32 ON THE BIRDS' HIGHWAY 



pushed on farther up the hillside, and 

 entered another lumber road running along 

 the brow of a ridge. Usnea "moss" 

 hung from the great spruces, and the 

 beautifully white boles of the canoe-birch 

 made the woods a scene of striking gran- 

 deur and beauty. Here we met a flock 

 of chickadees and red-bellied 

 nuthatches. A little farther up 

 the road we found a small flock 

 of crossbills feeding among the 

 cones at the top of the spruces. 

 The woods about Shelburne are 

 of mixed growth ; white, Norway and 

 pitch pine, spruce, canoe and yellow 

 birch, beech, ash, balsam fir, hemlock 

 and red oak are the most common spe- 

 cies ; in fact, Shelburne is noted for its 

 variety of trees. 



After following along the ridge, we be- 

 gan to descend again into the valley. 

 Looking out over the tree-tops below us, 

 the mist-hung sides of Mounts Moriah 

 and Winthrop were seen to the southward. 

 Leaving the woods, we tramped out over 

 the meadows along the Androscoggin and 

 started a large flock of snow buntings con- 

 taining at least fifty individuals, from the 



