BIRDS. 185 



the woods had been resounding with the phec' -he-he and tsche'-de-de 

 tscTie'-de-de of cliickadees, a band of the clieery birds flew in, possess- 

 ing the bushes. Then came a party of briglit Townsend wai'blers witli 

 yellow cheeks, black eyelines, and green backs, keeping us busy watch- 

 ing them, now disappearing and then reappearing among the green 

 leaves. Siskins and crossbills flew overhead calling, and occasionally 

 the small voice of a Batchelder downy woodpecker or the remote 

 henlii-hcnh-henh-hcnh of a distant nuthatch were heard from inside 

 the Avoods. Suddenly an exclamation came from Mr. Bailey, with 

 glass focused on the willow border of the pond : " A Grinnell water- 

 thrush ! " We had been talking of the rare bird and hoping to see 

 it, and here it was at last. Named for the ornithologist whose earlj' 

 exploration of the park had affixed his name to so many of the noble 

 landscape features, this seemed indeed an appropriate place to find 

 it, as I did now for the first time. Like its eastern relatives, the dark- 

 backed bird, with streaked throat and breast and a dingy line over 

 the eye, Avalked deliberately along the brown bank under the willows, 

 teetering and dipping its tail according to the best water-thrush 

 traditions ; and then, perhaps, feeling itself too much the center of 

 attention, disappeared in the dark thicket. 



Happening to glance up along one side of the pond, I started, for 

 there was a black bear coming leisurelj' along toward us ! Entirely 

 oblivious of our presence, he stopped beside a tall serviceberry bush 

 on the edge of the pond and, raising up on his hind legs, pulled down 

 the branches with his paws and proceeded to eat the delectable 

 berries. Then, perhaps discovering us, he turned and, instead of 

 coming on down the beach, waded, with low hind quarters, across 

 the pond and disappeared in the thicket on the other side. As he went 

 he flushed the water-thrush, which came hurriedly flying across the 

 water, past us and off through the trees. What a rare secluded retreat 

 we had happened on ! Here at last we had seen the water-thrush and 

 the warblers we had barely met in passing, and here at last we had 

 found not only the usual woodland tracks but a maker of tracks, 

 an actual denizen of the forest in one of his own quiet haunts. As 

 we regretfully l^ft the little pond in the woods, Mr. Bailey pointed 

 out a beaver-cut tree and moose tracks — probably those of a moose 

 that had been seen swimming the lake not long before. We had, 

 indeed, chanced on a rarely favored drinking pool Avith its wildwood 

 privacy ! 



Up the beach a short distance we came to McDonald Creek, and 

 near its Avaterfall found the old nests of Avater ouzels, Avhile oA^er 

 the rapids Ave Avatched the family of harlequin ducks riding; after 

 which Ave cut across through beautiful hemlock forest back to the 



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