Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-08-14
Bird-Gazing in the White Mountains.

Whichever way walked, 1 was sure
OF the society of the snow-birds. They
hoped familiarly across the railroad
track In front of the Crawford House,
and on the summit of Mount Washing
ton they were scurrying about among
the rocks. opening and shutting their
pretty white-bordered fans. Halfway
up Mount Willard 1 sat down to rest
on q stone, and after minute or two
out dropped 3 snow-bird at my feet
wings. looked under the bank for
her nest, but to my surprise. could find
nothing of it So made sure of know
ing the place again, and continued my
tramp. Returning two hours later, l
sat down upon the same bowlder, and
watched for the bird to appear as be-
fore; but she had gathered courage
from my former failure,-or so it
seemed,-an l waited in vain till l
raped upon the ground over her head.
Then she scrambled out and lmped
away, repeating her innocent but hack
neyed ruse. This time | was resolved
not to be baffied. The nest was there,
and / could find it. So down on my
knees l got, and scrutinized the whole
place most carefully. But though I
had marked the precise spot there was
no sign of a nest. / was about giving
over the search ignominiously, when l
deserted slight opening between the
overhanging roof of the bank and
layer of earth which some roots held
in place close under it Into this slit
l inserted my fingers, and there, en-
tirely out of sight, was the nest full OF
eggs. No man could ever have found
il, had the bird been brave and wise
enough to keep her seat However, l
had before this noticed that the snow
bird, while often extremely clever in
choosing site for his nest, is seldom
very skillful in keeping secret / saw
him one day standing on the side of
the same Mount Willard road, gesticu-
lating and scolding with all his might,
as much as to say. please don't stop
here! Go straight along, l beg of you!
My nest is right under this bank!"
And one glance under the bank showed
that l had not misinterpreted his de-
monstrations. For all of that, l do
not feel like taking lofty tone in pass
ing Judgment upon Jlnco. He is not
lu6 Oulf Out WuOSC hA6uOu - 4LAAO0
with foolishness. There is at least one
other person of whom the same is true,
"a person of whom l have neverthe-
less very good opinion, and with
whom am, or ought to be. better ac-
quainted than l am with any animal
that wears feathers.
The prettiest snow-bird's nest ever
saw was built beside the Crawford
bride path, on Mount Clinton, just be-
fore the path comes out of the woods
at the top. 1t was lined with hair
moss "a species of PoIytrichuna) of
bright orange color. and with its four
or five white, lilac-spotted eggs made
so attractive picture that was COM
PEELED to pause q moment to look at 1t,
even though 1 had three miles of
steep, rough footpath to descend, with
a shower threatening to overtake me
before l could reach the bottom.
wondered whether the architects really
possessed an eye for color, or had only
stumbled upon this elegant bit of dec
oration. On the whole, it seemed more
charitable to conclude the former; and
not only more charitable, but more
scientific as well. For, if understand
the matter Alright, Mr.. Darwin and his
followers have settled upon the opin-
ion that birds do display an unmistak-
able fondness for bright tints; that, in
deed the males of many species wear
brilliant plumage for no other reason
than that their mates prefer them in
that dress. Moreover. if bird in
New South Wales adorns her bower
with shells and other ornaments, why
may not our little Northern darling
beautify her nest with such humber
materials as her surroundings oferP
On reflection, am more and more con-
vinced that the birds knew what they
were doing; probably the female, the
moment she discovered the moss, called
to her mate. .'Oh. look. how lovelyl
Do, my dear, let's line our nest with
it!"-Bradford Torrey in July Atlontic.