THE HERMIT WARBLER. 



195 



In despair, one da}'. I determined to penetrate this supramundane region 

 where the Hermit is at home, and selected for the purpose a well branched tree 

 in the center of the forest and some hundred and fifty feet in Iieight. The tree 

 was, fortunately, of the tougher sort, and permitted ascent to a point where 

 the stem might be t 



grasj)ed with the fin- 

 ger and tiiunil) of 

 one hand. It was a 

 treat to see the for- 

 est as a bird does. 

 The surface viewed 

 fro m above was 

 surprisingly unex'en. 

 Here and there 

 strong young trees, 

 green and full of 

 sap, rose to the le\el 

 of mine, but tiie ma- 

 jorit}' were lower. 

 and some ap])eared 

 like green rosettes 

 set in a well of 

 green. Others still, 

 rugged and une\en 

 as to limb, towered 

 above my station by 

 fifty or seventy-five 

 feet. My first dis- 

 covery upon reach- 

 ing the top was that 

 the bulk of the bird 

 chorus now .sounded 

 from below. But a 

 few singing Hermits 

 did occupy stations 

 more lofty t li a n 

 mine. One I marked 

 down — rather. u\i — 

 fifty feet above and a hundred yards away. lie sang awa\- like a contented 

 eremite from a single twig, and 1 was reverently constructing his high 

 biograjjliy and trying to pick out his domicile from the neighboring branches, 

 when (lash! he pitched headlong two hundred feel and was seen no more. 



HKimiT WARBLKKS. 



