Deo. 19, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
487 
now the little cloud in the west, emitting its phosphores- 
cent light, began to extend along the horizon toward the 
northern sky. The lightning flashes, now more vivid, 
mingling with the darkness and making it more deep, 
added some to the difficulty of navigating, and the Ket- 
tles were still before us. But on we pressed, enjoying 
the ever changing scene around us and above us. For 
now the sky about the horizon seemed fringed from east 
to west, and north to south, with this surcharged cloud; 
now flashing in the east, now in the west, alternately — 
beacon lights along the far-off hiUs, signaling across the 
valley of night, they seemed. 
And then, with a sigh of relief that even the weird 
beauty of the scene could not make one insensible to the 
danger of navigating on such a night, the Kettles were 
passed, and its great rock shoal lay behind us. 
Mortimer's Point was reached, and stiU deeper grew 
the night. The lightning now flashed incessantly around 
the horizon, lighting up the shore where the tall pines 
stood out solemn and grim, or revealing the lonely islands 
that dotted the lake before us, giving to the scene a 
strange, weird and wild beauty. 
Cooper's Point passed, and before us stretched the cpan 
lake, in which we must meet and battle with the furious 
storm which we saw to be imminent. 
The quickly gathering clouds now filled the northern 
sky with a lowering, rolling, heavy mass of inky black- 
ness, out of whose dark depths the fierce lightning flashed 
in ragged, irregular tongues of lurid flame; so bright were 
they that the shore for miles was illumined till every tree 
stood out as at noonday, while the darkness that followed 
was so deep in contrast that the ship's bow could not be 
discerned from the pilot window, A peal of distant ap- 
proaching thunder once or twice followed these flaming 
forks; a sudden puff of wind and all was still again, in 
one of these momentary calms that always precede the 
worst storms, when the skirmishing lines have withHrawn 
or fallen back to reimite with the advancing army for the 
grand charge. It was not long coming — a fldsn of light- 
ning, a crash of thunder, a raindrop or two, a gust of 
wind, and before the windows were fairly closed and our 
craft made tight the storm had bui-st. 
And what a storm I One of nature's field nights, Fiery 
tongues leaped across the heavy sky; the thunder roared 
and crashed in its awful sublimity — these, the grand 
artillery forces, pouring forth their deadly volleys, until 
the very planet itself seemed ready to stagger before the 
terrible onslaughts, and with their tumult mingled the 
beating rain and the angry wind that in its fury now 
lashed the cruel waters into foam, tossing the crested 
waves high over our little craft, but through it all she 
plowed steadily on against the terrific odds. The lifeboat 
we had in tow had quickly swamped and was dragging 
through and under the water, retarding our already 
strained ship, But nothing daunted, our gallant Typsy 
pressed on, as if endeavoring to regain her lost prestige, 
and her saucy little puff! puff I through the exhaust con- 
trasted strangely with the roar of the tempest without, 
an incongruity that did not escape the notice of our 
philosopher, who observed that it was "not unlike the 
walk of puny man through the great universe, with its 
unsolved problem of life and death and immortality; as 
unconscious of his proper relations to infinity, and with 
as little reverence for the truly great as this vain craft 
that cannot stop its noise, even amid the sublimity of a 
storm. Lord, teach man humility!" he added. We 
thought he had forgotten his words when a little later he 
broke into song, his deep, sonorous bass mingling with 
the thunder's deeper tone. But he assured us that the 
song was but the channel through which the emo- 
tions welling within him could find an outlet, 
and give relief to his bursting soul. Truly, our 
cook was no mean philosopher, for what other song 
is there, what other art worthy the name? And in 
song we passed the hour in that open lake before Horse- 
shoe Island and the Indian River were reached, an hour of 
thrilling experience, in which I for one suffered an inten- 
sity of feeling such as is seldom one's good fortune or 
pleasure to enjoy. For who so dull as could fail to re- 
spond to the inspiration of so sublime a spectacle or to 
the strange witchery of such weird grandeur. No longer 
a battle, now that the first fears of uncertainty were over, 
but one of nature's grand pyrotechnic displays, illumining 
alike the mountain clouds that rolled majestically across 
the sky, the lonely far-off hilltops and the deep valleys 
that slumbered beneath, while the heaving waters 
around us were dotted here and there with a lonely 
wooded island that at the bidding of the lightning flash 
rose out of the impenetrable darkness and the darker 
depths, as if called forth by the magician's wand. 
