Perhaps they suddenly heard and answered the call of the wild. The
neighbors had been wild more than once.
Box and Cox were a disappointment. They showed little of either wit or
wisdom. They had a small amount of roguishness and a mighty appetite.
Such traits as they showed were those of youth; those they lacked might
have come with age. Perhaps parent crows teach their young the wisdom
which wood-bred birds certainly show. Box and Cox had none of it, or if
they had they hid it with the pocketknife and the carpenter’s tools.
On the other hand, the strongest trait of the wood-bred crow is his
distrust of man. Instinct, if it works in the crow tribe, should
certainly have implanted this distrust in the youthful heads of Box and
Cox, but they showed nothing of the sort. And there you have the crow
puzzle all over again, for the crow, wild or tame, is a puzzle. Half a
hundred of them the other day were congregated about a wood road through
the pines, yelling themselves hoarse in the wildest of excitement.
So interested were they that they took no notice of me when I
approached, thinking that they had a hawk or owl at bay there and were
harrying him. So I walked down the wood road right in amongst them. But
there was neither hawk nor owl nor anything else there to account for
their excitement. They tore about this empty space, cawing, fluttering,
standing erect, alert, and quivering on a limb and gazing wildly at what
seemed to be to them very real and very terrible. But it was nothing to
me; I could not find so much as a chipmunk stirring there. After a
little they chased this terrible nothing on down the road and then
across lots into another part of the wood, leaving me gaping and in
doubt whether they were just playing a game among themselves, all making
believe they saw a monster where there was none, or whether they really
could see some woodland bogle that was invisible to my dull eyes and
were following him on his way.
Box and Cox may have been among them, and for all I know may later have
told the crowd what a queer creature man is when you come to know him as
foster-fathered crows have to.
INDEX
A
Acorns, 98, 99, 100
Admiral, red, 5
Alder, 177, 182
---- red-berried, 195
Angleworms, 160
Anosia plexippus, 117
Antiopa vanessa, 116
Apple blossoms, 119, 198
---- tree, 27, 135, 205
---- wild, 156
Arbor vitæ, 39
Aroostook war, 24
Ash tree, 96, 133
Aster, 114
Azalia, 166
B
Barberry, 184, 185
Bat, 76, 79, 82
Bayberry, 111
Bee, 10
Beech, 29
Birch, 29, 34, 35, 74, 75, 83, 92, 93, 126, 127, 133, 143, 165
---- C. T. U., 92, 94
Bittern, 60
Blackberry, 16
Blackbird, red-winged, 119, 178, 180, 182, 201
Blueberry, swamp, 164
Bluebird, 113, 212
Blue Hills, 110
Buck, 38
Buckthorn, 195
Butterfly, 5, 114, 117
---- admiral, red, 5
---- Anosia plexippus, 117
---- Antiopa vanessa, 116
---- Hunters’, 115
---- monarch, 114, 116, 117
---- painted lady, 5, 115
---- Pyrameis, 117
---- Pyrameis atalanta, 5
---- Pyrameis cardui, 5, 116
---- sulphur, 114
C
Catbird, 181, 182, 183
Cedar, 143
---- berries, 113
---- pasture, 121
---- red, 113, 206
---- white, swamp, 113
Cemetery Hill, 173
Cherries, 16
Chestnut, 67, 68, 69, 71, 75, 76, 79, 83, 95, 96, 98, 99, 109, 155
---- bur, 77
---- leaves, 83
---- tree, 76, 77
Chickadee, 3, 4, 173
Chipmunk, 214
Christmas, 195
---- tree, 35
Clam, 41
Clintonia borealis, 15, 16, 17
Clover, 6
Cocoanut, 19
Coon, 174
Cowbird, 188, 189, 190, 191
Coyote, 38
Crow, 40, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 207, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215
---- nest, 143
Crustaceæ, 51
Currant, 17
---- fairy, 18
Cyprepedium acaule, 35
D
