My Sled- Trip on the Muir Glacier 



the coverts the same as the rest of the body. Only 

 about three inches of the folded primaries show white. 

 The breast seems to have golden iridescent colors, 

 white under the wings. It allowed me to approach 

 within twenty feet. It walked down a sixty degree 

 slope of the rock, took flight with a few whirring wing- 

 beats, then sailed with wings perfectly motionless 

 four hundred yards down a gentle grade, and vanished 

 over the brow of a cliff. Ten days ago Loomis told 

 me that he found a nest with nine eggs. On the way 

 down to my sled I saw four more ptarmigans. They 

 utter harsh notes when alarmed. "Crack, chuck, 

 crack," with the r rolled and prolonged. I also saw fresh 

 and old goat-tracks and some bones that suggest 

 wolves. 



There is a pass through the mountains at the head 

 of the third glacier. Fine mountains stand at the head 

 on each side. The one on the northeast side is the 

 higher and finer every way. It has three glaciers, 

 tributary to the third. The third glacier has altogether 

 ten tributaries, five on each side. The mountain on 

 the left side of White Glacier is about six thousand 

 feet high. The moraines of Girdled Glacier seem 

 scarce to run anywhere. Only a little material is 

 carried to Berg Lake. Most of it seems to be at rest as 

 a terminal on the main glacier-field, which here has 

 little motion. The curves of these last as seen from 

 this mountain-top are very beautiful. 



It has been a glorious day, all pure sunshine. An 

 hour or more before sunset the distant mountains, a 

 vast host, seemed more softly ethereal than ever, pale 



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