186 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



side their quaint, challenging calls were heard, 

 and often they flew high in air and then de- 

 scended by a stairway of flight, their bodies 

 swinging loosely, as if suspended on their up- 

 raised wings, while they shrieked all sorts of 

 menaces at an intruder. 



One afternoon a couple of lads and myself 

 clambered down the steep, rocky side of Look- 

 out Mountain. That was more sport than go- 

 ing down by the prosaic incline, which was 

 the stereotyped route. We began our descent 

 through a gorge that runs down steeply be- 

 tween Sunset and Snake Rocks, and thus we 

 got a view of those terrific precipices from be- 

 low instead of only from above, as most people 

 do — people of the mediocre type, you see ! A 

 blood-red summer tanager tilting over the rocks 

 is a thrilling, almost a blood-curdling sight, mak- 

 ing one glad that Nature has made the bird a 

 natural flying machine. 



On the summit of the mountain the birds 

 were not plentiful. A few chippies, red-eyed 

 vireos, and summer tanagers formed the com- 

 plement. May I venture to guess the reason of 

 this scarcity ? PerhajDS the want of water on 

 the heights will partly explain it, as no small 

 amount of effort would be required even for a 

 bird to make the journey down the mountain, 



