6 THE AUDUBON? BU LCE EIEN 
October 18. “The weather has been disappointing. We miss those 
clear, crisp days which we have come to regard as so characteristic of the 
woods in October. So far the cameras have brought’ in nothing of impor- 
tance. (I make no reference to our observation of mammals. We deal 
here only with the birds.) The clouds are hanging low and we are envel- 
oped all afternoon in a fine, misty rain. Geese are moving,-—eight fly 
over us, headed northwest and later a flock of about forty honk their way 
overhead, taking an easterly course. In the swampy region about the 
mouth of Fisher Creek, two Jacksnipe jump and settle again. As we 
scout around, we hear a Loon on Pine Lake. His lonely cry is prema- 
turely cut off and querulous. He has given up his black throat and shows 
white in the fall plumage. From the trail at dusk the hooting of a Barred 
Owl is heard. 
October 22. A beautiful, clear day at last, with only a light breeze. 
At the foot of Huron Mountain, where the rocks slope abruptly into Moun- 
tain Lake, the lake trout are jumping all around us. ‘Three small ones 
are taken, just enough to supply fresh bait for some of the cameras. We 
lunch on a rocky point at the far end of the lake and lie in the sun, shel- 
tered from the breeze. A Rufted Grouse is drumming in the distance. 
Not far off a Pileated Woodpecker calls. I answer by beating on a dead 
log and he appears on silent wing out of nowhere, to hang for a second 
on a tree forty feet away, glance hastily at us and drift off again as silently 
as he had come. WHigh up, as a speck in the sky, an eagle soars lazily. 
What a contrast to the one seen a few days ago off the end of a sandstone 
point jutting into Lake Superior! On that occasion the wind roared, the 
lake pounded angrily at the foot of the cliffs. “The eagle, startled at close 
range by our approach, leaped into the teeth of the gale, withstood its buf- 
feting for a few seconds, then banked and turned abruptly to be swept out 
of sight in the murky atmosphere. 
After lunch we push up into Cliff River to see what change has come 
over feeding conditions for the deer, in search of explanation for our fail- 
ure to find them there last summer. As we work our way slowly up past 
a beaver dam, two Canada Jays alight on the branches of nearby trees at 
the river's bank, suggestive in action and appearance of chickadees much 
more than jays. 
At 4:10 P. M. the boom of a distant flash is heard. It is a long walk 
to the camera trap. We are reasonably certain of the identity of the trap 
camera that has been sprung. In a little more than an hour we are at the 
spot and confirm our conjectures. A. young Ruffed Grouse has walked 
into the wire. Fifteen minute are used up in resetting the camera. Now 
darkness is closing in. “The breeze has died down entirely, leaving the 
surface of the lake very still. As we circle the shore, a Barred Owl hoots. 
Otherwise the quiet of the evening is undisturbed. 
October 29. A blustering day. As a preliminary, the wind blew 
hard off the big lake all the preceding night. Now the temperature is 
