CHESUNCOOK. 
109 
ner here, not to lose time. Some dark reddish birds, 
with grayer females, (perhaps purple finches,) and myr¬ 
tle-birds in their summer dress, hopped within six or 
eight feet of us and our smoke. Perhaps they smelled 
the frying pork. The latter bird, or both, made the 
lisping notes which I had heard in the forest. They 
suggested that the few small birds found in the wilder¬ 
ness are on more familiar terms with the lumberman 
and hunter than those of the orchard and clearing with 
the farmer. I have since found the Canada jay, and 
partridges, both the black and the common, equally 
tame there, as if they had not yet learned to mistrust 
man entirely. The chicadee, which is at home alike in 
the primitive woods and in our wood-lots, still retains its 
confidence in the towns to a remarkable degree. 
Joe at length returned, after an hour and a half, and 
said that he had been two miles up the stream exploring, 
and had seen a moose, but, not having the gun, he did 
not get him. We made no complaint, but concluded to 
look out for Joe the next time. However, this may 
have been a mere mistake, for we had no reason to com¬ 
plain of him afterwards. As we continued down the 
stream, I was surprised to hear him whistling “ O Su¬ 
sanna,” and several other such airs, while his paddle 
urged us along. Once he said, “Yes, Sir-ee.” His 
common word was “ Sartain.” He paddled, as usual, on 
one side only, giving the birch an impulse by using the 
side as a fulcrum. I asked him how the ribs were fas¬ 
tened to the side rails. He answered, “1 don’t know, I 
never noticed.” Talking with him about subsisting 
wholly on what the woods yielded, game, fish, berries, 
etc., I suggested that his ancestors did so; but he an¬ 
swered, that he had been brought up in such a way that 
