Nov., 1910 
THE YELLOW PINES OF MESA DEL AGUA DE LA YEGUA 
183 
crest, his dark coat set off with turquoise blue. The first sight of CyanocittaX How 
it brings back the richness of mountain life ! Aphelocoma — the flat-headed jay — 
j'ou are glad to see after an absence, but it is with a mild nut pine and juniper 
gladness; while at the first sight of the dark, crested figure of Cyanocitta in the 
yellow pines you seem to have reacht a new altitude — to have reach! the mountains. 
To be sure there are hights beyond, but this is a way station at which to take 
deep drafts from the full cup Nature is holding out to you — take deep breaths of 
the sweet piney air, quaff the cooling waters of the mountain streams, and look up 
at the beautiful yellow pines with their glistening spun glass needles as a foretaste 
of the firs and mountain tops beyond. You are in the mountains — the low country 
is left behind. 
Fig. 56. THE YELLOW PINKS 
Courtesy of Forest Service 
But what was that ? Could it be ? Yes! the glass revealed the pink glow on 
his breast and as he vaulted into the sky the form of the broad oval wings settled 
it — it was that handsome and most interesting bird, the Lewis woodpecker! Work- 
ing and singing loudly among the tips of the pine branches were some warblers 
that to our delight proved to be the charming little gray and yellow Grace warblers. 
A flash of red led us thru the pines till we came to a beautiful clear pool. Was 
this the Agua from which the Yegua had come to drink, so giving the Mesa its 
name? If so, the mares had had a beautiful woodland spring. The red flash here 
materialized into a hepatic tanager — how I hugged myself — preening its feathers 
for a bath in the pool. While we sat in sight of the water so many birds came 
