HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK! 239 



upper mountain valley! As has been said, for some 

 unaccountable reason the white-crowns in the vicinity 

 of Georgetown were quite chary of their music. Not so 

 those that dwelt in the valley below Gray's and Torrey's 

 peaks, for there they trilled their melodious measures 

 with a richness and abandon that were enchanting. 



On reaching the snow-belt, though still a little below 

 the limit of copsy growths, we saw our first pipits, 

 which, it will be remembered, I had encountered on the 

 summit of Pike's Peak two years before. In our climb 

 up Gray's Peak we found the pipit realm and that of the 

 white-crowned sparrows slightly overlapping. As soon, 

 however, as we began the steep climb above the mat- 

 ted copses, the white-crowns disappeared and the pipits 

 grew more abundant. At frequent intervals these birds 

 would suddenly start up from the ground, utter their 

 protesting " Te-cheer ! te-cheer ! " and hurl themselves 

 recklessly across a snowy gulch, or dart high into the 

 air and let their semi-musical calls drop and dribble 

 from the turquoise depths of the sky. Did the pipits 

 accompany you to the summit of the peak ? I half re- 

 gret to admit that they did not, but ceased to appear a 

 good while before the summit was attained. This is all 

 the more remarkable when it is remembered that these 

 birds were extremely abundant on the crest of Pike's 

 Peak, where they behaved in a "very-much-at-home" 

 way. 



