186 A BED OF BOUGHS. 



ain from bowlder to bowlder. Up and up we went, 

 with frequent pauses and copious quaffing of the 

 cold water. My soldier declared a "haunted val- 

 ley " would be a god-send ; anything but endless 

 dragging of one's self up such an Alpine stair-way. 

 The vinter-wren, common all through the woods, 

 peeped and scolded at us as we sat blowing near the 

 summit, and the oven-bird, not quite sure as to what 

 manner of creatures we were, hopped down a limb 

 to within a few feet of us and had a good look, then 

 darted off into the woods to tell the news. I also 

 noted the Canada warbler, the chestnut-sided warbler, 

 and the black-throated blue-back, the latter most 

 abundant of all. Up these mountain brooks, too, 

 goes the belted kingfisher, swooping around through 

 the woods when he spies the fisherman, then wheel- 

 ing into the open space of the stream and literally 

 making a " blue streak " down under the branches. 



At last the stream which had been our guide was 

 lost under the rocks, and before long the top was 

 gained. These mountains are horse-shaped. There 

 is always a broad, smooth back more or less depressed, 

 which the hunter aims to bestride ; rising mpidly 

 from this is pretty sure to be a rough, curving ridge 

 that carries the forest up to some highest peak. We 

 were lucky in hitting the saddle, but we could see a 

 little to the south the sharp, steep neck of the steed 

 sweeping up toward the sky with an erect mane of 

 balsam fir. 



These mountains are steed-like in other respects 



