Birds, 



8277 



pears, sweet cakes, tea and beer. Soon after leaving this place, we 

 commenced to ascend, the road leading zigzag up the steep slope of 

 a finely wooded ridge, until we reached the crest, where splendid views 

 lay open on both sides. To the northward was the sharp peak and 

 lava-covered sides of the volcano, with a beautiful lake reposing at its 

 foot, and wild forest country all around; while behind us we looked 

 down on the plain we had traversed, and the bay and peninsula of 

 Hakodadi as a panorama. The weather was delightful, bright, clear 

 and invigorating, and everything augured well for a pleasant excursion. 

 Descending the northern slope of the pass by a road even more steep 

 than that by which we had gained the summit, we soon reached the 

 lake. Keeping the main road to the left, we skirted the shore, the 

 road sometimes cutting off the points by passing through the woods, 

 but coming to the lake again at the next bay, and at each successive 

 return giving us a more beautiful view of the volcano and lake. The 

 latter was reflected in the clear water with a distinctness that I thought 

 I had never seen equalled, while the wooded points jutting out and 

 some small islands gave an uncertainty to the extent of the sheet of 

 water, and allowed scope for the imagination. The country all around 

 was in a state of nature, heavily timbered with oak, ash, elm, beech, 

 poplar, birch, and maple ; and these, from the first frosts of the season, 

 which had just occurred, had put on those colours so vividly impressed 

 on the American traveller by the fall- dress of the woods of the more 

 northern parts of that continent, while the weather was the exact 

 counterpart of the " Indian summer." There were great numbers of 

 ducks on the lakes, among which were the mallard, pintail, scoter, teal 

 and a black duck with a peculiarly marked bill ; but as we were travel- 

 ling along quickly, I had only time to stop and shoot a couple for the 

 pot. In the woods were numbers of migratory thrushes (Turdus fus- 

 catus), the great black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), other black- 

 and-white woodpeckers, and a small species {Picas kisuki) sporting 

 about in company with two or three kinds of tits, and the nuthatch 

 named at the head of this paragraph. A jay (Garrulus Brandtii) and 

 cuckoo were also shot during this excursion. Some geese were on 

 the lake, but they kept themselves so far from shore as to be out of 

 reach of our fowling-pieces. We put up for the night at a Japanese 

 inn, and next morning started through the woods, under the direction 

 of a native guide, to find a new route to the volcano. We had a 

 tremendous day's walk through the thick forests, the only human 

 beings whom we saw being some solitary charcoal-burners at the 

 commencement of our journey ; but after that, all was wild and un- 



