GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
deer quietly feeding in supposed security, and may rest assured that 
a nice bit of fresh venison steak will in no way interfere with your 
investigations. 
Crossing from the Beaver meadow to the nearest lake, we find its 
shores steep and rocky, with a dense border of dark cedars overhanging 
the water — which is of considerable depth, even close to the shore. 
A little farther along, the steep rocks are replaced by a more sloping 
bank, covered with stones of various sizes, and spruce and hem- 
locks, mingled, perhaps, with a few birches and maples, are substitu- 
ted for the cedars lust passed. Beyond still is a beach of clean white 
sand, strewn with smooth quartz pebbles, and backed with a grove 
of tall pines, beneath whose lofty summits a cluster of paper birch 
saplings casts flitting shadows over the blue huckleberries below. 
Continuing the circuit, we next come to a marshy bay lined with 
sedges and covered with lily-pads — a feeding ground, at night, for the 
much persecuted deer. Finally we reach the outlet, with its dense 
thicket of alders, and are startled by the splash of a diving Musk- 
rat, or the sudden flight of a Wood Duck or Heron. In the alders 
and undershrubs bordering the stream we notice a few Song Spar- 
rows, Rusty Blackbirds, and a solitary Maryland Yellow-throat. 
Turning from the lake into the adjoining forest, the dark form and 
yellow crown of a Three-toed Woodpecker arrest our eye, and 
rounding a rocky knoll we get a glimpse of his princely cousin, the 
Cock-of-the- Woods. From various quarters may be heard the clear 
mellow whistle of the Peabody Bird, and the less frequent but sadder 
note of the Wood Pewee. Winding slowly up the shady ravine that 
leads to the pass between the mountains that separate us from the 
valley beyond, a Hermit Thrush silently glides across our path, and 
we notice here a pair of Slate-colored Snow-birds, and the trim form 
of a little Winter Wren as she flits from a moss-covered Ioq- to the 
branches of a fallen tree-top, pertly tipping her tail in salute. Near- 
ing the summit a passing flock of noisy Blue Jays excites the wrath 
of a Red Squirrel who, perched on a neighboring limb, manifests his 
