Snipe, 37 



a primeval valley or mountain - range now 

 hidden hundreds of fathoms deep beneath 

 the sea ; crossing blindly the widest portions 

 of ocean, because once upon a time a narrow 

 strait made the dangerous passage across 

 blue water as short as possible ; on the other 

 hand, steering for that headland, because the 

 old bluff stood there in the dawn of the world 

 precisely as it does to-day, a landmark for a 

 million little round eyes, weary from travel, 

 as it has been for a million years? 



The seasons themselves are more explic- 

 able than the movements of the mobs of 

 birds which shift and sway with them about 

 the globe, peopling empty branches, thickets, 

 and rushes with innumerable forms of beauty, 

 making them resonant with innumerable little 

 voices, without which they would be strangely 

 deserted and silent. Nor is migration less 

 mysterious in that it teaches us something of 

 the extravagance as well as the generosity of 

 Nature. The ''wastage" of an army in the 

 field, enormous as it is, is a trifle compared 

 to the appalling loss of life which thins the 



