A NOOK IN THE ALLEGHANIES 155 



drons, was of itself a cheerful companion- 

 ship, its inarticulate speech chiming in 

 well with thoughts that were not so much 

 thoughts as dumb sensations. 



Here and there my footsteps disturbed a 

 tiny blue butterfly, a bumblebee, or an emer- 

 ald beetle, lovers of the sun all of them, 

 and therefore haunters of the path. Once 

 a grouse sprang up just before me, and at 

 another time I stopped to gain sight of a 

 winter wren, whose querulous little song- 

 sparrow - like note betrayed his presence 

 under the overhanging sod of the bank, 

 where he dodged in and out, pausing be- 

 tween whiles upon a projecting root, to 

 emphasize his displeasure by nervous gestic- 

 ulatory bobbings. He meant I should know 

 what he thought of me ; and I would gladly 

 have returned the compliment, but saw no 

 way of doing so. It is a fault in the con- 

 stitution of the world that we receive so 

 much pleasure from innocent wild creatures, 

 and can never thank them in return. Black- 

 and-white creepers were singing at short in- 

 tervals, and several pairs of hooded warblers 

 seemed already to have made themselves 

 at home among the rhododendron bushes. 



