54 THE MOUNTAINS 



which the birds have in common. And it 

 also became evident that Dulcet 's voice 

 was the richest, the most flexible, the most 

 powerful, and the most confident. And 

 he acted as if he were conscious of his 

 superiority ; for he would often violate the 

 modest habit of the hermit thrush, gradu- 

 ally making his way from limb to limb, 

 until he had reached the very top of the 

 tallest tree; and in this lofty place he 

 would dominate the entire clearing with 

 entrancing melody for a long time. On 

 one memorable occasion, indeed, he sang 

 in this manner for about three quarters 

 of an hour. The precise facts are these: 

 For some time he had been singing, say 

 thirty feet from the ground, when it oc- 

 curred to me to time his song. After I 

 looked at my watch, he sang twelve 

 minutes without moving; then he flew 

 (between two phrases of his song) cer- 

 tainly as much as twenty feet higher, and 

 lighted on a dead branch which projected 

 out over the clearing; here, from this 



