OF NEW ENGLAND. 385 
striking cooing, one of the saddest sounds in nature, though 
sweet, and wholly inexpressive of the true feelings of the 
doves. It usually consists of four notes, which suggest the 
sobs and moans of a most disconsolate lover, or of a person in 
the deepest distress. The briefness of this last biography will, 
it is hoped, be excused. The author approaches the end of his 
long though pleasurable labors with a certain feeling of eager- 
ness and relief, though glad to have paid even a slight tribute 
to nature, science, and the inauguration of a second century in 
the life of his country, for, through an unforeseen coincidence, 
as he writes these last words, the distant boom of cannon on 
Boston Common announces the hundredth. anniversary of the 
Declaration of Independenee. 
26 
