THE GARDENS OF THE SEA 55 



wide-spreading nest in the same tree 

 where in winter the eagle perched. 

 Then, as the waters fell, the herons 

 came, the red-breasted sandpiper, 

 golden plover, and the snipe. The 

 green bittern also, who stayed, and for 

 food quarried from the mud the larvae 

 of the dragon-fly. The long-stemmed 

 marsh violets pushed above the upland 

 grass ; on the sand ridges bloomed 

 white sprays of beach plum, and the 

 bayberry put out its pungent leaves. 



The spring slipped on to summer, 

 and land birds filled all the bushes with 

 colour, life, and song; the trees con- 

 cealed their limbs with pliant dra- 

 peries, and the sea-gardens bloomed 

 again and glowed with flowers. The 

 sky at evening wore cool reflections of 

 the west, at morning bathed in mist, 

 and all day long shaped fancies of its 

 own; catching lights and burying them 



