422 
RURAL HOURS 
the point of turning back and following the sound, but the cry 
was repeated several times, and he thought, after all, it w^as not a 
woman's voice. A few days later, as his little boys were cross- 
ing a piece of woods on the top of Cliff Hill, they heard a 
strange cry at no great distance, sounding something like a wo- 
man's voice ; they answered the voice, when the sound Avas re- 
peated several times in a strange way, which disturbed the little 
fellows so effectually, that they turned back and ran nearly a 
mile, until they reached the farm-house, very much frightened. 
Both the farmer and the boys, in this case, are a very quiet, steady 
set, not at all likely to invent a tale of the kind. It really looks 
as if the creature were in the neighborhood, strange as it may 
seem. It so happened, that only a day or two before the boys 
heard the cry in the Cliff woods, we were crossing that very ground 
with one of them, never dreaming of a panther being near us ; 
if it were really there at the time, one would have liked to have 
caught a glimpse of it — ^just near enough to decide the point, 
and to boast for the rest of one's days of having met a real 
live panther in our own w^oods ! Bad as their reputation is, 
they seldom, I believe, attack human beings unless exasperated ; 
and of course we should have been satisfied with a distant and 
brief interview ; for no doubt we should have been very heartily 
frightened. 
Friday, 15 th. — We return to the birds of more than common 
interest. 
The Bald Eagle can scarcely be called a rare bird with us, for 
in some parts of the country it is very common ; at other points, 
however, it is not often seen. "We Americans all have a national 
interest in this powerful bird as the emblem of our country, and 
