240 FROM BLOMIDOX TO SMOKY. 



noticeable. Her feet showed black a^rainst the 

 snow, in which they moved regardless of cold or 

 dampness. The bird in the tree was not favor- 

 ably placed for me to see his colors, so, rising 

 softly from my leaf-bed, I moved silently towards 

 him until he came against a dark background. 

 Slowly raising my glass, I leveled it upon him, 

 and brought out to my admiring eyes the exquis- 

 ite tints of his plumage. Where his mate had 

 glowed with olive, he blushed with rosy carmine. 

 Head, nape, rump, throat, and breast alike were 

 suffused with warm, lustrous color. Here and 

 there, white, gray, and ash struggled for a share 

 in his dress, but the carmine outshone them. 

 There could be no doubt as to the birds' iden- 

 tity, — they were a pair of pine grosbeaks. 



My approach to a point not more than twenty 

 feet from the feeding bird did not disturb her. 

 She watched me closely, but continued to gather 

 the ash seeds. At times she even ran towards 

 me a foot or two. Suddenly a dark shadow 

 crossed the snowdrift, and both birds started 

 apprehensively, as though to fly away ; but they 

 quickly regained their composure as a ragged- 

 winged crow sailed close above the treetops and 

 disappeared behind the hill. A nearer a^oproach 

 to the birds showed me how massive were their 

 bills ; the upper strongly arched mandible form- 

 ing a sharp hook far overhanging the blunter 



