AMONG THE GLACIERS 59 



the glacier, many of us wandered upon shore amid a world 

 of moraines and gravel banks. In the afternoon we pro- 

 ceeded to the vicinity of the Hubbard Glacier where the 

 ship took a fresh supply of water from a mountain torrent, 

 while the glacier hunters viewed the Nunatak Glacier, and 

 the mineralogists with their hammers prowled upon the 

 shore. My own diversion that afternoon was to climb 

 one of the near mountains to an altitude of about 2,500 

 feet, where I looked down at a fearful angle into the sea, 

 and where I found my first titlark's nest. The bird with 

 her shining eyes looked out upon me, and upon the sub- 

 lime scene, from a little cavity in a mossy bank near the 

 snow line. Her nest held six dark-brown eggs. Some 

 pussy willows near by were just starting. I thought to 

 reach the peak of the mountain up a broad and very steep 

 band of snow, but I looked back once too often. The 

 descent to the sea was too easy and too fearful for my 

 imagination, so I cautiously turned back. In a large 

 patch of alders at the foot of the mountain four or five 



species of birds were _!: ' 7 ? v .rs;^^- 



nesting and in song. The ;' : ^-'■'^~ L -'-^:yy~-'<- :£.M^ f~ r ^ 



most welcome sight to 



me was a solitary barn 



swallow skimming along 



as one might have seen. 



it at home — no barns 



within hundreds of miles, 



yet the little swallow ^--5 



CANOE IN DRIFT ICE, YAKUTAT BAY. 



seemed quite at her ease. 



While we were anchored here we had another brief 

 vision of extra mountain grandeur. The fair weather di- 

 vinities brushed aside the veil of clouds and one of the 

 lofty peaks to the north, probably Vancouver, stood re- 

 vealed to us. We yielded to its mighty spell for a few 

 moments and then the cloud curtain again dropped. 



