| OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS T HROUGH UPPER CANADA: th at it is marvellous to tell of. A gentleman of the town of Niagara affurcd m , that once a he was embarking th ere on board fhi p for Taranto, a flight of them w:1s obfer ved coming from that quarter; that as he failed over Lake Ontar io to Toron to, for y miles diilan t from N ia~ gara, p igeons were feen flyi ng over head the whole way in a contrary direCtion to that in which the {hip proceeded; aml th at on arriving at ~he place of his dellination, the bir ls were flill obfc rvcd coming down from the north in as large bodies a had been noticed at any one time during the whole voyage; fu p poGng, th erefore, th at the pigeons moved no fafi:er than the vefrd, the flight, according to this ge ntleman's account, mu!l: at lca!l: have extend d ighty mil •s. M any pcr fon n1ay think this !tory furpaffing belief; for my own part, however, I do not h efitate to give credit to it, knowing, as I do, the refp Ctability of the gentleman who related it, and the accuracy of his obfu-vation. When thdi birds appear in fuch great numbers, they often light on the borders of rivers and lakes, and in the neighbourhood of farm houil: , at which time they are fo unwary that a man with a fhort flick might cafily knock them down by hundreds. It is not oftener than once in fev en or eight year , perhaps, that fuch large flocks of thefe birds are feen ia the country. The years in which they appear arc denominated " p igeon years." There are alfo " bear years'' and " fquirrel years." This was bot' a bear and a fquirrel year. The former, like the pigeons, came down from the northern regions, and were mofi: numerous in the n ighbourhood of lakes Ontario and Erie, and along the upper parts of the River St. Lawrence. On arriving at the borders of thd <.: lakes, or of the river, if the oppofite fhore was in fight, they general!; took to the water, and endeavoured to reach it by fwimming. Prodigious numbers of them were killed in croffing the St. Lawrence by the Indians, who had hunting encampments, at fhort dill:ances from each other, the whole way along the banks of the river, from the ifland of St. Regis to Lake Ontario. One bear, of a very large fizc, boldly entered the river in the face of our bateaux, and was killed by feme of ou 1~ men whilll: fwimming from the main land to one of the iflands. In the woods it is very rare that bears will venture. to attack a man, but feveral in-fiances SQUIRRELs. 271 il:ances that had recently oc~urred were mentioned to us, where they had attacked a_ fi nglc man 111 a canoe whilf1: fwimming, and fo very fi:ron g arc they m the water, th.lt the men thus fct upon, being unarmed, efcap n·1rrowly with th eir lives . The fquirrcl s, thi y~ar, contrary to the l>ears, migrat d f rom the fouth, from the t erri tory of the United ' tates . L ike the bears, th ey took to the wate_r on . arriving at it, but as if confcious of their inabi lity to cro fs a very w 1dc p1ece of water, they bent th eir comfe towards N ia gara. River, ~bove the fJils, and J t its na rrowc fi: and mofl: t ranq uil p art crofled ov~r mto the Bntifh territo ry. I t was calculated, that upwards of fifty thoufall d of th em c rofT~..:d the river in the courfe of two or three days, and Cu ch grc:tL depreda tions did they commit on arriving at the ft tt k mcnts on th( op J~Oiite fide, th at in one part of the country the fann ers deemcJ th clldel ves very fortun ate wh ere th ey got in as much as one third of th c: r c rops of corn. Thefc fq uirrcl · wer all of th black kin~!, faid to be pec uliar to the contin ent of America; they arc in ihapc fimd ar to the e mmon grey fq nir rel, and weigh from about one to two pounds and a half each. Som wr ite rs have alferted, that thefe animals cannot fwim, bLLt that when they come to a rive r, in migrating, each one provid s itfclf with a piece of wood or bark, upon which, when a favourable wi.nd offers, they embark, fpread their bulhy tails to catch the wind, and are thus wafted over to the oppofi te 1ide. Whether thefe animals do or don t crofs in this manner fo metimes, I cannot take upon me to fay; but I can fa f~.:ly affirm, th at they do not always cro(s fo, as I have frequently il1ot them in the water whilfi: fwimming: no animals fwim better, and when purfucd, I h ave fcen them eagerly take to the water. Whilf1: fwimming, their tail is u (eful to them l>y way of rudder, and they ufe it with g reat dexterity; owing to its being fo light and bufhy, the greater part of it floats upon the water, and thus helps to {upport the animal. The n1ig ration of any of thefc animals in fuch large numbers is faid to be an infallible fign of a fevere winter.* • In the prefcnt infiancc it certainly was fo, for tl c enfuing winter proved to be the fcvcrefl that had been known in North America for fcveral years. On |
