fire or smoke, they apparently had leaped or 

 fallen to death. As I gained the top in climbing 

 to investigate, an eagle swooped angrily at me 

 from a topless trunk. Her mate with scorched 

 feathers lay on the rocks near by. On returning 

 a few days later I found her still watching the 

 lifeless one from the same perch in the dead 

 tree. 



In the heart of the burned tract was a thirty- 

 or-forty-acre tract of forest that had escaped 

 the fire. It was surrounded with wide though 

 broken barriers of rock ledges. In this green 

 oasis were numerous wild-folk refugees. Chip- 

 munks, rats, woodchucks, and birds were star- 

 tlingly abundant, but no big game. Apparently 

 the home people had welcomed the refugees, or 

 had received them indifferently. The only fight 

 noticed was between mountain rats. However, 

 this crowding and overrunning of territory when 

 the exciting fire was over, probably made many 

 terrible pages of animal history, before exodus 

 and death brought a normal readjustment of 

 life to the territory. 



Wandering on across the burn toward the 



137 



