74 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME, 



deep valley the waters of the Zumbro wound 

 their swift way to the Mississippi through hills 

 blue with soft intensity of shade, or golden with 

 the brightness of the sunlight that slept upon 

 them, while the rosy haze poured into the deeper 

 valley, cast a dreamy air over the green thickets 

 that bowed to their shadows in the clear river. 

 Here rolled the stream in shining curves through 

 groves of sycamore, maple, and willow, and there 

 it was joined by a silvery thread that shimmered 

 through meadows deeply green with blue-joint 

 and flag, spangled with the gold of the autumn 

 dandelion, and tempered with the tender purple 

 of the Arethusa. Still another brook glistened 

 through groves of wild plum, crab-apple, and 

 hawthorn, and thickets of bright hazel and dark 

 green viburnum, from which we could faintly 

 hear the drum of the ruffed grouse, and then 

 it was lost under arcades of alder, and willow 

 in whose shades fancy could almost see the flash 

 of the trout. Miles away in the south, shining 

 as a meteor's trail, the Mississippi vanished in a 

 haze of green and gold where the timber and 

 stubbles on its bluffs blended in the dancing 

 heat on the horizon. There, too, peace lay 