The storm had not moderated when we reached the 
river, and the darkness was still so great that we were 
altogether dependent on the lightning's gleam to discover 
to us the narrow channel, marked on either side by 
buoys, a difficult task enough in daylight on that tortu- 
ous, shallow river. Now a vivid flash, and a line of 
these white buoys stretched along the river like ghostly 
sentinels guarding the shore on each side; the next flash 
and the first of the line had shot past a window within a 
foot or two of the boat, its specter-like form aglow with 
the light of its own world. But never slackening for a 
moment, on we sped, and as much by luck as good gen- 
eralship reached Port Carling in safety at midnight. The 
rain was still falling heavily as we pulled through those 
gloomy locks, and the wind and tempest had long since 
snuffed out the dim lamps that nightly hang there to 
guide the late mariner while the village sleeps on undis- 
turbed. And so dark was it at this time that we were 
obliged to creep cautiously along the canal banks on 
our hands and knees to reach the gates. 
This point passed, and the storm began to abate, the 
rain had ceased, and by the time we had entered Lake 
Rosseau for the homeward stretch we had left it fairly 
behind us and heard its indistinct rumbling far to the 
south. 
Tlie remaining five miles proved as peaceful as the 
other had been boisterous. The sky had broken in the 
north, and through the rifts the northern constellations 
were appearing and disappearing again, as the scattering 
clouds hurried along to overtake the storm and continue 
their night's frolic in some other part. And before we 
reached our harbor the stars shone out clearly in the 
morning sky. The slender crescent of the waning moon 
too rose peacefully in the east, 
"And over the waters in silvery white 
Pale moonbeams tread in a path of light." 
Aud amid a quiet, even more profound than that in 
which we left Bala Bay a few hours before, we entered 
port, and were soon gladly sharing the warmth of a good 
log fire that awaited us. Isaiah Scott. 
THE WILLOW GROUSE.* 
{Tetrao salieeti, Tkmm.) 
MALE, FEMALE AND YOUNG. 
Although I have not seen this beautiful bird within 
the limits of the United States, I feel assured that it exists 
in the State of Maine as well as in the northern districts 
bordering on the great lakes. Theodore Lincoln, Esq. , of 
Dennisville, in Maine, shot seven one day not many miles 
from that village; and the hunter who guided me to the 
breeding grounds of the Canada grouse assured me that 
he also knew where the "red-necked partridge" was to 
be found. The places which he described as frequented 
by them seemed to bear as near a resemblance to those 
in which I found the species in Labrador and Newfound- 
land as the difference of latitude and vegetation could 
admit. I have also seen several skins of individuals that 
were killed near Lake Michigan. 
The willow grouse differs in its habits from the Canada 
grouse in several remarkable circumstances. In the first 
place neither myself nor any of my party ever found the 
former solitary or single. The males were always in the 
immediate vicinity of the nest while the females were 
sitting, and accompanied them and the young from the 
time the latter were hatched until they were full grown; 
and whenever we met them we observed that the males 
and the females manifested the strongest attachment to- 
ward each other as well as toward their young. In fact, 
so much was this the case that when a covey happened 
to come in our way the parents would fly directly toward 
us with so much boldness that some were actually killed 
on the wing with the rods of our guns as they flew about 
in the agonies of rage and despair, with all their feathers 
raised and ruffled. In the meantime the Uttle ones dis- 
persed and made off through the deep moss and tangled 
creeping plants with great rapidity, squatting and keep- 
ing close to the ground, when it became extremely diffi- 
cult to find them. This is the only American species of 
grouse I am acquainted with that possesses these habits; 
in all others found in the United States the male not only 
leaves the female as soon as incubation has commenced, 
but both fly from man and urge their young to do the 
same from their earliest age. 
The willow grouse, moreover, join their broods when- 
ever an opportunity offers, and we found flocks of old 
and young in which the latter were of very different 
sizes. This species rarely if ever alights on bushes or 
trees after being fuUy grown, and appears to resort at all 
times by preference to the ground, living among the 
naked rocks of the open morasses. 
