The real jewel of my disease-ridden woodlot is the prothonotary warbler. … The flash of his gold-and-blue plumage amid the dank decay of the June woods is in itself proof that dead trees are transmuted into living animals, and vice versa.

November: A Mighty Fortress, p. 77. - A Sand County Almanac, 1949 - "November: Axe-in-Hand," "November: A Mighty Fortress," and "December: Pines above the Snow"