AMONG THE BIRDS OF THE YOSEMITE 227 



A mother duck with her family of ten little 

 ones, waltzing round and round in a pot-hole 

 ornamented with foam bells, huge rocks leaning 

 over them, cascades above and below and beside 

 them, made one of the most interesting bird 

 pictures I ever saw. 



I have never found the great northern diver 

 in the Park lakes. Most of them are inaccessible 

 to him. He might plump down into them, but 

 would hardly be able to get out of them, since, 

 with his small wings and heavy body, a wide ex- 

 panse of elbow room is required in rising. Now 

 and then one may be seen in the lower Sierra 

 lakes to the northward about Lassens Butte and 

 Shasta, at a height of four thousand to five thou- 

 sand feet, making the loneliest places lonelier 

 with the wildest of wild cries. 



Plovers are found along the sandy shores of 

 nearly all the mountain lakes, tripping daintily 

 on the water's edge, picking up insects ; and it is 

 interesting to learn how few of these familiar 

 birds are required to make a solitude cheerful. 



Sandhill cranes are sometimes found in com- 

 paratively small marshes, mere dots in the 

 mighty forest. In such spots, at an elevation of 

 from six thousand to eight thousand feet above 

 the sea, they are occasionally met in pairs as 

 early as the end of May, while the snow is still 

 deep in the surrounding fir and sugar-pine 

 woods. And on sunny days in autumn, large 