The young birds do not acquire their full summer 
plumage before they are two years old. Many of these 
middle-aged birds, as I would call them, which om- 
party procured early in the month of July, differed 
greatly from the older birds, which had their broods then 
quite small. They were much lighter in color, their tails 
were shorter, and they weighed less, but afforded much 
better eating. Some of them had young, but their broods 
were much smaller in point of number, seldom exceeding 
four or five, while the old birds frequently had a dozen 
or more. 
The flight of the willow grouse resembles that of the 
red grouse of Scotland, being regular, swift and on occa- 
sion protracted to a very great distance. They have no 
whirring sound of their wings, even when put up by 
sudden surprise. Whenever we found a pair without 
young they were extremely shy and would fly from one 
hill to another often at a great distance. If pursued they 
would be seen standing erect and boldly watching our 
approach until we got to the distance of a few hundred 
yards from them, when they would run from the naked 
rocks into the moss, and there squat so clese that unless 
one of the party happened to walk almost over them they 
remained unseen and could not be raised. When dis- 
covered and put up they were easily shot on account of 
the beautiful regularity of their flight. In rising from 
the ground they utter a loud and quickly repeated chuck, 
which is continued for 8 or lOyds, 
Young birds shot in Newfoundland on Aug. 11 weighed 
6ioz, and were fully fledged. Their primaries were of a 
sullied white, but their legs were not closely covered with 
hair-like feathers, as in the old birds. Although this 
species breeds in the districts inhabited by the Canada 
grouse, it never enters the thickets to which the latter 
resorts, but always remains in the open grounds. 
One day while in search of young wild geese in a large 
oozy and miry flat, covered with a floating bed of tangled 
herbage, we were much surprised at finding there several 
willow grouse. They were extremely shy and flew from 
one part of the marsh to another. We procured with 
great difficulty two, which proved to be barren females. 
To give you an idea of the difficulties we had occasion- 
ally to encounter in our endeavors to procure birds in 
that country, it will suffice to say that one of us was so 
mired in the flat just mentioned that it was with extreme 
difficulty another of ue succeeded in extricating him, to 
the great danger of being himself swamped, in which case 
we must all have perished had no aid arrived. We were 
completely smeared with black mud, and so fatigued that 
when we returned we found it impossible to proceed more 
than a few yards before we were forced to sit down on 
the dangerous sward, which at every step shook for a 
considerable space around, so that we were obliged to 
keep at a distance from each other and move many yards 
apart, constantly fearing that the least increase of weight 
would have burst the thin layer that supported us and 
sent us into a depth from which we could not have been 
extricated. But once out of the bog, we were delighted 
with the success of our enterprise, and as we refreshed 
ourselves from our scanty stores, when we had reached 
the rocky shores of the sea, we laughed heartily at what 
had happened, although only a few hours before it was 
considered a most serious accident. 
As I am speaking of fowling in Labrador, allow me to 
relate an incident connected with the willow grouse. 
*From Audubon's Ornithological Biography, to accompany the 
plate on page i82. 
Among our crew was a sailor who was somewhat of a 
wag. He was a "man-of-war's-man," and had seen a 
good deal of service in our navy, an expert sailor, per- 
haps the best diver I have seen, always willing to work 
hard and always full of fun. This sailor and another 
had the rowing of our gig on an excursion after grouse 
and other wild birds. Thomas Lincoln and my son John 
Woodhouse managed the boat. The gig having landed 
on the main, the sailors, who had guns, went one way 
and the young travelers another. They all returned, as 
was previously agreed upon, at the same hour and pro- 
duced the birds which they had procured. The sailor iiad 
none and was laughed at. While rowing toward the 
Ripley we heard the cries of birds as if in the air; the 
rowing ceased, but nothing could be seen, and we pro- 
ceeded. Again the sounds of birds were distinctly heard, 
but again none could be seen, and what seemed strange 
was that they were heard only at each pull of the oars. 
The young men taxed the tar with producing the noises, 
as they saw him as if employed in doing so with his 
mouth; however, the thing still remained a mystery. 
Some time after we had got on board the provision basket 
was called for and was produced by Master BUI, who, 
grinning from ear to ear, drew out of it two fine old 
grouse and a whole covey of young ones, in all the exulta- 
tion of one who had outwitted what he called his betters. 
