JUNE IN FRAN CON I A. 7 



carpeted with club-mosses, dog-tooth violets, 

 clintonia, linnsea, and similar plants. He 

 continued to sing, and I continued to edge 

 my way nearer and nearer, till finally I was 

 near enough, and went down on my knees. 

 Then I saw him, facing me, showing white 

 under parts. A Tennessee warbler ! Here 

 was good luck indeed. I ogled him for a 

 long time ("Shoot it," says Mr. Burroughs, 

 authoritatively, "not ogle it with a glass;" 

 but a man must follow his own method), im- 

 patient to see his back, and especially the 

 top of his head. What a precious frenzy we 

 fall into at such moments ! My knees were 

 fairly upon nettles. He flew, and I fol- 

 lowed. Once more he was under the glass, 

 but still facing me. How like a vireo he 

 looked ! For one instant I thought, Can it 

 be the Philadelphia vireo? But, though I 

 had never seen that bird, I knew its song to 

 be as different as possible from the notes to 

 which I was listening. After a long time 

 the fellow turned to feeding, and now I ob- 

 tained a look at his upper parts, the back 

 olive, the head ashy, like the Nashville 

 warbler. That was enough. It was indeed 

 the Tennessee (Helminthophila peregrina), 



