66 THE QUEST OF A THRUSH 



flying leap, I registered a vow in my heart 

 never again to trust to the idiosyncrasies of 

 horses and drivers ; to confine my travels to 

 places attainable by steam, electricity, cable, 

 or any other power which has no will of its 

 own. 



The next place on the programme where 

 the olive-backed thrush was promised was in 

 the adjoining state about opposite on the 

 map, and by taking five trains and consum- 

 ing five hours, mostly in waiting in stations, 

 I reached the place towards evening the 

 next day, and found to my dismay that I 

 was seven miles from the village. Here I was 

 already again at the mercy of horse and man- 

 power. 



This horse and this man were of a differ- 

 ent sort, however, and landed me safely at 

 the farmhouse up in the mountains. 



The next morning I set out to find my 

 thrush, going at once to a piece of woods 

 where my correspondent had said they were 

 to be found in numbers nesting. 



It was nesting-time, and my confident 

 correspondent was a bird-student of years' 

 standing; now I was sure of my bird. I 



