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, which 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- 
