Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-06-22
Our gumns folks.
Northern Birds,

life in the Arctic regions-the habits and
haunts of birds there, from the pen of
Hon. PAUL A. CHADBoURNE, President of
the State University. appeared in Pat
nam Magazine for June:
The abundance of tropical life is
often contrasted with the desert of snow
and ice in the far north. There are places
in Gree inland, Iceland. and even in New
foundland, where one is oppressed with the
dreariness of the scene, as he looks upon
the desolation of frost, and feels that no
change of season will bring verdure and
life to the winter-scathed hills There are
found vast expanses with no tree OF shrub
except the creeping willow, FIR, or alder,
that seem nesting in the moss as though
fearing the sudden return of the wintry
storm. In such place. the plaintive note
of curlew or ployer only renders the scene
more mournfully sad and depressing.
But there is another side TO Northern
life. Let one visit the coast of Greenland,
or any of the icy islands of the Northern
seas, and he will be astonished at the
abundance of life, and will constantly
wonder how such myriads of beings can
live in such a zone AS his vessel glides
over the clear waters of some of the Lab
rador bays, he will see the bottom fairly
paved with sea-urchins and star-fshes
and again, vast shoals of cod making the
waters boil as they follow the shoals of
caplin upon which they feed Huge whales
are seen gathering their thousands of tiny
clos at every plunge, and early in the sea
son, the fine ice is swarming with seals.
As he reaches the coast of Greenland. be-
meath the clear, ice-cold waters, he sees a
forest of gigantic sea-weeds waving in
rich luxuriance, as though the vegetation
of the land had retreated beneath the
waves from the fury of the winds and
frosts Of winter. Floating near the sur
face are countless numbers of ielly-fshes
of various forms and tints-some huge
and Gorgon-like, with the snake-like ten
tacles streaming through the water others
as beautiful as graceful form and brilliant
ealars can r,~L sueN-. - T. - - .. ---'
the perlls of his battles with ice, that, in
fantastic forms, seems now retreating from
its battlefield, surrounded by these new
forms of life, with the icy mountains piled
like cumulOus clouds against the midnight
sky, all gorgeous with crimson and gold,
there is here 4 charm that no other part
Of the world can give
Among the birds of the North must be
reckoned the myriads that frequent the
'' Bird Islands " on the coast of Newfound-
land and Labrador. These islands have
been described often By naturalists. but no
description can do them justice. The egg
hn 49, b l.
day, and make cruel havoc among the
birds; yet, in spite of men and all their
other enemies, their numbers are not ap-
parently affected If we Judge by the
diminishing numbers of such birds on our
own coast, and the entire destruction OF
the great aux even in Greenland and Ice
land, we must conclude that the constant
warfare of man on eggs and birds will
soon make perceptible impression upon
the numbers in these great Northern breed
ing places.
But all along the coast of Greenland,
among the hundreds of islands never Wis
tied except perhaps by the scattered Es-
quimaux, the birds seem in numbers and
activity like bees in honey harvest.
Upon the hills and mountain sides the
willow ptarmigan browse in summer. on
the moss and heath, in winter white as the
snow itself, is found in such numbers that
the missionary at Gothaab informed me
that not less than 5000 were killed upon
one hillside In single winter 1t is Gu
rious to observe that birds of this kind. /
that remain near the glaciers during sum-
mer, retain portion of their white winter |
dress, and some of their eggs are partly |
white, and others entirely so. | was in
formed by the natives that white eggs, of
which l obtained several, are never found /
except in nests so near the glaciers that
the air would be constantly affected by
them.
In sheltered places is often found the
nest of the beautiful white snow-bunting,
that in winter makes its way to us ffsm
the far North. Her eggs, like those of
many other birds in that cold country. are
laid in nests of softest feathers. If we
robbed the birds, pleading science as an
excuse, the moths have avenged the birds,
and left us nothing but the remnants of K
our booty, without form or beauty.
The snowy owl, that only braves the
heat of our winter months, finds in Green
and his appropriate home, though there is
not a man there that l could find who ever
saw its nest. The nests are in the great
glaciers" the people said but why thew
so was because their boldest bunf-
srs had never seen one.
Here, too, terror to the harmless ntar.
nigan and sea fowl, sweep along the swift
oeregrine and jer falcons, both renowned
n the royal sport of falconry. The latter
s the tiger among birds. 1t is Impossible
o conceive of more perfect instrument
If destruction than this bird, dart;no
through the air like lightning, and almost :
IS deadly, to the quarry against which she 8
woops for it is the female of these b;rds ;
IS with all birds of prey, that are most I
powerful and destructive. Their mates :
re so Insignificant and weak, comnared ;
Nth them, as to be readily mistaken for .
ltferent species by those unacquaintod .
nth ornithology. :
We shall long remember the splendid :
pecimens of these birds in Cove !;
links collection, and every ornitboloa;s.
nil understand the temptation, when Msd !,
m Rink, throwing open the cases, invited :
$ to take as many specimens as Ne
leased We wondered if she had cone :,
ence in the unbOunded generosity of bar |