MARCH OF AGRICULTURE. 19 



miles on either side of the river, affording shelter 

 and sustenance at all seasons to various tribes 

 of water-fowl which haunted its recesses. Then 

 might the booming of the bittern have been 

 heard during the summer nights ; and many a 

 rare species whose occurrence, like the visits of 

 an angel, can now be recorded only as " few and 

 far between/' was either a constant resident or 

 a regular migrant to these congenial swamps. 

 But, alas I the wild character of such scenery, 

 with all its associations, is gradually disappear- 

 ing before the strides of civilization, while the 

 march of " agricultural improvement" steadily 

 progresses : the advanced guard, indeed, with the 

 axe and the plough, long since performed its part, 

 and gave the first notice to quit to the feathered 

 inhabitants of the marshes, and the huge army 

 of reserve, with its mills and steam engines, and 

 red legions of draining tiles, will slowly but 

 surely complete the work of extermination. 

 Nevertheless, during the winter months, the 

 floods still exercise undisputed sway, and laugh 

 to scorn the efforts of man to curb their power ; 

 for the entire plain, as far as the eye can reach, 

 becomes one vast sheet of water, frequented 

 during severe storms, by wild-fowl and sea-birds, 

 while the dark, pine-crowned hills of Parliam 

 arise like a beautiful island in the distance. 



