THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. 13 May, 1917 No. r, 



Concerning Wild Ducks 



Elsa Guerdrum Allen 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 



Photos by A. A. Allen 



"Whither, midst falHng dew. 



While glow the heavens with the last steps of day 

 Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 

 Thy solitary way?" 



These lines of Bryant are imbued with the spirit of the wild. 

 The poet, out in the twilight, sees the princely game bird, safe, 

 after a day of peril, wing^ine his evening fiis-ht to pond or lake 

 unknown. But he cannot follow him. He can only wonder 

 and ask: 



"Seekst thou the plashy brink 



Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide. 

 Or where the rocking billows, rise and sink. 

 On the chafed ocean-side?" 



The waterfowl appearb as a beautiful mystery, stealing, from out 

 the sky, upon the inner consciousness, just long enough to draw us, 

 yearning, to some knowledge of its secrets, and then, — 



"Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven 



Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet on my heart 

 Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given 

 And shall not soon depart. 



He who, from zone to zone, 



Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 

 In the long way that I must tread alone. 



Will lead my steps aright." 



Bryant's "To a Waterfowl" has been called America's finest 

 short poem. Its appeal is tremendous for ii: sets forth, in match- 

 less language, the reverence we all feel for wild hfe. It attributes 

 to the waterfowl a sort of hallowed unapproachableness. 



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