46 HEART OF THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 



vast gulfs of space that opened at our feet, the 

 feeling of grandeur and solemnity quickly came 

 back. 



The first want we felt on the top of Slide, 

 after we had got some rest, was a want of 

 water. Several of us cast about, right and 

 left, but no sign of water was found. But 

 water must be had, so we all started off delib- 

 erately to hunt it up. We had not gone many 

 hundred yards before we chanced uj^on an ice- 

 cave beneath some rocks — vast masses of ice, 

 with crystal pools of water near. This was 

 good luck indeed, and put a new and brighter 

 face on the situation. 



Slide Mountain enjoys a distinction which 

 no other mountain in the State, so far as is 

 known, does — it has a thrush peculiar to it- 

 self. This thrush was discovered and described 

 by Eugene Bicknell of New York, in 1880, 

 and has been named Bicknell' s thrush. A 

 better name would have been Slide Mountain 

 thrush, as the bird so far has only been found 

 on the mountain. I did not see or hear it 

 upon the Whittenburg, which is only a few 

 miles distant, and only two hundred feet lower. 

 In its appearance to the eye among the trees 

 one would not distinguish it from the gray- 

 cheeked thrush of Baird, or the olive-backed 

 thrush, but its song is totally different. The 

 moment I heard it I said, "There is a new 

 bird, a new thrush," as the quality of all 

 thrush songs is the same. A moment more 

 and I knew it was Bicknell' s thrush. The 



