246 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMF WATER. 
in their embrace. They reminded me of the 
tentacles of an enormous devil-fish. Near the 
focus of all these roads we found a log cabin 
and stables. The cabin was one of the best I 
have ever seen. It was about sixty feet long, 
and contained a room at each end and roofed 
space in the middle open at front and back. 
Near the house we heard bird voices, and I at 
once used my Spanish whistles. The effect was 
excellent. Four or five red-bellied nuthatches, 
one white-bellied, and a small flock of pine 
finches responded. The siskins were very noisy 
and quite restless. They were feeding on the 
seeds and buds of a tall birch. Leaving the 
hut at nine o’clock, we strolled up the snow- 
covered roads. The voices of birds were ever 
in our ears. Squirrel and rabbit tracks, with 
now and then the tracks of a fox, followed or cut 
the roads. The snow was five or six inches in 
depth and covered by a thin and brittle crust. 
In many places numbers of well-filled beechnuts 
were strewn upon the ground. This is beech¬ 
nut year, and the squirrels have more than they 
can pick up. The snow in the road was easy 
to walk upon, the air was mild, the sun warm, 
the spruces rich with olive light and brilliantly 
contrasted with the deep blue sky against which 
our mountain towered. On each side of the 
narrow way “top wood” and branches were 
