Wilderness Reserves 



mountain chickadees and nuthatches of various 

 kinds, together with an occasional woodpecker. In 

 the northern country we had come across a very 

 few blue grouse and ruffed grouse, both as tame as 

 possible. We had seen a pigmy ov/1 no larger than 

 a robin sitting.'bn top of a pine in broad daylight, 

 and uttering at short intervals a queer un-owllike 

 cry. 



The birds that Interested us most were the 

 solitaires, and especially the dippers or water- 

 ousels. We were fortunate enough to hear the 

 solitaires sing not only when perched on trees, but 

 on the wing, soaring over a great canon. The 

 dippers are to my mind well-nigh the most at- 

 tractive of all our birds. They stay through the 

 winter in the Yellowstone because the waters are 

 in many places open. We heard them singing 

 cheerfully, their ringing melody having a certain 

 suggestion of the winter wren's. Usually they 

 sang while perched on some rock on the edge or in 

 the middle of the stream; but sometimes on the 

 wing. In the open places the western meadow 

 larks were also uttering their singular beautiful 

 songs. No bird escaped John Burroughs' eye ; no 

 bird note escaped his ear. 



On the last day of my stay it was arranged that 

 I should ride down from Mammoth Hot Springs to 



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