22 



Winter Fauna of Mount Marcy. 



summit of the mountain, late in the afternoon, a shout of 

 surprise from one of tlie guides caused me to look quickly 

 to the northward, where, judge my astonishment, not over 

 twent^^ or thirty rods from us a flock of six wild geese 

 flying with wonderful velocity, came towards us, passed 

 over and w^ere gone. The faint, distant honk of the leader 

 seeming to imply that they were bound for warmer lati- 

 tudes. The wild goose is not an inhabitant of theAdiron- 

 dacks, and these were evidently coming from more northern 

 waters. This aflbrded, perhaps, the first opportunity of 

 determining the height at which wdld geese travel during 

 their migrations. They seemed neither to ascend nor to 

 descend, but kept a level course, and w^hat is most re- 

 markable, that course was as near the true astronomical 

 meridian as it seems possible that a bird can fly ! I would 

 estimate the altitude of the flock in their flight at about 

 5,500 feet above the ocean level. It was the last place 

 where I should have expected to have seen wild geese. A 

 single discharge of a fowling-piece, had one been at 

 hand, might have brought them all to the ground. 



The Canada jay, Garrulus canadensis^ was observed in the 

 vicinit}' of little Lake Tear early in the winter, but wdth 

 the increase of cold and snow seemed to leave the inhos- 

 pitable heights, and descend to the depths of the Panther 

 gorge. This might have been owing to the attractions of 

 our camp, around which they fluttered in search of scraps. 



A large, dark plumaged wood-pecker was noticed ope- 

 rating upon the spruce-trees at diflerent points in the 

 Panther gorge and on the slopes of the mountains, at an 

 altitude of from 3,000 to 3,500 feet above tide. The 

 species w^as not determined, but from its appearance it was 

 supposed to be the Picus villosus or hairy wood-pecker. 



Large flocks of the white snow bird, Flectrophanes nivalis, 

 were observed upon the snows, around the summit of 

 Mount Marcy on diflerent days ; and once or twice two or 

 three of a more plainly marked snow bird, judged to be 



