THE WILDERNESS IN JUNE 2fa 



lose a certain air of refinement and elegance, 

 and one feels that the delicate colors of their 

 dainty dress and their faint lisping notes are 

 quite in harmony with their characters. They 

 are very tame, frequently keeping me com- 

 pany along the trail, and so gentle are they 

 I can scarcely imagine their uttering a harsh or 

 discordant note. Sometimes it occurs to one 

 that as the season is slipping by so rapidly they 

 should be warned against the dangers of further 

 delay in rearing the broods. 



A bird that vexed me not a little during the 

 early part of my stay was the Pine Siskin, or 

 Pine Finch. They frequented the thick grass 

 plot between the cabins, feeding on the blossoms 

 of the dandelion. At my approach they would 

 rise with notes very much like those of the Gold- 

 finch; in fact, because of the great similarity in 

 notes, size and flight, I was nearly convinced 

 that they were female Goldfinches, accounting 

 for the slight difference in plumage as resulting 

 from the process of moulting, although it was 

 much earlier than the season when birds usually 

 change their clothes. On- close observation 

 however, notes were heard discordant and re- 

 pulsive as those of a Catbird, so unlike the ut- 

 terances of the little cavalier in black and gold 

 that the matter was at once decided, and their 

 real identity discovered. They are nesting in 

 the fir thicket that borders the clearing on the 

 south, the nests being made of twigs and root- 

 lets, lined with plant down. 



Ruffed Grouse. Not far from the clearing the 

 up-river trail crosses a slight eminence where 



