266 VIRGINIA 



in fork of a bough 20-50 feet from the 

 ground : " so I had read in the Key, and 

 henceforth knew what I was to look for. 

 For a full hour I remained on guard. 

 Twice the male cerulean chased some other 

 bird about in a manner extremely suspi- 

 cious ; but he kept her (or him) so con- 

 stantly on the move that I had no fair sight 

 of her plumage. Beyond that my vigil went 

 for nothing. I must try again. If a man 

 cannot waste an hour once in a while, he had 

 better not undertake the finding of birds' 

 nests. 



For the walk homeward I took a course 

 of my own down the open face of the hill, 

 climbing a fence or two (I could tell far in 

 advance the safest places at which to get 

 over — the soundest spots — by seeing the 

 lumps of dry red clay left on the rails by 

 the boots of previous travelers across lots), 

 past prairie warblers and my first Natural 

 Bridge bluebird, to the bottom of the valley. 

 Then, finding myself ahead of time, I turned 

 aside to see what might be in the woods of 

 Buck Hill. There was little to mention : a 

 blossom of the exquisite vernal fleur-de-lis, 

 not before noticed here, and at the toi) two 



