Song Birds and Water Fowl 
moods of this wild human heart, and making it 
a symbol ‘‘ worthy asoul that claims its kindred 
with eternity.’’ What a little image of impend- 
ing Fate one sees coiled in the recess of each 
darkly curving wave-top, just before its edge 
crumbles into foam. And, as its restless bil- 
lows chase each other in a sort of frenzied 
eagerness the livelong day, how finely its mood 
has been imaged by the poet, who called it 
6é 

the unpastured sea hungering for calm.” 
In the midst of such a view—worth miles of 
walk to enjoy—and whose intenser bleakness 
almost warmed the stinging cold air, it was one 
of nature’s quaint surprises to see the numerous 
gulls serenely settle down and float upon the 
waves, as comfortably as if the waters had been 
feather-beds or warming-pans. When not upon 
the wing, it is the almost constant inclination 
of the gulls to keep in touch with the water, 
floating about upon its surface, or motionless 
on the shallows ; and I have seldom seen them 
stand where the successive waves would not 
play around their feet. At this point on the 
coast, where numerous little rocks are rather 
closely scattered near the beach, and half sub- 
merged, the gulls occasionally make a very 
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