In the Sierra 



without their aggressive quarrelsomeness. 

 I never weary watching them as they frisk 

 about in the bushes gathering seeds and 

 berries, like song sparrows poising daintily 

 on slender twigs, and making even less stir 

 than most birds of the same size. Few 

 of the Sierra animals interest me more ; 

 they are so able, gentle, confiding, and 

 beautiful, they take one's heart, and get 

 themselves adopted as darlings. Though 

 weighing hardly more than field mice, 

 they are laborious collectors of seeds, nuts, 

 and cones, and are therefore well fed, but 

 never in the least swollen with fat or 

 lazily full. On the contrary, of their frisky, 

 birdlike liveliness there is no end. They 

 have a great variety of notes correspond- 

 ing with their movements, some sweet and 

 liquid, like water dripping with tinkling 

 sounds into pools. They seem dearly to 

 love teasing a dog, coming frequently al- 

 most within reach, then frisking away with 

 lively chipping, like sparrows, beating time 

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