2l6 KEELER 



variety. For some moments he stretched his neck about, 

 looking now this way, now that, and then, starting off with 

 a queer, guttural chuckle, flapped his wings until he was 

 well launched in air, when suddenly checking his flight he 

 sailed with a graceful swoop down to the level reaches of 

 the moraine far below. 



Such was the life in this aerial garden where, beside 

 banks of eternal snow, birds sang and flowers bloomed un- 

 heeding the pageant of splendid desolation stretching in 

 vast sweeps from horizon to horizon. What miracle 

 could be more impressive than this of the rude rock 

 mother, cradling upon her breast, as the ice slipped away, 

 the gentle epilobium and the timid thrush! What pic- 

 tures it brings to mind of the days long gone when the ice 

 crowded down from the north, sweeping all living things 

 before its resistless march, followed by its slow and re- 

 luctant retreat, and by the eager rush of life into the re- 

 gion which it had laid waste ! Here, to-day, is the living 

 counterpart of the ice age. With the same dauntless 

 spirit, the same simple trust, now as then, are the birds 

 and flowers thronging to the threshold of the ice king's 

 palace, to reclaim and make lovely the land that has been 

 visited with utter desolation. 



On awakening one morning at Yakutat we found our 

 ship anchored in front of the Indian village. A small 

 party of us made preparations for an early start ashore, 

 with equipment for a few days in camp. We selected a 

 spot upon a sandy beach in a little cove about a mile from 

 the village, a clear stream emptying into the bay close by. 

 After breakfast in camp Mr. Ridgway and I started out in 

 our rowboat to look for birds. We first noticed a flock 

 of white-winged scoters swimming near a rocky point, 

 where they were no doubt breakfasting on mussels. 

 They are clumsy, black sea ducks with white wing spots 

 and with the upper mandible greatly swollen at the base 



