Instead of being encompassed by a narrow ring of trees like Orange Lake,
these lie embosomed in dense moraine woods, so dense that in seeking
them you may pass them by again and again, although you may know nearly
where they lie concealed.
[Illustration: LAKE STARR KING.]
Lake Starr King, lying to the north of the cone of that name, above the
Little Yosemite Valley, is a fine specimen of this variety. The ouzels
pass it by, and so do the ducks; they could hardly get into it if they
would, without plumping straight down inside the circling trees.
Yet these isolated gems, lying like fallen fruit detached from the
branches, are not altogether without inhabitants and joyous, animating
visitors. Of course fishes cannot get into them, and this is generally
true of nearly every glacier lake in the range, but they are all well
stocked with happy frogs. How did the frogs get into them in the first
place? Perhaps their sticky spawn was carried in on the feet of ducks or
other birds, else their progenitors must have made some exciting
excursions through the woods and up the sides of the canons. Down in the
still, pure depths of these hidden lakelets you may also find the larvae
of innumerable insects and a great variety of beetles, while the air
above them is thick with humming wings, through the midst of which
fly-catchers are constantly darting.
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