194 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



own, in Franconia as elsewhere. This fall, 

 for example, there were no crossbills, even 

 at Lonesome Lake, where we have commonly 

 found both species. White-crowned spar- 

 rows were rare ; perhaps we were a little too 

 early for the main flight. We saw one bird 

 on September 23, and two on the 26th. 

 Another noticeable thing was a surprising 

 scarcity of red-bellied nuthatches. We spoke 

 often of the great contrast in this respect 

 between the present season and that of three 

 years ago. Then all the woods, both here 

 and at Moosilauke, fairly swarmed with these 

 birds, till it seemed as if all the Canadian 

 nuthatches of North America were holding 

 a White Mountain congress. The air was 

 full of their nasal calls. Now we could travel 

 all day without hearing so much as a sylla- 

 ble. The tide, for some reason, had set in 

 another direction, and Franconia was so much 

 the poorer. 



