18 JUNE IN FRAN CON I A. 



found them. The bird was just over the 

 high, close, inhospitable fence, on the top 

 of which I rested my chin and watched and 

 listened. He sat with his back toward me, 

 in full view, on a level with my eye, and 

 sang and sang and sang, in a most deli- 

 ciously soft, far-away voice, keeping his 

 wings all the while a little raised and quiv- 

 ering, as in a kind of musical ecstasy. It 

 does seem a thing to be regretted yes, a 

 thing to be ashamed of that a bird so beau- 

 tiful, so musical, so romantic in its choice 

 of a dwelling-place, and withal so charac- 

 teristic of New England should be known, 

 at a liberal estimate, to not more than one 

 or two hundred New Englanders! But if 

 a bird wishes general recognition, he should 

 do as the robin does, and the bluebird, and 

 the oriole, dress like none of his neigh- 

 bors, and show himself freely in the vicinity 

 of men's houses. How can one expect to be 

 famous unless he takes a little pains to keep 

 himself before the public? 



From the time I left my hotel until I was 

 fairly above the dwarf spruces below the 

 summit of Lafayette, I was never for many 

 minutes together out of the hearing of thrush 



