Birds -- United States; Natural history -- Outdoor books
By a little trout brook in a low part of the woods adjoining the
clearing, I had a good time pursuing and identifying a number of
warblers,--the speckled Canada, the black-throated blue, the
yellow-rumped, and Audubon's warbler. The latter, which was leading
its troop of young through a thick undergrowth on the banks of the
creek where insects were plentiful, was new to me.
It being August, the birds were all moulting, and sang only fitfully
and by brief snatches. I remember hearing but one robin during the
whole trip. This was by the Boreas River in the deep forest. It was
like the voice of an old friend speaking my name.
From Hewett's, after engaging his youngest son,--the "Bub" of the
family,--a young man about twenty and a thorough woodsman, as our
guide, we took to the woods in good earnest, our destination being the
Stillwater of the Boreas,--a long, deep, dark reach in one of the
remotest branches of the Hudson, about six miles distant. Here we
paused a couple of days, putting up in a dilapidated lumbermen's
shanty, and cooking our fish over an old stove which had been left
there. The most noteworthy incident of our stay at this point was the
taking by myself of half a dozen splendid trout out of the Stillwater,
after the guide had exhausted his art and his patience with very
insignificant results. The place had a very trouty look; but as the
season was late and the river warm, I knew the fish lay in deep water
from which they could not be attracted. In deep water accordingly, and
near the head of the hole, I determined to look for them. Securing a
chub, I cut it into pieces about an inch long, and with these for bait
sank my hook into the head of the Stillwater, and just to one side of
the main current. In less than twenty minutes I had landed six noble
fellows, three of them over one foot long each. The guide and my
incredulous companions, who were watching me from the opposite shore,
seeing my luck, whipped out their tackle in great haste and began
casting first at a respectable distance from me, then all about me,
but without a single catch. My own efforts suddenly became fruitless
also, but I had conquered the guide, and thenceforth he treated me
with the tone and freedom of a comrade and equal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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