Deer, 27, 37, 38
Dendragapus canadensis, 35
Doe, 38
Duck, 52, 53, 62
---- black, 54
---- “spirit,” 57
---- teal, blue-winged, 48, 49
E
Elder, 177
Elm, 133
Epilobium angustifolium, 11
Erechthites, 11
---- hieracifolium, 9
F
Fawn, 38
Fern, cinnamon, 184
---- wood, 88
Fir, 23, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37
Fireweed, 10, 11, 12
Fish, flying, 110
Flicker, 40
Fox, 38, 157, 174
Frog, 174, 208
G
Glow-worm, 20
Goldenrod, 114
Goliaths, 28
Grape, 74, 114
Grapevine, wild, 187, 206
Grass, purple wood, 73, 82
Greece, 27
Grebe, pied-billed, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 62
Greek, 191
Grouse, Canada, 3
---- ruffed, 35, 37
Gulliver, 28
H
Hackmatack, 39
Hawk, 38, 214
Hazel nuts, 155
Hedgehog, 157
“Hell-diver,” 55
Hemlock, 121
Hickory, 79, 80, 82, 88, 109, 153, 154, 155
Hob, 8
Holly berries, 195
Huckleberry, black, 164
Hunters’ butterfly, 115
I
Ignis fatuus, 90
Indian, 30
---- summer, 152
J
Jay, blue, 111
Joepye weed, 177
June berries, 156
Juniper, 125, 126
K
Katahdin, 23
Kimball, George, 33
Kingbird, 201, 202, 204, 205, 212
L
Lady’s slipper, 15, 16
Leprachauns, 13
Lilac, 82
---- purple, 134
---- white, 134
Liliputians, 28
Locusts, 103
Loon, 62
M
Macwahoc-Kingman road, 29
Maple, 34, 89, 91, 133, 136, 137
---- red, 94, 96
---- Norway, 94, 97, 135
---- silver-leaved, 94
---- swamp, 89, 90, 93, 94
---- white, 94
“Mast,” 100, 101
Milkweed, 177, 178, 186
Mistletoe, 195
Mitchella, 17
Monarch, 114, 116, 117
Mouse, field, 183
N
Norse Sagas, 46
Nuthatch, 176, 177
O
Oak, 97, 98, 101, 102, 103, 133, 181, 182
---- black, 98, 99, 101, 103
---- black, “mast,” 101
---- red, 103
---- scarlet, 103
---- scrub, 103, 110
---- white, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103
Oak, white, “mast,” 101
Oliver Twist, 209
Orchid, 15
Owl, 214
---- barred, 40
---- screech, 174
P
Painted lady, 5, 115
Palm, 19
Partridge, 14, 157, 158, 162
---- berries, 14, 16, 17
---- birch, 35, 36
---- spruce, 35, 36
Patten Road, 23, 24, 27
Pear tree, 35
Petrel, 47
Pine, 15, 32, 114, 174, 197, 206, 214
---- pitch, 5, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127
---- pumpkin, 29
---- white, 120, 125
“Piney Home,” 33
Plover, 62
---- piping, 51
---- ring-necked, 51
---- yellow-leg, 47, 48, 49
Poa serotina, 58
Pokeberry, 13
Pokeweed, 12
Porcupine, 27, 157
Porzana carolina, 59
Proteus, 9
Pyrameis, 117
---- atalanta, 5
---- cardui, 5, 116
Q
Queen Mab, 17
R
Rabbit, jack, 38
Rail, Carolina, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62
Raspberry, 16
Rivers, Mattawamkeag, 29
---- Moluncus, 29, 30, 33
---- Macwahoc, 29, 33
---- Orinoco, 58
---- Amazon, 58
Robin, 111, 112, 113, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 212
S
Sandpiper, spotted, 49, 51
Sage-brush, 38
“Seasons,” by Thomson, 136
Shadbush, 156
Skunk, 157
Smilacina bifolia, 17
South African mines, 74
Sparrows, 212
---- English, 190, 191
Spruce, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39
---- cat, 29, 33
---- black, 33
---- timber, 33
---- white, 33
Squirrel, 69, 70, 72, 73, 144, 152, 154, 155
---- gray, 70, 72, 79, 80, 81, 82
---- red, 67, 68, 70, 72, 143, 144, 183
Sulphur butterfly, 114
Sumac, 82
T
Teal, blue-winged, 48, 49, 54
Telia polyphemus, 78, 83
Thoreau, 26
Toad, tree, 174
Totter, Grandfather, 211
Trillium, 19, 20
Triton, 9
V
Vikings, 47
Vireo, 187
Virgin’s bower, 177
W
Warbler, 112, 188, 189
---- myrtle, 112
---- yellow, 184, 185, 186, 187, 190, 191
Willow, 97
---- herb, 11
Witch hazel, 114, 118
---- blooms, 120
---- nuts, 118
Woodchuck, 6, 7, 8
Woodcock, 159, 160, 161, 162
Wood mice, 18
Woodpecker, golden-winged, 39, 40
---- partridge, 114
Wordsworth, 9, 136
Wrights, 41