In the Sierra Nevada 



O T '^ 



later (say early in June) an ornithologist could easily verify 

 the fact. 



May the 1st broke bright and clear, not a cloud in the azure 

 firmament. The songs of hoopoes, serins, and a cuckoo resounded 

 hard by, and from our paneless window we w^atched three glorious 

 rock-thrushes "displaying" before their sober mates — as sketched 

 at p. 18. Within sight among tlie tumbled boulders were also 

 a pair of blue thrushes, with a woodlark or two, several l)lack- 

 starts, and rock-buntings. 



We bathed in an ice-cold burn with temperature little above 



WOODLAKK (A/uu(hi. arborea) 

 Nests ill Nevada up to /iOOO feet, ami in the pine-forests of Dofiana at sea-level. 



freezing — at dawn, indeed, the backwaters were ice-bound. Then, 

 mounted on a donkey, the writer alternately scrambled up the 

 stony steeps or dragged the sure-footed beastie behind. The 

 gentler slopes were fairly clad with yellow daflbdil or narcissus, 

 now just coming into bloom, and above 7000 feet we entered a 

 zone of dwarf - arbutus and ilex -scrub. The warm sunshine 

 brought out numerous butterflies — it seemed strange to see these 

 frail creatures fluttering across open snows ! Most of those 

 recognised were tortoise-shells, rather paler than our own. 



Alas, before noon the icy mists once more swept up. In a 

 crevice amono- some rocks where we souo^ht shelter at 8000 feet 

 the skeleton of a wheatear attested tlie cruel conditions of bird- 

 life— death by starvation. Here we separated, the writer going 



