1887.J Cox mi Rare Nczv Brunswick Birds. 207 



pered by gentle sea breezes, sweet, fresh and cool, like the fanning 

 of unseen wings ; a sun, wondrously large and red, rising from 

 behind the sea, and as :f cooled by its morning bath, lacking all 

 day its usual "ardent frown" ; a sky unflecked with a cloud by 

 day, and deeply blue by night, studded all over with twinkling 

 stars ; the mellowed whiteness of a moon soaring high through 

 an azure canopy, flooding meadow and forest with her silvery 

 beams, or lighting up the breeze-rippled surface of the sea in 

 long flickering lanes, like fairy paths leading to dreamland ; a 

 distant mountain rearing its huge form higher and higher from 

 out the softened shades of night and anxious to catch the first 

 glimpse of returning day ; a health-laden breeze from the sea 

 meeting a warmer one from the land and mingling its purity 

 and strength with the odor of flowers from lawn, meadow, and 

 forest ; the waves at their feet murmuring the mysterious soul- 

 language of eternity, and blending with the equally plaintive 

 rustling of leaves overhead ; who that has once seen, felt, and 

 enjoyed all this will not yearn for it again? 



Here, too, come students of nature to investigate her vigorous 

 northern life — her handiwork in sea and air, lake and river, moun- 

 tain and valley. The botanist finds a rich, interesting field, for in 

 addition to the varied flora of forest, plain, and shore, he can fairly 

 revel at ebb tide in a comparatively unexplored world of sea-ferns 

 and Alga2. Bay and river, too, teem with fish, from the lordly 

 salmon to the quaint, delicate sea-needle; and molluscan life in 

 myriad forms inhabits the sea-bottom, or in death yields to the 

 waves palaces of pearl to be strewn on the sand beaches — a gift of 

 beauty from the lovely unseen. 



It is with the bird life, however, that I and the readers of 'The 

 Auk' are most concerned. Over this region an immense bird- 

 wave rolls twice every year ; now harbingers of sweet songs, 

 rippling waters, and flowery banks ; then forerunners of winter's 

 icy reign. The varied character of surface makes it a favorite 

 resting ground and breeding place of very many species. On all 

 sides are extensive forests of evergreens ; while sloping hills, clad 

 with deciduous trees, marsh and upland, swamp and meadow, 

 mud flats and sandy shore, resound with the rustling- of wings, 

 shrill piping notes, or sweet warbling songs. 



During the migration the broad, shallow lagoons of the Mir- 

 amichi Bay, protected from the disturbing winds and waves o 



