JUNE IN FRAN CON I A. 5 



whose feet would not willingly have carried 

 him in any other direction. The mountains 

 drew us, and there was no thought of resist- 

 ing their attraction. 



Love and curiosity are different, if not 

 incompatible, sentiments ; and the birds that 

 are dearest to the man are, for that very 

 reason, not most interesting to the ornithol- 

 ogist. When on a journey, I am almost 

 without eyes or ears for bluebirds and rob- 

 ins, song sparrows and chickadees. Now is 

 my opportunity for extending my acquain- 

 tance, and such every-day favorites must get 

 along for the time as best they can without 

 my attention. So it was here in Franconia. 

 The vesper sparrow, the veery, and a host 

 of other friends were singing about the hotel 

 and along the roadside, but we heeded them 

 not. Our case was like the boy's who de- 

 clined gingerbread, when on a visit : he had 

 plenty of that at home. 



When we were nearly at the edge of the 

 mountain woods, however, we heard across 

 the field a few notes that brought all four 

 of us to an instant standstill. What war- 

 bler could that be? Nobody could tell. In 

 fact, nobody could guess. But, before the 



