IN QUEST OF HAVENS 37 



"Well, I am perfectly acquainted with 

 the bird, and I have never seen one in High- 

 lands in all my twelve years." 



This might have seemed to end the matter, 

 once for all ; but as I walked away I remem- 

 bered how often birds had proved to be com- 

 mon where old residents had never seen 

 them, and I said to myself that the present 

 would be only another repetition of the 

 familiar story. There must be ravens here. 



Mr. and Mr. could not have been 



mistaken. 



Let that be as it might, this was my third 

 day in the mountains, — the long ride from 

 Walhalla counting for one, — and when I 

 returned to the village, at noon, my first 

 glimpse of a raven was yet to be had. How- 

 ever, a wide-awake farmer assured me that, 

 as he expressed it, something must be the 



matter with Dr. 's eyes. He had seen 



ravens many a time ; in fact he had seen one 

 within two days. Of course he had. The 

 affair was turning out just as I had foreseen. 

 It is a poor naturalist who has not learned 

 to beware of negative testimony. The apoth- 

 ecary might sit on his stoop and shake his 

 head ; before many days I would shake a 

 black wing in his face. 



