218 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



of those which fill an enthusiast with such 

 delight as he can never hope to communi- 

 cate, or even to make seem reasonable, ex- 

 cept to men of his own kind. 



We had never met with Dendroica tigrina 

 before anywhere about the mountains, and 

 I had no serious expectation of ever finding 

 it here a second time. Still " hope springs 

 immortal ; " " the thing that hath been, it is 

 that which shall be ; " and one of my earli- 

 est concerns, on arriving in Franconia again 

 at the right season of the year, was to re- 

 visit the well-remembered spot and listen for 

 the equally well-remembered sibilant notes. 



Our first call was on May 17. Perhaps 

 we were ahead of time ; at any rate, we found 

 nothing. On the 23d we passed the place 

 again, and heard, somewhat too far away, 

 what I believed with something like certainty 

 to be the zee-zee-zee-zee of the bird we were 

 seeking; but the dense underbrush was 

 drenched with rain, we had other business in 

 hand, and we left the question unsettled. If 

 the voice really was the Cape May's we 

 should doubtless have another chance with 

 him. So I told my companion ; and the re- 



