74 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



Five days longer I followed the road 

 alone. Every time a sparrow darted into 

 the bushes too quickly for me to name him, 

 I thought of Melospiza lincolni. Once, in- 

 deed, on the Bethlehem road, I believed that 

 I really saw a bird of that species ; but it 

 was in the act of disappearing, and no 

 amount of pains or patience or no amount 

 that I had to spare could procure me a 

 second glimpse. 



On the sixth day came my friend, the 

 second foot-passenger, and was told of my 

 good fortune ; and together we began forth- 

 with to walk and look at sparrows. This, 

 also, was vain, until the morning of October 

 4. I was out first. A robin was cackling 

 from a tall treetop, as I stepped upon the 

 piazza, and a song sparrow sang from a 

 cluster of bushes across the way. Other 

 birds were there, and I went over to have a 

 look at them : two or three white-throats, as 

 many song sparrows, and a white-crown. 

 Then by squeaking I called into sight two 

 swamp sparrows (migrants newly come, they 

 must be, to be found in such a place), and 

 directly afterward up hopped a small gray- 



