

 Dog's-tooth violet (Enjthronium albidum) in a very favor- 

 able spot nearly in bloom. 



April 29th.— 39", 51", 41". A few flakes of snow in the 

 afternoon. Box elders and cotton-woods in full bloom. 



April 30th.— 40°, 60°, 52°. Ice nearly a fourth of an 

 inch thick formed last night. Black-throated green warb- 

 ler, yeliow red-poll warblers and yellow-headed black- 

 birds noted. Thos. S. Roberts. 



Bats and Bedbugs.— Con way Farm, Spottsylvanu 

 County, Virginia, May 12th,— '■' W. P. M.," • 

 Mass.,' in your issue of 0th instant, supposes that tf? 



- repair to basswood forests and beccn 

 with bedbugs, etc. Then ho goes on to say tic 



■ -; in Iowa were often infested by them. An 

 Indian cures a cancer hy tying: his patient and burnifflj 

 out the fungi— declaring alter the operation that any one 



i a burn. 1 propose to shift the chinch 

 swallow to the common leather-wing h 

 may kill one of these animals when he choo-,, 

 will be very apt to find it covered with these vera ' 



