FIELD-DAYS IN CALIFORNIA 



by the sight of a hermit thrush. It seemed the 

 place of all places for him. If only he would have 

 sung a few measures from the top of one of those 

 sky-pointing, sky-piercing redwoods! The golden, 

 leisurely notes, coming from so near heaven, 

 would have sounded more angelic than ever. 



On both days, too, though I was near forget- 

 ting to mention it, I heard repeatedly in a cer- 

 tain place the buzz of a hummer's wings ; and 

 once, for a minute, I caught sight of the bird, a 

 female, darting about among the branches over- 

 head. To all appearance she must have been at 

 home there, strange and sombre abode as it 

 seemed for such a lover of sunshine and flowers. 



These, I think, were, with one exception, all 

 the birds I saw or heard within the grove ; but 

 the exception was worth more than all the rest, 

 a flock of five or six varied thrushes. How re- 

 joiced I was to find them (my first glimpse of a 

 bird much looked for) in so romantic and mem- 

 orable a place ! 



They were shy beyond all reason, and on the 

 first day kept so persistently in shadow that I 

 could hardly say I had seen them at all. On the 

 second day I was more fortunate : first with a 

 splendid, full-plumaged male that stood on a low 

 bough (not of a redwood ; old redwoods have no 

 low boughs), in a pretty good light, clucking 

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