While at the harbor of Bras d'Or I was told by p?rson8 
who had resided in the country for many years that dur- 
ing the winter when the snow covers the ground, and the 
grouse are obliged to scratch through it in order to get at 
the mosses and lichens, they are so abundant that a 
hundred or more can be shot in a day, and congregate in 
flocks of immense numbers, now and then mixed with 
the smaller species, called there the rock grouse, and 
which is the Tetrao rupestris. Their flesh is then salted 
for summer use. At tnat season they are of a pure white, 
except the tail, which retains its jetty blackness. I was 
further informed that their flesh is then dry and not to be 
compared with what it is in summer, when I found it 
tender and having an agreeable aromatic flavor. 
The willow grouse breeds in Labrador about the begin- 
ning of June. The female conceals her nest under the 
creeping branches of the low firs. It consists of bits of 
dry twigs and mosses drawn into a form. The eggs are 
from five to fourteen, according to the age of the bird, 
and are marbled with irregular spots of reddish brown 
on a dull fawn color or rufous ground. They raise only 
one brood in the season. 
The pair represented in the plate, with their young, 
were procured by my friend George Shattuck, Esq., of 
Boston, one of my party, who shot the first pair found by 
us in Labrador. Tuey were in their full summer plumage. 
I think these birds, as well as the Canada grouse, have 
what I call a continued moult, young feathers being 
found-upon them at all seasons. 
THE ERMINE. 
St. Paul, Minn.— -The conversation turned to ermine 
the other day and a well-posted fur man stated that they 
came only from Siberia and Russia, and also informed us 
they were pretty little white creatures, with many little 
black tails all over them, (He did not say whether they 
had nine tails or not, like some cats.) What I desire to 
know is in what way they differ from the ordinary 
weasel, which I suppose to be white in winter months. 
Gah-gaga.- 
The ermine is common to Europe, Asia and America, 
and although it has been separated into many species, Dr. 
Coues sayes in his "Fur-Baaring Animals," page 111: 
(1) The ermines of Europe, Asia and America are 
specifically identical. 
(2) None of the supposed characters which have been 
relied upon to separate them have any existence in 
nature, except as peculiarities of individual specimens ex- 
amined. 
(3) The American ermines are of two forms according 
to size alone, which in the extremes stand widely apart, 
but which grade insensibly into each other. 
These are the conclusions reached after examining a 
large number of specimens of ermine taken at various 
seasons in Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, 
Siberia and Kamchatka, together with an immense col- 
lection from all portions of North America inhabited by 
the animal, The fur commonly called ermine is the win- 
ter pelage of what we know as weasel, and what is known 
in England as the stoat {Putorius erminea). The animal 
is brown in summer and white in winter, the tip of the 
tail being always black. A vast deal has been written 
about the species, and we quote from Audubon and Bach- 
man a few paragraphs which give some notion of its 
habits: 
"Graceful in form, rapid in his movements, and of un- 
tiring industry, he is withal a brave and fearless little fel- 
low; conscious of security within the windings of his re- 
treat among the logs, or heap of stones, he permits us to 
approach him within a few feet, then suddenly withdraws 
his head ; we remain still f <5r a moment, and he once more 
returns to his post of observation, watching curiously our 
every motion, seeming willing to claim association so 
long as we abstain from "becoming his persecutor. 
"Yet with all these external attractions, this little wea- 
sel is fierce and bloodthirsty, possessing an intuitive pro- 
pensity to destroy every animal and bird within its reach, 
some of which, such as the American rabbit, the ruffed 
grouse and the domestic fo'vl, are ten times its own size. 
It is a notorious and hated depredator of the poultry 
house, and we have known forty well-grown fowls to 
have been killed in one night by a single ermine. Sati- 
ated with the blood of probably a single fowl, the rest, 
like the flock slaughtered by the wolf in the sheepfold, 
were destroyed in obedience to a law of nature, an in- 
stinctive propensity to kill. We have traced the footsteps 
of this bloodsucking little animal on the enow pursuing 
the trail of the American rabbit, and although it could 
not overtake its prey by superior speed, yet the timid hare 
soon took refuge in the trunk of a tree, or in a hole dug 
by the marmot or skunk. Thither it was pursued by the 
ermine and destroyed, the skin and other remains at the 
mouth of the burrow bearing evidence of the fact. We 
observed an ermine, after having captured a hare of the 
above species, first behead it, and then drag the body 
some 80yd3. over the fresh fallen snow, beneath which it 
was concealed and the snow lightly pressed down over it; 
the little prowler displaying thereby a habit of which we 
became aware for the first time on that occasion. Tp 
