they sirout ‘quvre at its charm.. The five Or six tones 
--were so haunting that they tried to imitate them. A flutter 
of distant wings answered, and a bird still singing, circled 
about £0 get the light on the visitors until they moved to | 
get a better view. Then a scornful cry, that might have 
been made by a naughty boy with his finger at his nose, - 
told them that a Sierra Hermit Thrush had seen the 
intruders in his tract of land. Not another glimmer did they 
get of the singers, but the imitation of his whistle “Oh! 
_ he earth is fair,” was answered. many times during the 
long day they spent under the madrone. | 
Behind the fringe of forest opposite the house lies the 
desolation that marks the working of a placer mine. Esma 
took her visitor there one day to show her how to wash a 
pan of gravel, in order that she might feel that thrill that 
comes at seeing the virgin gold emerge from the blue clay 
and black sand, by which it is covered in the gold pan, after 
the pebbles and debris have been washed over the rim. _ 
As they balanced their way from one big boulder to 
another (which were lying with cobbles and gravel over the. 
‘bedrock, above all of which, tall evergreens were growing — 
last year), they saw a black, white and brown bird, about 
ten inches long, that struggled along at their feet, apparent- 
ly badly hurt. Flashing its tail until the black band was 
shown as a big, rounded fan, stretching the white barred 
wings, limping, falling, turning, while the two black belts 
were seen across the white breast, it led them along, giving 
low cries of “Kill-dee, killdee.’ They recognized the 
Killdeer, that may breed in any part of temperate North | 
| America. The mate.was near by and their curious actions 
told that the. young were probably about. The young are 
~ go much like rounded granite pebbles, and know so well how 
to obey their orders to be motionless, that one may almost 
step on them and not see them, and the two prospectors 
were not surprised to miss them. | 
| One of the real miners, washing eaidens from the old | 
ee 
