IN THE MOUNT LAFAYETTE FOREST 63 



thing extremely out of the common course to see 

 so many together, and — as I did with the two 

 a quarter of a mile back — I work upon this 

 quartet's sensibilities till they fairly dance with 

 curiosity and indignation. I wonder if they are 

 a family group. 



I bethink myself that I am saying nothing 

 about the forest itself. Its presence is felt rather 

 than seen, a grateful solemnity; but the tem- 

 perature will not suffer me to sit down and 

 enjoy it as a Christian should. And just here I 

 emerge into territory over which a fire has swept 

 within a few years. Under these dead trees I 

 get the sim again, and can go slowly. Nothing 

 in the way of physical comfort is more grateful 

 than warmth after coolness, unless it be coolness 

 after warmth. A piae siskin calls, the first for 

 some weeks, and another hairy woodpecker shows 

 himself. Not a warbler has been seen since I 

 entered the woods. Of the flycatchers, too, — 

 olive-sides and wood pewees, — which were al- 

 ways conspicuous in this burning in August and 

 early September, there is neither sight nor sound. 

 Their season is done. Crossbill notes lead me to 

 look upward, and I see four birds flying past. 

 Restless, nomadic souls! Like the saints, they 

 have " no continuiag city." 



Another half-mile in the leafy forest, and I 



