252 VIRGINIA 



the parula's (blue yellow-back's), but like 

 it. What should it be, then, except the 

 cerulean's ? By and by I caught a glimpse 

 of a bird, clear white below, with a dark 

 line across the breast ; and yes, I saw what 

 I was looking for, — though the bird flew to 

 another branch the next moment, — black 

 streaks along the sides of the body. There 

 were at least eight or ten others like him in 

 the treetops ; and it was a neck-breaking 

 half -hour that I passed in watching them, 

 determined as I was to gain a view not only 

 of the under parts, but of the back and 

 wings. The labor and difficulty of the search 

 were increased indefinitely by the confusing 

 presence of numerous other warblers of 

 various kinds in the same lofty branches, 

 making it inevitable that many opera-glass 

 shots should be wasted. It is no help to a 

 man's equanimity at such a time to spend a 

 priceless three minutes — any one of which 

 may be the last — in getting the glass upon 

 a tiny thing that flits incessantly from one 

 leafy twig to another, only to find in the end 

 that it is nothing but a myrtle warbler ; a 

 pretty creature, no doubt, but of no more 

 consequence just now than an English spar- 



