280 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



the meadows, making extended walks impossible 

 without the aid of snow-shoes. I found no great 

 difficulty, however, in making my way to a certain 

 ripple on the river where one of my ouzels lived. 

 He was at home, busily gleaning his breakfast 

 among the pebbles of a shallow portion of the 

 margin, apparently unaware of anything extraor 

 dinary in the weather. Presently he flew out to a 

 stone against which the icy current was beating, 

 and turning his back to the wind, sang as delight 

 fully as a lark in springtime. 



After spending an hour or two with my favorite, 

 I made my way across the valley, boring and wal 

 lowing through the drifts, to learn as definitely as 

 possible how the other birds were spending their 

 time. The Yosemite birds are easily found during 

 the winter because all of them excepting the Ouzel 

 are restricted to the sunny north side of the valley, 

 the south side being constantly eclipsed by the 

 great frosty shadow of the wall. And because the 

 Indian Canon groves, from their peculiar exposure, 

 are the warmest, the birds congregate there, more 

 especially in severe weather. 



I found most of the robins cowering on the lee 

 side of the larger branches where the snow could 

 not fall upon them, while two or three of the more 

 enterprising were making desperate efforts to reach 

 the mistletoe berries by clinging nervously to the 

 under side of the snow-crowned masses, back 

 downward, like woodpeckers. Every now and 

 then they would dislodge some of the loose fringes 

 of the snow-crown, which would come sifting down 

 on them and send them screaming back to camp, 



