BIRDS, FLOWERS, AND PEOPLE 121 



dance was but transitory, two of the most 

 numerous birds were the Canadian flycatch- 

 ing warbler and the black-throated blue, — 

 two Northerners, as I had always thought 

 of them. Every mountain stream was over- 

 hung, mile after mile, by a tangle of rhodo- 

 dendron and laurel, and out of every such 

 tangle came the hoarse drawling kree, kree^ 

 kree of the black-throated blue, and the 

 sharp, vivacious, half-wrennish song of the 

 Canadian flycatcher. I had never seen 

 either species in anything near such num- 

 bers ; and I may include the Blackburnian 

 warbler in the same statement. Concerning 

 the black-throated blue, it is to be said that 

 within a year or two the Alleghanian bird 

 has been discriminated by Dr. Coues as a 

 local race, with a designation of its own, — 

 Bendroica ccerulescens cairnsi, — the points 

 of distinction being its smaller size and the 

 color of the middle back, black instead of 

 blue. I cannot recollect that I perceived 

 anything peculiar about its notes, nor, so 

 far as appears, did Mr. Brewster do so ; yet 

 it would not surprise me if such peculiarities 

 were found to exist. The best of ears (and 

 there can be very few to surpass Mr. Brew- 



