A NOOK IN THE ALLEGHANIES 157 



note also was made in the field. Let one 

 note correct the other ; or, better still, let 

 each stand for whatever of truth it expresses. 

 Happily, there is no final judgment on such 

 themes. One thing I remarked with equal 

 surprise and pleasure : the song reminded 

 me again and again of the singing of Swain- 

 son's thrush; not by any resemblance be- 

 tween the two voices, it need hardly be said, 

 but by a similarity in form. Oven-birds 

 were here, speaking their pieces in earnest 

 schoolroom fashion ; a few chippering snow- 

 birds excited my curiosity (common Junco 

 hyemalis, for aught I could discover, but I 

 profess no certainty on so nice a point) ; 

 and here and there a flock of migrating 

 white-throated sparrows bestirred themselves 

 lazily, as I brushed too near their browsing- 



So I dallied along, accompanied by a 

 staid, good-natured, woodchuck-loving collie 

 (he had joined me on the hotel piazza, with 

 a friendly look in his face, as much as to 

 say, " The top of the morning to you, stran- 

 ger. If you are out for a walk, I 'm your 

 dog"), till presently I came to a clearing. 

 Here the path all . at once disappeared, and 



