The holdings of the pretty cup were four pearls of eggs,
the ground color white, the smaller end and middle peppered finely with
brown, the larger almost solidly washed with pigment of the same tint.

Two more savannas' nests were found not long afterwards, one of them by
watching the female until she settled, the other by accidentally
flushing her as I walked across the marshy pasture; but neither of them
was placed under a roof as the first one had been, the blue dome being
their only shelter. These birdlets seem to be especially fond of soggy
places in pastures, setting their nests on the little sod towers that
rise above the surrounding water.

All the birds seen in the park have now been mentioned. It was an
idyllic spot, and I have often regretted that I did not spend a week in
rambling over it and making excursions to the engirdling ridges and
peaks. A few suggestive questions arise relative to the migratory habits
of the feathered tenants of a mountain park like this, for most of those
that have been named are only summer residents. How do they reach this
immured Eden at the time of the spring migration? One may conjecture and
speculate, but one cannot be absolutely sure of the precise course of
their annual pilgrimage to their summer Mecca. Of course, they come up
from the plains, where the spring arrives much earlier than it does in
the higher altitudes. Our nomads may ascend by easy stages along the few
canyons and valleys leading up from the plains to this mountain-girt
plateau; or else, rising high in air at eventide--for most birds perform
their migrations at night--they may fly over the passes and mountain
tops, and at dawn descend to the park.

Neither of these hypotheses is free from objection, for, on the one
hand, it is not likely that birds, which cannot see in the dark, would
take the risk of dashing their brains out against the cliffs and crags
of the canyons by following them at night; yet they may depart from their
usual habit of nocturnal migration, and make the journey up the gorges
and vales by day. On the other hand, the nights are so cold in the
elevated regions that the little travellers' lives might be jeopardized
by nocturnal flight over the passes and peaks. There is one thing
certain about the whole question, perplexing as it may be--the feathered
pilgrims reach their summer quarters in some way, and seem to be very
happy while they remain.

We stopped at a number of places in our r