112 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



ward printed.^ Now, returning to the place 

 by myself, it became a point of honor with 

 me to imj)rove our work by the addition of 

 at least a name or two. And the first candi- 

 date was the Cape May. 



The second was of a widely different sort ; 

 one of my most familiar friends, though more 

 surprising as a bird of the White Mountains 

 than even the Cape May. I speak of the 

 wood thrush, the most southern member of 

 the noble group of singers to which it be- 

 longs, — the Hylociclilce^ so called. It is to 

 be regretted that we have no collective Eng- 

 lish name for them, especially as their vocal 

 quality — by which I mean something not 

 quite the same as musical ability — is such 

 as to set them beyond comparison above all 

 other birds of North America, if not of the 

 world. 



My first knowledge of this piece of good 

 fortune was on the 29th of May. I stood 

 on the Notch railway, intent upon a mourn- 

 ing warbler, noting how fond of red-cherry 

 trees he and his fellows seemingly were, 

 when I was startled out of measure by a 

 1 The Auk, vol. v. p. 151. 



