54 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



bumble-bees, beetles, and other insects, even in these 

 arctic regions, dwelling among the rocks and in the 

 short grass below them watered by the melting snows. 



At about half-past four in the afternoon I reached 

 the timber-line, indicated by a few small, scattering 

 pines and many thick clumps of bushes. Suddenly a 

 loud, melodious song brought me to a standstill. It 

 came from the bushes at the side of the trail. Although 

 I turned aside and sought diligently, I could not find 

 the shy lyrist. Another song of the same kind soon 

 reached me from a distance. Farther down the path a 

 white-crowned sparrow appeared, courting his mate. 

 With crown-feathers and head and tail erect, he would 

 glide to the top of a stone, then down into the grass 

 where his lady-love sat ; up and down, up and down he 

 scuttled again and again. My approach put an end to 

 the picturesque little comedy. The lady scurried away 

 into hiding, while the little prince with the snow-white 

 diadem mounted to the top of a bush and whistled the 

 very strain that had surprised me so a little while 

 before, farther up the slope. Yes, I had stumbled into 

 the summer home of the white-crowned sparrow, which 

 on the Atlantic coast and the central portions of the 

 American continent breeds far in the North. 



It was not long before I was regaled with a white- 

 crown vesper concert. From every part of the lonely 

 valley the voices sounded. And what did they say? 



