SHELDRAKE 



CHAPTER X 

 SEA AND SHORE BIRDS IN FREEDOM 



" To begin with ; of old 

 Man went naked and cold 



Whenever it pelted and froze, 

 Till we showed him how feathers 

 Were proof against weathers, 



With that, he bethought him of hose." 



THERE are spots on our coasts, and there are sea- 

 girt islands, which are a joy for ever, where 

 Atlantic billows, rolling and heaving, finally 

 dash their spray with a magnificent roar on to the 

 rocks, and against the cliffs which intercept their course. 

 Thundering in, they are broken in prodigious 

 volumes of froth ; and repulsed, roll back, dragging 

 with them the pebbles and stones of the shore. 



On comes another giant billow, with white and 

 curling crest, beneath which the water, where the sun 

 is shining through, gleams with translucent green. 



Another thundering roar, and again a wave breaks up 



128 





