78 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



Was he a Lincoln finch ? "Who knows ? 

 We left the question open. But I believe 

 he was. The main reason, not to say the 

 only one, for our uncertainty was the pec- 

 toral blotch ; and that, I have since learned, 

 is often seen in specimens of Melospiza lin- 

 colni. Why the manuals make no reference 

 to it I cannot tell ; as I cannot tell why they 

 omit the same point in describing the sa- 

 vanna sparrow. In scientific books, as in 

 "popular" magazine articles, many things 

 must no doubt be passed over for lack of 

 room. In any case, it is not the worst mis- 

 fortune that could befall us to have some 

 things left for our own finding out. 



And after all, the question was not of 

 supreme importance. Though I was de- 

 lighted to have seen a new bird, and doubly 

 delighted to have seen it m Franconia, the 

 great joy of my visit was not in any such 

 fragment of knowledge, but in that bright 

 and glorious world ; mountains and valleys 

 beautiful in themselves, and endeared by the 

 memory of happy days among them. Some- 

 times I wonder whether the pleasures of 

 memory may not be worth the price of grow- 

 ing old. 



