50 IN THE HEMLOCKS. 



and breast show like flame. He has a very fine war- 

 ble, suggesting that of the redstart, but not especially 

 musical. I find him in no other woods in this vicinity. 



I am attracted by another warble in the same local- 

 ity, and experience a like difficulty in getting a good 

 view of the author of it. It is quite a noticeable strain, 

 sharp and sibilant, and sounds well amid the old trees. 

 In the upland woods of beech and maple it is a more 

 familiar sound than in these solitudes. On taking the 

 bird in hand, one cannot help exclaiming, " How beau- 

 tiful ! " So tiny and elegant, the smallest of the war- 

 blers ; a delicate blue back, with a slight bronze-col- 

 ored triangular spot between the shoulders ; upper 

 mandible black ; lower mandible yellow as gold ; throat 

 yellow, becoming a dark bronze on the breast. Blue 

 yellow-back he is called, though the yellow is much 

 nearer a bronze. He is remarkably delicate and beau- 

 tiful, — the handsomest as he is the smallest of the 

 warblers known to me. It is never without surprise 

 that I find amid these rugged, savage aspects of Nature 

 creatures so fairy and delicate. But such is the law. 

 Go to the sea or climb the mountain, and with the rug- 

 gedest and the savagest you will find likewise the fair- 

 est and the most delicate. The greatness and the mi- 

 nuteness of Nature pass all understanding. 



Ever since I entered the woods, even while listening 

 to the lesser songsters, or contemplating the silent 

 forms about me, a strain has reached my ears from out 

 the depths of the forest that to me is the finest sound 



