Onteora Notes 83 
hundred, yet spring, like the light, rests 
longer on the summit than on this lower level. 
Birds are more abundant on the top than on 
the slopes, and the summit being swampy, 
other plants are found there. From its 
mire springs the purple-fringed orchis, fash- 
ioned from the mud, as was man from the 
dust, but a fairer and lovelier product. The 
cherry and the painted trillium are still in 
bloom upon the summit, some little time 
after they have blossomed at two thousand 
feet. Onteora Mountain is not high enough 
to illustrate this condition as does High Peak, 
for instance. It has been observed that birds 
are drawn to these summits probably because 
of the longer day which they enjoy. Again, 
birds of a distinctly Canadian fauna only 
nest here above a given elevation. The her- 
mit does not nest or sing immediately about 
my camp, but is to be heard higher up and 
upon the top. I think the tanager is nesting 
very near my level, for the male is often seen 
and heard in a sugar maple not far away. 
Like the birds I find myself drawn to the 
summit, for a longer day perhaps. In these 
peregrinations upwards one is impressed with 
the different aspects of the mountain; it 
wears, as it were, two faces. Its south and 
