96 IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



ing, I shall be moved to offer myself as a com- 

 petent witness for the defense. 



A company of chimney-swifts were flying 

 criss-cross over the summit, and one of the men 

 said that he presumed they lived there. I took 

 the liberty to doubt his opinion, however. To 

 me it seemed nothing but a blunder that they 

 should be there even for an hour. There could 

 hardly be many insects at that height, I thought, 

 and I had abundant cause to know that the 

 woods below were full of them. I knew, also, 

 that the swifts knew it ; for while I had been 

 prowling about between Crawford's and Fab- 

 yan's, they had several times shot by my head 

 so closely that I had instinctively fallen to cal- 

 culating the probable consequences of a colli- 

 sion. But, after all, the swift is no doubt a 

 far better entomologist than I am, though he 

 has never heard of Packard's Guide. Possibly 

 there are certain species of insects, and those 

 of a peculiarly delicate savor, wdiich are to be 

 obtained only at about this altitude. 



The most enjoyable part of the Crawford path 

 is the five miles from the top of Mount Clinton 

 to the foot of the Mount Washington cone. 

 Along this ridge I was delighted to find in blos- 

 som two beautiful Alpine plants, which I had 

 missed in previous (July) visits, — the diapen- 

 sia (^Diapensia Lapponica) and the Lapland rose- 



