that of brook trout is generally much
lighter. Some hunters and fishers from the valley of the Mill Brook,
whom we met here, told us the trout were much larger in the lake,
though far less numerous than they used to be. Brook trout do not
grow large till they become scarce. It is only in streams that have
been long and much fished that I have caught them as much as sixteen
inches in length.

The "porcupigs" were numerous about the lake, and not at all shy.
One night the heat became so intolerable in our oven-shaped bough
house that I was obliged to withdraw from under its cover and lie
down a little to one side. Just at daybreak, as I lay rolled in my
blanket, something awoke me. Lifting up my head, there was a
porcupine with his forepaws on my hips. He was apparently as much
surprised as I was; and to my inquiry as to what he at that moment
might be looking for, he did not pause to reply, but hitting me a
slap with his tail which left three or four quills in my blanket, he
scampered off down the hill into the brush.

Being an observer of the birds, of course every curious incident
connected with them fell under my notice. Hence, as we stood about
our camp-fire one afternoon looking out over the lake, I was the
only one to see a little commotion in the water, half hidden by the
near branches, as of some tiny swimmer struggling to reach the
shore. Rushing to its rescue in the canoe, I found a yellow-rumped
warbler, quite exhausted, clinging to a twig that hung down into the
water. I brought the drenched and helpless thing to camp, and,
putting it into a basket, hung it up to dry. An hour or two
afterward I heard it fluttering in its prison, and, cautiously
lifting the lid to get a better glimpse of the lucky captive, it
darted out and was gone in a twinkling. How came it in the water?
That was my wonder, and I can only guess that it was a young bird
that had never before flown over a pond of water, and, seeing the
clouds and blue sky so perfect down there, thought it was a vast
opening or gateway into another summer land, perhaps a short cut to
the tropics, and so got itself into trouble. How my eye was
delighted also with the redbird that alighted for a moment on a dry
branch above the lake, just where a ray of light from the setting
sun fell full upon it! A mere crimson point, and yet how it offset
that dark, sombre background!

* * * * *

I have thus run over some of the features