Chapter XIV.
THE ARCTIC VISITORS.
"Help me catch these wounded ones!" cried Tug, dancing round in chaseof several wing-tipped and lame birds that were floundering in thesnow.
The others rushed after them too, and it was exciting sport, for thechase often led them into deep drifts and down the scraggy sides ofthe hummock; it thus became the scene of many comical tumbles andfailures, for several of the birds, having been shot as they crowdedtogether in a bunch, were only slightly wounded, and able to make avigorous attempt to escape. Rex took part also, but his work consistedchiefly in barking himself hoarse, for all he accomplished was thefinding of one dead bird; and this, as he was not a retriever, hedevoured on the spot.
When, panting, red-faced, and tired out, they gathered again at thedoor, they counted up seventeen fat buntings and one long-spur as theresult of the three shots. Three of these were badly mangled, and weregiven to Rex; the others they began at once to make into a stew forsupper, which they always ate about sundown. This meal also took theplace of a dinner, as they ate only "a bite" at noon.
While they were plucking the birds--and their bodies seemed wofullysmall when the thick coat of feathers had been removed--they asked Tugmany questions about the buntings. He could not answer all of them,but the substance of what he told them was this:
The snow-buntings--white snow-birds, or snow-flakes--belong to the farnorthern regions, where they go in summer to make their nests, oftenwithin the arctic circle. As soon as their young are able to fly theymust begin their southward migration, for the excessive cold and thedeep snow cut off all the grass-seeds, mosses, and insects upon whichthey feed in summer. So they begin to spread southward, not intoBritish America alone, but also into Lapland and Russia, and the lowerparts of Siberia. The bird seems to be a lover of cold, and used toscant fare and the roughest climate. It is not always, therefore, thatthey are to be seen in the United States south of the Great Lakes.
Around these lakes, however, they are likely to come in large flocksafter a cold snap or a deep fall of snow. The wild rice tracts andfrozen marshes afford them an abundance of seeds and dried berries,upon which they grow fat. Though seeming less in danger than mostother birds, since our hawks are gone southward, these buntings areexceedingly restless and timid, which makes them scurry away at theleast alarm. Yet their timidity is not enough to insure their safety,for though they are constantly rising up and settling again, theirflights are so short and uncertain that, as we have seen, a goodmarksman has no difficulty in shooting them. They are so small,however, that in this country of large game-birds they are never shotfor food unless a necessity like the present one compels it. With thefirst bit of warm weather the snow-buntings and their companions, thelong-spurs, whirl away to the bleak northward, crowding close upon theheels of Winter as he retreats to his polar stronghold.
In the cool mountainous parts of the Far West there are severalspecies of birds closely akin to the snow-flake, whose summer homesare among the peaks. They belong to the same genus (_Plectrophanes_),but none of them are so white as the Eastern bunting; in fact, likethe ptarmigan, he is pure white only in midwinter, changing in summerto a dress much mottled with warm brown and black, traces of whichremain in his winter hood and collar.
"What do you suppose brought the snow-flakes away out hither on theice?" Tug was asked.
"Oh, we're not so far from land--though we might as well be a hundredmiles away for all the good it will do us!--and I suppose they wereflying across to the marshes and islands on the north shore. Probablyour smoke attracted them."
Having got done with their birds, the boys returned to their chopping.Two or three large pieces were hacked out as back-logs to build theirfire upon, instead of making it right on the ice; and since this lastload was not needed in the wall, which had been banked up anew, it wasspread around on the floor of the house to lift their canvas carpetabove the chilly and often wet floor, for the weather was not coldenough now to keep it frozen always hard and dry under the tent.
Evening came, and with it a feeling of homelike comfort queer to thinkabout, yet not quite impossible under the circumstances, forlorn anddangerous as they were. The boys perched themselves on the gunwale ofthe boat, and watched Katy making snow-bird stew and steeping thefragrant tea.
Then, how good it tasted! What a royal change from steady bacon andcrackers, or tough dried beef, and water!
"I wonder if they'll come again?" said Aleck, examining his friend'sgun. "Costs a heap o' powder, though, and the noise scares them. Say,Tug, don't you know how to build traps?"
"I could make a figure four," piped Jim, "if I had the box."
"Guess we could manage that. Ugh! what a frightful smoke!"
"I should say so," added Katy, rubbing her smarting eyes. "I think, ifyou would punch a hole under the wall, there would be a betterdraught. That hole in the corner of the roof don't make a very finechimney."
Tug took his ramrod and worked the snow away from a crevice at thefoot of the wall, near the floor. The cooler air outside sucked in totake the place of the heated air within, which ascended to the hole atthe edge of the roof, and a draught was set in motion, taking enoughof the smoke out to make the place endurable while they ate theirsupper.
How good that bird soup was! And what fun they had, eating it out oftheir tin cups with wooden spoons! There was only one bowl for thetea, which had to be passed around for each to drink from in turn.They forgot their difficulties for a little while, and were as merryas anybody could be. All at once Katy stopped short in a laugh, withan exclamation of astonishment:
"I do believe we've never one of us thought what day it is! This isChristmas eve!"
The evening was given to chatting, as they sat in the darkness halfillumined by the red embers of their fire, for they wanted to savetheir lantern oil, and would not allow themselves to burn ituselessly; nor was it late when they went to sleep.