Song Birds and Water Fowl 
ciation with that glorious element from which 
they seem to derive their birth, and a portion 
of whose spirit they appear to fling upon the 
winds. In such an atmosphere one cannot feel 
their lack of melody. Indeed, it would seem 
incongruous if sea fowl had been gifted with 
the power of song. The mood that animates 
the oriole and bobolink would ill befit the 
solemn, lonely grandeur of the ocean’s restless 
life, whose stormy billows are so furious and 
defiant, while even his gentlest waves seem ter- 
ribly in earnest, with the quiet grandeur of 
suppressed omnipotence. The human heart, 
when sensible of his majestic pulse, will strong- 
ly throb in unison, but throb in silence. The 
songs of earth are trivial and ephemeral against 
the ocean’s massive and eternal undertones ; the 
contrast grates upon the ear. And when, in 
storm, he dashes his stupendous, thundering 
waves against the shore, the spell-bound auditor 
may well exclaim, ‘‘ Before the ocean’s august 
presence, let all the earth keep silence! ”’ 
And yet the aqueous element—so it be fresh 
water—is a very harmonious factor in that 
ensemble of Nature wherein the melody is given 
to the birds. The delicious warble of the wren, 
the vireo, the water thrush, may effectively 
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