A NOTABLE QUARTETTE 299 



pine or the evening grosbeak, for both of which I had 

 been making anxious search. The shifting of the song 

 from point to point struck me as odd, and it was very 

 mystifying. 



Higher and higher I climbed, the mountain side being 

 so steep that my breath came in gasps, and I was often 

 compelled to throw myself on the ground to recover 

 strength. At length a bird darted out from the pines 

 several hundred feet above me, rose high into the air, 

 circled and swung this way and that for a long time, 

 breaking at intervals into a song which sifted down to 

 me faintly through the blue distance. How long it 

 remained on the wing I do not know, but it was too 

 long for my eyes to endure the strain of watching it. 

 Through my glass a large part of the wings showed 

 white or yellowish- white, and seemed to be almost trans- 

 lucent in the blaze of the sunlight. What could this 

 wonderful haunter of the sky be ? It was scarcely pos- 

 sible that so roly-poly a bird as a grosbeak could perform 

 so marvellous an exploit on the wing. 



I never worked harder to earn my salary than I did 

 to climb that steep and rugged mountain side ; but at 

 last I reached and penetrated the zone of pines, and 

 finally, in an area covered with dead timber, standing 

 and fallen, two feathered strangers sprang in sight, now 

 flitting among the lower branches and now sweeping to 

 the ground. They were not grosbeaks, that was sure ; 



