THE HEPBURN LEUCOSTICTE. 



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purily lliereon displayed? It so. she will not appreciate the Leucosticte. 

 This bird is the vestal virgin of the snows, the attendant minister of Natnre's 

 loftiest altars, the guardian of the glacial sanctuaries. 



One who loves the nunnitains cannot measure his praise nor bound his 

 enthusiasm. Their sublimity bids him forget his limitations; and if one 

 happens also' to care for birds, it is matter of small justice to laud a bird 

 whose devotion to the peaks appears as boundless as his own, besides knowing 

 neither admixture of caution nor limitation of opportunitv. Here is the 

 patron saint of mountaineers! lie alone of all creatures is at home on the 

 heights, and he is not even dependent upon the scanty vegetation wbicli 

 follows the retreating snows, since he is able to wrest a living from the \erv 

 glaciers. Abysses do not appall him, nor do the flower-strewn meadows of 

 the lesser heights alienate his snow-centered affections. 



Taken 1.1 CUclan County. pholu by tl. 



"THE Cnn.I.V WH.DKRNKSS OF SXOWCL.\D PKAKS." 



Looking out on the chilly wilderness of snow-clad ])eaks which confronts 

 Leucosticte on an early day in June, one wonders what the bird sees to justify 

 the assumption of family cares. Save for a few dripjjing south exposures 

 of inhospital)!e rock, there is nothing visible which afYords promise of food 

 unless it be the snow itself. .And when one sees a little companv of the 



