64 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 



individual of that species. I stood still, and 

 in another minute the singer came near and 

 sang under my eye ; the very bird I had been 

 hoping for, — a cerulean warbler in full 

 dress ; as Dr. Coues says, " a perfect little 

 beauty." He continued in sight, feeding in 

 rather low branches, — an exception to his 

 usual habit, I have since found, — and sang 

 many times over. His complaisance was a 

 piece of high good fortune, for I saw no sec- 

 ond specimen. The strain opens with two 

 pairs of notes on the same pitch, and con- 

 cludes with an upward run much like the 

 blue yellow-back's, or perhaps midway be- 

 tween that and the prairie warbler's. So 

 I heard it, I mean to say. But everything 

 depends upon the ear. Audubon speaks of 

 it as " extremely sweet and mellow " (the 

 last a surprising word), while Mr. Eidgway 

 is quoted as saying that the bird possesses 

 " only the most feeble notes." 



The woods of themselves were well worth 

 a visit : extremely open, with broad barren 

 spaces ; the trees tall, largely oak, — chestnut 

 oak, especially, — but with chestnut, hickory, 

 tupelo, and other trees intermingled. Here, 

 as afterward on Walden's Ridge, I was 



