iS4 
Bicknell on Hylocichla alicice bicknelli. 
and relieving the ruggedness of the slopes, northern plants were 
growing in greater or less profusion. The Dwarf Cornel ( Cor- 
nus canadensis ) grew in such close luxuriance in congenial spots, 
that its snowy bracts imparted an almost uniform whiteness to 
whole beds. With, or near it, blossomed the Wood Sorrel ( Ox - 
aids acetosella ) with delicately violet-veined petals, and the ap- 
propriately-named Gold-thread ( Coptis trifolia ) of evanescent 
bloom but shining evergreen leaves, and the little Star Flower 
( Trientalis americana ) were often also associates. Excepting 
the pale yellow bells of Clintonia borealis , and the purplish 
tinge, or veining, of the blossoms of several other species, all the 
plants noticed in bloom at this time upon the mountain bore 
flowers of some shade of white. The more open ground about 
our course along the ridge supported a luxuriant and graceful 
growth of that lovely fern Aspidium spinulosum , and with it, in 
openings about the summit, grew abundantly the Mountain Gol- 
den-rod ( S.olidago tkyrsoidea) which, although yet many weeks 
from bloom, heralded a royal emblem to light the mountain’s 
brow ere the white locks of winter should again possess it. 
At the elevation where these plants first appeared the trees 
nowhere attained more than a medium statute, those which 
seemed best to have surmounted the difficulties of their situation, 
the Balsam and the Paper Birch, never rising to a heighfof more 
than, perhaps, twenty-five feet. This growth completely encom- 
passed the range of vision, but an occasional scantiness in the 
foliage permitted glimpses of surrounding mountains rolling off 
like huge green billows into the blue distance. 
From these evergreens came the leisurely call of the Canada 
Nuthatch ( Sitta canadensis) , and on closer approach the low, 
plaintive notes of the little Yellow-bellied Flycatcher ( Empido - 
nax flaviventris) . The brief warble of the Black-and-Yellow 
Warbler ( Dendrceca maculosa) told of the presence of its unseen 
author in the surrounding trees, while among the undergrowth 
the less frequent, but louder and more sustained song of the 
Mourning Ground-warbler ( Geothlypis Philadelphia) showed 
that this species, which had been left at the foot of the mountain, 
had here reappeared. At intervals, faintly mingling with these 
songs, from some hidden fastness below, came the fantasia of 
the Winter Wren, a melody that seemed to pass from the spirit 
of unclaimed nature, voicing some mystery of the mountains. 
